cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Attention deficit disorder in three pairs of monozygotic twins: a case report

Three pairs of monozygotic twins, all concordant for attention deficit disorder, are reported. The literature on the genetic implications of attention deficit disorder is reviewed, including twin, family and adoption studies. The effect of prematurity, abuse and neglect on the twins in this report is also discussed.
Drafting Intellectual Property Joint Venture Agreements with an Eye Toward Termination

When joint venture ("JV") parents come together with a business idea, they expect to develop the resulting intellectual property ("IP") to the benefit of all parents. The joint venture agreement ("JVA") is crucial to the formation and operation of the IP JV. Careful drafting will account for the parties’ expectations regarding the parents’ and the JV’s IP. However, the parties should realize that the JVA is also crucial to the termination of the JV. The JV parents must accept the reality that all JVs must come to an end, and some JVs will come to an end sooner than one of the parties might have wished. Therefore, parties to the JVA should devise a plan for termination in advance.
Verbal processing in third-grade children

Johnson’s (1968) decoding-operation model proposes a way in which Ss learn and recall verbal material. The model has been quite successful in predicting the performance of adults in a paired-associate task. The present study examined the extent of fit between the model and performance of third graders. The model was partially supported.
Mouse glutamine synthetase is encoded by a single gene that can be expressed in a localized fashion.

Two mouse glutamine synthetase (GSase) cDNAs were cloned that correspond to the 2.8 kb and 1.4 kb mRNA species found in many mouse tissues (1 kb = 103 base-pairs). There is a sequence homology of about 90% to other mammalian GSase cDNAs in the coding region. A 2.1 kb mRNA can be discerned in fat tissue, the most abundant source of GSase mRNA. Three genomic clones G4, G21 and G2 contain GSase sequences. By several criteria G21 and G2 are pseudogenes, while G4 is a functional gene composed of seven exons and six introns. Primer extension, RNase protection and Northern analysis provide evidence that all tissues use the same major RNA start site and the different-sized mRNAs are due to the usage of two different poly(A) sites, neither of which has the consensus AAUAAA sequence. When tested by transfection into Hep G2 human hepatoma cells the G4 promoter can produce correctly initiated mRNA with only 350 base-pairs of 5′ regulatory sequences. A major interest in GSase expression is its restriction to pericentral hepatocytes in adult liver. In this paper we show by in situ hybridization that GSase mRNA is only found in glial cells in the adult brain and in proximal tubular epithelium of the kidney. Coupled with the earlier demonstration of expression of GSase only in pericentral hepatocytes, it is clear that this gene is regulated by position-specific signals in many cell types.
Logistic risk model predicting postoperative respiratory failure in patients undergoing valve surgery.

Background: Previous studies have been unable to identify independent valve-related risk factors for postoperative respiratory failure (RF) in patients undergoing valve surgery. This study was designed to determine the incidence and predictors of RF in these patients. We also aimed to create a model based on these risk factors that could serve as a tool for the prediction of this complication. Methods: We analyzed prospectively collected data of 2808 patients (mean age 63±15 years, 43% female) who underwent valve surgery from January 1998 to December 2006. Isolated valve surgery was performed in 2007 (72%) patients whereas 801 (28%) received concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures. The main outcome investigated was RF (ventilation >72 h). Other postoperative parameters included in the analysis were hospital mortality, morbidity, length of hospital stay, discharge and late survival. Results: Respiratory failure occurred in 12.2% (n = 342) of patients. The incidence of RF varied according to the procedures (single valve: 7.4-15.8%; multiple valves: 21.7-23.4%). The addition of CABG significantly increased the rate of RF (isolated valves: 10.8%, combined valve/CABG 15.7%, p 70 years, active endocarditis, emergent procedures, reoperation, diabetes, congestive heart failure, previous myocardial infarction, female gender, double aortic and mitral valve procedures, and cardiopulmonary bypass time >180 min as independent predictors of RF. Hospital mortality among patients with RF was 22.2% (n = 76) versus 2.7% (n = 66) in the control group (p < 0.001). A logistic equation including the coefficients of the regression analysis was generated to calculate an individual patient's risk for the development of RF. Predictive accuracy of the model and validation was measured (ROC area under the curve: 0.751). Long-term survival of discharged patients with RF was significantly decreased compared to those without RF. Conclusion: Respiratory failure is a common complication particularly in patients undergoing complex valve operations such as endocarditis or multiple valve procedures. The independent predictors of RF including valve-related factors allowed us to create a predictive model with great accuracy. The poor long-term survival of patients with RF underlines the need to direct more resources towards prevention and treatment of this complication.
Coverage tradeoffs and power estimation in the design of whole-genome sequencing experiments for detecting association

Motivation: Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) allows direct interrogation of previously undetected uncommon or rare variants, which potentially contribute to the missing heritability of human disease. However, cost of sequencing large numbers of samples limits its application in case–control association studies. Here, we describe theoretical and empirical design considerations for such sequencing studies, aimed at maximizing the power of detecting association under the constraint of study-wide cost. Results: We consider two cost regimes. First, assuming cost is proportional to the total amount of base pairs to be sequenced across all samples, which is a practical model for whole-genome sequencing, we explored the tradeoff in terms of study power between increasing the number of subjects and increasing depth coverage. We demonstrate that the optimal power of detecting association is achieved at medium depth coverage under a wide range of realistic conditions for case-only sequencing designs. Second, if cost is fixed per sample, which is approximately the case in exome sequencing, we show that in a simple case+control sequencing study, the optimal design should include cases totaling 1/e of all subjects. Availability: A web tool implementing the methods is available at http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~itsik/OPERA/. Contact:yshen@c2b2.columbia.edu; itsik@cs.columbia.edu Supplementary information:Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Analytical technique to evaluate the asymptotic part of the impedance matrix of Sommerfeld-type integrals

The propagation of electromagnetic waves in a grounded dielectric slab has numerous applications in printed antenna technology and in the analysis of microwave- and millimeter-wave integrated circuits. For the accurate analysis of microstrip dipoles and circuits based on the moment of method (MoM), a crucial step is the precise evaluation of the impedance matrix elements which contain the integration of Sommerfeld-type integrals. The integral transform method with the asymptotic extraction technique is formulated for calculating a Sommerfeld-type integral problem. This formulation allows the infinite double integral of the asymptotic part of the impedance matrix to be transformed into a finite one-dimensional (1-D) integral. This finite 1-D integral contains a spherical Legendre function and can be easily evaluated numerically after the singular part of the integral is performed analytically. It is shown that the proposed method dramatically reduces the computation time and improves the accuracy over the conventional method to evaluate the asymptotic part of impedance matrix.
Web and Mail Surveys An Experimental Comparison of Methods for Nonprofit Research

This study aims to compare two widely used methods of original data collection in nonprofit research: web and mail surveys. We employ an experimental design to assign a web-based survey and a mail ...
Role of subduction erosion in the generation of Andean magmas

Subduction erosion, or scraping off of the continental crust by subducting oceanic lithosphere, is an important tectonic process along parts of the Andean convergent plate boundary. Estimated rates of subduction erosion increase northward north of the southem Andes, due to decreasing subduction angle and decreasing sediment supply to the trench. West of the central Andes subduction erosion may remove as much as 535 km 3 of crust per 1 km of trench per 1 m.y., or 7 vol% of the subducting oceanic lithosphere. The higher 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios of mafic magmas erupted north of the southern Andes may be explained by the higher rates of subduction erosion and increased amounts of contamination of the sub-arc mantle magma source.
Construction of the casa grande by sequential high precision C-14 dating

Two composite radiocarbon dates on wood beams from a unique, prehistoric building in southern Arizona are the result of growth series subsampling of the beams and statistical evaluation of radiocarbon dates on the subsamples. This procedure avoids some of the problems caused by secular variations in the biospheric 14C activity and by the dating of specimens grown over a range of years. This procedure yields results similar to more precise tree-ring dates from other sites in the southwestern United States. The procedure illustrated here is applicable to any archaeological tree specimen consisting of at least the last 40 growth rings.
Observations. on the Acute Toxicity of Two Chlorinated Phenols

Acute toxicity studies on methyl chlorothymol and p-chloro-m-xylenol indicated low toxicity, which is rarely observed with chlorinated phenolic compounds. The MLD and the LD50 of methyl chlorothymol for mice were both found to be 0.78 gram. The toxicity of p-chloro-m-xylenol was found to be almost four times less than that of methyl chlorothymol.
Apoptosis and the Balance of Homeostatic and Pathologic Responses to Protozoan Infection

Apoptosis, or programmed cell death (PCD), is a physiological response that eliminates unwanted cells, an evolutionarily ancient process that is present in all multicellular organisms. Apoptosis is used during embryogenesis as a way to shape future adult forms (e.g., limbs, fingers) or to suppress
Undue worry about paying research participants

Why do we keep worrying about paying research subjects? Offering payment to research participants is a longstanding and widespread practice, similar to paying people in other kinds of transactions, yet disagreement persists about the appropriateness and practice of paying participants [1]. At the same time, money has a pervasive presence in the conduct of clinical research. The estimated total spending on health-related research and development by the drug industry and the Federal government has tripled since 1990 [101]. Conducting clinical research is expensive; estimated per patient costs for a clinical trial can exceed US$47,000 [102]. Pharmaceutical and biotech sponsors, although they spend millions conducting research, are among the most profitable companies globally. Private and public research sponsors pay large amounts of money to clinical researchers, contract research organizations, data managers, recruiters and others to help conduct efficient and quality trials. Significant recent attention has focused on potential conflicts raised by investigator and institutional financial interests [2]. In spite of this large and growing research enterprise, available estimates suggest that the average payment per participant for a research study – when they receive any payment – is usually quite modest, although there is a range of dollar amounts and details about payment are limited [3]. Timely and adequate recruitment, vital for successful clinical research, can be difficult and cause delays in study completion. Offering money to research participants may be critical for recruitment, and could save money overall. Evidence suggests that payment is an important recruitment incentive for healthy volunteers [4], improves response rates in social science research [5], and increases willingness to participate in hypothetical studies [6]. There are more limited data on the effectiveness of payment in recruiting patients into clinical research studies [7]. Patients often enroll in research because they are seeking treatment for their condition, want access to treatment otherwise unavailable, or are following the recommendations of their physician. More research is needed to evaluate the effect and acceptability of monetary incentives for recruitment into clinical research. Accumulating data from the use of monetary incentives for adherence and behavioral change may offer some insights [8]. Even more limited data exist on the effectiveness of payment for retention in clinical studies, also critical to successful trial completion. Although money may motivate people to participate in research, participants are offered payment for reasons beyond recruitment. Commonly, money is offered as reimbursement for travel and other expenses in order to simply make participation “It is time to stop worrying and move forward on developing guidance for determining reasonable amounts of money to offer research participants in different studies and settings.”
Ranging performance of satellite laser altimeters

Topographic mapping of the Earth, Moon, and planets can be accomplished with high resolution and accuracy using satellite laser altimeters. These systems employ nanosecond laser pulses and microradian beam divergences to achieve submetre vertical range resolution from orbital altitudes of several hundred kilometres. In this paper the authors develop detailed expressions for the range and pulsewidth measurement accuracies and use the results to evaluate the ranging performances of several satellite laser altimeters currently under development by NASA for launch during the next decade. The analysis includes the effects of the target surface characteristics, spacecraft pointing jitter, and waveform digitizer characteristics. The results show that ranging accuracy is critically dependent on the pointing accuracy and stability of the altimeter, especially over high-relief terrain where surface slopes are large. At typical orbital altitudes of several hundred kilometres, single-shot accuracies of a few centimetres can be achieved only when the pointing jitter is on the order of 10 mu rad or less. >
Outsourcing book selection in public and school libraries

States that the recent phenomenon of “total outsourcing”, exemplified by the 1996 contract between the Hawaii State Public Library System and Baker & Taylor, must be seen as unprecedented and worthy of strict scrutiny by the library profession. Gives background on the move toward adding materials selection to the services provided to libraries by vendors. Makes a plea for library administrators to exercise caution and independent professional judgment in dealing with vendors. Argues that outsourcing is not a “quick fix” for financial cutbacks. Those entrusted with the leadership of tax‐funded libraries must ensure that methods of materials selection fulfill the public service mission and overall collection development strategy of their institutions. It is time to raise these questions: Is materials selection a “core function” of public libraries? Are librarians being trained to have expertise in this function? What are the implications of ceding this function to outside, for‐profit agencies?
A Structured Method for Strategic Deployment in a University Setting

This article shows how an approach, such as A3, can be adapted to describe and analyze the evolution of a strategic plan and its deployment process within a university setting. We used a case to illustrate how strategy deployment would work. The deployment was accompanied by a process, including workshops, surveys, and participation, under the direction of a strategic steering committee. The article begins by building the context for the strategic process from a historical perspective for the university in the study. A change management model was employed to supplement and evaluate the A3 approach. The research findings indicate that the A3 approach was a useful tool in the beginning stages of a strategic deployment process; however, as more stakeholders become involved, other organizational change dynamics came into play and needed to be addressed.
Inverse scattering level set algorithm for retrieving the shape and location of multiple targets

The level set technique is an inverse scattering problem solution concern the shape of unknown targets. In this work, the level set algorithm will demonstrate the capability of reconstructing 2D and 3D PEC and dielectric targets. In addition to its robustness, the level set technique has the advantage of retrieving several objects from a single initial guess with no a priori information.
Comparison of particle swarm optimization and backpropagation as training algorithms for neural networks

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) motivated by the social behavior of organisms, is a step up to existing evolutionary algorithms for optimization of continuous nonlinear functions. Backpropagation (BP) is generally used for neural network training. Choosing a proper algorithm for training a neural network is very important. In this paper, a comparative study is made on the computational requirements of the PSO and BP as training algorithms for neural networks. Results are presented for a feedforward neural network learning a nonlinear function and these results show that the feedforward neural network weights converge faster with the PSO than with the BP algorithm.
Binding constraint on economic growth under export-oriented industrialization and globalization

The two-gap model of economic growth implies that different constraints on economic growth, namely the savings and the foreign exchange availability, are binding at different times. This article estimates these varying binding constraints in 16 countries in East and Southeast Asia and Latin America, and explores their differences across countries, regions and periods. I show that the East and Southeast Asian countries, which are recognized to be successful in export-oriented industrialization, are less constrained by the foreign exchange availability with reinforced export capacity than the Latin American countries, which had carried some inertia of import substituting industrialization policy until the 1980s. In addition, the economic growth turns out to be more constrained by the domestic savings in recent years, which can be a reflection of capital account liberalization policies typically implemented in the late 1980s and 1990s, and/or a diminishing return to export-led growth. In either case, this mi...
The perception of rotated shapes: A process analysis of shape constancy

Ss made objective shape judgments of circular objects rotated in depth to provide a process analysis of shape constancy. The significant finding was that task difficulty, as reflected by proportion errors and correct reaction times; increased with increases in rotation from the frontal-parallel plane. This effect was located at the perceptual encoding stage of the shape judgment process. It was demonstrated that, in contrast to true shape information, the time to interpret slant and two-dimensional projected shape information was not critically dependent on degree of rotation. These results and a number of other additional observations demonstrate that the invariance hypothesis does not provide a sufficient account of shape constancy. Although projected shape and’ slant judgments can be made easily, perception of true shape involves encoding a figure-ground relationship by a process that does not rely exclusively on the discrete values of projected shape and slant.
Essential Role of Extracellular Matrix (ECM) Overlay in Establishing the Functional Integrity of Primary Neonatal Rat Sertoli Cell/Gonocyte Co-cultures: An Improved In Vitro Model for Assessment of Male Reproductive Toxicity

The development of in vitro models for testicular toxicity may provide important tools for investigating specific mechanisms of toxicity in the testis. Although various systems have been reported, their application in toxicological studies has been limited by the poor ability to replicate the complex biochemical, molecular, and functional interactions observed in the testis. In the present study, we evaluated a significantly improved Sertoli cell/gonocyte co-culture (SGC) system that employs a 3-dimensional extracellular matrix Matrigel (ECM) applied as an overlay instead of a substratum. We explored the dose- and time-dependent effects of the addition of such an ECM overlay on cytoskeletal and morphological changes in the SGC system, and the resulting effects on cellular integrity. Furthermore, we correlated the latter effects with the ECM-dependent modulation of stress and survival signaling pathways and, most critically, the expression levels of the spermatogonia-specific protein, c-Kit. Finally, we applied this co-culture system to investigate the dose- and time-dependent effects on the morphology and induction of apoptosis of cadmium. We observed that the dose-dependent addition of an ECM overlay led to an enhanced attachment of Sertoli cells and facilitated the establishment of SGC communication and cytoskeletal structure, with a dramatic improvement in cell viability. The latter was consistent with the observed dose- and time-dependent modulation of both stress signaling pathways (SAPK/JNK) and survival signaling pathways (ERK and AKT) in the presence of the ECM overlay. Furthermore, the dose-dependent stabilization of c-Kit protein expression confirmed the functional integrity of this co-culture system. We conclude that this modified SGC system will provide investigators with a simple, efficient, and highly reproducible alternative in the screen for testicular cell-specific cytotoxicity and the assessment of molecular mechanisms associated with both normal development and reproductive toxicity induced by environmental toxicants.
The Impact of Campaign Appearances in the 1996 Election

This research note investigates the differential impact of campaign appearances by Clinton and Dole on the outcome of the 1996 presidential election. The results of the 37-state analysis show that Clinton significantly affected the vote in the states by winning the support of voters who otherwise would have supported Dole or Perot. However, only appearances after October 1 had any impact on the state vote outcomes. Dole did not significantly affect the election outcome by his appearances in the contested states either early or late in the campaign. Neither of the major candidates' campaign appearances appeared to have any impact on voter turnout. The success by an incumbent in a strong economy suggests that campaigning can make a difference within limited parameters.
Purification of human antibodies from transgenic corn using aqueous two-phase systems.

A recombinant human antibody expressed in corn was purified using aqueous two-phase extraction. The antibody was an immunoglobulin G fully unglycosylated. Using systems of different compositions and/or pHs in each of one or two partitioning stages followed by one more stage in which the antibody was precipitated at the liquid/liquid interface facilitated the removal of different impurities in each stage. The best system yields a product 72% pure (22-fold purification) with a yield of 49%. The optimum extraction was done in two partitioning stages followed by an interfacial precipitation stage using poly(ethylene)glycol/potassium phosphate systems. NaCl was added to the first stage to eliminate large molecular weight impurities. The pH in the first stage was kept at 6 but a pH of 8 was used in the second stage and in the precipitation stage. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2010
Cohort differences in genetic and environmental influences on retrospective reports of conduct disorder among adult male twins.

Background. Rates of child and adolescent conduct disorder (CD) have increased steadily over the past several decades. What is not known is whether the underlying genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in CD have also changed. Methods. Retrospective reports of antisocial behaviour prior to age 18 were obtained from a population-based sample of 2769 adult males from male–male twin pairs born between 1940 and 1974. Using a summary score of number of CD symptoms, structural equation modelling was used to investigate whether mean level and variation in CD increased with more recent cohorts, and whether any increase in variance could be explained by familial or non-familial factors. Results. Both mean level CD symptoms and variation were increased in more recent cohorts. Model fitting indicated that the primary increase in variance was due to familial factors, most notably, an increase in the shared environmental influences on CD, from 0·01 (95% CI = 0·00; 0·27) to 0·30 (95% CI = 0·01; 0·44). Heritability estimates remained largely unchanged, although an increase in genetic factors could not be ruled out. Conclusions. Secular changes in sociodemographic factors responsible for increasing rates of CD may also account for the greater magnitude of shared environmental influences on variation in CD found among more recent cohorts.
Base Pairing between Hepatitis C Virus RNA and MicroRNA 122 3′ of Its Seed Sequence Is Essential for Genome Stabilization and Production of Infectious Virus

MicroRNA 122 (miR-122) facilitates hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication by recruiting an RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC)-like complex containing argonaute 2 (Ago2) to the 5' end of the HCV genome, thereby stabilizing the viral RNA. This requires base pairing between the miR-122 "seed sequence" (nucleotides [nt] 2 to 8) and two sequences near the 5' end of the HCV RNA: S1 (nt 22 to 28) and S2 (nt 38 to 43). However, recent reports suggest that additional base pair interactions occur between HCV RNA and miR-122. We searched 606 sequences from a public database (genotypes 1 to 6) and identified two conserved, putatively single-stranded RNA segments, upstream of S1 (nt 2 and 3) and S2 (nt 30 to 34), with potential for base pairing to miR-122 (nt 15 and 16 and nt 13 to 16, respectively). Mutagenesis and genetic complementation experiments confirmed that HCV nt 2 and 3 pair with nt 15 and 16 of miR-122 bound to S1, while HCV nt 30 to 33 pair with nt 13 to 16 of miR-122 at S2. In genotype 1 and 6 HCV, nt 4 also base pairs with nt 14 of miR-122. These 3' supplementary base pair interactions of miR-122 are functionally important and are required for Ago2 recruitment to HCV RNA by miR-122, miR-122-mediated stabilization of HCV RNA, and production of infectious virus. However, while complementary mutations at HCV nt 30 and 31 efficiently rescued the activity of a 15C,16C miR-122 mutant targeting S2, similar mutations at nt 2 and 3 failed to rescue Ago2 recruitment at S1. These data add to the current understanding of miR-122 interactions with HCV RNA but indicate that base pairing between miR-122 and the 5' 43 nt of the HCV genome is more complex than suggested by existing models.
Optimal Policy When Effects on Distribution are Uncertain

The paper addresses the question of whether a government seeking to maximize a social welfare function should undertake a policy when it is known for sure that the efficiency effects of the policy are positive, but when the effects of the policy on the distribution of income are uncertain. The principal conclusion of the paper is that the existence of efficiency gains in such a situation is not, in general, sufficient to guarantee that such a policy is optimal. In particular, the answer to the question posed in the paper is shown to depend, in part, on the degree to which society is risk-loving or risk-averse with regard to uncertain changes in the distribution of income.
The αBB Global Optimization Algorithm for Nonconvex Problems: An Overview

The αBB algorithm, a deterministic global optimization algorithm for constrained twice-differentiable NLPs, is presented. It is based on a branch-and-bound approach in which a convex relaxation of the original nonconvex problem is obtained through a dual procedure. First, all nonconvex terms of special structure (i.e., bilinear, trilinear, fractional, fractional trilinear, univariate concave) are replaced by customized tight convex lower bounding functions. Second, valid convex underestirnators are generated for general nonconvex terms by using a diagonal shift matrix A. A is related to the Hessian matrix of the nonconvex term and four rigorous methods, based on the interval Hessian matrix, are proposed for its computation. Branching variable selection strategies that improve the quality of the convex relaxations are presented. Variable bound updates are also found to affect the convergence rate positively. An implementation of the algorithm is used to solve three examples: a small but highly nonconvex problem, a stability problem and a large-scale problem involving the design of batch plant under uncertainty.
Cell surface control of the multiubiquitination and deubiquitination of high-affinity immunoglobulin E receptors.

Abstract Multiubiquitination of proteins is a critical step leading to selective degradation for many polypeptides. Therefore, activation-induced multiubiquitination of cell surface receptors, such as the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) receptor and the T cell antigen (TCR) receptor, may correspond to a degradation pathway for ligand-receptor complexes. Here we show that the antigen-induced engagement of high-affinity immunoglobulin E receptors (Fc epsilon RI) results in the immediate multiubiquitination of Fc epsilon RI beta and gamma chains. This ubiquitination is independent of receptor phosphorylation and is restricted to activated receptors. Surprisingly, receptor multiubiquitination is immediately reversible when receptors are disengaged. Therefore, multiubiquitination and deubiquitination of Fc epsilon RI receptors is controlled at the cell surface by receptor engagement and disengagement. The rapidity, specificity and, most importantly, the reversibility of the activation-induced receptor multiubiquitination suggest that this process may turn on/off a cell surface receptor signaling function thus far unsuspected.
Immunosuppressive treatment of chronic non-viral myocarditis.

Inflammatory cardiomyopathy defined as myocarditis associated with cardiac dysfunction, represents a main cause of heart failure. Despite the improvement of diagnostic techniques, a specific standardized treatment of myocarditis is not yet available. The immunohistochemical detection of myocardial HLA up-regulation has been demonstrated useful in the identification of a subgroup of autoimmune inflammatory dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in part susceptible to immunosuppression. Recently, in a retrospective study, we de- fined the virologic and immunologic profile of responders and non-responders to immunosuppressive therapy of active lymphocytic myocarditis and chronic heart failure in patients who had failed to benefit from conventional supportive treatment. Non-responders were characterized by high prevalence (85%) of viral genomes in the myocardium and no detectable cardiac autoantibodies in the serum. Conversely, 90% of responders were positive for autoantibodies, while only 3 (15%) of them presented viral particles at PCR analysis on frozen endomyocardial tissue. With regard to the type of virus involved in nonresponders, enterovirus, adenovirus, or their combination was associated with the worst clinical outcome. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) was the only viral agent of our series associated with detectable cardiac autoantibodies, suggesting a relevant immunomediated mechanism of damage by HCV and explaining the relief of myocardial inflammation after immunosuppressive treatment. The assessment of virologic and immunologic features of patients with biopsy-proven inflammatory cardiomyopathy may allow us to identify a specific treatment leading to recovery of cardiac function.
Pathway specification and comparative queries: a high level language with petri net semantics

Understanding biological pathways is an important activity in the biological domain for drug development. Due to the parallelism and complexity inherent in pathways, computer models that can answer queries about pathways are needed. A researcher may ask 'what-if' questions comparing alternate scenarios, that require deeper understanding of the underlying model. In this paper, we present overview of such a system we developed and an English-like high level language to express pathways and queries. Our language is inspired by high level action and query languages and it uses Petri Net execution semantics.
The Shallows Where Federal Reserved Water Rights Founder: State Court Derogation of the Winters Doctrine

The doctrine of implied federally reserved water rights, as established over a century ago by Winters v. United States, is critical to realizing federal land management goals. Recently, the doctrine’s ability to protect those goals, particularly with respect to federal lands set aside for non-Indian purposes, has been greatly limited by several poorly reasoned and result-oriented state court decisions. The primary factors that have led to the erosion of the Winters doctrine’s utility are: (i) the McCarran Amendment, which allows states to force the federal government to assert its reserved water rights claims in state court general stream adjudications; (ii) state hostility to the assertion of Winters claims for political and economic reasons; (iii) state court expansion of the US Supreme Court’s restrictive interpretation of reserved water rights in United States v. New Mexico; and (iv) state court abuse of the inconsistent and often ambiguous language included in executive and congressional public land reservations. The arid western states are unlikely to become more amenable to the assertion of federally reserved water rights, and the US Supreme Court is almost as unlikely to issue a more enlightening exposition of the Winters doctrine anytime soon. It is fair to surmise that the problem can only be fully and, due to its political nature, appropriately resolved by Congress. Ideally, Congress would repeal the McCarran Amendment to undo some of the damage done and to prevent the future derogation of this important aspect of federal land management law. This, too, may be unlikely given the current political climate, which tends to prioritize states’ rights over federal interests and also tends to be antagonistic to environmental concerns. An alternative congressional fix would be to amend the organic acts or the enabling statutes governing the establishment and management of federal lands. Should Congress fail to respond to the problem, federal agencies might be more proactive in litigating their reserved water rights in federal court in order to ensure the integrity of water bodies and water-dependent resources.
Predictions for self-priming from incremental updating models unifying comprehension and production

Syntactic priming from comprehension to production has been shown to be robust: we are more likely to repeat structures that we have previously heard. Many current models do not distinguish between comprehension and production. Here we contrast human language processing with two variants of a Bayesian belief updating model. In the first model, production-to-production priming (i.e. selfpriming) is as strong as comprehension-toproduction priming. In the second, both individuals who self-prime and those who do not are exposed to a syntactic construction via comprehension. Our results suggest that when production-to-production priming is as robust as comprehension-to-production priming, then speakers who self-prime are simultaneously less likely to be primed by input from comprehension and demonstrate different distributions of responses than speakers who do not self-prime. The computational model accords with recent results demonstrating no self-priming, and provides evidence for an account of syntactic priming that distinguishes between production and comprehension input.
Concept Maps and AI: an Unlikely Marriage?

Concept maps are a graphical representation of a person's (or group of persons') understanding of a domain. As such, it can be considered a knowledge representation scheme. However, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) community frowns on the use of the term "knowledge representation" to refer to concept maps, because they cannot be readily translated to a formal representation for inference or other AI techniques. In this paper we propose that despite the free-style format that concept maps can take, specific characteristics of well-constructed concept maps (structure, semantics, context, etc.) provide an abundance of information on which to develop smart tools that aid the user in the process of constructing concept maps. Our claim is that the compromise in the formalism in lieu of flexibility proposed by concept maps can be compensated, with the help of AI and smart tools, to help bring the best of both worlds to knowledge elicitation and representation. We demonstrate this argument with a set of smart tools that have been implemented in the CmapTools software kit.
Canine and feline retinal lymphoma: a retrospective review of 12 cases

This retrospective study identified 12 cases (6 canine and 6 feline) of ocular lymphoma with extensive retinal involvement and relative sparing of other ocular tissues. Our objectives were to describe the morphologic and immunohistochemical features of retinal lymphoma, assess the degree of correlation to the human counterpart, assign subtypes based on the veterinary-adapted WHO classification system, and promote accurate reporting of retinal involvement in cases of intraocular lymphoma. Our findings suggest that a distinct retinal tropism is quite rare, representing approximately 1% of all cases of canine and feline ocular lymphoma. No breed or sex predispositions were identified. The mean age of the affected animal was 7 years (range 4-10) and 11 years (range 6-19) for dogs and cats, respectively. Nine cases (5 canine and 4 feline) were classified as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) subtype. The remaining cases were classified as peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL).
An Anatomic Investigation of the Ober Test

Background:Recent studies have questioned the importance of the iliotibial band (ITB) in lateral knee pain. The Ober test or modified Ober test is the most commonly recommended physical examination tool for assessment of ITB tightness. No studies support the validity of either Ober test for measuring ITB tightness.Purpose/Hypothesis:The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of progressive transection of the ITB, gluteus medius and minimus (med/min) muscles, and hip joint capsule of lightly embalmed cadavers on Ober test results and to compare them with assessment of all structures intact. In addition, thigh position change between gluteus med/min transection and hip capsule transection was also assessed for both versions of the Ober test. It was hypothesized that transection of the ITB would significantly increase thigh adduction range of motion as measured by an inclinometer when performing either Ober test and that subsequent structure transections (gluteus med/min muscles followed by the hip ...
Heterogeneity among macrophages cultured from mouse bone marrow. Morphologic, cytochemical and flow cytometric analyses.

The development of macrophages in culture from mouse bone marrow was followed for 14 days by light and electron microscopy, ultrastructural cytochemistry, and flow cytometric analysis. By 10 days greater than 97% of the cells in culture were mononuclear phagocytes, and by 12 days greater than 99% were identifiable as macrophages. Ultrastructurally, three subpopulations of mononuclear phagocytes were distinguished based on the appearance of cytoplasmic structures. Early in culture, cells containing large, membrane-bounded vesicles predominated. With increasing time in culture these cells were replaced to varying degrees first by cells that contained vesicles filled with relatively dense, osmiophilic material and, finally, by macrophages that contained granules of various sizes, shapes and staining densities. Cytochemical (peroxidase and acid phosphatase) and colloidal gold uptake studies at the ultrastructural level suggested that many, if not all, of these cytoplasmic structures arose by pinocytosis and subsequent fusion of pinocytic vesicles with lysosomes. Analysis of DNA content of propidium iodide-stained nuclei by flow cytometry, coupled with the examination of cells treated with colchicine to arrest mitosis in metaphase, suggested that cell cycling was a negligible contributor to heterogeneity within cultured populations. Thus, by waiting until 12–14 days after bone marrow cultures were initiated, with partial replenishment of the culture medium at 7 days, heterogeneity could be greatly reduced in cultured macrophage populations. Taking this fact into consideration could help to reduce the variability seen in functional studies of macrophage populations that are less homogeneous.
REAL-WORLD COMPARISON OF INPATIENT BLEEDING RISK, BLEEDING-RELATED HOSPITALIZATION RATES AND COSTS AMONG NON-VALVULAR ATRIAL FIBRILLATION PATIENTS ON APIXABAN, DABIGATRAN, RIVAROXABAN: COHORTS COMPRISING NEW INITIATORS AND/OR SWITCHERS FROM WARFARIN

Information about the risk of bleeding and bleeding-related resource use and costs among non-Vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) in the real-world setting is scarce. This study aim was to compare inpatient bleeding risks, bleeding-related hospitalization rates and costs among non-
Impact of Wind Disturbances on Vehicle Station Keeping and Trajectory Following

Formation control of unmanned aerial vehicles is a popular topic with a diverse base of control algorithms. While these algorithms have been demonstrated in simulation and in some flight tests, very few of them address the impact of wind disturbances on the system. Even fewer if any address wind over water or a spatially distributed wind field. We use a statistical wind over water model that can be used with a spreading function to produce a spatial wind field for application to any number of vehicles over time. This wind field definition is then used to determine the impact three different wind conditions (mean wind speed = 1, 5, and 10 m/s) have on a quadrotor’s ability to 1) station keep and 2) follow a trajectory. Two control algorithms are examined to compare their performance in the wind field: 1) a PID controller and 2) a specific quadrotor controller defined by Mellinger and Kumar that computes the desired body forces and moments to follow a specified trajectory.
Predetermining the Necessary Size of a Sample in Marketing Studies

THE size of a sample that is necessary accurately to measure some given characteristic of a market is always a matter of concern to the market analyst. Limited funds, of course, inevitably fix the upper limit of a sample's size. Beyond that everpresent limitation, however, the number of units in a sample used in marketing studies has, in the past, often been determined partly by guesswork, partly By the lessons of past experiences and partly by pure prejudice. Only rarely in the field of marketing have the many well-established statistical principles which particularly pertain to these problems been practically applied. The two statistical measures which the market analyst uses perhaps more frequently than any others, are the arithmetic mean or arithmetic average and the percentage or proportion of a total. For example, the analyst is likely to want to know the average consumption per family of a given food, the average length of life of a particular household product, the average age of the readers of a magazine. He may want to know the percentage of the subscribers to a periodical who are male, the percentage of a number of persons interviewed who use a particular brand of shaving cream. With regard to each of these measures, two problems are most likely to confront the analyst. These are:
Narrative and quantitative analyses of workers' compensation-covered injuries in short-haul vs. long-haul trucking.

Trucking remains one of the most dangerous industries in the U.S. Study aims were to (1) identify differences in worker injury types; (2) describer typical injury scenarios; and (3) recommend injury control measures, in short-haul vs. long-haul trucking. Narrative text analyses of Kentucky short-haul and long-haul trucking workers' compensation first reports of injury were performed. A higher percentage of lifting and cranking injuries were identified in short-haul trucking compared with long-haul trucking that had a higher percentage of securing/opening/closing/adjusting injuries that involved tarping, trailer door handling, and cab slippage. In contrast, a higher proportion of short-haul trucking injury scenarios involved roadway departures and rear-end collisions. Study findings can be used to inform intrastate vs. interstate trucking injury prevention control strategies such as an enhanced driver safety training and safe freight handling in short-haul trucking, and tarping, trailer safety, and cab saf...
In Situ Hybridization—A Guided Tour

AbstractSummary: This article describes the use of in situ hybridization to study gene expression. We consider the advantages of this technique in comparison to other methods for analyzing gene expression at the level of messenger RNAs, and compare the information that can be obtained by localization of mRNAs by in situ hybridization versus localization of proteins by immunohistochemistry. We describe applications of in situ hybridization to the study of normal and abnormal development and tissue function. We then present the protocol developed in our laboratory as a framework for detailed discussion of each of the steps in the procedure, and comment on the relative merits of different options at each step. Individual steps discussed include tissue fixation and prehybridization treatments, choice of probes, hybridization parameters (probe concentration, time, and temperature), posthybridization washes, choice of isotopes and nonisotopic methods for detecting hybridized probe, and autoradiography. Finally,...
Domestic Development Situation of Insulator and Problems Needing Consideration

The development history of manufacturing technology and current technical level of the various insulators were introduced,which include the suspension-type porcelain,glass and composite insulators for AC and DC circuits,the post-type porcelain and composite insulators,the hollow porcelain and composite insulators and the insulating bushing.Combining with the operation experience of domestic insulator and the manufacturing technology level,the problems needing consideration of various insulators in respects of the design,the manufacturing,the type selection and the operation were put forward,which can be used as reference for design and operation departments.
The Affective Implications of Sleep

There is no dearth of academic evidence linking poor or deficient sleep to subsequent moods and emotions. This chapter reviews the current state of academic coverage of sleep's influence on subsequent affect, as well as the influence of daily moods and emotions subsequent sleep.