cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Robotic Phrenic Nerve Pacemaker Implantation

Diaphragmatic pacing is most commonly performed for patients with quadriplegia (usually at or above C3) and central alveolar hypoventilation. It has also been used in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Phrenic nerve pacing can improve quality of life in quadriplegic patients and in patients with primary alveolar hypoventilation by eliminating the dependence on a ventilator. Insertion of a phrenic pacemaker through an endoscopic approach with robotic assistance minimizes surgical trauma. By avoiding multiple neck incisions, bilateral thoracotomies, or a sternotomy, an endoscopic approach is likely to yield a hastened postoperative recovery and improved quality of life. The phrenic nerve stimulator consists of an electrode placed on the phrenic nerve and connected to a subcutaneous receiver via lead wires. An external battery-operated transmitter sends radiofrequency energy to the receiver through an antenna, which is placed on the skin overlying the receiver. The receiver converts this energy into an electrical current that is directed to the phrenic nerve in order to stimulate the nerve, thereby causing contraction of the diaphragm. Pacing is usually not begun until 28 days after the operation, to allow edema and inflammation to subside. The patient is then studied under fluoroscopically to assess the function of the diaphragm. The pacemaker is tested and its settings are adjusted.
The effect of practice settings on individual Doctor Press Ganey scores: A retrospective cohort review

Abstract Objective The Press Ganey (PG) survey is a patient experience survey mailed to patients upon discharge from the emergency department (ED). It is a nationally recognized survey that is commonly used to measure patient's perception of the healthcare delivered. Emergency medicine physicians at Staten Island University Hospital staff two distinct sites: a tertiary-care setting (SIUH-N) and a community setting (SIUH-S). The goal of our study was to compare the effect of different ED practice settings, within the same hospital and healthcare system, on individual attending physician PG scores. Methods This was a retrospective, observational study of EM physicians, conducted at Staten Island University Hospital between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2016. Physicians with PG survey responses from both sites were included. The number of responses and mean scores for the four doctor specific survey questions and the doctor overall score were extracted from PG surveys. Results Mean PG scores at SIUH-N were significantly lower than the mean scores at SIUH-S in each of the four doctor-specific questions, as well as the doctor overall score (p Conclusion Variables other than the individual doctor may be influencing the PG survey responses and perceptions of care. The PG survey may underestimate the impact of different practice settings on individual doctor PG scores.
Comments on the application of power series solutions to problems in celestial mechanics

The author relates his experiences in utilizing the power series method to generate trajectories for orbital and sub-orbital vehicles and for then-body problem.
Preceding Vehicle Identification for Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control Platoon Forming

Cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) has shown great potential in enhancing traffic efficiency and sustainability. While past research efforts focused on the development of CACC systems and their demonstrations, very few of them considered in detail how to form a CACC platoon in real traffic, where the proper identification of preceding vehicle is required. To ensure safe and reliable CACC operations, the following vehicle needs to establish the correct connection with its preceding vehicle. Although this can be done by matching information shared by surrounding vehicles with the ego-vehicle’s radar measurements, the existence of sensor/global positioning system (GPS) errors makes it a challenging task. Considering possible sensor/GPS errors in real traffic, this paper proposes a procedure of identifying preceding vehicle under fully connected vehicle environment and evaluates three preceding vehicle identification systems (PVIS), namely, location-based PVIS, distance-based PVIS, and integrated PVIS combining both location and distance information. The mathematical models of PVISs are developed. The performance evaluation of the PVISs is conducted based on real vehicle trajectory data from the Next Generation Simulation (NGSIM) program, which reflects how vehicles’ relative positions change in a high-density segment of highway. The feasibility, performance, and potential of the three PVISs are compared. The results show that location-based PVIS requires a relative positioning accuracy below 1.1 m to ensure an acceptable identification time with zero failure rate. The integrated PVIS has the best performance, providing 99% confidence in identifying preceding vehicle within 1.3 s under typical sensor error settings.
(259) Brain Activation during Pain Evaluation/Reporting is Independent of Individual Differences in Pain Sensitivity and Psychological Modulators of Pain

Pain evoked by a carefully controlled experimental stimulus differs widely across individuals. The underlying mechanisms of these differences remain unclear. Such differences may arise from true experiential differences but may also result from differences in the evaluation and reporting of pain. The aim of this study is to characterize brain activation during the evaluation/reporting process and to assess its relationship with individual differences in pain sensitivity and other psychological factors that may influence the reports of pain. For this purpose, data of 102 participants (60 males, 42 females, age: 29 ±7.1 years old) enrolled in an ongoing study, were included in the analyses reported here. Participants rated the perceived pain intensity and unpleasantness of 48°C stimuli while whole-brain images were acquired. A General Linear Model analysis (GLM) was performed to investigate changes in brain activation associated with the rating activity. Additional regression analyses were performed to characterize the effect of pain sensitivity, defined as pain intensity and unpleasantness, and possible psychological modulators, such as catastrophizing and mindfulness traits, on changes in brain activation associated with the rating activity. Results of the GLM highlighted increased activation bilaterally in areas, encompassing the sensorimotor cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, the thalamus, the insula, the putamen, and the parietal lobule, and contralaterally in the frontal pole. In addition, decreased activation was observed bilaterally in the PCC/precuneus and other areas. There was no significant effect of pain sensitivity or psychological modulators on brain activation associated with the rating activity. These results suggest that brain areas previously associated with the perceptive-cognitive dimension of pain are also involved in its evaluative/reporting process. Furthermore, this process is not influenced by pain sensitivity nor by pain modulators, such as catastrophizing or mindfulness traits. Future analyses will focus on highlighting the effect of other nociceptive mechanisms on individual differences.
Evaluating Psychophysical Polarity Sensitivity as an Indirect Estimate of Neural Status in Cochlear Implant Listeners

The physiological integrity of spiral ganglion neurons is presumed to influence cochlear implant (CI) outcomes, but it is difficult to measure neural health in CI listeners. Modeling data suggest that, when peripheral processes have degenerated, anodic stimulation may be a more effective neural stimulus than cathodic stimulation. The primary goal of the present study was to evaluate the emerging theory that polarity sensitivity reflects neural health in CI listeners. An ideal in vivo estimate of neural integrity should vary independently of other factors known to influence the CI electrode-neuron interface, such as electrode position and tissue impedances. Thus, the present analyses quantified the relationships between polarity sensitivity and (1) electrode position estimated via computed tomography imaging, (2) intracochlear resistance estimated via electrical field imaging, and (3) focused (steered quadrupolar) behavioral thresholds, which are believed to reflect a combination of local neural health, electrode position, and intracochlear resistance. Eleven adults with Advanced Bionics devices participated. To estimate polarity sensitivity, electrode-specific behavioral thresholds in response to monopolar, triphasic pulses where the central high-amplitude phase was either anodic (CAC) or cathodic (ACA) were measured. The polarity effect was defined as the difference in threshold response to the ACA compared to the CAC stimulus. Results indicated that the polarity effect was not related to electrode-to-modiolus distance, electrode scalar location, or intracochlear resistance. Large, positive polarity effects, which may indicate SGN degeneration, were associated with relatively high focused behavioral thresholds. The polarity effect explained a significant portion of the variation in focused thresholds, even after controlling for electrode position and intracochlear resistance. Overall, these results provide support for the theory that the polarity effect may reflect neural integrity in CI listeners. Evidence from this study supports further investigation into the use of polarity sensitivity for optimizing individual CI programming parameters.
Feeding the World: How Changes in Biotech Regulation Can Jump Start the Second Green Revolution and Diversify the Agricultural Industry

As the Earth’s population climbs from 7.6 billion in 2019 to almost ten billion by mid-century, farmers will need to increase food production by 70 percent. This article analyzes the tools available to achieve this demanding goal. We assess changes in agriculture related to both the organic industry and the high-tech sector that are enabling farmers to become more efficient. Critically, biotechnology offers great promise to hasten the pace of increased agricultural efficiency through genetic engineering. While genetic modification has been controversial, we cannot exclude any viable policy option, especially one with so much promise. Yet the current regulatory environment impedes bringing to market new foods produced through biotechnology and acts as a barrier to diversity for both products and producers. Our argument is straight-forward: in a world of risk versus promise, the regulation of biotechnology must be correlated with the level of risk. We advocate for a system of regulation of crops based on risk – one that is tied to the product itself, not the process that created it. The complicated, expensive, and time-consuming process currently imposed on bringing genetically engineered crops to market is divorced from the potential risks these crops actually pose. We specifically suggest adopting a single-entry point to the regulatory system, creating a registry of genetically engineered products to avoid the public perception issues that GMOs have faced to date, and shifting regulatory triggers to better associate the regulatory burden with the actual risks being put forth. Proposals by the Trump Administration in June 2019 may move regulation in the direction we have suggested, but these proposed rules present other issues. A second Green Revolution that embraces the most promising available technology can help free the future of agriculture from the control of dominant agrochemical companies and help feed the world.
Are Sexual Minorities Hard-to-Survey? Insights from the 2020 Census Barriers, Attitudes, and Motivators Study (CBAMS) Survey

As a stigmatized and vulnerable population, sexual minorities are often assumed to also be a hard-to-survey population. Despite this implicit assumption, there is little empirical evidence on the topic. Using a nationally representative survey that included sexual orientation (the Census Barriers, Attitudes, and Motivators Survey), we examine level of effort, the Census Bureau’s Low Response Score (LRS), and stated intent to respond to the 2020 Census as proxy measures to explore this assumption. We found no evidence that sexual minorities required higher levels of effort to secure participation in the survey. Additionally, we found that compared to straight respondents, lesbians, gays, and bisexuals had a higher intent to respond to the 2020 Census. We surmise the current social climate in the United States may be a contributing factor to these findings.
Real-Time Hybrid Simulation Analysis of Moat Impacts in a Base-Isolated Structure

Base isolation is a well-known technique used to reduce accelerations and inertial forces in structures during earthquakes. However, excessive displacements of the structure due to flexibility of the isolation layer bearings may contribute to moat wall impact events. These impact events have the potential to cause substantial structural damage. This impact behavior and the effects on structural dynamics have been shown to be highly complex and difficult to model by means of pure numerical simulation. In this paper, the cyber-physical technique called Real-Time Hybrid Simulation (RTHS) is employed to capture the uncertainties in force profiles of moat wall impacts and to analyze the complex interactions between impacts and the dynamics of base-isolated structures during earthquake excitations. It is shown that RTHS is capable of accurately capturing the interactions between the isolation layer and moat wall during impact events induced by ground motions. In addition, the RTHS technique is used to analyze the role played by moat wall material nonlinearities in reducing the inertial demand on the structure during impact events. Finally, possible extensions of the research to larger scales as well as consideration of additional moat wall variants are proposed.
User Profiling Using Sequential Mining Over Web Elements

Most of today’s sensitive systems offer receiving information and performing actions remotely through the company’s website by using authentication mechanisms such as username and password, one-time tokens, etc. However, these methods are not immune against credentials theft. Authenticated sessions can be subjected to session hijacking through stolen cookies, man in the middle (MitM) attacks, social Engineering and more. Behavioral biometrics models within the website can help continuously verify user’s identity throughout the session and prevent a wide variety of attacks. Such methods usually focus on sampling the raw movements and extracting meaningful features for profiling such as velocity, curvature, distance, etc. However, traditional methods usually avoid the elements that are being traversed by the user and do not use the created sequence of elements the user usually go through, which can be easily extracted in web applications. Therefore, we introduce a novel approach for pointing device (e.g. mouse, finger, touchpad, trackball) sequential verification in web applications. This approach can be used in addition to traditional feature-based movement techniques and enhance them. Our approach is based on Hidden Markov Model and Linear Regression to profile a user based on web elements sequences constructed from the user’s pointing device movements. We demonstrate the competitive advantage via encouraging results on anonymized dataset collected by IBM from accounts of 2500 web application users.
Use and Usefulness of After-Visit Summaries by Language and Health Literacy among Latinx and Chinese Primary Care Patients.

The after-visit summary (AVS), a document generated from the electronic health record that summarizes patients’ encounters with the healthcare system, is a widely used communication tool. Its use b...
A Learner-Centered Education Strategy: Optimizing an Interactive and Multimodal Learning Format in Orthopaedic Hip & Knee Arthroplasty.

OBJECTIVE The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and The American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery proposed The Orthopaedic Surgery Milestone Project. Training residency and fellowship programs have evolved accordingly adjusting academic curriculums. A new comprehensive Learner-Centered Education Curriculum (LCEC) was designed based on critical reviews and interactive collaboration between faculty, residents, and fellows using structured interviews and iterative feedback. We aim to evaluate the results at 4 years after implementation of a new curriculum. DESIGN The new adult arthroplasty LCEC was implemented in 2015; data collected between 2015 and 2019 was retrospectively reviewed and analyzed. Our primary goal was to evaluate educational, research, and quality successes using objective and quantitative academic quality metrics including annual Orthopedic In-Training Examination scores for the Hip & Knee domain to evaluate the medical knowledge competency. SETTING This study was conducted at the Department of Orthopedic Surgery residency and fellowship program of Adult Arthroplasty and Joint Reconstruction Surgery, University of Florida (tertiary care center). PARTICIPANTS Participants include 25 learners (PGY-1 to 5, Clinical fellows) and faculty of an ACGME-accredited orthopedic surgery residency and adult arthroplasty fellowship program. RESULTS Significant improvements in academic, research and quality metrics were obtained since implementation of the LCEC: Orthopedic In-Training Examination scores for Hip & Knee domain increased from 50th to 87th percentile (P=0.042), annual learner peer-reviewed publications and research awards from none before intervention to 20 and 8 respectively (p CONCLUSION This LCEC, by enhancing an interactive and active academic learning experience, positively influenced fund of knowledge, conceptual thinking, and interest in the specialty and learner attitudes. Significant and consistent improvements in academic, research, and quality metrics were obtained, while maintaining the highest resident evaluation scores in the program.
Rivalry, ethnicity, and asylum admissions worldwide

Why do countries welcome some refugees and treat others poorly? Existing explanations suggest that the assistance refugees receive is a reflection of countries’ wealth or compassion. However, stati...
Epidemiological Investigation and Virus Tracing of a Measles Outbreak in Zhoushan Islands, China, 2019.

Background: Measles transmissions due to case importations challenge public health systems globally and herd immunities in all countries. In 2019, an imported measles case and its subsequently outbreak was found in the Zhoushan Islands. Here, the process of epidemiological investigation and virus tracing were summarized to provide references for the prevention and control of measles in the future. Materials and methods: The data on the demographic, epidemiological, and clinical manifestation of measles cases in this outbreak were collected. The 450 bp fragments of the measles virus (MeV) N gene were amplified and sequenced. The genome of the first imported case was further isolated. Then, the maximum-likelihood and time-scaled phylogenetic analysis was conducted. Results: A total of 28 measles cases were confirmed. Their onsets were between March 13 and May 18, 2019. The first patient was from the Ukraine. He was confirmed at the Fever Clinic in Zhoushan hospital on March 15, 2019 and at the same time, another patient had visited the hospital due to another illness and 10 days later, this second case had onset (March 25, 2019). The epidemic curve shows sustained community transmission. The majority of the following cases (19/26) were clustered on the Donggang street which was close to where the second case worked. The 22 measles virus strains successfully isolated from this outbreak all belonged to the D8.2a sub-cluster and clustered with the KY120864/MVs/GirSomnath.IND/42.16/[D8] which was the predominant genotype in the Ukraine during 2018-2019. The analysis of the complete D8 genotype genome pointed to the fact that this prevailing strain originated from India in 2015 and its substitution rate was estimated as 6.91 × 10-4 (5.64-7.98 × 10-4) nucleotide substitutions/site/year. Conclusion: This outbreak was caused by an imported case from the Ukraine. There was a possible nosocomial infection between the first case and the second case. Then, the second case played an important role in the spread of virus due to her occupation. The molecular phylogenetic analysis could help to track the origin of the virus. Increasing and maintaining the high level of vaccination coverage (≥95%) and an efficient response to imported cases are essential to prevent and control the recurrence and outbreak of measles virus.
Performing Well in Financial Management and Quality of Care: Evidence From Hospital Process Measures for Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease

Fiscal constraints faced by U.S. hospitals as a result of the recent economic downturn are leading to business practices that reduce costs and improve financial and operational efficiency in hospitals. There naturally arises the question of how this finance-driven management culture could affect the quality of care. This paper attempts to determine whether the process measures of treatment quality are correlated with hospital financial performance. It conducts a panel study of hospital care quality and financial condition between 2005 and 2010 for cardiovascular disease treatment at acute care hospitals in the United States. Process measures for condition-specific treatment of heart attack and heart failure and hospital-level financial condition ratios were collected from the CMS databases of Hospital Compare and Cost Reports. There is a statistically significant relationship between hospital financial performance and quality of care. Hospital profitability, financial leverage, asset liquidity, operating efficiency, and costs appear to be important factors of health care quality. In general, public hospitals provide lower quality care than their nonprofit counterparts, and urban hospitals report better quality score than those located in rural areas. Specifically, the first-difference regression results indicate that the quality of treatment for cardiovascular patients rises in the year following an increase in hospital profitability, financial leverage, and labor costs. The results suggest that, when a hospital made more profit, had the capacity to finance investment using debt, paid higher wages presumably to attract more skilled nurses, its quality of care would generally improve. While the pursuit of profit induces hospitals to enhance both quantity and quality of services they offer, the lack of financial strength may result in a lower standard of health care services, implying the importance of monitoring the quality of care among those hospitals with poor financial health.
HiC-DC+ enables systematic 3D interaction calls and differential analysis for Hi-C and HiChIP.

Recent genome-wide chromosome conformation capture assays such as Hi-C and HiChIP have vastly expanded the resolution and throughput with which we can study 3D genomic architecture and function. Here, we present HiC-DC+, a software tool for Hi-C/HiChIP interaction calling and differential analysis using an efficient implementation of the HiC-DC statistical framework. HiC-DC+ integrates with popular preprocessing and visualization tools and includes topologically associating domain (TAD) and A/B compartment callers. We found that HiC-DC+ can more accurately identify enhancer-promoter interactions in H3K27ac HiChIP, as validated by CRISPRi-FlowFISH experiments, compared to existing methods. Differential HiC-DC+ analyses of published HiChIP and Hi-C data sets in settings of cellular differentiation and cohesin perturbation systematically and quantitatively recovers biological findings, including enhancer hubs, TAD aggregation, and the relationship between promoter-enhancer loop dynamics and gene expression changes. HiC-DC+ therefore provides a principled statistical analysis tool to empower genome-wide studies of 3D chromatin architecture and function. The genome-wide investigation of chromatin organization enables insights into global gene expression control. Here, the authors present a computationally efficient method for the analysis of chromatin organization data and use it to recover principles of 3D organization across conditions.
The Other Navy Seals: Seal Whiskers as a Bio-inspired Model for the Reduction of Vortex-Induced Vibrations

Bio-inspired engineering looks to nature for inspiration for new technology or solutions to existing challenges. The Science and Technology research community for the US Navy has utilized bio-inspired research to aid in a variety of design challenges for operation in the ocean environment. One particular model system is the whiskers of seals, which have unique bumps or undulations on their surface that aid in vibration reduction as water passes over them. The modification to the vibration response is of interest for many engineering designs in the marine environment which commonly suffer from the vortex-induced vibration (VIV) that occurs when water flows over a bluff body. The unique morphology of the seal whisker may reduce VIV by disruption of the shed vortices. While vibrations are reduced, a small vibrational signal remains, which provides important sensory input to the seal. This study examines the spectral characteristics of the elicited vibrations from real seal whiskers under various flow conditions and explores the mechanism of their VIV reduction in relation to their geometry utilizing simulations and flow over whisker geometry models.
Ichthyofaunal Colonization of a New Artificial Reef in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Ichthyofaunal colonization of a new artificial reef was monitored from June 1975 through September 1977. Direct observations were accomplished using SCUBA. Theories of colonization and species equilibrium of islands and islandlike habitats were applied to the colonization data from the artificial reef. Sixty species of fishes from 33 families were recorded at the reef. kifty-two percent of these species wcre primary reef fishes and 48% were secondary. Colonization data were produced only from the occurrence of primary reef fish. Data indicate that ichthyofaunal communities in the northern Gulf of Mexico are heavily influenced by seasonal changes in temperature, and that colonization by reef fish in that area does not conform to theories of immigration and extinction for island biotas. These results concur with similar work conducted on reef ichthyofauna in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Counting C14O2 with a Liquid Scintillation Counter

This paper presents a method in which C14 is oxidized to CO2-C14 and the gas is then trapped in an ethanolamine solution of ethylene glycol monomethyl ether. An aliquot of the carbonate solution is added to toluene containing a scintillator, cooled to 0°C, and counted in a liquid scintillation spectrometer.
Baseball: An Example Of Knowledge-Directed Machine Learning

Publisher Summary This chapter examines the problem of learning from an artificial intelligence (AI)/cognitive perspective and suggests that one need not necessarily be forced into the nativist position espoused by Plato in order to account for learning. It explores how some general processes can interact with old knowledge to generate new knowledge. In this context, it describes a system called “BASEBALL” that uses the three processes of interpretation, generalization, and evaluation, plus general knowledge about action oriented, competitive games for developing an understanding of the specific game of baseball. It presents the description of baseball that BASEBALL sees as input and discusses the main processing levels in BASEBALL. The chapter also describes the interpretation process where BASEBALL attempts to hypothesize intentions and relationships for the observed actors, followed by an evaluation process where BASEBALL attempts to assess the truth of its hypotheses.
Thyroxine-protein interactions. Binding constants for interaction of thyroxine analogues with the thyroxine binding site on human thyroxine-binding globulin.

The binding constants for interaction of various thyroxine analogues with the thyroxine binding site on human thyroxine-binding globulin have been determined. Equilibrium dialysis, at pH 7.4 and 37°C, was used to measure the competitive effects of different iodothyronine compounds on the binding of 125I-labeled thyroxine to highly purified thyroxine-binding globulin. Relative to L-thyroxine, K = 6 · 109 M−1, the association constants of some important analogues were D-thyroxine, 1.04 · 109 M−1, 3,5-diiodo-3′-isopropyl-L-thyronine, 4.9 · 108 M−1; L-triiodothyronine, 3.3 · 108 M−1, 3,3′,5′-DL-triiodothyronine (reverse triiodothyronine), 3.1 · 108 M−1; tetraiodothyropropionic acid, 2.7 · 108 M−1; tetraiodothyroacetic acid, 2.6 · 108 M−1; 3′,5′-diiodo-DL-thyronine, 8.3 · 107 M−1; and 3,5-diiodo-DL-thyronine, 7.1 · 107 M−1. Calculation of the ΔG0 values for binding of the analogues indicates that a major contribution to the free energy favoring binding is made by the alanine side chain of thryroxine. A change in configuration of the α-amino group from the L to D form causes an unfavorable change of 1 kcal/mol in the free energy of binding. Removal of the α-amino group as in tetraiodothyropropionic acid causes an unfavorable change of 1.9 kcal/mol in the free energy of binding. With regard to ring substituents, the results indicate that the two inner 3,5-iodines make about the same contribution to binding as the two outer 3′,5′-iodines.
Judicial Review in New Democracies: Distorting Democracy? The Constitutional Court of Mongolia

INTRODUCTION In contrast with Taiwan's gradual transition, Mongolia presents a useful context for examining the position of a constitutional court created after a clear “constitutional moment.” Since 1990, Mongolia's democratization process has been unparalleled in socialist Asia and is as muscular as any postcommunist society in Europe. Several free and fair elections have been held, a new constitution with extensive human rights provisions ratified, and the formerly Leninist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) has alternated turns in power with younger democratic parties. By any definition of the slippery concept of democratic consolidation, Mongolia has achieved it. The new constitutional court, called the Tsets , initially played an important role in this process, constraining legislative majorities and building up a body of constitutional law in a society where socialist traditions of parliamentary sovereignty had previously held sway. As democratic institutions developed, however, the court was increasingly criticized for making overly political decisions. Ultimately, the court provoked a constitutional crisis and found itself increasingly politicized from outside. Much of the controversy surrounding the court can be traced back to a single decision in 1996 that thrust the court into the center of heated political battle. This was the decision on the structure of government, issued immediately following the historic electoral victory of the National Democrat–Social Democrat coalition. That electoral victory had ended seventy-two years of continuous rule by the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP), the former communist party that had tried to steer post-1990 reforms.
SYMPOSIUM SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK: TWENTY YEARS OF MESON FACTORY PHYSICS

The opening of the meson factories twenty years ago provided nuclear physics with new beams, higher momentum transfers, and new opportunities for precision measurements. The resulting changes in nuclear physics were substantial, altering not only the range of physics issues identified with the field but also the manner and size of the collaborations that do nuclear physics. Inspired by the talks of this symposium, I discuss some of the accomplishments as well as some of the goals not yet reached.
Estamos violando los derechos humanos de los pobres del mundo

Abstract A human rights violation involves unfulfilled human rights and a specific active causal relation of human agents to such non-fulfillment. This causal relation may be interactional; but it may also be institutional, as when agents collaborate in designing and imposing institutional arrangements that foreseeably and avoidably cause human rights to be unfulfilled. Readily available evidence suggests that (a) basic social and economic human rights remain unfulfilled for around half the world's population and (b) the design of supranational institutional arrangement plays a major role in explaining why the poorer half of humanity is suffering a rapid decline in its share (now below three percent) of global household income. A strong case can be made, then, that people like myself - well-to-do citizens of influential states - collaboratively violate the human rights of the global poor on a massive scale.
Lenalidomide for mantle cell lymphoma

Mantle cell lymphoma accounts for 6% of all non-Hodgkin lymphomas. It is a biologically and clinically heterogeneous disease and treatment may be difficult, since most patients present at an older age, being unable to undergo intensive chemotherapy. Lenalidomide is an approved medication for relapsed mantle cell lymphoma in patients who received at least two lines of therapy, including bortezomib. New insights into the mechanisms of action of lenalidomide provided ground for novel combinations that may be more tolerable, while still efficient, for this patient population. In this review, we evaluate the current paradigm for lenalidomide in mantle cell lymphoma.
Reversal of amphetamine-induced circling preference in trained circling rats

Abstract Others have shown that amphetamine given to normal rats causes turning in a particular, preferred direction in most animals. We have studied the effect of training on amphetamine-induced behavioral and biochemical asymmetries in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Water deprived animals were trained to circle either in the same or opposite direction to their intrinsic bias using a sucrose water reward. Acquisition of the learned circling behavior was independent of turning preference and all animals were able to make the operant association. After training, animals given amphetamine turned in the trained direction regardless of their previous circling preference. Amphetamine-induced circling also led to increased dopamine concentrations in caudate contralateral to the trained circling direction. Therefore, intrinsic striatal is not resistant to behavioral modification and both the behavioral and biochemical asymmetries can be resersed by circling training.
Coupled nanocavity arrays

We will discuss our experimental and theoretical work on coupled photonic crystal nanocavity arrays, and their applications ranging from low-threshold, high speed lasers to nonlinear optical devices.
Anomaly intrusion detection in dynamic execution environments

We describe an anomaly intrusion-detection system for platforms that incorporate dynamic compilation and profiling. We call this approach "dynamic sandboxing." By gathering information about applications' behavior usually unavailable to other anomaly intrusion-detection systems, dynamic sandboxing is able to detect anomalies at the application layer. We show our implementation in a Java Virtual Machine is both effective and efficient at stopping a backdoor and a virus, and has a low false positive rate.
Sons daughters or both? an analysis of family sex composition preferences in the Philippines.

An analysis of family sex composition preferences as well as the relationship between actual family sex composition and desire for no additional children among a national sample of Filipino women is presented. An emphasis on balance or son-daughter equivalence is strongest in Metropolitan Manila. Son preference is highest in rural Mindanao and Sulu, primarily due to the concentration of Muslims in this section of the country and secondarily to its pioneer environment and the presumed utility of sons in such a milieu. The importance of eliciting sex composition preferences from both husbands and wives as well as distinguishing the “striking for a balance” from sex-linked preferences in future research is discussed.
Keeping Track of Sequential Events: Irrelevant Information and Paced Rehearsal

The effects of irrelevant information on Ss' ability to keep track of a changing situation mentally were examined. It appears that, when relevant stimuli are presented at an irregular rate of presentation, irrelevant stimuli interspersed with the relevant stimuli may enable Ss to pace rehearsal of the current state of the changing situation in a fashion that reduces the interference effects of the irregular rate of presentation.
Suppression of superconductivity by Néel-type magnetic fluctuations in the iron pnictides.

Motivated by the recent experimental detection of Neel-type [(π, π)] magnetic fluctuations in some iron pnictides, we study the impact of competing (π, π) and (π, 0) spin fluctuations on the superconductivity of these materials. We show that, counterintuitively, even short-range, weak Neel fluctuations strongly suppress the s(+-) state, with the main effect arising from a repulsive contribution to the s(+-) pairing interaction, complemented by low-frequency inelastic scattering. Further increasing the strength of the Neel fluctuations leads to a low-T(c) d-wave state, with a possible intermediate s+id phase. The results suggest that the absence of superconductivity in a series of hole-doped pnictides is due to the combination of short-range Neel fluctuations and pair-breaking impurity scattering and also that T(c) of optimally doped pnictides could be further increased if residual (π, π) fluctuations were reduced.
Face, content and construct validity of a novel robotic surgery simulator.

Purpose: We evaluated the face, content and construct validity of the novel da Vinci® Skills Simulator™ using the da Vinci Si™ Surgeon Console as the surgeon interface.Materials and Methods: We evaluated a novel robotic surgical simulator for robotic surgery using the da Vinci Si Surgeon Console and Mimic™ virtual reality. Subjects were categorized as novice—no surgical training, intermediate—surgical training with fewer than 100 robotic cases or expert—100 or more primary surgeon robotic cases. Each participant completed 10 virtual reality exercises with 3 repetitions and a questionnaire with a 1 to 10 visual analog scale to assess simulator realism (face validity) and training usefulness (content validity). The simulator recorded performance based on specific metrics. The performance of experts, intermediates and novices was compared (construct validity) using the Kruskal-Wallis test.Results: We studied 16 novices, 32 intermediates with a median surgical experience of 6 years (range 1 to 37) and a media...
Plastic surgery in cranial base surgery: Incisions, calvarial grafts, and soft tissue flaps

The availability of multiple reconstructive options is often a factor in the decision to undertake complex cranial base resections. Flaps provide an adequate seal between the dura and the paranasal sinuses and may also greatly enhance the postoperative appearance of the patient. This article reviews the wide array of alternatives for cranial base reconstruction, from local pericranial and galeal flaps through regional musculocutaneous flaps to microvascular flap reconstructions. The use of cranial bone grafts and the planning of incisions to allow for appropriate reconstruction is discussed.
Dyspedic Mouse Skeletal Muscle Expresses Major Elements of the Triadic Junction but Lacks Detectable Ryanodine Receptor Protein and Function

Abstract The ry153 dyspedic mouse contains two disrupted alleles for ryanodine receptor type 1 (skeletal isoform of ryanodine receptor; Ry1R) resulting in perinatal death. In the present study, whole skeletal muscle homogenates and sucrose gradient-purified junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum from neonatal wild-type and dyspedic mice were assayed for biochemical and functional markers. Equilibrium binding experiments performed with 1-120 nM [3H]ryanodine reveal saturable high and low affinity binding to membrane preparations from wild-type mice, but not to preparations from dyspedic mice. Binding experiments performed with [3H]PN200 show a 2-fold reduction in [3H]PN200 binding capacity in dyspedic muscle, compared to age-matched wild-type muscle, with no change in receptor affinity. The presence or absence of proteins known to be critical for normal ryanodine receptor/Ca2+ channel complex function was assessed by Western blot analysis. Results indicate that FKBP-12, DHPRα1, triadin, calsequestrin, SERCA1 (sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase), and skeletal muscle myosin heavy chain are present in both dyspedic and wild-type muscle. Only wild-type membranes showed immunoreactivity toward Ry1R antibody. Neither dyspedic nor wild-type mouse muscle showed detectable immunoreactivity toward Ry2R or Ry3R antibodies, even after sucrose gradient purification of sarcoplasmic reticulum. These results indicate that proteins critical for ryanodine receptor function are expressed in dyspedic skeletal muscle in the absence of Ry1R. Ca2+ transport measurements show that membranes from wild-type controls, but not dyspedic mice, release Ca2+ upon exposure to ryanodine. Dyspedic mice and cells derived from them serve as excellent homologous expression systems in which to study how Ry1R structure relates to function.
Discovery of CP-199,330 and CP-199,331: Two potent and orally efficacious cysteinyl LT1 receptor antagonists devoid of liver toxicity

CP-199,330 (3) and CP-199,331 (4) are cysLT1 receptor antagonists that are equipotent to marketed cysLT1 receptor antagonists zafirlukast and pranlukast, show good pharmacokinetics in rats and monkeys, and are devoid of liver toxicity in monkeys as seen in CP-85,958 (1).
Topical application of yeast extract accelerates the wound healing of diabetic mice

Alcoholic extracts of yeast have been used as the active ingredient in medications under names such as "tissue or skin respiratory factor," Biodyne (Sperti Drug Co, Cincinnati, Ohio--now defunct), and live yeast cell derivative (LYCD). Beneficial clinical results from the use of LYCD have been reported for the treatment of burns, wounds, and hemorrhoids. The medicinal effects of LYCD have recently been localized to a protein fraction containing a mixture of several peptides. The effects of topical application of the peptide mixture on wounds were examined in diabetic mice, an animal model in which the healing process is disrupted and delayed. Full-thickness wounds were created on the backs of diabetic (DB) and nondiabetic (non-DB) mice. Half of the DB and non-DB mice were treated with 0.05 mL of LYCD after wounding and for 4 successive days. All other mice received vehicle. Wound areas were measured at Day 0 and at 2-day intervals. Mice were sacrificed at 3, 7, 10, 21, and 28 days postinjury. Differences in the extent and quality of healing appeared between DB mice receiving LYCD and DB mice receiving vehicle by day 10 (P < .0001). By 24 days postinjury, DB mice receiving LYCD had achieved 100% wound closure, whereas DB mice receiving vehicle had achieved only 31.4% wound closure. Histologic examination of wounds reflected improved wound healing in DB mice receiving LYCD as compared with those receiving vehicle. A topically applied yeast extract peptide mixture significantly attenuates wound closure and the degree of cellular reorganization of full-thickness excisional wounds of DB mice.
Computing polynomial resultants: Bezout's determinant vs. Collins' reduced P.R.S. algorithm

Algorithms for computing the resultant of two polynomials in several variables, a key repetitive step of computation in solving systems of polynomial equations by elimination, are studied. Determining the best algorithm for computer implementation depends upon the extent to which extraneous factors are introduced, the extent of propagation of errors caused by truncation of real coeffcients, memory requirements, and computing speed. Preliminary considerations narrow the choice of the best algorithm to Bezout's determinant and Collins' reduced polynomial remainder sequence (p.r.s.) algorithm. Detailed tests performed on sample problems conclusively show that Bezout's determinant is superior in all respects except for univariate polynomials, in which case Collins' reduced p.r.s. algorithm is somewhat faster. In particular Bezout's determinant proves to be strikingly superior in numerical accuracy, displaying excellent stability with regard to round-off errors. Results of tests are reported in detail.
Topographical frequency dynamics within EEG and MEG sleep spindles.

Abstract Objective Spindles are rhythmic bursts of 10–16Hz activity, lasting ∼1s, occur during normal stage 2 sleep. Spindles are slower in frontal EEG and possibly MEG. The posterior-fast EEG pattern may predominate early in the spindle, and the anterior-slow pattern late. We aimed to determine the proportion of spindles showing this spatio-spectro-temporal interaction for EEG, and whether it occurs in MEG. Methods We recorded high density EEG and MEG from seven healthy subjects during normal stage 2 sleep. High vs. low frequency (12 vs. 14Hz) power was measured early vs. late (25th–45th vs. 55th–75th duration percentile) in 183 spindle discharges. Results The predicted spatio-spectro-temporal interaction was shown by 48% of EEG and 34% of MEG spindles (chance=25%). Topographically, high frequency EEG power was greatest at midline central contacts, and low frequency power at midline frontal. This frequency-specific topography was fixed over the course of the spindle. Conclusions An evolution from posterior-fast to anterior-slow generators commonly occurs during spindles, and this is visible with EEG and to a lesser extent, MEG. Significance The spatio-spectral-temporal evolution of spindles may reflect their possible involvement in coordinating cortical activity during consolidation.
Effects of supplemental fat source on nutrient digestion and ruminal fermentation in steers.

Five Holstein steers (235 kg of BW) fitted with ruminal, duodenal, and ileal cannulas were used in a 5 x 5 Latin square design experiment to determine the effects of supplemental fat source on site and extent of nutrient digestion and ruminal fermentation. Treatments were diets based on steam-flaked corn containing no supplemental fat (control) or 4% (DM basis) supplemental fat as tallow, dried full-fat corn germ (corn germ), corn oil, or flax oil. Fat supplementation decreased (P < 0.08) ruminal starch digestion but increased (P < 0.03) small intestinal starch digestion as a percentage of intake. Feeding corn germ decreased (P < 0.09) ruminal starch digestion and increased (P < 0.03) large intestinal starch digestion compared with steers fed corn oil. Large intestinal starch digestion was less (P < 0.04), and ruminal NDF digestion was greater (P < 0.09) for steers fed tallow compared with steers fed other fat sources. Small intestinal (P < 0.08) and total tract NDF digestibilities were greater (P < 0.02) for steers fed corn germ than for those fed corn oil. Feeding tallow increased total ruminal VFA (P < 0.03) and NH 3 (P < 0.07) concentrations compared with steers fed the other fat sources. Feeding corn germ led to a greater (P < 0.02) rate of ruminal liquid outflow compared with corn oil. A diet x hour interaction (P < 0.04) occurred for ruminal pH, with steers fed corn oil having the greatest ruminal pH 18 h after feeding, without differences at other time points. Fat supplementation increased (P < 0.09) ruminal concentrations of Fusobacterium necrophorum. Duodenal flow of C18:3n-3 was greater (P < 0.01) for steers fed flax oil compared with those fed corn oil. Feeding corn germ led to less (P < 0.01) ruminal biohydrogenation of fatty acids compared with corn oil. Steers fed tallow had greater small intestinal digestibility of C14:0 (P < 0.02) and C16:1 (P < 0.04) than steers fed the other fat sources. Fat supplementation decreased (P < 0.06) small intestinal digestibility of C18:0. Feeding corn germ decreased (P < 0.10) small intestinal digestibility of C 18:1 compared with corn oil. It appears that source of supplemental fat can affect the site and extent of fatty acid and nutrient digestion in steers fed diets based on steam-flaked corn.