cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
How the modification of personality traits leave one vulnerable to manipulation in social engineering

Research on cyber security related to social engineering has expanded from its purely technological orientation into explaining the role of human behaviour in detecting deception (Workman, 2007). In the broadest definition, social engineering, in the context of information security, is the manipulation of individuals to perform actions that cause harm or increase the probability of causing future harm. Human personality traits significantly contribute to the probability that an individual is susceptible to manipulation related to social engineering deception attacks and exploits (Maurya, 2013). The outcome of the attacks and objective is the alteration of normal and rational decision making as described in behaviour decision theory (Kamis, 2011). This quantitative and non-experimental study determined what makes an individual based on personality traits predisposed to social engineering treats in the context of susceptibility to deception manipulation and exploitation.
The Role of Substance P in Cytokine Production by Glial Cells

Substance P (SP), a neuropeptide released by peripheral sensory neurons, plays an important role in pain perception and acute inflammation (Sandberg and Iverson, 1982). It is also involved in peripheral autoimmune inflammatory diseases, most clearly with experimental adjuvant arthritis. Rats with adjuvant arthritis develop increased levels of SP in nerves innervating the arthritic joints, and depleting these animals of SP with capsaicin ameliorates the arthritis (Colpaert et al., 1983). Conversely, adding exogenous SP to the joint makes the arthritis more severe (Levine et al., 1984). Acute injury stimulates the release of SP (up to 2.8×10−15M into lymph) within 5–10 minutes (Jonsson et al., 1986). SP levels in blister fluid from infections, eczema, and bullous pemphigoid can be 3×10−11M (Wallengren et al., 1986), while SP in acute inflammatory exudates can be as much as 2×10−9M (Tissot et al., 1988), indicating high levels of SP secretion under these conditions. Inflammatory bowel disease tissue has a 1000-fold increase in SP receptors and is another instance where SP may be contributing to chronic inflammation (Mantyh et al., 1988).
Poorer neuropsychological performance increases risk for social services among HIV-infected individuals.

HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder (HAND) is a prevalent condition among persons with HIV resulting in cognitive impairments that may impact daily functioning. The relationship between neuropsychological (NP) test performance and functional status was investigated based on social services received (SSR) among 285 HIV-infected and 242 HIV-negative participants enrolled in the Hawai‘i Aging with HIV Cohort. HIV-infected participants scored significantly lower than the HIV-negative group on all measures of NP testing and also reported receiving SSR at a higher rate. Among HIV-infected participants, more SSR correlated with poorer overall global NP performance (ρ = −0.25, P < .001), as well as poorer performance in NP domains assessing psychomotor speed (ρ = −0.25, P < .001), and learning and memory (ρ = −0.19, P = .02). NP test performance did not correlate with the number of SSR among HIV-negative participants. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) was the most commonly utilized social service among HIV-infected. Receiving SSI was associated on multivariate analysis with poorer NP performance independent of lack of full time work, or nadir CD4 count. Poorer NP performance among HIV-infected individuals is associated with increased risk for social services. Interventions to address causes of cognitive dysfunction in this population may decrease demand for social services.
Using Social Media Applications in Academic Research

This international panel discussion aims to explore issues relating to the use of social media in academic research and to hone in on social media applications that may align with research methodologies. While use of social media is growing in health care and academia, there has been, to date, little exploration of or research into its use toward various communities (e.g. providers, patients, educators, learners). This is an appropriate time to discuss the issues and begin the process of developing suitable research agendas that strive to address questions about issues such as validity and data quality of virtual social interactions and respective platforms. The panel members will present introductions to four topic areas, which will then be opened up for discussion with attendees. We recognize that there are many other potential issues to explore, and the discussion will also offer opportunities to touch on these. Conducting evaluations of social media applications and implementations in healthcare The process of including social interactions in software applications generates some interesting and difficult research conundrums for academic evaluations. The success or failure of these projects has less to do with the technical suitability of an implementation and much more to do with network effects and how users interact with each other. We now need new tools and procedures for conducting evaluations of social media implementations and need to recognize the increased uncertainty involved in conducting evaluations in the social realm. Data-mining social media health-care applications for academic research very large quantities of data are being generated by social media applications. Online patient communities are generating data, not just about individual patients, but also about the social connections between the users in the community. We will discuss some of the academic research issues resulting from this exponential increase in data including issues of data-storage and anonymization and how to use natural language processing to make sense of the content stream. Using social media for enabling academic research: collaboration tools for researchers and leveraging social tools for data collection Research groups spanning multiple countries and time-zones often conduct academic research. Social media tools enable academics to connect and collaborate in both synchronous and asynchronous communications. Using these tools, research collaborations can form Virtual Organizations (VOs). Where next for social media and academic research? Which tools have the panel members excited? For the final section of the panel discussion each member will hypothesize on where the trends are leading us and open a discussion with congress attendees about the use of social tools for research purposes. []
Flow Cytometric Measurement of SLAM-Associated Protein and X-Linked Inhibitor of Apoptosis

Flow cytometry is a valuable tool for the detection and characterization of proteins expressed by individual cells. Flow cytometry can be used to measure cell expression of 2 intracellular proteins that are involved in the regulation of immune homeostasis, SLAM-associated protein (SAP) and X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP). These proteins are defective in patients with the immune deficiency X-linked lymphoproliferative disease (XLP), due to mutations in the SH2D1A and XIAP/BIRC4 genes, respectively (Coffey et al. Nat Genet 20:129-135 1998; Nichols et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 95:13765-13770, 1998; Sayos et al. Nature 395:462-469, 1998; Rigaud et al. Nature 444:110-114, 2006). This procedure describes a technique that can be efficiently used to detect SAP and XIAP by flow cytometry.
GENETICS OF HERPESVIRUS

ABSTRACT. Genetic analysis of members of the herpesvirus group has begun to involve the use of temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants. The most extensive studies to date have been conducted with ts mutants of herpes simplex virus (HSV) types 1 and 2. Complementation tests with HSV-1 and HSV-2 ts mutants isolated in several laboratories have resulted in the identification of at least 20 genes of each virus type representing approximately 20% of the coding capacity of the HSV genome.
Community Detection for Decoy Selection in Template-free Protein Structure Prediction

Significant efforts are devoted to resolving biologically-active structures in wet and dry laboratories. In particular, due to hardware and algorithmic innovations, computational methods can now obtain thousands of structures that populate the structure space of a protein of interest. With such advances, attention turns to organizing computed structures to extract the underlying organization of the structure space in service of highlighting biologically-active structural states. In this paper we report on the promise of leveraging community detection methods, designed originally to detect communities in social networks, to organize protein structure spaces probed in silico. We report on a principled comparison of such methods along several metrics and on proteins of diverse folds and lengths. More importantly, we present a rigorous evaluation in the context of decoy selection in template-free protein structure prediction. The presented results make the case that network-based community detection methods warrant further investigation to advance analysis of protein structure spaces for automated selection of biologically-active structures.
Characterizing human genomic coevolution in locus-gene regulatory interactions

Coevolution has been used to identify and predict interactions and functional relationships between proteins of many different organisms including humans. Current efforts in annotating the human genome increasingly show that non-coding DNA sequence has important functional and regulatory interactions. Furthermore, regulatory elements do not necessarily reside in close proximity of the coding region for their target genes. We characterize coevolution as it appears in locus-gene interactions in the human genome, focusing on expression Quantitative Trait - Locus (eQTL) interactions. Our results show that in these interactions the conservation status of the loci is predictive of the conservation status of their target genes. Furthermore, comparing the phylogenetic histories of intra-chromosomal pairs of loci and transcription start sites, we find that pairs that appear coevolved are enriched for cis-eQTL interactions. Exploring this property we found that coevolution might be useful in prioritizing association tests in cis-eQTL detection. The relationship between the conservation status of pairs of loci and protein coding transcription start sites reveal correlations with regulatory interactions. Pairs that appear coevolved are enriched for intra-chromosomal regulatory interactions, thus our results suggest that measures of coevolution can be useful for prediction and detection of new interactions. Measures of coevolution are genome-wide and could potentially be used to prioritize the detection of distant or inter-chromosomal interactions such as trans-eQTL interactions in the human genome.
Depletion of primary cilium in acral melanoma.

BACKGROUND A eukaryotic cell's primary cilium (PC) is critical for cell signaling, migration and homeostasis. Primary cilium dysfunction has been demonstrated in several malignancies, but whether primary cilia loss occurs in acral melanoma has remained unknown. To address this, we examined the ciliation index (% melanocytes containing a PC) of patient-derived, biopsy-proven acral melanoma and compared these to benign acral nevi. METHODS We generated a pilot initiative study that included six acral melanomas and seven acral nevi derived from the foot. Using fluorescent immunohistochemistry, we calculated ciliation indexes of Sox10+ melanocytes. RESULTS Average ciliation index for acral nevi was 74.0% (SE of the mean [SEM] 3.3%) vs 9.3% for acral melanoma (SEM 5.7%), finding a statistically significant difference between the groups (P-value <.001, two tailed t test). CONCLUSION The data show a significant loss of primary cilia in malignant acral melanoma vs benign acral nevi, suggesting that cilia may play an important role during acral melanoma formation. Our data, which should be validated by a larger study with longer follow-up period, suggest that examining ciliation index may be a useful diagnostic test when distinguishing benign acral nevi from melanoma.
Risk Factors Associated With a Noncontact Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury to the Contralateral Knee After Unilateral Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury in High School and College Female Athletes: A Prospective Study:

Background:The incidence of contralateral anterior cruciate ligament (CACL) injuries after recovery from a first-time anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) disruption is high in women; however, little i...
Estimating crash frequency from traffic conflicts

Abstract Devising a method of estimating the frequency of crashes is focused on estimating the Lomax distribution. The published work indicates fundamental estimation difficulties -- poor convergence and possible complex solutions -- caused by the inconvenient log-likelihood function of a Lomax-distributed sample. A single parameter estimation method with least-square optimization applied to a log-log curve is proposed. The performance of the proposed method is compared to the performance of the maximum-likelihood and weighted-moments methods evaluated in Monte Carlo experiments. The proposed method outperformed the other two methods by smaller bias, higher efficiency, higher accuracy, and by producing only real solutions. The other two methods produced unusable complex solutions at high rates when the number of conflicts was limited.
Aberrant subclavian artery division and revascularization by a supraclavicular approach for definitive or staged treatment of dysphagia lusoria.

Objective There is no consensus on the optimal approach to treatment of dysphagia lusoria (DL), especially in the absence of a Kommerell diverticulum (KD). We leveraged our institutional experience to clarify the safety and efficacy of aberrant subclavian artery (aSA) division with revascularization by a supraclavicular approach alone in patients with DL. Methods We identified 10 consecutive patients who underwent surgery for DL at our institution between January 2007 and March 2019. Clinical and radiographic characteristics for all patients were collected. The primary outcome was improvement in dysphagia symptoms. Secondary outcomes included need for second-stage operation, postoperative complications, and long-term radiologic changes in the aSA remnant. Results Seven patients underwent initial division of the aSA followed by revascularization through a supraclavicular exposure, and three had simultaneous supraclavicular and transthoracic intervention. Median follow-up was 52 (range, 1-143) months. In the four patients without a KD, a supraclavicular approach alone resulted in improvement in dysphagia symptoms. Conversely, the three patients who had a KD did not have durable relief of dysphagia and required a second-stage transthoracic procedure. Postoperatively, one developed a pulmonary embolism after supraclavicular approach alone and two patients developed complications after transthoracic intervention: left recurrent laryngeal nerve neurapraxia and pleural effusion requiring thoracentesis in one, and thoracic duct injury requiring reoperation in the second. Among those who underwent a single-stage procedure by a supraclavicular approach alone, no patients had aneurysm progression, rupture, or dissection after median follow-up of 60 (range, 1-100) months. Conclusions Division and revascularization of the aSA through a supraclavicular exposure in patients with DL result in durable symptomatic improvement in the majority of patients, particularly those without a concomitant KD. Patients with a KD may require a second-stage procedure to address the KD, but it appears safe to trial staged intervention rather than simultaneous operations to divide the aSA and to address the KD.
Morbidity and Mortality after Bariatric Surgery in Adolescents Versus Adults.

Abstract Background Despite the increasing prevalence and severity of childhood obesity, the national utilization of adolescent bariatric surgery has plateaued. Concern about the perioperative safety of adolescent bariatric surgery has limited referrals and insurance coverage. The purpose of this study was to compare the 30-d complication rate of minimally invasive bariatric surgery in adolescents and adults. Materials and methods The Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program 2015 data set was queried for primary minimally invasive bariatric procedures in adolescents and adults. Adolescents were defined as age 19 y or younger. Univariate analyses were performed to determine if there was an increased incidence of the adolescent 30-d complication rate as compared with adults. Results Of the cases who met inclusion criteria, 1076 (0.8%) were adolescents and 142,704 (99.2%) were adults. Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy was the most commonly performed procedure for both patient populations, although at a higher rate in adolescents (73.9% versus 68.8% in adults, P = 0 24 h (0.1% versus 0.0%, P Conclusions Bariatric surgery in adolescents shares a similar perioperative safety profile as found in adults. This data support the utilization and extension of adult criteria for bariatric surgery to adolescents with morbid obesity.
Frequency of Thrombotic Events in Hospitalized Patients with Sickle Cell Disease

Background Thrombosis is one of the most common complications described in patients with sickle cell disease. However, little is known about the prevalence, variety and severity of thrombus particularly in sickle cell patients hospitalized with vaso-occlusive crisis. Methods We made a retrospective chart review of patients (age 21 years or older) admitted with sickle cell disease at Hurley Medical Center (Flint, Michigan) and was diagnosed with a thrombotic event between April 2012 and April 2020. To obtain a logistic model, we identified all patients with the the final discharge diagnosis of thrombosis (ICD-9 or ICD-10 code indicating any thrombosis, such as DVT, arterial thrombosis, catheter-related thrombus, pulmonary embolism, and stroke), combined with the diagnosis of sickle cell disease. Findings 37/137 (27%) sickle cell patients were found to have had at least one thrombotic event during their hospitalization. As predicted, patients with sickle cell disease appeared to have very high frequency of thrombotic complications, though we lack a control group to compare with. Genotypes of sickle cell disease was also measured in this study. Patients with the Hb-SS disease had a much higher rate of this complication(25/68=37%) compared with those with Hb SC disease patients (12/49=24%). There were no thrombotic events reported in patients with Hb S/beta thalassemia+, or 0 patients or in patients with Hb SS with HPFH. Interpretation The risk of a thromboembolic event in patients with SCD is high, Sickle cell anemia is a procoagulant condition, which is a risk factor for thrombosis. More research is required to determine if preventive modalities could reduce thrombotic risk. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
A day-ahead market energy auction for distribution system operation

In this paper, we study a Day-ahead Market(DAM) double energy auction in a distribution system involving dispatchable generation units, renewable generation units supported by battery storage systems(BSSs), fixed loads, price responsive loads, and supply from the Wholesale Market(WSM) at Locational Marginal Price (LMP). The auction is implemented within a Distribution System Operator (DSO) premises using Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP). The proposed auction is cleared at the Distribution LMP (DLMP) and is observed to be weakly budget balanced if no penalty is applied for DSO's deviation from its original commitment with the WSM. Furthermore, the dynamics of DLMP versus LMP, and their effect on distribution market participants scheduled quantities as well as the WSM supply to the distribution system is investigated.
Synthesis and the Forms of Judgment in Perception

This chapter takes that notion of judgment even further than the previous chapters, to argue that the normative-transcendental elements of judgment are found in perception. I trace the debate between Nonconceptualists and Conceptualists regarding this issue and attempt to take as close to a “middle ground” position as possible, while still siding with the view that a form of reason, however muted or weak, is involved in all representations, conceptual and perceptual, and that this is the synthetic unity of apperception that makes for a unified self.
Association of Hemodynamic and Cerebrovascular Responses to Exercise With Symptom Severity in Adolescents and Young Adults With Concussion

Background and Objectives: Aerobic exercise has become a useful method to assist with post-concussion management. Exercise can exacerbate concussion symptoms even when symptoms are not apparent at rest. Few studies have examined the reasons for symptom exacerbation during exercise following a concussion. We had two primary objectives. 1) To delineate cardiopulmonary and cerebrovascular responses to exercise in adolescents and young adults with a concussion and healthy controls. 2) To determine the association between cerebrovascular responses and symptom burden. Methods: We recruited participants with a recent concussion from a sport concussion clinic between 9/1/2018-2/22/2020. They were included if their concussion occurred Results: We conducted 107 exercise tests (40 concussed, 37 healthy participants initially; 30 concussed at follow-up). Concussed participants were tested initially (mean=17.6±2.2 [SD] years old; 55% female; mean=12.5±4.7 days post-concussion) and again 8 weeks later (mean=73.3±9.5 days post-concussion). Control participants (mean=18.3±2.4 years; 62% female) were tested once. FETCO2 increased throughout the exercise protocol as heart rate increased, reached a plateau, and declined at higher exercise intensities. CO2 explained >25% of the variation in resting CBF (R2>0.25; p Discussion: The arterial CO2 response and symptom exacerbation relationship during post-concussion aerobic exercise may be mediated by increased sensitivity of cerebral vasculature to exercise-related increase in CO2.
Ephemeral hypoxia reduces oxygen consumption in the Caribbean coral Orbicella faveolata

Oxygen concentrations in coastal waters have declined globally by 10% since the mid-twentieth century, and ocean warming will further reduce the solubility of oxygen in coastal habitats. Some nearshore reefs experience periodic hypoxic conditions due to eutrophication, especially during the wet season. Here, we determined the combined impacts of hypoxia and elevated temperature on the reef-building coral, Orbicella faveolata, by exposing corals to normoxic or hypoxic conditions and ambient or elevated temperatures. Oxygen consumption was monitored using closed-system respirometry. Corals within hypoxic conditions consumed 34% less oxygen relative to corals in normoxic conditions. Corals in the elevated temperature normoxic treatment experienced a 10% increase in oxygen consumption relative to the control. Corals exposed to both stressors simultaneously experienced a 62% reduction in oxygen consumption. These results suggest that increased temperature may exacerbate the negative effects of hypoxia on O. faveolata.
Regulation Fair Disclosure and Capital Structure

This study examines the impact of Regulation Fair Disclosure (FD) on corporate nancing choices. Regulation FD puts more constraints on corporate disclosure in the equity market than in the debt market. After the regulation, although rms are no longer able to selectively disclose material information to market professionals in the equity market, they can still do so to banks and rating agencies in the debt market. Consistent with the expectation that FD a¤ects rms di¤erentially, I nd substantial cross-sectional variation in changes in information asymmetry in the equity market. I further nd that rms experiencing greater increases in information asymmetry increase their leverage more after FD. The results suggest that rms who cannot perfectly replace private disclosure with public disclosure are likely to experience increases in information asymmetry and that they may turn to the debt market for capital where private disclosure is still available.
Water Hugoniot Measurements in the Range 30 to 220 GPa

Water is one of the most abundant Compounds on the surface of the earth as well as in the rest of the solar system [1,2]. Thus, the equation of State of water at high pressures and temperatures is useful for the modeling of planets and their satellites, and for a wide variety of applications on earth [3]. As an example, the interiors of some of the moons of Jupiter are thought to be composed of significant amounts of water as well as ammonia and methane. These satellites are nearly planetsized and thus these materials are under high pressures by virtue of their own gravitational attraction. For this reason, a program has been undertaken to measure shock Hugoniots of H2O, NH3, CHi*, and also D2, since hydrogen is a major constituent of Jupiter and Saturn [4,5], in order to refine the equation of State data base for planetary modeling.
Dimethyl Fumarate Alters Microglia Phenotype and Protects Neurons Against Proinflammatory Toxic Microenvironments (P1.163)

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of Dimethyl Fumarate (DMF) on microglia and microglia associated pathological actions. BACKGROUD: Pathological activation of central nervous system (CNS) resident microglia is considered to be a key factor in the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurodegenerative disorders. Activated microglia can drive and propagate oxidative stress and proinflammatory responses within the CNS, damaging sensitive cells such as neurons. Therefore, altering the phenotype of microglia, and subsequent response to inflammatory stress, is a viable therapeutic approach toward the reduction of neuroinflammation and an increase in the population of potentially protective cells. DMF is an effective therapy for MS. The immunomodulatory and cytoprotective properties of DM have been described. Yet, direct effects on microglia and microglia-associated pathological actions have not been well characterized. METHODS: Primary microglia was treated with DMF for 3 hours followed by an inflammatory challenge (LPS+IFN-γ). Cytokine production in the supernatant was measured by Luminex assay. To assess the effect of DMF-treated microglia on neuronal survival, conditioned media (CM) obtained from inflammatory-stimulated primary microglia treated with or without DMF was transferred onto naive primary cortical neurons. The oxygen consumption rate (OCR) in the neurons was measured at 6 hours with an XF-96 analyzer. RESULTS: DMF treatment significantly reduced proinflammatory cytokine and chemokine production (IL-6, IL-12, TNF-alpha, RANTES and CCL5) in primary microglia, suggesting that DMF could exert a beneficial anti-inflammatory effect in this cell type. Additionally, mitochondria respiration study suggested that CM from microglia stimulated with LPS/IFN-γ caused a reduction in both basal and maximal respiration in the recipient neurons. In contrast, mitochondria respiration was restored in neurons that were incubated with CM from DMF+LPS/IFN-γ stimulated microglia. CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate that DMF can modulate the inflammatory response in stimulated microglia and subsequently reduce the toxicity of inflamed microglia towards neurons. Disclosure: Dr. Peng has received personal compensation for activities with Biogen Idec as an employee. Dr. Matos has received personal compensation for activities with Biogen Idec as an employee. Dr. Wipke has received personal compensation for activities with Biogen Idec as an employee. Dr. Arnold has received personal compensation for activities with Biogen Idec as an employee. Dr. Scannevin has received personal compensation for activities with Biogen Idec as an employee.
Visualization and language processing for supporting analysis across the biomedical literature

Finding relevant publications in the large and rapidly growing body of biomedical literature is challenging. Search queries on PubMed often return thousands of publications and it can be a tedious task to filter out irrelevant publications and choose a manageable set to read. We have developed a visual analytics system, named Bio-Jigsaw, which acts like a visual index on a document collection and supports biologists in investigating and understanding connections between biological entities. We apply natural language processing techniques to identify biological entities such as genes and pathways and visualize connections among them via multiple representations. Connections are based on co-occurrence in abstracts and also are drawn from ontologies or annotations in digital libraries. We demonstrate how Bio-Jigsaw can be used to analyze a PubMed search query on a gene related to breast cancer resulting in over 1500 primary papers.
Political Institutional Factors Contributing to the Integration of the Tiwanaku State

A number of different hypotheses have been put forward to define the relationship of the Tiwanaku urban center to various areas under Tiwanaku influence in western Bolivia, Northern Chile, and Southern Peru. The nature of the city of Tiwanaku will be directly impacted by its political arena. For instance, there will be different implications with respect to urban functioning of Tiwanaku city if it is the chief amongst quasi-equals in a federation as contrasted to its being the capital city of a conquest state.
The Case of the Exxon Valdez: Reporting Contingent Liabilities for Potential Damage Awards

ABSTRACT: In March of 1989 the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground and ruptured spilling thousands of barrels of oil into Prince William Sound. That oil spill created a large contingent liability for Exxon. The final adjudication of lawsuits relative to the oil spill did not happen until 2008. Thus, Exxon had a contingent liability relative to the Exxon Valdez incident for nineteen reporting years. You will read about the spill, Exxon’s attempts to contain it, fines, settlements, court cases, damage awards, and the changing nature of the law regarding punitive damages. You will be asked at key points over the nineteen years of the story to comment on the proper reporting and disclosure of the contingent liability. Making these judgments and discussing them in class will deepen your understanding of contingent liabilities and punitive damage awards, will enhance your critical thinking skills, and if you participate in the discussion, enhance your oral communication skills.
Design of a Multithreaded Barnes-Hut Algorithm for Multicore Clusters

We describe in this paper an implementation of the Barnes-Hut algorithm on multicore clusters. Based on a partitioned global address space (PGAS) library, the design integrates intranode multithreading and internode one-sided communication, exemplifying a PGAS $+$ X programming style. Within a node, the computation is decomposed into tasks (subtasks) and multitasking is used to hide network latency. We study the tradeoffs between locality in private caches and locality in shared caches and bring the insights into the design. As a result, our implementation consumes less memory per core, invokes less internode communication, and enjoys better load-balancing strategies. The final code achieves up to 41 percent performance improvement over a non-multithreaded counterpart. Through detailed comparison, we also show its advantages over other well-known Barnes-Hut implementations, both in programming complexity and in performance.
Interactions of moisture and organic contaminants with SiO2 and ZrO2 gate dielectric films

Abstract Zirconium oxide (ZrO2) is a promising candidate for future high-k gate dielectric applications. Atmospheric molecular contaminants may impact the quality and performance of zirconium oxide thin films. The interaction of moisture and organics (in particular IPA) as common interfacial contaminants with a 5 nm ZrO2 film deposited by ALCVD™ is investigated using atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry (APIMS); the kinetics and mechanism are compared to that of silicon oxide (SiO2). The ZrO2 surface was found to have a higher affinity for moisture and IPA than SiO2. Under similar conditions, the amounts of moisture and IPA adsorbed on ZrO2 were comparatively greater and more temperature sensitive than on SiO2. ZrO2 films also retained a significant amount of moisture that could prove detrimental during subsequent thermal processing. At high temperatures, ZrO2 was found to catalyze decomposition of IPA. IPA adsorption on SiO2 was increased by pre-adsorbed moisture and it led to the formation of alkoxy groups at elevated temperatures. On the other hand, adsorption on ZrO2 was site limited; consequently, less IPA was adsorbed in presence of pre-adsorbed moisture.
A strategy for annotating the human milk glycome

Oligosaccharides in human milk represent a group of bioactive molecules that have evolved to be an abundant and diverse component of human milk, even though they have no direct nutritive value to the infant. A recent hypothesis proposes that they could be substrates for the development of the intestinal microflora and the mucosal immune system. The inability to determine the exact composition of these oligosaccharides limits research and the ability to understand their biological functions. Oligosaccharides isolated from the lipids and proteins of individual human milk samples were analyzed by a combination of techniques including microchip liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (HPLC-Chip/MS) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (MALDI-FT ICR MS). Accurate mass measurements obtained using an orthogonal time-of-flight (o-TOF) mass spectrometry provided oligosaccharide composition for approximately 200 individual molecular species. Comparison of HPLC-Chip/MS profiles from five different women revealed variations in milk oligosaccharide compositions. HPLC-Chip/MS profiling provides a method for routinely identifying milk oligosaccharides. Tandem MS in combination with exoglycosidase digestion provides unambiguous differentiation of structural isomers.
Irresponsible Testimony by Medical Experts in Cases Involving the Physical Abuse and Neglect of Children

Irresponsible testimony by medical experts is a growing problem exemplified by three particularly egregious cases reported herein. The types of irresponsible testimony include the witness's absence of proper qualifications, use of unique theories of causation, use of unique or very unusual interpretations of medical findings, alleging nonexistent medical findings, flagrant misquoting of medical journals or widely used texts, making false statements, and deliberate omission of pertinent facts or knowledge. Criteria to qualify as an expert witness in child abuse and neglect are proposed. Finally, physicians, lawyers, and their respective professional licensing boards and societies are urged to develop a process by which such testimony is exposed, peer reviewed, and used in credentialing.
Oxidative inhibition of receptor-type protein-tyrosine phosphatase κ by ultraviolet irradiation activates epidermal growth factor receptor in human keratinocytes

Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation rapidly increases tyrosine phosphorylation (i.e. activates) of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) in human skin. EGFR-dependent signaling pathways drive increased expression of matrix metalloproteinases, whose actions fragment collagen and elastin fibers, the primary structural protein components in skin connective tissue. Connective tissue fragmentation, which results from chronic exposure to solar UV irradiation, is a major determinant of premature skin aging (photoaging). UV irradiation generates reactive oxygen species, which readily react with conserved cysteine residues in the active site of protein-tyrosine phosphatases (PTP). We report here that EGFR activation by UV irradiation results from oxidative inhibition of receptor type PTP-κ (RPTP-κ). RPTP-κ directly counters intrinsic EGFR tyrosine kinase activity, thereby maintaining EGFR in an inactive state. Reversible, oxidative inactivation of RPTP-κ activity by UV irradiation shifts the kinase-phosphatase balance in favor of EGFR activation. These data delineate a novel mechanism of EGFR regulation and identify RPTP-κ as a key molecular target for antioxidant protection against skin aging.
Developing online support for clinical information system developers: the FAQ approach

Abstract Objective: We investigate a knowledge-based help system for developers of an integrated clinical information system (CIS). The first objective in the study was to determine the system's ability to answer users' questions effectively. User performance and behavior were studied. The second objective was to evaluate the effect of using questions and answers to augment or replace traditional program documentation. Design: A comparative study of user and system effectiveness using a collection of 47 veritable questions regarding the CIS, solicited from various CIS developers, is conducted. Most questions were concerning the clinical data model and acquiring the data. Measurements: Answers using current documentation known by users were compared to answers found using the help system. Answers existing within traditional documentation were compared to answers existing within question–answer exchanges (Q-A's). Results: The support system augmented 39% of users' answers to test questions. Though the Q-A's were less than 5% of the total documentation collected, these files contained answers to nearly 50% of the questions in the test group. The rest of the documentation contained about 75% of the answers. Conclusions: A knowledge-based help system built by collecting questions and answers can be a viable alternative to large documentation files, providing the questions and answers can be collected effectively.
DOPA-Negative Melanocytes in the Outer Root Sheath of Human Hair Follicles Express Premelanosomal Antigens But Not a Melanosomal Antigen or the Melanosome-Associated Glycoproteins Tyrosinase, TRP-1, and TRP-2

It is believed that DOPA-negative melanocytes in the outer root sheath of the human hair follicle are activated, become identifiable by DOPA staining, and migrate into the epidermis during the repigmenting phase of vitiligo. These cells are difficult to identify, however, and otherwise have not been characterized. These cells are readily identified by immunofluorescence, imniunohistochemistry, and immunoelectronmicroscopy using the antibodies NKI/beteb and A4F11, which recognize premelanosome-related antigens. The majority of the outer root sheath melanocytes were found in the mid to the upper portion of the hair follicle. Double staining revealed that these cells were distinct from HLA-DR–bearing dendritic cells. Further immunohistochemical investigation using α -PEP-7, α -PEP-1, or TMH-1 and α -PEP-8 antibodies revealed that outer root sheath melanocytes cannot be identified by antibodies to tyrosinase, TRP-1, or TRP-2, respectively. These cells also did not react with HMB45 antibody, which recognizes a melanosome-associated cytoplasmic antigen. We believe that the inactive outer root sheath melanocytes contain some of the early structural proteins but not any of the enzymatic proteins necessary for melanogenesis. Therefore, activation is the process whereby outer root sheath melanocytes acquire all of the structural and enzymatic proteins necessary for melanogenesis.
An electronically gated gamma and X-ray calibration scheme

The construction and use are described for a radioactive calibration source that produces an electronic gating pulse when a calibration gamma ray is emitted and makes it possible to employ this source in many calibration or stabilizing tasks without the disadvantage of having to introduce extra counts into the unknown spectrum. The described source is radioactively safe, easy to construct, and has the ability of producing gating efficiencies as high as 98%.
How many ways to craft a cofactor

Standard textbooks define enzymatic cofactors as low molecular weight structures that are separate from and can bind reversibly to their cognate protein. As with all established paradigms, change is almost guaranteed, and work over the last decade has forced us to expand our definition of cofactor to include structures that are derived from the protein itself. Early studies of ribonucleotide reductase had indicated the presence of a protein-derived tyrosyl radical as the storage site for the free radical that initiates the conversion of ribonucleotides to deoxyribonucleotides (1). This was followed by the equally unorthodox finding of a protein-bound glycyl radical in select anaerobic proteins (2). More complex posttranslationally derived redox cofactors appeared on the scene in l990, with the discovery of the tyrosine-derived cofactor TPQ in a eukaryotic copper amine oxidase (3) (Fig. 1). The field of quino-cofactors has turned out to be structurally rich, with variants being reported that are formed from tryptophan as well as tyrosine. In a recent issue of PNAS, Datta et al. (4) amaze us further with a new quino-cofactor derived from the cross-linking of oxidized tryptophan and cysteine and designated CTQ (Fig. 1).
Risk assessment strategies as nanomaterials transition into commercial applications

Commercial applications of nanomaterials are rapidly emerging in the marketplace. The environmental and human health risks of many nanomaterials remain unknown, and prioritizing how to efficiently assess their risks is essential. As nanomaterials are incorporated into a broader range of commercial products, their potential for environmental release and human exposure not only increases, but also becomes more difficult to model accurately. Emphasis may first be placed on estimating potential environmental exposure based on pertinent physical properties of the nanomaterials. Given that the greatest potential for global environmental impacts results from nanomaterials that are both persistent and toxic, this paper advocates screening first for persistence since it is easier to assess than toxicity. For materials that show potential for persistence, a higher burden of proof of their non-toxicity is suggested before they enter the commercial marketplace whereas a lower burden of proof may be acceptable for nanomaterials that are less persistent.
Fluorescent Analogues of Myosin II for Tracking the Behavior of Different Myosin Isoforms in Living Cells

Fluorescently labeled smooth muscle myosin II is often used to study myosin II dynamics in non-muscle cells. In order to provide more specific tools for tracking non-muscle myosin II in living cytoplasm, fluorescent analogues of non-muscle myosin IIA and IIB were prepared and characterized. In addition, smooth and non-muscle myosin II were labeled with both cy5 and rhodamine so that comparative, dynamic studies may be performed. Non-muscle myosin IIA was purified from bovine platelets, non-muscle myosin IIB from bovine brain, and smooth muscle myosin II from turkey gizzards. After being fluorescently labeled with tetramethylrhodamine-5-iodoacetamide or with a succinimidyl ester of cy5, they retained the following properties: (1) reversible assembly into thick filaments, (2) actin-activatable MgATPase, (3) phosphorylation by myosin light chain kinase, (4) increased MgATPase upon light-chain phosphorylation, (5) interconversion between 6S and 10S conformations, and (6) distribution into endogenous myosin II-containing structures when microinjected into cultured cells. These fluorescent analogues can be used to visualize isoform-specific dynamics of myosin II in living cells.
Scattering of Stochastic Fields from Deterministic and Random Collections of Particles

We investigate the second-order statistical properties of fields scattered from collections of particles with the help of pair-scattering matrices. Both the incident light and the scatterers may be deterministic or random.
Local cross-border disease surveillance and control: experiences from the Mekong Basin

Background The Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance cooperation (MBDS) is one of several sub-regional disease surveillance networks that have emerged in recent years as an approach to transnational cooperation for infectious disease prevention and control. Since 2003 MBDS has pioneered a unique model for local cross-border cooperation. This study examines stakeholders’ perspectives of these MBDS experiences, based on a survey of local managers and semi-structured interviews with MBDS leaders and the central coordinator.
Reduction of clustering problem to pattern recognition

Abstract The computing time required by most of the clustering programs becomes prohibitively long as the number of objects to be classified increases. It is shown to be effective in overcoming this difficulty to select a small number of “representative” objects first and to apply the clustering program on them. The non-representative objects are thereafter placed in the generated classes by the pattern recognition technique, where the role of paradigms (class-samples) is played by the representative objects. The representative objects are those which have large components in the feature-subspace in the sense of SELFIC.
A note on computing the Drazin inverse

A method is given for computing the Drazin inverse of a square matrix A of order n as a polynomial in A of degree n - 1 or less from the characteristic polynomial of A. The Drazin (pseudo) inverse of a square matrix has recently been used in the solution of systems of differential or difference equations with singular constant coefficient matrices [l]. Methods for computing the Drazin inverse are therefore of some interest. In [l] a method is given for computing the Drazin inverse of an n X n matrix A as a polynomial in A of degree n - 1 or less provided the eigenvalues of A are known. In this note we show how to find the Drazin inverse using only the characteristic (or minimal) polynomial. Greville [2] has given an expression for the Drazin inverse of A as a polynomial in A. However, the Greville expression is usually of degree higher than n - 1 and must be reduced using the Cayley-Hamilton theorem. Our approach always yields a polynomial of degree n - 1 or less. Let A be an arbitrary square matrix of order n with complex elements and characteristic polynomial given by
Early Diffusion-Weighted Imaging and Perfusion-Weighted Imaging Lesion Volumes Forecast Final Infarct Size in DEFUSE 2

Background and Purpose—It is hypothesized that early diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) lesions accurately estimate the size of the irreversibly injured core and thresholded perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI) lesions (time to maximum of tissue residue function [Tmax] >6 seconds) approximate the volume of critically hypoperfused tissue. With incomplete reperfusion, the union of baseline DWI and posttreatment PWI is hypothesized to predict infarct volume. Methods—This is a substudy of Diffusion and Perfusion Imaging Evaluation for Understanding Stroke Evolution Study 2 (DEFUSE 2); all patients with technically adequate MRI scans at 3 time points were included. Baseline DWI and early follow-up PWI lesion volumes were determined by the RAPID software program. Final infarct volumes were assessed with 5-day fluid-attenuated inversion recovery and were corrected for edema. Reperfusion was defined on the basis of the reduction in PWI lesion volume between baseline and early follow-up MRI. DWI and PWI volumes were cor...
A pilot study to determine the incidence of the cationic trypsingen gene mutation in patients with alcoholic pancreatitis

The cationic trypsinogen gene mutation (R117H) has been associated with the development of hereditary pancreatitis. To date, the incidence of this mutation in patients with alcoholic pancreatitis is unknown. We report pilot data on 20 patients with alcohol as the sole cause of their pancreatitis.