cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Estimating Fare Noninteraction and Evasion with Disaggregate Fare Transaction Data

Public transportation authorities rely on electronic fare transaction records for revenue collection, service planning, and performance measurement. When passengers make public transportation trips without interacting with the fare system, demand is underreported and fare revenue is lost. In some cases, this issue is studied through costly manual surveys that cover a small portion of stops and times. Based on disaggregate fare transaction data, this research introduces a framework and stochastic model for estimating fare noninteraction and evasion on systems without automatic passenger counting. The model produces estimates by stop and time of day that could be used by agencies to effectively target fare inspection and off-board validation resources, as well as to improve the accuracy of scaling for inferred origin–destination matrices. Applying the model to morning peak trips originating at inbound surface stations of Boston’s Green Line, it is estimated that the authority loses $3,600 per weekday to far...
Preliminary amino acid sequences of transplantation antigens: genetic and evolutionary implications.

The major histocompatibility complex of the mouse (H-2 complex) is a multigenic chromosomal region which was originally defined on the basis of eliciting rapid graft rejection (Gorer, 1937; Amos et al., 1955). Individuals that differ solely at this region rapidly reject tumor and skin grafts from one another (Counce et al., 1956). More recently, the major histocompatibility complex has occupied a central role in modern immunological research because of the variety of important immunologically related functions coded by this region (Shreffler and David, 1975; Klein, 1976). These include (1) genes determining specific immune responsiveness to a wide variety of antigens (the Ir genes) (Benacerraf and McDevitt, 1972; McDevitt et al., 1974a), (2) genes regulating Τ lymphocy te-B lymphocyte interactions that lead to specific immune responses (Katz et al., 1975), and (3) genes controlling the levels and/or structures of complement components (Goldman and Goldman, 1975). In addition, susceptibility to viral carcinogenesis also maps in this region (Lilly and Pincus, 1973).
Correction for Jandhyala et al., “Activation of the Classical Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases Is Part of the Shiga Toxin-Induced Ribotoxic Stress Response and May Contribute to Shiga Toxin-Induced Inflammation”

Volume 84, no. 1, p. 138–148, 2016, [https://doi.org/10.1128/IAI.00977-15][1]. Page 140: Figure 1 should appear as shown below. The figure has been revised so that, in each lane, loading controls are appropriately matched. ![Figure][2] Page 140, Fig. 1 legend, lines 2 and 3: “…HCT-8
Radiofrequency Ablation of Neuroendocrine Metastases

Neuroendocrine tumors encompass a wide spectrum of neoplasms with a common origin in the neuroendocrine cell system. They share the capacity for hormone secretion that results in distinct clinical syndromes. Although neuroendocrine tumors can arise in organs such as the adenohypophysis, thymus, lung, thyroid, adrenal medulla/paraganglia, and skin (1), most familiar are the gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors that include carcinoid and islet cell neoplasms. Given the high occurrence of hepatic metastases within this subgroup of neuroendocrine tumors, they are a model for the management of other hormonally active tumors.
The City as a Legal Concept

American cities today do not have the power to solve their current problems or to control their future development. Their impotence is expressed in their legal status. Under current law, cities have no “natural” or “inherent” power to do anything simply because they decide to do it. Cities have only those powers delegated to them by state government, and traditionally those delegated powers have been rigorously limited by judicial interpretation. Moreover, city authority exercised pursuant to unquestionably delegated powers is itself subject to absolute state control. In an attempt to curb this unrestrained power, most state constitutions have been amended to grant cities “home rule,” but local self-determination free of state control is still limited, even in those jurisdictions, to matters “purely local” in nature. These days, little, if anything, is sufficiently ”local” to fall within such a definition of autonomy. State law, in short, treats cities as mere “creatures of the state.”.
Resource Wealth as Leverage: Natural Resources and the Failure of Non-Violent Campaigns

While the growing body of research on non-violent political movements centres on the idea that choosing non-violence tends to produce more favourable outcomes for dissidents, the question of why some non-violent campaigns still fail has not been sufficiently empirically investigated. Building on the extant research on the effects of group dynamics and certain external actors, we examine the role of the natural resource wealth of target states on the outcomes of non-violent campaigns. We hypothesize that the probability that a non-violent movement will fail increases as the target state's natural resource wealth increases. This natural resource wealth could serve to neutralize the potential for support from both domestic and external actors, thereby increasing the risk of failure. The results of our statistical analyses support our hypothesis and suggest that non-violent campaigns are more likely to fail in states with higher natural resource wealth, particularly that which stems from oil.
An Analysis of Chinese Lesson Study from Historical and Cultural Perspectives

This chapter first reviews the origin and development of Lesson Study in China from the late nineteenth century to the present and identifies three main historical periods: (1) 1896–1949 when the initial forms of Lesson Study activities were first introduced and practiced, (2) 1949–1999 when Lesson Study became an institutionalized routine practice among prospective and practicing teachers, and (3) the year 2000 and beyond when Lesson Study in China started to take many more forms and developed its own distinguishing characteristics. Along the cultural dimension, this chapter introduces three sets of traditional beliefs and principles regarding teaching and learning that could help to make sense of Chinese Lesson Study: (1) It is important to learn exemplary knowledge and practice from masters and experts; (2) effective teaching and learning must blend profound theories with cycles of deliberate practice and refinement; and (3) learning also takes place among learner peers through mutual observations and discussions. Some of the challenges of implementing Lesson Study in China during the reform era and in international contexts are discussed. Topics for potential future research are outlined.
Two native Wisconsin nematodes represent virulent biocontrol agents in cranberries

Abstract In 2015 and 2016, surveys of entomopathogenic nematodes were conducted in the wild cranberry habitats of Wisconsin. The purpose of the survey was to find a biological control agent for control of insect pests of cranberries. Two nematodes, Oscheius onirici Torini (Rhabditida: Rhabditidae) and Heterorhabditis georgiana Nguyen (Rhabditida: Rhabditidae), were collected in this survey. Laboratory trials show that applications of either O. onirici or H. georgiana resulted in 75% and 65% mortality rates, respectively, when applied to sparganothis fruitworm Sparganothis sulfureana Clemens (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) larvae. In replicated field trials, both nematode species were also shown to significantly suppress the redheaded flea beetle, Systena frontalis Fabricius (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) populations. Collectively, these findings suggest that these nematodes may be promising bio-insecticides for cranberries.
Efficacy of medical cannabis for cancer-related pain in the elderly: A single-center retrospective analysis.

13Background: Use of medical cannabis (MC) for cancer-related symptoms is growing, yet many prior studies used formulations not available in the United States (US). Clinical data on formulation, do...
A Robust, Non-blind High Capacity & Secure Digital Watermarking Scheme for Image Secret Information, Authentication and Tampering Localization and Recovery via the Discrete Wavelet Transform

In today's world accessibility and trade of advance digital information over the web is of key significance. Security and verification of digital information, including digital images, is one of the greatest concerns. For this specific reason, in this paper we propose a non-blind watermarking technique for self-recovery and authentication of hidden images against unauthorized tampering by utilizing the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and the Arnold's Transform. Due to the nature of the Discrete Wavelet Transform, DWT-based watermarking schemes, in general, have the hidden images size limited to up to ${}^{1}/{}_{4}$ of the carrier image size; that is, for example, for a $256\mathrm{x}56$ -carrier image the size of the hidden images is usually up to $\mathbf{128\mathrm{x}128}$ . In this paper, we show how the proposed DWT-based technique (a) has a moderately high capacity capability as it allows hidden images of the same size as that of the carrier image, (b) uses a self-recovery framework for watermarking and information hiding that allows embedding twice the number of correction matrices as in prior related work. This makes the proposed non-blind technique equipped with about twice as much capability of self-recovery from unauthorized tampering as in prior work, (c) allows unauthorized tampering localization and recovery against unauthorized tampering such as image cropping, blurring, pixel tampering, (d) utilizes all three-color channels of a carrier image for watermarking and information hiding, and (e) adds security in the secret hidden image information. Experimental results are presented to show the potential value of the proposed non-blind method for multiple information hiding of same size and the carrier image, tampering detection/localization, authentication, and tampering self-recovery, including cropping, and robustness of the proposed scheme to JPEG compression and encryption, and other unauthorized tampering.
The Nature of the Mn(III) Color Centers in Elbaite Tourmalines

The characteristic red color of many natural tourmalines is due to the presence of Mn(III) cations substituting for aluminum and lithium. These sites originate as Mn(II) and are oxidized by natural...
Juxtapapillary Capillary Retinal Angioma and Epiretinal Membrane Management in a Monocular Patient with Von Hippel-Lindau Syndrome.

Purpose To report a case of von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) syndrome in a monocular patient with progressive vision loss due to Juxtapapillary Capillary Retinal Angioma and epiretinal membrane (ERM). Patient We describe a 37-year-old white male patient with von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) syndrome who presented for retinal evaluation. The right eye was blind with NLP vision. The left eye had a best-corrected visual acuity of 20/30 and exhibited a peripheral capillary hemangioblastoma (CH) at 12 o'clock and a juxtapapillary capillary hemangioma with an epiretinal membrane (ERM) covering the fovea. The patient underwent two sessions of Fluorescein Potentiated Argon Laser treatment to the peripheral CH with initial stabilization of vision. After 18 months of follow up, the ERM contracted causing decline in vision to 20/50. Intravitreal injection of bevacizumab was performed without improvement in vision or distortion. 25g pars plana vitrectomy with epiretinal membrane (ERM) peeling and internal limiting membrane (ILM) removal was performed with immediate improvement in vision and distortion. Conclusions This case suggests that pars plana vitrectomy is a reasonable treatment option for vision loss due to Juxtapapillary Capillary Retinal Angioma and epiretinal membrane (ERM) formation.
Unintended Side Effects in Complex Systems: Managing Project Risks and Wildfires

Effective project management will try to mitigate risks and prevent them from becoming issues where an issue means that a problem is impacting the project's ability to meet planned commitments. If not successful in preventing the risk from becoming an issue, project management will need to take immediate action to resolve the issue and avoid more impacts. Both of these activities rely on a common, fixed set of project resources for mitigation. This dual challenge is similar in many ways to the decisions faced in other fields to allocate resources between risk prevention and problem suppression such as in wildfire management. For most of the last century, the US Forest Service has focused on fire suppression when wildfires start. Rather than allowing frequent, small fires to burn, fire suppression leads to the accumulation of dead wood and other fuels leading to larger, hotter, and more dangerous fires, often consuming the oldest and largest trees which would have survived smaller fires unharmed. Therefore, wildfire management becomes a balancing between proactive prevention and reactive suppression in a system where physical and political dynamics interact. Important lessons can be learned for NASA project managers from the wildfire management case study. Effective risk management in space projects also balances suppression and prevention activities where an effective process will avoid project “fire-fighting.” Fire-fighting in project management is what happens when teams must fix problems late in the development cycle, and on most NASA projects, this needs to be done within the current resources available. Often successful fire-fighting is rewarded as heroism and is a sought after characteristic for project managers. The rewarding of successful fire-fighting can discourage future prevention activities because it is harder to recognize managers for problems that do not occur and is one of many factors that can contribute to unintended side effects. After exploring the dynamic interactions between components of wildfire management and space systems, we provide insights into improving risk management for NASA projects from our comparative case study method.
“More Fire Comin’ Up!”: The 360 Camera, Early Childhood, and Functioning Differently

FOR THE PAST YEAR, I HAVE BEEN FOCUSED ON INTRODUCING PRESCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN TO TECHNOLOGY WITHIN THEIR ARTMAKING AND PLAY SPACES. The intent of bringing technology into these spaces was focused o...
Anthropometric indicators as a discriminator of sarcopenia in community-dwelling older adults of the Amazon region: a cross-sectional study

Sarcopenia is a geriatric syndrome associated with negative health outcomes and the use of viable alternative screening tools may help in the diagnosis of this condition. This study aimed to analyze the association of sarcopenia with anthropometric indicators among community-dwelling older adults and to identify cut-off points for such indicators as a discriminant criterion for predicting sarcopenia. This was a cross-sectional study conducted on community-dwelling older adults ≥60 years old (n = 411) of both sexes from Macapa, Amapa, Brazil. Socioeconomic, clinical and anthropometric data (arm circumference - AC, waist circumference - WC, calf circumference - CC and body mass index – BMI) were collected using a structured form. Sarcopenia was identified according to the EWGSOP 2 consensus. The association between anthropometric indicators and sarcopenia was performed using logistic regression and cut-off points established from the ROC Curve. Statistical significance was defined as p ≤ 0.05. Adjusted analysis indicated an independent and inverse association between sarcopenia and the anthropometric indicators: AC (odds ratio, OR: 0.63; 95% confidence interval, 95%CI: 0.53–0.76), CC (OR: 0.73; 95%CI: 0.62–0.85), WC (OR: 0.93; 95%CI: 0.90–0.97) and BMI (OR: 0.64; 95%CI: 0.53–0.76). The following cut-off points for older men and women represented the discriminant criterion for the presence of sarcopenia: WC (≤97 and ≤ 86 cm), CC (≤33 and ≤ 31 cm), AC (≤27 cm) and BMI (≤24.8 kg/m2 and ≤ 24.5 kg/m2) (area under the ROC curve superior to 0.70). BMI and AC were the indicators with the highest ability to discriminate older adults of both sexes with sarcopenia. An increase of one unit of the indicators can reduce the probability of occurrence of sarcopenia. All indicators were considered to discriminate the occurrence of sarcopenia, with emphasis on BMI and AC, and could be used to screen for this condition among community-dwelling older adults.
Seroconversion stages COVID19 into distinct pathophysiological states

COVID19 is a heterogeneous medical condition involving a suite of underlying pathophysiological processes including hyperinflammation, endothelial damage, thrombotic microangiopathy, and end-organ damage. Limited knowledge about the molecular mechanisms driving these processes and lack of staging biomarkers hamper the ability to stratify patients for targeted therapeutics. We report here the results of a cross-sectional multi-omics analysis of hospitalized COVID19 patients revealing that seroconversion status associates with distinct underlying pathophysiological states. Seronegative COVID19 patients harbor hyperactive T cells and NK cells, high levels of IFN alpha, gamma and lambda ligands, markers of systemic complement activation, neutropenia, lymphopenia and thrombocytopenia. In seropositive patients, all of these processes are attenuated, observing instead increases in B cell subsets, emergency hematopoiesis, increased markers of platelet activation, and hypoalbuminemia. We propose that seroconversion status could potentially be used as a biosignature to stratify patients for therapeutic intervention and to inform analysis of clinical trial results in heterogenous patient populations.
Abstract PS11-31: Survival among female breast cancer patients who have survived a previous cancer

Background A growing number of women newly diagnosed with breast cancer have survived a previous cancer. Although little is known about their prognosis, this population is frequently excluded from clinical trials. Additional evidence about the survival of this population is needed, so that trial sponsors and investigators can create evidence-based trial eligibility criteria. Among women newly diagnosed with breast cancer, we examined the impact of previous cancer on overall and cancer-specific survival. Methods This population-based cohort study included patients age ≥66 years and diagnosed with breast cancer between 2005-2015 in linked SEER-Medicare data. Separately by breast cancer stage, we estimated overall survival using Cox regression and cause-specific survival using competing risk regression for women with and without previous cancer, adjusting for numerous covariates and competing risk of death from previous cancer, other causes, or the incident breast cancer. Results Of 138,576 women diagnosed with incident breast cancer, 10,822 (8%) had a previous cancer of another organ site. Many of these (n=5,014, 46.3%) were diagnosed ≤5 years of breast cancer. For all breast cancer stages except IV in which there was no significant survival difference, women with vs. without previous cancer had worse overall survival. This survival disadvantage was driven by deaths due to the previous cancer and other causes. In contrast, women with previous cancer generally had favorable breast-cancer specific survival; however this varied somewhat by stage and over time. Conclusions Many women newly diagnosed with breast cancer are already cancer survivors. These women had generally worse overall survival, worse survival from other causes, but their disease-specific survival varied depending on their breast cancer stage and over time. Citation Format: Sandi L Pruitt, Hong Zhu, Daniel Heitjan, David E Gerber, Bhumika Maddineni, Danyi Xiong, Ethan Halm, Caitlin Murphy. Survival among female breast cancer patients who have survived a previous cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS11-31.
A random forest model for forecasting regional COVID-19 cases utilizing reproduction number estimates and demographic data

AO_SCPLOWBSTRACTC_SCPLOWDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, predicting case spikes at the local level is important for a precise, targeted public health response and is generally done with compartmental models. The performance of compartmental models is highly dependent on the accuracy of their assumptions about disease dynamics within a population; thus, such models are susceptible to human error, unexpected events, or unknown characteristics of a novel infectious agent like COVID-19. We present a relatively non-parametric random forest model that forecasts the number of COVID-19 cases at the U.S. county level. Its most prioritized training features are derived from easily accessible, standard epidemiological data (i.e., regional test positivity rate) and the effective reproduction number (Rt) from compartmental models. A novel input training feature is case projections generated by aligning estimated effective reproduction number from a compartmental model with real time testing data until maximally correlated, helping our model fit better to the epidemics trajectory ascertained by traditional models. Any poor reliability of Rt due to flaws in the compartmental model are mitigated with dynamic population mobility and prevalence and mortality of non-COVID-19 diseases to gauge population disease susceptibility. The model was used to generate forecasts for 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks into the future for each reference week within 11/01/2020 - 01/10/2021 for 3068 counties. Over this time period, it maintained a mean absolute error (MAE) of less than 300 weekly cases/100,000 and consistently outperformed or performed comparably with gold-standard compartmental models. Furthermore, it holds great potential in ensemble modeling due to its potential for a more expansive training feature set while maintaining good performance and limited resource utilization.
Electrotaxis-on-Chip to Quantify Neutrophil Migration Towards Electrochemical Gradients

Electric fields are generated in vivo in a variety of physiologic and pathologic settings, including wound healing and immune response to injuries to epithelial barriers (e.g. lung pneumocytes). Immune cells are known to migrate towards both chemical (chemotaxis), physical (mechanotaxis) and electric stimuli (electrotaxis). Electrotaxis is the guided migration of cells along electric fields, and has previously been reported in T-cells and cancer cells. However, there remains a need for engineering tools with high spatial and temporal resolution to quantify EF guided migration. Here we report the development of an electrotaxis-on-chip (ETOC) platform that enables the quantification of dHL-60 cell, a model neutrophil-like cell line, migration toward both electrical and chemoattractant gradients. Neutrophils are the most abundant white blood cells and set the stage for the magnitude of the immune response. Therefore, developing engineering tools to direct neutrophil migration patterns has applications in both infectious disease and inflammatory disorders. The ETOC developed in this study has embedded electrodes and four migration zones connected to a central cell-loading chamber with migration channels [10 µm X 10 µm]. This device enables both parallel and competing chemoattractant and electric fields. We use our novel ETOC platform to investigate dHL-60 cell migration in three biologically relevant conditions: 1) in a DC electric field; 2) parallel chemical gradient and electric fields; and 3) perpendicular chemical gradient and electric field. In this study we used differentiated leukemia cancer cells (dHL60 cells), an accepted model for human peripheral blood neutrophils. We first quantified effects of electric field intensities (0.4V/cm-1V/cm) on dHL-60 cell electrotaxis. Our results show optimal migration at 0.6 V/cm. In the second scenario, we tested whether it was possible to increase dHL-60 cell migration to a bacterial signal [N-formylated peptides (fMLP)] by adding a parallel electric field. Our results show that there was significant increase (6-fold increase) in dHL60 migration toward fMLP and cathode of DC electric field (0.6V/cm, n=4, p-value<0.005) vs. fMLP alone. Finally, we evaluated whether we could decrease or re-direct dHL-60 cell migration away from an inflammatory signal [leukotriene B4 (LTB4)]. The perpendicular electric field significantly decreased migration (2.9-fold decrease) of dHL60s toward LTB4 vs. LTB4 alone. Our microfluidic device enabled us to quantify single-cell electrotaxis velocity (7.9 µm/min ± 3.6). The magnitude and direction of the electric field can be more precisely and quickly changed than most other guidance cues such as chemical cues in clinical investigation. A better understanding of EF guided cell migration will enable the development of new EF-based treatments to precisely direct immune cell migration for wound care, infection, and other inflammatory disorders.
County Social Vulnerability and Influenza Vaccine Rates: National and Local Estimates for Medicare Recipients.

Introduction Seasonal influenza vaccination among older adults is well below the recommendation of Healthy People 2020. Although geographic disparities in influenza vaccination are well documented, it remains unclear how community attributes correlate with influenza vaccination rates. Social vulnerability measures play an important role in interventions addressing vaccine equity; however, social vulnerability dimensions as corollaries of vaccination are poorly understood. To inform vaccine equity interventions, this analysis investigates spatially varying associations between county social vulnerability and influenza vaccination rate among Medicare recipients. Methods County-level 2018 data (N=3,105) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Social Vulnerability Index were merged with the percentage of Medicare recipients vaccinated against influenza. Multilevel linear regression and geographically weighted regression generated global and local estimates, adjusted for potential confounders. Analyses were conducted in November 2020–April 2021. Results A 10-percentile point increase in the overall Social Vulnerability Index was associated with an 0.87-point decrease in percentage vaccinated (p Conclusions Medicare recipients in socioeconomically vulnerable counties have low influenza vaccination rates, particularly in select regions of the country. Best practices to improve vaccine access and uptake should be targeted and should explicitly consider local socioeconomic vulnerability.
Enabling Longitudinal Respiration Monitoring Using Vapor-Coated Conducting Textiles

Wearable sensors allow for portable, long-term health monitoring in natural environments. Recently, there has been an increase in demand for technology that can reliably monitor respiration, which ...
The Bigamy Plot: Sensation and Convention in the Victorian Novel

Introduction Part I. A Wife and Not a Wife: 1. The plot in time: historical bigamy and Sylvia's Lovers 2. The plot in space: skeletons in the closet in Jane Eyre and East Lynne Part II. Dead Yet Not Dead: 3. David Copperfield's angelic bigamy 4. Dorothea's simultaneous remarriage Part III. Sensational and Canonical: 5. Colonial return: Pendennis and Lady Audley's Secret 6. The improper end: Aurora Floyd and Jude the Obscure Coda: the end of bigamy Appendix: list of Victorian bigamy novels Bibliography.
Caring for Victims of Rape

Rape is the most rapidly increasing violent crime in the United States (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1978). As incidents of rape and requests for treatment of its aftereffects continue to grow in number (McCombie, Bassuk, Sayitz, & Pell, 1976), more health care providers find themselves confronted with the responsibility of responding to the medical and psychologic needs of rape victims. Providing care to the rape victim is especially challenging because this traumatic experience profoundly affects the individual and evokes strong feelings in the caretaker as well (Silverman, 1977). Myths and misconceptions (Brownmiller, 1975) about rape are common and often influence the attitudes, expectations, and behavior of not only the victims but the important people in their lives including their friends, families, and medical caregivers.
Measurement of spin correlation coefficients in p → p → → d π +

The spin correlation coefficent combinations A{sub xx}+A{sub yy} and A{sub xx}-A{sub yy}, the spin correlation coefficients A{sub xz} and A{sub zz}, and the analyzing power were measured for p(vector sign)p(vector sign){yields}d{pi}{sup +} between center-of-mass angles 25 degree sign {<=}{theta}{<=}65 degree sign at beam energies of 350.5, 375.0, and 400.0 MeV. The experiment was carried out with a polarized internal target and a stored, polarized beam. Nonvertical beam polarization needed for the measurement of A{sub zz} was obtained by the use of solenoidal spin rotators. Near threshold, only a few partial waves contribute, and pion s and p waves dominate with a possible small admixture of d waves. Certain combinations of the observables reported here are a direct measure of these d waves. The d-wave contributions are found to be negligible even at 400.0 MeV. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society.
An unstable strain of Aspergillus foetidus segregating proline auxotrophs.

Two basic colony types have been obtained through single conidial isolation from the Bode strain of Aspergillus foetidus as well as from mutants of this unstable strain. Type I is prototrophic whereas type II is an auxotroph requiring proline. When a type I strain is grown on complex medium it gradually becomes overwhelmed by type II sectors of growth. However, essentially pure cultures of type I can be maintained on minimal medium (lacking proline). The yield of glucoamylase from type II cultures is less than half that obtained with type I cultures. The instability of type I cultures when grown on complex medium can not be explained by heterokaryosis or the presence of virus like particles found in the original Bode strain and its derivatives. The isolation of five stable prototrophic strains obtained as more rapidly growing sectors from type I subcultures grown on complex medium suggests that the instability most probably results from a duplicated chromosomal segment or other chromosomal oberration analogous to those described in A. nidulans.
Practices and preferences for detecting chronic medication toxicity: a pilot cross-sectional survey of health care providers focusing on decision support systems.

Rationale, aims, and objectives Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a critical concern: they are costly, both in dollars and in diminishing patients' quality of life. ADRs that occur due to prolonged exposure to a pharmaceutical agent (adverse drug reactions of long latency, ADRLLs) may be easier to prevent than acute ADRs, as ADRLLs inherently require continued medication exposures. This pilot study used glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (GIO) as an example ADRLL. The aims were to survey health care providers' current practices in avoiding ADRLLs and the perceived utility of decisional support systems (DSS) to aid them in preventing GIO. Methods We administered an anonymous, cross-sectional survey to health care providers (fellows, doctor assistants, nurse practitioners and attending doctors) focusing on their methods to monitor for and prevent ADRLLs. The questionnaire also gauged usage of electronic medical records (EMRs) and each provider's perceived utility of specific DSS-based approaches to monitoring for GIO. Data were interpreted using descriptive statistics and histograms. Results A majority of the 33 responding providers (84.8%) reported that their primary ADRLL avoidance technique is simply remembering that a patient is on chronic glucocorticoids. The most favourably perceived DSS options included tracking medications on a flow sheet (84.8%) and digital tracking of cumulative glucocorticoid exposure with real-time prompts (83.9%). Conclusions Surveyed providers reported that additional DSS implementation may help in the avoidance of ADRLLs such as GIO. Providers ranked both digital and non-digital DSS favourably, but a computerized approach is appealing in that it may be integrated into extant EMR systems.
Introducing User Profiles and Personas into Information Systems Development

Traditional information systems (IS) development adopts a systematic approach for conducting analysis, design, and testing, without necessarily using a specific user model that personalizes the system to one or more user groups. This quasi-experimental study of multi-cases explores introducing novice developers to two User-centered Design tools— user profiles and personas—as a part of the systems analysis and design methodology. Profiles and personas are structured ways of typifying a group of users in text and pictorial form (e.g., conceptually modeling the users). The study results indicate developers find both tools are useful in capturing the team’s understanding of user groups and meeting end users’ objectives; though, profiles seem to have a slight edge over personas. In addition, case analysis indicates the use of user profiles and personas may produce design and implementation deliverables that enhance alignment with system objectives and end users.
Ubiquinol-Cytochrome c Oxidoreductase THE REDOX REACTIONS OF THE BIS-HEME CYTOCHROME b IN UBIQUINONE-SUFFICIENT AND UBIQUINONE-DEFICIENT SYSTEMS

Antimycin and myxothiazol are stoichiometric inhibitors of complex III (ubiquinol-cytochrome c oxidoreductase), exerting their highest degree of inhibition at I mol each/mol of complex III monomer. Phenomenologically, however, they each inhibit three steps in the redox reaction of the bis-heme cytochrome b in submitochondrial particles (SMP), and all three inhibitions are incomplete to various extents. (i) In SMP, reduction of hemes bH and bL by NADH or succinate is inhibited when the particles are treated with both antimycin and myxothiazol. Each inhibitor alone allows reduced bH and bL to accumulate, indicating that each inhibits the reoxidation of these hemes. (E)-Methyl-3-methoxy-2-(4')-trans-stilbenyl)acrylatc in combination with antimycin or 2-n-heptyl-4-hydroxyquinoline-N-oxide in combination with myxothiazol causes less inhibition of b reduction than the combination of antimycin and myxothiazol. (ii) Reoxidation of reduced b, is inhibited by either antimycin or myxothiazol (or 2-n-heptyl-4-hydroxyquinoline-N-oxide, (E)-methyl-3-methoxy-2-(4'-trans-stilbenyl)acrylate, or stigmatellin). (iii) Reoxidation of reduced bH is also inhibited by any one of these reagents. These inhibitions are also incomplete, and reduced bL is oxidized through the leaks allowed by these inhibitors at least 10 times faster than reduced bH. Heme bH can be reduced in SMP via cytochrome c, and the Rieske iron-sulfur protein by ascorbate and faster by ascorbate + TMPD (N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine). Energization of SMP by the addition of ATP affords reduction of bL as well. Reverse electron transfer to bH and bL is inhibited partially by myxothiazol, much more by antimycin. Ascorbate + TMPD also reduce bH in ubiquinone-extracted SMP in which the molar ratio of ubiquinone to cytochrome b has been reduced 200-fold from 12.5 to aproximately 0.06. Reconstitution of the extracted particles with ubiquinone-10 restores substrate oxidation but does not improve the rate or the extent of b, reduction by ascorbate + TMPD. These reagents also partially reduce cytochrome b in SMP from a ubiquinone-deficient yeast mutant. The above results are discussed in relation to the Q-cycle hypothesis.
Mechanistic Implications of Mg++, Adenine Nucleotide, and Inhibitor Effects on Energy-linked Reactions of Submitochondrial Particles

Abstract Oxygen exchange reactions in sonically prepared submitochondrial particles show a nearly absolute dependence upon added adenine nucleotides. The orthophosphate ⇌ adenosine triphosphate and the ATP ⇌ HOH exchange reactions, in contrast to the Pi ⇌ HOH exchange, are favored by presence of ADP rather than ATP, are more sensitive to p-mercuribenzoate and to 2,4-dinitrophenol, and require a higher Mg++ concentration. The marked disparities in exchange rates at low ADP concentrations are theoretically incompatible with a reaction scheme involving only one point of entry of water oxygen. The ATP-driven energy-linked reduction, ATPase activity, and a prominent Pi ⇌ HOH exchange will proceed at much lower Mg++ concentrations than required for the ATP ⇌ HOH and Pi ⇌ ATP exchanges. The Pi ⇌ HOH exchange induced by ATP cleavage occurs principally with Pi of the medium. The ATP ⇌ HOH exchange, but not the Pi ⇌ HOH exchange, appears to occur only in association with oxidative phosphorylation. Reactions separate from the phosphorylation reaction of oxidative phosphorylation appear responsible for ATP-driven energy-linked reduction, ATPase activity, and a prominent Pi ⇌ HOH exchange. These and other results are consistent with a mechanism for oxidative phosphorylation in which a "high energy" compound or state, independent from concomitant oxidation-reduction, drives water formation directly from an oxygen of Pi, resulting in ATP formation by a concerted reaction or with transient metaphosphate formation. Present data do not, however, eliminate an indirect route of oxygen from Pi to water.
Perceptions and Uses of Technology among Adolescent Boys and Girls

In this study, I used interpretive methods in an open-ended computer environment to study and explain gender diversity in middle school computer classrooms. Through observations and a series of focus groups, I found that adolescent boys and girls view and use computers differently. Each gender seems to accept this as a natural part of their culture, and, in general, are accepting of each other’s visions and uses. Turkle and Papert called for a new social construction of the computer to contribute to our understanding of the ways males and females think about and use computers. This paper answers that call. It breaks ground for future studies to create, and simultaneously study, computer cultures which honour female and male ways of knowing and which allow the research community to begin to break down gender stereotypes and the idea of one privileged — usually male — way of thinking about computers.
Generating programming language-based pattern matchers

This paper is based on a logical extension of our past work in pattern matching tools [22, 24, 25 ] for reverse engineering. We explore two new directions: first, we investigate the need for new and more powerful source code and pattern representations to support a richer set of queries; and second, we develop the concept of automatic generation of pattern matchers for different programming languages starting from a high-level specification of the programming language. A generator will eliminate the need for manually-coded pattern matchers for different programming languages. Preliminary ideas are discussed and a roadmap of research issues is presented.
Pulsatile Flow Computational Simulations of Mitral Regurgitation

The noninvasive quantification of mitral regurgitation remains an important clinical goal. Recently, the flow convergence method was developed to estimate the regurgitant flow rate. This study used three-dimensional pulsatile flow computational simulations to evaluate the accuracy of the flow convergence method in the presence of complicating factors such as ventricular confinement, noncircular orifice shape, and the presence of aortic outflow. Results showed that in the absence of aortic outflow and ventricular confinement, there was a plateau zone where the calculated flow rate by the hemispheric formula approximated the true flow rate, independent of the orifice shape. In the presence of aortic outflow and in chambers of physiologic dimensions, there was no longer a clear zone where the hemispheric formula was valid. The hemi-elliptic modification of the flow convergence method worked in all cases, independent of the degree of ventricular confinement or the presence of aortic outflow. Therefore, application of the hemi-elliptic formula should be considered in future clinical studies.
Multilayer coextrusion of rheologically modified main chain liquid crystalline polymers and resulting orientational order

Abstract Liquid crystalline polymers (LCP) are attractive candidates for use as barrier films in packaging and high performance membrane applications due to their extraordinary barrier properties and chemical resistance. However, LCPs usually display extremely low viscosities, which makes processing them into multilayer films using coextrusion a challenge due to the mismatch of their viscosities with other film components. In this study, a commercial grade diepoxy reagent (Heloxy 67) was used to modify the rheological properties of a thermotropic main chain LCP. The effects of diepoxy concentration and reaction time on the melt viscosity and liquid crystal structures of the LCP were investigated. The addition of small amounts of diepoxy (e.g., 1.5 wt. %) increased the viscosity of the LCP nearly 15-fold. However, addition of excessive diepoxy (e.g., 2 wt. % or greater) led to cross-linking of the LCP. More importantly, these modified samples were thermally stable when melt reprocessed at temperatures of up to 250 °C in air. High quality multilayer films were prepared by coextruding the rheologically modified LCP with polypropylene-graft-maleic anhydride. The orientational order of the LCP in the multilayer films was studied by polarized infrared spectroscopy as well as x-ray diffraction. Interestingly, instead of aligning along the shear direction, the LCP chains tended to orient perpendicular to the extrusion direction, presumably due to a ‘log-rolling’ effect during processing.
Helium discharge detector for quantitation of volatile organohalogen compounds

A helium discharge has been evaluated as an element-selective, gas chromatographic detector for volatile organohalogen compounds. Absolute limits of detection ranged from 3 pg for chloroform to 29 pg for p-dibromobenzene with a linear response of 10(3)-10(4). The relative response of the detector was determined to be based solely on the mass of the halogen species present. This feature allowed for relatively simple quantitation of chlorinated and brominated haloform species in water samples by the addition of a single internal standard for calibration of the halogen response.
Pancreatitis-associated with riluzole; linezolid-induced hypoglycemia; sorafenib-induced acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis; creatine supplementation-induced thrombotic events; acute pancreatitis associated with quetiapine; hypomagnesemia and seizure associated with rabeprazole.

PANCREATITIS-ASSOCIATED WITH RILUZOLE A 79-year-old male was admitted to the hospital with severe upper abdominal pain and vomiting. The patient had no history of alcohol consumption, biliary stones, diabetes, trauma, hypercalcemia, hyperlipidemia, previous acute pancreatitis, or chronic pancreatitis. The patient’s medication history only revealed irbesartan, which the patient has been receiving for a number of years for his hypertension, and riluzole (Rilutek) 50 mg 3 times daily for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The patient had been receiving riluzole for 3 months. On admission, the patient’s vital signs and physical exam were unremarkable except for a tender abdomen. Lab test results were a serum amylase 1,298 U/L (reference range, ≤100 U/L), lipase 1,650 U/L (reference range, 13-63 U/L), moderate leukocytosis with a white blood cell (WBC) count 15.75 x 109/L (reference range, 4.1-10.9 x 109/L). Additional laboratory assessments were within normal limits, including total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, c-glutamyl transpeptidase, alkaline phosphatase, serum lipids, and serum calcium. Tests for autoantibodies and possible infectious causes were also negative. The patient received a CT scan 72 hours after the onset of symptoms that revealed mild swelling of the pancreatic body and tail with a focal necrotic area in the distal portion of the tail.
Morphine and endorphins modulate dopamine turnover in rat median eminence.

Abstract The is evidence that some of the actions of both endogenous and exogenous opioids (e.g., stimulation of prolactin release) are mediated by interaction with catecholaminergic systems. Morphine (1.67, 5, and 15 mg/kg of body weight, intraperitoneally) altered dopamine turnover as measured by the alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine method in the median eminence, neostriatum, and frontal cortex of male Sprague-Dawley rats. The turnover rate of dopamine was reduced in the median eminence and frontal cortex but accelerated in the neostriatum. In the frontal cortex all doses were effective in decreasing dopamine turnover; however, in the median eminence the lowest dose of morphine did not significantly alter dopamine turnover. All three doses accelerated dopamine turnover in the neostriatum. Naloxone effectively reversed the effects of morphine at all doses in all brain areas, whereas it had no effect on turnover when given alone. In the median eminence, neostriatum, and frontal cortex, intraventricular injection of [D-Ala2,D-Leu5]-enkephalin (25 micrograms) or beta-endorphin (15 micrograms) produced the same effects on dopamine turnover as morphine. The actions of these peptides were blocked by naloxone. It is hypothesized that opiates and opioid peptides increase prolactin release by reducing the activity of the tuberoinfundibular dopaminergic system.
Ask the Experts: How can we improve the management of fungal infections in immunocompromised patients?

Jose A Vazquez, MD, FACP, FIDSA, is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Wayne State University School of Medicine (Detroit, MI, USA) and Senior Staff Physician in the Division of Infectious Disease, Henry Ford Hospital (Detroit, MI, USA). He is also the Director of the Microbiology and Infectious Disease Translational Research Center at Henry Ford Hospital. Vazquez’s research includes the epidemiology and management of fungal infections, the evaluation of newer antifungals, antifungal resistance mechanisms and characterization of polymicrobial biofilm formation. He serves on the editorial board of numerous peer-reviewed journals and has written numerous papers, abstracts, case reports and book chapters in the area of mycology.
Managing design quality and conformance quality: models and insights

Traditionally design quality and conformance quality are considered separately in the literature. In this paper we integrate these two quality dimensions into stylised quality decision models for synthesising design quality cost, conformance quality cost and product revenue components. We show that under both decision scenarios (either customer can or cannot perceive the actual quality deviations at purchasing time), optimal design quality, conformance quality and price decisions are positively interrelated. Our research offers both theoretical and practical contributions towards total quality management.
Experiments on the physiology of egg white secretion.

Abstract INTRODUCTION UPON resecting part of the chalaziferous region of the oviduct, Burmester and Card (1939) observed that a large proportion of the hens which laid after such an operation produced a high percentage of yolkless eggs. Since the majority of these eggs contained no yolk or other foreign material, a mechanical stimulus in the lumen of the magnum was not present to initiate white secretion. Asmundson (1931) suggested that white secretion for a dwarf egg may be initiated by a stimulus arising from the yolk partly entering the funnel and then escaping into the body cavity. However, Burmester and Card (1939) described a case in which yolkless eggs were laid by a hen whose funnel had been removed from the oviduct by transection, and the latter had grown closed. It is the purpose of this paper to report on further experiments on the alteration of the oviduct by operative procedure, . . .