cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Neuraminidase-mediated desialylation augments AAV9-mediated gene expression in skeletal muscle.

Background Following systemic delivery, AAV9-mediated gene expression is significantly increased in ischemic versus non-ischemic muscle, suggesting that AAV9 is an attractive vector for treating peripheral arterial disease. Potential mechanisms underlying ischemia-augmented expression include: (i) increased vascular permeability and (ii) "unmasking" of endogenous AAV9 receptors. In the present study, we aimed to reconstitute the ischemic induction of AAV9 in vivo, using local injection of histamine (to increase vascular permeability) and neuraminidase (to desialylate cell surface glycans). Methods Bioassays were performed to optimize the effects of histamine and neuraminidase after intramuscular injection. Histamine and/or neuraminidase were then injected intramuscularly shortly before intravenous injection of an AAV9 vector expressing luciferase. Luciferase expression was serially assessed with bioluminescence imaging. At the end of the study, tissues were harvested for assays of luciferase activity and AAV9 genome copy number aiming to assess AAV-mediated gene expression and transduction, respectively. Results Intramuscular injection of either neuraminidase or neuraminidase plus histamine significantly increased both transduction and gene expression, whereas histamine alone had little effect. Pre-injection with neuraminidase increased AAV9-mediated gene delivery by four- to nine-fold and luciferase activity by 60-100-fold. Luciferase activity in neuraminidase-injected muscle was > 100-fold higher than in any off-target tissue (including heart, liver and brain). Conclusions The ischemic induction of AAV9-mediated gene expression in muscle can largely be reconstituted by pre-injecting neuraminidase intranmuscularly. This strategy may prove useful in future human gene therapy protocols as a quick and efficient means to selectively target systemically injected AAV9 to localized regions of muscle, thus decreasing the potential for adverse effects in off-target tissues.
Ultrasonic Energy Harvesting Scheme for Implantable Active Stent

In this paper, we report an ultrasonic energy harvesting scheme that will provide a powering platform for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), named Autonomous Active Stent (AAS). The AAS harvests energy from ultrasound and powers a range of embedded sensor and electronics. This technique is expected to change the paradigm of current PCI by not only replacing the bare wire stent but also monitoring and preventing the failure. The device consists of 50µm-thick polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) with various surface patterns. The patterns were designed to allow expansion. The pattern also helps the AAS to induce an increase in surface vibration, which overall contributing higher power efficiency. The AAS with closely placed surface patterns exhibited higher output (14.8% improvement as compared to the plain PVDF). The AAS (3cm length, 1cm diameter) was able to generate 230µW of electrical power with an efficiency of 11.5% when it was exposed to 14MHz ultrasonic wave.
Evaluation of fatigue performance of additively manufactured SS316 via internal damping

Abstract Additively manufactured (AM) specimens made of stainless steel 316 are tested using the impulse excitation technique (IET) and their damping characteristics are correlated to fatigue life. Results reveal that the damping value is inversely proportional to the fatigue life of the specimens. It is also shown that the procedure enables one to determine the onset of crack initiation and thus provides a viable approach for monitoring the integrity of AM parts.
Impact of Delay in Treatment Initiation on Overall Survival in Laryngeal Cancers.

ObjectiveDelayed treatment significantly affects survival in head and neck cancer, but defining delays for specific subsites remains controversial. The purpose of this study is to elicit the time p...
Nanoparticle Delivery of RIG-I Agonist Enables Effective and Safe Adjuvant Therapy in Pancreatic Cancer.

Local immunomodulation can be a promising strategy to augment the efficacy and decrease off-target toxicities associated with cancer treatment. Pancreatic cancer is resistant to immunotherapies due to the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Herein, we investigated a therapeutic approach involving delivery of a short interfering double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), specific to Bcl2, with 5′ triphosphate ends, by lipid calcium phosphate nanoparticles, in an orthotopic allograft KPC model of pancreatic cancer. Retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I)-like receptors can bind to 5′ triphosphate dsRNA (ppp dsRNA), a pathogen-associated molecular pattern, producing type I interferon, while Bcl2 silencing can drive apoptosis of cancer cells. Our approach demonstrated a robust enrichment of tumor tissue with therapeutic nanoparticles and enabled a significant tumor growth inhibition, prolonging median overall survival. Nanoparticles encapsulating dual-therapeutic ppp dsRNA allowed strong induction in levels of pro-inflammatory Th1 cytokines, further increasing proportions of CD8+ T cells over regulatory T cells, M1 over M2 macrophages, and decreased levels of immunosuppressive B regulatory and plasma cells in the tumor microenvironment. Thus, these results provide a new immunotherapy approach for pancreatic cancer.
Mobile home resident evacuation vulnerability and emergency medical service access during tornado events in the Southeast United States

Abstract Tornado mortality is greatest in the Southeast United States (U.S.) due to an elevated tornado risk, a larger total developed land area, and a greater number of mobile and manufactured homes. The National Weather Service (NWS) and Federal Management Agency (FEMA) both recommend that mobile home residents evacuate to a nearby sturdier structure when tornado threats arise. However, previous research has indicated that less than 30% of mobile home residents evacuate their homes during tornado events despite their expressed willingness to flee. This study employs geospatial near and network analysis techniques from mobile and permanent homes to nearby potential sheltering locations to determine possible reasons for the less than ideal sheltering rates. Additionally, emergency medical service response times for mobile and permanent homes are also assessed using a network analysis methodology. Results indicate that the distances and travel times from mobile homes to shelters are significantly greater than that of permanent homes to shelters. The distances and travel times from first responder stations to mobile homes are also greater compared to those associated with permanent home residents. Findings from this research illustrate that in addition to mobile home residents being more physically and socioeconomically vulnerable to tornadoes, they are also disproportionally less served by potential sheltering locations and emergency services due to being located more commonly in rural areas, especially in southern Alabama. Outcomes from this study may also be utilized by emergency managers and policy makers to refine and implement new tornado preparedness and mitigation plans within southeastern U.S. communities.
Bending Losses in Optical Fibers

A typical single- or few-mode optical fiber is a thin glass cylinder with an outer diameter of roughly 103 μ. Most of the fiber makes up what is called the cladding, but at its center is an an inner core with a diameter of roughly 10μ containing glass with optical parameters slightly different from that in the cladding [1]. This is shown schematically in Figure 1. The inner core traps light because its index of refraction is larger than that in the surrounding cladding.
IMP: A message-passing algorithm for matrix completion

A new message-passing (MP) method is considered for the matrix completion problem associated with recommender systems. We attack the problem using a (generative) factor graph model that is related to a probabilistic low-rank matrix factorization. Based on the model, we propose a new algorithm, termed IMP, for the recovery of a data matrix from incomplete observations. The algorithm is based on a clustering followed by inference via MP (IMP). The algorithm is compared with a number of other matrix completion algorithms on real collaborative filtering (e.g., Netflix) data matrices. Our results show that, while many methods perform similarly with a large number of revealed entries, the IMP algorithm outperforms all others when the fraction of observed entries is small. This is helpful because it reduces the well-known cold-start problem associated with collaborative filtering (CF) systems in practice.
Corticosteroid use is not associated with improved outcomes in acute exacerbation of IPF.

Background and objective AE-IPF has profound prognostic implications, preceding approximately half of all IPF-related deaths. Despite this clinical significance, there are limited data to guide management decisions. Corticosteroids remain the mainstay of treatment despite a lack of strong supporting evidence and mounting concern that they may be harmful. We assessed the impact of corticosteroid therapy on in-hospital mortality in AE-IPF patients. Methods AE-IPF subjects were retrospectively identified in the UCSF medical centre's electronic health records from 1 January 2010 to 1 August 2018 using a code-based algorithm followed by case validation. The relationship between corticosteroid treatment and in-hospital mortality was assessed using a Cox model and a propensity score to control for confounding by indication. Secondary outcomes included hospital readmissions and overall survival. Results In total, 82 AE-IPF subjects were identified, of whom 37 patients (45%) received corticosteroids. AE-IPF subjects treated with corticosteroids were more likely to require ICU level care and mechanical ventilation. There was no statistically significant association between corticosteroid treatment and in-hospital mortality (propensity score weighted, adjusted HR: 1.31; 95% CI: 0.26-6.55; P = 0.74). Overall survival was reduced in AE-IPF subjects receiving corticosteroids (HR: 6.17; 95% CI: 1.35-28.14; P = 0.019). Conclusion Our study found no evidence that corticosteroid use improves outcomes in IPF patients admitted to the hospital with acute exacerbation. Furthermore, corticosteroid use may contribute to reduced overall survival following an exacerbation. Observational cohort studies using larger real-world cohorts can more definitively assess the relationship between corticosteroid treatment and short-term outcomes in AE-IPF.
An effective erythropoietin dose regimen protects against severe nerve injury-induced pathophysiological changes with improved neural gene expression and enhances functional recovery.

Abstract The functional recovery following non-severing peripheral nerve injury (PNI) is often incomplete. Erythropoietin (EPO) is a pleiotropic hormone and it has been shown to protect peripheral nerves following mild and even moderate severity injuries. However, the effectiveness of EPO in severe PNI is largely unknown. In this study, we sought to investigate the neuroprotective effect of a new dose regimen of EPO in severe sciatic nerve crush injury (SSCI). Adult male mice (8 animals/group) were randomly assigned to sham (normal saline, 0.1 ml/mouse), SSCI (normal saline, 0.1 ml/mouse) and SSCI with EPO (5000 IU/kg) groups. SSCI was performed using calibrated forceps for 30 sec. EPO or normal saline was administered intraperitoneally immediately after the SSCI and at post-injury day1 and 2. The functional recovery after injury was assessed by sciatic function index (SFI), von Frey Test (VFT), and grip strength test. Mice were euthanized on day 7 and 21 and nerves at injury/peri-injury site were processed for gene (quantitative real-time PCR) and protein (immunohistochemistry) expression analysis. EPO significantly improved SFI, VFT, and hind limb paw grip strength from post-injury day 7. EPO demonstrated significant regulatory effects on mRNA expression of inflammatory (IL-1β and TNF-α), anti-inflammatory (IL-10), angiogenesis (VEGF and eNOS), and myelination (MBP) genes. The protein expression of IL-1β, F4/80, CD31, NF-κB p65, NF-H, MPZ, and DHE (redox-sensitive probe) was also significantly modulated by EPO treatment. In conclusion, the new dose regimen of EPO augments sciatic nerve functional recovery by mitigating inflammatory, anti-inflammatory, oxidative stress, angiogenesis, and myelination components of SSCI.
“The Woman Who Talks”: A Qualitative Case Study in Feminist Jewish Rhetorics

Jewish rhetorics recently garnered critical attention in rhetoric studies, resulting in extensive scholarship attempting to carve out the field’s jurisdiction. Jewish feminist rhetoricians, for exa...
What happens to CEOs after they retire? New evidence on career concerns, horizon problems, and CEO incentives

Abstract This paper provides evidence on a previously unidentified source of managerial incentives: concerns about post-retirement board service. Both the likelihood that a retired CEO serves on his own board two years after departure, as well as the likelihood of serving as an outside director on other boards, are positively and strongly related to his performance while CEO. Retention on the CEO's own board depends primarily on stock returns, while service on outside boards is better explained by accounting returns. The evidence also suggests that firms consider ability in choosing board members.
Influence of Age on Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy and Atrophy Signaling: Established Paradigms and Unexpected Links

Skeletal muscle atrophy in an inevitable occurrence with advancing age, and a consequence of disease including cancer. Muscle atrophy in the elderly is managed by a regimen of resistance exercise and increased protein intake. Understanding the signaling that regulates muscle mass may identify potential therapeutic targets for the prevention and reversal of muscle atrophy in metabolic and neuromuscular diseases. This review covers the major anabolic and catabolic pathways that regulate skeletal muscle mass, with a focus on recent progress and potential new players.
Benefits of Model Updating: A Case Study Using the Micro-Precision Interferometer Testbed

This paper presents a case study on the benefits of model updating using the Micro-Precision Interferometer (MPI) testbed, a full-scale model of a future spaceborne optical interferometer located at JPL.
Do Liberals Play Nice? The Effects of Party and Political Ideology in Public Goods and Trust Games

We test whether party affiliation or ideological leanings influence subjects' behavior in public goods experiments and trust games. In general, party is unrelated to behavior, and ideology is not related to contributions in the public goods experiment. However, there is some evidence that self-described liberals are both more trusting and more trustworthy.
The Transformative Nature of Lasallian Research

Using the example of a research project with the Catalyst Schools, the author explores how early values clarification experiences formed the foundation of present-day experiences as a Lasallian researcher. Intersections among several dimensions of identity - educator, researcher, and social justice advocate - are described as tranformative resources in developing professional practice and in sustaining continuing scholarly engagement in educational research. This paper is adapted fromn the author’s presentation at the Third Annual Symposium on Lasallian Research, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, Minneapolis campus, September 29, 2014.
Low-cost closed-loop control of a 3D printer gantry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the improvements in speed and precision achievable using straightforward closed-loop control for the gantry motion in additive manufacturing machines. The authors designed and built an economically viable demonstration system to quantify the performance improvement. Design/methodology/approach – The authors develop and evaluate a low-cost closed-loop controller for the X and Y axes of an entry-level three-dimensional (3D) printer. The system developed captures and compensates for the dynamics of the motor and the belt-driven stage and detects mechanical errors, such as skipped motor steps. Findings – The system produces path-following precision improvements of 40 and 75 per cent for two different sample trajectories. Correcting for skipped steps increases reliability and allows for more aggressive tuning of motion parameters; time savings of up to 25 per cent are seen by doubling acceleration rate. Research limitations/implications – The system presented p...
Patterns of Household Financial Asset Ownership

Patterns of household financial asset ownership were investigated with data from the 1989 Survey of Consumer Finance. In terms of ownership associations between two assets, 22 pairs (61%) of assets showed positive effects on each other. For instance, owning a savings accounts increases the chance of owning checking accounts, and vice versa. Eight pairs (22%) did not affect each other in terms of ownership. Four pairs (11%) negatively influenced the ownership on each other. The remaining two pairs (6%) showed asymmetrical effects. These results may help planners better understand client behavior in owning various financial assets.
Spirituality and child welfare reunification: a narrative analysis of successful outcomes

When children are removed from their families because of maltreatment, the child welfare system seeks reunification whenever possible. Despite the importance of this goal, little is known about families who are able to achieve and maintain successful reunification. This qualitative study conducted in-depth interviews with 15 families who completed their child welfare case plans, were reunited with their children and remained together for at least 1 year post-reunification. Narrative analysis using a combination of thematic and structural coding was completed to examine the strengths and process families discussed related to their successful child welfare outcomes. This paper discusses one of those strengths, spirituality, in greater depth. Specifically, 12 participants situated the strength of spirituality within their stories as an important narrative element they perceived as critical, leading to important changes. Findings highlight the benefits some families receive from their spiritual beliefs, practices and faith communities when working towards reunification, suggesting child welfare practitioners be prepared to identify and honour this family strength.
Nonlocal Density Functionals for Exchange and Correlation: Theory and Applications

Density functional theory1–5 provides a common foundation for electronic structure calculations in chemistry and solid-state physics. Under the assumption of static nuclei, this theory predicts ground-state bond lengths, bond angles, energies, and electron spin densities that are exact in principle (Section 2). In practice, the density functional for the exchange-correlation energy must be approximated. The local spin density approximation (Section 3) has proved to be simple, tractable, and usefully accurate, despite its typical overestimation of bonding or cohesive energies.
Implementing Game Design in School: A Working Example | Mise en œuvre de la conception de jeu à l’école : un exemple pratique

This case uses a worked or “working example” model (Gee, 2010), documenting the implementation of a novel game design curriculum in the United States. Created by an Instructional Technology Administrator (ITA) and two classroom teachers, it was subsequently offered to high school students. With an aim of providing in-depth understanding of conditions necessary to bring game design experiences to classrooms, the research describes the context while revealing processes and instructor perceptions of the experience. Data collection and analysis in this working example include observation, teacher interviews, student surveys, and artifacts intended to make thinking and practices overt while inviting scholarly conversation around the curriculum’s successes and failures. Drawing on a previous case focused on initial course planning and early implementation (Author, 2013), this paper advances insight regarding the process of moving game design into schooling and concludes with a discussion of educational implications. Cette etude se sert d’un modele « d’exemple concret » (Gee, 2010) pour documenter la mise en œuvre d’un programme de conception de jeu aux Etats-Unis. Cree par un technopedagogue et deux titulaires de classe, le programme a ensuite ete offert a des eleves du secondaire. Visant a fournir une comprehension approfondie des conditions requises pour l’integration des experiences de conception de jeu en classe, l’etude decrit le contexte et revele les processus et les perceptions qu’a tires l’instructeur de l’experience. La collecte de donnees et l’analyse dans cet exemple concret comprennent l’observation, des entrevues avec les enseignants, des sondages aupres des eleves et des artefacts ayant pour but de rendre manifestes la reflexion et les pratiques tout en stimulant la conversation savante a propos des reussites et des echecs du programme. S’appuyant sur une etude prealable qui mettait l’accent sur la planification initiale du cours et le debut de sa mise en œuvre (Herro, 2013), cet article propose une perspective sur le processus d’integration de la conception de jeu dans la formation et conclut avec une discussion portant sur les repercussions pedagogiques.
The importance of purpose: moving beyond consent in the societal use of personal health information.

The increased availability of patient information through electronic health records has fueled debate about secondary use of these data. The authors report results from a national survey of patient...
Seasonal Bathythermal Distribution of Juvenile Lake Trout in Lake Ontario

Bathythermal distributions of hatchery-reared lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) of three genetic strains (Lake Superior; Clearwater Lake, Manitoba; and Seneca Lake, New York) were described from catches with bottom trawls in Lake Ontario during April-May, June, July-August, and October, 1978–1984. This work was part of a program to evaluate post-stocking performance of hatchery-reared fish and identify strains for continued use in rehabilitation of lake trout in Lake Ontario. All age groups of Lake Superior fish were in deeper water in April-May than in June each year; mean depth of capture was greatest at age II and became progressively shallower at ages III and IV. Mean depth of capture in April-May was positively correlated with severity of the preceding winter as judged by heating degree days and average wind speed. During July-August, the fish were concentrated between the epilimnion and 50 m, with no consistent trend in depth by age; however, 92% were captured at water temperatures of 12°C or lower. Mean temperatures of capture for Lake Superior fish during the four respective sampling periods were 3.9, 7.5, 6.9, and 9.5° C for fish of age II and 3.9, 8.4, 6.9, and 8.7° C for fish of age III. The age-II Clearwater Lake fish were consistently at shallower depths than age-II Lake Superior fish. Mean temperatures of capture were 4.2, 9.7, 9.6, and 10.7° C during the four respective sampling periods; during July-August, 91% were taken in water of 12° C or lower. The distribution of Seneca Lake fish was similar to that of the Lake Superior strain. Mean temperatures at which the three strains were captured were well below published preferred temperatures of yearlings in the laboratory. Annual variations in depth distributions during a given season were probably due to differing thermal regimes resulting from annual variations in the weather.
Requirement for the Vasa RNA helicase in gurken mRNA localization

Abstract Localization of specific mRNAs to distinct sites within theDrosophilaoocyte is an early and key step in establishing the anterior–posterior and dorsal–ventral axes. We describe a new function for the RNA helicase encoded by the “posterior” group genevasa(vas) in control of localization of the mRNA encoded by the “dorsal–ventral” patterning genegurken(grk). Two new ethyl methane sulfonate-induced, female sterile alleles ofvashave been isolated. In these mutantsgrkmRNA fails to become localized properly and GRK protein is barely detectable. Surprisinglyfs(1)K10, a recessive female sterile mutation that results in mislocalization ofGRKmRNA to the anterior end of the oocyte, is epistatic to thesevasalleles. This result demonstrates that GRK protein levels sufficient to dorsalize the egg chamber can accumulate invasmutants, iffs(1)K10is also mutant. Taken together these results suggest that regulation ofGRKmRNA localization normally occurs, directly or indirectly, through the VAS RNA-dependent RNA helicase and may suggest that accumulation of GRK protein normally depends onGRKmRNA localization.
Celecoxib-induced Sweet's syndrome

Sweet's syndrome and related neutrophilic dermatoses have been associated with a variety of medications. Celecoxib is a new cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitor recently approved for arthritis. We describe a 57-year-old man who experienced tender pustulopapular lesions on the dorsal aspects of the hands, neck, and legs 1 week after starting celecoxib. Histopathologic examination of the lesion showed a diffuse dermal neutrophilic infiltrate, edema of the papillary dermis, spongiform pustules, and no leukocytoclastic vasculitis. These findings were consistent with Sweet's syndrome. Without realizing a possible association, the patient rechallenged himself with a second course of the medication, which resulted in a rapid exacerbation of his lesions. After discontinuing the medication for the second time, the patient has had complete clearing of his lesions. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Sweet's syndrome associated with this new class of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
Treatment of electrographic seizures and status epilepticus in critically ill children: A single center experience

Purpose Electrographic seizures (ES) and electrographic status epilepticus (ESE) are common in encephalopathic children in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and associated with worse short-term outcome. Survey data indicate most physicians treat ES and ESE with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), but few data are available regarding AED usage patterns. We aimed to describe AED usage for ES and ESE in critically ill children.
The Joint Distribution of the Standardized Row Sums of Squares from a Balanced Two-Way Layout

Abstract A balanced two-way layout with no interaction is considered with the observations y ij being arranged in r rows and c columns (i = 1, …, r, j = 1, …, c). The error sum of squares for each row is defined as , and the total error sum of squares is defined as S = Σ r i = 1 S i. The joint distribution of S 1, …, S k (k ≤ r) and the joint distribution of S 1/S, …, S k/S (k < r) are derived. The distributional results are of the form conjectured by N.L. Johnson (1962). Finally, a procedure is considered for testing equality of the variances in the different rows which assumes the column variances are equal.
Modeling Multiple Noise Sources in Pulsed Stimulated Brillouin Scattering in Optical Fiber

We present comparisons of simulations and experimental measurements on the shaping of noise by stimulated Brillouin scattering in optical fiber. The effects of both intrinsic and technical noise on the Brillouin energy statistics are investigated.
Hallmarks of a clinical practice.

The American College of Radiology recently ratified a practice guideline on interventional clinical practice that includes very specific details about what constitutes a clinical practice for interventional radiology as well as interventional neuroradiology. Several “benchmarks” were developed. These “benchmarks” are felt to be important in the Society of Interventional Radiology strategic plan. Interventionalists need to establish themselves as disease process or organ system experts to succeed in obtaining clinical referrals. Interventionalists who don't take the initiative to obtain patients and populate their schedules with interesting, well-reimbursed procedures will be relegated to performing mundane services.
On measuring work ethic: A neglected work commitment facet.

Abstract Work ethic has been underrepresented in work commitment studies, compared to other work commitment facets such as job involvement, career commitment, and organizational commitment. Using exploratory factor analysis on an overall sample of 543 participants, this study identified a four-dimension work ethic concept. The four dimensions found were hard work, nonleisure, independence, and asceticism. Various subsample analyses further supported this four-factor structure. Results and limitations of the study, including the potential incorporation of a shortened 12-item work ethic scale into a more general work commitment measure, are discussed.
Comparative studies of glucose metabolism in corneas of the dogfish shark, longhorn sculpin and rainbow trout.

Abstract Oxygen consumption, glucose oxidation, and specific activities of representative enzymes of glycolysis, the hexose-monophosphate shunt (HMS), and the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) were measured in corneas of the dogfish shark, longhorn sculpin and rainbow trout. These three pathways of glucose metabolism are present in corneas of each of these species. The non-swelling cornea of the dogfish shark was found to have the lowest rate of glucose oxidation with relatively high HMS activity. Corneas of the marine and fresh water teleosts oxidize glucose at higher rates with less glucose diverted into the HMS pathway. Glucose metabolism in the elasmobranch cornea provides for cell division, maintenance and repair in this tissue. The metabolic requirements of these anabolic processes are largely fulfilled by HMS glucose oxidation. In the teleost cornea in addition to these functions, glucose metabolism also serves to fuel the energy dependent transport processes involved in the maintenance of corneal transparency. The glycolytic and tricarboxylic acid pathways are of particular importance in producing the ATP energy for these transport processes.
Left hand advantage in a self-face recognition task

Subjects were exposed to pictures of self and others (e.g., friend, stranger, and famous people) to determine if there was an advantage in reaction time and accuracy in identifying the self. It was found that upright and inverted self-faces were identified more rapidly than non-self faces when subjects responded with their left hand, which in other tasks has corresponded with contralateral hemispheric dominance. These data suggest that self-recognition may be correlated with neural activity in the right hemisphere, and that the differences observed may not be unique to self-face recognition. These results are in agreement with previous research indicating that self-directed awareness is correlated with right prefrontal activity.
Turning Lemons Into Lemonade: Building for Attentional Dynamism and Resourcefulness in Routines

The adage, “Turning Lemons into Lemonade,” is often used to describe resourcefulness in taking constraints of a situation or resource and turning it into something meaningful or of value. Organizat...
Hypertension treatment and management concerns in the elderly

Much of the developed world’s population is aging. Hypertension is a common condition that increases steadily with age and is most prevalent in the elderly. In the last two decades, a number of clinical trials have increased the awareness of the consequences of hypertension and enhanced the understanding of its treatment. Both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic strategies have been found to be successful in treating hypertension and reducing the frequency of associated morbidity and mortality in the elderly. Moreover, these treatments appear to be well tolerated and feasible to implement in geriatric populations. It is incumbent upon healthcare providers and policymakers alike to diligently pursue judicious management of hypertension in older patients.
Problems in the determination of serum fucose in diabetes mellitus

Abstract A recent report has suggested that associated with the diabetic state there is an increased synthesis of fucose manifested by rising serum fucose content after an oral glucose load. We have carried out investigations which suggest that this apparent rise in fucose may be an artifact introduced by the method used. The basic fucose method of Dische and Shettles may also be seriously disrupted in the presence of serum proteins and free or protein-bound carbohydrates.
SU-C-214-04: Variations in Tumor Motion Trajectory Due to Breathing Irregularity in 4D Cone Beam CT Using Prior Image Constrained Compressed Sensing (PICCS-4DCBCT)

Purpose: As breathing motion varies from cycle to cycle, the extracted motion profile from 4D Cone Beam CT represents an averaged motion over a number of breathing cycles. It is important to evaluate how the motion profiles extracted from 4DCBCT change with breathing cycle irregularity. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the robustness of 4D Cone Beam CT using the Prior Image Constrained Compressed Sensing method (PICCS‐4DCBCT). Methods: Numerical simulation studies were performed using a hybrid phantom. The phantom consists of in vivo human subject data and simulated lungcancertumors with motion. Different types of breathing irregularity were simulated in this study, including irregular amplitudes, irregular periods, baseline drifts and the combinations of the above. These simulated cases represent realistic scenarios commonly observed in clinical practice. Because of the random nature of breathing irregularity, 10 experiments were conducted for each irregular case to achieve statistically meaningful results. After image reconstruction, a free‐form deformable registration method was applied to extract the motion trajectory of the sphere. With the regular motion trajectory as reference, the normalized root mean square error (nRMSE) is used to characterize the variation in the extracted average motion trajectory. Results: As the irregularity in breathing amplitude increases and more types of breathing irregularity are included, the variation in the extracted average tumor motion trajectory becomes larger. However, the normalized root mean square error is below 11% for all studied irregular cases. Conclusions: The study demonstrates that tumor motion profiles are robust against breathing cycle irregularity when the PICCS‐4DCBCT method is used.
Resolution of aviation forensic toxicology findings with the aid of DNA profiling

Body components of aviation accident fatalities are often scattered, disintegrated, commingled, contaminated, and/or putrefied at accident scenes. These situations may impose difficulties in victim identification/tissue matching. The prevalence of misidentification in relation to aviation accident forensic toxicology has not been well established. Therefore, the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) toxicology database was searched for the 1998-2008 period for those cases wherein DNA profiling was performed to resolve identity issue of the samples submitted to CAMI for toxicological evaluation. During this period, biological samples from the casualties of a total of 3523 accidents were submitted to CAMI. The submitted samples were primarily from pilots. Out of the 3523 accidents, at least, one fatality had occurred in 3366 (≈ 96%) accidents; thus, these accidents were considered fatal accidents. Accordingly, biological samples from 3319 pilots (3319 of the 3366 accidents) were received at CAMI for toxicological testing. Of these 3319 pilots, 3275 (≈ 99%) were fatally injured. DNA profiling was performed in 15 (≈ 0.5%) of the 3319 accidents. The profiling was conducted upon the requests of families in two accidents, accident investigators in three, and pathologists in four. In six accidents, contradictory toxicological findings led CAMI to initiate DNA profiling. The requests made by families and investigators were primarily triggered by inconsistency between the toxicological results and the history of drug use of the victims, while by pathologists because of commingling of samples. In three (20%) of the 15 accidents, at least one submitted sample was misidentified or mislabeled. The present study demonstrated that the number of aviation accident cases requiring DNA profiling was small and this DNA approach was effectively applied in resolving aviation toxicology findings associated with those accidents.
Reply to ‘Comment on ‘To stack or not to stack: Performance of a new density functional for the uracil and thymine dimers’ [Chem. Phys. Lett. 459 (2008) 164]’

In this Letter, we want to address that the conclusions of the letter by Gu et al. have been misunderstood by Mourik in the comment. In our Letter (CPLETT-08-419R1), the good performance of the new functional M06-2X is concluded based on the comparison with the results based on the CCSD(T) studies. Also, we confirm here our previous assumption related to the nature of the stationary points on the MP2 potential energy surface.
Developmental Increase in 3H-muscimol Binding to the γ-aminobutyric acidA receptor in Hypothalamic and Limbic Areas of the Rat: Why is the Ventromedial Nucleus of the Hypothalamus an Exception?

Using in vitro autoradiography to measure binding of the gamma-aminobutyric acid(A) (GABA(A)) receptor agonist, muscimol, we examined male and female rats on postnatal days 1, 5, 10, and 20. There were no sex differences in muscimol binding in any hypothalamic or limbic regions examined. However, all regions exhibited a developmental increase in the density of binding, except the ventromedial nucleus (VMN) of the hypothalamus. We have previously shown that the adult VMN is the only hypothalamic nucleus containing an abundance of the alpha2 subunit of the GABA(A) receptor and lack of the alpha1 subunit. We hypothesize that the lack of alpha1 may be causally related to the lack of increase in muscimol binding.
Janus Nanoparticles by Interfacial Engineering

Nanosized Janus particles were prepared by ligand exchange reactions of a Langmuir monolayer of hydrophobic alkanethiolate-passivated gold nanoparticles at relatively high surface pressures with hydrophilic thiol derivatives injected into the water subphase. The ligand intercalation between adjacent particles led to impeded interfacial mobility of the particles. Consequently, ligand place-exchange reactions were limited only to the side of the particles facing the water phase, leading to the formation of amphiphilic nanoparticles which exhibited hydrophobic characters on one side and hydrophilic on the other, analogous to the dual-face Roman god, Janus. The unique amphiphilic characters of the Janus particles were confirmed by a variety of experimental measurements, including contact angle measurements, FTIR, UV-visible, and NMR spectroscopies. Interestingly, the Janus particles might be dispersed in water, forming micelle-like aggregates, as revealed in dynamic light scattering and AFM measurements.
Adults who stutter: responses to cognitive stress.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of speed and cognitive stress on the articulatory coordination abilities of adults who stutter. Cardiovascular (heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure), behavioral (dysfluencies, errors, speech rate, and response latency), and acoustic (word duration, vowel duration, consonant-vowel transition duration/extent, and formant center frequency) measures for nine stutterers and nine nonstutterers were collected during performance of the Stroop Color Word task, a well-established and highly stressful cognitive task. Significant differences were found between the two groups for heart rate, word duration, vowel duration, speech rate, and response latency. In addition, stutterers produced more dysfluencies under speed plus cognitive stress versus speed stress or a self-paced reading task. These findings demonstrate that the presence of cognitive stress resulted in greater temporal disruptions and more dysfluencies for stutterers tha...
Effect of processing temperature on the morphology of hydrothermally derived barium titanate/polymer thin films

Thin-film composites of BaTiO 3 particles in a polymeric matrix were processed by reacting films of a titanium alkoxide, mixed with a polybutadiene-polystyrene triblock copolymer, in aqueous solutions of 1.0 M Ba(OH) 2 at temperatures ranging from 60 to 90 °. After reaction, the composite films displayed distinct surface and subsurface morphologies. The film surface consisted of a continuous layer of BaTiO 3 grains, the film grain size decreasing from 180 to 60 nm as the reaction temperature increased from 60 to 90 °. The subsurface growth of BaTiO 3 depended on the presence of a percolating network of hydrolyzed titanium alkoxide, which enabled the reaction solution to permeate throughout the thin film. The resulting subsurface film morphology was composed of segregated regions of BaTiO 3 particles dispersed throughout the polymeric matrix. The growth of subsurface BaTiO 3 particles appeared to be constrained by the polymer matrix, resulting in a subsurface particle size of approximately 5 to 10 nm that was independent of the hydrothermal processing temperature. The reacted films displayed a dielectric constant ranging from 10 to 15 at room temperature and a frequency of 10 kHz.
Superconducting-cavity-stabilised oscillator of high stability

Superconducting Nb cavities of high Q factor have been used to stabilise Gunn-effect oscillators. These stabilised oscillators have given an r.m.s. frequency deviation σ(N = 2, r = 1.004, τ = 10) of (1.2±0.1)×10-13 for an averaging time of 10s.
Effects of intrathecal antagonists on the antinociception, hypotension, and bradycardia produced by intravenous administration of [D-Ala2]-methionine enkephalinamide (DALA) in the rat

Abstract DALA is a synthetic pentapeptide that produces inhibition of the tail-flick reflex evoked by radiant heat, as well as hypotension and bradycardia. Two experiments examined the effects of administration of various receptor antagonists into the subarachnoid space of the lumbar spinal cord on the antinociception produced by IV administration of DALA. Experiment 1 showed that intrathecal administration of 30 μg of phentolamine produced a significant reduction in the antinociceptive effect of DALA, while naloxone (30 μg), methysergide (30 μg), or vehicle control had no effect. Experiment 2 showed that intrathecal administration of combinations of either phentolamine and methysergide, or phentolamine and naloxone, were no more effective in reducing the antinociceptive effect of DALA than administration of phentolamine alone. These data demonstrate the involvement of descending noradrenergic systems in the production of antinociception by IV DALA. Further, they indicate that the antinociception produced by DALA is independent of a direct spinal action of the drug.
Normobaric hyperoxia combined with minocycline provides greater neuroprotection than either alone in transient focal cerebral ischemia

Normobaric hyperoxia (NBO), which maintains penumbral oxygenation, reduces brain injury during cerebral ischemia, and minocycline, a tetracycline derivative, reduces reperfusion injury, including inflammation, apoptosis and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) activation. Since they have different mechanisms of action, we hypothesized that combining them would provide greater neuroprotection. To test the hypothesis, we evaluated the neuroprotective effects of the combination of NBO with minocycline. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to NBO (95% O(2)) or normoxia (21% O(2)) during 90-min filament occlusion of the middle cerebral artery, followed by 48 h of reperfusion. Minocycline (3 mg/kg) or vehicle was intravenously administered to rats 15 min after reperfusion onset. Treatment with NBO and minocycline alone resulted in 36% and 30% reductions in infarction volume, respectively. When the two treatments were combined, there was a 68% reduction in infarction volume. The combination therapy also significantly reduced hemispheric swelling, which was absent with monotherapy. In agreement with its greater neuro- and vasoprotection, the combination therapy showed greater inhibitory effects on MMP-2/9 induction, occludin degradation, caspase-3 and -9 activation and apoptosis inducing factor (AIF) induction in ischemic brain tissue. Our results show that NBO plus minocycline effectively reduces brain injury in transient focal cerebral ischemia with protection due to inhibition on MMP-2/9-mediated occludin degradation and attenuation of caspase-dependent and independent apoptotic pathways.
Nonstationary response of nonlinear systems using equivalent linearization with a compact analytical form of the excitation process

Abstract A new method based on equivalent linearization approaches is presented for estimating the nonstationary response of a class of nonlinear multi-degree-of-freedom systems subjected to nonstationary excitations. The highly efficient method is based on creating a compact analytical approximation of measured nonstationary excitation process data through use of a two-stage decomposition procedure. The analytic data condensation of the excitation process is performed in two stages; (1) by performing the Karhunen–Loeve spectral decomposition on the covariance matrix of the input random process to obtain the dominant eigenvectors, and (2) by fitting these eigenvectors with orthogonal polynomials to produce a truncated series of analytically approximated eigenvectors. The efficiency and accuracy of the method is demonstrated through simulation with synthetically generated excitation data as well as measured data from a real-world physical process. Although the decomposition procedure used can characterize very general input processes, because the equivalent linearization technique requires the Gaussian assumption of the response process, the constraint on applying this approach is similar to the constraints on all other equivalent linearization techniques. However, the additional freedom gained from being able to work with data-based nonstationary random processes is a significant addition to this area of research.
Molecular modulation of Schottky barrier height in metal-molecule-silicon diodes: Capacitance and simulation results

There is considerable current interest in using molecular materials to influence the surface potential of semiconductor devices for nanoelectronic and sensing applications. We present experimental capacitance-voltage results showing that systematic Schottky barrier height modulation can be achieved using dipolar molecular layers in gold-molecule-silicon devices. A computational methodology that combines quantum chemistry and traditional electrostatic calculations is used to explore various physical effects that can influence barrier heights in such systems. Nonidealities such as silicon surface states can influence both the potential profile within the device and the validity of the extracted barrier height. Our devices exhibit low surface state densities, but the magnitude of surface potential modulation is modest due to molecular depolarization from the gold contact.