cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cervical meningocele in association with spinal abnormalities.

Case report This case report presents a newborn baby girl, who was diagnosed at birth with a mid-cervical meningocele. Further radiographic workup by MRI revealed co-existing thoracic diplomyelia and bilateral tethered cords. At birth the patient was found to be neurologically intact. Surgery was performed at 4 months of age, the patient undergoing simultaneous repair of the cervical meningocele, exploration of the diplomyelia, and release of the tethered cords bilaterally. Long-term follow-up revealed an ambulating patient with no bowel or bladder incontinence, who has developed well for her chronological age so far.
Altered Hypothalamic-Pituitary Regulation of Thyrotropin in Male Rats during Aging*

The hypothalamic-pituitary regulation of TSH secretion in vivo during aging was examined in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Parameters that were assessed include the circadian pattern of serum TSH, changes in plasma TSH after iv or pituitary administration of TRH at several dosages, and the possible influence of circulating levels of corticosterone, T3, and T4 on pituitary sensitivity to TRH-mediated TSH secretion. Concentrations of circulating TSH, serum T3, and T4 were determined by RIA. The fractions of T3 and T4 not bound to serum proteins (free T3 and T4) were determined by equilibrium dialysis. The concentration of serum corticosterone was assayed fluorometrically. The principal findings are as follows. 1) The circadian periodicity of serum TSH in 2-month-old rats, characterized by a zenith at 1000 h and a nadir at 2200 h, is progressively abolished by 24 months of age, whereas the average serum TSH concentration remains unchanged during this portion of the lifespan. In contrast, the circadian periodicity...
Abnormal salivary cortisol levels in social phobic patients in response to acute psychological but not physical stress.

Abstract Background: Little is known about the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis response to acute stressful behavioral challenges in patients with social phobia. Methods: Eighteen patients with social phobia and 17 normal volunteers participated in two behavioral stressors: a speech task and physical exercise. Results: Normal volunteers (n = 14) demonstrated a significant 50% increase in salivary cortisol levels to the speech task. Three nonresponding normal volunteers demonstrated a 17% decrease. In contrast, patients with social phobia demonstrated dichotomous changes. Seven social phobia patients demonstrated a significantly higher 90% increase in salivary cortisol to the speech task, whereas the remaining patients (n = 11) were nonresponders demonstrating a 32% decrease in cortisol. Both patient groups were significantly more anxious than the normal volunteers. In contrast to the response to a speech task, social phobics showed a cortisol response to physical exercise of similar magnitude as normal volunteers. Conclusions: The results indicated dichotomies in magnitude and in distribution of the cortisol response to a speech task between social phobia patients and normal volunteers. Social phobia patients responded differently than normal volunteers to a stressor associated with social evaluation but not to physical exercise. These results suggest adaptation of distinct biological processes specific to different stressful conditions in social phobia.
Assembly of Aβ proceeds via monomeric nuclei

Aggregation of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides is fundamental to Alzheimer's disease. It has now been shown that nucleated proliferation of Aβ fibrils utilizes a secondary mechanism with existing fibrils catalyzing the formation of new ones. Here it is shown that the data for Aβ40 and Aβ42 require that the nuclei be monomeric; that is, an initial, unfavorable conformational change is rate limiting for the processes that appear to be nucleation. Following the conformational change, the assembly process is "downhill" despite clear lag times and significant concentration dependence. The similarity to polyglutamine nucleation suggests that monomeric nuclei may be widespread in amyloid formation.
Heuristic combinatorial optimization in the design of manipulator workspace

A method for the optimum design of manipulator workspace is provided based on a recently established criterion. Analytical and computer-aided procedures are presented for the determination of the geometrical proportions of a manipulator for optimum workspace. An effective algorithm is developed by combining a heuristic optimization technique and a computer program for kinematic analysis of manipulators. Two problems are investigated. The first is concerned with the optimum design of a manipulator that has three revolute joints and a spherical joint at the wrist, called the RRRS manipulator; the second is concerned with the problem of design improvement for five commercial robots for larger workspace volume. The potential applicability of the procedure is demonstrated.
Critical Reflections on Hamiltonian Perspectives on Rule‐Making and Legislative Proposal Initiatives by the Chief Executive

Reflecting on James Hart and Edwin Witte’s analysis affords the field a rare opportunity to observe the complexities of a separation-of-powers system in action. In making their case, they underscored the importance of the president having a substantial supervisory role in the way administrative agencies write rules and propose legislative measures. As a result, they ignored Congress’s constitutional responsibility to supervise, regulate, and guide these areas of administrative law. Their highly controversial arguments not only provide the field with a broader understanding of the overall mission of the Brownlow Committee, but also we can see how they influenced the development of the administrative state.
The Sharing Tracker: Using Ideas from Cache Coherence Hardware to Reduce Off-Chip Memory Traffic with Non-Coherent Caches

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have recently emerged as a new platform for high performance, general-purpose computing. Because current GPUs employ deep multithreading to hide latency, they only have small, per-core caches to capture reuse and eliminate unnecessary off-chip accesses. This paper shows that for general-purpose workloads, the ability to copy cache lines between private caches captures inter-core temporal locality and provides substantial reductions in off-chip bandwidth requirements. Unlike hardware cache coherence, a sharing tracker only needs to track cache lines in the private caches imprecisely, because it is only a performance hint. This simplifies the implementation and is so effective at capturing inter-core reuse that the L2 can be eliminated entirely. The sharing tracker is motivated by but not specific to the GPU and could be used in other manycore organizations.
Conformational response to solvent interaction and temperature of a protein (Histone h3.1) by a multi-grained monte carlo simulation.

Interaction with the solvent plays a critical role in modulating the structure and dynamics of a protein. Because of the heterogeneity of the interaction strength, it is difficult to identify multi-scale structural response. Using a coarse-grained Monte Carlo approach, we study the structure and dynamics of a protein (H3.1) in effective solvent media. The structural response is examined as a function of the solvent-residue interaction strength (based on hydropathy index) in a range of temperatures (spanning low to high) involving a knowledge-based (Miyazawa-Jernigan(MJ)) residue-residue interaction. The protein relaxes rapidly from an initial random configuration into a quasi-static structure at low temperatures while it continues to diffuse at high temperatures with fluctuating conformation. The radius of gyration (Rg ) of the protein responds non-monotonically to solvent interaction, i.e., on increasing the residue-solvent interaction strength (fs ), the increase in Rg (fs ≤fsc ) is followed by decay (fs ≥fsc ) with a maximum at a characteristic value (fsc ) of the interaction. Raising the temperature leads to wider spread of the distribution of the radius of gyration with higher magnitude of fsc . The effect of solvent on the multi-scale (λ: residue to Rg ) structures of the protein is examined by analyzing the structure factor (S( q ),|q| = 2π/λ is the wave vector of wavelength, λ) in detail. Random-coil to globular transition with temperature of unsolvated protein (H3.1) is dramatically altered by the solvent at low temperature while a systematic change in structure and scale is observed on increasing the temperature. The interaction energy profile of the residues is not sufficient to predict its mobility in the solvent. Fine-grain representation of protein with two-node and three-node residue enhances the structural resolution; results of the fine-grained simulations are consistent with the finding described above of the coarse-grained description with one-node residue.
Continuous Computer Acquisition of Feed and Water Intakes, Chewing, Reticular Motility, and Ruminal pH of Cattle

Abstract The monitoring of feeding, chewing, and ruminal activity was integrated into one data acquisition system for continuous measurement of 12 dairy cows. Feed mangers were hung from single-point load cells for measurement of feed disappearance from individual stalls. Water flow meters, inserted in supply lines for each stall, generated pulse output for electronic summation of water intake. Jaw movements were detected with a water-filled tube connected to a pressure transducer under the cow's jaw to determine chewing activity. Similar tubes were used to detect contractions in the reticulum. Ruminal pH was monitored continuously with an electrode and pH transmitter. All signals were processed and recorded on a microcomputer using commercially available computer hardware and software. One file was written for each cow monitored. Data were interpreted using algorithms developed with SAS software. Two studies were conducted with 10 lactating cows to evaluate the performance of acquisition hardware, protocols, and interpretation algorithms. Use of only one algorithm to interpret behavior of many cows sacrificed accuracy of bout time borders for some individual cows. Nonetheless, high correlations (r≥.85) between computer-interpreted and manually determined variables indicated that performance of the acquisition system was acceptable. With continuous measurement of many cow feeding variables, a more complete understanding of dietary effects on digestive function and performance is possible.
Cyclosporine treatment for autoimmune sensorineural hearing loss

Abstract Rationale Autoimmune sensorineural hearing loss (ASNHL) remains without an adequate therapy other than corticosteroids. Here we report 2 patients who had a favorable response to cyclosporine (CSA). Cases/results Patient 1. A 58-year-old white male was diagnosed with ASNHL following an upper respiratory tract infection. He responded well to high dose prednisone but attempts at tapering were unsuccessful. CSA was started at 4 mg/kg/day with a dramatic response, which allowed tapering the prednisone to 20 mg/day. When CSA was tapered down, he had a prompt and significant worsening of his hearing and his word recognition dropped to 44%. Resuming the original dose of CSA brought his hearing back to baseline and his word recognition to 92% within a week. Patient 2. A 57-year-old white female underwent a left cochlear implant for longstanding hearing loss. One month following surgery, however, the hearing in both ears started to deteriorate. ASNHL was diagnosed. Despite continued high dose prednisone, the hearing in her right ear continued to deteriorate. CSA was started at 4 mg/kg/day. Her hearing improved markedly with word recognition improving to 86% with the hearing aid. 8 weeks later CSA was stopped because of incapacitating tremors. Her hearing then worsened significantly despite treatment with steroids. Conclusions ASNHL is a well-established autoimmune disease with poor response to most immunosuppressants. CSA has been successfully used in rheumatoid arthritis and, at low doses, in autoimmune urticaria. These two patients suggest that low dose CSA can be an invaluable tool in the treatment of ASNHL and, perhaps, other autoimmune disorders.
Board-level signal integrity methodology

The board-level signal integrity, a new methodology to indicate the performance quality of a PCB channel, is introduced in this paper. Instead of the eye height and the eye width, the pseudo eye and amplitude ratio are defined as performance indicators of a PCB channel. The two applications of board-level signal integrity methodology are also given.
Atypical reginal vasculitis associated with ticlopidine hydrochloridine use.

Abstract PURPOSE: To describe two cases of retinal vasculitis shortly after the initiation of ticlopidine hydrochloride (Ticlid, Roche, Kingsland St, NJ) therapy. METHODS: Case reports of two patients. The first patient was a 43-year-old white woman complaining of spots, floaters, and flashes of lights in both eyes 3 weeks after the initiation of treatment with ticlopidine hydrochloride. The second patient was a 72-year-old woman complaining of decreased visual acuity in the left eye for 2 weeks, 4 weeks after initiating oral administration of ticlopidine hydrochloride. RESULTS: Both patients had resolution of the vasculitis after the discontinuation of ticlopidine therapy. CONCLUSION: The temporal relation and the resolution of symptoms after discontinuation of ticlopidine hydrochloride suggest that the vasculitis was related to the ticlopidine hydrochloride administration. Knowledge of this potential complication of ticlopidine hydrochloride is important for the early diagnosis of this possible drug-induced side effect and the cessation of ticlopidine hydrochloride.
A non-linear model for measuring grapevine leaf thickness by means of red-edge/near-infrared spectral reflectance

Abstract Vegetation is a key element of our ecology system. The leaf area and its thickness provide valuable information about the status of our environment. Thus, there is a need for accurate, efficient, practical methodologies to estimate this biochemical parameter. Hyperspectral measurement is a means of quickly assessing leaf parameter in situ. In the past decades, there were lots of work (Boyd et al. [6] ) that focused on measurement of leaf area index, but very few on measurement of leaf thickness. In this paper, reflectance of grape leaves was measured over the spectral range of 350–1010 nm. The corresponding thickness of leaves from four grapevine cultivars was also measured as part of seventeen field campaigns undertaken during the summer of 2007. An artificial-intelligence technique, the support vector machine (SVM) model, was introduced to establish the relationship between the leaf thickness and red-edge/near-infrared (NIR) reflectance, with variability examined among individual cultivars as well as at various growth stages. The best wavelengths were variable depending on the grape cultivar and growth stage. The SVM model allows compilation of factors such as cultivar and growth stage with spectral information to yield a superior result.
Protein Kinase C β Is Required for Human Monocyte Chemotaxis to MCP-1

Abstract Monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) is important in attracting monocytes to sites of inflammation. Using predominantly pharmacological approaches, prior studies have indicated that serine/threonine kinases are involved in the MCP-1-induced signaling pathways. We report here that there is substantial inhibition of MCP-1-stimulated chemotaxis of human monocytes treated with inhibitors selective for the subset of serine/threonine kinases, protein kinase C (PKC). Selective inhibitors of PKC such as GF109203X and Calphostin C both caused ∼80% inhibition of chemotaxis. Because these pharmacological inhibitors do not specifically inhibit individual PKC isoforms, we chose to use antisense oligodeoxyribonucleotides (ODN) to specifically reduce PKC isoform expression, first by inhibiting expression of the conventional PKC family, and next by using specific antisense ODN for PKCα and PKCβ. Conventional PKC-antisense ODN treatment completely and significantly inhibited monocyte chemotaxis to MCP-1, whereas sense-control ODN caused no significant inhibition. PKCβ-antisense ODN caused 89.2% inhibition of chemotaxis at its highest dose. In contrast, PKCβ-sense ODN and PKCα-antisense and -sense ODN were without effect. Further studies evaluating the calcium response that is triggered upon MCP-1 interaction with its receptor, CCR2, indicate that this response is not altered by antisense or sense ODN treatment, thus supporting our hypothesis that PKCβ is critical for post-receptor signal transduction downstream of the immediate calcium signal. These data contribute to our developing understanding of the signal transduction pathways involved in the chemotactic response of human monocytes to MCP-1 and uniquely identify the requirement for the PKCβ isoform in this important process.
Utrecht's Shining Moment

Joaneathan A. Spicer with Lynn Federle Orr Masters of Light: Dutch Painters in Utrecht During the Golden Age
The effect of neighborhood disadvantage on proactive and reactive aggression

The current study examined the effect of neighborhood disadvantage on proactive and reactive aggression in a sample of 126 children (66% male) identified as aggressive. Sixth-grade proactive and reactive aggression was regressed on fifth-grade proactive and reactive aggression, neighborhood disadvantage, gender, and race. Findings suggested that neighborhood disadvantage was a significant unique predictor of proactive but not reactive aggression. Implications for findings are discussed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Translocator Protein (TSPO) Role in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease

Cellular damage and deregulated apoptotic cell death lead to functional impairment, and a main consequence of these events is aging. Cellular damage is initiated by different stress/risk factors such as oxidative stress, inflammation, and heavy metals. These stress/risk factors affect the cellular homeostasis by altering methylation status of several aging and Alzheimer's disease associated genes; these effects can be manifested immediately after exposure to stress and at later stages of life. However, when cellular damage exceeds certain threshold levels apoptosis is initiated. This review discusses the stress factors involved in cellular damage and the role and potential of TSPO-mediated cell death in aging as well as in Alzheimer's disease, which is also characterized by extensive cell death. Mitochondrial-mediated apoptotic death through the release of cytochrome c is regulated by TSPO, and increased expression of this protein is observed in both elderly people and in patients with Alzheimer's disease. TSPO forms and mediates opening of the mitochondrial membrane pore, mPTP and oxidizes cardiolipin, and these events lead to the leakage of apoptotic death mediators, such as cytochrome c, resulting in cell death. However, TSPO has many proposed functions and can also increase steroid synthesis, which leads to inhibition of inflammation and inhibition of the release of apoptotic factors, thereby decreasing cell damage and promoting cell survival. Thus, TSPO mediates apoptosis and decreases the cell damage, which in turn dictates the process of aging as well as the functionality of organs such as the brain. TSPO modulation with ligands in the Alzheimer's disease mouse model showed improvement in behavioral symptoms, and studies in Drosophila species showed increased cell survival and prolonged lifespan in flies after TSPO inhibition. These data suggest that since effects/signs of stress can manifest at any time, prevention through change in lifestyle and TSPO modulation could be potential strategies for altering both the aging process and the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
Outbreak of Ceftazidime Resistance Due to a Novel Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase in Isolates from Cancer Patients

Ceftazidime is widely used in the therapy of infectious complications in neutropenic patients. We studied an outbreak of ceftazidime-resistant gram-negative bacillary infections in pediatric cancer patients receiving empirical ceftazidime therapy for neutropenic fever. Fourteen isolates (12 Klebsiella pneumoniae and 2 Escherichia coli) from 13 patients were studied. Specimens were obtained from multiple clinical sites including blood, urine, throat, and lung. The organisms were resistant to ceftazidime, aztreonam, and penicillins but remained susceptible to cephamycins and imipenem. All resistant isolates produced a novel beta-lactamase (TEM-26) with a pI of approximately 5.58, which was transferred by transformation to E. coli on a 7.9-kb nonconjugative plasmid which cotransferred resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. This enzyme readily hydrolyzed ceftazidime, aztreonam, and penicillins in a spectrophotometric assay. DNA sequencing data suggest that TEM-26 is derived from TEM-1.
Development and testing of an impact plate yield monitor for peanuts

Abstract. Advancements in precision agriculture technologies such as yield monitors have allowed for improved management capabilities and reduced input costs for a number of crops. Most commercialized developments in yield monitoring systems and technologies to date have been directed for use with the major grain crops such as corn, soybeans and cereal grains. This research focuses on development and testing of an impact plate yield monitor system for the peanut harvest. Using a four row peanut combine in virginia type peanuts, 4.8 ha (12 ac) of simultaneous yield data were recorded from an Ag Leader® grain (impact plate) yield monitor and an Ag Leader® cotton (optical) yield monitor. An instrumented cart was used to weigh calibration loads for the two yield monitors tested. Mean absolute error across 10 loads in two fields was 10.2% for the impact plate and 1.54% for the optical yield monitor. Full-season data was not obtained for the impact yield monitor, but mean absolute error for the optical yield monitor across the 2012 harvest season was 9.4%. Regression analyses indicate that use of the two monitors in unison may result in reduced error of the estimate. A large portion of the error calculated for the impact plate yield monitor may be attributable to excessive vibration from the older, straw walker type combine used in this study.
Teaching HDFS/MapReduce Systems Concepts to Undergraduates

This paper presents the development of a Hadoop MapReduce module that has been taught in a course in distributed computing to upper undergraduate computer science students at Clemson University. The paper describes our teaching experiences and the feedback from the students over several semesters that have helped to shape the course. We provide suggested best practices for lecture materials, the computing platform, and the teaching methods. In addition, the computing platform and teaching methods can be extended to accommodate emerging technologies and modules for related courses.
A model for fusion and code motion in an automatic parallelizing compiler

Loop fusion has been studied extensively, but in a manner isolated from other transformations. This was mainly due to the lack of a powerful intermediate representation for application of compositions of high-level transformations. Fusion presents strong interactions with parallelism and locality. Currently, there exist no models to determine good fusion structures integrated with all components of an auto-parallelizing compiler. This is also one of the reasons why all the benefits of optimization and automatic parallelization of long sequences of loop nests spanning hundreds of lines of code have never been explored. We present a fusion model in an integrated automatic parallelization framework that simultaneously optimizes for hardware prefetch stream buffer utilization, locality, and parallelism. Characterizing the legal space of fusion structures in the polyhedral compiler framework is not difficult. However, incorporating useful optimization criteria into such a legal space to pick good fusion structures is very hard. The model we propose captures utilization of hardware prefetch streams, loss of parallelism, as well as constraints imposed by privatization and code expansion into a single convex optimization space. The model scales very well to program sections spanning hundreds of lines of code. It has been implemented into the polyhedral pass of the IBM XL optimizing compiler. Experimental results demonstrate its effectiveness in finding good fusion structures for codes including SPEC benchmarks and large applications. An improvement ranging from 5% to nearly a factor of 2.75× is obtained over the current production compiler optimizer on these benchmarks.
In Vitro Verification of Antithrombotic Effect of Recombinant Soluble Nucleotide Triphosphate Diphosphohydrolase 1

PURPOSE Ecto-ADPase (NTPDase1 or CD39) has been identified on endothelial cells and found to be antithrombogenic, with actions resulting from degradation of adenosine diphosphate (ADP), a thrombogenic molecule secreted by activated platelets at sites of vascular injury. Reasoning that the ADPase activity of CD39 might provide clinical use as an antithrombotic agent, the authors investigate the comparative ability of the agent to inhibit platelet and fibrin deposition. MATERIALS AND METHODS With use of an in vitro perfusion system, fresh, heparinized human blood was passed over expanded polytetrafluoroethylene grafts at hemodynamic conditions similar to those observed in the human arterial circulation. Three different concentrations of CD39 (30 mcg/mL, 100 mcg/mL, and 300 mcg/mL) were compared with abciximab (4 mcg/mL) and heparin controls. The deposition of radiolabeled platelets and fibrinogen was measured in five perfusions for each treatment group. RESULTS The addition of soluble CD39 to heparinized blood inhibited platelet deposition to an extent greater than that of heparin alone ( P = .04). Effects were similar to those observed with abciximab. The addition of CD39 to heparinized blood did not result in augmentation of fibrin inhibition beyond that observed with heparin alone. The fibrin inhibitory effects of CD39 appeared to be less significant than the fibrin inhibition observed with abciximab, but this difference did not attain statistical significance. CONCLUSION These results suggest that recombinant CD39 holds potential as antithrombotic agent, with the potential to achieve antiplatelet effects similar to that observed with abciximab.
Implantable defibrillators in long QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.

Abstract Sudden death is often the first manifestation in inherited cardiac arrhythmia syndromes. Patients with long QT syndrome who have an episode of syncope while on beta-blockade should be offered an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). In Brugada syndrome and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, ICDs are often the most effective treatment of primary and secondary prevention of cardiac arrest. Risk stratification is crucial in identifying those at greatest risk to provide lifesaving therapy with an ICD while avoiding complications in those unlikely to receive benefit.
Visual communication systems: Trials and experiences

Over the last fifteen years, a wide variety of visual communication systems have been introduced. Past experience with their use for business teleconferencing, telemedicine, and two-way cable television services has fallen short of expectations. This experience is reviewed and issues are identified which may influence the direction of future applications.
Experimental investigation of charged liquid jet efflux from a capillary

The shapes and electrical characteristics of charged liquid (water, ethanol, glycerol, castor oil) jets emitted from a metal capillary have been experimentally studied depending on the applied high voltage. A map of efflux regimes in the flow velocity-applied voltage coordinates is constructed for water. The effects of medium viscosity, surface tension, and charge relaxation time on the laws of jet efflux are analyzed.
Optical Fiber-Based Wave Mixing as a Convenient and Sensitive Laser Analytical Tool for Condensed-Phase Analytes

A fiber-optic degenerate four-wave mixing (D4WM) probe for the measurement of small absorptions in liquid-phase samples is described. Laser D4WM is a nonlinear laser spectroscopic technique that has proven to be highly sensitive for the detection of trace analytes in condensed-phase media. A significant improvement in the forward-scattering optical arrangement of D4WM is demonstrated by using optical fibers for both laser light input and output. There is considerable flexibility inherent in the design since the system may be used in three configurations: (1) the simplest case of transmitting the signal radiation by optical fiber to the detection electronics, (2) the case of guiding the excitation beams to the analyte by polarization-maintaining optical fibers, and (3) the combination of both. The optical fiber-based D4WM system is shown to be an effective and sensitive laser analytical spectroscopic method for trace analysis, offering advantages such as detection in very small probe volumes, remote and in situ analysis, and convenient and efficient optical alignment enhancements obtained by the use of optical fibers.
Some features of PPL, a polymorphic programming language

I want to spend the first portion of my presentation giving you a brief summary of some of the features of the Polymorphic Programming Language.
Self-reported Neighborhood Safety and Nonadherence to Treatment Regimens Among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

BACKGROUND Few studies have explored the association between neighborhood characteristics and adherence to diabetes self-management behaviors, and none have examined the influence of neighborhood safety on adherence to treatment regimens among patients with diabetes.
Flux expulsion at intemediate fields in type-II superconductors

Abstract The flux expulsion behavior at an intermediate field H ( H cl ⪡ H ⪡ H c2 ) was studied for type-II superconductors Nb 3 Sn , YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 , and Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8 . Based on a temperature-dependent critical-state model, magnetization as a function of tem ature, M ( T ), for the zero-field-cooled (ZFC) measurement was used to predict flux expulsion in the field-cooled (FC) measurement and to construct the internal flux profiles for both ZFC and FC at an applied field of 1T. The model includes empirical relations of the temperature dependence of the reversible magnetization, M r ∼ (1− t 2 ), and the critical current density, J c ∼ (1− t ) n , where t ≡ T / T c , at the given applied field. Various M ( T ) patterns are demonstrated by the exponent n , varying from 2 for Nb 3 Sn to over 20 for Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8 .
Somatostatin analog induces insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) expression in human hepatoma cells

As the somatostatin analog octreotide suppresses pituitary GH secretion and circulating IGF-1 levels, we examined its effects on human hepatoma (hep G2) cells which selectively express IGFBP-1. Octreotide (60 nM) stimulated IGFBP-1 up to 4.1-fold (p < 0.001 after 24 hrs). Induction of IGFBP-1 was first detectable after 12 hrs of 6 nM octreotide (1.5-fold, p < 0.03), and was confirmed by ligand blotting. Cholera toxin and forskolin induced IGFBP-1 independently and were also additive with octreotide. IGFBP-1 mRNA expression was induced 2.7-fold by octreotide. Thus, octreotide induces basal and stimulated IGFBP-1 in hepatocytes independently of insulin and GH. As IGFBP-1 may regulate peripheral IGF-1 action, induction of IGFBP-1 represents a novel pituitary-independent mechanism for octreotide action.
Effects of insulin-like growth factor-I and growth hormone in models of parenteral nutrition.

Background Administration of growth factors such as growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is being investigated as a strategy to promote nitrogen accretion in catabolic patients who may require total parenteral nutrition (TPN). IGF-I has advantages compared with GH because IGF-I enhances insulin sensitivity, is effective in conditions of GH resistance, and selectively stimulates the gastrointestinal and immune systems. Methods Experiments were conducted to evaluate the anabolic and metabolic effects associated with administration of recombinant human GH or IGF-I in rats subjected to clinically relevant stress and maintained with TPN. Results Administration of IGF-I, but not GH, attenuates dexamethasone-induced protein catabolism and increases insulin sensitivity. Simultaneous treatment with GH and IGF-I additively increases the serum concentration of IGF-I, whole-body anabolism, and lipid oxidation. GH or IGF-I when given alone produces similar increases in the serum concentration of IGF-I. However, GH selectively increases skeletal muscle mass whereas IGF-I selectively attenuates the intestinal atrophy and abnormal intestinal ion transport induced by TPN. These tissue-selective anabolic effects of GH and IGF-I are associated with differential increases in protein synthesis in skeletal muscle and jejunum, respectively. Conclusions Simultaneous treatment with GH and IGF-I may offer the greatest clinical efficacy because of improved nitrogen retention in association with enhanced lipid oxidation and stimulation of protein synthesis in multiple tissue types.
Law Professors: A Profile of the Teaching Branch of the legal Profession

In the United States, law schools provide the principal route of entry into the legal profession. Indeed, education in a law school is the only experience that virtually all members of the modern legal profession have in common. The gatekeeping function of law schools places the nation's law teachers in a most influential position. Although law professors play a vital role in selecting and molding the members of the profession, little research has been done on them. This article presents the results of the American Bar Foundation's first major study of law teachers. The author finds them to be a most highly credentialed group of lawyers, the overwhelming majority of whom are graduates of a small group of elite law schools. She also finds that possession of a degree from one of these schools appears to be not only highly determinative of who become law teachers but also of the nature of teachers' academic careers.
The skills gap in hospital management: a comparative analysis of hospital managers in the public and private sectors in South Africa

A lack of management capacity has been identified as the key stumbling block to attaining the goals of health for all in South Africa. As part of the overall management development process, this research aims to identify the skills that are important for health services management and to evaluate managers' self-assessed proficiency in each of these skills. We also examined the impact of past training on perceived competency levels. A cross-sectional survey using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted among 404 hospital managers in the South African public and private sectors. Respondents were asked to rate the level of importance that each proposed competency had in their job and to indicate their proficiency in each skill. Both public and private sector managers rated competencies related to 'people management', 'self-management' and 'task-related skills' highest followed by 'strategic planning' and 'health delivery', respectively. The largest differences between mean importance rating and mean skill rating for public sector managers were for people management skills, task-related skills and self-management skills. The largest deficits for private sector managers were for people management skills, self-management skills and health delivery skills. Informal management development programmes were found to be more valuable in improving management skills. These findings reflect the reality of the local health service environment and the need of health managers. It will be useful in the conceptualization, design and delivery of health management programmes aimed at enhancing current and future management and leadership capacity in the health sector in South Africa.
Driven, dissipative superfluids: Radial counterflow of rotating 4He.

Predicting the behavior of simple two-dimensional, laminar, steady-state flow in the presence of superfluid vorticity requires extension of the two-fluid model by an additional equation for the total superfluid vorticity and by the vortex nucleation rates at the boundary. For the case of superfluid $^{4}\mathrm{He}$ in a rotating annulus driven by radial counterflow, predictions are made for the dissipation, meniscus profile, heat torque, angular momentum, and positive and negative vortex densities. The sensitivity of the results to vortex nucleation rates, which are currently unknown, invites their experimental measurement.
Prevention by uncouplers of lipophilic chelator inhibition at three sites of mitochondrial electron transport.

Abstract Inhibition of coupled electron transport in mitochondrial cristae by hydrophobic chelators such as bathophenanthroline is partially prevented by uncoupling agents such as carbonylcyanide-m-chlorophenyl hydrazone. Reversal of inhibition is observed in all three sections of the electron transport chain where energy coupling occurs. Sites inhibited by hydrophilic bathophenanthroline sulfonate or orthophenanthroline do not show uncoupler relief of inhibition. We conclude that a buried non-heme iron or copper protein is closely associated with each energy coupling site.
How optimal penalties change with the amount of harm

Intuition tells us that the optimal penalty and court care to avoid error should rise smoothly with the harm to the victim. This is not always correct; sometimes the optimal penalty and level of court care increase discontinuously with harm, even when penalties deter harm and court care reduces error continuously. This is shown in a model in which the social cost of crime consists of its direct harm, the cost of court care, and the cost of false convictions.
Cell aggregation rate versus aggregate size

Abstract Three conditions which influence both the aggregation rate and the final size of aggregates of dissociated embryonic chick retina cells were studied to determine whether there was a strict relationship between these two variables. The length of trypsinization time, age of the embryo, and concentration of chondroitin sulfate in the medium under some conditions showed an inverse relationship between their influence on aggregation rate and the final size of the aggregates; conditions favoring more rapid aggregation reduced the size of aggregates formed by 24 hr. Embryonic liver cells also showed this inverse relationship when cultured with chondroitin sulfate. These observations and other similar observations in the literature emphasize that when interpreting the action of exogenous promoters or inhibitors of cell aggregation, attention should be given to the possibility that there might not be a direct relationship between initial rate and final size.
Excision of branchial cysts

Branchial cleft anomalies are uncommon findings that are often confused with other causes of masses and infections in the neck. Although more common in children, they may also present in adults. Second cleft anomalies are 8-10 times more common than those of the first. Third and fourth cleft anomalies are quite rare. All offending epithelium must be surgically removed. A thorough understanding of the embryologic origin, presentation, diagnostic evaluation, and surgical treatment of these challenging lesions will help the head and neck surgeon to a good outcome.
Sociologists’ assessments of the state of sociology, 1969–1984

Articles in both the popular press and sociology journals have argued that between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s sociologists became more pessimistic about the intellectual vitality of their field. Data from the 1969, 1975, and 1984 Carnegie surveys of faculty at U.S. universities suggest that sociologists’ assessments of their field changed little over this period. In several respects the “sociology in the doldrums” thesis of the 1980s resembles the 1970s “blue collar blues” thesis; in both cases sociologists gave structural explanations for apparently nonexistent trends.
Myointimoma of the Glans Penis

A 54-year-old man presented with a 2-month history of a firm, non-tender, non-mobile 0.4 cm nodule of his coronal sulcus. An incisional biopsy was performed and histopathology revealed a multinodular proliferation of cytologically bland spindled cells embedded in a fibromyxoid matrix. The lesional cells were immunoreactive for smooth-muscle actin but not S-100 protein. A Verhoeff van Gieson stain demonstrated a meshwork of elastic fibers surrounding individual tumor nodules. The clinical and histologic findings were diagnostic of a myointimoma. The lesion has not recurred one month after the initial partial biopsy. Myointimomas are a recently described, myointimal proliferation affecting the corpus spongiosum. Clinical experience with this type of lesion is limited. Reports in the literature thus far suggest this neoplasm is benign with persistence of incompletely excised lesions but no recurrences or metastases following complete excision. Myointimomas represent a strictly intravascular proliferation of intimal cells of blood vessels.
Inhibition of mumps virus multiplication by a polysaccharide.

SummaryThe capsular polysaccharide of type B. Friedlander bacillus inhibits the multiplication of mumps virus in the chick embryo and prevents adsorption of the virus by treated erythrocytes.
Model-based vector quantization with application to remotely sensed image data

Model-based vector quantization (MVQ) is introduced here as a variant of vector quantization (VQ). MVQ has the asymmetrical computational properties of conventional VQ, but does not require the use of pregenerated codebooks. This is a great advantage, since codebook generation is usually a computationally intensive process, and maintenance of codebooks for coding and decoding can pose difficulties. MVQ uses a simple mathematical model for mean removed errors combined with a human visual system model to generate parameterized codebooks. The error model parameter (/spl lambda/) is included with the compressed image as side information from which the same codebook is regenerated for decoding. As far as the user is concerned, MVQ is a codebookless VQ variant. After a brief introduction, the problems associated with codebook generation and maintenance are discussed. We then give a description of the MVQ algorithm, followed by an evaluation of the performance of MVQ on remotely sensed image data sets from NASA sources. The results obtained with MVQ are compared with other VQ techniques and JPEG/DCT. Finally, we demonstrate the performance of MVQ as a part of a progressive compression system suitable for use in an image archival and distribution installation.
Prospective Motion Correction for Single-Voxel 1H MR Spectroscopy

Head motion during (1)H MR spectroscopy acquisitions may compromise the quality and reliability of in vivo metabolite measurements. Therefore, a three-plane image-based motion-tracking module was integrated into a single-voxel (1)H MR spectroscopy (point-resolved spectroscopy) sequence. A series of three orthogonal spiral navigator images was acquired immediately prior to the MR spectroscopy water suppression module in order to estimate head motion. By applying the appropriate rotations and translations, the MR spectroscopy voxel position can be updated such that it remains stationary with respect to the brain. Frequency and phase corrections were applied during postprocessing to reduce line width and restore coherent averaging. Spectra acquired during intentional head motion in 11 volunteers demonstrate reduced lipid contamination and increased spectral reproducibility when motion correction is applied.
Addressing Medicaid/Marketplace Churn through Multimarket Plans: Assessing the Current State of Play

Both before and after the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the US health insurance system is characterized by fragmentation. Pre-ACA, this fragmentation included major coverage gaps, causing significant periods of coverage interruption, especially for lower-income people. The ACA does not end the problem of churning among sources of public financing, but it does hold the potential for enabling people to move among sources of coverage rather than go without insurance. Several strategies for reducing coverage churn exist, but none is foolproof and all are in their early stages. Thus the ability of issuers to participate across multiple public financing arrangements and to offer stable provider networks becomes crucial to achieving continuity of care. Interviews with nine companies involved in developing or operating multimarket strategies confirm the feasibility of this approach while revealing major challenges, especially the challenge of finding providers willing to treat members regardless of the source of coverage. Strategies for increasing multimarket plans and networks represent one of the great areas of future policy and operational focus.
Physical Characteristics of Immunore active Chorionic Gonadotropin Produced in Culture

Immunoreactive chorionic gonadotropin (CG) produced by human choriocarcinoma cells in culture was compared with CG from urinary sources by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and isoelectric focusing in polyacrylamide gel (IFPA). CG from both sources had the same molecular size in PAGE operative at pH 10.2 and 5.5. However, PAGE revealed heterogeneity with regard to molecular net charge for both hormone preparations. Two species of CG characterized by pi’s of 3 and 4.5 were re vealed in the tissue culture medium on examination by IFPA. Digestion of both species with neuraminidase produced a single immunoreactive CG with pi of 6. Heterogeneity of CG with regard to net charge and isoelectric point may reflect variable completion of the carbohydrate portion of these molecules at the cell of origin. (Endocrinology 89: 801, 1971)
Medical applications of magnet devices

The use of magnetic devices in medically-related applications has often been frustrated by insufficient magnetic force, or by an inappropriately designed device. This paper describes magnetic treatment systems which were designed with the benefit of the cooperation of hospital personnel at all levels. Two systems are described in detail. First, a superconducting magnet, with integral orientation system, intended for use in intravascular catheter guidance. The maximum field and gradient produced by this solenoid are 20,000 Oe, and 2250 Oe/cm, respectively. The system is both powerful, and easy to use, by virtue of its completely portable design. The second is a magnetic traction device which has been successfully employed in the treatment of esophageal atresia.
Introducing the Core Arts Dance Standards: Identifying Possibilities for Integration and Reciprocity with Physical Education

Making curricular connections across disciplines deepens students' learning. Because of their historical bond and unique connections related to human movement, dance education and physical education align especially well in terms of possibilities for integration and reciprocity. This article describes how the national dance content standards and the national standards for physical education can be used for collaboration between the disciplines.
P-FIT and the neuroscience of intelligence: How well does P fit?

A well-recognized framework for modeling human intelligence centers around Spearman's g, a common central factor accounting for individual differences in cognitive performance across a variety of complex tasks (Spearman 1904). The neural basis of g may be better characterized by posterior-frontal integration, rather than parietal, which may be just one of many posterior regions that are controlled by the prefrontal cortex (PFC).