cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Inconvenient Truth About Unconscious Bias in the Health Professions

More than 15 years after two pivotal reports from the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) focused their attention on unequal access to healthcare and established health equity as a pillar of quality care, healthcare disparities persist. Some of this can be traced to overt discrimination against certain groups, but this chapter shines a light on a subtler form of prejudice: unconscious bias. The by-product of a normal—and often useful—human tendency to make associations and split-second judgements, unconscious bias, affects even people who believe strongly in equality and equal care. Left unaddressed, unconscious bias can influence relationships between providers and patients and among providers and their colleagues, affecting clinical interactions, workplace diversity, and even patient outcomes. Providers can mitigate unconscious biases by becoming more aware of them and resolving to overcome them through proven strategies for improving health equity and reversing health disparities.
In the best possible taste

The fourth in a series of articles that will explore the classic five senses, introduces ways to investigate and explore each sense alongside cross-curricular activities – this month, taste.
Asymmetric membranes for membrane distillation and thermo-osmotic energy conversion

Abstract Asymmetric membranes with a thin, small pore size upper layer have the potential to facilitate a high vapor flux while maintaining high liquid entry pressure, which is critical for membrane distillation (MD) and thermo-osmotic energy conversion (TOEC) processes. Here, asymmetric mixed cellulose ultrafiltration membranes were modified with perfluorodecyltrichlorosilane to produce 50 nm and 25 nm pore size membranes with highly hydrophobic surfaces (contact angle >115°) and unprecedented liquid entry pressures >24 bar. The 50 nm membrane performance was evaluated in a series of MD and TOEC mode experiments, where the membrane dense layer faces the hot feed stream or the cold permeate stream, respectively. Our results demonstrate that the membrane water vapor permeability coefficient is significantly higher when operating in MD mode (1.7 × 10−7 kg m−2 s−1 Pa−1) compared to TOEC mode (0.9 × 10−7 kg m−2 s−1 Pa−1) at a similar temperature difference of 39 °C, suggesting an additional resistance to vapor flux in TOEC mode. We developed a model for mass and heat transfer through the membrane to explain the change in performance due to reversing the asymmetric membrane orientation. As expected, the model and the experimental results show a linear increase in the water vapor permeability coefficient with respect to temperature difference across the membrane for the MD orientation. However, for the TOEC orientation, the water vapor permeability coefficient was relatively constant across all the temperature differences investigated. Our results predict that the additional mass transport resistances in TOEC mode decrease as the transmembrane temperature gradient decreases. We conclude with a discussion on the implications of using asymmetric membranes for MD and TOEC processes.
Spinal cord and infratentorial lesions in radiologically isolated syndrome are associated with decreased retinal ganglion cell/inner plexiform layer thickness.

Background:The role of retinal imaging with optical coherence tomography (OCT) in assessing individuals with radiologically isolated syndrome (RIS) remains largely unexplored.Objective:To assess re...
Why is Stock Turnover Related to Past Returns? New Evidence

Statman, Thorley, and Vorkink (2006), Chordia, Huh, and Subrahmanyam (2006) and Griffn, Nardari, and Stulz (2007) show that trading activity is related to past stock returns in the U.S. and internationally, and offer several conjectures about causes of this relation. Using nine years of account-level trading data for an entire country (Finland), I ¯nd that two separate effects are driving this result. The first is increased trading after higher individual stock returns, and the second is increased trading after larger account-level losses and gains. The first effect is consistent with momentum trading and with the disposition effect, and that the second is consistent with overconfidence and loss aversion. Since the two effects compete when markets are down, my findings offer an explanation of why some studies find that turnover is positively related to past returns and others find that it is related to the absolute value of past returns.
What comes next

Shahid Naeem > “ Science doesn’t care what we believe. If you are on the top of a building and fall, gravity is still a thing whether you believe in it or not. ” > > –J. Marshall Shepherd, University of Georgia One of the singular most important scientific questions that faces humanity in this epoch, the Anthropocene, is “What comes next?” In my view, the single most important area of scientific inquiry that can provide an answer to that question lies at the intersection of ecology, evolution, and environmental biology: collectively environment . As the Deputy Editor for environment at Science Advances , some may see my claim of the scientific primacy of environment as a bit of professional braggadocio. But I say it is not: Were I a chemist, cosmologist, cytologist, or a researcher in any other field represented by the 18 Deputy Editors and over 200 Associate Editors who lead the journal, the expanded and modernized iteration of Science magazine, I would still find environment to be the premier area of research of the Anthropocene. Here’s why. First, the Anthropocene itself is not characterized by people being everywhere, as the name might suggest. Instead, it is unique because it was a period of abrupt environmental change, the kind that paleoecologists of the future would measure in ice and sediment cores. Just before agriculture emerged at the end of the Holocene (11,700 years ago), virtually every environmental gauge of …
Emergence of resilience as a framework for state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) in the United States

Abstract State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) in the United States are responsible for a large portfolio of transportation modes and services, including passenger and freight systems. These responsibilities include operations under routine conditions and during incidents and events that result from various natural and human-caused hazards. During unexpected events, disruptions and reductions in service result in requiring the reallocation and reassignment of personnel, modal, and economic resources. To better prevent and respond to the effects of service disruptions, the concept of resilience has emerged as an important framework, within which, DOTs across the United States are using to plan for the occurrence of threats. In this paper, the key findings of recent reviews of literature and practice related to resilience among state DOTs in the United States are summarized. The review effort focused on a range of risks faced by transportation agencies including climate change, terrorism, cyber-attacks, and aging infrastructure and the ways in which DOTs are confronting them in practice. The topics of this paper range from the fundamental, including definitions of transportation resilience; to the more complex such as examinations of risk, vulnerability and threats; to the most sophisticated topics including administrative-level efforts to conceptualize evolving transportation planning and policies within a resilience framework.
The Politics of Social Policies in Latin America

This essay reviews the following works: ?Quienes deciden la politica social? Economia politica de programas sociales en America Latina. Edited by Alejandro Bonvecchi, Julia Johannsen, and Carlos Scartascini. Washington, DC: Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, 2015. Pp. xx + 200. Digital open access. ISBN: 9781597822190. Crafting Policies to End Poverty in Latin America: The Quiet Transformation. By Ana Lorena De La O. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 175. $84.99 hardcover. ISBN: 9781107089488. Sistemas politicos y bienestar social: Estudios comparados: Brasil, Colombia y Venezuela (2000–2010). By Augusto De Venanzi. Almagro: Editorial Biblioteca Nueva, 2015. Pp. 238. $22.99 paperback. ISBN: 9788416345144. The Political Logic of Poverty Relief: Electoral Strategies and Social Policy in Mexico. By Alberto Diaz-Cayeros, Federico Estevez, and Beatriz Magaloni. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Pp. xvi + 236. $99.99 hardcover. ISBN: 9781107140288. Social Policy Expansion in Latin America. By Candelaria Garay. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Pp. xvii + 256. $34.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781316606407. Forbearance as Redistribution: The Politics of Informal Welfare in Latin America. By Alisha C. Holland. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017. Pp. 398. $35.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781316626351. The Quest for Universal Social Policy in the South: Actors, Ideas, and Architectures. By Juliana Martinez Franzoni and Diego Sanchez-Ancochea. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Pp. xvii + 256. $34.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781107564893.
Occupational differences in workers' compensation indemnity claims among direct care workers in Minnesota nursing homes, 2005-2016.

BACKGROUND Nursing assistants have one of the highest injury rates in the U.S., but few population-based studies assess differential injury risk by occupation in nursing homes. This statewide study assessed differences in musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and patient handling injuries among direct care workers in Minnesota nursing homes. METHODS Indemnity claims from the Minnesota workers' compensation database were matched to time at risk from the Minnesota Nursing Home Report Card to estimate 2005 to 2016 injury and illness claim rates for certified nursing assistants (CNAs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and registered nurses (RNs). Associations between occupation and claim characteristics were assessed using multivariable regression modeling. RESULTS Indemnity claim rates were 3.68, 1.38, and 0.69 per 100 full-time equivalent workers for CNAs, LPNs, and RNs, respectively. Patient handling injuries comprised 62% of claims. Compared to RNs, CNAs had higher odds of an indemnity claim resulting from an MSD (odds ratio [OR] = 1.67; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.31-2.14) or patient handling injury (OR = 1.89; 95% CI, 1.47-2.45) as opposed to another type of injury or illness. CNAs had lower odds of receiving temporary and permanent partial disability benefits and higher odds of receiving a stipulation settlement. CONCLUSIONS CNAs in Minnesota nursing homes are at heightened risk for lost time MSDs and patient handling injuries. Claims filed by CNAs are more frequently settled outside the regular workers' compensation benefit structure, an indication that the workers' compensation system is not providing adequate and timely benefits to these workers.
Allergic Contact Dermatitis in Children: Recommendations for Patch Testing

Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) affects 20% of children. However, diagnosis of ACD may be underreported in children due to lack of recognition. Patch testing is the gold standard for evaluation of ACD in children but poses unique challenges in this population. Recent studies highlight the significance of ACD and the utility of patch testing in children. Evaluation of ACD in children is difficult and requires knowledge of a child’s exposure history, careful selection of allergens, and knowledge of specialized patch testing considerations to minimize irritation and maximize cooperation. Until recently, there were no agreed upon patch test series for children. In 2018, a comprehensive pediatric baseline series was published enabling thorough evaluation of ACD in children (Yu J, Atwater AR, Brod B, Chen JK, Chisolm SS, Cohen DE, et al. Dermatitis. 2018;29(4):206–12). This review provides an overview of the current literature, an update on pediatric ACD, and patch testing methods in children to effectively evaluate and manage ACD.
TRAF6 and TAK1 contribute to SAMHD1-mediated negative regulation of NF-kB signaling

Sterile alpha motif and HD-domain-containing protein 1 (SAMHD1) restricts HIV-1 replication by limiting the intracellular dNTP pool. SAMHD1 also suppresses the activation of NF-κB in response to viral infections and inflammatory stimuli. However, the mechanisms by which SAMHD1 negatively regulates this pathway remain unclear. Here we show that SAMHD1-mediated suppression of NF-κB activation is modulated by two key mediators of NF-κB signaling, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6) and transforming growth factor-β-activated kinase-1 (TAK1). We compared NF-κB activation stimulated by interleukin (IL)-1β in monocytic THP-1 control and SAMHD1 knockout (KO) cells with and without partial TRAF6 knockdown (KD), or in cells treated with TAK1 inhibitors. Relative to control cells, IL-1β-treated SAMHD1 KO cells showed increased phosphorylation of the inhibitor of NF-κB (IκBα), an indication of pathway activation, and elevated levels of TNF-α mRNA. Moreover, SAMHD1 KO combined with TRAF6 KD or pharmacological TAK1 inhibition reduced IκBα phosphorylation and TNF-α mRNA to the level of control cells. SAMHD1 KO cells infected with single-cycle HIV-1 showed elevated infection and TNF-α mRNA levels compared to control cells, and the effects were significantly reduced by TRAF6 KD or TAK1 inhibition. We further demonstrated that overexpressed SAMHD1 inhibited TRAF6-stimulated NF-κB reporter activity in HEK293T cells in a dose-dependent manner. SAMHD1 contains a nuclear localization signal (NLS), but an NLS-defective SAMHD1 exhibited a suppressive effect similar to the wild-type protein. Our data suggest that the TRAF6-TAK1 axis contributes to SAMHD1-mediated suppression of NF-κB activation and HIV-1 infection.
Vascular Regenerative Capacity and the Obesity Paradox in Coronary Artery Disease.

Objective The underlying pathobiology of the paradoxical relationship between obesity and outcomes in coronary artery disease (CAD) is unclear. Our objective was to determine the association between obesity and circulating progenitor cell (CPC) counts-a measure of intrinsic regenerative capacity-in asymptomatic individuals and patients with CAD and its impact on the obesity paradox. Approach and Results: CPCs were enumerated by flow cytometry as CD45med+ cells expressing CD34+, CD133+, and CXCR4+ epitopes in 672 asymptomatic individuals (50 years of age; 28% obese) and 1277 CAD patients (66 years of age; 39% obese). The association between obesity and CPCs was analyzed using linear regression models. The association between obesity and CPCs with cardiovascular death/myocardial infarction events over 3.5-year follow-up in CAD was studied using Cox models. Obesity was independently associated with 16% to 34% higher CPC counts (CD34+, CD34+/CD133+, and CD34+/CXCR4+) in asymptomatic individuals. This association was not attenuated by systemic inflammation, insulin resistance, or secretion but partly attenuated by cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition. In patients with CAD, obesity was associated with 8% to 12% higher CPC counts and 30% lower risk of adverse outcomes. Compared with nonobese patients, only obese patients with high CPC counts (CD34+ cells ≥median, 1806 cells/mL) were at a lower risk (hazard ratio, 0.52 [95% CI, 0.31-0.88]), whereas those with low counts ( Conclusions Obesity is associated with higher CPC counts. The obesity paradox of improved outcomes with obesity in CAD is limited to patients with intact regenerative capacity who have CPC counts.
Applications of information channels to physics-informed neural networks for WiFi signal propagation simulation at the edge of the industrial internet of things

Abstract The ubiquitous presence of data driven technologies that move information from the edge of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to the cloud for advanced computation and back to the edge for action are pushing wireless connections to the limit. Under these conditions optimizing WIFI Received Signal Strength Intensity (RSSI) can improve data management, computational workflows, and geolocation accuracy while reducing energy consumption in order to minimize charging and computational resource requirements at the edge. Ensuring connectivity for these mission critical processes will require detailed knowledge (either measured or simulated) of the state of the electromagnetic fields in advanced manufacturing scenarios. Simulation has the advantage of developing more scalable solutions to this characterization problem but comes at a very high computational cost that may not be possible on edge devices with limited computational resources. In order to reduce the time and resource cost of achieving real time simulations with low computing specification edge devices, we propose creating a novel method that exploits the notion of information channels to create efficient Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) capable of determining the RSSI given a completely new geometry (never used in training) where objects or obstacles (walls, machines, tables, etc.) and their respective location, size and reflectivity indices, along with the antenna location are completely random.
Eaters, Powerless by Design

Food law, including traditional food safety regulation, anti-hunger programs, and food system worker protections, has received increased attention in recent years as a distinct field of study. Bringing together these disparate areas of law under a single lens provides unique opportunity to understand the role of law in shaping what we eat (what food is produced and where it is distributed), how much we eat, and how we think about food. The food system is rife with problems—endemic hunger, worker exploitation, massive environmental externalities, diet-related disease. Looked at in a piecemeal fashion, the elements of food law appear responsive to these problems. Looked at as a whole, however, food law appears instead to entrench the existing structures of power that generate these problems. This Article offers a novel conceptual critique of the food system. It argues that food law is built on two contradicting myths: the myth of the helpless consumer who needs government protections from food producers, and the myth of the responsible consumer who needs no government protection and can take on the food system’s many problems herself. The first myth is self-actualizing, as the laws that it justifies disempower food consumers and producers. The second myth is self-defeating, as the legal structures that assume consumer responsibility impede meaningful consumer choice. Food law, as it is shaped by these myths, constructs powerlessness by homogenizing, or erasing diversity within, the food system, suppressing dissent, and polarizing various food system constituents who might otherwise collaborate on reform. Ultimately, food law is designed to thwart food sovereignty. By revealing how the structures of food law itself obstruct reform, this Article also identifies a path forward and some first steps toward true food sovereignty.
Association of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) and venous thromboembolism (VTE): A single healthcare system experience.

e14567Background: Cancer and some anti-cancer therapies increase risk of VTE. ICIs cause immune activation and inflammation which are known to potentiate VTE formation. The risk of VTE associated w...
Improving Music Performance Assessment with Contrastive Learning.

Several automatic approaches for objective music performance assessment (MPA) have been proposed in the past, however, existing systems are not yet capable of reliably predicting ratings with the same accuracy as professional judges. This study investigates contrastive learning as a potential method to improve existing MPA systems. Contrastive learning is a widely used technique in representation learning to learn a structured latent space capable of separately clustering multiple classes. It has been shown to produce state of the art results for image-based classification problems. We introduce a weighted contrastive loss suitable for regression tasks applied to a convolutional neural network and show that contrastive loss results in performance gains in regression tasks for MPA. Our results show that contrastive-based methods are able to match and exceed SoTA performance for MPA regression tasks by creating better class clusters within the latent space of the neural networks.
Taxonomy and Relationships Within Polemonium foliosissimum (Polemoniaceae): Untangling a Clade of Colorful and Gynodioecious Herbs

New molecular and ecological data have necessitated taxonomic revisions of several species complexes within Polemonium (Polemoniaceae), including P. foliosissimum, an herbaceous perennial widespread in the Intermountain West of the United States. As currently circumscribed, P. foliosissimum is a highly polymorphic species of four taxonomic varieties. One of the most striking morphological traits of the species is its diversity in flower color, which is unusual for the genus. Several species have been proposed based on this variation in flower color. However, these names have been treated as infraspecific taxa because previous authors have concluded that the presence of micropollen grains throughout the geographic range of the species complex indicated partial hybrid sterility and therefore incomplete barriers to gene flow. However, recent evidence suggests that micropollen is instead due to a gynodioecious breeding system. Using 128 nuclear loci and eight quantitative morphological traits, I clarify relationships and taxonomy within the species complex. I show that what is currently circumscribed as four varieties of P. foliosissimum represent five species that, in addition to differing in corolla color, differ in leaflet number, corolla size, and vegetative and floral pubescence. I propose a new species endemic to the White Mountains of southeastern Arizona, Polemonium apachianum. This study provides a new phylogenetic context and taxonomic circumscription to serve as a framework for future research on the evolution of floral color and sexual systems in a previously misunderstood but evolutionarily exciting system.
Rapid Assessment of Distribution of Wildlife and Human Activities for Prioritizing Conservation Actions in a Patagonian Landscape

Large landscapes encompassing reserves and areas with other human uses are necessary for conservation of many species. Generating information for conservation planning over such landscapes may be expensive and time-consuming, though resources for conservation are generally limited and conservation is often urgent. We developed a sign-based occupancy survey to help prioritize conservation interventions by simultaneously assessing the distribution of 3 species, the lesser rhea, guanaco, and mara, and their association with human activities in a 20,000-km2 landscape in the northern Patagonian steppe. We used a single-season occupancy model with spatial rather than temporal replication of surveys in order to reduce costs of multiple visits to sites. We used covariates related to detectability, environmental factors, and different human activities to identify the most plausible models of occupancy, and calculated importance weights of covariates from these models to evaluate relative impacts of human activities on each species. Abundance of goats had the strongest negative association with lesser rheas and guanacos, and road density with maras. With six months of fieldwork, our results provided initial hypotheses for adaptive conservation interventions for each species. Addressing high livestock densities for rheas and guanacos, poaching by urban hunters for all three species, and hunting by rural people for rheas are priorities for conservation in this landscape. Our methodology provided new insights into the responses of these species, although low detection probabilities for maras indicate that the sampling scheme should be altered for future monitoring of this species. This method may be adapted for any large landscape where a rapid, objective means for prioritizing conservation actions on multiple species is needed and data are scarce.
The International Standards System and NDE

The globalization of manufacturing and construction markets is broadening the range of inspection standards that might be specified for a product, and we should prepare by learning more about the various organizations that develop such standards. This paper describes the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), several other national and international standards organizations, and their interactions during the development and revision of standards for nondestructive evaluation (NDE).
PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF AN ELECTROSPUN GELATIN/DENDRIMER HYBRID NANOFIBER DRESSING

PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF AN ELECTROSPUN GELATIN/DENDRIMER HYBRID NANOFIBER DRESSING FOR CHRONIC WOUND TREATMENT By Alicia Smith-Freshwater A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009 Director: Hu Yang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering A novel dendritic wound dressing was designed and characterized for its potential to treat chronic wounds. Comprised of gelatin, dendrimer, synthetic polymer and antibiotics, the dressing was electrospun to mimic the natural extracellular matrix (ECM). Gelatin is biocompatible, biodegradable, non-toxic, and easily available. The antibiotic, doxycycline, has the ability to inhibit matrix metalloproteinases. Matrix metalloproteinases, which occur in excess in chronic wounds, degrade the reconstituted ECM. StarburstTM polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer G3.5, which provides a versatile and structurally controlled architecture to construct nanomedicine, was covalently bonded to the gelatin backbone and electrospun into nanofibers with gelatin, doxycycline and stabilizing polymers. The proposed gelatin/dendrimer hybrid provides a bacterial free environment and mimics the ECM to promote wound healing. The development of this new polymeric matrix is an important step in advancing the use of bioactive nanofibers with targeted and controlled drug delivery as a wound dressing. CHAPTER
Establishing a Conceptual Framework for Predicting the Impact of Expectations upon Consumer Satisfaction

In this conceptual paper, it is hypothesized that consumer expectations can influence satisfaction by influencing postpurchase cognitive beliefs and/or serving as standards of evaluation. In examining the effect of expectations upon cognitive beliefs, an assimilation effect is thought to be more likely than a contrast effect. However, using cognitive dissonance theory to support an assimilation effect, which previous researchers have done, is rejected. Instead, source credibility is used to predict when and explain why an assimilation effect is likely of existing. The extent that expectations serve as standards of evaluation is thought to depend on the particular evaluation task involved.
A gradient optimization approach to adaptive multi-robot control

This thesis proposes a unified approach for controlling a group of robots to reach a goal configuration in a decentralized fashion. As a motivating example, robots are controlled to spread out over an environment to provide sensor coverage. This example gives rise to a cost function that is shown to be of a surprisingly general nature. By changing a single free parameter, the cost function captures a variety of different multi-robot objectives which were previously seen as unrelated. Stable, distributed controllers are generated by taking the gradient of this cost function. Two fundamental classes of multi-robot behaviors are delineated based on the convexity of the underlying cost function. Convex cost functions lead to consensus (all robots move to the same position), while any other behavior requires a nonconvex cost function. The multi-robot controllers are then augmented with a stable on-line learning mechanism to adapt to unknown features in the environment. In a sensor coverage application, this allows robots to learn where in the environment they are most needed, and to aggregate in those areas. The learning mechanism uses communication between neighboring robots to enable distributed learning over the multi-robot system in a provably convergent way. Three multi-robot controllers are then implemented on three different robot platforms. Firstly, a controller for deploying robots in an environment to provide sensor coverage is implemented on a group of 16 mobile robots. They learn to aggregate around a light source while covering the environment. Secondly, a controller is implemented for deploying a group of three flying robots with downward facing cameras to monitor an environment on the ground. Thirdly, the multi-robot model is used as a basis for modeling the behavior of a herd of cows using a system identification approach. The controllers in this thesis are distributed, theoretically proven, and implemented on multi-robot platforms. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Dynamically switching between synergistic workflows for crowdsourcing

To ensure quality results from unreliable crowdsourced workers, task designers often construct complex workflows and aggregate worker responses from redundant runs. Frequently, they experiment with several alternative workflows to accomplish the task, and eventually deploy the one that achieves the best performance during early trials. Surprisingly, this seemingly natural design paradigm does not achieve the full potential of crowdsourcing. In particular, using a single workflow (even the best) to accomplish a task is suboptimal. We show that alternative workflows can compose synergistically to yield much higher quality output. We formalize the insight with a novel probabilistic graphical model. Based on this model, we design and implement AGENTHUNT, a POMDP-based controller that dynamically switches between these workflows to achieve higher returns on investment. Additionally, we design offline and online methods for learning model parameters. Live experiments on Amazon Mechanical Turk demonstrate the superiority of AGENTHUNT for the task of generating NLP training data, yielding up to 50% error reduction and greater net utility compared to previous methods.
Cardiac myocyte interconnections at gap junctions Role in normal and abnormal electrical conduction.

Slow conduction leading to reentrant ventricular tachycardias in patients with healed myocardial infarcts appears to depend primarily on alterations in intercellular coupling at gap junctions of myocytes bordering the infarct scar. Results of correlative morphometric and electrophysiologic studies indicate that the elongated shape of individual myocytes, their complex overlapped packing in myocardium, and the number and distribution of gap junctions that electrically couple myocytes are all important structural determinants of anisotropic patterns of current spread in normal myocardium. Alterations of these structural features likely contribute to electrophysiologic derangements critical in reentrant arrhythmogenesis. Recent observations that cardiac myocytes may be coupled by multiple gap junction channel proteins having unique electrophysiologic properties provide new insights into potential mechanisms regulating intercellular current transfer in the heart.
Thyrotropin-releasing hormone stimulation of polyphosphoinositide hydrolysis in GH3 cell membranes is GTP dependent but insensitive to cholera or pertussis toxin.

Abstract Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), like numerous other Ca2+-mobilizing agonists, has been found to stimulate polyphosphoinositide hydrolysis in responsive cells. The present studies further clarify the mechanism of action of this peptide hormone by demonstrating direct in vitro effects of TRH on polyphosphoinositide hydrolysis in GH3 pituitary cell membranes. Membranes from [3H]myoinositol-labeled cells were found to generate inositol bis- and tris- but not monophosphate upon incubation. Inositol polyphosphate generation was stimulated 2-3-fold by nanomolar concentrations of TRH in a reaction which was potentiated by micromolar concentrations of GTP; hormone-stimulated hydrolysis observed in the absence of GTP was fully antagonized by guanosine 5'-O-(2-thiodiphosphate). Guanosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate), Ca2+, and sodium fluoride also activated phosphoinositide hydrolysis in vitro. Stimulated inositol polyphosphate generation was accompanied by stimulated 1,2-diacylglycerol formation. Evidence that both phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate as well as phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate served as substrates for the activated phosphoinositide phosphodiesterase is presented. Pretreatment of GH3 cells with cholera or pertussis toxin did not influence stimulated hydrolysis in membranes. It is concluded that the TRH receptor directly regulates polyphosphoinositide hydrolysis in GH3 cell plasma membranes by a GTP-dependent process. The GTP dependence does not appear to be mediated through a cholera or pertussis toxin substrate and may involve a novel GTP-binding protein (NP).
Utilization of remote sensing data - The sociological perspective

Remote sensing provides an opportunity to study the ways in which new sources of data enter into decisions related to resource management, the conditions and criteria for acceptance of the new techniques, and the methods by which assessment of their utility is accomplished. This article underscores the social dimensions of technology utilization and assessment, with reliability, specificity, ease of access, and openness among the main desiderata. The point is made that the interface between the technology and the society it is designed to serve is crucial, for upon its nature depend how, whether, when, and by whom the technology will be utilized. The present reliance on quantitative techniques, such as benefit-cost analyses, is reviewed from a sociological view point, and the inadequacy of these techniques is pointed out.
Creating a pediatric digital library for pediatric health care providers and families: using literature and data to define common pediatric problems.

The goal of this study was to complete a literature-based needs assessment with regard to common pediatric problems encountered by pediatric health care providers (PHCPs) and families, and to develop a problem-based pediatric digital library to meet those needs. The needs assessment yielded 65 information sources. Common problems were identified and categorized, and the Internet was manually searched for authoritative Web sites. The created pediatric digital library (www.generalpediatrics.com) used a problem-based interface and was deployed in November 1999. From November 1999 to November 2000, the number of hyperlinks and authoritative Web sites increased 51.1 and 32.2 percent, respectively. Over the same time, visitors increased by 57.3 percent and overall usage increased by 255 percent. A pediatric digital library has been created that begins to bring order to general pediatric resources on the Internet. This pediatric digital library provides current, authoritative, easily accessed pediatric information whenever and wherever the PHCPs and families want assistance.
Chapter 8 Realistic Assessment of FCC Catalyst Performance in the Laboratory

Publisher Summary It is an axiom of catalyst development that the evaluation methods used to define catalyst performance usually determine the direction of catalyst improvements. In some cases, it may be laboratory testing that determines if a catalyst is a commercial success, because appropriate commercial data may not be useful or available. The guiding principal for practical catalyst test methods should be to achieve as realistic a simulation of all aspects of the commercial process as possible. Several common types of Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) catalyst studies that are performed in commercial laboratories are summarized, together with the typical experimental strategies employed. From the perspective of the catalyst manufacturer, the most important of these types of studies are: (1) catalyst research and development for performance improvements, (2) catalyst selection for a specific commercial FCC unit (FCCU) where the operational objectives are known. From the perspective of the catalyst user, the most important studies may be (1) feed studies, (2) FCCU process optimization, (3) catalyst selection, (4) catalyst additive performance evaluation.
Ensemble‐based simultaneous state and parameter estimation for treatment of mesoscale model error: A real‐data study

[1] This study explores the treatment of model error and uncertainties through simultaneous state and parameter estimation (SSPE) with an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) in the simulation of a 2006 air pollution event over the greater Houston area during the Second Texas Air Quality Study (TexAQS-II). Two parameters in the atmospheric boundary layer parameterization associated with large model sensitivities are combined with standard prognostic variables in an augmented state vector to be continuously updated through assimilation of wind profiler observations. It is found that forecasts of the atmosphere with EnKF/SSPE are markedly improved over experiments with no state and/or parameter estimation. More specifically, the EnKF/SSPE is shown to help alleviate a near-surface cold bias and to alter the momentum mixing in the boundary layer to produce more realistic wind profiles.
A Reevaluation of the Munson-Nygren-Retriever Submarine Landslide Complex, Georges Bank Lower Slope, Western North Atlantic

The Munson-Nygren-Retriever (MNR) landslide complex is a series of distinct submarine landslides located between Nygren and Powell canyons on the Georges Bank lower slope. These landslides were first imaged in 1978 using widely-spaced seismic reflection profiles and were further investigated using continuous coverage GLORIA sidescan imagery collected over the landslide complex in 1987. Recent acquisition of high-resolution multibeam bathymetry across these landslides has provided an unprecedented view of their complex morphology and allows for a more detailed investigation of their evacuation and deposit morphologies and sizes, modes of failure, and relationship to the adjacent sections of the margin, including the identification of an additional landslide within the MNR complex, referred to here as the Pickett slide. The evacuation zone of these landslides covers an area of approximately 1,780 km2. The headwalls of these landslides are at a depth of approximately 1,800 m, with evacuation extending for approximately 60 km downslope to the top of the continental rise. High-relief debris deposits, in the form of blocks and ridges, are present down the length of the majority of the evacuation zones and within the deposition area at the base of the slope. On the continental rise, the deposits from each of the most recent failures of the MNR complex landslides merge with debris from earlier continental slope failures, canyon and along-slope derived deposits, and prominent upper-rise failures.
Simple multiplicative proof nets with units

This paper presents a simple notion of proof net for multiplicative linear logic with units. Cut elimination is direct and strongly normalising, in contrast to previous approaches which resorted to moving jumps (attachments) of par units during normalisation. Composition in the resulting category of proof nets is simply path composition: all of the dynamics happens in GoI(Setp), the geometry-of-interaction construction applied to the category of sets and partial functions.
Methionine Supply to Growing Steers Affects Hepatic Activities of Methionine Synthase and Betaine-Homocysteine Methyltransferase, but Not Cystathionine Synthase

The effects of supplemental methionine (Met), supplied abomasally, on the activities of methionine synthase (MS), cystathionine synthase (CS) and betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase (BHMT) were studied in growing steers. Six Holstein steers (205 kg) were used in a replicated 3 x 3 Latin square experiment. Steers were fed 2.6 kg dry matter daily of a diet containing 83% soybean hulls and 8% wheat straw. Ruminal infusions of 180 g/d acetate, 180 g/d propionate, 45 g/d butyrate, and abomasal infusion of 300 g/d dextrose provided additional energy. An amino acid mixture (299 g/d) limiting in Met was infused into the abomasum to ensure that nonsulfur amino acids did not limit growth. Treatments were infused abomasally and included 0, 5 or 10 g/d L-Met. Retained N (20.5, 26.9 and 31.6 g/d for 0, 5 and 10 g/d L-Met, respectively) increased (P < 0.01) linearly with increased supplemental Met. Hepatic Met, vitamin B-12, S-adenosylmethionine and S-adenosylhomocysteine were not affected by Met supplementation. Hepatic folates tended (P = 0.07) to decrease linearly with Met supplementation. All three enzymes were detected in hepatic tissue of our steers. Hepatic CS activity was not affected by Met supplementation. Hepatic MS decreased (P < 0.01) linearly with increasing Met supply, and hepatic BHMT activity responded quadratically (P = 0.04), with 0 and 10 g/d Met being higher than the intermediate level. Data from this experiment indicate that sulfur amino acid metabolism may be regulated differently in cattle than in other tested species.
Co-crystallization of the catalytic subunit of the serine/threonine specific protein phosphatase 1 from human in complex with microcystin LR

The catalytic subunit of the serine/threonine specific protein phosphatase 1 from human (molecular mass 37 KDa) has been co-crystallized in complex with the cyanobacterial toxin microcystin LR (molecular mass 1 kDa). The crystals diffract to a resolution of 2.8 A when exposed to synchrotron radiation and belong to space group P2(1)2(1)2 with a = 109.5 A, b = 90.6 A, c = 38.7 A. There is one molecule of protein phosphatase 1 per asymmetric unit. The crystal form is suitable for the determination of the atomic structure of protein phosphatase 1.
Melatonin binding sites in sciurid and hystricomorph rodents: studies on ground squirrels and guinea pigs.

Abstract Little is known about the distribution of binding sites for the pineal hormone melatonin in non-myomorph rodents. We used 2-[125I]iodomelatonin (IMEL) to analyze the distribution, affinity, and specificity of binding sites in the golden-mantled ground squirrel, a sciurid rodent that reportedly lacks IMEL binding sites in the brain. Specific binding was found not only in the pars tuberalis, but also in several telencephalic areas including the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic region. The affinity and specificity of IMEL binding are comparable to those reported in other rodents. IMEL binding studies in a hystricomorph rodent, the guinea pig, revealed high concentrations of receptor in the nucleus accumbens and dorsolateral thalamus. Central melatonin binding sites have now been demonstrated in species of all three rodent families. The heterogeneous distribution of melatonin receptors appears similar in the species studied, and no evidence is found to link IMEL binding sites at any particular locus to photoperiodic, circannual, or non-seasonal breeding patterns.
Rational management: Medical authority and ideological conflict in Ruth Lawrence's breastfeeding: A guide for the medical profession

This article presents a close reading of one chapter of the only guidebook written for physicians about the clinical management of breastfeeding. The medical discussion of the psychological aspects of breastfeeding articulates conflicting ideological views of women and their place in society, demonstrating how medicine reflects and contributes to a cultural context that is ambivalent about women's changing roles and the transformation of their practices as mothers. At stake is medicine's role in regulating maternal behavior.
A novel Tth111I restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) allows tracing of X-chromosome inactivation in the (Xid) heterozygote.

The X-linked immunodeficiency (Xid) in CBA/N mice serves as a model for the X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) syndrome in man. X-chromosome inactivation in F1 heterozygotes derived from CBA/N (Xxid/Xxid) and B6.Pgk-1a (X+/Y) was investigated by monitoring the methylation status of the individualPgk-1 alleles,Pgk-1b andPgk-1a, respectively, using a novel Tth111I RFLP. Results indicate that in circulating B lymphocytes of female heterozygotes, only the X chromosomes carrying the normal alleles(X+) are active (nonrandom inactivation of the X chromosome), whereas in non-B cells both the X chromosomes (X+ and Xxid) are active (random inactivation of the X chromosome). These results were further confirmed by direct evaluation of transcription of theBtk gene, the gene mutated both in Xid and in XLA.
Spectral broadening of femtosecond pulses in polycrystalline anatase titanium dioxide waveguides

We observe the first nonlinear spectral broadening of femtosecond pulses in single-mode anatase TiO2 waveguides at 793 and 1565 nm. The broad applicability and low two-photon absorption of TiO2 makes it a promising material for integrated photonics.
Underearth Quartz Crystal Resonators

Advantages of using precision quartz resonators in conjunction with frequency standard oscillators are explained. Advantages of locating the precision-resonators underearth are also described. A method of measuring resonator drift rate with sensitivity of the order of 2 parts in 1010 by means of a direct voltage instead of a high-stability variable oscillator is explained.
Misperceived pre-pregnancy body weight status predicts excessive gestational weight gain: findings from a US cohort study

Excessive gestational weight gain promotes poor maternal and child health outcomes. Weight misperception is associated with weight gain in non-pregnant women, but no data exist during pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of misperceived pre-pregnancy body weight status with excessive gestational weight gain. At study enrollment, participants in Project Viva reported weight, height, and perceived body weight status by questionnaire. Our study sample comprised 1537 women who had either normal or overweight/obese pre-pregnancy BMI. We created 2 categories of pre-pregnancy body weight status misperception: normal weight women who identified themselves as overweight ('overassessors') and overweight/obese women who identified themselves as average or underweight ('underassessors'). Women who correctly perceived their body weight status were classified as either normal weight or overweight/obese accurate assessors. We performed multivariable logistic regression to determine the odds of excessive gestational weight gain according to 1990 Institute of Medicine guidelines. Of the 1029 women with normal pre-pregnancy BMI, 898 (87%) accurately perceived and 131 (13%) overassessed their weight status. 508 women were overweight/obese, of whom 438 (86%) accurately perceived and 70 (14%) underassessed their pre-pregnancy weight status. By the end of pregnancy, 823 women (54%) gained excessively. Compared with normal weight accurate assessors, the adjusted odds of excessive gestational weight gain was 2.0 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.3, 3.0) in normal weight overassessors, 2.9 (95% CI: 2.2, 3.9) in overweight/obese accurate assessors, and 7.6 (95% CI: 3.4, 17.0) in overweight/obese underassessors. Misperceived pre-pregnancy body weight status was associated with excessive gestational weight gain among both normal weight and overweight/obese women, with the greatest likelihood of excessive gain among overweight/obese underassessors. Future interventions should test the potential benefits of correcting misperception to reduce the likelihood of excessive gestational weight gain.