cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of estrogen on cycloleucine-14C and putrescine-3H uptake by the rat uterus.

Experiments designed to measure the effect of estrogen on the time and extent of putrescine or cycloleucine uptake by the immature rat uterus revealed no evidence for effects on polyamine or cycloleucine uptake within the first hour after estrogen injection. Small but statistically significant increases in the uptake of both compounds could be seen at 2 hr. Marked increases in the uptake of both compounds occurred at 4 hr after estrogen and are associated with the often reported increase in vascularity and permeability of the uterus at that time. (Endocrinology 80: 357, 1967)
The Stream of Consciousness: II. William James's Specious Present:

In this second article of a series that examines from various perspectives the phenomenon that James called “the stream of consciousness,” I continue to argue that James's implicit account of the stream was not consistent with how he advertised it in The Principles. James's stream was more analogous to a train, with tightly adjacent successive components, than to a stream of water. Additional material supporting this contention comes from James's account of time perception, specifically, the specious present and how it is intuited. I argue that his account is not perceptual, that time perception amounts to a kind of inner (second-order) consciousness. When engaged in “perceiving” time, we repeatedly have inner (second-order) consciousness whose objects are durations comprised of a set of successive instances of consciousness intuited to occur in the present. They then become past one or more after another, depending on the frequency of inner (second-order) consciousness.
Mapping of a New Autosomal Dominant Spinocerebellar Ataxia to Chromosome 22

The autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxias (ADCAs) are a clinically and genetically heterogeneous group of disorders. The clinical symptoms include cerebellar dysfunction and associated signs from dysfunction in other parts of the nervous system. So far, five spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) genes have been identified: SCA1, SCA2, SCA3, SCA6, and SCA7. Loci for SCA4 and SCA5 have been mapped. However, approximately one-third of SCAs have remained unassigned. We have identified a Mexican American pedigree that segregates a new form of ataxia clinically characterized by gait and limb ataxia, dysarthria, and nystagmus. Two individuals have seizures. After excluding all known genetic loci for linkage, we performed a genomewide search and identified linkage to a 15-cM region on chromosome 22q13. A maximum LOD score of 4.3 (recombination fraction 0) was obtained for D22S928 and D22S1161. This distinct form of ataxia has been designated "SCA10." Anticipation was observed in the available parent-child pairs, suggesting that trinucleotide-repeat expansion may be the mutagenic mechanism.
Comments on a paper by Kidd

The problem of speed control of a DC drive system with a variable moment-of-inertia load has recently been considered for the purpose of comparison of the performance of a non-linear adaptive control system and a classical linear control system. The results of this comparison apparently show that the performance of the adaptive controller is inferior to that of the linear control configuration under non-ideal conditions. This paper uses the same example to show that a simple adaptive controller can easily overcome the difficulties of this test.
Pertussis toxin-sensitive pathway in the stimulation of c-myc expression and DNA synthesis by bombesin

The bombesin-like peptides are potent mitogens for Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts, human bronchial epithelial cells, and cells isolated from small cell carcinoma of the lung. The mechanism of signal transduction in the proliferative response to bombesin was investigated by studying the effect of Bordetella pertussis toxin on bombesin-stimulated mitogenesis. At nanomolar concentrations, bombesin increased levels of c-myc messenger RNA and stimulated DNA synthesis in Swiss 3T3 cells. Treatment of the cells with pertussis toxin (5 nanograms per milliliter) completely blocked bombesin-enhanced c-myc expression and eliminated bombesin-stimulated DNA synthesis. This treatment had essentially no effect on the mitogenic responses to either platelet-derived growth factor or phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate. These results suggest that the mitogenic actions of bombesin-like growth factors are mediated through a pertussis toxin-sensitive guanine nucleotide-binding protein. Furthermore they indicate that bombesin-like growth factors act through pathways that are different from those activated by platelet-derived growth factor.
A storage study of ethanol in rabbit and human bone marrow

Abstract The study reports the effect of storage on ethanol concentrations in bone marrow.
Lazy robots constrained by at most two polygons

We present a polynomial-time algorithm for a special case of the Euclidean traveling salesman problem in which a robot must visit all the vertices of two non-intersecting polygons without crossing any polygon edge. If both polygons are convex, one enclosing the other, our algorithm can find the optimal tour of the channel between them in time O(m/sup 3/ + m/sup 2/n) and O(nm + m/sup 2/) space, where the exterior polygon has n vertices and the interior m vertices. In the more general case of non-convex polygons (not necessarily nested), the algorithm finds the exact optimum tour in O(n/sup 2/m + m/sup 3/) time and O(n/sup 2/ + m/sup 2/) space. At the end we give several examples in the context of robot navigation.
Summer bat activity at woodland seasonal pools in the northern Great Lakes region

Woodland seasonal pools in the northern Great Lakes region, limited in this study to northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, are potentially important sites for bat feeding and drinking. In order to determine the influence of pool size, hydroperiod, and structural complexity on relative bat activity, I surveyed pools (17 in 2004, eight in 2005 and 2006) at approximately two-week intervals throughout the summer, documenting bat species use with mist nets and AnaBat II echolocation recording systems. In 189 mist net-nights over three summers, I captured 114 individuals and identified 21,591 AnaBat call sequences. Little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) dominated the captures (75.4%) and AnaBat call sequences (83.3%). Northern myotis (M. septentrionalis) were less common (19.3% of captures, 6.4% of identified call sequences) but ubiquitous across pools. Four additional species (Lasiurus borealis, L. cinereus, Eptesicus fuscus, and Lasionycteris noctivagans) were more commonly documented at larger pools. Across all years, relative bat activity (as estimated by call sequences per night) was significantly influenced by pool size (more activity at small and large pools than medium pools) and covaried with the proportion of water remaining in the pool. My study emphasizes the utility of pools of all sizes to bats, as larger-bodied bats preferentially use larger pools, while smaller-bodied Myotis spp. are capable of foraging at pools of all sizes. Relative activity of all species was secondarily driven by pool hydroperiod, as the number of bat call sequences per night decreased as the amount of open water declined.
Chemical Stability and Characterization of Rhodium-Diisocyanide Coordination Polymers

Poly-[Rh(1,4-phenylene diisocyanide)+4/2(Cl)-] has a two-dimensional template structure, where Rh atoms are bonded by the -conjugated 1,4-phenylene diisocyanide (pdi) ligands in the x-y plane and through overlapping dz orbitals in the z direction. The more conductive metallic bonds in the z direction create anisotropy in the electrical conductivity. The anisotropy and unique geometry of poly-[Rh(pdi)+4/2(Cl)-] make it a useful test bed for examining the relationship between electrical properties and chemical stability in metal-isocyanide molecular wire systems. The bulk powder of poly-[Rh(pdi)+4/2(Cl)-] is estimated to have a room-temperature bulk conductivity of 3.4 x 10(-11) S x cm(-1), an electrical activation energy of 0.9 eV, and a dielectric constant of 7.5. In this paper, impedance spectroscopy and X-ray powder diffraction were used to show the dependence of the electrical conductivity on the metal-metal bonding of pressed bulk powders of poly-[Rh(pdi)+4/2(Cl)-]. Thermo-gravimetric analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to demonstrate air sensitivity in the polymer and elucidate the mechanism of oxidative degradation.
The use of projection operators in the configuration interaction problem

Abstract Matrix elements of the many-particle Hamiltonian, for atomic, molecular, or nuclear wave function calculations, can be reduced from quadratic to linear forms by the use of totally antisymmetric basis functions which result from applying projection operators to single determinants. The projection operators select components with definite transformation properties under symmetry operations of the invariance group of the Hamiltonian. It is shown that the projected functions need to be known only up to an undetermined numerical factor in order to determine matrix elements between the corresponding normalized functions. A method is given for constructing such projected determinants from any orthonormal set of totally antisymmetric functions with the same transformation properties under the symmetry group. To complete the presentation of a self-contained, practicable, and reasonably efficient method for evaluating the general configuration interaction matrix element, a minimal set of linear equations are stated which determine the transformation coefficients that completely reduce the representation of an arbitrary symmetry group.
Advanced wafer thinning technologies to enable multichip packages

Wafer thinning for advanced packaging methods has gained importance as demand has increased for memory cards, portable computing systems, multiple chip packages (MCPs), and other applications that require thin integrated circuits (ICs). This paper gives an overview of the different industrial wafer thinning techniques - backgrind, poligrind, dry mechanical polishing, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), wet etch, dry etch, and dice before grind (DBG) - and the challenges encountered during thinning of wafers to less than 100mum. Some reliability issues have also been investigated, including die strength and subsurface damage associated with these processes and mechanical properties, such as surface roughness and wafer warp
Interdisciplinary Laboratory in Advanced Materials: A Team-Oriented Inquiry-Based Approach

Few opportunities exist in most undergraduate engineering curricula for students of different disciplines, even within engineering, to work together. This project demonstrates a way to interject such activities by bringing together students across disciplines from otherwise independent courses. In this first phase of activities at Tennessee Technological University (TTU), chemical engineering (ChE) students from a required laboratory course and mechanical engineering (ME) students from a design elective were brought together in a common interdisciplinary-team inquiry-based term project. This report summarizes the course objectives and structure, offers a brief synopsis of the outcomes and direction for the project.
GeneMachine: gene prediction and sequence annotation.

Motivation: A number of free-standing programs have been developed in order to help researchers find potential coding regions and deduce gene structure for long stretches of what is essentially ‘anonymous DNA’. As these programs apply inherently different criteria to the question of what is and is not a coding region, multiple algorithms should be used in the course of positional cloning and positional candidate projects to assure that all potential coding regions within a previously-identified critical region are identified. Results: We have developed a gene identification tool called GeneMachine which allows users to query multiple exon and gene prediction programs in an automated fashion. BLAST searches are also performed in order to see whether a previously-characterized coding region corresponds to a region in the query sequence. A suite of Perl programs and modules are used to run MZEF, GENSCAN, GRAIL 2, FGENES, RepeatMasker, Sputnik, and BLAST. The results of these runs are then parsed and written into ASN.1 format. Output files can be opened using NCBI Sequin, in essence using Sequin as both a workbench and as a graphical viewer. The main feature of GeneMachine is that the process is fully automated; the user is only required to launch GeneMachine and then open the resulting file with Sequin. Annotations can then be made to these results prior to submission to GenBank, thereby increasing the intrinsic value of these data. Availability: GeneMachine is freely-available for download at http://genome.nhgri.nih.gov/genemachine. A public Web interface to the GeneMachine server for academic and not-for-profit users is available at http://genemachine.nhgri.nih.gov. The Web supplement to this paper may be found at http://genome.nhgri.nih.gov/ genemachine/supplement/. Contact: andy@nhgri.nih.gov ∗ To whom correspondence should be addressed. SYSTEM ORGANIZATION GeneMachine is based on a series of Perl modules, each of which runs one of the component gene-finding or homology search programs. These modules parse the resulting output and return the results in ASN.1 format, which is readable by Sequin. The GeneMachine executable processes run option and configuration files, passing the required information along to the individual program modules. The use of this type of modular system allows for the easy incorporation of new predictive or homology-based routines. Homology searching
THE THERMAL DEPENDENCE OF LIZARD BEHAVIOUR

Abstract New techniques were utilized to measure burst speed and distance running capacity in six species of lizards and to examine the thermal dependence of these behavioural capacities. These behaviours were repeatable among groups of animals within a species, within a group during the experiments, and among individuals of a group. Burst speeds averaged 130 to 150 m/min for active species, with some individuals exceeding 200 m/min. Total distances run during 2 min averaged 60 to 70 m in species with the greatest stamina. Thermal dependence of these behaviours was low or absent ( Q 10 ≤1.5) over the normal range of active body temperatures, and performance was not necessarily maximal at normally experienced body temperatures. These processes have much less thermal dependence than do most physiological processes and suggest adaptations to maintain functional behavioural capacity over a broad range of body temperature.
A model of the semiannual oscillation in the equatorial Indian Ocean

Abstract Luyten and Roemmich have shown a strong semiannual signal in zonal velocity in the upper, western part of the equatorial Indian Ocean. Their observations are modeled by assuming that they are directly forced by the observed semiannual component of zonal wind stress, which is relatively large in the equatorial Indian Ocean. The model is linear, periodic, has linear damping, uses the long-wave approximation, and can be solved analytically. A good comparison with the observations is obtained for the phase of the oscillation across the array. The predicted magnitude is somewhat smaller than in the observations. The model sensitivity to friction and the spatial distribution of the wind stress is explored. Some additional model simplifications are discussed, but it is concluded that they all detract substantially from the comparison. The main conclusion is that the observations can be accounted for as a directly forced response to the semiannual component of the near-equatorial zonal winds.
Standoff photoacoustic chemical detection using quantum cascade lasers

Standoff photoacoustic chemical detection using quantum cascade lasers is demonstrated. With 40 mW power the detection distance is extended from 1–2 inches to, currently, 17 feet through component and acoustic coupling improvement.
Self-reported post-exertional fatigue in Gulf War veterans: roles of autonomic testing

To determine if objective evidence of autonomic dysfunction exists from a group of Gulf War veterans with self-reported post-exertional fatigue, we evaluated 16 Gulf War ill veterans and 12 Gulf War controls. Participants of the ill group had self- reported, unexplained chronic post-exertional fatigue and the illness symptoms had persisted for years until the current clinical study. The controls had no self-reported post-exertional fatigue either at the time of initial survey nor at the time of the current study. We intended to identify clinical autonomic disorders using autonomic and neurophysiologic testing in the clinical context. We compared the autonomic measures between the 2 groups on cardiovascular function at both baseline and head-up tilt, and sudomotor function. We identified 1 participant with orthostatic hypotension, 1 posture orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, 2 distal small fiber neuropathy, and 1 length dependent distal neuropathy affecting both large and small fiber in the ill group; whereas none of above definable diagnoses was noted in the controls. The ill group had a significantly higher baseline heart rate compared to controls. Compound autonomic scoring scale showed a significant higher score (95% CI of mean: 1.72 to 2.67) among ill group compared to controls (0.58 to 1.59). We conclude that objective autonomic testing is necessary for the evaluation of self-reported, unexplained post-exertional fatigue among some Gulf War veterans with multi-symptom illnesses. Our observation that ill veterans with self-reported post-exertional fatigue had objective autonomic measures that were worse than controls warrants validation in a larger clinical series.
On-line movies of reflection seismic data with description of a movie machine

On-line movies are an exciting way to view reflection seismic data. We make a movie by slicing through a three-dimensional (3-D) seismic data cube in a selected direction (Figure 1). By sweeping through the data fast enough, it is possible to get another perspective of what is going on in the data than by examining still frames. By twiddling various knobs and buttons, we can zoom onto a zone of interest, magnify it, rotate it, and change the color to emphasize a feature of interest.
A Rapid, Semiautomated Gas Chromatographic System for the Qualitative Confirmation of Selected Drugs of Abuse and Metabolites From Urine

A silmple semlautomated gas chromatographic system which utilizes a single column for qualitative confirmation of several drugs of abuse and metabolites was developed. The system can be used to determine selected antianxlety agents, CNS stimulants, narcotics, barbiturates, and other sedatives. The drugs and metabolites are extracted from urine by a direct alkaline chloroform extraction method, and the chloroform Is evaporated to dryness. Prior to gas chromatographic analysis, residues are reconstituted in either methanol, ethanol, or ethanol:chloroform (1:1) containing the appropriate Internal standard. The system utilizes a Hewlett-Packard 5840A gas chromatograph (Hewlett-Packard, Avondale, PA 19311) equipped with a flame ionization detector and a 6 foot x 2 mm i.d. glass column packed with 3% SP-2250 DA on 100/120 mesh Supelcoport (Supelco, Incorporated, Bellefonte, PA 16823). Magnetic data cards are used to set the gas chromatographic parameters (e.g., oven, injector, and detector temperatures) for analyses of the particular drug groups. The maximum retention time for the drugs or metabolites is 15 minutes; however, a majority of the drugs or metabolltes are eluted in less than 9 minutes. The method is currently being used to provide qualitative confirmation of positive specimens from 4000 urine drug screens per month.
God Forbid! Substance Use Among Religious and Nonreligious Youth

Among a predominately Mexican and Mexican American sample of preadolescents, religiosity protected against lifetime alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use and recent alcohol and cigarette use when religious affiliation was controlled. When religiosity was controlled, however, adolescents with no religious affiliation and adolescents who were religiously affiliated reported similar substance use outcomes. Interaction effects demonstrated that the protective effect of greater religiosity operated more strongly in some religions than in others for selected outcomes. Overall, the impact of religiosity on reported drug use did not differ significantly for more and less acculturated Latino youth.
A review of southern pine decline in North America

The southeastern United States is among the most productive forested areas in the world. Four endemic southern pine species – loblolly, longleaf, shortleaf, and slash – contribute significantly to the economic and ecological values in the region. A recently described phenomenon known as Southern Pine Decline (SPD) has been reported as having widespread impact in the southern pine region, particularly on loblolly pine. Root-feeding weevils and their associated fungi have been suggested as causal agents, even though literature and empirical research suggests that they are secondary insects colonizing weakened trees. Further, no published information exists about whether their associated fungi can cause mortality of mature trees in the southeastern U.S. Since there are significant management implications for pine health, we reviewed and critically examined the SPD phenomena on the southern landscape. Our regional analyses of USDA Forest Inventory and Analysis data show no discernable patterns related to pine growth or mortality, especially as related to topographic factors. There are no large-scale patterns related to pine mortality suggesting multiple interacting factors impacting tree health at stand-level. As such, the hypothesis that SPD is a regionally important decline syndrome and labeling declining southern pine stands as SPD is not supported. Instead, we discuss many abiotic (soil types, climate) and biotic (insects, pathogens, genetics) factors that may be interacting with each other and affecting southern pine health. Finally, we suggest management recommendations for landowners with pine health issues.
Identifying Gifted Students: Educator Beliefs regarding Various Policies, Processes, and Procedures.

issues regarding the identification of gifted students have perplexed the field almost since its inception. How one identifies gifted students has tremendous ramifications for a gifted education program’s size, curriculum, instructional methods, and admin istration. little is known, however, regarding educator beliefs regarding gifted iden tification methods. the current national study surveyed 900 public school educators regarding which identification methods they supported. the educators believed that standardized tests, portfolios of student work, and teacher nominations were valid means of identification but did not support parent or peer nominations. Statistically significant differences existed between administrators and gifted education specialists, on the one hand, and regular classroom teachers, on the other hand, regarding the usefulness of standardized test scores and teacher nominations as methods of identifying students for gifted programs. Such results are potentially valuable to school administrators, gifted education specialists, and regular classroom teachers who work with gifted students.
Sodium Regulation During Ischemia Versus Reperfusion and Its Role in Injury

There are considerable data to support the general hypothesis that accumulation of [Na+]i during ischemia and early reperfusion leads, via Na+/Ca2+ exchange, to elevated [Ca2+]i, resulting in myocardial damage.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Despite the strong support for the general aspects of this hypothesis, there is controversy regarding some details that have important implications for the design of therapeutic interventions. The relative importance of the increase in [Na+]i during ischemia versus the increase in [Na+]i during reperfusion in contributing to the rise in [Ca2+]i and resultant injury is debated. These issues are important because it has been suggested that inhibition of the Na+/H+ exchanger (NHE) during reperfusion alone would be beneficial. This would allow clinical intervention after an ischemic episode. It is also important to understand why an increase in [Na+]i is detrimental. It is commonly assumed that [Na+]i is detrimental because it leads to increased [Ca2+]i during reperfusion, either due to diminished Ca2+ efflux via Na+/Ca2+ exchange or due to increased Ca2+ influx due to reverse Na+/Ca2+ exchange. Recent data presented by Cross et al9 suggest that reverse Na+/Ca2+ exchange is involved in postischemic contractile dysfunction. However, an increase in [Na+]i could also be detrimental because of effects on K+ loss11 or energetics. An understanding of the mechanism responsible for the detrimental effects of Na+ accumulation is important for the design of therapeutic interventions. A study12 published in this issue of Circulation Research adds new insight into these important issues. Lazdunski et al …
Hypoxia induces unique proliferative response in adventitial fibroblasts by activating PDGFβ receptor-JNK1 signalling.

Aims Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a devastating condition for which no disease-modifying therapies exist. PH is recognized as proliferative disease of the pulmonary artery (PA). In the experimental newborn calf model of hypoxia-induced PH, adventitial fibroblasts in the PA wall exhibit a heightened replication index. Because elevated platelet-derived growth factor β receptor (PDGFβ-R) signalling is associated with PH, we tested the hypothesis that the activation of PDGFβ-R contributes to fibroblast proliferation and adventitial remodelling in PH. Methods and results Newborn calves were exposed to either ambient air ( P B = 640 mmHg) (Neo-C) or high altitude ( P B = 445 mm Hg) (Neo-PH) for 2 weeks. PDGFβ-R phosphorylation was markedly elevated in PA adventitia of Neo-PH calves as well as in cultured PA fibroblasts isolated from Neo-PH animals. PDGFβ-R activation with PDGF-BB stimulated higher replication in Neo-PH cells compared with that of control fibroblasts. PDGF-BB-induced proliferation was dependent on reactive oxygen species generation and extracellular signal-regulated kinase1/2 activation in both cell populations; however, only Neo-PH cell division via PDGFβ-R activation displayed a unique dependence on c-Jun N-terminal kinase1 (JNK1) stimulation as the blockade of JNK1 with SP600125, a pharmacological antagonist of the JNK pathway, and JNK1-targeted siRNA selectively blunted Neo-PH cell proliferation. Conclusions Our data strongly suggest that hypoxia-induced modified cells engage the PDGFβ-R-JNK1 axis to confer distinctively heightened proliferation and adventitial remodelling in PH.
Forward and backward autoregressive modeling of EEG

Causal autoregressive (forward prediction) process is the most popular model used to parameterize an EEG segment. In this paper, we attempt to increase the modeling accuracy by removing the causality constraint. Two important observations can be made from the analysis of a set of EEG data collected during an animal experiment with induced brain injury. It was found that the residual error decreases when a forward and backward prediction model is used. The amount of the residual error decrease is minimal for those segments of the EEG data corresponding to severe brain injury.
Reducing Fat in Milk and Dairy Products by Feeding

Abstract Increasing the amount of grain and other concentrates and reducing the amount of hay and other roughages in a dairy cattle ration changes the normal pattern of ruminal fermentation, resulting in production of less acetic acid and more propionic acid in the rumen. Fine grinding and pelleting of the ration gives similar results. These changes of ruminal fermentation are accompanied by a depression in milk fat synthesis, a slight increase in milk protein synthesis, and an increase in body fat deposition. High grain can affect adversely ruminal microbes and papillae lining the rumen wall, resulting in poorer feed efficiency, less milk production, and more metabolic disturbances at or near parturition. Use of more grains and less roughages in dairy rations decreases the value of the cow as a converter of nonutilized forages and fibrous by-products into palatable and nutritious human foods, milk and meat. It also would increase the competition between cows and humans for available grain supplies if world population continues to increase.
Plant Succession on Gopher Mounds in Western Cascade Meadows: Consequences for Species Diversity and Heterogeneity

Pocket gophers have the potential to alter the dynamics of grasslands by creating mounds that bury existing vegetation and locally reset succession. Gopher mounds may provide safe sites for less competitive species, potentially increasing both species diversity and vegetation heterogeneity (spatial variation in species composition). We compared species composition, diversity and heterogeneity among gopher mounds of different ages in three montane meadows in the Cascade Range of Oregon. Cover of graminoids and forbs increased with mound age, as did species richness. Contrary to many studies, we found no evidence that mounds provided safe sites for early successional species, despite their abundance in the soil seed bank, or that diversity peaked on intermediate-aged mounds. However, cover of forbs relative to that of graminoids was greater on mounds than in the adjacent meadow. Variation in species composition was also greater within and among mounds than in adjacent patches of undisturbed vegetation, suggesting that these small-scale disturbances increase heterogeneity within meadows.
Unilateral pulmonary edema in acute coronary syndrome: A sinister sign

• Papillary Muscle rupture is a life threatening complication of acute myocardial infarction.
High-resolution daytime cloud observations for Northwestern Mexico from GOES-7 satellite observations

The first stage in a program of research to develop a regional model capable of describing the hydrology of semiarid areas of northwest Mexico and southwest United States, using remotely sensed data, is described in this paper. Finescale information on cloud cover is required to provide the radiation forcing for making simple, near-real-time estimates of daytime evaporation in hydrologic models, and frequent satellite observations have the potential to document cloud variability at high spatial and temporal resolutions. In this study, the operational framework for obtaining information on cloud cover was developed and applied, using hourly sampled, 1-km resolution GOES-7 data as received in real time in Obregon, Mexico. These satellite data were collected and analyzed from 1 July 1993 to 31 July 1994 for an approximately 106 km2 rectangular area in northwest Mexico. An efficient method was devised to provide clear-sky radiance images for the study area, at 4 km 3 4k m resolution, and updated at monthly intervals, by applying thresholds indexed to the locally appropriate clearsky radiance, thereby allowing for spatial and temporal changes in surface conditions. Manual image inspection and comparison with ground-based measurements of cloud cover and surface solar radiation provided reassurance that the high-resolution cloud-screening algorithm gave satisfactory results. This algorithm was applied to investigate the effects of temporal sampling frequency on estimates of daytimeaverage cloud cover and to document aspects of the cloud characteristics for the study area. The high-resolution algorithm proved to be efficient and reliable and bodes well for its future use in providing high-resolution estimates of surface solar radiation for use in a hydrologic model. Monthly clear-sky composite images were consistently generated, showing little evidence of contamination by persistent clouds, and tracked the seasonal evolution in surface radiance. Comparison with ground-based measurements gave confidence in the credibility of the satellite estimates and revealed weaknesses in the Campbell‐Stokes solarimeter. The seasonal evolution of spatial patterns of cloud and its diurnal cycle were investigated. The average cloudiness for the study area is 0.25, with a substantial annual variation from 0.19 in April to 0.40 in December. Persistent cloudy conditions throughout the year were detected over the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California. The derived high-resolution cloud estimates, when compared with similar estimates from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP D1), were about half those obtained with the low-resolution data, indicating that, in this complex study area where land and water boundaries are in close proximity, low-resolution satellite observations of clouds may not be able to depict the true cloud cover.
Gauging the Effect of U.S. Tobacco Control Policies From 1965 Through 2014 Using SimSmoke.

Introduction The year 2014 marked the 50th Anniversary of the first Surgeon General’s Report. This paper estimates the effect of tobacco control policies in the U.S. after the 1964 Report using the SimSmoke tobacco control simulation model. Methods SimSmoke uses National Health Interview Survey data from 1965 through 2012 on smoking prevalence, initiation, and cessation rates, and incorporates policies implemented since 1965. The model projects smoking prevalence and smoking-attributable deaths (SADs) from 1965 through 2065 and is validated against National Health Interview Survey data. Counterfactual scenarios with policies constant since 1965 and with individual policies are estimated. Analysis was conducted in February 2014. Results SimSmoke generally validated well during the time period from 1965 through 2012. As a result of all policies, smoking prevalence is estimated to have fallen by almost 55% by 2014, with a total of 2 million SADs averted from 1965 through 2014, increasing to 20.1 million SADs by 2065. The Fairness Doctrine is estimated to have reduced adult smoking prevalence by about 24% by 2014 and averted 10.4 million SADs by 2065, while price increases reduced smoking prevalence by 24% by 2014 and averted 7.3 million SADs by 2065. Smoke-free air laws, cessation treatment, and tobacco control spending individually reduced smoking rates by 3%−5.5% by 2014. Conclusions By 2014, SimSmoke predicts a 53% reduction in smoking rates and almost 2 million SADs averted due to polices implemented since the 1964 Surgeon General’s Report, with most of the health benefit still to occur in future years.
Toward better stratification of patients with left main disease: value of clinical and angiographic-derived risk scores.

Predicting who will benefit from coronary revascularization and whether percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) would be most beneficial has been the subject of long-standing interest. The American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association coronary
Structural Evidence for Heterogeneity of Two Hemoglobin α Chain Gene Loci in White-tailed Deer

Abstract An examination by tryptic peptide mapping and partial sequence determination of critical peptides of hemoglobins from white-tailed deer of known parentage established the presence of from one to three α chains in individual animals. Variations in the deer α chains occur at amino acid position number 20, at which iiα1 contains lysine while iα3 and iα3' contain aspartic acid, and at position number 24, at which phenylalanine appears in iiα1 and iα3' and tyrosine appears in iα3. Either the iα3' or the iα3 chain may appear alone, but the iiα1 chain is always linked with iα3'. Duplication of a structural gene for the iα3' chain, followed by a mutation at position number 20 to produce the iiα1 gene, and a simple point mutation in the iα3' gene at position number 24 to produce the iα3 gene explain the findings with the smallest number of separate genetic events. The lysine-aspartic acid substitution in the duplicated gene product is less conservative than the phenylalanine-tyrosine mutation, supporting the theoretical concept that gene duplication permits a greater degree of evolutionary experimentation. Interestingly, the nonduplicated gene continues to persist singly in the population as well as in association with its mutant duplicate. This finding supports the concept that heterogeneity of the α chain gene loci may exist in man as well.
A Model of Unconditional Quantile Treatment Effects in the Presence of Covariates

Many economic applications have found quantile models useful when the explanatory variables may have varying impacts throughout the distribution of the outcome variable. Traditional quantile estimators provide conditional quantile treatment effects. Typically, we are interested in unconditional quantiles, characterizing the distribution of the outcome variable for different values of the treatment variables. Conditioning on additional covariates, however, may be necessary for identification of these treatment effects. With conditional quantile models, the inclusion of additional covariates changes the interpretation of the estimates. This paper discusses identification of unconditional quantile treatment effects when it is necessary or simply desirable to condition on covariates. It discusses identification for both exogenous and endogenous treatment variables, which can be discrete or continuous, without functional form assumptions.
International Research and Training Through the Fogarty International Center

I am delighted to be here today to represent the Fogarty International Center (FIC) for Advanced Study in the Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NIH), and to participate in this very important Workshop. Dr. Philip Schambra, Director of the FIC, sends his best wishes for the success of this meeting.
A new method for studying splenic reticuloendothelial dysfunction in sickle cell disease patients and its clinical application: a brief report

Differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy (Nomarsky optics) readily demonstrates the formation of "pits" or crater-like depressions in red cell membranes of splenectomized individuals. Splenic reticuloendothelial dysfunction characteristic of many patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) can be demonstrated by technetium spleen scans, but this technique is expensive, requires injection of radioactive material into children, and is cumbersome to perform at regular intervals. However, pit formation in red cells, which also appears to reflect splenic dysfunction, can readily be quantitated in a finger-stick blood sample using DIC microscopy. In this study, the degree of red cell pitting was compared with results of technetium spleen scans and measurements of Howell-Jolly bodies in individuals with sickle cell disease. The average pitted cell percentage in the control population was 0.5% +/- 0.5 (range 0.0-2.6) and 30.5% +/- 13.9 in the SCD population (range 2.4-71.1) (less than 0.001). Of the individuals studied with SCD, 12 also had technetium (99mTc) sulfur colloid scans and measurements of Howell-Jolly bodies. The percentage of Howell-Jolly bodies was low and did not correlate well with the degree of splenic visualization. However, there was an excellent correlation between pit count and splenic dysfunction as measured by spleen scan. Determination of red cell pitting, therefore, appears to offer a simple means for clinical evaluation of splenic reticuloendothelial function in patients with SCD.
Confidentiality and the Pastoral Minister: Duty, Right, or Privilege?

Discusses the meanings of confidentiality generally and particularly within the context of the helping professions. Notes the legal nuances of the concept of “religious privilege.” Illustrates, via several cases, liability within confidentiality, concluding by urging caregivers to become familiar with local and state statutes regulating the religious privilege.
Finding Life in the Universe: The Colossus Project

Work progresses on the design of a sixty by 8-meter diameter telescope. This 77+ m diameter, optically phase controlled, almost-filled aperture interferometer can see atmospheric biomarkers and even the thermal footprints from Earth-like civilizations on exoplanets. This talk describes the motivation, enabling new technologies, and status of the group now planning the Colossus telescope.
Reasoning Frameworks for Autonomous Systems.

The ability to reason within an Artificially Intelligent System (AIS) denotes the ability to infer about information, knowledge, observations, and experiences, and affect changes within the AIS that enable it to perform new tasks previously unknown or to perform tasks already learned more efficiently. The act of reasoning, or inferring, allows the AIS to construct or modify representations of that the AIS is experiencing and learning. Reasoning allows the AIS to fill in skeletal or incomplete information or specifications about one or more of its domains (selfassessment). Presented here is a discussion of reasoning within the AIS that takes the form induction and abduction:
Identity-based Informal Economy Entrepreneurship as Institutional Change Project

I examine how informal economy entrepreneurs come to see laws as illegitimate and explore the role identity plays in motivating informal economy entrepreneurship. Analysis of interviews with 27 can...
Minireview immunomodulation by cocaine - A neuroendocrine mediated response

Cocaine acts directly on lymphoid cells and indirectly modulates the immune response by affecting the level of neuroendocrine hormones. In vitro, very high concentrations of cocaine inhibit different immune responses, while plasma levels following cocaine use have no effect. The results of the few published in vivo studies are contradictory, showing stimulatory, suppressive or no effect on lymphoid cells. The indirect effects of cocaine on the immune system could be mediated by ACTH, beta-endorphin and corticosterone. Anorectic effect associated with nutritional deficiencies of drug users could additionally affect the immune response by cocaine.
Effects of exclusive lactation on glucose and lipid metabolism,body composition in gestational diabetes patients after pregnancy

Objective To investigate the effects of exclusive breastfeeding postpartum on the glucose,lipid metabolism and body composition of patients with gestational diabetes mellitus(GDM).Methods 80 cases of women with GDM were divided into the exclusive breastfeeding group and the mixed feeding group according to the postpartum feeding patterns.Oral glucose tolerance test(OGTT),fasting serum lipids and insulin were examined prepartum and on the 42nd day postpartum;body composition was examined on the first and the 42nd day postpartum.Results After 42 days lactation,58 cases finished the research(30 in the exclusive breastfeeding group,28 in the mixed feeding group).In the exclusive breastfeeding group,OGTT blood glucose,insulin,TC and LDL significantly decreased after 42 days lactation(P0.05),accompanied by the increase in ISI and basal metabolism(P0.01) and decrease in visceral fat(P0.05).In the mixed feeding group,the FBG and 2hPG decreased(P0.05),but the other indexes showed no obvious change(P0.05).Compared with those of the mixed feeding group,the exclusive breastfeeding group's FBG,insulin and serum lipid were significantly lower(P0.05),ISI was significantly higher(P0.01),of body composition,the visceral fat was significantly lower(P0.05) and basal metabolism was significantly higher(P0.01) on the 42nd day postpartum.Conclusion Exclusive breastfeeding postpartum has beneficial effects on the glucose,lipid metabolism of patients with GDM.It can increase insulin sensitivity and also helps to lower IR,elevate basal metabolism and reduce visceral fat.
Analysis on the results of food safety and risk monitoring in Taizhou city in 2011

Objective This research was aimed to understand the current status of food contaminations in the market, grasp the food safety dynamic, and guide healthy food consumption. Methods All kinds of food collected monthly from April to December in 2011were sampled and examined according to the food safety and risk monitoring plan of Jiangsu province in 2011 as well as the current national health standards. Results The six indicators for chemical contamination in food and harmful factors were examined by gathering 263 food samples. The standard exceeding rates for element, mycotoxin, pesticide residue, pollutant indicators in food processing, forbidden chemical, and veterinary drug residue were 19.75%, 2.56%, 0%, 18.18%, 11.11% and 0%, respectively. The exceeding rate for food borne pathogens in seven kinds of food was 34.03% in total. The rates for detecting food borne pathogen,monitoring food borne pathogen in sentinel hospital, monitoring symptoms of acute gastroenteritis in the community groups were11.81%, 17.69% and 3%, respectively. There was no report about suspected cases of food borne abnormality or event of abnormal health. One food poisoning event was reported in the area during the year. Conclusion Chemical contaminations in some food were serious in Taizhou city, and the rate offood borne pathogenic bacteria in food contamination was high. Active monitoring work of the food borne disease should be further strengthened.
Application of a framework for determining number of drugs.

Background There are many different methodologies used in the literature for determining the number of drugs used by a patient, and many are incompletely described. This may be attributable to the lack of a framework to help investigators choose and describe their methods and the lack of evidence on the implications of the choice. The purpose of the study was to propose a framework and illustrate how that framework can be used to create and succinctly describe various approaches to counting the number of drugs used by patients and to examine the impact of varying individual components of the framework on the resulting drug count.
Clearance of Dying Cells by Phagocytes: Mechanisms and Implications for Disease Pathogenesis.

The efficient clearance of apoptotic cells is an evolutionarily conserved process crucial for homeostasis in multicellular organisms. The clearance involves a series of steps that ultimately facilitates the recognition of the apoptotic cell by the phagocytes and the subsequent uptake and processing of the corpse. These steps include the phagocyte sensing of “find-me” signals released by the apoptotic cell, recognizing “eat-me” signals displayed on the apoptotic cell surface, and then intracellular signaling within the phagocyte to mediate phagocytic cup formation around the corpse and corpse internalization, and the processing of the ingested contents. The engulfment of apoptotic cells by phagocytes not only eliminates debris from tissues but also produces an anti-inflammatory response that suppresses local tissue inflammation. Conversely, impaired corpse clearance can result in loss of immune tolerance and the development of various inflammation-associated disorders such as autoimmunity, atherosclerosis, and airway inflammation but can also affect cancer progression. Recent studies suggest that the clearance process can also influence antitumor immune responses. In this review, we will discuss how apoptotic cells interact with their engulfing phagocytes to generate important immune responses, and how modulation of such responses can influence pathology.
PARTY AFFILIATION AND PUBLIC SPENDING: EVIDENCE FROM U.S. GOVERNORS

This paper investigates whether the party affiliation of governors (Democrat or Republican) has an impact on the allocation of state expenditures. Exploiting gubernatorial election results from 1960 to 2012 and a Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD), we find that Democratic governors allocate a larger share of their budget to health/hospitals and education sectors. We find no significant impact of the political party of governors on total spending, only on the allocation of funds. The results are robust to a wide range of controls and model specifications. (JEL D72, H75, H72).