cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On a Possible Relation Between Cultural Transmission and Genetical Evolution

Individuals respond differently to environmental stresses, and often a subpopulation will respond more adaptively than the rest. The analogy with experiments on genetic assimilation suggests that such individuals are likely to share the genes responsible for their adaptive response. If the environmental stress in a social species is the presence of an innovative animal, the adaptive response may be imitation of the innovator by a subpopulation of individuals sharing genes responsible for this capacity. Small increments in the fitness of many such individuals may add up to a substantial selection pressure for the underlying genes. Since learning and imitation are not unitary abilities, but in all probability depend on underlying “computational elements,” analogous to the instruction set of a computer, “assimilative” selection of this sort may constitute a positive feedback process that continually favors genes that add to the population’s store of such elements. This hypothesis is consistent with such puzzling features of human social behavior as the enormous amount of time devoted to social intercourse and the disproportion between human intelligence and the demands placed upon it in primitive cultures. It is also compatible with the evolution of intelligence and a large brain size in non-tool-using social species such as whales and dolphins.
Commentary on Symbols and Mediation in Mathematics Education

This paper comments on the global ideas of Moreno-Armella and Sriraman (2005) pertaining to the development of representational systems. The discussion focuses on the co-evolution of symbols and their referents, and the shared interpretation of mathematical symbols in a community of practice. Some future directions are suggested.
The Consequence of a “Consolidation” Period Following Brief Monocular Deprivation in Kittens

Brief periods of limited visual exposure, such as monocular deprivation, have been reported to cause changes in striate cortex that are accentuated by a delay prior to physiological study. This notion, called “consolidation” in previous work, has been tested in the present study. Four-week-old normally reared kittens were monocularly occluded for brief periods (8 or 24 hours). Extracellular study of striate cortex was undertaken either immediately after occlusion or following a period during which the animals were kept in darkness. Substantial monocular deprivation effects were found in both groups, but the most pronounced changes were observed for the kittens studied immediately after exposure. Therefore, no “consolidation” has been observed. On the contrary, it appears that the period spent in darkness actually diminished the consequences of the monocular deprivation.
The Role of Perineural Space Invasion in the Local Spread of Prostatic Adenocarcinoma

In 176 radical prostatectomy specimens areas of capsule penetration by cancer and positive surgical margins were quantified and located over the prostate surface. The presence of cancer within the perineural space was sought in these areas and compared to the normal distribution of prostatic nerve branches. Capsule penetration was found in 78 of 156 stage B carcinomas, and in 39 of these 78 (50 per cent) it occurred entirely by cancer extension through the capsule within perineural spaces. In the remaining 39 prostates capsule penetration by perineural space invasion predominated but direct spread also was found. Most often, perineural space invasion followed the oblique vertical course of nerve branches that extended superiorly to the superior pedicle near the prostate base. In such cases capsule penetration areas were localized near the superior margin of the cancer, and in 11 per cent positive superior pedicle margins resulted from continued perineural space invasion outside the capsule. In cancers near the prostate apex capsule penetration by perineural space invasion produced positive margins in 89 per cent of 18 cases because of the short inferior pedicle. The role of perineural space invasion by cancer was less prominent in 4 of 20 stage A cancers that showed capsule penetration.
Adjusting the trade-off between privacy guarantees and computational cost in secure hardware PIR

Database queries present a potential privacy risk to users, as they may disclose sensitive information about the person issuing the query. Consequently, privacy preserving query processing has gained significant attention in the literature, and numerous techniques have been proposed that seek to hide the content of the queries from the database server. Secure hardware-assisted private information retrieval (PIR) is currently the only practical solution that can be leveraged to build algorithms that provide perfect privacy. Nevertheless, existing approaches feature amortized page retrieval costs and, for large databases, some queries may lead to excessive delays, essentially taking the database server offline for large periods of time. In this paper, we address this drawback and introduce a novel approach that sacrifices some degree of privacy in order to provide fast and constant query response times. Our method leverages the internal cache of the secure hardware to constantly reshuffle the database pages in order to create sufficient uncertainty regarding the exact location of an arbitrary page. We give a formal definition of the privacy level of our algorithm and illustrate how to enforce it in practice. Based on the performance characteristics of the current state-of-the-art secure hardware platforms, we show that our method can provide low page access times, even for very large databases.
Properly selected patients with multiple brain metastases may benefit from aggressive treatment of their intracranial disease.

To determine whether properly selected patients with multiple brain metastases benefit from aggressive treatment of their intracranial disease, we reviewed 52 patients having stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), tumor resection, or both between April 1997 and March 2000. Tumor histology included lung (n = 18, 35%), breast (n = 11, 21%), renal (n = 6, 12%), melanoma (n = 6, 12%), and other (n = 11, 21%). The median patient age was 58 years, the median Karnofsky performance status (KPS) was 90, and the median number of tumors was three. Twenty patients (39%) had progressed after prior radiation therapy. Treatment included multiple craniotomies and tumor resection (n = 5, 10%), radiosurgery (n = 31, 60%), or resection and radiosurgery (n = 16, 30%). Median survival was 15.5 months. The one- and two-year actuarial survivals were 63% and 27%, respectively. Multivariate analysis found radiation therapy oncology group recursive partitioning analysis (RTOG RPA) Class (1 vs. 2/3) correlated with improved survival (Relative risk = 2.60, 95% CI 1.13–5.97, p = 0.03). Class 1 patients (KPS ≥ 70, age > 65 years, and controlled primary with no extracranial metastases) survived a median of 19 months whereas Class 3 patients (KPS > 70) survived 8 months. Class 2 patients (all other patients) survived a median of 13 months. Thirty-five patients (67%) had intracranial progression at a median of 8.0 months. Intracranial progression was local (n = 6), distant (n = 23), or local and distant (n = 6); 26 patients with intracranial progression underwent additional brain tumor treatments. Multivariate analysis found patients with radiosensitive tumors (lung, breast, other) had fewer intracranial recurrences compared to patients with radio-resistant tumors (melanoma, renal, sarcoma) (Relative risk = 2.43, 95% CI 1.13–5.10, p = 0.02). The length of survival in our series is quite comparable to historical reports on the management of brain metastasis patients, and supports aggressive intervention for RTOG RPA Class 1 patients and Class 2 patients with controlled primary disease who have a limited number of brain metastases.
RANDOM COMPLEXES AND ℓ2-BETTI NUMBERS

Uniform spanning trees on finite graphs and their analogues on infinite graphs are a well-studied area. On a Cayley graph of a group, we show that they are related to the first l2-Betti number of the group. Our main aim, however, is to present the basic elements of a higher-dimensional analogue on finite and infinite CW-complexes, which relate to the higher l2-Betti numbers. One consequence is a uniform isoperimetric inequality extending work of Lyons, Pichot, and Vassout. We also present an enumeration similar to recent work of Duval, Klivans and Martin.
Legislative and administrative actions to increase vaccination coverage in Washington schools.

Current outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases in the U.S. highlight the consequences of declining levels of vaccination coverage. Attempts to increase coverage by banning or restricting nonmedi...
Redesigning Primary Care to Improve Diabetes Outcomes (The UNITED Study)

OBJECTIVE The effective redesign of primary care delivery systems to improve diabetes care requires an understanding of which particular components of delivery consistently lead to better clinical outcomes. We identified associations between common systems of care management (SysCMs) and the frequency of meeting standardized performance targets for Optimal Diabetes Care (NQF#0729) in primary care practices. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A validated survey of 585 eligible family or general internal medicine practices seeing ≥30 adult patients with diabetes in or near Minnesota during 2017 evaluated the presence of 62 SysCMs. From 419 (72%) practices completing the survey, NQF#0729 was determined in 396 (95%) from electronic health records, including 215,842 patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. RESULTS Three SysCMs were associated with higher rates of meeting performance targets across all practices: 1) a systematic process for shared decision making with patients (P = 0.001), 2) checklists of tests or interventions needed for prevention or monitoring of diabetes (P = 0.002), and 3) physician reminders of guideline-based age-appropriate risk assessments due at the patient visit (P = 0.002). When all three were in place, an additional 10.8% of the population achieved recommended performance measures. In subgroup analysis, 15 additional SysCMs were associated with better care in particular types of practices. CONCLUSIONS Diabetes care outcomes are better in primary care settings that use a patient-centered approach to systematically engage patients in decision making, remind physicians of age-appropriate risk assessments, and provide checklists for recommended diabetes interventions. Practice size and location are important considerations when redesigning delivery systems to improve performance.
Formal Trust Architecture for Assuring Trusted Interactions in the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) has provided a flexible platform for a large number of heterogeneous devices to dynamically join and leave the network. This enhances the availability of a diverse range of services provided by a network. However, this dynamic expansion of the network with mobile IoT devices introduces a major challenge to security especially related to management of trust across the diverse IoT platforms. Thus, arises the necessity for a mechanism that can ensure the selection of secure and trusted devices as these devices try to join the network. In this work, an effective formal approach to trust modeling mechanism has been investigated to support dynamic trust development between devices based on two-tier trust architecture. We proposed the need to formally represent the requirement for trust among IoT devices by developing a well formulated trust ontology. Trust reasoning and management is a challenging aspect in this dynamic environment which we have addressed here by associating integrity with interactions among the device. Additionally, we have developed a method to select a recommender device among participant nodes who acts as a trusted leader within IoT device.
Failure of Atrioventricular Conduction

In a 27-year-old man the electrocardiogram suggests increased vagal tone, and not intrinsic atrioventricular nodal disease, as the cause of transient atrioventricular block.
Thoracic Endovascular Repair for Ruptured Aberrant Right Subclavian Artery Aneurysm Without Subclavian Artery Revascularization

An aberrant right subclavian artery aneurysm ruptured in an 83-year-old male who presented with chest pain, shortness of breath, with associated hemothorax. Patient underwent thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) and coil embolization of subclavian artery without carotid-subclavian bypass. Right hand ischemia gradually improved during the follow-up period of 10 months with no residual symptoms in the right hand. There was significant improvement in the right wrist brachial index.
Would Medicare for All Be the Most Beneficial Health Care System for Family Physicians and Patients? Yes: Improved Medicare for All Would Rescue an American Health Care System in Crisis

The illusion of reliable employer-based health insurance is crumbling;our safety nets have wide geographic variations;high-deductible insurance plans result in delayed care for people with chronic conditions;and underlying racial and geographic disparities in care are worsening 1–5 The United States spends far more on health care than any other nation, but our life expectancy has fallen behind 6 We must use the lessons of this crisis to better prepare for the next one and address the shortcomings in our health care system Patients can choose from a network that includes 93% of U S primary care physicians 7 Once adults are eligible for coverage, their age-specific mortality increases from the worst among 17 peer nations to one of the best (Figure 1) 8 The multiyear gap in life expectancy between Black and White patients who require dialysis disappears when both groups are covered by Medicare 9 Medicare also does a much better job of controlling costs compared with private health insurance: during the past decade, Medicare's cumulative increase in per-enrollee spending was 21 5%, far less than the 52 6% average increase among private insurers 10 FIGURE 1 A 2016 study found that in some U S medical practices, physicians spend as little as 26% of their time with patients 21 In contrast, family physicians in Canada spend 79% of their time on patient care,22 which could be one reason that more of them report being satisfied with their practices 17 In 2018, John Cullen, MD, then-president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, described U S medical practice as “an incredible bureaucratic mess to get anything done for patients ”
Intrinsically Disordered Bacterial Polar Organizing Protein Z, PopZ, Interacts with Protein Binding Partners Through an N-terminal Molecular Recognition Feature

The polar organizing protein Z (PopZ) is necessary for the formation of three-dimensional microdomains at the cell poles in Caulobacter crescentus, where it functions as a hub protein that recruits multiple regulatory proteins from the cytoplasm. Although a large portion of the protein is predicted to be natively unstructured, in reconstituted systems PopZ can self-assemble into a macromolecular scaffold that directly binds to at least ten different proteins. Here we report the solution NMR structure of PopZΔ134-177, a truncated form of PopZ that does not self-assemble but retains the ability to interact with heterologous proteins. We show that the unbound form of PopZΔ134-177 is unstructured in solution, with the exception of a small amphipathic α-helix in residues M10-I17, which is included within a highly conserved region near the N-terminal. In applying NMR techniques to map the interactions between PopZΔ134-177 and one of its binding partners, RcdA, we find evidence that the α-helix and adjoining amino acids extending to position E23 serve as the core of the binding motif. Consistent with this, a point mutation at position I17 severely compromises binding. Our results show that a partially structured Molecular Recognition Feature (MoRF) within an intrinsically disordered domain of PopZ contributes to the assembly of polar microdomains, revealing a structural basis for complex network assembly in Alphaproteobacteria that is analogous to those formed by intrinsically disordered hub proteins in other kingdoms.
Uncertainty and the marginal revenue product–wage gap

The presence of uncertainty and risk aversion compounds the effects of labor market imperfections and thereby widens the marginal revenue product of labor (MRPL) and wage gap. This paper analyzes the case of uncertainty in labor efficiency or job separation and its implications for managerial decisions. We show that when labor efficiency is subject to stochastic fluctuations, risk aversion leads to a gap between the MRPL and the wage even under conditions of perfect competition. If job separation costs are stochastic, the gap is due to monopsony power and the influence of risk aversion.
Moderation of the effect of glycemia on the risk of cardiovascular disease in type 1 diabetes: The DCCT/EDIC study.

Abstract Aims We assessed whether and to what extent established cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors moderate (enhance/reduce) the effect of hyperglycemia on CVD outcomes in the long-term follow-up of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial type 1 diabetes (T1D) cohort (N = 1441). Methods Moderation of the effect of glycemia on subsequent risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE: fatal or non-fatal myocardial infarction or stroke) and any-CVD (MACE plus confirmed angina, silent MI, revascularization, or congestive heart failure) was assessed separately using interaction terms between HbA1c and other risk factors in Cox proportional hazards models. Results Over a median follow-up of 29 years, there were 120 MACE cases and 239 any-CVD cases. Higher pulse, higher triglycerides, use of calcium channel blockers, and presence of neuropathy individually enhanced (p Conclusions Such moderation analyses identify subgroups with increased CVD risk who might especially benefit from earlier and/or more intensive glycemic control. Interventions treating modifiable moderating factors may independently reduce the risk of CVD and also reduce the risk associated with a higher HbA1c.
Living with Grief Since COVID-19.

In Living with Grief Since COVID-19, Kenneth Doka and Amy Tucci provide a sensitive and empathetic composition of real-life pandemic stories that are inviting, informative and hopeful. The personal...
Parametric Optimization of 3D Printed Hydrogel-Based Cardiovascular Stent

This study aimed to develop personalized biodegradable stent (BDS) for the treatment of coronary heart disease. Three-dimensional (3D) printing technique has offered easy and fast fabrication of BDS with enhanced reproducibility and efficacy. A variety of BDS were printed with 3 types of hydrogel (~5 ml) resources (10%w/v sodium alginate (SA), 10%w/v cysteine-sodium alginate (SA-CYS), and 10%w/v cysteine-sodium alginate with 0.4%w/v PLA-nanofibers (SA-CYS-NF)) dispersed from an 22G print head nozzle attached to the BD-syringe. The printability of hydrogels into 3D structures was examined based on such variables as hydrogel’s viscosity, printing distance, printing speed and the nozzle size. It was demonstrated that alginate composition (10%w/v) offered BDS with sufficient viscosity that defined the thickness and swelling ratio of the stent struts. The thickness of the strut was found to be 338.7 ± 29.3 μm, 262.5 ± 14.7 μm and 237.1 ± 14.7 μm for stents made of SA, SA-CYS and SA-CYS-NF, respectively. SA-CYS-NF stent displayed the highest swelling ratio of 38.8 ± 2.9% at the initial 30 min, whereas stents made of SA and SA-CYS had 23.1 ± 2.4% and 22.0 ± 2.4%, respectively. The printed stents had sufficient mechanical strength and were stable against pseudo-physiological wall shear stress. An addition of nanofibers to alginate hydrogel significantly enhanced the biodegradation rates of the stents. In vitro cell culture studies revealed that stents had no cytotoxic effects on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and Raw 264.7 cells (i.e., Monocyte/macrophage-like cells), supporting that stents are biocompatible and can be explored for future clinical applications.
Clinical and molecular characteristics of early-onset versus average-onset esophagogastric cancer.

250Background: While the rate of esophagogastric (EG) cancer is declining, early onset (EO) gastric cancer prior to age 50 is rising. It is unknown whether EO-EG cancer represents a distinct entity...
Aperture illumination and antenna patterns

The discussion of aperture systems will be continued in the present chapter with the object of developing in more detail the relations between the aperture field and the diffraction field. The results will furnish a basis for the design of the reflectors and lenses used in directive microwave antennas. The design considerations for such systems fall into two major groups: (1) transformation of the specifications that the radiation pattern of the antenna as a whole is required to meet into requirements on the aperture-field distribution, and (2) the design of the primary feed and reflector or lens to produce the required aperture field. The radiation pattern of the com posite antenna will be referred to as the secondary -pattern in distinction to the primary pattern of the feed system.
Race and Discretion in American Medicine

Rarely has a piece of social science research received more attention than the 1999 study by Kevin Schulman and others reporting large differences in physicians’ responses to identical heart disease symptoms presented by black and white actors portraying patients. The 720 physician-subjects who participated in the study referred lower proportions of African-American than white age and sex matched “patients” for cardiac catheterization, a costly, state-of-the-art diagnostic measure, even after the researchers controlled for physicians’ subjective impressions of disease likelihood and severity. Critics quickly found errors in the authors’ statistical methodology—errors that exaggerated these racial disparities. The New England Journal of Medicine, in which the article appeared, then took the extraordinary step of issuing a partial retraction. Yet publication of the Schulman study did more than any other single event to put the matter of racial disparities in health and medical care on the American public policy agenda—and to frame political discussion of the topic. Hundreds of prior publications reported powerful evidence of racial gaps in life expectancy, morbidity from various illnesses, access to health insurance and services, and the clinical management of disease. But the Schulman study’s use of African-American and white actors with identical scripts presented a stark picture of pure racial bias, uncomplicated by the potentially mediating roles of educational background, economic status, or other social cues. The study received
Annihilation Model of Quasi-Stellar Objects

The possibility that annihilation is a major source of energy in cosmic physics is discussed. Since Klein suggested that the Universe might be matter-antimatter symmetric over two decades ago, there have been a significant number of papers developing the consequences of this view. These, however, have been largely ignored in the general literature. There have also been a number of papers claiming to prove that there cannot be antimatter anywhere in the observable Universe. In the first part of this paper an assessment of the differing views is given, and it is shown that none of the arguments against antimatter is convincing. The existence of antimatter is not in conflict with any observational fact. The reason for the negative attitude towards the existence of antimatter seems to be that this view is in conflict with a number of speculative but ‘generally accepted’ theories. However, recent magnetospheric and heliospheric research, includingin situ measurements of cosmic plasmas, is now drastically changing cosmic plasma physics in a way that leads to growing scepticism about quite a few of the speculative theories.
Editorial on "Comprehensive geriatric care for patients with hip fractures: a prospective, randomized, controlled trial" published in The Lancet on April 25(th), 2015

A third of elderly adults fall every year, many leading to hip fractures with a 24% mortality rate just within the first year. As a growing number of the US population approaches old age, these hip fractures are expected to cost the US over 25 billion annually. In the near future, physicians will need to not only improve the treatment for a larger patient population but also reduce the medical costs associated. The authors in this paper sought to determine whether specialized geriatric care positively impacted patient outcome compared to standard orthopaedic care for hip fractures. The study found that geriatric care significantly increased patient mobility within 4 months after hip fracture and will likely reduce overall medical costs. Similar studies have shown promising results as well. Moving forward, geriatric fracture programs need more prospective randomized trials to determine the effectiveness of these programs to increase patient quality while also reducing overall medical costs. This study in correlation with others further demonstrates the importance and need of specialized geriatric programs in the US.
Increased in vitro toxicity to mouse bone marrow with 1,3- -bis-(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea and hyperthermia.

Hyperthermia has been shown to increase the cytotoxic effect of certain cancer chemotherapeutic agents in vitro and in vivo. It is not known whether the combination of hyperthermia plus these chemotherapeutic drugs will also increase the toxicity of the drugs. This study was undertaken to evaluate the toxic effects of 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea combined with hyperthermia on normal mouse bone marrow in vitro. An increased effect of the combination was seen when the marrow was heated at 42 degrees in the presence of the drug for 15 min (p less than 0.025) and for 1 hr (p less than 0.005). Incubations for 2 hr produced a significant decrease of control growth, such that no increased effect of the combination of drug plus hyperthermia could be seen. In order for the increased effects to be seen, heating had to be done simultaneously in the presence of the drug. Clinicians using the combination of whole-body hyperthermia plus 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea should be aware of possible increased marrow toxicity.
The 2008 Presidential Election, 2.0: A Content Analysis of User-Generated Political Facebook Groups

Although Facebook is primarily known for building and maintaining relationships, the 2008 presidential election highlighted this social networking website as a viable tool for political communication. In fact, during primary season until Election Day in 2008, Facebook users created more than 1,000 Facebook group pages that focused on Barack Obama and John McCain. Using quantitative content analysis, the primary purpose of this study was to assess how both John McCain and Barack Obama were portrayed across these Facebook groups. Results indicated that group membership and activity levels were higher for Barack Obama than for John McCain. Overall, Barack Obama was portrayed more positively across Facebook groups than John McCain. In addition, profanity, racial, religious, and age-related language were also coded for and varied with regard to how each candidate was portrayed. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
GENDA - a generalized design automation system for modular hardware

Design automation techniques are gaining universal usage throughout industry. The tailoring of design automation systems to a specific hardware technology generally results in their early obsolescence. GENDA, a GENeralized Design Automation system currently used within Philco, represents a successful attempt to cope with changing packaging techniques and the lead time normally involved in development of design automation functions. The approach used requires more care in initial specification and development of software for design automation use, but inherently enables the incorporation of added functions, and adaptations to new packaging techniques, to be made rapidly and effectively.The following paragraphs detail and illustrate the operational GENDA design automation system and the design philosophy behind it.
Banking and commerce in the United States

Abstract This review traces the changing relationship between banking and commerce in the United States, from the earliest banks through recent developments. The relationship is characterized by policy-imposed restrictions on both the ‘nonbanking’ activities of banks and the ‘banking’ activities of commercial and industrial firms. The substance of the policy has varied over the years with changes in the demarcation between ‘banking’ and ‘nonbanking’ as the result of market adaptations by banks, other firms and government, the functioning of a fragmented regulatory system, and congressional ‘loopholes’ that have periodically been closed when widely exploited. Persistent constraints on common control of banks and other commercial firms, and repeated government suppression of major departures from separation, has been striking in an economy that generally rewards entry into new activities to meet market demands. The roots of the policy can be found in concerns about the extension of government influence through the private banking firms which it supports to the detriment of non-affiliated commercial and industrial firms; i.e., in classic economic liberalism.
Effects of water on the spectra of model compounds in the short-wavelength near infrared spectral region (14,000–9091 cm –1 or 714–1100 nm)

The spectral region from 14,000 to 9091 cm−1 (714–1100 nm) is increasingly being investigated for the analysis of high moisture systems due to its low absorption by water. The objective of this work was to determine if the effects of water on model compounds seen in the 7140–4000 cm−1 (1400–2500 nm) near infrared region occurred in this short wavelength region. Spectra were obtained by diffuse reflectance and transmission using a Fourier transform spectrometer. Spectra were obtained for a variety of organic liquids, liquid/water solutions, solids, wet solids and solutions of solids in water. Solutions included ethanol, acetic acid, acetone, pyridine, sugars, starch, cellulose, gums, amino acids and proteins. The spectral results showed that the effects seen in the 7140–4000 cm−1 (1400–2500 nm) region were also common in the 14,000–9091 cm−1 (714–1100 nm) region (i.e. peak shifts, loss of spectral features etc.). For example, in the long wavelength near infrared region, sugars, such as sucrose and glucose,...
Flightless flies: Drosophila models of neuromuscular disease

The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has a long and rich history as an important model organism for biologists. In particular, study of the fruit fly has been essential to much of our fundamental understanding of the development and function of the nervous system. In recent years, studies using fruit flies have provided important insights into the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases. Fly models of spinal muscular atrophy, spinobulbar muscular atrophy, myotonic dystrophy, dystrophinopathies and other inherited neuromuscular diseases recapitulate many of the key pathologic features of the human disease. The ability to perform genetic screens holds promise for uncovering the molecular mechanisms of disease, and indeed, for identifying novel therapeutic targets. This review will summarize recent progress in developing fly models of neuromuscular diseases and will emphasize the contribution that Drosophila has made to our understanding of these diseases.
Enhanced visualization of axonally transported proteins in the immature CNS by suppression of systemic labeling.

Abstract In the neonate hamster, visualization of axonally transported proteins in the retinofugal pathway is obscured by high levels of systemic (background) labeling. Radiolabeled precursors injected into the eye diffuse rapidly into the general circulation and then across the immature blood-brain barrier to be incorporated into proteins that are synthesized throughout the brain. Systemic labeling can be suppressed, however, by i.p. injections of large amounts of either non-radioactive methionine 30 min after intraocular labeling with [ 35 S]methionine, or non-radioactive leucine given at the time of intraocular labeling. Whereas the former competes with the radioactive precursor during incorporation into brain proteins (after most of the retinal labeling has already been achieved), the latter competes at the earlier stage of access to the brain. Both methods reduced background labeling by more than 60%, thereby allowing for unambiguous identification of axonally transported proteins. The pattern of rapidly transported proteins was found to be strikingly different between neonates and mature animals, including marked changes in an identified ‘growth-associated protein’ (50 kDa. pI 4.8).
Management of Airway Trauma II: Combined Injuries of the Trachea and Esophagus

Abstract Twenty-four consecutive patients with combined injuries of the trachea and esophagus were operated on at the Tulane University Hospital and the Charity Hospital of New Orleans between 1967 and 1983. Only 3 of the injuries resulted from blunt trauma, and 1 of these patients had a total transection of both the trachea and esophagus; the remaining injuries were due to penetrating trauma (20 gunshot wounds; 1 stab wound). The combined lesions involved the cervical region in 20 patients and the thoracic esophagus and trachea or bronchus in 4. All patients underwent bronchoscopy; in recent years all have had esophagoscopy, because our experience indicates that esophagrams, which patients also underwent, have a high rate (12.5%) of false negative results. Operative techniques included a two-layer closure of all esophageal injuries, closure of the trachea with nonabsorbable monofilament suture, and transthoracic or cervical drainage. Muscle flaps were used for suture line reinforcement. Associated operative procedures included tracheostomy (5), laparotomy (4), vascular procedures (5), neurologic procedures (2), and closed-tube thoracostomy (6). Five patients (21%) died in the perioperative period, 4 of 20 with combined cervical injuries, and 1 of the 4 with combined thoracic injuries. Deaths resulted from missed injuries to the esophagus (2 patients), a missed tracheal injury (1), associated vascular injury (1), and associated thoracoabdominal injury (1). Two patients experienced cervical esophageal suture line leaks, both of which sealed with conservative therapy. Clinical follow-up showed good results in 90% of the patients who survived. One patient had late neurologic sequela of the injury, including spinal cord trauma and recurrent nerve paralysis, and 1 had pharyngeal paralysis from extensive neurologic damage in the neck. No patient had esophageal or tracheal stenosis.
Further analysis of the transient dynamic response of piezoelectric bodies subjected to electric impulses

Electric and acoustic transient waves induced by an impulse point charge are represented and studied by means of dynamic Green's functions and their derivatives. Numerical results using such functions are generated to illustrate important features associated with the electroacoustic waves. In particular, the attenuation characteristics of the waves with distance from the source are analyzed for a class of material and electric load.
Time outside targeted oxygen saturation range and retinopathy of prematurity

Summary Objective To better understand the impact of hypoxia and hyperoxia on neonatal morbidity and mortality, we examined the number of hypoxia and hyperoxia events as well as percentage of time spent outside oxygen saturation targets in relationship to threshold retinopathy of prematurity (tROP) and mortality in preterm infants. Study design Saturation data in 2-second sampling from pulse oximeters was prospectively collected in a single NICU. Average SaO 2 , low and high saturation events, duration of events, and percentage of time infants spent outside of oxygen saturation range were collected and analyzed continuously during the hospitalization. Results 102 infants Conclusions Information such as the duration and number of hypoxia and hyperoxia events, as well as total time outside the targeted saturation range, could be factored into assessing clinical interventions and research studies in the prevention, treatment and evaluation of neonatal outcomes. © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
AUTOMATIC VIDEO OBJECT EXTRACTION WITH CAMERA IN MOTION

Automatic moving object extraction has been explored extensively in the image processing and computer vision community. Generally, moving object extraction schemes rely on either optical flow or frame difference. Optical flow methods can deal with moving cameras, but they are inconsistent at object boundaries and the object segmentation tends to be inaccurate. Although frame difference approaches can detect object boundaries, they cannot detect the uniform intensity interior regions. Additionally, the frame difference approaches cannot deal with moving cameras. We present a novel technique for the automatic extraction of a moving object captured by a moving camera by blending the information from the optical flow, the frame differences, and the spatial segmentation. The optical flow is used to compensate the camera motion and to generate a model for the background. Next, the differences in the compensated frames are compared with the background model to detect the changes in the frame. Finally, the detected changes and the spatial segmentation are combined to identify the moving uniform intensity regions. Experimental results of the proposed moving object extraction method for a variety of videos are presented.
Fitness Tour: a mobile application for combating obesity

Smartphones today not only provide computing and communication capabilities but are also equipped with many sensors that enable new applications across several domains, namely healthcare, environmental monitoring, social networks, and transportation. In this paper, we focus on the heathcare domain. We describe a location-based application called Fitness Tour that we have designed for Andorid-based smartphones. Our application includes several new features: (a) randomly generated exercise tours, (b) secure verification of any completed tour, and (c) social network interface that allows participating users to invite friends to view their records or participate in self-organized group competitions. This group feature allows users to exert social pressure on one another to adopt healthier lifestyle via outdoor physical activities. Our main goal is to use this application to encourage children and college students to adopt more active lifestyles and hence combat the obesity problem.
Retrieval of atmospheric properties from hyper and multispectral imagery with the FLAASH atmospheric correction algorithm

Atmospheric Correction Algorithms (ACAs) are used in applications of remotely sensed Hyperspectral and Multispectral Imagery (HSI/MSI) to correct for atmospheric effects on measurements acquired by air and space-borne systems. The Fast Line-of-sight Atmospheric Analysis of Spectral Hypercubes (FLAASH) algorithm is a forward-model based ACA created for HSI and MSI instruments which operate in the visible through shortwave infrared (Vis-SWIR) spectral regime. Designed as a general-purpose, physics-based code for inverting at-sensor radiance measurements into surface reflectance, FLAASH provides a collection of spectral analysis and atmospheric retrieval methods including: a per-pixel vertical water vapor column estimate, determination of aerosol optical depth, estimation of scattering for compensation of adjacency effects, detection/characterization of clouds, and smoothing of spectral structure resulting from an imperfect atmospheric correction. To further improve the accuracy of the atmospheric correction process, FLAASH will also detect and compensate for sensor-introduced artifacts such as optical smile and wavelength mis-calibration. FLAASH relies on the MODTRAN TM radiative transfer (RT) code as the physical basis behind its mathematical formulation, and has been developed in parallel with upgrades to MODTRAN in order to take advantage of the latest improvements in speed and accuracy. For example, the rapid, high fidelity multiple scattering (MS) option available in MODTRAN4 can greatly improve the accuracy of atmospheric retrievals over the 2-stream approximation. In this paper, advanced features available in FLAASH are described, including the principles and methods used to derive atmospheric parameters from HSI and MSI data. Results are presented from processing of Hyperion, AVIRIS, and LANDSAT data.
Linked Micromap Plots for South America – General Design Considerations and Specific Adjustments

merica (USA) since their introduction in 1996 as an effective way to display statistical summaries associated with regional spatial units. However, LM plots were always hard to create by non–experts. The introduction of the micromap R package has simplified the construction of LM plots for arbitrary geographic regions by facilitating the use of external Geographic Information System (GIS) features (such as shapefiles) as the basis for the maps. In this article, we will introduce LM plots for countries from South America. However, spatial representations of features are often not immediately suitable for LM plots, even after some automated simplification of the boundaries of the map regions. A common problem is that relatively small geographic regions are often not visible when plotted in LM plots. Thus, it is necessary to enlarge small regions and display them on the outside of the main map. We introduce some algorithmic guidelines on how small regions can be addressed in LM plots for South America. Moreover, we will provide recommendations how to include areas into LM plots that are far away from the main geographic region.
Non-Metric Biometric Clustering

The goal of this research is to demonstrate how a non-metric clustering technique can be used to effectively reduce the search time for finding matches among biometric templates. Some biometric modalities (such as fingerprint) have proven to not cluster effectively with traditional clustering techniques. Without clustering, identification requires an expensive exhaustive search. This research explores the effectiveness of a novel clustering technique using false matches in a non-metric space. False matches are typically undesirable false positive errors that increase with gallery size. This clustering approach uses these false matches as references for clustering in non-metric similarity space. Searches can then be restricted to only those clusters that claim the probe as a member.
New methods of dissecting the masticator space of the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta)

The aim of our project was to develop a method to examine the deep masticator space of the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) in order to investigate the following particulars of the mandibular nerve: (1) its manner of entry into the masticator space, (2) its branching within spaces/canals in the spheno-temporal bony complex, and (3) the location of its principal divisions with reference to the lateral pterygoid plate and muscle heads. In order to access these structures it was necessary to develop novel lateral and medial approaches. These and the instruments used are described. The proximal branching of the mandibular nerve is described and contrasted with that of the human. The implications of nerve branching in humans with reference to (1) evolution, (2) electromyography and (3) anesthetic control are discussed.
EFFECTS OF LARGE DOSES OF X-RAYS ON THE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF THE MONKEY TO EXPERIMENTAL POLIOMYELITIS

In two series of the experiments here recorded the monkey which had been repeatedly exposed to x-rays responded with typical acute poliomyelitis to an intracerebral inoculation of poliomyelitic virus filtrate, whereas the normal control receiving the same dose showed no symptoms. In another series the x-rayed animal came down with typical poliomyelitis after inoculation with three-fourths of the dose which was not infective for the control. It has been demonstrated that the x-rays diminished both the number of circulating lymphocytes and the resistance of the animal to the weak poliomyelitic virus. Whether the lowered resistance of the animals as the result of the treatment with x-rays is due to the reduction of circulating lymphocytes in each of the x-rayed monkeys is not determined in these experiments. However, the great reduction in lymphocytes in human cases and in monkeys during the acute stage of experimental poliomyelitis and the gradual return of the cells to their former numbers during recovery strongly suggest a definite relation between these cells and one factor of resistance in poliomyelitis. On the other hand, the reduction in resistance by x-rays, while definite, is not sufficiently great to warrant the conclusion that we are dealing with major factors governing infection or non-infection. Another experiment in this paper deals with the survival of a subinfective dose of the virus in the normal monkey brain. A monkey receiving the subinfective dose of the virus was exposed to x-rays at 28 days, another at 15 days after injection, but neither animal showed symptoms of poliomyelitis. It is concluded that within this period the virus did not remain unchanged in the normal monkey brain. An attempt to reduce the immunity in a monkey acquired by an attack of experimental poliomyelitis was unsuccessful.
Analysis of Acousto-Ultrasonic Signals in Unidirectional Thick Composites Using the Slowness Surfaces

In single-sided, two-transducer ultrasonic measurements (commonly known as acousto-ultrasonics) of composites, the received signals are useful for the nondestructive evaluation of material properties. In this paper quantitative analysis is given for the oblique echoes obtained in acousto-ultrasonic measurements on a thick uni- directional composite plate. Based on the slowness surfaces of the material, angular de- pendent group velocities of the various modes are computed. Experimentally measured times-of-flight of oblique echoes of quasi-longitudinal, quasi-shear-vertical, shear-hori- zontal, and mode-converted waves are compared with calculated results. Excellent agree- ment was obtained.
Review of Studies with Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities Which Link to Science Standards

A comprehensive review of research was conducted on teaching science to students with significant cognitive disabilities. Guidelines from the National Science Education Standards were used to ident...
Dismantling Noah's Ark.

Feminist theory and research have shown us that gender is a linchpin of social orders, but they have not seriously envisaged a social order without gender. Examination of the various bases of gender demonstrates that gender is essentially a social construction, and the relations between women and men are essentially social relations. What is socially constructed can be reconstructed, and social relations can be rearranged. A social order is possible without gender as an organizing principle. This paper takes forward tendencies and policies in postindustrial societies to show how, if carried through, they could be used to construct a nongendered social order.