cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of Previous Adverse Reproductive Health Outcomes on Young Women's Engagement in a Health Coaching Intervention to Improve Contraceptive Continuation.

ABSTRACT Study Objective Nonadherence in sexual risk reduction interventions might be common among adolescents. We compared intervention completion rates among adolescent and young adult women with and without a previous pregnancy or sexually transmitted infection (STI) participating in a program to improve contraceptive continuation. Design Secondary data analysis from a feasibility study of a health-coaching intervention to improve contraceptive continuation. Setting Three urban pediatric clinics in Philadelphia. Participants Women ages 14-22 years who were English-speaking, sexually active in the past year, not desiring pregnancy in the next year, and starting a new contraceptive method. Interventions At baseline, participants completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and semistructured interview, followed by 5 monthly coaching sessions. Interviews and coaching sessions were audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded for thematic content. Main Outcome Measures Intervention completion was defined as the number of completed coaching sessions. Secondary outcomes were qualitatively explored group differences in reproductive knowledge, attitudes, and risk perception. Results Participants with a previous adverse outcome (a previous STI and/or a previous pregnancy) completed fewer coaching sessions than those without such history (median: 2 vs 4; P = .03). Both groups had low HIV/STI knowledge, negative attitudes toward pregnancy, and low HIV/STI risk perception. Those with a previous adverse reproductive outcome held more negative attitudes toward condoms. Conclusion Despite similar reproductive knowledge, attitudes, and risk perception, young women who have experienced an adverse reproductive outcome might be less likely to fully engage in sexual risk reduction interventions. Future studies should confirm these findings and consider strategies to optimize the intervention's reach for vulnerable youth.
What lies beneath

The hard tissues of the human body have lately enjoyed a moment in the sun with the appearance of important treatments of teeth by Peter Ungar and Tanya Smith ( 1 , 2 ). Joining the ranks is Brian Switek9s Skeleton Keys , which is devoted to the bones that compose the human skeleton and explaining how they can tell us about everything from human evolution to human prejudice.
Nexus of Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data: Roadmap for Smart Management Systems (SMgS)

Disruptive technologies are emerging at a breakneck speed and changing the characteristics of businesses by making them smart. The aim of this paper is to show how industries can use Smart Management System (SMgS) to be competitive in the 21st century. Internet of Things (IoT) will be the key to connecting and communicating among different parts of the smart industries using sensor-like devices, and big data will be continuously collected and analyzed to improve performance. The SMgS will generate new possibilities for better product design, improved qualities, agile supply chain, and enhanced customer satisfaction. It will also help industries to achieve lean and sustainable systems with fewer efforts than traditional approaches. We demonstrate how early adopters have already implemented IoT and are currently generating big data. These efforts have resulted in significant improvements in streamlining their operations. The advantages of IoT and big data applications in different sectors are discussed here with several examples from the industry leaders. The reasons behind why many companies are still waiting to adopt IoT despite being enthusiastic about it are also suggested. Embracing SMgS is crucial for companies to gain a differential competitive advantage in the era of Industry 4.0.
Biomedical Application of Electroactive Polymers in Electrochemical Sensors: A Review

Conducting polymers are of interest due to their unique behavior on exposure to electric fields, which has led to their use in flexible electronics, sensors, and biomaterials. The unique electroactive properties of conducting polymers allow them to be used to prepare biosensors that enable real time, point of care (POC) testing. Potential advantages of these devices include their low cost and low detection limit, ultimately resulting in increased access to treatment. This article presents a review of the characteristics of conducting polymer-based biosensors and the recent advances in their application in the recognition of disease biomarkers.
For radiation therapy before surgery in esophageal cancer, dose matters, and with each answer comes more questions

Recently published results from Semenkovich et al. in the March 2019 edition of the Annals of Thoracic Surgery reporting on the impact of induction radiation dosing on outcomes after esophageal resection in patients undergoing tri-modality therapy offer an answer to an important question regarding the treatment of patients with operable esophageal cancer (1).
Novel Therapeutics for Recurrent Cervical Cancer: Moving Towards Personalized Therapy

While screening programs and HPV vaccination have decreased the incidence of cervical cancer, still over 13,000 cases occur in the USA annually. Early-stage cervical cancer has an excellent long-term prognosis, with 5-year survival for localized disease being > 90%. Survival decreases markedly for both locally advanced and metastatic disease, and both are associated with a higher risk of recurrence. Few effective treatment options exist for persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer. In 2014, the anti-VEGF antibody bevacizumab was approved in combination with chemotherapy based on the results of the Phase III GOG-240 study. As the majority of cervical cancers have a viral etiology, which impairs the immune system, immunotherapy using checkpoint inhibitors and other agents, appears to be a promising approach. In June 2018, the US FDA approved the anti-PD1 antibody pembrolizumab for recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer with PD-L1 expression that progressed after one or more lines of chemotherapy. Another anti-PD1 antibody, cemiplimab also shows potential in this setting, either as monotherapy or combined with radiotherapy, and it is currently being evaluated in a Phase III trial. Additional checkpoint inhibitors including nivolumab, durvalumab, atezolizumab, and camrelizumab are in different stages of clinical development for the disease. Finally, an additional targeted approach being pursued involves PARP inhibitors (rucaparib and olaparib are both in Phase II) based on earlier study results.
Toward Quality Multimorbid Health Questions for Online Information Seeking in Q&A Sites

There is an increasing population of health information consumers (HIC) with multimorbidity. Previous studies explored the online information behavior of patients in general or HIC with a specific disease; however, the online information behavior of multimorbid HIC remains poorly researched. The focus of my dissertation research is on the online information behavior of HIC with multimorbidity. Specifically, I aim to explore the online interaction and information seeking behaviors of HIC across different types of Q&A sites. In addition, my dissertation aims to investigate the distinctive features of questions quality posed in Q&A sites from multiple aspects including content, language, and affect. The findings provide implications for designing online Q&A sites to better support health information seeking for HIC with multimorbidity. Further, I aim to develop guidelines for assisting HIC in improving their question quality to meet their health information needs.
Osteomyelitis of the Maxillofacial Region

Osteomyelitis of the jaws is now an uncommon disease usually caused by trauma or complications from surgical extractions. Although similar to osteomyelitis of the long bones, it is important to recognize that when it occurs in the jaws, it has very different management protocols and outcomes. This chapter presents two cases of both acute and chronic osteomyelitis of the jaws and explains their etiology, diagnosis, and medical and surgical treatment.
CHAPTER 3 – When Things Go Wrong—Balancing Technology's Safety and Risk

Publisher Summary This chapter concerns possible undesirable consequences of research in the agricultural field. It is compelling in the case of herbicides. The cited advantages of herbicides include: low cost, safety, high efficacy, labor saving, selectivity (weeds killed and crops not affected), persistence (weed control over time), energy efficiency, profitable to growers, and increased crop yield. Each of these was and is regarded as a good thing. It was only with the passage of time that questions were raised about each of these presumed advantages. None is a clear advantage because each can also be flamed as a disadvantage. Weed scientists learned that valid counter arguments could be made for every claimed advantage. Undesirable consequences were not only possible, they were common. There is harm to nontarget species, residues are present in soil and water, the cost of weed control to users is often decreased, but environmental costs are commonly externalized. Advantages, while real, were nearly always short-term for the benefit of this year's crop and this year's profit. Disadvantages, nearly always, reflected a long-term view. They tend to shift focus from short-term self-interest to long-term general welfare. A long-term view demands a planning horizon, an order of magnitude beyond the next election or a two-year research project. It also demands questioning the dominant view that whatever problems technology creates will be solved by new technology.
Improving Intelligence of Evolutionary Algorithms Using Experience Share and Replay.

We propose PESA, a novel approach combining Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO), Evolution Strategy (ES), and Simulated Annealing (SA) in a hybrid Algorithm, inspired from reinforcement learning. PESA hybridizes the three algorithms by storing their solutions in a shared replay memory. Next, PESA applies prioritized replay to redistribute data between the three algorithms in frequent form based on their fitness and priority values, which significantly enhances sample diversity and algorithm exploration. Additionally, greedy replay is used implicitly within SA to improve PESA exploitation close to the end of evolution. The validation against 12 high-dimensional continuous benchmark functions shows superior performance by PESA against standalone ES, PSO, and SA, under similar initial starting points, hyperparameters, and number of generations. PESA shows much better exploration behaviour, faster convergence, and ability to find the global optima compared to its standalone counterparts. Given the promising performance, PESA can offer an efficient optimisation option, especially after it goes through additional multiprocessing improvements to handle complex and expensive fitness functions.
Cardiac biomarkers and association with subsequent cardiomyopathy and mortality among adult survivors of childhood cancer: A report from the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort

BACKGROUND Survivors of childhood cancer exposed to cardiotoxic therapies are at significant cardiovascular risk. The utility of cardiac biomarkers for identifying the risk of future cardiomyopathy and mortality is unknown. METHODS N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and cardiac troponin T (cTnT) were assessed in 1213 adults 10 or more years from a childhood cancer diagnosis; 786 were exposed to anthracycline chemotherapy and/or chest-directed radiation therapy (RT). NT-proBNP values above age- and sex-specific 97.5th percentiles were considered abnormal. Generalized linear models estimated cross-sectional associations between abnormal NT-proBNP and anthracycline or chest RT doses as risk ratios with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A Poisson distribution estimated rates and a Cox proportional hazards model estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for future cardiac events and death. RESULTS At a median age of 35.5 years (interquartile range, 29.8-42.5 years), NT-proBNP and cTnT were abnormal in 22.5% and 0.4%, respectively. Exposure to chest RT and exposure to anthracycline chemotherapy were each associated with a dose-dependent increased risk for abnormal NT-proBNP (P for trend <.0001). Among exposed survivors with no history of Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events-graded cardiomyopathy and with normal systolic function, survivors with abnormal NT-proBNP had higher rates per 1000 person-years of cardiac mortality (2.93 vs 0.96; P < .0001) and future cardiomyopathy (32.10 vs 15.98; P < .0001) and an increased risk of future cardiomyopathy (HR, 2.28; 95% CI, 1.28-4.08) according to a multivariable assessment. CONCLUSIONS Abnormal NT-proBNP values were prevalent and, among survivors who were exposed to cardiotoxic therapy but did not have a history of cardiomyopathy or current systolic dysfunction, identified those at increased risk for future cardiomyopathy. Further longitudinal studies are needed to confirm this novel finding.
Student Loan Debt: Who is Paying it Down?

American families carry more than $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. This debt provided many with the opportunity to pursue higher education, but remains for others a large, potentially crippling, financial burden. In this report, we explore how people of different socioeconomic groups are managing their student debt. We do this by linking administrative banking data, credit bureau records, and public records on race and ethnicity to create a unique data asset that includes the income, demographics, debt balances, and student loan payments of 301,583 individuals. In general, we find that borrowers of socioeconomic groups tend to manage student loans quite differently, often relying heavily on others—children, parents, and spouses—in order to manage their debt. In particular, we find that while the median borrower is not unduly burdened by their debt, a significant minority of lower-income and younger borrowers are heavily burdened, required to make payments that constitute more than 10 percent of their take-home income. We also find that almost 40 percent of those involved in student debt repayment are making payments on other people’s loans, with 27 percent of those involved holding no student debt whatsoever. These outside helpers play a key role in helping borrowers make progress on their loan. Nevertheless, we find that low-income and older borrowers are more likely to be several months behind on their payments, and 7 percent of all borrowers not in deferral are on track to never pay off their loans. These dynamics of repayment put Black borrowers at a disadvantage, who, relative to White borrowers, have lower incomes and higher debt balances and are 4 times as likely to have no payments made against their loans, partly due to the fact that they are less likely to receive repayment help. This debt provided many with the opportunity to pursue higher education with commensurate income keeping debt burdens at reasonable rates. For others, student loan debt remains a large financial burden relative to income. In this report, we explore how people of different socioeconomic groups are managing their student debt.
That question again

This piece captures the internal turmoil in the midst of racial/social injustice when well-meaning colleagues ask, "How are you?" We find ourselves at work wearing two masks-the mask to protect us from the virus and in the words of Paul Laurence Dunbar, the mask that grins and lies It is suffocating, and we can hardly breathe We are not okay Moreover, we never know whether it is safe to offer an honest response (and we certainly do not have time to provide adequate historical and cultural context) This question is neither unique to me nor to a particular work setting It is quite the paradox to both appreciate the question (from those who genuinely seem to care) and to cringe every time it is posed (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)
Candidate appearance in campaign advertisements

Abstract Many scholars have examined the nature of campaign advertising strategy across differing contexts in U.S. elections. Little attention has been devoted to exploring the incentives that candidates face to appear — or not — in their own advertisements. We argue that candidates should seek to distance themselves from potential backlash stemming from more negative messages by not appearing in negative ads. We also expect that candidates should be more likely to appear in advertisements aired during primary elections relative to general elections because candidates should use ads in this election stage to introduce themselves to voters. Furthermore, incumbents should be less likely to appear in ads than other candidates because their constituents should not need to be introduced to them. Data on candidate-sponsored television advertisements collected across four years for four different offices provides support for our expectations and suggests that candidates make strategic decisions about when to appear in advertisements.
Acute esophageal necrosis complicated by refractory stricture formation.

Acute esophageal necrosis (AEN) is a rare presentation of severe esophageal injury. The optimal long-term management of complications related to AEN, particularly stricture formation, are not well defined. We report a case of AEN in a patient who presented with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and had dysphagia due to refractory stricture formation after mucosal healing occurred. A 62-year-old male with diabetes mellitus presented with altered mental status. He was admitted for hypovolemic shock secondary to DKA and treated with vasopressors, fluid resuscitation, and insulin. After resolution of DKA, he reported persistent dysphagia. Upper endoscopy showed circumferential black mucosal discoloration throughout the entire esophagus that spared the gastroesophageal junction. He was diagnosed with AEN and was continued on a proton pump inhibitor and sucralfate with improvement in symptoms. Repeat endoscopy 4 weeks later showed a 10-cm benign-appearing stricture in the mid esophagus. He underwent dilation with temporary symptomatic relief; however, recurrence in symptoms has thus far necessitated a total of 10 repeat upper endoscopies, including repeat dilations along with local steroid injection therapy. AEN is a rare presentation of severe esophageal injury and is typically associated with severe hemodynamic compromise. Although most cases resolve with supportive care and mucosal healing, there is little information regarding prognosis and optimal management of complications, such as refractory esophageal strictures. We describe a case of AEN complicated by refractory symptomatic esophageal stricture despite several dilations and intralesional steroid injections and discuss our approach to treatment.
High rates of plasmid cotransformation in E. coli overturn the clonality myth and reveal colony development

Abstract DNA transformation methods, pioneered by Griffith in 1928 and made commonplace by Hanahan in the 1980s 1, ushered in the dawn of molecular cloning of DNA. It is accepted that a typical transformation produces clonal bacterial colonies. To the contrary, using low concentrations of several fluorescent plasmids, under the same selective antibiotic, we find that E. coli bacteria readily accept multiple plasmids, resulting in widespread aclonality and surprisingly uncover a complex pattern of colony development. Cotransformation of plasmids occurs by either CaCl2 or by electroporation methods of bacterial transformation. A bacterium rod transformed with three plasmids - each expressing a high level of a unique fluorescent protein - and replated on agar, appears to reassign a random number of the three fluorescent plasmids to its daughter cell during cell division until an equilibrium is reached whereby ensuing progeny carry a specific distribution of the three plasmids. Thus, the potential to follow multiple lineage tracings in a bacteria colony simultaneously lends itself to mosaic analysis of gene function. We observe that clonally related bacterium rods self-organize in a fractal growth pattern can remain linked during colony development revealing a potential target against microbiota growth.
Semantic Structure in Deep Learning

Deep learning has recently come to dominate computational linguistics, leading to claims of human-level performance in a range of language processing tasks. Like much previous computational work, d...
Toxic Loopholes: Failures and Future Prospects for Environmental Law

The EPA was established to enforce the environmental laws Congress enacted during the 1970s. Yet today lethal toxins still permeate our environment, causing widespread illness and even death. Toxic Loopholes investigates these laws, and the agency charged with their enforcement, to explain why they have failed to arrest the nation's rising environmental crime wave and clean up the country's land, air and water. This book illustrates how weak laws, legal loopholes and regulatory negligence harm everyday people struggling to clean up their communities. It demonstrates that our current system of environmental protection pacifies the public with a false sense of security, dampens environmental activism, and erects legal barricades and bureaucratic barriers to shield powerful polluters from the wrath of their victims. After examining the corrosive economic and political forces undermining environmental law making and enforcement, the final chapters assess the potential for real improvement and the possibility of building cooperative international agreements to confront the rising tide of ecological perils threatening the entire planet.
Partial Demineralization of Brackish Waters by Ion Exchange

Interest in extending the usable water sources of the United States to include the extensive brackish water resources has prompted the investigation of a number of processes for demineralizing saline waters. To determine the economic feasibility of ion exchange, an investigation was made to optimize the operating variables of exchange systems consisting of strong-acid cation and weak-base anion resins. Salinities up to 200 mg/1 were investigated in pilot plant studies which simulated in all respects the proposed prototype operations. Net or operating exchange efficiencies varying from 67% to 93% were achieved by countercurrent operation, the re-use of regenerants, the use of low regeneration levels, and minimizing rinse water. Economic analyses indicate that ion exchange can be competitive with other methods.
Searching for evidence of selection in avian DNA barcodes

The barcode of life project has assembled a tremendous number of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) sequences. Although these sequences were gathered to develop a DNA-based system for species identification, it has been suggested that further biological inferences may also be derived from this wealth of data. Recurrent selective sweeps have been invoked as an evolutionary mechanism to explain limited intraspecific COI diversity, particularly in birds, but this hypothesis has not been formally tested. In this study, I collated COI sequences from previous barcoding studies on birds and tested them for evidence of selection. Using this expanded data set, I re-examined the relationships between intraspecific diversity and interspecific divergence and sampling effort, respectively. I employed the McDonald-Kreitman test to test for neutrality in sequence evolution between closely related pairs of species. Because amino acid sequences were generally constrained between closely related pairs, I also included broader intra-order comparisons to quantify patterns of protein variation in avian COI sequences. Lastly, using 22 published whole mitochondrial genomes, I compared the evolutionary rate of COI against the other 12 protein-coding mitochondrial genes to assess intragenomic variability. I found no conclusive evidence of selective sweeps. Most evidence pointed to an overall trend of strong purifying selection and functional constraint. The COI protein did vary across the class Aves, but to a very limited extent. COI was the least variable gene in the mitochondrial genome, suggesting that other genes might be more informative for probing factors constraining mitochondrial variation within species.
Problem Solving in Open Worlds: A Case Study in Design

This dissertation investigates informal design tasks in the context of an open world, in which both the designer's knowledge and the problem specification may be incomplete. To solve such problems, we present a model of design that combines plausible inference methods for generating, adapting and evaluating designs, together with a flexible control strategy that can accommodate constraints that arrive late in the design process. To generate designs, the model integrates case-based reasoning and constraint posting, where cases propose plausible solutions early and constraints allow the designer to defer commitment until more information is available. Constraints are satisfied using associative knowledge in the form of indexed cases, rather than by enumerating and intersecting equivalence classes of design components. A second aspect of our model is the use of adaptation to play multiple roles in design. In one role, adaptation is used to modify previous design cases to meet constraints on the current problem. In another role, adaptation is used as part of a backtracking control strategy to minimize revision. In a third role, adaptation is used to solve overconstrained problems by partially relaxing preference constraints rather than retracting them. A single adaptation process thus serves as a uniform mechanism for modification, backtracking, and constraint relaxation. A third aspect of our model is a set of criteria and mechanisms for evaluating designs with incomplete specifications. Integrity maintenance enforces invariant relationships between constraints, the structure of the representation, and the problem solver's goals. Completeness evaluation assesses a design solution in terms of its specificity, breadth and depth. These criteria for integrity and completeness allow the problem solver to accommodate constraints that arrive late in the design process and to abandon some unsatisfiable subgoals while still producing a satisficing design. This model of design is implemented in a computer program called JULIA that interactively designs the presentation and menu of a meal to satisfy multiple, interacting constraints.
Structure and synthesis of a newly discovered terpenoid isolated from Lavandin oil: Trans-5-hydroxy-2-isopropenyl-5-methylhex-3-enyl acetate

Abstract A newly discovered component of the oil of Lavandin abrialis has been shown by spectroscopic data to be trans -5-hydroxy-2-isopropenyl-5-methylhex-3-enyl acetate (I). A synthesis of this material is described.
127 Determination of the Stress Intensity Factor at the Single Edge Crack Tip Using RKPM

Reproducing Kernel Particle Method (RKPM) is a mesh-free technology which has proven very useful for solving problems of elastic-plastic fracture mechanics. In this study, the stress intensity factor (SIF) at the crack-tip in a work-hardening material is obtained using RKPM. Ramberg-Osgood stress-strain relation is assumed and the crack-tip SIF before and after formation of the plastic zone are examined. To impose the essential boundary conditions, penalty method is used. To construct the shape functions in the vicinity of the crack and crack-tip, both the diffraction and visibility criteria are employed and the crack tip region is also refined using more particles in two various model particle arrangements. The effects of different dilation parameters on SIF under plane-stress and plane-strain conditions are studied for plane-stress and plane-strain conditions. Results show that dilation parameter has a great impact on the performance of the RKPM and especially on the SIF value for the edge crack problems. The main objective is to study the effects of different dilation parameters on SIF value under plane-stress and plane-strain conditions at the crack-tip using diffraction and visibility criteria.
Helping Users Understand Their Web Footprints

To help users better understand the potential risks associated with publishing data publicly, and the types of data that can be inferred by combining data from multiple online sources, we introduce a novel information exposure detection framework that generates and analyzes the web footprints users leave across the social web. We propose to use probabilistic operators, free text attribute extraction, and a population-based inference engine to generate the web footprints. Evaluation over public profiles from multiple sites shows that our framework successfully detects and quantifies information exposure using a small amount of non-sensitive initial knowledge.
Nanomedicine: a great first year and, with your help, a bright future ahead

It has been a year since the inaugural issue of Nanomedicine and I thought it might be interesting to see how the baby is developing. The first impression one gets upon even a cursory inspection of the first six issues is that the journal is professional and attractively produced. Although this is a characteristic feature of all of Future Medicine’s journals, commissioning editor Morag Robertson and her team are to be congratulated for the production value of Nanomedicine. I think it is particularly nice that the titles of all the articles, and other features, are on the cover of each issue. This makes it easy to spot stories that are of interest.
Effect of atrial natriuretic peptide on vascular permeation in the ovine fetus

ABSTRACT: To study the effect of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) on vascular permeation of albumin in the fetus, ANP (167–600 ng/min) was infused into eight ovine fetuses and saline vehicle was infused into eight twin controls (gestational age 127 ± 3 d) over a 50-min period. Using two different radiolabeled albumin markers, we determined the tissue to blood isotope ratio (TBIR), an index of albumin permeation, and the albumin clearance. Although ANP had no hemodynamic effect, a marked increase in the hematocrit was observed in ANP-infused fetuses compared with initial values (0.37 ± 0.04 vs 0.42 ± 0.04, p < 0.005) but was unchanged in the twin fetuses receiving saline vehicle (0.35 ± 0.03 versus 0.35 ± 0.02). TBIR and albumin permeation were increased in combined tissues of ANP-infused fetuses compared with saline controls (TBIR: 1.49 ± 0.58 versus 1.29 ± 0.3, p < 0.001; albumin clearance: 1091 ± 1279 versus 827 ± 1464 mL/g/min, p < 0.01). In individual tissues, TBIR was significantly increased in skin (2.88 ± 0.67 versus 1.55 ± 0.35, p < 0.02), muscle (1.6 ± 0.27 versus 1.24 ± 0.26, p < 0.02), adrenal (1.33 ± 0.10 versus 1.13 ± 0.15, p < 0.02), bone (1.67 ± 0.45 versus 1.20 ± 0.40, p < 0.02), kidney (1.52 ± 0.25 versus 1.24 ± 0.26, p < 0.03), and gut (1.69 ± 0.20 versus 1.39 ± 0.34, p < 0.03). Albumin clearance was higher in most tissues but reached statistical significance only in skin (2135 ± 944 versus 775 ± 847 mL/g/min, p < 0.05) and bone (1012 ± 1107 versus 428 ±482 nL/g/min, p < 0.05). We conclude that overall vascular filtration is higher in the fetus than the adult. Infusion of ANP causes fetal hemoconcentration, decreases blood volume, and enhances vascular permeation of albumin in most tissues, particularly fetal skin. We speculate that the cardiac atria, by secreting ANP, participate in blood volume regulation by maintaining a critical balance between the intravascular and extravascular fluid compartments. Dysregulation of the ANP system might result in fetal hydrops.
Fiber Optic Cinephotography In Clinical Practice And Reproductive Physiology Research

I want to thank the Society for inviting me to present this material to you. I hope that it will give you some idea of what we can do now, what some of the technical problems are, and perhaps, stimulate your interest and solicit your help.
Clinical guidelines for IVF with PGD for HLA matching

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing is an established procedure for conceiving a child who may donate cord blood or haematopoietic stem cells for transplantation to save an ill sibling. Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) from related matched donors improves overall survival compared with unrelated or non-matched donors. Since HSCT from related matched-donors is unavailable for 70% of patients, IVF for PGD-HLA is a relevant clinical option. Recent success of HSCT after PGD-HLA, and excellent health and family support of the children born, suggests that debate over this kind of 'designer baby' and 'gift of life' should subside. Discussions about IVF for PGD-HLA should be held with families when a related matched-donor is unavailable, when HSCT can wait at least 9-12 months, within weeks of diagnosis irrespective of prognosis, and when the mother is of reproductive age. Related half-matched egg donors may also be considered. National and international collaborations should be established, and couples choosing this modality should be referred to experienced IVF and PGD centres. Clinical guidelines will improve physician and patient awareness of IVF for PGD-HLA and its role in advancing the clinical care of children in need of HSCT.
Cell-composition effects in the analysis of DNA methylation array data: a mathematical perspective

The impact of cell-composition effects in analysis of DNA methylation data is now widely appreciated. With the availability of a reference data set consisting of DNA methylation measurements on isolated cell types, it is possible to impute cell proportions and adjust for them, but there is increasing interest in methods that adjust for cell composition effects when reference sets are incomplete or unavailable. In this article we present a theoretical basis for one such method, showing that the total effect of a phenotype on DNA methylation can be decomposed into orthogonal components, one representing the effect of phenotype on proportions of major cell types, the other representing either subtle effects in composition or global effects at focused loci, and that it is possible to separate these two types of effects in a finite data set. We demonstrate this principle empirically on nine DNA methylation data sets, showing that the first few principal components generally contain a majority of the information on cell-type present in the data, but that later principal components nevertheless contain information about a small number of loci that may represent more focused associations. We also present a new method for determining the number of linear terms to interpret as cell-mixture effects and demonstrate robustness to the choice of this parameter. Taken together, our work demonstrates that reference-free algorithms for cell-mixture adjustment can produce biologically valid results, separating cell-mediated epigenetic effects (i.e. apparent effects arising from differences in cell composition) from those that are not cell mediated, and that in general the interpretation of associations evident from DNA methylation should be carefully considered.
Increased urinary excretion of LTB4 and ω-carboxy-LTB4 in patients with Zellweger syndrome

The metabolic inactivation of leukotrienes proceeds by beta-oxidation from the omega-end. We investigated the importance of peroxisomes and mitochondria in LTB4 oxidation in vivo. LTB4 and its oxidation products were analysed after high-performance liquid chromatography separation by immunoassays and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in the urine of patients with Zellweger syndrome, patients with long-chain acyl CoA dehydrogenase deficiency, and healthy controls. LTB4 (median 97; range 35-238 nmol/mol creatinine) and its omega-oxidation product omega-carboxy-LTB4 (median 898; range 267-4583 nmol/mol creatinine) were present and significantly increased in the urine of all patients with Zellweger syndrome compared to the controls (P <0.01). In contrast, LTB4 and omega-carboxy-LTB4 were below the detection limit (< 5 nmol/ mol creatinine) in patients with long-chain acyl CoA dehydrogenase deficiency and healthy controls. The beta-oxidation product omega-carboxy-tetranor-LTB3 was neither detectable in the urine of patients with Zellweger syndrome, patients with long-chain acyl CoA dehydrogenase deficiency nor in the controls (< 5 nmol/mol creatinine). Analysis of urinary leukotrienes represents an additional diagnostic tool in peroxisome deficiency disorders. Furthermore, these results clearly underline the essential role of peroxisomes in the oxidation of LTB4 in humans.
Calculation of the asymptotic diffusion lengths for highly anisotropic particle transport

Abstract A method for calculating the asymptotic diffusion lengths (the so-called discrete eigenvalues) without use of the usual Legendre expansions is presented for the case of one speed particle transport in a highly anisotropically scattering medium. This technique which uses the scattering or phase function directly reduces the problem to a matrix eigenvalue problem. Very accurate numerical results are obtained for low absorption cases (large eigenvalues) and highly forward anisotropic scattering-situations common to radiative transfer problems.
Stable and unstable cylindrical-laser-resonator theory in an angular spectrum representation

A new theory is formulated which describes the electromagnetic field inside of a laser resonator through an expansion of the field into an angular spectrum of plane waves. The resonator is composed of two identical, circular reflectors of arbitrary size, focal length, and axial separation. This theory is not limited by the usual paraxial approximations, and provides integral expressions for the spatial distribution of the field over the interior of the resonator in three dimensions. The integral expression for the transverse electric component of the field is evaluated numerically for several of the lower loss modes in confocal, spherical, and unstable resonators with linear dimensions the order of ten wavelengths. These results indicate that some of the modes in confocal and spherical resonators behave in some respects like modes that are unstable if the resonator has dimensions the order of a few wavelengths. The effect on the spatial distribution of the resonator field due to saturation of the amplifying medium is found to be slight if spatial hole burning is neglected.
Tooth Loss and Hypertension in the Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat

The spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) is a commonly used model of human essential hypertension. Several factors have been correlated with this hypertension but little attention has been focused on any oral manifestations that may be present. Following sacrifice of SHR, WKY or Sprague-Dawley rats, aged 6 months, mandibles were dissected out and defleshed in a concentrated papain solution. Measurements were made in each hemimandible of tooth loss, crown height and bone loss. SHR were significantly more susceptible to tooth loss than either the WKY or Sprague-Dawley strains. In SHR, decreased crown height and increased bone loss were significant when compared to the normotensive controls. The mechanism for the tooth loss remains to be elucidated, but may involve lowered calcium, immune deficiency and/or overactive sympathetic activity. Many hypertensive patients are seen routinely in dental offices, and little attention is given to any special conditions that may exist in the oral cavities of these patients. These results suggest a link between hypertension and oral disease and point to the SHR as a model for further study of the connection between these two disease states. (Hypertens Res 1993;16: 203-208)
Prostaglandins F in uterine and ovarian compartments and in plasma from the uterine vein, ovarian artery and vein, and abdominal aorta of pseudopregnant rats with and without deciduomata.

Abstract Prostaglandins F were measured in uterine and ovarian compartments and in uterine venous, ovarian arterial and venous and abdominal aorta plasma and the uptake of 3 H-PGF 2α by ovarian compartments of 240 pseudopregnant rats with or without bilateral deciduomata in five experiments. Concentrations of PGF in deciduomal tissue, uterine venous plasma, ovarian arterial and venous plasma, corpora lutea, and remainder of the ovary and 3 H-PGF 2α in the ovary were consistently as high or higher in pseudopregnant rats with deciduomata as in the endometrium, ovarian compartments, or samples of plasma from the same blood vessels of pseudopregnant rats without deciduomata jtLevels of PGF were consistently 3 to 7 fold higher in uterine venous than in plasma from the abdominal aorta. It is concluded that extended luteal maintenance by deciduomal tissue is by some mechanism other than an inhibition of PGF synthesis by the uterus, transfer of PGF locally to the ovary, or uptake of PGF by the ovarian compartments.
Lignification in wheat roots parasitised by Gaeuntannomyces graminis and Phialophora radicicola

Preliminary results suggest a possible relationship between lignin synthesis in wheat roots and the observed interaction between Gaeumannomyces graminis (Sacc.) Arx & Olivier and Phialophora radicicola Cain var. graminicola Deacon when they parasitise wheat roots. It was found that colonisation of wheat roots by P. radicicola resulted in a qualitative change in the lignin of the root, such that the content of the p-hydroxy type of aromatic nucleus was reduced almost to zero. It was also found that some of the metabolic precursors of lignin were inhibitory to the growth of G. graminis in Petri-dish culture. Most inhibitory of these precursors was caffeic acid, which reduced the growth rate of G. graminis by half at a concentration of 37 ppm. It is tentatively suggested that colonisation by P. radicicola results in an increased activity of polyphenol oxidase in the root tissues. This would lead to a more rapid synthesis of caffeic acid, with a depletion of the level of p-coumaric acid, and probably an increase in the levels of ferulic acid and sinapic acid. As well as bringing about a change in the composition of the lignin of the root, as the results show, the possible accumulation of caffeic acid in the root tissues might explain the greater resistance to infection by G. graminis observed in roots colonised first by P. radicicola.
Saturation currents in small-geometry bipolar transistors

Small-geometry transistor structures resulting from oxide-and groove-isolated processes are described. Methods for accurate determination of saturation currents are described, Experimental results from the two transistor structures are given and discussed. The results serve to demonstrate that data on saturation currents provide information useful in process control and in understanding the characteristics of small-geometry devices.
The three-dimensional architecture of the elastic-fiber network in canine hepatic portal system.

The architectural arrangement of the elastic-fiber network in the wall of canine hepatic portal veins was observed with the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Selective NaOH sonication digestion and autoclaving were used to expose and isolate the networks of elastic fibers from six selected regions of the hepatic portal vessels from seven healthy dogs. Elastic stains of adjacent segments prepared for light microscopy demonstrated that the elastic fibers were concentrated in two areas within the intact portal wall. The innermost area corresponded to the internal elastic lamina (IEL) of the tunica intima, the internal muscular layer, and the connective tissue layer of the tunica media. The second area was in the tunica adventitia. SEM specimens revealed two sleeves of elastic fiber networks which corresponded to the above regions. Small scattered bundles of radially oriented elastic fibers spanned the gap between the two sleeves. Each tunica had a different architectural ar- rangement of elastic fibers. The IEL had circumferentially oriented fibers which branched and anastomosed to form a continuous network on the inner- most surface. The architecture of the IEL was the most variable between the different regions. The network of the IEL was the most "open" in the caudal region (splenic vein) and became "denser" toward the liver. The large elastic fibers in the tunica media were oriented at approximately right angles to the primary fibers of the IEL. These longitudinally oriented fibers anastomosed with adjacent longitudinal fibers to form a continuous network. In the tunica adventitia, thick, longitudinally oriented fibers of the continuous network fused together to form incomplete layers of fibers. The architecture of the elastic-fiber network in the canine hepatic portal vein was compared to that previously described in the systemic canine saphenous vein.
Smoking causes colon carcinoma

In this issue of Cancer, Colangelo et al. reported their findings concerning the correlation between smoking and mortality from colorectal carcinoma in a cohort of 39,299 subjects with an average of 26 years of follow-up. Men and women were enrolled in this study cohort between 1967 and early 1973 and followed for mortality through December 31, 1977. Follow-up was 98% complete. At the end of follow-up, there were 208 colorectal carcinoma deaths reported in men and 141 reported in women. In support of previous research, these authors found that cigarette smoking was related to colorectal carcinoma mortality in men and women. However, in contrast to previous findings, they reported no correlation in any gender group age 50 years in stratified analyses based on age at the time of entry to the study. They did report a positive correlation among women and then the combined group, men and women, who were age 50 years at baseline, which they used as a proxy for duration of smoking because the study did not include an assessment of age of the individual at the time they started smoking. Cigarette smoking is consistently found to be related to adenomatous colorectal polyps, which are precursors to colorectal carcinoma. Giovannucci et al. noted that a longer duration of smoking was directly related to the risk of larger polyps. Furthermore, the role of smoking in initiating colon polyp etiology is supported by the fact that the risk of adenoma remains elevated for up to 10 years after smoking cessation. This finding led to the hypothesis that prolonged cigarette smoking may contribute to the development of colorectal carcinoma. How then do the data from Colangelo et al. fit with this hypothesized role of smoking in the etiology of colon carcinoma? Women in the group of individuals who were age 50 years at baseline are in the birth cohorts of U.S. women, suggested in previous research, to have smoked fewer cigarettes and less regularly. Women in the U.S. began to smoke in substantial numbers only in the late 1940s and 1950s. In addition, these birth cohorts of women were likely to have started smoking later in life, so they may not have had the long-term smoking habits the authors ascribe to them. In addition, the smaller number of subjects age 50 years at the time of entry to the study may have limited the ability of the study to detect a significant correlation in this subgroup. 223