cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Plasma diagnostics package assessment of the STS-3 orbiter environment and systems for science

Primary objectives of the Plasma Diagnostics Package (PDP) on STS-3 as part of the OSS-1 'Pathfinder' payload were to measure aspects of the Orbiter's induced environment and to utilize Orbiter crew and subsystems in the conduct of scientific investigations. Instrumentation temperatures were found to be within predicted limits, payload bay pressure varied from ambient up to 0.001 torr with thruster firings, EMI levels were found to be below worst case estimates, and V x B motional potentials were observed to vary + or - 5 V with respect to Orbiter ground. These parameters exhibited orbit-period modulation. Payload bay plasma varied in density and composition from ambient to a rarefied mixture with Orbiter-produced H2O(+). Energetic electrons and ions with energies up to 10's of eV were observed occasionally. Primary and vernier thrusters induce a momentary perturbation to the electron density, to the pressure and to the electric field with low energy ions and electrons occasionally produced. With the PDP on the RMS, both automode and manual modes were used to seek sources of EMI, to characterize the Orbiter's plasma wake and to measure beam-plasma phenomena.
POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION ASSAY IS AS SENSITIVE AND MORE RAPID THAN CULTURE FOR ENTEROVIRAL MENINGITIS DIAGNOSIS. † 1114

During summer months, children with viral meningitis (VM) are routinely admitted to the hospital for several days for parenteral antibiotics pending bacterial/viral cultures. A more rapid diagnostic test could decrease resulting costs, inconvenience, and morbidity, provided sensitivity does not decline.
Synthesis of green fluorescent protein-ricin and monitoring of its intracellular trafficking.

We performed genetic engineering to fuse enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) to the N terminus of RTA, expressed the fusion protein in Escherichia coli, purified and reassociated EGFP−RTA with plant RTB, and purified EGFP−ricin by size exclusion HPLC. The fusion heterodimer was able to bind galactosides, intoxicate cells, and show strong fluorescence. Mammalian cells incubated with EGFP−ricin showed strong cell surface fluorescence at 4 °C and, on incubation at 37 °C, distributed initially to endosomes and then to Golgi vesicles. Variable sensitivity of mammalian cells to ricin and ricin fusion proteins may be due in part to different patterns of intracellular routing. Cells were incubated with ricin or EGFP−ricin, and inhibition of protein synthesis was measured. Human hepatocellular carcinoma Hep3B cells were 10-fold more sensitive to ricin and 85-fold more sensitive to EGFP−ricin than human epidermoid carcinoma KB cells. Epifluorescence microscopy of cells incubated with EGFP−ricin showed greater...
Measurement of the sensor spatial response for remote sensing systems

An important aspect of long-term earth remote sensing missions, such as NASA's Earth Observing System, is characterization and monitoring of the sensor performance over the lifetime of the mission, which can be many years. Emphasis has traditionally been placed on the sensor radiometric response, but the spatial response is equally important for inter-sensor comparisons, accurate spatial pixel aggregation, and spectral signal unmixing. In this paper, I present a review of techniques for sensor spatial response measurement from operational imagery and contrast their relative advantages and disadvantages. Examples of spatial response and MTF measurement from airborne and satellite sensors are presented, and the sensitivity of different techniques to aliasing and noise and their requirements for target calibration are discussed.
The influence of the wall on flow through pipes packed with spheres

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation that is a sequel to a previously published study of the flow of fluids through porous media whose matrices are composed of randomly packed spheres. The objective of the previous study was to accurately determine the ranges of the Reynolds number for which Darcy, Forchheimer and turbulent flow occur, and also the values of the controlling flow parameters - namely, the Kozeny-Carman constant for Darcy flow and the Ergun constants for Forchheimer and turbulent flow for porous beds that are infinite in extent; that is, practically speaking, for sufficiently large values of the dimension ratio, D/d, where D is a measure of the extent of the bed and d is the diameter of a single spherical particle of which porous matrix is composed. The porous media studied in the previous and present experiments were confined within circular cylinders (pipes), for which the dimension D is taken to be the diameter of the confining cylinder.
The Influence of Rhythmically Fluctuating Temperatures on the Development and Reproduction of the Spotted Alfalfa Aphid,Therioaphis maculata

The spotted alfalfa aphid, Therioaphis maculata (Buckton), has been exposed to a series of rhythmically fluctuating temperature, humidity, and light patterns of 24-hour periodicities to evaluate the bioclimatic limits and optimal conditions for development, reproduction, and survival. Comparison of results has been made with similar data from the literature involving constant conditions. Fluctuating conditions are found to stimulate more rapid development of the aphid, to cause development to proceed to completion at lower temperatures, and to enhance greatly aphid fecundity and longevity as compared with effects of constant conditions. The temperature limits (means of the fluctuating conditions) to development are 6° C and 32.5° C, with optimum at 26-29° C. For reproduction the limits are the same, but the optimum (condition for maximum fecundity) is near 16° C. Survival is reduced only near 8° and 32° C. The intrinsic rate of population increase, computed from life table data, is used as a bioclimatic index reflecting the joint influence of the various physical conditions on development, reproduction, and survival. This index is positive (meaning the aphid could be expected to persist or increase in numbers) between 6° C and 33° C, with maximum value near 29° C.
“This is a test”: The evolution of the emergency broadcast system

This paper presents a historiographical analysis of documents related to the development of the Emergency Broadcast System. The study concludes EBS replaced the earlier CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation) system when CONELRAD's primary purpose, to deny navigational aid to enemy aircraft, became obsolete in 1961. EBS continued CONELRAD's secondary purpose of warning the public of an impending attack. Both programs have been used only for severe weather alerts. EBS may today be as obsolete as CONELRAD.
Assuring application-level correctness against soft errors

Traditionally, research in fault tolerance has required architectural state to be numerically perfect for program execution to be correct. However, in many programs, even if execution is not 100% numerically correct, the program can still appear to execute correctly from the user's perspective. To quantify user satisfaction, application-level fidelity metrics (such as PSNR) can be used. The output for such applications is defined to be correct if the fidelity metrics satisfy a certain threshold. However, such applications still contain instructions whose outputs are critical -- i. e. their correctness decides if the overall quality of the program output is acceptable. In this paper, we present an analysis technique for identifying such critical program segments. More importantly, our technique is capable of guaranteeing application-level correctness through a combination of static analysis and runtime monitoring. Our static analysis consists of data flow analysis followed by control flow analysis to find static critical instructions which affect several instructions. Critical instructions are further refined into likely non-critical and likely critical sets in a profiling phase. At runtime, we use a monitoring scheme to monitor likely non-critical instructions and take remedial actions if some likely non-critical instructions become critical. Based on this analysis, we minimize the number of instructions that are duplicated and checked at runtime using a software-based fault detection and recovery technique [20]. Put together, our approach can lead to 22% average energy savings for multimedia applications while guaranteeing application-level correctness, when compared to a recent work [9], which cannot guarantee application-level correctness. Comparing to the approach proposed in [20] which guarantees both application-level and numerical correctness, our method achieves 79% energy reduction.
Microplume model of spatial‐yield spectra

An analytic representation for the spatial (radial and longitudinal) yield spectra is developed in terms of a model containing three simple 'microplumes'. The model is applied to electron energy degradation in molecular nitrogen gas for 0.1 to 5 keV incident electrons. From the nature of the cross section input to this model it is expected that the scaled spatial yield spectra for other gases will be quite similar. The model indicates that each excitation, ionization, etc. plume should have its individual spatial and energy dependence. Extensions and aeronomical and radiological applications of the model are discussed.
Characteristics of fertile menstrual cycles

Hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle have been described well, and marked differences from the norm, such as very low luteal progesterone found during lactation, are associated with low fecundability. The extent to which less marked variability in hormonal patterns affects female fecundability is not known because the normal variation in the hormonal characteristics of conceptive cycles has not been described adequately. Most data comparing hormones in conceptive and nonconceptive cycles come from infertility patients taking drugs to stimulate follicular development and ovulation. Few data are available for unstimulated cycles from women with no fertility problems. Such studies are difficult because they require recruitment of women trying to conceive and longitudinal study of their hormones so that data can be collected for both conceptive and nonconceptive menstrual cycles.
A 5 mW and 5% efficiency 210 GHz InP-based heterostructure barrier varactor quintupler

This letter reviews the design, construction, and measurement of a 210 GHz heterostructure barrier varactor frequency quintupler. The quintupler utilizes planar heterostructure barrier varactors (HBVs) based on the InGaAs/InAlAs/AlAs material system and has produced a measured output power of 5.2 mW with 5.2% conversion efficiency at 210 GHz. This performance is comparable to the state-of-the-art results reported in the literature for HBV frequency triplers operating at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths.
Sound wall barriers: Near roadway dispersion under neutrally stratified boundary layer

With the passage of California Senate Bill 375, which motivates infill development near transit hubs, there is the potential to increase vehicle congestion in residential communities and increase in human exposure to toxic mobile source pollutants. Among all the mitigation strategies that protect near roadway residents from health-affecting vehicular emissions (e.g. separating sensitive receptors from high traffic roadways), this paper discusses the impact of sound wall barriers (SBs) in reducing the air pollution exposure of nearby residents. To date, there have been some studies done to understand the impact of these structures on dispersion of vehicular emissions; however, no definitive conclusion has been drawn yet. The main objective of this paper is to provide more information and details on flow and dispersion affected by barriers through a systematic laboratory simulation of plume dispersion using a water channel. Three sets of experiments were conducted: (1) plume visualizations, (2) plume concentration measurements, and (3) flow velocity measurements. Results from this study shows that the deployment of sound barriers induces a recirculating flow over the roadway which transports the surface released emissions to the upwind side of the roadway, and then shifts the plume upward through an induced updraft motion. Plume visualizations clearly demonstrate that the presence of SBs induce significant vertical mixing and updraft motion on the roadway which increases the initial plume dilution and plume height and consequently results in reduced downwind ground level concentrations. Although different SB configurations result in different localized flow patterns, the dispersion pattern does not change significantly after several SB heights downwind of the roadway.
And the Band Played On? Social Justice and the Wilson Middle School Arts Program.

Effecting change for educational equity is challenging for school administrators. This case study focuses on a new principal with a social justice perspective who recognizes that changes in student...
The chemopreventive flavonoid apigenin induces G2/M arrest in keratinocytes

Apigenin is a plant flavonoid which has been shown to significantly inhibit UV-induced mouse skin tumorigenesis when applied topically, and may represent an alternative sunscreen agent in humans. We have investigated the molecular mechanism(s) by which apigenin inhibits skin tumorigenesis. Initial studies examined the effects of apigenin on the cell cycle. DNA flow cytometric analysis indicated that culturing cells for 24 h in medium containing apigenin induced a G2/M arrest in two mouse skin derived cell lines, C50 and 308, as well as in human HL-60 cells. The G2/M arrest was fully reversible after an additional 24 h in medium without apigenin. We investigated the effects of apigenin on cyclin B1 and p34cdc2, since cyclin B1/p34cdc2 complexes regulate G2/M progression. Western blot and immune complex kinase assays using whole cell lysates from 308 and C50 cells treated for 24 h with 0-70 microM doses of apigenin demonstrated that apigenin treatment did not change the steady-state level of p34cdc2 protein, but did inhibit p34cdc2 H1 kinase activity in 308 cells. Western blot analysis showed that apigenin treatment of C50 cells and 308 cells inhibited the accumulation of cyclin B1 protein in a dose-dependent manner. The apigenin levels detected in cultured keratinocytes were relevant to those detected in epidermal cells of Sencar mice treated with tumor inhibitory doses of apigenin. In conclusion, we present evidence that apigenin induces a reversible G2/M arrest in cultured keratinocytes, the mechanism of which is in part due to inhibition of the mitotic kinase activity of p34cd2, and perturbation of cyclin B1 levels.
TissueInfo: high-throughput identification of tissue expression profiles and specificity

We describe TissueInfo, a knowledge-based method for the high-throughput identification of tissue expression profiles and tissue specificity. TissueInfo defines a set of tissue information calculations that can be computed for large numbers of genes, expressed sequence tags (ESTs) or proteins. Tissue information records that result from the TissueInfo calculations are used to generate tables suitable for data mining and for the selection of genes according to a given expression profile or specificity. When benchmarked against a test set of 116 proteins and literature information, TissueInfo was found to be accurate for 69% of identified tissue specificities and for 80% of expression profiles. The accuracy of the identifications can be increased if query sequences for which little information is available from dbEST are ignored. Thus, with 80% coverage, TissueInfo achieves an accuracy of 76% for specificity and 89% for expression. For the same set of proteins, the curated tissue specificity offered in SWISS-PROT was accurate in 78% of cases. TissueInfo can be useful for the selection of clones for custom microarrays, selection of training sets for ab initio identification of tissue information, gene discovery and genome-wide predictions. Further information about the program can be found at http://icb.mssm.edu/tissueinfo.
Improved outcome with early blood administration in a near-fatal model of porcine hemorrhagic shock.

Current recommendations for the preoperative management of hemorrhagic shock include the initial infusion of 2 L of isotonic crystalloid regardless of the severity of hemorrhage. While this approach may be adequate for patients who experience only mild to moderate hemorrhagic insults, it has never been tested in a clinically relevant model of severe life-threatening hemorrhage. The authors used a porcine model of rapidly fatal hemorrhage with a reproducible and relevant physiologic end-point, the absence of vital signs, to test the hypothesis that even brief delays in blood replacement may result in higher mortality rates and worsen hemodynamic and metabolic responses to hemorrhage. Twenty-four immature swine (11–17 kg) were bled continuously at a decelerating rate until the following criteria were met: (1) respiratory arrest, (2) a pulse pressure of 0 and, (3) a slowing of cardiac electrical activity of 15% or more. Resuscitation was begun 1 minute later. The animals were randomly assigned to one of three resuscitation regimens. Group A (n = 8) received shed blood at a rate of 3 mL/kg/min for 10 minutes followed by normal saline (NS) at a rate of 3 mL/kg/min for 10 minutes. Group B (n = 8) received NS at a rate of 3 mL/kg/min for 10 minutes followed by shed blood at a rate of 3 mL/kg/min for 10 minutes. Group C, controls, (n = 8) received NS at a rate of 3 mL/kg/min for 20 minutes. Animals were observed for 30 minutes after resuscitation or until death. Mortality was 25%, 37.5%, and 100% for groups A, B, and C, respectively (P < .05 for group C versus group A or B). The group A animals demonstrated better hemodynamic and metabolic profiles throughout the resuscitation and observation periods as compared with the animals in groups B and C. The authors conclude that in the near-fatal hemorrhagic shock model, crystalloids are not the ideal initial resuscitation agent; even brief delays in blood replacement result in worse biochemical and hemodynamic response to the hemorrhagic insult.
How Recovering Addicted Women Succeed

(1997). How Recovering Addicted Women Succeed. Journal of Addictions Nursing: Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 182-189.
Self-Organization in Autonomous, Recurrent, Firing-Rate CrossNets With Quasi-Hebbian Plasticity

We have performed extensive numerical simulations of the autonomous evolution of memristive neuromorphic networks (CrossNets) with the recurrent InBar topology. The synaptic connections were assumed to have the quasi-Hebbian plasticity that may be naturally implemented using a stochastic multiplication technique. When somatic gain g exceeds its critical value gt, the trivial fixed point of the system becomes unstable, and it enters a self-excitory transient process that eventually leads to a stable static state with equal magnitudes of all the action potentials xj and synaptic weights wjk. However, even in the static state, the spatial distribution of the action potential signs and their correlation with the distribution of initial values xj(0) may be rather complicated because of the activation function's nonlinearity. We have quantified such correlation as a function of g, cell connectivity M, and plasticity rate η, for a random distribution of initial values of xj and wjk, by numerical simulation of network dynamics, using a high-performance graphical processing unit system. Most interestingly, the autocorrelation function of action potentials is a nonmonotonic function of g because of a specific competition between self-excitation of the potentials and self-adaptation of synaptic weights.
Construction and Testing of the Nb3Sn Coils for the High-Field Test Facility

The High Field Test Facility (HFTF), which consists of a set of superconducting coils and associated support equipment, has been constructed and successfully tested at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The superconducting coils in this facility consist of an outer solenoid wound from Nb-Ti conductor and an insert solenoid with cryogenically stabilized multi-filamentary Nb3Sn conductor, cooled by pool-boiling liquid helium.
Kosterlitz-Thouless universality in a Fermionic system

An extension of the attractive Hubbard model is constructed to study the critical behavior near a finite-temperature superconducting phase transition in two dimensions using the recently developed meron-cluster algorithm. Unlike previous calculations in the attractive Hubbard model which were limited to small lattices, the algorithm is used to study the critical behavior on lattices as large as $128\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}128.$ These precise results show that a fermionic system can undergo a finite temperature phase transition whose critical behavior is well described by the predictions of Kosterlitz and Thouless almost three decades ago. In particular it is confirmed that the spatial winding number susceptibility obeys the well known predictions of finite size scaling for $Tl{T}_{c}$ and up to logarithmic corrections the pair susceptibility scales as ${L}^{2\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\eta}}$ at large volumes with $0l~\ensuremath{\eta}l~0.25$ for $0l~Tl~{T}_{c}.$
Composition And Thickness Of Multilayer Foils Using MeV Ion-Beam Techniques

Characterization of both the composition and thickness of a variety of carbon and carbon-metal multilayer foils has been accomplished using simultaneous ion backscattering (RBS or BS) and particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE). The quantitative, non-destructive measurements were made on foils with total carbon thicknesses of 96 to 460 nm and total metallic thicknesses of 14 to 260 nm. Foils with the following primary metals have been examined: titanium, chromium, nickel, copper, thorium, and uranium. The PIXE results for X-ray energies above 200 eV permitted unambiguous interpretation of the backscattering results. For the free-standing foils, the quantities and depth distributions of carbon, the primary metal, and impurities, including oxygen, were determined with a depth resolution of tens of nanometers. The foils were analyzed with either protons or helium ions. Two foils were analyzed using both protons and helium ions; the quantitative evaluations of the carbon and primary metal were, within seven percent for the carbon and three percent for the metal, independent of the probing ion.
Anti-Siglec-F antibody inhibits oral egg allergen induced intestinal eosinophilic inflammation in a mouse model

Siglec-F is a sialic acid binding immunoglobulin-superfamily receptor that is highly expressed on eosinophils. We have used a mouse model of oral egg ovalbumin (OVA)-induced eosinophilic inflammation of the gastro-intestinal mucosa associated with diarrhea and weight loss to determine whether administering an anti-Siglec-F antibody would reduce levels of intestinal mucosal eosinophilic inflammation. Mice administered the anti-Siglec-F antibody had significantly lower levels of intestinal eosinophilic inflammation, and this was associated with reduced intestinal permeability changes, normalization of intestinal villous crypt height, and restoration of weight gain. The reduced numbers of intestinal eosinophils in anti-Siglec-F antibody treated mice was associated with significantly reduced numbers of bone marrow and peripheral blood eosinophils, but was not associated with significant changes in the numbers of proliferating or apoptotic jejunal eosinophils. In addition, the anti-Siglec-F Ab reduced Th2 cytokines and IgE levels. Overall, these studies demonstrate that administration of an anti-Siglec-F antibody significantly reduces levels of eosinophilic inflammation in the intestinal mucosa and that this was associated with reduced intestinal permeability changes, normalization of intestinal villous crypt height, and restoration of weight gain.
Oncogenesis of T-ALL and Nonmalignant Consequences of Overexpressing Intracellular NOTCH1

Mutations resulting in overexpression of intracellular Notch1 (ICN1) are frequently observed in human T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). We have determined the consequences of ICN1 overexpression from retroviral vectors introduced into bone marrow cells. Early consequences are the generation of polyclonal nontumorigenic CD4+8+ T cell receptor (TCR)-αβ+ cells that do not qualify as tumor precursors despite the observation that they overexpress Notch 1 and c-Myc and degrade the tumor suppressor E2A by posttranslational modification. The first tumorigenic cells are detected among more immature CD4−8+TCR-αβ− cells that give rise to monoclonal tumors with a single, unique TCR-β chain and diverse TCR-α chains, pinpointing malignant transformation to a stage after pre-TCR signaling and before completion of TCR-α rearrangement. In T-ALL, E2A deficiency is accompanied by further transcriptional up-regulation of c-Myc and concomitant dysregulation of the c-Myc-p53 axis at the transcriptional level. Even though the tumors consist of phenotypically heterogeneous cells, no evidence for tumor stem cells was found. As judged by array-based comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH) and spectral karyotype (SKY) analysis, none of the tumors arise because of genomic instability.
Consultation and the suicidal patient

This paper presents an argument for a paradigm shift in the way that mental health professionals approach their work with psychiatric patients in the midst of a suicidal crisis and suggests that the time has come to discuss a standard of care based on integration of detected risk factors, effective education and training in suicidology, and most importantly, the routine use of consultation and teamwork. Also proposed is a workable model for the use of consultation that has a number of major components: quality education in suicidology, the training and availability of appropriate consultants, clinical teamwork, and the recognition by training programs and clinical institutions that it is necessary to routinely consider a consultative risk management approach for work with suicidal patients.
Catecholamine-Directed Epithelial Cell Interactions with Bacteria in the Intestinal Mucosa

The catecholamines epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine are present in or have access to mucous membranes in the digestive, respiratory and genitourinary tracts, which represent the first sites of microbial colonization and infection within the body. Epithelial cells at mucosal surfaces establish and maintain symbiotic microbial communities and serve as the initial cellular point of contact for pathogens with the animal host. These cells express receptors that are capable of detecting and responding to microbe-associated molecular patterns and in most host species express G protein-coupled receptors for catecholamines. Although it is increasingly recognized that substances produced and released from nerves and endocrine cells can exert immuno-modulatory actions at mucosal sites, there have been few investigations focused specifically on the catecholaminergic modulation of interactions between the mucosal epithelium and bacteria or other mucosa-associated microorganisms. The potential biomedical importance of this phenomenon cannot be understated. For example, psychological stress or other conditions that activate the sympathetic nervous system to release epinephrine and norepinephrine may act to produce short-term changes in luminal and mucosal microbial communities or alter the course of a bacterial infection. This chapter will briefly review this developing and important research area of mucosa-microbe interactions with a focus on intestinal host defense.
SAA Kinetics in Animals

Kinetic models have been established for the study of plasma proteins in which tracer quantities of radiolabelled proteins are administered intravascularly to animals and disappearance of radioactivity from the plasma compartment is monitored. Two conditions must be met. First, it is essential that the tracer be distributed and metabolized identically to the tracee. Secondly, the system must be in dymamic equilibrium, i.e., plasma concentrations must not fluctuate during the course of the study. If these criteria are met, one can plot a disappearance curve of radioactivity remaining in the plasma versus time on a log-linear scale. Slopes and intercepts extrapolated from the curve are then used to calculate half-life and fractional catabolic rate. If one also knows the plasma concentration of the protein of interest, it is possible to calculate synthesis rate. The total plasma mass of the protein can be determined from the initial specific activity (usually measured 5–10 minutes after infusion of tracer) and the dose of tracer (1).
Reply to G.B. Holt.

In his letter, Holt expressed concern that the survival difference we observed in our study between intraperitoneal (IP)/intravenous (IV) chemotherapy and IV chemotherapy may be a result of residual confounding between the two groups (eg, differences between institutional practices) rather than because of the treatment itself. The main finding of our study was that IP/IV chemotherapy was associated with a significantly improved survival compared with IV chemotherapy, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.68 obtained from a univariable Cox proportional hazards regression model within the propensity score–matched sample. We acknowledge that the standardized differences between groups after propensity score matching exceeded the standard threshold of 10% for some covariates (ie, age, Charlson score, primary tumor site, and histology); however, examination of the raw frequencies of these variables within the propensity score–matched sample demonstrates that they are reasonably well balanced between groups. In addition, when we conducted a multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model that included these variables within the propensity score–matched sample—a doubly robust analysis—we obtained a similar HR of 0.71. We were concerned that our results might be a result of differences between institutions, rather than treatment, and performed a sensitivity analysis to examine this. Specifically, we excluded each institution, one by one, to ensure that the survival benefit observed was not driven by outcomes at a single institution. As reported in our article, the adjusted HRs ranged from 0.61 to 0.76 upon excluding each institution one by one, indicating that the survival benefit observed was not driven by outcomes at a single institution. We were further reassured that this was unlikely because institution was not significantly associated with overall survival in the full cohort (P5 .16) or within treatment subgroups within the propensity score–matched sample (P5 .77 for IP/IV and P 5 .11 for IV). Nevertheless, we performed additional analyses to address the potential for Simpson’s paradox. In brief, Simpson’s paradox occurs when an association does not appear within subgroups but does appear when data are combined, or vice versa. In the context of our study, Simpson’s paradox with the lurking variable of institution would be problematic if a survival benefit for IP/IV chemotherapy was not observed within institutions. As shown in Table 1, the overall survival was similar between institutions, and the central estimates were in favor of IP/IV for each institution, which is consistent with the aggregate results. In addition, we have included in Table 2 the raw percentages by institution that were omitted from Appendix Table A1 in our original article. Together, these results suggest that the survival benefit we observed was unlikely to be driven by differences in practices at any individual institution, particularly because the HR that we observed was similar to results from several prior randomized controlled trials.
The Impact of State Contraceptive Insurance Mandates

In 1998, U.S. states began legislating mandates for health insurance plans to cover contraceptives. Contraceptive insurance may reduce the cost of having sex, increasing sexual activity and pregnancy. Increased contraceptive usage may reduce pregnancies and allow women to better time pregnancies, improving infant health. We investigate these possibilities using differences-in-differences with state-specific trends. We find that the mandates increased teen sexual activity and contraceptive use. Among Hispanic teenagers, this translates to fewer births and possible reductions in delivery complications. Among non-urban teenagers, the effect of increased sexual activity dominates, leading to increases in their birth rates.
Effects of Ageing on the Immune System: Infants to Elderly

Physiological ageing is accompanied by decline in immune system function and immune alteration during ageing increases susceptibility to infections. We retrospectively analysed the data for complete blood count (CBC) and lymphocyte subsets from infant to elderly age groups to determine changes during ageing. Data from dual-platform flow cytometry and CBC were analysed to determine the percentage (%) and absolute cell counts (Abs) of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets (CD3, CD4, CD8, CD19 and CD56+16+ cells) in infants (1 month to 1 year), children (1 year to 6 years), adolescents (12 years to 18 years), adults (21 years to 50) and elderly (70 years to 92 years). Differences in plasma cytokine levels in adults and elderly were also analysed using Randox system. Comparisons among age groups from infants through adults revealed progressive declines in the percentage of total lymphocytes and absolute numbers of T and B cells. The NK cells declined from infancy to adulthood but increased in elderly participants. The percentages of T cells increased with age from infant to adulthood and then declined. Pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α and IL-6, were higher in elderly people compared to adults. The elderly group had significantly higher levels of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and lower levels of epidermal growth factor (EGF) compared to adults. Our findings confirm and extend earlier reports on age-related changes in lymphocyte subpopulations and data generated from this study is useful for clinicians and researchers, patient management in various age groups for the interpretation of disease-related changes, as well as therapy-dependent alterations.
Equilibrium Core Composition Search Methodologies for Pebble Bed Reactors

The capability to perform depletion analysis of pebble bed reactors has been traditionally limited to a few dedicated codes that are designed for helium-cooled reactors, rely on pregenerated proble...
Risk Taking for Sexual Versus Monetary Outcomes using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task

The present study examined risk-taking behavior in relation to sexual and monetary outcomes using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Adult men (n = 61) completed two modified BART tasks (one with monetary outcomes and one with sexual outcomes) and a battery of self-report measures concerning sexual and nonsexual constructs. Several findings are reported. First, risk-taking behavior concerning sexual outcomes can be evoked and quantified using the modified BART task reported here. Second, risk-taking for money was associated with latent factors associated with criminal behavior, drug use, and gambling. Third, risk taking for sexual outcomes was associated with the latent factors of sexual excitability and criminal behavior. Results suggest that stimulus-specific measures of risk taking are better associated with some outcomes. Study findings are discussed in terms of their relevance to laboratory research on the behavioral processes that underlie risky decision making.
Abstract 4027: Pathway analysis of chemoresistance in ovarian cancer cell lines.

Introduction: Ovarian Cancer is the most deadly female reproductive cancer and fifth most common cause of death from cancer among women. Limited characterization of the chemoresistant population demonstrates the need for improved therapy for ovarian cancer. Pathway analysis of microarray data of paired chemosensitive and chemoresistant ovarian cancer cell lines may help to elucidate important contributors to chemoresistance, and paired analyses can eliminate the significant heterogeneity among patient samples. Significant genes may serve as potential targets for novel drug therapies. Some genes likely contribute to resistance of multiple chemotherapies and represent common pathways of resistance. Methods: Microarray data of three pairs of chemosensitive and chemoresistant ovarian cancer cell lines were analyzed using GeneSpring Single Experiment Analysis of 517 pathways. These pairs include SKOV3ip1 and SKOV3TRip2 (taxane-resistant), HeyA8 and HeyA8MDR (multi-drug resistant), and A2780cp20 and A780cp55 (increasing cisplatin resistance). Significant genes within significant pathways were compared between types of drug resistance. Results: Between SKOV3ip1 and SKOV3TRip2, 8 pathways were significantly (p Conclusions: Multiple pathways are implicated in chemoresistance, even when selected by the same chemotherapeutic agent. Pathways contributing to metabolism, DNA repair, cell cycle control, and stress responses dominated. The high variability in pathway overexpression highlights the importance of patient-specific approaches to overcoming chemoresistance in ovarian cancer. Citation Format: William P. Jackson, Ashwini A. Katre, Zachary A. Dobbin, Adam D. Steg, Charles N. Landen. Pathway analysis of chemoresistance in ovarian cancer cell lines. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4027. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-4027
Multidrug-resistant bacteria infections in children′s hospital of Luoyang and analysis of drug resistance

OBJECTIVE To analyze the distribution,drug resistance,and susceptible factors of multidrug-resistant organisms so as to guide the clinical treatment.METHODS The multidrug-resistant organisms monitored in 2010 and drug susceptibility testing were analyzed,at the same time the susceptible factors were tracked.RESULTS A total of 1033 strains were isolated,there were 461 strains of multidrug-resistant bacteria with the detection rate of 44.6%;the multidrug-resistant bacteria isolated were mainly the ESBLs-producing Escherichia coli and methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococcus,accounting for 42.5% and 26.2%;multidrug-resistant strains were resistant to common antibiotics.CONCLUSION According to the drug susceptibility testing,cefoperazone/sulbactam and imipenem are suitable for the treatment of gram-negative multidrug-resistant organism infections in infants;fusidate,vancomycin,and teicoplanin are suitable for the treatment of gram-positive multidrug-resistant organism infections.
Efforts to slacken antibiotic resistance: Labeling meat products from animals raised without antibiotics in the United States

As bacteria and diseases spread due to climatic change, greater amounts of antibiotics will be used thereby exacerbating the problem of antibiotic resistance. To help slacken the development of resistant bacteria, the medical community is attempting to reduce unnecessary and excessive usage of antibiotics. One of the targets is the use of antibiotics for enhancing animal growth and promoting feed efficiency in the production of food animals. While governments can adopt regulations prohibiting nontherapeutic uses of antibiotics in food animals and strategies to reduce antibiotic usage, another idea is to publicize when antibiotics are used in food animal production by allowing labeled meat products. This paper builds upon existing labeling and marketing efforts in the United States to show how a government can develop a verified antibiotic-free labeling program that would allow consumers to purchase meat products from animals that had never received antibiotics.
Daniel Deronda and the omnipotence of thought

This book has tried to understand why nineteenth-century writers moralized about the practice of thinking about another person, and above all it has sought to understand under what conditions nineteenth-century writers found it possible, or even desirable, to believe that thinking about another person could affect him or her, for good or for ill. I have proposed that studying the way nineteenth-century texts approach what we can call mental action at a distance, or, following Freud, “the omnipotence of thoughts,” can provide new insight into the history of ideas about mental causation, practical ethics, and the sociability of the mind. I have also stressed the contemporary consequences, and contemporary value, of this strand of thinking about thinking: when, we might ask, does a belief that our thoughts might substantially affect other people seem seriously delusional, and when might behaving as if we had such powers be in fact an ordinary part of social life? Throughout this investigation, I have explored how these questions took shape, for a range of nineteenth-century British writers, through specific literary forms and practices. The two preceding chapters focused on nineteenth-century poetry and poetic theory. Chapter 3 focused on the relationship between poetic uses of second-person pronouns, and the anxieties of thinking about a beloved other. I pondered the paradoxes that ensue when poets from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti write “I think of thee” – or, more provocatively, “I do not think of thee,” proposing that nineteenth-century poets reformulated apostrophe from a poetic form of speaking-to-another into a form of silent thinking-about-another.
CHEMICAL ACTIVATION OF RECONSTITUTIVELY INACTIVE SUCCINATE DEHYDROGENASE

SUMMARY Chemical activation can convert the following succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) preparations to a reconstitutively active form:
Using contrasting cases to improve self-assessment in physics learning

Self-assessment is essential to scientific literacy as stated by the National Research Council Committee on Conceptual Framework for the New K-12 Science Education Standards and has since been inco...
Vehicle Exposure and Spinal Musculature Fatigue in Military Warfighters: A Meta-Analysis.

Context: Spinal musculature fatigue from vehicle exposure may place warfighters at risk for spinal injuries and pain. Research on the relationship between vehicle exposure and spinal musculature fa...
Older and incarcerated: policy implications of aging prison populations.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the policy Implications of aging prison populations.,An examination of the worldwide aging trend in prison and its implications for correctional policy, including an examination of population aging in California prisons as a case example of needed reform.,Prison populations worldwide are aging at an unprecedented rate, and age-related medical costs have had serious consequences for jurisdictions struggling to respond to the changes. These trends are accompanied by a growing body of evidence that old age is strongly correlated with desistance from criminal behavior, suggesting an opportunity to at least partially address the challenges of an aging prison population through early release from prison for appropriate persons.,Some policies do exist that aim to reduce the number of older, chronically ill or disabled and dying people in prison, but they have not achieved that goal on a sufficient scale. An examination of the situation in California shows that recognizing how the healthcare needs of incarcerated people change as they age – and how aging and aging-related health changes often decrease an older person’s likelihood of repeat offense – is critical to achieving effective and efficient policies and practices aimed at adequately caring for this population and reducing their numbers in prisons when appropriate.
FMR Effects on Integrated Ferromagnetic Thin-Film RF Inductors

Ferromagnetic inductors with various geometries and permalloy thin film patterns were fabricated on the standard silicon substrate with a fully CMOS compatible process. The ferromagnetic resonance effects on the inductors were studied with the applied magnetic fields in different orientations. It showed that with the properly applied magnetic field, the ferromagnetic resonance for the patterned permalloy thin films can be pushed higher and the maximum quality factor for the ferromagnetic inductors can be improved. However, because the relative permeability decreases with increasing applied field, the trade-off between the effective inductance and the quality factor needs to be optimized for the practical designs.
Nickel–Silver Monotectic in Alumina Crucible for Use with Contact Thermometry

Previously, the authors have published work describing a pure Ni fixed point within alumina crucibles. The success of this study stimulated working with the Ni–Ag monotectic point in alumina crucibles. Similar to eutectic points, the Ni–Ag monotectic temperature is an invariant point but it differs from a eutectic reaction in such a way that the monotectic phase change takes place from Ni–Ag liquid solution to Ni–Ag solid solution and Ag rich Ni–Ag liquid solution. In the phase diagram references, the Ni–Ag monotectic phase transition temperature is assigned to be about 20 $$^{\circ }$$ C below the pure Ni melting/freezing point. As is the case for pure Ni, mechanical stability is one of the concerns. Therefore, proper cell design is necessary to avoid breakage of the alumina crucible. The techniques used for the fabrication and measurement of the pure Ni cell were applied to the Ni–Ag cell as well. The cells have been successfully fabricated and the temperature measurement at the fixed point was carried out for more than 20 thermal cycles in total. A Pt/Pd thermocouple was used to measure the temperature and was calibrated from the tin point to the gold point to measure the ITS-90. Freezing plateaus are realized with the technique of “recurrent offset freezing method with reserved solid”. The duration of each freezing plateau is a minimum of 30 min. The monotectic transformation temperature for the best performed cell is determined as 1428.27 $$^{\circ }$$ C with a combined uncertainty of ±0.06 $$^{\circ }$$ C ( $${k}=1$$ ).
Creating an experimental testbed for information-theoretic analysis of architectures for x-ray anomaly detection

US Department of Homeland Security through the Advanced X-Ray Material Discrimination Program
Shortest-Prediction Horizon Nonlinear Model Predictive Control 1

Abstract This article presents a continuous-time formulation of model predictive control. This formulation allows (i) to establish the connections between model predictive control and input-output linearizing control methods and (ii) to address the problems of constraint handling and windup in input-output linearizing control methods. Model predictive control laws with the shortest possible prediction horizon are derived for constrained nonlinear processes with deadtime. They have explicit analytical form, and thus their implementation does not require on-line optimization. Furthermore, in the absence of constraints, they are input-output linearizing.