cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Acoustic Effect of Malleus Head Removal and Tensor Tympani Muscle Section on Middle Ear Reconstruction

In the reconstruction of ears with a missing incus, an incus replacement prosthesis (IRP) is commonly used to connect malleus and stapes. In some cases, it is necessary to resect the malleus head and/or section the tensor tympani muscle (TTM) tendon. The acoustic effects of these maneuvers have not been well studied. We performed experiments in a temporal bone model to measure the effect of these maneuvers on middle ear sound transmission. Measurements of umbo and stapes displacement were made before and after malleus head removal and TTM section plus incus replacement with an IRP. After malleus head removal, there was a peak gain in stapes displacement of 6 dB below 0.5 kHz and 8 dB above 2.5 kHz. TTM section had a similar but lesser effect. A clinical example is described.
The Stringent Response and Cell Cycle Arrest in Escherichia coli

The bacterial stringent response, triggered by nutritional deprivation, causes an accumulation of the signaling nucleotides pppGpp and ppGpp. We characterize the replication arrest that occurs during the stringent response in Escherichia coli. Wild type cells undergo a RelA-dependent arrest after treatment with serine hydroxamate to contain an integer number of chromosomes and a replication origin-to-terminus ratio of 1. The growth rate prior to starvation determines the number of chromosomes upon arrest. Nucleoids of these cells are decondensed; in the absence of the ability to synthesize ppGpp, nucleoids become highly condensed, similar to that seen after treatment with the translational inhibitor chloramphenicol. After induction of the stringent response, while regions corresponding to the origins of replication segregate, the termini remain colocalized in wild-type cells. In contrast, cells arrested by rifampicin and cephalexin do not show colocalized termini, suggesting that the stringent response arrests chromosome segregation at a specific point. Release from starvation causes rapid nucleoid reorganization, chromosome segregation, and resumption of replication. Arrest of replication and inhibition of colony formation by ppGpp accumulation is relieved in seqA and dam mutants, although other aspects of the stringent response appear to be intact. We propose that DNA methylation and SeqA binding to non-origin loci is necessary to enforce a full stringent arrest, affecting both initiation of replication and chromosome segregation. This is the first indication that bacterial chromosome segregation, whose mechanism is not understood, is a step that may be regulated in response to environmental conditions.
Optical Analysis of a Window for Solar Receivers Using the Monte Carlo Ray Trace Method

Concentrated solar power (CSP) systems use heliostats to concentrate solar radiation in order to produce heat, which drives a turbine to generate electricity. We, the Combustion and Solar Energy Laboratory at San Diego State University, are developing a new type of receiver for power tower CSP plants based on volumetric absorption by a gas-particle suspension. The radiation enters the pressurized receiver through a window, which must sustain the thermal loads from the concentrated solar flux and infrared reradiation from inside the receiver. The window is curved in a dome shape to withstand the pressure within the receiver and help minimize the stresses caused by thermal loading. It is highly important to estimate how much radiation goes through the window into the receiver and the spatial and directional distribution of the radiation. These factors play an important role in the efficiency of the receiver as well as window survivability.Concentrated solar flux was calculated with a computer code called MIRVAL from Sandia National Laboratory which uses the Monte Carlo Ray Trace (MCRT) method. The computer code is capable of taking the day of the year and time of day into account, which causes a variation in the flux. Knowing the concentrated solar flux, it is possible to calculate the solar radiation through the window and the thermal loading on the window from the short wavelength solar radiation. The MIRVAL code as originally written did not account for spectral variations, but we have added that capability.Optical properties of the window such as the transmissivity, absorptivity, and reflectivity need to be known in order to trace the rays at the window. A separate computer code was developed to calculate the optical properties depending on the incident angle and the wavelength of the incident radiation by using data for the absorptive index and index of refraction for the window (quartz) from other studies and vendor information. This method accounts for regions where the window is partially transparent and internal absorption can occur.A third code was developed using the MCRT method and coupled with both codes mentioned above to calculate the thermal load on the window and the solar radiation that enters the receiver. Thermal load was calculated from energy absorbed at various points throughout the window. In our study, window shapes from flat to concave hemispherical, as well as a novel concave ellipsoidal window are considered, including the effect of day of the year and time of the day.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
Finding cheap routes in profit-driven opportunistic spectrum access networks: a truthful mechanism design approach

In this paper, we explore the economic aspects of routing/relaying in a profit-driven opportunistic spectrum access (OSA) network. In this network, primary users lease their licensed spectrum to secondary radio (SR) providers, who in turn provide opportunistic routing/relaying service to end-users if this service is profitable, i.e., if the payment offered by the end-user (a.k.a. the price) exceeds the SR's relaying spectrum cost. This cost is considered private information known only to SRs. Therefore, the end-user has to rely on costs reported by SRs to determine his routing and payment strategy. The challenge comes from the selfish nature of SRs; an SR may exaggerate his cost to achieve greater profit. To give incentive to an SR to report the true cost, the payment must typically be higher than the actual cost. However, from the end-user's perspective, "overpayment" should be avoided as much as possible. Therefore, we are interested in the "optimal" route selection and payment determination mechanism that minimizes the price of the selected route while simultaneously guaranteeing truthful cost reporting by SRs. We formulate this problem as finding the least-priced path (LPP), and we investigate it without and with link capacity constraints. In the former case, polynomial-time algorithm is developed to find LPP and calculate its truthful price. In the latter case, we show that calculating the truthful price of the LPP is in general computationally infeasible. Consequently, we consider a suboptimal but computationally feasible approximate solution, which we refer to as truthful low-priced path (LOPP) routing. A polynomial-time algorithm is proposed to find the LOPP and efficiently calculate its truthful price. A payment materialization algorithm is also developed to guarantee truthful capacity reporting by SRs. The effectiveness of our algorithms in terms of price saving is verified through extensive simulations.
Mapping the strand-specific transcriptome of fission yeast.

Pervasive genome-wide transcription is widespread in eukaryotic cells, but key features of the transcriptome have yet to be fully characterized. A new study using antibody-based detection of RNA-DNA duplexes on tiling arrays now reveals a complex, strand-specific transcriptional world in fission yeast.
Organization of the Peripheral Nervous System: Autonomic and Sensory Ganglia

Major advances have been made in our understanding of autonomic and sensory transmission and function during the past two decades. These include (i) the establishment of the role of sympathetic and parasympathetic ganglia in relaying neuronal information from the central nervous system to effector organs, (ii) the recognition that enteric ganglia, the third component of the autonomic nervous system, contain independent integrative circuits that control complex local activities, (iii) the evidence for local effector functions of primary sensory nerves in addition to their role in sensory transmission, and (iv) the discovery of plasticity of both autonomic and sensory neurons during disease states and inflammation. A major contribution to these new concepts has been the recognition that in both autonomic and sensory ganglia a variety of transmitters coexist in single neurons. Co-transmission is a widespread phenomenon that enables autonomic and sensory neurons to exert fine and highly regulated control of various functions such as circulation, respiration, digestion, and immune response. This chapter will focus on the general principles and specific features of autonomic and sensory ganglia, with a particular emphasis on their general organization and neurochemical properties. Classical concepts and modem principles of classification of autonomic and sensory ganglia are discussed. Journal of Investigative Dermatology Symposium Proceedings 2:1–7, 1997
Kac's representation from an asymptotic viewpoint

We obtain some weighted approximations of the multivariate empirical process with Poisson bridges. The construction of the Poisson bridges is based on Kac's representation of empirical processes. We compare these results with the weighted approximation of the univariate empirical process with a sequence of Brownian bridges. We demonstrate that the Poisson approximation is much better on the tail and in the case of heavy weight functions when the approximating process is derived from Kac's representation.
Real-time teleconsultation with high-resolution and large-volume medical imaging

Real-time consultation between referring physicians or radiologists with an expert is critical for timely and adequate management of problem cases. During consultation, both sides need to (1) synchronously manipulate high resolution digital radiographic images or large volume MR/CT images, (2) perform interpretation interactively, and (3) converse with audio. We present a specific designed teleconsultation system with bi-directional remote control technology to meet critical teleconsultation application with high resolution and large volume medical images in a limited bandwidth network environment. We give the system design and implementation methods, and also describe the teleconsultation procedure and protocol used in this system. Finally, preliminary results are discussed.
Intrahippocampal administration of both the D- and the L-isomers of AP5 disrupt spontaneous alternation behavior and evoked potentials.

We previously reported that systemically administered N -methyl- d -aspartate (NMDA) antagonists significantly impair spontaneous alternation behavior. Others have reported that the restricted blockade of hippocampal NMDA receptors disrupts performance on different tests of spatial learning and have suggested that the resulting impairments are attributable to a disruption of endogenous NMDA-dependent long-term potentiation (LTP). In the present study, we determined whether spontaneous alternation performance was disrupted by circumscribed blockade of hippocampal NMDA receptors as well as by a second class of compounds which disrupt LTP, protein kinase inhibitors. The effect of hippocampal NMDA blockade on inhibitory avoidance was also examined insofar as this behavior too is disrupted by systemically administered NMDA antagonists. When injected into the hippocampus 15 min prior to spontaneous alternation testing, the NMDA antagonists CPP and d,l -AP5 each decreased alternation rates. the specific protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor, NPC 15437, also disrupted spontaneous alternation, whereas the more general kinase inhibitor, PMXB, did not. When injected 15 min prior to inhibitory avoidance training, CPP also impaired inhibitory avoidance learning as assessed during a subsequent test session, 48 h later. Interpretation of these data was complicated by the additional findings that intrahippocampal infusion of l -AP5 (which is inactive with respect to NMDA receptors) also disrupted alternation performance, and that both the d - and the l -isomers of AP5 as well as each kinase inhibitor dramatically disrupted evoked responses (i.e., population spike amplitude, spike latency, and EPSP slope), as recorded in the dentate gyrus and evoked by perforant path stimulation. These data indicate that behaviorally effective doses of AP5 may have effects which extend beyond NMDA blockade. Moreover, the effects of these compounds on hippocampal transmission, in general, suggest that attribution of the amnestic consequences of their administration to impaired LTP may be unwarranted.
The Nuclear Mechanical Moment of Lanthanum from Hyperfine Structure

The hyperfine structure of the lines $\ensuremath{\lambda}\ensuremath{\lambda}5212$, 5234 and 6250 of ${\mathrm{La}}_{\mathrm{I}}$ has been observed with a flint glass spectrograph crossed with Fabry-Perot etalons. A liquid-air cooled Sch\"uler tube was used as a source. The number of components, the intensity ratios and the interval spacing are all in good agreement with the value $I=(\frac{7}{2})(\frac{h}{2\ensuremath{\pi}})$ for the nuclear mechanical moment.
TETA: transistor-level engine for timing analysis

TETA is an interconnect-centric waveform calculator that was optimized to achieve the utmost efficiency for analyzing logic stages comprised of transistors and large coupled RC(L) interconnect models. TETA applies a novel compaction for the transistor clusters and employs successive chord iterations to solve the resulting nonlinear equations. These algorithms permit the use of simple SIMO (single input multi-output) N-port interconnect models since macromodel passivity is not required. The successive chord analysis also enables TETA to avoid the N-port matrix factorization during nonlinear iterations and allows the use of simple table look-up models for MOS devices. Complex gates and nonlinear capacitors can be handled without loss of generality.
Increased expression of single-strand DNA-binding proteins represses alpha-myosin heavy chain (MHC) gene expression in heart failure

allografts from patients with chronic rejection contain clonally expanded T-cell receptor (TCR ) T cells, we carried out sequence analysis of -chain TCR transcripts from these coronary arteries, after PCR amplification, cloning and sequencing. RT-PCR was carried out using either V I subgroup (V 2, V 3, V 4, V 5) or V II subgroup (V 9) specific primers as 5 -end amplification primers and a C -specific primer as the 3 -end amplification primer. Sequence analysis revealed that substantial proportions of identical V I and V II subgroup TCR transcripts were present in three of five patients examined. The V 9J 2.1C 1 transcript (CDR3: ALWETAQELGKKI) accounted for twenty of twenty (100%) in-frame V II subgroup transcripts from one patient (GA09). In contrast, peripheral blood mononuclear cells from normal donors were used as a methodological control and were unique in general when compared to each other, in a manner typical of polyclonal populations of T cells. These findings suggest that TCR T cells can undergo clonal expansion in vivo in response to as-yetundefined antigen(s) expressed in the coronary arteries of cardiac allografts from patients with chronic rejection. These TCR T cells may play a role in the immunopathogenesis and the progression of chronic rejection.
On-site rainwater harvesting to achieve household water security among rural and peri-urban communities in Jordan

Abstract This paper presents the experience of Mercy Corps’ “Community Based Initiatives for Water Demand Management” project, a five year project (2006–2011), in terms of community-based initiatives for water management. This project was designed to build the capacity of local community-based organizations (CBOs) to raise the awareness level around water demand management (WDM) and engage community members in water management measures. It showed how local solutions decrease the reliance on public water systems and ultimately help in facing the water shortage on a national level. This paper also showed that on-site rainwater harvesting Cisterns funded through this project have been able to harvest 88,335 m 3 annually. The paper found that rainwater harvesting at household level was able to save an average of 24% in potable water per year.
In Vitro Susceptibilities of the Bacteroides fragilis Group Species: Change in Isolation Rates Significantly Affects Overall Susceptibility Data

A comparison of antimicrobial susceptibility data of species of the Bacteroides fragilis group for 1989-1990 and 1998-1999 studies showed statistically significant increases or decreases in in vitro activity. Overall significant increases in resistance were noted for ampicillin-sulbactam and clindamycin, while significant decreases in resistance were noted for ertapenem and cefoxitin. Susceptibilities to piperacillin-tazobactam, imipenem, meropenem, and trovafloxacin remained virtually the same for the two studies. Importantly, a change in the rates of isolation of the various species showed the B. fragilis species comprised 58% of the isolates in 1989 to 1990 and 45% of the isolates in 1998 to 1999. This change in rates of isolation of B. fragilis versus non-B. fragilis species had an overall effect on susceptibility data.
Training and mentoring surgeons in lymphatic mapping

Intraoperative lymphatic mapping and selective lymphadenectomy for solid malignancies is a novel technique, having been introduced into surgical practice in the last 12 years. Dissemination of this technique among surgeons has followed a course similar to that found with the introduction of new laparoscopic techniques. A case series from a leading institution forms the core of the surgical literature for the new operation and is followed by additional case series, which offer technical refinements. Distinct from the laparoscopic techniques, however, sentinel node methodology offers a proficiency assessment through completion lymphadenectomy. Several completed clinical trials using sentinel lymph node technology have afforded a means for training and mentoring surgeons to perform the procedure. These multi-institutional studies and mentoring programs represent an initial step towards development of a more structured framework to evaluate new surgical procedures.
Sharing experiments using open-source software

When researchers want to repeat, improve or refute prior conclusions, it is useful to have a complete and operational description of prior experiments. If those descriptions are overly long or complex, then sharing their details may not be informative. OURMINE is a scripting environment for the development and deployment of data mining experiments. Using OURMINE, data mining novices can specify and execute intricate experiments, while researchers can publish their complete experimental rig alongside their conclusions. This is achievable because of OURMINE's succinctness. For example, this paper presents two experiments documented in the OURMINE syntax. Thus, the brevity and simplicity of OURMINE recommends it as a better tool for documenting, executing, and sharing data mining experiments. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Turbulence Within a Turbomachine Rotor Wake Subject to Nonuniform Contraction

The flow and turbulence in a rotor near wake located within a nonuniform field, generated by a row of inlet guide vanes, are investigated experimentally in a refractive-index-matched facility that provides unobstructed view of the entire flowfield. Stereoscopic particle image velocimetry measurements, performed in closely spaced radial planes, enable measurements of all the components of the phase-averaged strain rate, Reynolds stress, and triple correlation tensors. The rotor wake is bent and compressed as a result of exposure to regions with high axial momentum ("jets"), which fill the gaps between inlet guide vanes wakes. As the rotor wake propagates away from the blade, this process of bending and compression by the jets leads to formation of distinct wake kinks containing regions of high turbulence (turbulent "hot spots"). We focus on an early stage of hot-spot formation. On the suction side of the wake, compression by a jet increases turbulence production, causing nonuniform and asymmetric distribution of Reynolds stresses. In a curvilinear coordinate system aligned with the wake centerline, all the Reynolds stresses are higher on the suction side of the wake where the decay rate of turbulence is much slower than that expected in wakes. The production rate of streamwise stress is dominated by interactions of the shear stress with the cross-stream gradients of the phase-averaged streamwise velocity. The latter also interact with the cross-stream stress to cause high production of shear stress, especially on the suction side. The locations of peak streamwise and shear stresses are consistent with those of the corresponding production rates. The similar locations of peak streamwise and cross-stream stresses, together with low production rate of the latter, suggest a significant contribution by intercomponent transfer from the streamwise to the cross-stream stress. The effects of streamwise curvature and rotation on the evolution of turbulent stresses are marginal. The paper also provides distributions of advection by phase-averaged flow and turbulent diffusion components. The diffusion terms oppose the peaks of production rates, but also have high values along the perimeter of the wake. We compare the distribution of diffusion of turbulent kinetic energy to a model based on the gradient-diffusion hypothesis. The model predicts the diffusion peak that opposes the production rate maximum quite well, but underpredicts the diffusion along the perimeter of the wake and overpredicts it near the wake center.
Oligopolistic competition for market share via voluntary excess supply

An oligopoly model is developed in which firms produce a homogeneous good, but there is no automatic price adjustment mechanism to ensure that the market clears. Though market demand is certain, firm demand becomes random if producers oversupply the market because consumers are indifferent as to which firm's output they purchase. Firms may have the private incentive to oversupply the market, in effect competing for market share. Equilibrium with excess supply is shown to exist in models in which price is determined exogenously and in which firms choose price. In the latter case, equilibrium price is invariant to entry and cost decreases. The normative aspects of the equilibria are discussed.
Evidence for degradation of intracellular protein in liver lysosomes of fasted rats.

Abstract Evidence that intracellular protein degradation occurs in lysosomes has been indirect and derived from liver perfusion (1) or the inhibitor studies (2,3). We report here that liver lysosomes of greater purity are obtained from fed rats than from fasted rats. Lysosomes of less purity may contain an enlarged pool of partially degraded intracellular protein; on the other hand, less purity could be due to less marker enzyme, NAβGase. Measurements of NAβGase activity and lysosomal protein of rat livers showed that both NAβGase and lysosomal protein increased upon fasting but protein more so (3.5 and 6.5x, in 2 days). The increase in lysosomal protein is direct evidence that liver lysosomes are involved in intracellular protein degradation during fasting of rats.
Predictive Maintenance Using the Rotordynamic Model of a Hydraulic Turbine-Generator Rotor

A use of rotordynamic models in predictive maintenance is described in which variables characterizing the state of a deterioration mechanism are determined from online measurements. These variables are trended to determine the rate of deterioration and to perform a simulation to predict either the machine life or the maintenance period. Some useful terms for using models in predictive maintenance are defined and the prediction procedure is described. The procedure is demonstrated with a simple two degree-of-freedom example and the numerical model of an actual hydraulic turbine-generator rotor. Some benefits and problems associated with the implementation of the procedure are then discussed. It is considered that this procedure brings the possibility of a better understanding of deterioration processes and a resulting better life prediction.
Metabolic rate and energy balance in infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia

To determine energy use and growth of infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BDP), we studied metabolic rate and energy balance in five infants with stage III–IV BPD (birth weight 1309±530 gm, gestational age 32±3 weeks, postnatal age 59.8±14.2 days) and in five control infants (birth weight 1540±213 gm, gestational age 33±2 weeks, postnatal age 42.0±4.2 days). infants with BPD had significantly lower energy intake but higher energy expenditure than did control infants. Weight gain and energy cost of growth were significantly less in BPD infants than in control infants, as were urine output and output/intake ratio. We conclude that infants with BPD (1) absorbed caloric intake as well as did normal control infants, (2) had low energy intake and high energy expenditure, resulting in poor weight gain, and (3) had low energy cost of growth, suggesting an alteration in composition of tissue gain, with relatively high water content.
Ship-based detection of glyoxal over the remote tropical Pacific Ocean

Abstract. We present the first detection of glyoxal (CHOCHO) over the remote tropical Pacific Ocean in the Marine Boundary Layer (MBL). The measurements were conducted by means of the University of Colorado Ship Multi-Axis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (CU SMAX-DOAS) instrument aboard the research vessel Ronald H. Brown. The research vessel was on a cruise in the framework of the VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study – Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx) and the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) projects lasting from October 2008 through January 2009 (74 days at sea). The CU SMAX-DOAS instrument features a motion compensation system to characterize the pitch and roll of the ship and to compensate for ship movements in real time. We found elevated mixing ratios of up to 140 ppt CHOCHO located inside the MBL up to 3000 km from the continental coast over biologically active upwelling regions of the tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean. This is surprising since CHOCHO is very short lived (atmospheric life time ~2 h) and highly water soluble (Henry's Law constant H = 4.2 × 105 M/atm). This CHOCHO cannot be explained by transport of it or its precursors from continental sources. Rather, the open ocean must be a source for CHOCHO to the atmosphere. Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) photochemistry in surface waters is a source for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) to the atmosphere, e.g. acetaldehyde. The extension of this mechanism to very soluble gases, like CHOCHO, is not straightforward since the air-sea flux is directed from the atmosphere into the ocean. For CHOCHO, the dissolved concentrations would need to be extremely high in order to explain our gas-phase observations by this mechanism (40–70 μM CHOCHO, compared to ~0.01 μM acetaldehyde and 60–70 μM DOM). Further, while there is as yet no direct measurement of VOCs in our study area, measurements of the CHOCHO precursors isoprene, and/or acetylene over phytoplankton bloom areas in other parts of the oceans are too low (by a factor of 10–100) to explain the observed CHOCHO amounts. We conclude that our CHOCHO data cannot be explained by currently understood processes. Yet, it supports first global source estimates of 20 Tg/year CHOCHO from the oceans, which likely is a significant source of secondary organic aerosol (SOA). This chemistry is currently not considered by atmospheric models.
Autumn Sounds: Music to the Ears Ouyang Xiu's "Fu on Autumn's Sounds"

(2005). Autumn Sounds: Music to the Ears Ouyang Xiu's 'Fu on Autumn's Sounds' Early Medieval China: Vol. 2005, Essays in Honor of the Sixtieth Birthday of David R. Knechtges, pp. 73-99.
FLY AND ELEPHANT PARTIES: POLITICAL POLARIZATION IN DAHOMEY, 1840-1870

Analysis of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Dahomean history reveals, not the existence of an absolute despotism, but the presence of a complex and institutionalized political process responsive to the needs and demands of Dahomeans from every part of the country. Each year at Xwetanu (Annual Customs), Dahomean officials met to discuss and decide administrative, military, economic, and diplomatic policies of the nation. In the mid-nineteenth century an obvious polarization developed as two groups, the Elephant Party and the Fly Party, sought to mould foreign policy. The Elephant Party, composed of the Crown, the wealthiest Creole traders, and the highest male military officials, advocated continuing the established practice of capturing and exporting slaves. Therefore, the Elephant Party wanted to destroy Abeokuta, an African rival and threat to slave raiding, and to resist England, a European obstacle to the trans-Atlantic shipment of slaves. After 1840, as slaving became more difficult and as the palm oil trade emerged as an alternative to the slave trade, the Fly Party rose to challenge the goals of the Elephant Party. Comprised of the Amazon army, shrine priests, middle-level administrators, Dahomean entrepreneurs, and trade officials (groups who were unwilling to pay the costs of a major war and who were eager to gain access to the profits of ‘legitimate’ international trade), the Fly Party counselled peaceful co-existence with Abeokuta and restored commercial relations with England. Eventually, the Fly Party was able to gain ascendancy over the Elephant Party. By 1870 the great Creole traders had suffered severe economic reverses, the Crown and the high military officers were divided over the question of Abeokuta, and members of the Fly Party had obtained positions of political and economic dominance within the country. Thus, the economic and military transformations which affected all of West Africa in the first half of the nineteenth century evoked political polarizations, coalitions, and realignments in the nation of Dahomey.
North Carolina macular dystrophy: Exclusion map using RFLPs and microsatellites

The autosomal dominant macular dystrophies are a confusing group of poorly understood diseases. Linkage studies will greatly aid our classification of these disorders and hopefully provide insight into central retinal function and dysfunction such as occurs in age-related macular degeneration. North Carolina macular dystrophy is one such disease that has been amenable to linkage analysis because of the large pedigree size. Seventy-six polymorphic markers have been tested for linkage and exclusion data are presented.
Target classification in synthetic aperture radar using map-seeking circuit technology

Conventional target recognition approaches for SAR include template matching and feature-based classification. However, unlike visual imagery, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) presents a unique challenge in that many attributes, such as scattering centers, are extremely pose dependent and wink in and out with even minor viewing geometry changes. This work implements a highly efficient biologically-inspired 3D template-based approach, the Map Seeking Circuit (MSC) algorithm, for target recognition in SAR. Instead of exhaustively searching a high dimensional state space, the MSC algorithm efficiently searches a superposition hypersurface to estimate target location and 3D pose. Results are shown from applying the algorithm to real SAR datasets.
Ratio measurements in oxygen determinations: wavelength ratiometry, lifetime discrimination, and polarization detection

Abstract In this work we present ratiometric measurements of oxygen concentrations using a dual-emitting dye. Three different methods for ratio measurements in oxygen sensing are employed. The standard wavelength-ratiometric approach is simple to implement, but the sensor response has significant non-linearity. The frequency discrimination of the lifetimes allows for measurements of dual-emission ratio through a single emission filter. In this case the Stern–Volmer plots are linear. Another option is to use emission polarization.
Closure of the ventral hernia in the management of giant exomphalos: a word of caution

Giant exomphalos containing liver as its major component and with visceroabdominal disproportion presents difficult management options to a paediatric surgeon. At Starship Children’s Hospital, we deal with these with primary skin closure, if possible, followed by staged repair of the ventral hernia beginning in the 2nd year of life. During the closure of a ventral hernia, we encountered major hepatic venous bleeding resulting from the inadvertent injury to the right hepatic vein, resulting in the death of the child. An autopsy report showed the position of the hepatic veins superficially just beneath the skin. Subsequently, we performed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the abdomen to look at the hepatic venous and caval anatomy in two children before closure of the ventral hernia. This was of immense help in limiting the dissection in the area and thus avoiding catastrophe. We recommend routine imaging with MRI before closure of a ventral hernia in children with giant exomphalos.
Evidence-Based Practice or Practice-Based Evidence: What is Happening with MEPA and Current Adoption Practices?:

The Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA) and Interethnic Placement Act (IEPA) were passed in an attempt to eliminate race as a barrier to adoption. The purposes of the current research were to discover what child welfare social workers know about MEPA and IEPA, their views about the usefulness of the acts in addressing race issues in adoption, and how these two acts have affected their child placement practices. A randomized nationwide survey of social workers in child welfare had 261 respondents. Respondents seemed knowledgeable about the acts, but they remained uncertain about their intended purpose and lacked knowledge about research on transracial adoption (TRA). The majority of respondents indicated race is a continuing factor in adoptive placements.
Alterations in the regulation of androgen-sensitive Cyp 4a monooxygenases cause hypertension

Hypertension is a leading cause of cardiovascular, cerebral, and renal disease morbidity and mortality. Here we show that disruption of the Cyp 4a14 gene causes hypertension, which is, like most human hypertension, more severe in males. Male Cyp 4a14 (−/−) mice show increases in plasma androgens, kidney Cyp 4a12 expression, and the formation of prohypertensive 20-hydroxyarachidonate. Castration normalizes the blood pressure of Cyp 4a14 (−/−) mice and minimizes Cyp 4a12 expression and arachidonate ω-hydroxylation. Androgen replacement restores hypertensive phenotype, Cyp 4a12 expression, and 20-hydroxy-arachidonate formation. We conclude that the androgen-mediated regulation of Cyp 4a arachidonate monooxygenases is an important component of the renal mechanisms that control systemic blood pressures. These results provide direct evidence for a role of Cyp 4a isoforms in cardiovascular physiology, establish Cyp 4a14 (−/−) mice as a monogenic model for the study of cause/effect relationships between blood pressure, sex hormones, and P450 ω-hydroxylases, and suggest the human CYP 4A homologues as candidate genes for the analysis of the genetic and molecular basis of human hypertension.
Pilot study of a fall risk management program for middle aged and older adults with MS

Objective: To present the outcomes of a pilot study of "Safe at Home BAASE", a fall risk management program designed for middle-aged and older adults with multiple sclerosis. Methods: Thirty people with multiple sclerosis (mean age=56.7 +/- 7.4) started the manualized program that was delivered by an occupational therapist over six-two hour sessions. A pre/post intervention design with a set of 6 outcome tools was used to evaluate the extent to which the program increased knowledge of fall risk factors, increased knowledge and skills to manage falls and falls risk, and promoted changes in behavior to reduce personal fall risk. Results: Significant improvements were observed across all tools for participants attending 5:6 program sessions as well as participants attending 4 sessions, although some instruments exhibited poor internal consistency in this sample. Participants reported knowledge gains and using new fall prevention and management strategies after attending the program. Conclusion: "Safe at Home BAASE" appears to have potential to foster changes in knowledge, skills and behavior associated with reduced personal fall risk. Practice implications: Findings suggest that additional research is needed on fall-related assessment tools for this population before a large scale controlled investigation of the intervention can be pursued. Language: en
Femtosecond studies of hydrated electron recombination following multiphoton ionization at 390 nm

Abstract We report a femtosecond laser study of the power and wavelength dependence of the dynamics of the solvated electron produced through multiphoton ionization of water at 390 nm. While the localization dynamics are found to be in good agreement with previous studies exciting at 310 nm, nearly complete lack of geminate recombination is discovered on the time scale of up to 700 ps, in marked contrast to the substantial geminate recombination observed with 310 or 248 nm excitation. The results suggest that the electron-cation geminate recombination process is sensitive to the excitation wavelength both mechanistically and energetically.
Device physics of nanoscale interdigitated solar cells

Recently there has been theoretical and experimental evidence for the formation of nanodomains in polycrystalline Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 that may form complex three-dimensional intertwined p-n networks. This has caused some researchers to consider such a network as the operative method of current collection in Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 solar cells. Quantitative modeling is required to test this assumption and evaluate the relevant physics. This paper uses multidimensional device simulation to explore the physics and solar cell performance of interdigitated p-n junctions for material parameters relevant to the postulated conditions. The physics at the nanoscale are often not intuitive, but the results indicate that interdigitated junctions can improve solar cell performance relative to corresponding planar-junction devices and achieve reasonably high solar cell efficiencies with semiconductor materials that have less than optimal electro-optical properties.
Survey of salty and sweet whey composition from various cheese plants in wisconsin

Salty whey is currently underutilized in the dairy industry because of its high salt content and increased processing and disposal costs. Salty whey accounts for 2 to 5% of the total whey generated during Cheddar and other dry-salted cheese manufacture. Because relatively little information is available on salty whey, this study was conducted to determine the range of compositional components in salty whey from commercial cheese plants. Gross compositional differences in percent protein, salt, solids, and fat between sweet whey and salty whey from various dry-salted cheeses from 8 commercial plants were determined. Differences between individual whey protein compositions were determined using sodium dodecyl sulfate-PAGE. Average total solids, fat, and salt content were significantly greater in the salty whey compared with the corresponding sweet whey. True protein was reduced in salty whey although great variability existed among samples. Individual whey proteins identified included lactoferrin (Lf), BSA, immunoglobulin G, beta-lactoglobulin, and alpha-lactalbumin. Salty whey showed an increase in Lf content and a decrease in alpha-lactalbumin and beta-lactoglobulin content when compared with sweet whey. Salty whey may be a source of Lf, potentially increasing its value to whey processors. However, the compositional assessments showed that commercial salty whey is a highly variable waste stream.
Transgenic mice with -6A haplotype of the human angiotensinogen gene have increased blood pressure compared with -6G haplotype.

Hypertension is a serious risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and the angiotensinogen (AGT) gene locus is associated with human essential hypertension. The human AGT (hAGT) gene has an A/G polymorphism at −6, and the −6A allele is associated with increased blood pressure. However, transgenic mice containing 1.2 kb of the promoter with −6A of the hAGT gene show neither increased plasma AGT level nor increased blood pressure compared with −6G. We have found that the hAGT gene has three additional SNPs (A/G at −1670, C/G at −1562, and T/G at −1561). Variants −1670A, −1562C, and −1561T almost always occur with −6A, and variants −1670G, −1562G, and −1561G almost always occur with −6G. Therefore, the hAGT gene may be subdivided into either −6A or −6G haplotypes. We show that these polymorphisms affect the binding of HNF-1α and glucocorticoid receptor to the promoter, and a reporter construct containing a 1.8-kb hAGT gene promoter with −6A haplotype has 4-fold increased glucocorticoid-induced promoter activity as compared with −6G haplotype. In order to understand the physiological significance of these haplotypes in an in vivo situation, we have generated double transgenic mice containing either the −6A or −6G haplotype of the hAGT gene and the human renin gene. Our ChIP assay shows that HNF-1α and glucocorticoid receptor have stronger affinity for the chromatin obtained from the liver of transgenic mice containing −6A haplotype. Our studies also show that transgenic mice containing −6A haplotype have increased plasma AGT level and increased blood pressure as compared with −6G haplotype. Our studies explain the molecular mechanism involved in association of the −6A allele of the hAGT gene with hypertension.
Estimation of cell loss probabilities for tandem ATM queues

Cell loss is an important performance metric in proposed asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks. The cell loss probability can be predicted for a single ATM queue given complex traffic models using several approaches. The output process of ATM queues on the edge of the network is approximated to predict the cell loss probability of tandem ATM queues. Several different representations of the output process are proposed and evaluated for accuracy and computational efficiency. >
Protein adsorption in charged agarose gels studied by light microscopy

Both a new method for measuring protein ion exchange kinetics and new data for the adsorption of three different proteins in anionic agarose gels are described. The gels were prepared as spherical particles to determine chemical and structural properties and the macroscopic protein adsorption behavior, and as thin slabs supported in a microfluidics chip to observe transient concentration profiles with a light microscope. The combination of these approaches provides deeper insight in the nature of protein transport mechanisms than previously possible. The adsorption of cytochrome c, myoglobin, and hemoglobin was studied macroscopically and microscopically. Although all proteins exhibited similarly favorable adsorption isotherms, adsorption kinetics, and concentration profiles were quantitatively and qualitatively different. Cytochrome c was adsorbed very quickly and resulted in diffuse concentration profiles, while myoglobin adsorbed much more slowly and resulted in sharp fronts. Hemoglobin exhibited lower rates with diffuse profiles at higher pH and sharp fronts at lower pH. In general, the shape of the profiles appeared to be correlated with the binding strength. Reversibly bound proteins yielded diffuse profiles, while irreversibly bound proteins exhibited sharp advancing fronts, indicating that protein–surface interactions play a major role in the nature of the transport mechanism. © 2007 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2007
Clinical Outcomes for Anaplastic Pancreatic Cancer: A Population-Based Study

Background Anaplastic pancreatic cancer (APC) is a rare subtype of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) that can carry a worse overall survival (OS) when compared with other variants. However, the presence of osteoclast-like giant cells (OCGCs) in APC specimens can predict improved OS. The aim of this study was to evaluate the OS of patients with APC (with and without OCGCs) compared with patients with other subtypes of PDA using a population-based registry. Study Design We identified all patients in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database with pathologically confirmed APC and PDA diagnosed between 1988 and 2008. Overall survival was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazard regression. Results The study cohort included 5,859 (94.3%) patients with PDA and 353 (5.7%) with APC. Overall survival for all patients with APC was significantly worse than for patients with PDA (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.9; 95% CI, 1.7−2.1; p Conclusions Anaplastic pancreatic cancer is a rare malignancy with poor OS. The diagnosis of APC with OCGCs is predictive of improved OS compared with other patients with APC. This survival benefit, however, is not observed in patients with resected disease.
The immunohematologic and patient safety benefits of a centralized transfusion database

BACKGROUND: The transfusion medical record is an important tool for providing safe and appropriate blood. However, many patients seek care at more than one hospital and this record is usually not portable. We posited that a centralized transfusion service database (CTS-D) offers benefits through tracking blood types, transfusion requirements, and detecting wrong blood in tube (WBIT). STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Records held in the CTS-D from 1997 to 2010 were queried to enumerate those seen at more than one hospital versus one hospital only. Transfusion-related attributes were collected including red blood cell (RBC) antibodies, transfusion requirements, and reactions. WBITs detected due to historical ABO typing were tallied. A review of blood orders that required alteration based on requirements held in the CTS-D was completed. RESULTS: There were 724,584 records; 10.9% of patients had been tested or received blood transfusion at more than one hospital. Of the 63,973 records with RBC alloantibodies, a greater proportion of patients were seen at more than one hospital versus one hospital only (7.11% vs. 3.97%, p < 0.005). Of the 97,687 patient records that required special processing, patients seen at one hospital had a lower rate than those at more than one hospital (12.13% vs. 24.59%, p < 0.005). There were 77 WBITs (0.18 WBITs per 1000 patients). An in-depth review of WBITs found an additional 26.3% (5 of 19) were detected because the current and historical ABO types were from two different hospitals within the CTS. CONCLUSIONS: The CTS-D provides a universal transfusion record that improves patient safety. As health care systems are enlarged, centralization of the transfusion component of the medical record should be considered.