cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ferrate(V) oxidation of pollutants: a premix pulse radiolysis study

Abstract A premix pulse radiolysis technique has been used to measure the rates of reaction between Fe(V) and a wide range of organic compounds that are of concern in water treatment, municipal biochemical wastewater treatment and bleaching processes. Fe(V) is conveniently generated from Fe(VI) by reduction with either the hydrated electron or organic radicals. Fe(VI) as K 2 FeO 4 is synthesized by oxidizing Fe(III) with hypochlorite. The rate constants for the oxidation of compounds by Fe(V) vary from 10 1 to 10 9 dm 3 mol −1 s −1 . This is 10 3 –10 5 times faster than the oxidation reaction with Fe(VI). The results suggest the potential of Fe(V) in environmental and industrial removal of pollutants. The use of the ionizing radiation technique in the presence of Fe(VI) would form Fe(V) and may have synergistic effects in the oxidation of pollutants.
Application of Ion-Induced X-Ray Emission for the Measurement of Stopping Powers

The method for measuring the stopping power of materials for charged particles using ion-induced x-ray emission is described in detail, and the results for 100-keV protons on yttrium and samarium are presented to exemplify the method. By utilizing a lithium-drifted silicon detector, the thickness and uniformity of the stopping film can be monitored simultaneously with the collection of stopping power data. In addition, it will be shown that the incorporation of a backscattering spectrometer with the ion-induced x-ray system can yield two independent measurements of the energy loss in the stopping film, and at the same time detect impurities that might be present in the film.
Vitrectomy for Impending Idiopathic Macular Holes

We performed pars plana vitrectomy in 15 patients with physical changes and visual loss believed to indicate impending macular hole formation. Twelve (80%) of 15 eyes have not progressed to macular holes during a minimum follow-up period of 15 months (average, 26 months). In these 12 patients final vision was within one line of the preoperative vision in four eyes, improved two or more lines in five eyes, and was two lines worse in three eyes. Decreased vision in all three eyes was the result of progressive lenticular nuclear sclerosis. A thin sheet of cortical vitreous fibers was sometimes found intraoperatively on the surface of the retina, despite an apparent complete posterior vitreous detachment.
Impact of asthma education received from health care providers on parental illness representation in childhood asthma

The burden of asthma has increased dramatically despite increased understanding of asthma and new medication regimens. Data reported here are part of a larger study investigating factors that influence parental asthma illness representation and the impact of this representation on treatment outcomes, including the parent/health care provider relationship. We investigated the influence of asthma related education provided by health care providers on these outcomes. After interviewing 228 parents of children with asthma, we found that asthma education received from the child's health care providers positively influenced parental belief systems, especially attitudes towards anti-inflammatory medications and facts about asthma. Parents who reported receiving more education also reported stronger partnerships with their child's health care provider.
Insulin-treated diabetes is associated with a marked increase in mortality in patients with advanced heart failure

Objectives This study aimed to investigate the effect of diabetes and insulin use on survival in a large cohort of patients with advanced heart failure (HF) of multiple etiologies. Background Although diabetes is a well-known risk factor for both systolic and diastolic dysfunction, the impact of diabetes and insulin treatment on prognosis of patients with HF has not been well studied. Methods History of diabetes and insulin treatment was assessed in 554 consecutive patients with advanced systolic HF who presented to a single center for HF management and/or transplant evaluation (mean age 52.0 ± 13.1 years, ejection fraction 24.6 ± 7.4). Patients were stratified into 3 groups based on presence or absence of diabetes and insulin use. Differences in patient characteristics and survival were evaluated. Results There were 132 patients (23.8%) with diabetes; 43 patients (7.8%) were insulin treated and 89 patients (16.1%) were non–insulin-treated patients with diabetes. The groups were similar in sex, smoking history, medication profile, ejection fraction, body mass index, and serum sodium. Survival at 1 year was 89.7% for nondiabetic patients, 85.8% for non–insulin-treated diabetic patients, and 62.1% for insulin-treated diabetic patients ( P Conclusions Insulin-treated diabetes is associated with a significantly worse prognosis in patients with advanced HF. Further investigations into mechanisms for the association of insulin treatment and mortality in patients with HF are warranted.
ECONOMIC GROWTH AND THE INDIVIDUAL

s of Doctoral Dissertations 551 government. On the other hand, debt financing (with government or private financial securities) increases individuals' net worth. Individual net worth affords the individual a buffer against uncertainty, the cost advantages of at least partial equity in consumer durables, and the opportunity to make a bequest to his heirs. Government net worth would be of value to the individual if it allowed government to better achieve its aims. But government net worth, per se, does not increase governments' efficiency. Thus individual net worth is of more utility value to the individual than government net worth. Therefore, it increases utility to debt-finance, rather than taxfinance, the investment for growth. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.85 on Sat, 28 May 2016 06:05:00 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Isothermal, Compton-heated Coronae above Accretion Disks

The structure of Compton-heated coronae above accretion disks is studied here by using analytic and numerical approaches are used here to determine the direct and scattered radiation reaching the base of the corona for a range of central source luminosities. It is found that the outer region of the corona is unaffected by multiple scattering in the interior, provided that the luminosity of the central source is sufficient below the Eddington limit. How attenuation and scattering by the corona affects the strength of chromospheric emission lines is determined, as is the condition for which the irradiation due to the central source exceeds the locally generated flux from the disk. Finally, it is shown that the stability analysis for irradiated accretion disks of Tuchman et al. is not substantially altered by the corona.
Water permeation of polymer films. IV. Teflon FEP

The evaluation of the permeation parameters of water for Teflon FEP has shown that permeation is a dual mode process: Water is initially adsorbed onto the polymer surface in a layer; because the residence time of the layer is short, little is ultimately absorbed. The diffusion process is disrupted at the onset of molecular motion, at the glass transition, due to an increase in effective tortuosity. Variations of the permeation parameters with thickness suggest a skin, of total thickness near 25 μm, whose permeation parameters differ from those of the bulk.
Modeling and simulation of IEF in 2-D microgeometries.

A 2-D finite-volume model is developed to simulate nonlinear IEF in complex microgeometries. This mathematical model is formulated based on the mass conservation and ionic dissociation relations of amphoteric macromolecules, charge conservation, and the electroneutrality condition. Based on the 2-D model, three different separation cases are studied: an IPG in a planar channel, an ampholyte-based pH gradient in a planar channel, and an ampholyte-based pH gradient in a contraction–expansion channel. In the IPG case, cacodylic acid (pK1 = 6.21) and Tris (pK1 = 8.3) are used as the acid and base, respectively, to validate the 2-D IEF model. In the ampholyte-based pH gradient cases, IEF is performed in the pH range, 6.21–8.3 using 10 ampholytes in the planar channel and 20 ampholytes in the contraction–expansion channel. The numerical results reveal different focusing efficiencies and resolution in the narrow and wide sections of the contraction–expansion channel. To explain this, the expressions for separation resolution and peak concentrations of separands in the contraction–expansion channel are presented in terms of the channel shape factor. In a 2-D planar channel, a focused band remains straight all the time. However, in a contraction–expansion channel, initially straight bands take on a crescent profile as they pass through the trapezoidal sections joining the contraction and expansion sections.
Small cerebral hemispheres in adults with Down's syndrome: contributions of developmental arrest and lesions of Alzheimer's disease.

Morphometric analysis was used to measure cross-sectional areas of cerebral structures in middle-aged patients with Down's syndrome (N=5) for comparison with data obtained from individuals with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (N=16) and neuropathologically normal controls (N=14). Down's syndrome was distinguished from Alzheimer's disease by the 19% lower mean brain weight which was associated with more pronounced reductions in the areas of both cortex and white matter. However, the differences were most striking in the anterior frontal and anterior temporal regions where the effects of arrested neurodevelopment are grossly evident. In addition, in Down's syndrome the amygdala was significantly smaller than in Alzheimer's disease. In both Down's syndrome and Alzheimer's disease, shrinkage of the cortical ribbon was associated with abundant neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, while white matter atrophy was associated with histopathological evidence of axonal degeneration. These findings suggest that in Down's syndrome the reduction in volume in the posterior portion of the cerebrum relative to controls is largely due to acquired lesions of Alzheimer's disease, whereas anteriorly and within certain subcortical nuclei, the effects of both Alzehimer's disease and arrested neurodevelopment are manifested. Moreover, the finding of white matter lesions in Down's syndrome corroborates the notion that white matter degeneration is a fundamental component of the Alzheimer's disease process.
Open-field behavior in the Maudsley reactive and nonreactive strains: Procedural variations

Procedural differences were examined to account for interlaboratory discrepancies in open-field defecation (OFD) scores of the Maudsley reactive and Maudsley nonreactive strains. It was found that the use of a continuous 24-h light diurnal cycle was associated with increased OFD in Maudsley reactive and nonreactive rats. If a 15-h light/9-h dark diurnal cycle was used, OFD scores typical of the progenitors of the Maudsley strains were obtained.
Pannexin membrane channels are mechanosensitive conduits for ATP

Intercellular calcium wave propagation initiated by mechanical stress is a phenomenon found in nearly all cell types. The waves utilize two pathways: transfer of InsP3 directly from cell to cell through gap junction channels and release of ATP onto extracellular purinergic receptors. The conduit for ATP has remained elusive and both a vesicular and a channel mediated release have been considered. Here, we describe the properties of single pannexin 1 channels. They have a wide expression spectrum, they are of large conductance and permeant for ATP, and they are mechanosensitive. Hence, pannexins are candidates for the release of ATP to the extracellular space upon mechanical stress.
Magnetic properties of Gd5(Si1.5Ge2.5) near the temperature and magnetic field induced first order phase transition

Abstract The temperature (from 5 to 300 K) and DC magnetic field (from 0 to 90 kOe) dependencies of the DC magnetization and magnetic susceptibility, and the temperature (from 5 to 350 K) dependency of the AC magnetic susceptibility of Gd 5 (Si 1.5 Ge 2.5 ) have been studied. The temperature and/or magnetic field induced magnetic phase transition in Gd 5 (Si 1.5 Ge 2.5 ) is a first order ferromagnet↔paramagnet transition. The temperature of the magnetic transition in low AC magnetic field is 206 and 217 K for cooling and heating, respectively. The DC magnetic field increases the transition temperature by ∼0.36 K/kOe indicating that the paramagnetic phase can be reversibly transformed into the ferromagnetic phase. When the magnetic field is removed, the ferromagnetic phase transforms into the paramagnetic phase showing a large remanence-free hysteresis. The magnetic phase diagram based on the isothermal magnetic field dependence of the DC magnetization at various temperatures for Gd 5 (Si 1.5 Ge 2.5 ) is proposed. The magnetic field dependence of the magnetization in the vicinity of the first order phase transition shows evidence for the formation of a magnetically heterogeneous system in the volume of Gd 5 (Si 1.5 Ge 2.5 ) specimen where the magnetically ordered (ferromagnetic) and disordered (paramagnetic) phases co-exist.
Predictive factors and outcomes in patients with gallbladder perforation

Abstract Introduction. Gallbladder perforation is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Preoperative diagnosis of perforation is difficult. This study investigates the outcome of patients with gallbladder perforation over a 20-year period and attempts to investigate predictors for perforation. Methods. From 1982 to 2002 all patients undergoing cholecystectomy for gallstone disease were prospectively entered into a database. A subgroup of patients with gallbladder perforation was identified and their outcome was compared with patients presenting with gangrenous cholecystitis. The Chi-square and Student’s t-test were used for statistical analysis where appropriate. Results. 238 patients underwent cholecystectomy for gangrenous cholecystitis. Of those, 30 patients were found to have gallbladder perforation; 9 with contained perforation (pericholecystic abscess) and 21 with free intraabdominal perforation. Gallbladder perforation was suspected in 3% of the patients preoperatively. Men outnumbered the women (23:7) and Hispanics outnumbered the Caucasians (26:4). Postoperative complications in patients with gallbladder perforation correlated with a significantly longer preoperative hospital stay (3.7 versus 0.8 days; P TABLE—ABSTRACT P38 . Patients w/perf Pat w/o perf P-value Age (yrs) 60 53 ASA 2.6 2.3 =0.07 Morbidity (37%) 37 17 Mortality (%) 7 1.4 Post-op stay (d) 13 8
Interactive specification of flexible user interface displays

One of the problems with conventional UIMSs is that very often there is no graphical way to specify interfaces. This paper describes OPUS, the user interface editor of the Penguims UIMS. This system allows the presentation component of graphical user interfaces to be specified interactively in a graphical notation without explicit programming. The Penguims UIMS supports an underlying model of computation based loosely on spreadsheets. In particular, it supports incremental computations based on a system of equations (one-way constraints) over a set of named values (spreadsheet cells). These equations are used to provide immediate feedback at all levels of the interface. They are used to incrementally determine the position and dynamic appearance of the individual interactor objects that make up the interface. They are also used to connect the presentation directly to underlying application data thereby supporting semantic feedback. The OPUS user interface editor employs a special graphical notation for specifying the presentation component of a user interface. This notation allows the power of the underlying computational model to be expressed simply and quickly. The resulting presentations are very flexible in nature. They can automatically respond to changes in the size and position of display objects and can directly support derivation of their appearance from application data objects.
Shell morphometry in barnacles: quantification of shape and shape change in Balanus

Geometric design in the barnacle genus Balanus has been studied in relation to variation in adult shell form, that includes differences among species, and size-related changes in shape. The genus comprises 40 Recent species, and as a group these display a more or less constant morphology over an extraordinary size range (10 to 200 mm in basal length). Linear and volumetric measurements were collected from 232 adult individuals of 14 species representing the variation in size, shell form and shell design thought to occur in the genus. Specimens were chosen to represent the size ranges of the species. Only isolated individuals growing on planar surfaces were used; shells were complete, undamaged and undistorted. Shell form differs among taxa, and no two species scale alike; intraspecific variation for five ratio variables shows strong allometry over the adult size range of each species. As size increases, there is a trend for the basis and orifice to maintain their shapes or to become slightly more elliptical, and for shells to become more conical and proportionately taller. Throughout their size ranges, species can be described by these geometries: paraboloid (6 species), frustum of an ellipsoidal cone (5 species), frustum of a cone (2 species) and a cone (1 species). Shell geometry is not a function of species size, but there does appear to be a correlation between shell geometry and shell volume. Species with relatively small shell volumes are described by a frustum of an ellipsoidal cone, or by a cone, while those with a relatively large shell volume are described by a paraboloid, or by the frustum of a cone.
Fluorescence measurement and photochemical manipulation of cytosolic free calcium

Abstract Fluorescent indicators are the newest tools for measuring cytosolic free calcium, and are particularly promising because of their sensitivity, specificity, speed, ease of calibration, and non-disruptive means of loading into intact cells. They give dynamic images of differences in Ca 2+ regulation between neuronal cell bodies and processes as well as of radial diffusion of Ca 2+ upon stimulation. New directions to be explored include monitoring of activity patterns in neuronal assemblies and photochemical generation or interruption of Ca 2+ transients.
TWO POMERANCHUK-REGGE TRAJECTORIES

The existence of two Pomeranchuk-Regge trajectories is conjectured. It then follows, with a single numerical coincidence, that at high energies the scattering in each angular momentum state is dominated by inelastic processes. This reinstitutes the physical plausible semiclassical explanation of the origin of diffraction scattering. The width of the diffraction peak still shrinks with energy. It also follows that both total and elastic cross sections increase logarithmically, with a limiting ratio of approximately four. The real part of each phase shift approaches an integral multiple of $\ensuremath{\pi}$, providing a basis for a general Levinson's theorem; the approach is from above as ${(\mathrm{ln}E)}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ for increasing energy $E$. The inelastic scattering in each partial wave approaches its maximum value only as ${(\mathrm{ln}E)}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$. Rough quantitative estimates indicate that the typical contribution of two Pomeranchuk trajectories to a total cross section might be quite large (of the order of 66 mb) at 20 BeV.
How Safe Is Safe Enough? Radiation Risk for a Human Mission to Mars

Astronauts on a mission to Mars would be exposed for up to 3 years to galactic cosmic rays (GCR)--made up of high-energy protons and high charge (Z) and energy (E) (HZE) nuclei. GCR exposure rate increases about three times as spacecraft venture out of Earth orbit into deep space where protection of the Earth's magnetosphere and solid body are lost. NASA's radiation standard limits astronaut exposures to a 3% risk of exposure induced death (REID) at the upper 95% confidence interval (CI) of the risk estimate. Fatal cancer risk has been considered the dominant risk for GCR, however recent epidemiological analysis of radiation risks for circulatory diseases allow for predictions of REID for circulatory diseases to be included with cancer risk predictions for space missions. Using NASA's models of risks and uncertainties, we predicted that central estimates for radiation induced mortality and morbidity could exceed 5% and 10% with upper 95% CI near 10% and 20%, respectively for a Mars mission. Additional risks to the central nervous system (CNS) and qualitative differences in the biological effects of GCR compared to terrestrial radiation may significantly increase these estimates, and will require new knowledge to evaluate.
Influences of deposition parameters on micro-crystalline silicon single junction cell efficiency in large-area and high rate deposition

For the mass production of silicon thin film solar cell, it is a key issue to increase deposition rate of microcrystalline silicon film on a large area substrate. One of the most effective methods to increase deposition rate of the film is using high frequency and high power plasma. However, high frequency plasma leads to plasma non uniformity in large area deposition, and high power plasma induces substrate heating during deposition of microcrystalline silicon film and degrades the film quality. In this study, we developed a shaped electrode for spatially uniform plasma and a susceptor cooling system for preventing substrate heating by plasma. And also we investigated the influences of deposition parameters on the microcrystalline silicon single junction cell efficiency with high frequency and high power plasma. Glass substrate was 1.1 m × 1.3 m and plasma excitation frequency was 40 MHz. Capacitively coupled parallel plates RF reactor with concave shaped electrode was used. For the high deposition rate of the microcrystalline films, plasma powers of 0.8∼1.1W/cm2 were used. The highest deposition rate of microcrystalline silicon was 2nm/s. The increases of temperature of susceptor were monitored by two thermocouples which were installed at center and outer side of the susceptor. The temperature increases were suppressed to almost zero with liquid cooling systems. Multiple step deposition was performed which means the higher H2/SiH2 ratio at the initial stage of film growth was used and the ratio gradually decreased during deposition in order to eliminate the amorphous layer at the interface between substrate and film. We also achieved microcrystalline single junction cell efficiencies above 6% on large area substrate at high deposition rate of 1.5nm/s.
Fuzzy heuristics for sequential linear programming

Numerical implementations of optimization algorithms often use parameters whose values are not strictly determined by the derivation of the algorithm, but must fall in some appropriate range of values. This work describes how fuzzy logic can be used to control''-Such parameters to improve algorithm performance. This concept is shown with the use of sequential linear programming (SLP) due to its simplicity in implementation. The algorithm presented in this paper implements heuristics to improve the behavior of SLP based on current iterate values of design constraints and changes in search direction. Fuzzy logic is used to implement the heuristics in a form similar to what a human observer would do. An efficient algorithm, known as the infeasible primal-dual path-following interior-point method, is used for solving the sequence of LP problems. Four numerical examples are presented to show that the proposed SLP algorithm consistently performs better than the standard SLP algorithm.
Stable Expression and Coupling of Cardiac L-Type Ca2+ Channels With β1-Adrenoceptors

Abstract A number of neurotransmitters modulate cardiac dihydropyridine-sensitive L-type Ca2+ channels through several homologous G protein–coupled receptors. Previous studies that have examined receptor–Ca2+ channel interactions have suffered because of the coexpression of various receptor subtypes in native cells. To study the functional coupling of a particular receptor subtype to these channels, rabbit cardiac Ca2+ channel α1 and skeletal β and α2/δ subunits were stably expressed in baby hamster kidney cells. In this stable cell line, Ca2+ channels remained at high levels (>1000 fmol/mg protein, or 2700 channels per cell) over extended times. The expressed recombinant Ca2+ channels displayed the voltage dependence of activation and inactivation, unitary conductance, and pharmacology characteristic of native cardiac L-type Ca2+ channels. Subsequent coexpression of the β1-adrenoceptors (150 to 300 fmol/mg protein) with the Ca2+ channels resulted in cell responsiveness to the extracellular application of isoproterenol. These results indicate that heterogeneous expression in mammalian cells provides a useful system for studying both biophysical analysis of Ca2+ channel properties and receptor-coupled regulatory processes.
A polymer-ceramic composite membrane for recovering volatile organic compounds from wastewaters by pervaporation

A composite membrane was constructed on a porous ceramic support from a block copolymer of styrene and butadiene (SBS). It was tested in a laboratory pervaporation apparatus for recovering volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA) and trichloroethylene (TCE) from dilute aqueous solutions. This polymer-ceramic composite membrane yielded significantly higher VOC selectivity than an SBS membrane without the ceramic support, for comparable fluxes. At VOC concentrations near 100 ppm, fluxes and selectivities of VOCs were essentially independent of the number of VOCs in solution. The liquid-side boundary layer resistance dominated mass transport. The experimental data fitted the resistance-in-series model and yielded reliable membrane permeability values. This method using this high-performing membrane offers potentially cleaner and cost-effective means of recovering VOCs from contaminated streams.
Foreign body localization and removal utilizing computerized axial tomography

In this preliminary report, computerized tomography guidance was instrumental in allowing the safe and rapid removal of a metallic foreign body from paravesical soft tissues deep within the male pelvis. Hopefully, expanded future experience with this technique will further clarify its value in the management of retained foreign bodies.
Design, synthesis and biological study of pinacolyl boronate-substituted stilbenes as novel lipogenic inhibitors.

A series of novel 4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-2-(4-substitutedstyrylphenyl)-1,3,2 dioxaborolane derivatives has been synthesized. 4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaboratophenyl)-methyl triphenylphosphonium bromide (4) was treated with 3 equiv of tBuONa, various aldehydes in the presence of DMF, and stirred at room temperature 4–6 hrs to yield the corresponding boron containing stilbene derivatives in 71–94% yields. A one-pot protocol transformation has also been developed and used to synthesize boron-containing compounds. Several of them, including BF102 and BF175, have the effect of inhibiting lipogenesis by suppressing lipogenic gene expression in mammalian hepatocytes. Moreover, BF102 also inhibits cholesterol biosynthesis by suppressing HMG-CoA reductase gene expression in hepatocytes. Thus, BF102 is a potential lead for the next generation of lipid-lowering drugs.
Area V1 in macaque monkeys projects to multiple histochemically defined subdivisions of the inferior pulvinar complex

To investigate how visuotopic connections relate to chemoarchitecture of the inferior pulvinar (PI) complex in macaques, neuroanatomical tracers were placed into known portions of the visual representation in V1. Separate foci of label associated with both the upper and lower visual quadrants occupied neurochemically defined medial, central, lateral, and lateral-shell subdivisions, PIM, PIC, PIL, and PIL-S. Visuotopic connection patterns thus supported the concept of a larger PI that includes portions of three classically defined `nuclei' [C. Gutierrez, A. Yaun and C.G. Cusick, Neurochemical subdivisions of the inferior pulvinar in macaque monkeys, J. Comp. Neurol., 363 (1995) 545–562.], and corresponds to the topographically organized V1 projection zone.
Obligating Reasons, Moral Laws, and Moral Dispositions

Moral obligations rest on circumstances (events, states of affairs, etc.). But what are these obligating reasons and in virtue of what are they such reasons? Nomological conceptions define such reasons in terms of moral laws. I argue that one such conception cannot be correct and that others do not support the familiar and plausible view that obligating reasons are pro tanto (or contributory) reasons, either because they entail that this view is false or else because they cannot explain – or even help to explain – how it could be true. I also argue that a particular dispositional conception of obligating reasons does support this view of obligating reasons by enabling an explanation of how it could be true. Moreover, my arguments show that the dispositional moral metaphysic on which this conception is predicated can do something that nomological alternatives cannot: explain why obligating reasons and moral obligations are pro tanto reasons and obligations.
The design and performance of a modular pulse forming network system for a railgun simulator experiment

This paper describes the design and implementation of a modular pulse forming network to provide a constant current pulse to a railgun simulator experiment. The circuit was constructed from electrolytic capacitors. This paper discusses the design of the system, the affects of the resistive nature of the electrolytic capacitors, and the overall performance of the pulse forming networks in the system.
Chitinase 3-Like-1 (CHI3L1): A Putative Disease Marker at the Interface of Proteomics and Glycomics

Chitinase 3-Like-1 (CHI3L1) is a secreted 40 kDa glycoprotein that is upregulated in a number of human cancers and in non-neoplastic disease states characterized by chronic inflammation and tissue remodeling. Increased serum levels of CHI3L1 parallel disease severity, poorer prognosis, and shorter survival in many human neoplasias, including cancers of the breast, colon, prostate, ovaries, brain, thyroid, lung, and liver. Increased serum CHI3L1 also correlates with disease severity in rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, liver fibrosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and bacterial septicemia. CHI3L1 is a rheumatoid arthritis (RA) autoantigen, and MHC complexes containing specific CHI3L1 peptides have been found in RA patients; however, intranasal introduction of these same CHI3L1 peptides can induce tolerance towards them. CHI3L1 is a nonhydrolytic member of the human chitinase family that binds chitin tightly and heparin at lower affinity. Interactions with type I collagen, CHI3L1's only known protein-bind...
BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS OF ANDROGENIC ACTIVITY1

IT IS GENERALLY recognized that birds are more satisfactory test animals than mammals for biological assays of androgens. However, the relative potency of various substances is known to differ when assayed on birds and on mammals. This fact, together with the greater difficulty of interpreting phenomena observed in birds as related to human problems, has served as an impetus for the improvement of the mammalian technics. Androgenic activity in the mammal is determined by gross weight or histological examination of sexual accessories, or by functional methods. Our study is primarily concerned with a comparison of certain methods in which the weight of various accessory sex organs provides a measure of androgenic activity which can be obtained with relative ease. The histological status of the tissues is probably a more sensitive indicator (1), but that method involves delay as well as added labor and expense.
Actual and potential applications of Yucca schidigera and Quillaja saponaria saponins in human and animal nutrition

Saponins are natural detergents found in many plants. Saponins have detergent or surfactant properties because they contain both water-soluble and fat-soluble components. They consist of a fat-soluble nucleus, having either a steroid or triterpenoid structure, with one or more side chains of water-soluble carbohydrates (Figure 1).
Contextual Matters: Teachers' Perceptions of the Success of Antiracist Classroom Practices

The author examined teachers' perceptions of the influence of school climate on the implementation of antiracist multicultural practices learned through professional development. The author interviewed 7 educators 1 year after they completed an antiracist multicultural professional development course to determine the extent to which the educators had transformed knowledge acquired from the course to classroom practice and to determine factors influencing those transformations. Qualitative data revealed that participants perceived that school climate influenced the implementation of multicultural practice and that school and district leadership seemed to have a profound effect on setting the tone for school climate. In schools where participants perceived a positive climate for change concerning multicultural issues (i.e., participants felt supported in their antiracist efforts and received encouragement to further their multicultural competence), they were optimistic that their schools would continue to s...
A straightforward method for the FDTD analysis of quasi-optical arrays of active devices

A method for the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) analysis of quasi-optical circuit arrays of active devices is presented in this paper. To analyze active devices such as varactor diodes and MESFETs, this method creates a set of field-state central finite-difference equations, and all the field and state variables are solved simultaneously at the same FDTD time step. It will be shown in this paper that this formulation is simple and straightforward. The analyses of quasi-optical back-to-back varactor tripler and MESFET oscillator arrays have been performed to show different applications of this method. Excellent agreements have been obtained among the results from this simulation method, analytical solutions and commercial software, and experimental measurements to show the validity of this method.
Resilient peer-to-peer multicast from the ground up

This work introduces Nemo, a novel peer-to-peer multicast protocol that aims at achieving this elusive goal. Based on two techniques: (1) co-leaders; and, (2) triggered negative acknowledgments (NACKs), Nemo's design emphasizes conceptual simplicity and minimum dependencies (Anderson et al., 2002), thus achieving, in a cost-effective manner, performance characteristics resilient to the natural instability of its target environment. Simulation-based and wide-area experimentations show that Nemo can achieve high delivery ratios (up to 99.98%) and low end-to-end latency similar to those of comparable protocols, while significantly reducing the cost in terms of duplicate packets (reductions > 85%) and control related traffic, making the proposed algorithm a more scalable solution to the problem.
Effects of malnutrition on expression and activity of lactase in children

Abstract BACKGROUND & AIMS: Many malnourished infants have reduced lactase specific activity in the small intestine. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the hypolactasia of malnourished infants results from transcriptional suppression of lactase expression. METHODS: Biopsy specimens were studied from two groups of infants: 29 with malnutrition and 10 normally nourished controls with normal morphology and lactase activity. RESULTS: In malnourished infants, lactase messenger RNA (mRNA) was reduced to 32% and sucrase to 61% of normal. Lactase and sucrase enzyme proteins and activities were lower in malnourished infants, and partial villus atrophy was present. The genotype of adult hypolactasia was not present. CONCLUSIONS: Because the hypolactasia of malnourished children was associated with much lower lactase than sucrase mRNA abundance and because the epigenetic suppression, which accounted for the reduction of sucrase mRNA, was inadequate to explain the greater reduction of lactase mRNA, this study concludes that malnutrition suppresses lactase gene transcription or mRNA stability in infants. The reductions of lactase mRNA, distinct from those found in adults with genetic hypolactasia, explain the low lactase activities commonly found in malnourished infants. (Gastroenterology 1997 Mar;112(3):742-51)
TextPlorer: An application supporting text analysis

TexPlorer is an integrated system for exploring and analyzing large amounts of text documents. The data processing modules of TexPlorer consist of named entity extraction, entity relation extraction, hierarchical clustering, and text summarization tools. Using a timeline tool, tree-view, table-view, and concept maps, TexPlorer provides an analytical interface for exploring a set of text documents from different perspectives and allows users to explore vast amount of text documents efficiently.
Internal Carotid Artery Dissection Associated With Scuba Diving

A 52-year-old man presented to the emergency department with dysphasia and a headache after scuba diving. He was treated initially for decompression sickness. Subsequent workup revealed bilateral internal carotid artery dissection. The risk factors, presenting symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of internal carotid artery dissection are reviewed. The importance of considering unusual causes of neurologic deficits after scuba diving is emphasized.
Efficient overlay multicast for mobile ad hoc networks

Overlay multicast protocol builds a virtual mesh spanning all member nodes of a multicast group. It employs standard unicast routing and forwarding to fulfill multicast functionality. The advantages of this approach are robustness and low overhead. However, efficiency is an issue since the generated multicast trees are normally not optimized in terms of total link cost and data delivery delay. In this paper, we propose an efficient overlay multicast protocol to tackle this problem in MANET environment. The virtual topology gradually adapts to the changes in underlying network topology in a fully distributed manner. A novel source-based Steiner tree algorithm is proposed for constructing the multicast tree. The multicast tree is progressively adjusted according to the latest local topology information. Simulations are conducted to evaluate the tree quality. The results show that our approach solves the efficiency problem effectively.
Parameterization of annealing kinetics in pharmaceutical glasses.

ABSTRACT: Numerical simulations indicate that neglecting the canonical nonlinearity of glassy-state annealing kinetics in pharmaceutical (and other) glasses leads to good KWW fits to the dependence of enthalpy on annealing time, but with spurious KWW parameters that are affected by nonlinearity. A simplified treatment of nonlinearity that uses the Struik shift factor is found to be a useful approximation for these analyses, and can account for previously reported differences between linear and nonlinear KWW parameters (Kawakami K, Pikal MJ. 2005. J Pharm Sci 94:948–965). © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association J Pharm Sci 102:2235–2240, 2013
Prominent polypurine and polypyrimidine tracts in plant viroids and in RNA of the human hepatitis delta agent

To seek patterns of nucleotide usage in the three types of circular subviral RNA pathogens, trimer frequencies and nearest-neighbor biases were studied in 12 plant viroid sequences; five sequences of circular plant viral satellite RNAs; and the sequence of RNA from the human hepatitis delta agent. The viroids and RNA of the delta agent contain tracts of polypurines and polypyrimidines which make up substantial portions of their genomes. Such tracts are not common in the virusoids or in the satellite RNA of tobacco ringspot virus. Viroids, the delta hepatitis agent, and the circular satellite RNAs of certain plant viruses have several features in common: all have circular genomic RNA and replicate through an RNA to RNA rolling circle replication cycle. However, virusoids and related satellite RNAs are directly or indirectly dependent on their helper viruses for replication, while the delta agent and viroids are not. The difference in the pattern of nucleotide usage between the plant viral satellite RNAs on the one hand, and viroids and delta RNA on the other, may relate to this difference in replication strategy.
Bioavailability of DON from natural and anthropogenic sources to estuarine plankton

Utilization of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) from natural (forests) and anthropogenic (animal pastures, urban/ suburban storm water runoff) sources (three sites per source) by estuarine plankton communities was examined in spring, summer, and fall. The proportion of DON utilized ranged from 0 to 73%. Overall, urban/suburban storm water runoff had a higher proportion of bioavailable DON (59% 6 11) compared to agricultural pastures (30% 6 14) and forests (23% 6 19). DON bioavailability varied seasonally; however, the seasonal pattern differed for the three sources. Bacterial production increased linearly with the amount of DON utilized across all sources and seasons; the rate of increase was approximately five times greater per micromole of N as DON used relative to dissolved inorganic N (DIN) used. Although phytoplankton production generally increased with DON addition, the increased production was not correlated with the amount of DON utilized, suggesting that a variable portion of dissolved organic matter (DOM)-N was directly or indirectly available to the phytoplankton. This indicates that phytoplankton production is not a good measure of the amount of bioavailable DON, and measurements of the amount of bioavailable DON based on bacterial responses alone might not reflect N available to phytoplankton. Preliminary seasonal budgets of bioavailable N (DIN plus bioavailable DON) as a function of land use suggest that ;80% of the total dissolved N (TDN) from urban/suburban runoff is bioavailable, whereas a lower proportion (20‐ 60%) of TDN is bioavailable from forests and pastures. N budgets for aquatic ecosystems based on only DIN loading underestimate bioavailable N loading, whereas total N or TDN budgets overestimate bioavailable N inputs.
Physical Activity in Older Adults: The Stages of Change

Most older adults are not physically active and are stereotypically presumed to be relatively "set in their ways. " We measured stages of change among a sample of older adults and compared them bet...
The effects of expression: how providing emotional support online improves cancer patients' coping strategies.

Background Emotional support has traditionally been conceived as something a breast cancer patient receives. However, this framework may obscure a more complex process, facilitated by the emerging social media environment, which includes the effects of composing and sending messages to others. Accordingly, this study explores the effects of expression and reception of emotional support messages in online groups and the importance of bonding as a mediator influencing the coping strategies of breast cancer patients. Methods Data were collected as part of two National Cancer Institute-funded randomized clinical trials. Eligible subjects were within 2 months of diagnosis of primary breast cancer or recurrence. Expression and reception of emotionally supportive messages were tracked and coded for 237 breast cancer patients. Analysis resulted from merging 1) computer-aided content analysis of discussion posts, 2) action log analysis of system use, and 3) longitudinal survey data. Results As expected, perceived bonding was positively related to all four coping strategies (active coping: β = 0.251, P = .000; positive reframing: β = 0.288, P = .000; planning: β = 0.213, P = .006; humor: β = 0.159, P = .009). More importantly, expression (γ = 0.138, P = .027), but not reception (γ = -0.018, P = .741), of emotional support increases perceived bonding, which in turn mediates the effects on patients' positive coping strategies. Conclusions There is increasing importance for scholars to distinguish the effects of expression from reception to understand the processes involved in producing psychosocial benefits. This study shows that emotional support is more than something cancer patients receive; it is part of an active, complex process that can be facilitated by social media.
CEO SUCCESSION AND STOCKHOLDER REACTION: THE INFLUENCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT AND EVENT CONTENT

In this article, we construe chief executive officer (CEO) succession events as instances of organizational change. Predictions of positive, negative, or inconsequential outcomes of succession events are contingent on two features of organizational context-presuccession organizational performance and organizational size-and three elements of the content of a succession event: the force initiating the change in CEO, the predecessor's disposition, and the origin of the new CEO. We found that poor presuccession performance was associated with boardinitiation and predecessor departure. Stockholder reactions were positive when presuccession performance was poor and either boards or, to a lesser extent, CEOs initiated successions. Successions that occurred when performance had been good resulted in negative consequences, as did those caused by CEO disability. However, most successions studied were customary retirements associated with no significant stockholder reaction. CEO succession events are of central concern in organization theory. They are universal-if organizations survive long enough, they must experience succession-and they have provided a means for assessing the efficacy of leaders in shaping organizational fortunes by demarcating eras of stewardship. After some decades of research, however, scholars have not reached consensus on the general question of whether leaders make a difference. Instead, the literature on succession has led to a focus on specifying conditions under which it is more or less possible for individuals newly placed in the seat of legitimate authority to influence important organizational outcomes. Under certain circumstances, new CEOs can have palpable effects on
Fetofetal Transfusion Syndrome in Monochorionic-Triamniotic Triplets Treated with Fetoscopic Laser Ablation: Report of Two Cases and A Systematic Review.

Objective This study aims to determine the clinical outcomes of monochorionic-triamniotic (MT) pregnancies complicated by severe fetofetal transfusion undergoing laser photocoagulation. Study Design We report two cases of MT triplets complicated by fetofetal transfusion syndrome (FFTS) and a systematic review classifying cases into different subtypes: MT with two donors and one recipient, MT with one donor and two recipients, MT with one donor, one recipient, and one unaffected triplet. The number of neonatal survivors was analyzed based on this classification as well as Quintero staging. Results A total of 26 cases of MT triples complicated by FFTS were analyzed. In 56% of the cases, the FFTS involved all three triplets, 50% of whom had an additional donor and 50% an additional recipient. Among the 24 cases that survived beyond 1 week after the procedure, the average gestational age of delivery was 29.6 weeks, and the average interval from procedure to delivery was 10.1 weeks. The overall neonatal survival rate was 71.7%, with demises occurring equally between donor and recipient triplets. Overall neonatal survival including survival of at least two fetuses occurred with equal frequency between the different groups. Conclusion Significant neonatal survival can be achieved in most cases of MT triplets with FFTS.