cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Performance of recently detoxified patients with alcoholism on a neuropsychological screening test

Abstract Objective: Early in recovery from alcoholism, cognitive deficits may compromise patients' utilization of rehabilitative information. Cognitive impairment in a sample of newly detoxified inpatients with alcoholism was examined using the Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (NCSE). Methods: Consecutively admitted psychiatric inpatients (N=233) with an alcohol-related primary diagnosis (63% male, mean age 46.3) were administered the NCSE following medical stabilization. Within-samples differences between age and diagnostic groups were examined and scores were compared to normative samples. Results: Inpatients older than 50 demonstrated significant cognitive deficits for all scales except Attention. In comparison with normative samples, patients with alcoholism produced lower scores, with the most pronounced deficits among middle-aged patients. In alcohol-abusing patients with medical comorbidities, language deficits and more severe memory deficits were observed. Abuse severity or comorbid psychiatric disorder produced no differences in NCSE scores. Conclusions: Neuropsychological screening following detoxification in patients diagnosed with an alcohol disorder reflected the effects of increased age and medical comorbidity. Our finding of frequent deficits in abstraction, comprehension, and memory suggests that cognitive–behavioral treatments for inpatients may be less effective if cognitive impairment is not considered.
Papillary fibroelastoma of the mitral valve chordae with systemic embolization

Papillary fibroelastoma (PFE) is a rare benign tumor that most commonly involves heart valves. Cardiac PFE involving the mitral chorda is rarer. Most papillary PFE are asymptomatic; rarely, they are diagnosed because of cardiac symptoms or after an embolic event. In this case, a 70-year-old woman presented with an acute cerebral ischemic infarct. Evaluation for potential embolic source revealed a mass on the mitral chordae. The findings of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) tissue characterization of the mass corroborated the diagnosis of mitral valve tumor. She underwent surgical resection of this mass and histology, which confirmed a PFE. .
Endothelial Cell Activation by Pore-Forming Structures Pivotal Role for Interleukin-1α

Background—Interaction of complement with endothelial cells (ECs) underlies the development of inflammation and coagulation in disease. Assembly of the membrane attack complex (MAC) of complement on EC membrane, like stimulation with cytokines, upregulates tissue factor and cyclooxygenase-2 but does so via the intermediary action of IL-1α. We asked whether the MAC activates porcine aortic and microvascular ECs in a global manner by this mechanism and whether this mechanism is used by membrane pore-forming structures. Methods and Results—Exposure of ECs to complement caused upregulation of mRNAs for E-selectin, intracellular adhesion molecule-1, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, Iκ-Bα, interleukin (IL)-1α, IL-1β, IL-8, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 over a period of 6 hours. The expression of these genes was not a primary response to stimulation, however, because IL-1 receptor antagonist inhibited expression of these genes. Activation of ECs by complement depended on the autocrine action of IL-1α, ...
Blood pressure treatment slows the progression of carotid stenosis in patients with isolated systolic hypertension.

The Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program (SHEP) was a randomized trial testing the efficacy of treating systolic hypertension in older adults. A significant reduction in stroke risk was observed among participants assigned to active treatment. Serial carotid duplex scans were performed on 129 participants at the University of Pittsburgh center, and rates of progression and regression of carotid stenosis were observed.Changes in blood flow velocity ratios were used to detect progression because they can be reliably measured and their relation to degree of residual lumen is known. Progression required the development of a 40% to 50% diameter stenosis when stenosis was not initially present or, if already present, further reduction in the lumen diameter. Regression required the absence of a 40% to 50% diameter stenosis when stenosis was initially present or a stenosis significantly less severe than that initially seen.Progression occurred in 22% (28/129) of participants and regression in 16% (8/49). ...
Low-Thrust Trajectory Optimization Procedure for Gravity-Assist, Outer-Planet Missions

A hybrid trajectory optimization procedure for a class of solar-electric-propulsion, gravity-assist, outer-planet missions is presented. The parameter space of a target mission is often nonconvex and a calculus-of-variations-based optimization algorithm suffers difficulties efficiently exploring this space. A hybrid procedure using a genetic algorithm to drive a calculus-of-variations program is developed to automate searching over a reduced parameter space. Employing the hybrid procedure, the delivered mass profiles of a Uranus and Pluto mission are generated more quickly than by using the calculus-of-variations optimization algorithm alone.
A CHARACTERIZATION OF PROBABILITY MEASURES IN TERMS OF WICK PRODUCT INEQUALITIES

It is known that if X is a normally distributed random variable, and ♢ and E denote the Wick product and expectation, respectively, then for any non-negative integers m and n, and any polynomial functions f and g of degrees at most m and n, respectively, the following inequality holds: We show that this result can be extended to a random variable X, not necessary Gaussian, having an infinite support and finite moments of all orders, if and only if its Szego–Jacobi sequence {ωk}k ≥ 1 is super-additive.
A core oligosaccharide component from then lipopolysaccharide of Rhizobium trifolii ANU843

Abstract The major oligosaccharide from the core region of then lipopolysaccharide from R. trifolii ANU843 was isolated and its structure determined. It is a trisaccharide consisting of two galacturonic acid residues and one 3-deoxy- d - manno -2-octulosonic acid (KDO) residue. The two galacturonic acid residues are terminally linked alpha to the C-4 and C-7 atoms of KDO. This structure was determined through use of 1 H- and 13 C-n.m.r. spectroscopy, f.a.b.-m.s., and g.l.c.-m.s. techniques. This oligosaccharide had not previously been reported to be present in the lipopolysaccharides from Gram-negative bacteria.
Observation of impurity accumulation and concurrent impurity influx in PBX

Abstract Impurity studies in L- and H-mode discharges in PBX have shown that both types of discharges can evolve into either an impurity accumulative or nonaccumulative case. In a typical accumulative discharge, Z eff peaks in the center to values of about 5. The central metallic densities can be high, n met / n e ≈ 0.01, resulting in central radiated power densities in excess of 1 W/cm 3 , consistent with bolometric estimates. The radial profiles of metals obtained independently from the line radiation in the soft X-ray and the VUV regions are very peaked. Concurrent with the peaking, an increase in the impurity influx coming from the edge of the plasma is observed. At the beginning of the accumulation phase the inward particle flux for titanium has values of 6 × 10 10 and 10 × 10 10 particles / cm 2 s at minor radii of 6 and 17 cm. At the end of the accumulation phase, this particle flux is strongly increased to values of 3 × 10 12 and 1 × 10 12 particles / cm 2 s. This increased flux is mainly due to influx from the edge of the plasma and to a lesser extent due to increased convective transport. Using the measured particle flux, an estimate of the diffusion coefficient D and the convective velocity ν is obtained.
Stability of phases CaZrO3 and CaZr4O9 incorporated in the system CaOZrO2

Abstract Zirconia-based solid electrolytes are among the best known oxygen-ion conductors. During the last few decades, efforts have been made to understand the behavior of transport properties in stabilized zirconia. Recent investigations show that defect interactions, defect clustering and ordering, and microdomain formation all play an important role in the transport properties of stabilized zirconias. Further investigation is, however, required to understand the effect of defects, their interaction and ordering on transport, and related properties of stabilized zirconia systems. A degradation in properties due to aging phenomena in stabilized zirconias has been found. Recent studies reveal the presence of phases CaZrO3 and CaZr4O9 in aged stabilized zirconia. In the present investigation, our main interest is in examining the formation and stability of the phases CaZrO3 and CaZr4O9 in calciastabilized zirconia. We studied the energetics of these phases and calculated the relaxed ionic coordinates by atomistic computer simulation techniques.
Observation of metastable Aβ amyloid protofibrils by atomic force microscopy

Abstract Background : Brain amyloid plaque, a diagnostic feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD), contains an insoluble fibrillar core that is composed primarily of variants of the β-amyloid protein (Aβ). As Aβ amyloid fibrils may initiate neurodegeneration, the inhibition of fibril formation is a possible therapeutic strategy. Very little is known about the early steps of the process, however. Results : Atomic force microscopy was used to follow amyloid fibril formation in vitro by the Aβ variants Aβ1-40 and Aβ1-42. Both variants first form small ordered aggregates that grow slowly and then rapidly disappear, while prototypical amyloid fibrils of two discrete morphologies appear. Aβ1-42 aggregates much more rapidly than Aβ1-40, which is consistent with its connection to early-onset AD. We propose that the metastable intermediate species be called Aβ amyloid protofibrils. Conclusions : Aβ protofibrils are likely to be intermediates in the in vitro assembly of Aβ amyloid fibrils, but their in vivo role has yet to be determined. Numerous reports of a nonfibrillar form of Aβ aggregate in the brains of individuals who are predisposed to AD suggest the existence of a precursor form, possibly the protofibril. Thus, stabilization of Aβ protofibrils may be a useful therapeutic strategy.
Using hearths for temper: petrographic analysis of Middle Woodland charcoal-tempered pottery in Northeast Florida

Charcoal-tempered pottery is uncommon in North America, but was produced with notable frequency in Northeast Florida from ca. AD 300e600. Thirty-six thin sections of pottery were analyzed by petrographic analysis and compared to 10 clay samples in order to characterize the paste of charcoal-tempered wares in terms of charcoal and mineralogical composition and abundance, assess the number of clay sources used to make the pottery, identify the species of wood represented in charcoal inclusions, and infer techniques of ceramic production. This analysis identified four temper categories, three texture groups, and three distinct clay resources used to make charcoal-tempered pottery, all of which were likely local to Northeast Florida. Identified wood taxa include pine (Pinus sp.), cedar (cf. Juniperus sp.), cypress (cf. Taxodium sp.), and sassafras (Sassafras albidum), with pine suspected to be the most common. These genera of charred wood, which exhibit minimal shrinkage in the samples, along with the prevalence of bone and grog inclusions, indicate that hearth contents were processed as temper, sometimes in combination with quartz sand. Potential reasons for the use of hearth contents as temper are considered. 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Fluorescence complementation: an emerging tool for biological research

Numerous technologies based on utilizing fluorescent proteins have been developed for biological research, and fluorescence complementation (FC) is a recent application for visualization of molecular events in living cells and organisms. Currently, ten fluorescent proteins have been demonstrated to support FC. Over the past five years, FC-based technologies have been developed to visualize a variety of molecular events, such as protein-protein interactions, post-translational modifications, protein folding, conformational changes, RNA-protein interactions, mRNA localization and DNA hybridization. In addition, FC has also been used for drug discovery. These applications are providing fascinating insights into many biological processes. Here, we review the principles and applications of FC technologies, discuss their current challenges and examine prospects for future advances.
Heterozygous loss of Six5 in mice is sufficient to cause ocular cataracts

Myotonic dystrophy (DM) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by skeletal muscle wasting, myotonia, cardiac arrhythmia, hyperinsulinaemia, mental retardation and ocular cataracts1. The genetic defect in DM is a CTG repeat expansion located in the 3′ untranslated region of DMPK and 5′ of a homeodomain-encoding gene, SIX5 (formerly DMAHP; refs 2–5). There are three mechanisms by which CTG expansion can result in DM. First, repeat expansion may alter the processing or transport of the mutant DMPK mRNA and consequently reduce DMPK levels6. Second, CTG expansion may establish a region of heterochromatin 3′ of the repeat sequence and decrease SIX5 transcription7,8,9. Third, toxic effects of the repeat expansion may be intrinsic to the repeated elements at the level of DNA or RNA (refs 10,11). Previous studies have demonstrated that a dose-dependent loss of Dm15 (the mouse DMPK homologue) in mice produces a partial DM phenotype characterized by decreased development of skeletal muscle force and cardiac conduction disorders12,13,14,15. To test the role of Six5 loss in DM, we have analysed a strain of mice in which Six5 was deleted. Our results demonstrate that the rate and severity of cataract formation is inversely related to Six5 dosage and is temporally progressive. Six5+/− and Six5−/− mice show increased steady-state levels of the Na+/K+-ATPase α-1 subunit and decreased Dm15 mRNA levels. Thus, altered ion homeostasis within the lens may contribute to cataract formation. As ocular cataracts are a characteristic feature of DM, these results demonstrate that decreased SIX5 transcription is important in the aetiology of DM. Our data support the hypothesis that DM is a contiguous gene syndrome associated with the partial loss of both DMPK and SIX5.
Treatment of Chondral Defects in the Shoulder

No formal guidelines have yet been established for the treatment of glenohumeral cartilage defects. Especially in younger and more active patients, where arthroplasty is a less desirable option, treatment decisions continue to represent a challenge. More recently, a number of cartilage repair techniques that have been successfully applied in the knee joint have been used for the treatment of symptomatic chondral defects in the shoulder. This article will provide a concise overview of these techniques and their background, as well as provide the treating physician with a framework for the workup and treatment of such lesions.
Trusted Computing: Trusted Computing - closing that lingering doubt

You are the IT Security manager of a large worldwide organization. You have hundreds of networks, and possibly hundreds of thousands of network-attached devices. You have deployed firewalls, scanners, filters, intrusion prevention and hired ethical hackers to test your networks. And yet, despite all of the technology you have at your disposal to protect these resources, a doubt still lingers in your mind: ''How can I trust that my network will behave as I expect?''
Protection against age-dependent renal injury in the F344xBrown Norway male rat is associated with maintained nitric oxide synthase.

Abstract Age-dependent renal damage is influenced by genetic background and the Fisher344xBrown Norway (F344xBN) rat is resistant to glomerular injury. In vulnerable strains, a fall in renal nitric oxide synthase (NOS) contributes to age-dependent renal damage. Here, we investigated renal NOS in young (3 months) and old (30 months) male F344xBN to test the hypothesis that renal NOS is maintained in “protected” strains. We also examined if 6 months of renin–angiotensin system (RAS) blockade using angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition (ACEI) and angiotensin receptor blockade (ARB) provides further benefit in these “protected” old rats. Aging increased tubulointerstitial injury but glomerular sclerosis was minimal and NOS and superoxide dismutase abundance increased. There was no change in the NOS inhibitor, ADMA (asymmetric dimethylarginine) or its regulatory enzymes. RAS blockade with ARB protected against tubulointerstitial injury and increased nNOSα, but ACEI, which also increased nNOSα, had no protective effect on the tubulointerstitium. We conclude that the glomerular sclerosis-resistant aged male F344xBN rat maintains renal NOS, thus reinforcing our hypothesis that progressive glomerular injury is related to renal NOS deficiency. The tubulointerstitial injury seen with aging is reversed with 6 months of ARB but not ACEI and is not associated with renal NOS.
Language and speech meets the HPCC grand challenge

At a recent NSF workshop on speech understanding, Charles Wayne gave a presentation of Darpa's program on Speech and Language research. Towards the end of his presentation, he enlightened all of us with a brief outline of a possible new technology development program: High Performance Multi-lingual Speech and Text Processing. This is a very exciting and timely initiative, if it comes to that, as many of us in the federal government, NSF included, are preparing to launch new efforts to implement the President's High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) program beginning in this fiscal year.
Sex differences in temporal summation of pain and aftersensations following repetitive noxious mechanical stimulation

Several studies demonstrate that women are more sensitive to experimental pain than men. In addition, women exhibit greater temporal summation of heat and mechanically evoked pain. Since temporal summation of pain is centrally mediated, its greater expression in women suggests a central nociceptive hyperexcitability relative to men. The purpose of this study was to pursue this theory, by further assessing sex differences in (1) temporal summation of mechanically evoked pain, and (2) aftersensations following repetitive noxious stimulation. Sixteen series of 10 repetitive, mildly noxious, mechanical stimuli were applied to the fingers of 25 women and 25 age-matched men. The subjects rated the pain intensity and unpleasantness caused by the first, fifth and tenth stimulus in the series, as well as their aftersensations 15 s and 1 min following the end of stimulation. Data were analyzed by three-way repeated-measures analysis of variance. Pain and unpleasantness ratings increased with repetition of stimulation (P<0.0001). Temporal summation of pain intensity and unpleasantness ratings were more pronounced in women than men (P<0.0001). In addition, significant temporal summation occurred only with 2 s interstimulus interval for men (P<0.0005) but with 2 and 5 s interstimulus interval for women (P<0.0001). Moreover, women provided greater ratings for the intensity and the unpleasantness of aftersensations (P<0.0005) and reported painful aftersensations at greater frequency (P<0.05) Greater temporal summation of pain and aftersensations in women suggests that their central processing of nociceptive input may be more easily upregulated into pathological hyperexcitability, possibly accounting for the higher prevalence of various chronic pain conditions among women.
Microscale control of cell contact and spacing via three-component surface patterning.

The complexity of micropatterned cell constructs has been limited by difficulties in patterning more than two surface components on a culture substrate. Photolithography using multiple aligned masks is well established for generalized multicomponent patterning, but is often too harsh for biomolecules. We report a two-mask photolithographic process that is tuned to preserve bioactivity in patterns composed of covalently coupled poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), adsorbed extracellular matrix protein (e.g., collagen I), and adsorbed serum proteins (e.g., vitronectin). Thereby, we pattern two cell typesprimary hepatocytes and 3T3 fibroblastsdemonstrating control over contact and spacing (20−200 μm) between the two cell types for over one week. This method is applicable to the study of intercellular communication in cell biology and tissue engineering.
Measurement of the Electron-phonon Coupling Factor Dependence on Film Thickness and Grain Size in Au, Cr, and Al

Femtosecond thermoreflectance data for thin films and bulk quantities of Au, Cr, and Al are compared with the parabolic two-step thermal diffusion model for the purpose of determining the electron-phonon coupling factor. The thin films were evaporated and sputtered onto different substrates to produce films that vary structurally. The measurement of the electron-phonon coupling factor is shown to be sensitive to grain size and film thickness. The thin-film thermoreflectance data are compared with that of the corresponding bulk material and to a theoretical model relating the coupling rate to the grain-boundary scattering and size effects on the mean free path of the relevant energy carrier.
Local quadrature formulas on the sphere

Let q ≥ 1 be an integer, Sq be the unit sphere embedded in Rq+1, and µ q be the volume element of Sq. For x 0 ∈ Sq, and α ∈ (0, π), let S α q(x 0 ) denote the cap {ξ ∈ Sq : x 0 ċ ξ ≥ cos α}. We prove that for any integer m ≥ 1, there exists a positive constant c=c(q, m), independent of α, with the following property. Given an arbitrary set C of points in S α q(x 0 ), satisfying the mesh norm condition max ξ∈S α q(x 0 ) min ζ∈ C dist(ξ,ζ) ≤ cα, there exist nonnegative weights w ξ , ξ ∈ C, such that ∫ S α q(x 0 ) P(ζ)dµ q (ζ) = Σ ξ ∈ C w ξ P(ξ) for every spherical polynomial P of degree at most m. Similar quadrature formulas are also proved for spherical bands.
Antibacterial activity of 41 antimicrobials tested against over 2773 bacterial isolates from hospitalized patients with pneumonia: I--results from the SENTRY Antimicrobial Surveillance Program (North America, 1998).

Abstract Pneumonia is the second most frequent cause of nosocomial infection, and hospitalization frequently is needed for community-acquired pneumonia. Knowledge of causative pathogens through periodic surveillance, and their prevailing antimicrobial susceptibility patterns becomes paramount in choosing appropriate empiric therapy. The SENTRY Antimicrobial Surveillance Program, tracks pathogen distribution worldwide since 1997 and documents emerging resistance to a wide range of antimicrobial agents. During the respiratory disease season in 1998, each of 30 medical centers (25 in the United States [US], and five in Canada [CAN]) contributed 100 consecutive isolates obtained from hospitalized patients with suspected pneumonia. The 2773 organisms, processed by the monitor consisted of a total of 35 species, with Staphylococcus aureus comprising 25.6% of all isolates and five other species ( Pseudomonas aeruginosa 18.7%, Haemophilus influenzae 9.4%, Streptococcus pneumoniae 7.8%, Klebsiella spp. 7.0%, and Enterobacter spp. 6.7%) making up almost 50% of the total. In the US, pneumococci (8.5%) were more prevalent than in CAN (4.1%; p = 0.001). The US isolates of S. pneumoniae were variably susceptible to penicillin (76.8%), with non-susceptible strains demonstrating greater levels of cross resistance to macrolides (31.8%), cefepime (9.0%) and cefotaxime (6.8%), but remaining susceptible to gatifloxacin and quinupristin/dalfopristin. H. influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis were generally ampicillin-resistant, 40.4–44.4% and 93.7–95.7%, respectively. P. aeruginosa remained very susceptible to amikacin (91.3–93.8%) > tobramycin > meropenem > piperacillin/tazobactam > gentamicin > piperacillin > cefepime (80.0–81.8%). Extended spectrum β-lactamase phenotypes among the Klebsiella spp. were isolated from five medical centers in the US and were 4.8–6.0% overall; a rate similar to the previous year. Among the US isolates of Enterobacter spp., only 77.6% and 79.6% were susceptible to ceftazidime and cefotaxime, respectively, but >90% were inhibited by cefepime, imipenem, meropenem, aminoglycosides, and fluoroquinolones. Isolates from CAN were generally more susceptible, except for Pseudomonas isolates, where resistance to aminoglycosides, fluoroquinolones and imipenem was greater. The SENTRY Program results outline important national differences in the frequencies of pathogen occurrence, but more importantly, identify unstable patterns of resistance to available antimicrobial drugs, and serves as a reference for results of other local, national or international investigations.
Is insulin the new intermittent hypoxia

The sympathoexcitatory effects of insulin are well-established, although the exact mechanisms by which insulin stimulates the sympathetic nervous system are not completely understood. The majority of research supports a primary role for the central nervous system in the gradual and sustained rise in muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) in response to hyperinsulinemia; in addition, recent studies in animals suggests carotid body chemoreceptors respond to increases in systemic insulin levels. Intermittent activation of the carotid chemoreceptors, similar to that seen in patients with sleep apnea, can result in sensory long term facilitation and may contribute to the observed rise in baseline MSNA in this population. Consistent with this idea, insulin exposure results in sustained increases in MSNA that persist even when plasma insulin levels return to baseline. We propose the carotid chemoreceptors contribute to insulin-mediated sympathoexcitation and the persistent rise in MSNA in patients with sustained hyperinsulinemia. If the carotid chemoreceptors sense and respond to changes in systemic insulin levels, these organs may provide a viable target for the treatment of disorders known to exhibit sustained hyperinsulinemia and sympathoexcitation including, but not limited to, obesity, hypertension, sleep apnea, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
Mass transport effects on real-time nucleic acid microarrays

Microarray analysis has become increasingly complex due to the growing size of arrays. In this work we explore the effects of diffusion and convective fluxes on the time of hybridization and sensing specificity in a single component system. A .nite element software is used to simulate the diffusion of DNA through a microfluidic chamber to the sensing surface where hybridization of DNA is modeled using the corresponding kinetic equation. The differences between diffusion controlled and convection controlled mass transport are investigated as a function of concentration and hybridization time. Hybridization enhancement produced by microfluidics versus stationary diffusion is introduced as a useful metrics for quantitation of mass transport effects.
The time-window hypothesis: Implications for categorization and memory modification

In four experiments, 100 three-month-old infants acquired a functional alphanumeric category in which they learned to kick to move a yellow block mobile on which the category cues were displayed. Following training, infants were passively and briefly (3 min) exposed to functional information that a novel and highly physically dissimilar object (butterfly) shared with the training exemplars. If the exposure occurred at any point within a 4-day time window of training, the novel object was integrated with the prior memory of category training. It could cue retrieval of the training memory both on a transfer test 24 hours later and in a reactivation paradigm 3 weeks later. Moreover, when the object was exposed at the end of the time window, its retention was significantly prolonged, but at the expense of the original category members. We propose that each succeeding retrieval progressively broadens the time window within which new (or old) information can retrieve the memory or category concept. By this mechanism, new information can be integrated with old over relatively long intervals.
Organisation: what levels of processing are levels of.

The psychology of thought and memory has historically been concerned with a struggle between associationism and its opponents. Organisation theory—in part an offspring of Gestalt concepts—has been the most successful and vocal of these contenders. The levels-of-processing framework has been a part of the effort to overcome associationist predilections. Aspects of principles of organisation and of the recent history of organisation theory are presented, followed by an analysis of the levels-of-processing approach in terms of organisational concepts.
Vaginal chlamydial clearance following primary or secondary infection in mice occurs independently of TNF-α

The role of TNF-α in chlamydial clearance is uncertain. Antibody-mediated depletion of TNF-α in mice and guinea pigs has been shown not to significantly affect chlamydial clearance, whereas production of TNF-α in addition to IFN-γ from T cells has been shown to correlate with enhanced clearance. The aim of our study is to evaluate the mechanistic role of TNF-α in clearance of primary and secondary chlamydial infection from the genital tract (GT) using C57BL/6 TNF-α deficient (TNF-α-/-) and wild type (WT) mice. Chlamydial shedding from the lower GT was evaluated following primary and secondary intravaginal challenge. Also, antibody and antigen specific cytokine responses were analyzed from the infected GT and spleens, and oviduct pathology determined to analyze the role of TNF-α in upper GT pathological sequelae. MHC II-/- mice, known to display muted adaptive immune responses and failure to resolve genital chlamydial infections, were used as a negative control. Following both primary and secondary genital chlamydial infection, TNF-α-/- mice exhibited elevated granzyme B production, but similar IFN-γ and antibody responses. Importantly, absence of TNF-α did not significantly alter the resolution of infection. However, TNF-α-/- mice displayed significantly reduced upper GT pathology compared to WT mice. This study demonstrates mechanistically that optimal chlamydial clearance following primary and secondary chlamydial genital infection can occur in the complete absence of TNF-α, and considered with the reduction of upper GT pathology in TNF-α-/- mice, suggests that targeted induction of anti-chlamydial TNF-α responses by vaccination may be unnecessary, and moreover could be potentially pathogenic.
Portrait of the artist as a pun man: humor and its structures in the films of Jean‐Luc Godard

‘Portrait of the Artist as a Pun Man’ analyses Godard's work (and critical responses to it) in light of theories of humor (and more specifically, punning). It seeks to trace Godard's relationship to comedy – from its more obvious manifestations to highly esoteric interpretations – and explore the implications of his individual sense of humor and comic methods. The author relies on examples of the ‘catastrophe’ joke pattern appearing in the organization of visual motifs, music, and events in earlier work (especially in Pierrot le fou), and examples of punning in mise en scene and editing in later work (especially JLG/JLG). Dialogue from and themes of Godard's later work suggest a powerful connection between filmmaking (more particularly, the act of creating an image) and the concepts at the core of pun theory, delineating a link between the deep saturation of his work with comic patterns and his experimental drive to represent the complexity of the world.
Understanding Early Educators’ Readiness to Change

Researchers in the fields of humanistic psychology, counseling, organizational change, and implementation science have been asking a question that is at the heart of today's early care and educatio...
How do we define “sameness” of the processing of mental images and general reasoning processes?

This commentary raises questions about the central concepts in the null hypothesis presented by the author of the target article and urges expansion of the treatment of mental imagery to forms of sensory imagery beyond the visual.
Clinical comparison of two panoramic modalities and posterior bite-wing radiography in the detection of proximal dental caries

A clinical study was designed to examine whether the Philips OrthOralix SD (Gendex Dental Systems, Monza, Italy) orthogonal panoramic projection could improve diagnostic accuracy over standard projections in the detection of proximal surface caries. Thirty-five sets of radiographs that demonstrated optimal image characteristics were selected. Using a five-point scale, 18 viewers evaluated whether specified lesions were present or absent. Viewer data was then compared with a consensus radiographic assessment of the state of the proximal areas. Receiver operating characteristic curves were generated with the use of a maximum-likelihood method of fit. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was used as the index of diagnostic accuracy. The mean receiver operating characteristic areas for orthogonal and standard projection panoramic and bite-wing radiography to detect the presence of proximal dental caries were 0.68 ± 0.03, 0.69 ± 0.03, and 0.79 ± 0.03 respectively. Critical ratio analysis was used to compare the means for all possible pairings of imaging modalities. In overall performance, conventional bite-wing radiographs gave a significantly greater diagnostic yield for proximal caries than the Philips OrthOralix SD orthogonal or standard panoramic modalities (p < 0.05). The orthogonal projection did not improve diagnostic accuracy in the detection of proximal carious lesions compared with the standard projection.
Application of image analysis for quantitative immunoperoxidase detection of IgE containing cells in lymphoid tissues.

Abstract Methods for the quantitation of antigen or antibody specific cells within lymphoid structures rely on the laborious and often inaccurate counting of stained cells visually under the microscope. To circumvent these problems we used a combination of computer-linked image analysis, with the Quantimet 720 and specific staining for IgE by immunoperoxidase, to produce a relatively easy, accurate method for the quantitation of specifically stained cells within tonsils and lymph nodes. Frozen sections of bovine lymph nodes and tonsils were stained in an indirect immunoperoxidase technique with either rabbit anti-bovine IgE or normal rabbit serum as the primary reagent. Examination of the stained slides on the Quantimet 720 image analyzing computer revealed cells that were sufficiently dark to be considered above the ‘threshold level’ of background staining. These were counted as positive picture points. A quantitative evaluation of the relative number of IgE containing cells within the particular lymphoid tissue was arrived at by determining the difference between the percent positive picture points in the control tissue incubated with normal rabbit serum (background) and in the sample treated with rabbit anti-IgE. Using this method, it was readily possible to quantitate the presence of IgE containing cells in the tonsils of calves; the highest percentage of positive tissue was present in the tonsils of calves exposed to ovalbumin. Image analysis is a useful technique for quantitative evaluation of any immunoperoxidase stained tissues.
Using Qualitative Research: A Practical Introduction for Occupational and Physical Therapists

(2001). Using Qualitative Research: A Practical Introduction for Occupational and Physical Therapists. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice: Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 123-124.
Vapor pressures of the adducts formed during AlGaN organometallic vapor-phase epitaxy

We have measured the vapor pressure of the adducts of trimethylgallium (TMGa) and trimethylaluminum (TMAl) with ammonia near room temperature. The vapor pressures of the mixtures of the adducts were also measured and found to obey Raoult’s law. Both the gallium and aluminum adduct have a relatively low vapor pressure (410 mtorr and 74 mtorr, respectively, at 19°C), which places limits on the design and operation of AlGaN organometallic vapor-phase epitaxy (OMVPE) reactors. Adduct condensation may also be the explanation for numerous observations of powders and crystals inside OMVPE reactors.
Effective bounding techniques for solving unate and binate covering problems

Covering problems arise in many areas of electronic design automation such as logic minimization and technology mapping. An exact solution can critically impact both size and performance of the devices being designed. This paper introduces eclipse, a branch-and-bound solver that can solve many covering problems orders of magnitude faster than existing solvers. When used in place of the default covering engine of a well-known logic minimizer, eclipse makes it possible to find, in less than six minutes, true minima for three benchmark problems that have eluded exact solutions for more than a decade.
The Association of Mental Health Conditions With Employment, Interpersonal, and Subjective Functioning After Intimate Partner Violence:

This study explored the associations of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and depressive symptoms with employment, social support, and subjective functioning in 100 women who were seeking mental health assistance after intimate partner violence. Depressive disorders showed significant associations with low levels of social support, diminished self-esteem, reduced quality of life, and elevated negative social problem-solving orientation. PTSD severity was significantly associated with low self-esteem and elevated negative problem orientation, while severity of GAD was only associated with negative problem orientation. Results are discussed in light of current service models for women who have experienced intimate partner violence.
Large game, agricultural land, and settlement pattern change in the eastern Mimbres area, southwest New Mexico

The 12th-century depopulation of large villages in the Mimbres region of the US Southwest has been attributed to a number of causes, including resource stress. This study combines archaeological evidence and models of environmental conditions in the eastern Mimbres area of southwest New Mexico to assess the magnitude and timing of food stress from a combination of a period of reduced precipitation and the effects of prolonged hunting and farming activities on the landscape. Results indicate that large game in the area was quite sensitive to hunting pressure, and was locally depleted long before settlement reorganization occurred. Access to arable land was somewhat reduced around the time of settlement reorganization, but productive land remained locally plentiful. Although the settlement reorganization did not improve access to large game or arable land, farmers’ perceptions of below-average conditions for agriculture relative to their expectations and past experience would have contributed to decisions to move.
An evolutionary architecture for the automated conceptual design of aerospace systems

Many different approaches to total system design and optimization have been attempted. The Genetic Learning Automated Design Optimization Software (GLADOS) presented here represents a flexible evolutionary algorithm based architecture intended to allow for the generation of conceptual or preliminary design stage aircraft designs without any human beings in the loop. The benefits of this approach being more thorough exploration of the design space, the ability to analyze and produce high commonality and modular design configurations, and allowing design capabilities to directly track growing computational capabilities. Both an overview of the idealized architecture as well as the results from a simplified test version are presented.
Autonomous GPR Surveys using the Polar Rover Yeti

The National Science Foundation operates stations on the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland to investigate Earth's climate history, life in extreme environments, and the evolution of the cosmos. Understandably, logistics costs predominate budgets due to the remote locations and harsh environments involved. Currently, manual ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys must preceed vehicle travel across polar ice sheets to detect subsurface crevasses or other voids. This exposes the crew to the risks of undetected hazards. We have developed an autonomous rover, Yeti, specifically to conduct GPR surveys across polar ice sheets. It is a simple four-wheel-drive, battery-powered vehicle that executes autonomous surveys via GPS waypoint following. We describe here three recent Yeti deployments, two in Antarctica and one in Greenland. Our key objective was to demonstrate the operational value of a rover to locate subsurface hazards. Yeti operated reliably at −30 °C, and it has has good oversnow mobility and adequate GPS accuracy for waypoint-following and hazard georeferencing. It has acquired data on hundreds of crevasse encounters to improve our understanding of heavily crevassed traverse routes and to develop automated crevasse-detection algorithms. Importantly, it helped to locate a previously undetected buried building at the South Pole. Yeti can improve safety by decoupling survey personnel from the consequences of undetected hazards. It also enables higher-quality systematic surveys to improve hazard-detection probabilities, increase assessment confidence, and build datasets to understand the evolution of these regions. Yeti has demonstrated that autonomous vehicles have great potential to improve the safety and efficiency of polar logistics. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Polar Arrangement of Telomeres in Interphase and Meiosis. Rabl Organization and the Bouquet

It has long been appreciated that chromosomes do not lay passively in the nucleus, but are dynamically reorganized to suit the cell's needs. Chromosomes condense into compact bodies for cell division, decondense in interphase to allow gene expression, and pair along their lengths during meiosis in
Adaptation to high-fat diet reduces inhibition of gastric emptying by CCK and intestinal oleate

Rats maintained on low-fat (LF) or high-fat (HF) diets were fitted with gastric cannulas and duodenal catheters. Intraperitoneal injection of 0.250–2.0 μg/kg cholecystokinin (CCK) significantly inh...
An Autonomous Vector/Scalar Floating Point Coprocessor for FPGAs

We present a Floating Point Vector Coprocessor that works with the Xilinx embedded processors. The FPVC is completely autonomous from the embedded processor, exploiting parallelism and exhibiting greater speedup than alternative vector processors. The FPVC supports scalar computation so that loops can be executed independently of the main embedded processor. Floating point addition, multiplication, division and square root are implemented with the Northeastern University VFLOAT library. The FPVC is parameterized so that the number of vector lanes and maximum vector length can be easily modified. We have implemented the FPVC on a Xilinx Virtex 5 connected via the Processor Local Bus (PLB) to the embedded PowerPC. Our results show more than five times improved performance over the PowerPC augmented with the Xilinx Floating Point Unit on applications from linear algebra: QR and Cholesky decomposition.
Mechanisms responsible for dynamic ON-resistance in GaN high-voltage HEMTs

We have developed a new methodology to study the dynamic ON-resistance (R ON ) of high-voltage GaN High-Electron-Mobility Transistors (HEMTs). With this technique, we have investigated dynamic R ON transients over a time span of 11 decades. In OFF to ON time transients, we observe a fast release of trapped electrons through a temperature-independent tunneling process. We attribute this to border traps at the AlGaN barrier/AlN spacer interface. Over a longer time scale, we observe conventional thermally activated electron detrapping from traps at the surface of the device or inside the AlGaN barrier. These findings provide a path for power switching device engineering with minimum dynamic R ON .
Data De-duplication and Event Processing for Security Applications on an Embedded Processor

Network security schemes generally deploy sensors and other network devices which generate huge volumes of data, overwhelming the underlying decision making algorithms. An example is corporate networks employing intrusion detection systems where there is a deluge of alert data, confounding the computations involved in sensor information fusion and alert correlation. One way to obtain fast and real-time responses is to preprocess such data to manageable sizes. In this paper, we show that data de-duplication using computationally efficient fingerprinting algorithms can provide real-time results. We present an algorithm which utilizes Rabin Fingerprinting/hashing scheme for the purpose of data de-duplication. We have implemented this algorithm on Intel Atom, which is a powerful, energy efficient embedded processor. Our study is intended to show that the relatively low performing embedded processors are capable of providing the needed computational support if they were to handle security functions in the field. When compared to the algorithmic performance on a high end system, viz. Intel Core 2 Duo processor, the positive results obtained make a case for using the Atom processor in networked applications employing mobile devices.
Hydrogen collision dynamics on a rough nickel surface

Three frames from a molecular dynamics video which depicts the interaction of a 10-eV hydrogen atom with a rough nickel surface at 300 K are shown. The potential energy and velocity vectors of all the atoms are shown through imaginative graphics. A reflection, an absorption, and a re-entrant flight are shown.
TIP INSTABILITY DURING CONFINED DIFFUSION-LIMITED GROWTH

We study diffusion-limited crystal growth in a two dimensional channel geometry. We demonstrate that although there exists a linearly stable steady-state finger solution of the pattern evolution equations, the true dynamical behavior can be controlled by a tip-widening instability. Possible scenarios for the long-time behavior of the system are presented.
Sender-adaptive and receiver-driven layered multicast for scalable video over the Internet

In this paper, we propose and analyze a new system architecture for video multicast over Internet, namely, the sender-adaptive and receiver-driven layered multicast (SARLM). In SARLM, the sender of a video source splits the video data coded by a scalable codec and a channel codec into multiple data streams, each of which corresponds to a separate multicast group. The sender can adjust the way in which the video sequence is split dynamically based on the receivers' network parameters collected through feedback. Meanwhile, a receiver can estimate available bandwidth based on a modified packet-pair technique and choose to reassemble and playback the video sequence for a given quality level by dynamically subscribing a given part or all of the data streams according to its network conditions. To optimize the sender's adaptation strategy, we introduce a quality-space (Q-Space) model to describe and analyze the mathematical relationship between the sending rate of different SARLM layers and the video quality received by a given receiver identified by its network characteristics including available bandwidth and packet loss ratio. Our simulation results demonstrate that, under the same network topology and condition, the SARLM architecture can achieve higher network throughput and better video qualities on the receiver side than the existing approaches.
A BIOECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF BOVINE RESPIRATORY DISEASE COMPLEX

Bovine Respiratory Disease Complex (BRDC) is an important disease affecting both beef and dairy cattle produced in confinement operations. A bioeconomic model of BRDC is developed for a typical Midwestern feedlot. Using vaccine efficacy rates found in the veterinary science literature, significant returns to vaccination are estimated.