cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Tendencies of plant production in the Republic of Serbia and at the level nuts 1.

In this paper, we analyzed the tendencies of plant production in the Republic of Serbia and at the level of the territorial units Serbia-North and Serbia South (NUTS 1), for the period 2009-2018 through the indicators of the coverage of areas and an average yield of 28 plant crops. The aim of the paper is to point out the differences in the representation of areas under different types of crops and to indicate the degree of their agreement between the mentioned territorial units by Spearman's correlation coefficient. For the analysis of the observed indicators, the methods of descriptive statistics, as well as Spearman's correlation coefficient, were used. The data indicate that the Serbia-North region is dominated by areas under cereals, industrial crops, peas and peaches, while the Serbia-South region is covered by areas under fodder crops, vegetable crops (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, beans, cucumber, melons and watermelons) and perennial crops. The average yields of the observed crops differ significantly between the regions of Serbia-North and Serbia South. Spearmen's correlation coefficient of the indicators of the coverage of areas indicated a high degree of stacking of areas under wheat and tobacco (0.927**), as well as areas under lucerne and clover with areas under fruit plantations. Also, a high degree of stacking of areas under maize and peas (0.798**) was established, but also between areas under sunflower and soya (0.891**).
O-025 Sound measurement in patient-specific 3D printed bench models for venous pulsatile tinnitus

Introduction Pulsatile tinnitus (PT) can be caused by aberrant blood flow in large cerebral veins near the cochlea. In our previous works we evaluated flow patterns in patient’s cerebral venous sinuses to try and identify patterns of flow unique to symptomatic PT patients. However, the exact mechanism of sound production remains unclear. In order to further investigate the sound production mechanism, we created 3D-printed flow models based on patient-specific cerebral venous anatomies. Methods We performed MR patients with venous etiology of PT recruited from the UCSF Pulsatile Tinnitus Clinic. A surface representation of the venous sinuses from the affected side was segmented from the CE-MRA dataset and modified by adding flow extensions at both ends to facilitate connections to a rotary pump. The lumenal anatomy was printed in wax that was embedded in a degassed solution of silicone encapsulant that was cured for 48 hours. The inner wax lumen was then melted out of the silicone by heating at 120°C creating a durable and rigid patient-specific flow model (figure 1). Models were attached to a pulsatile pump and sound recordings were made using a Bluetooth-compatible electronic stethoscope. Signals were processed and analyzed in MATLAB. Results and discussion Four total flow models were created from two patients (figure 1). Patient one has a high-riding jugular bulb and stenosis of the internal jugular vein at the level of C1 (figure 1A). An additional modified flow model for this patient was created by computationally removing the stenosis (figure 1B). Other models are from a patient with idiopathic intracranial hypertension and a transverse sinus stenosis (figure 1C). After lowering her ICP via LP, her symptoms resolved, and an additional MRA was performed that was used to generate the post-LP (figure 1D). Conclusions We have developed patient-specific flow models for venous causes of PT that may be an appropriate in vitro surrogate for venous causes of PT. Disclosures M. Amans: 1; C; NIH. 2; C; Stryker, Covidien. K. Valluru: None. H. Haraldsson: None. E. Kao: None. J. Leach: None. A. Wright: None. M. Ballweber: None. K. Meisel: None. D. Saloner: 1; C; NIH.
Language Consistency and Stock Market Trading Volume

An information-theoretic measure of language consistency is constructed from the text of 13 years of trade journal articles on the biotechnology industry. This measure is then related to the tradin...
Inhibitors of Papain-Like Cysteine Peptidases in Cancer

Since the discovery of a polypeptide in chicken egg white (cew cystatin) that is able to inhibit the plant cysteine peptidase papain, investigators have identified numerous mammalian cysteine peptidases and cloned more than 40 cystatin genes. The cloning frenzy will probably continue for a few more years, raising classification and nomenclature problems in the papain- and cystatin super families. We now know that cysteine peptidases are involved in many biological processes, such as growth, differentiation, immunity, virulence, and death. Deregulation of these processes leads to tumor formation and metastasis. The present challenge is to define when and where each gene product is expressed and against what target(s) it is directed. The diversity of cancers and their intrinsic heterogeneity renders this task very difficult. In this review, we summarize what is presently known about cystatins, with particular emphasis on their function as inhibitors of lysosomal/endosomal cysteine peptidases. However, there is also evidence for other functions of cystatins. Is there a relationship between inhibitor function and these other functions? Why are there cytosolic and secreted inhibitors, when the target peptidases are vesicular? These are only a few questions that may be answered during the next 10 years.
Weed communities and wheat yield are modified by cropping systems and climate conditions

Understanding the impact of biological and environmental stresses on crop performance is essential to secure the long-term sustainability of agricultural production. How cropping systems modify weed communities and wheat yield in response to predicted climate conditions is unknown. We tested the effect of warmer, and warmer and drier conditions on weed biomass, weed community characteristics, and winter wheat yields in three contrasting cropping systems: a no-till chemically managed system, a tilled organic system, and an organic system that used grazing to reduce tillage. Weed communities in the organic systems were more diverse and more variable than the no-till conventional system, though the grazed organic and no-till conventional systems had more similar relative species abundance. Cropping system affected weed biomass and weed species composition recorded in 0.75 m2 split-plots, with the most biomass recorded in grazed organic system (38 g {+/-}23.4 SE) compared to the tilled-organic (17 g {+/-}10.3 SE) and no-till chemically managed systems (<1 g {+/-}0.02). Climate conditions had relatively minor impacts on weed communities compared with cropping systems. Wheat yield was highest in the no-till conventional system but declined in response to warmer and drier conditions despite its low weed biomass. Yield was lower in the tilled organic and grazed organic cropping system but declines in warmer and drier conditions were more variable among years. In the Northern Great Plains, predicted climate scenarios have the potential to alter weed communities and reduce wheat yield, and designing resilient cropping systems is essential to mitigate these negative impacts.
The cochlear outer hair cell speed paradox

Cochlear outer hair cells (OHCs) are among the fastest known biological motors and are essential for high-frequency hearing in mammals. It is commonly hypothesized that OHCs amplify vibrations in the cochlea through cycle-by-cycle changes in length, but recent data suggest OHCs are low-pass filtered and unable to follow high-frequency signals. The fact that OHCs are required for high-frequency hearing but appear to be throttled by slow electromotility is the "OHC speed paradox." The present report resolves this paradox and reveals origins of ultrafast OHC function and power output in the context of the cochlear load. Results demonstrate that the speed of electromotility reflects how fast the cell can extend against the load, and does not reflect the intrinsic speed of the motor element itself or the nearly instantaneous speed at which the coulomb force is transmitted. OHC power output at auditory frequencies is revealed by emergence of an imaginary nonlinear capacitance reflecting the phase of electrical charge displacement required for the motor to overcome the viscous cochlear load.
Challenges and Development of Tin-Based Anode with High Volumetric Capacity for Li-Ion Batteries

The ever-increasing energy density needs for the mass deployment of electric vehicles bring challenges to batteries. Graphitic carbon must be replaced with a higher-capacity material for any significant advancement in the energy storage capability. Sn-based materials are strong candidates as the anode for the next-generation lithium-ion batteries due to their higher volumetric capacity and relatively low working potential. However, the volume change of Sn upon the Li insertion and extraction process results in a rapid deterioration in the capacity on cycling. Substantial effort has been made in the development of Sn-based materials. A SnCo alloy has been used, but is not economically viable. To minimize the use of Co, a series of Sn–Fe–C, SnyFe, Sn–C composites with excellent capacity retention and rate capability has been investigated. They show the proof of principle that alloys can achieve Coulombic efficiency of over 99.95% after the first few cycles. However, the initial Coulombic efficiency needs improvement. The development and application of tin-based materials in LIBs also provide useful guidelines for sodium-ion batteries, potassium-ion batteries, magnesium-ion batteries and calcium-ion batteries.
Linear Mixed Models: Part II

The best way to understand a linear mixed model, or mixed linear model in some earlier literature, is to first recall a linear regression model. The latter can be expressed as y = Xβ + 𝜖, where y is a vector of observations, X is a matrix of known covariates, β is a vector of unknown regression coefficients, and 𝜖 is a vector of (unobservable random) errors. In this model, the regression coefficients are considered as fixed, unknown constants. However, there are cases in which it makes sense to assume that some of these coefficients are random.
Development and Implementation of a Laser–Camera–UAV System to Measure Total Dynamic Transverse Displacement

AbstractRailroad bridge inspectors are interested in measuring the maximum total transverse displacement of railroad bridges under trains, but these values are generally not easy to obtain in the f...
In vitro anti-Cryptococcus activity of diphenyl diselenide alone and in combination with amphotericin B and fluconazole.

Cryptococcus is an encapsulated yeast that causes fungal meningitis, most commonly in HIV patients, with high mortality rates. Thus, the study of new treatment options is relevant. Antifungal activity of organoselenium compounds attributed to their pro-oxidative effect in fungal cells has been shown given that few data regarding its anti-Cryptococcus activity are available, this in vitro study was conducted with 40 clinical isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans. Diphenyl diselenide (DD) alone, and its interaction with amphotericin B or fluconazole, was tested by microdilution and checkerboard assays. All Cryptococcus neoformans were inhibited by DD in concentrations ≤ 32 μg/mL, and fungicidal concentrations were ≤ 64 μg/mL. Advantageous interaction between fluconazole occurred in 40% of the isolates, respectively. This study contributes with data of DD alone and in combination with classical drugs of choice for cryptococcosis treatment. Further studies focused on DD antifungal mechanism of action, and in vivo experiments are necessary.
Adverse Employment Actions in Failure-to-Accommodate Claims: Much Ado About Nothing

This essay uses a recent Tenth Circuit case to explore and explain courts' confusion about the reasonable accommodation obligation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Here is the issue: Employees generally bring two types of claims against their employers — discrimination claims and failure-to-accommodate claims. Succeeding on a discrimination claim requires proving an adverse employment action. Failure-to-accommodate claims do not. But several courts — including the Tenth Circuit — have added this adverse-employment-action requirement into failure-to-accommodate claims. And doing so obscures important issues about an employer’s obligation to provide a reasonable accommodation. This essay’s contribution is not to take a side on the circuit split about whether a failure-to-accommodate claim requires proof of an adverse employment action (though I do not think it does). It instead reveals how courts have obscured and confused broader disability-accommodation issues by imposing that requirement.
Finding needles in a haystack-Extensive diversity in the eustigmatophyceae revealed by community metabarcode analysis targeting the rbcL gene using lineage-directed primers

Sequences from the Stramenopile class Eustigmatophyceae are rarely reported in metabarcoding studies, and when they have been reported, there are very few haplotypes. We hypothesized that the paucity of eustigmatophyte species detected in these studies may be a result of the metabarcoding techniques used, which have primarily employed universal ribosomal RNA gene regions. In this study, we examined environmental DNA samples from 22 sites in southwestern Virginia, some of which had previously been studied using ribosomal RNA analysis. We used metabarcoding techniques targeting the plastid rbcL gene with new primers designed to produce a 370 bp amplicon from all lineages of the Eustigmatophyceae in a reference collection. The amplicons were then analyzed with DADA2 to produce amplicon sequence variants (ASVs). Our results revealed 184 rbcL haplotypes that can be tentatively assigned to the Eustigmatophyceae from these sites, representing much higher diversity than has been detected by ribosomal DNA-based studies. The techniques employed can be used for future studies of population structure, ecology, distribution, and diversity of this class. With these techniques, it should be possible to make realistic estimates of the species-level diversity of the Eustigmatophyceae on local, regional, and perhaps global scales.
The Safety and Efficacy of Desmopressin in Patients With Intracranial Hemorrhage and a History of Alcohol Use.

Background:Patients with a history of alcohol use disorder are at an increased risk of hematoma expansion following intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) due to the effects of alcohol on platelet aggregati...
Opioid Use Stigmatization and Destigmatization in Healthcare Professional Social Media

Stigmatization of opioid use constitutes a significant barrier to addressing the opioid crisis. Increasing use of social media by healthcare professionals provides an opportunity to foster destigmatization. However, little is known about stigmatization and destigmatization within healthcare professional social media communities. Accordingly, this study investigates the use of stigmatizing and destigmatizing language in three such communities: Medical Twitter, Public Health Twitter, and Epidemiology Twitter. Using a dataset of 2,319 tweets discussing opioids and associated with these Twitter communities, we analyzed each tweet for evidence of stigmatizing or destigmatizing language based on guidance from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The results indicate that overall use of both stigmatizing and destigmatizing language is currently low across communities compared to the overall volume of opioid-related content. Additionally, there are measurable changes in stigmatizing and destigmatizing language on quarterly bases between 2012 and 2020. During this time, Public Health Twitter has seen a quarterly 19% reduction in rates of stigmatizing (IRR = 0.81, 95% CI 0.67 to 0.97), and all communities have experienced a quarterly 57% increase in destigmatizing language (IRR = 1.57, 95% CI: 1.33 to 1.85). This study also reveals that tweets containing stigmatizing and destigmatizing language receive minimal user engagement (measured by likes, retweets, quote tweets, and comments). While the longitudinal findings on increasing use of destigmatizing language are promising, they also indicate a need for increased efforts to encourage broader use of destigmatizing language. Leveraging the social learning potentials of Twitter offers one promising pathway for future initiatives.
Liquid meal enhances balance following exercise in a healthy older population

Purpose: This study examined the effects of a liquid meal on self-selected exercise performance and standing balance during exercise in healthy, older mallwalkers. Methods: Seven healthy mall-walkers (age=71.6+5.4 years) were recruited to walk for one-hour at a self-selected pace on each of two mornings. The subject was fed either a standardized liquid meal (LM) 30minutes prior to walking or remained fasted (FST) for 12 hours prior to walking. Time required to complete each lap and heart rate was recorded throughout each of the exercise sessions. Blood/glucose levels and balance assessments, the one-legged stance test (OLST) and Sharpened Romberg test (SR), were measured immediately prior to and after each exercise trial. Results: The primary finding indicated that a liquid meal is associated with better balance in elderly men and women after moderate exercise. Three out of four of the balance tests showed a significantly greater (p<0.05) time in balance for the LM trial when compared to the FST trial. For both variables of SR (eyes open and eyes closed) and the OLST eyes closed, the trial x time interaction was significant (F=l 5.538; F=19.747; F=20.680) with means comparisons revealing that FST balance was significantly lower post exercise than LM balance. For the variable of OLST eyes open, the trial x time interaction was not significant, however balance was significantly higher (F=8.629) during the LM trial compared to the FST trial. OLST eyes open balance was also significantly lower (F=6.194) post exercise compared to pre exercise. No significant difference between trials was found in exercise performance, as indicated by RPE, walking pace and/or heart rate. Blood glucose levels were significantly higher (F=7.746) post exercise for the LM trial compared to the FST trial. Conclusions: Results indicate that the liquid meal (LM), Ensure, is associated with better balance in elderly men and women after moderate exercise. Therefore, it is apparent that older populations should be encouraged to eat prior to morning exercise in order to maintain balance and thus minimize the risk of falling during or after exercise. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table of
Diterpenoid phytoalexins: biosynthesis and regulation.

Most fungal and bacterial plant pathogens can establish systemic infections in a very limited range of host plants. Thus, higher plants in general are able to resist infection by most of the fungal and bacterial phytopathogens they may encounter. In cases of general resistance during the interaction of a non-host plant with a microbial pathogen, no obvious symptoms develop in the plant. During other cases of interaction of a non-host plant, or resistant cultivars of a host plant, with a microbial pathogen, a limited necrotic lesion develops rapidly in the host plant after penetration of the microbe. This hypersensitive response is characterized by the rapid death of one or more plant cells at the site of microbial invasion, and the induction of production in still healthy plant cells immediately surrounding this site of a number of new metabolic products.1
Kalman-Filter-Based Machine Vision for Controlling Free-Flying Unmanned Remote Vehicles

Automatic control of a robotic vehicle requires a navigation system to determine the vehicle's position and motion at each sampling interval for feedback corrections to be made. Human beings largely depend on vision for their own navigation, and it provides high-quality navigation data in a wide variety of environments. Machine-based vision systems have generally been too computationally expensive and slow, however, for use in real-time control systems. The system provided here achieves the required speed for real-time control through use of simple geometric models of the perceived target, dependence on tracking rather than object recognition, and reduction of the scene analysis task from a two-dimensional process to a set of one-dimensional scans through the image. The system is intended for application to a neutrally-buoyant vehicle called STAR that simulates a freely-flying, extravehicular space robot. The vision system will support development of autonomous and teleoperator control technologies for space robots, and the experimental results presented here result from preliminary target-pointing experiments with the STAR vehicle.
Factors Affecting Electron Spin Polarization in Photosynthetic Systems

The first steps of the plant photosystem I (PSI) primary reactions are believed to be: \({P_{700}}{A_0}{A_1}{^{1*}}{P_{700}}{A_0}{A_1} \to P_{700}^ + A_0^ - {A_1} \to P_{700}^ + {A_0}A_1^ - \) where P700 and A0 are chlorophyll species and A1 is a quinone-like molecule. (1) The initial suggestions that A0 and A1 act as electron acceptors in sequence prior to the acceptor X were based on EPR experiments which showed that two electron acceptors are photoaccumulated at low redox potential. (2,3) Support for this suggestion came from following the triplet state found in PSI as a function of the photoaccumulation of the proposed A 0 − and A 1 − , and interpretations of the transient electron spin polarized (esp) signal believed to be due to P 700 + A 1 − which has been observed by time resolved EPR experiments.
Automatic Fall Detection Using Mobile Devices

Mobile devices are becoming an integrated part of every person's lives regardless of age. This paper discusses the methodology behind developing an application for mobile devices that can determine if a person has fallen. The results of the experiments demonstrate promising hands-free responses to the smartphone user falling as compared to other systems like Life Alert®.
Panel on top 10 most influential parallel and distributed processing concepts in the last millennium

parallel concepts that I can think of grew from analogs in every-day life. Examples include divide and conquer, cloning, load balancing, and synchronization. Even those that do not seem to arise from examples in everyday life, like scalable communication interconnects, can be seen after some thought to have strong analogs outside the world of computing. This leads us to ask the question: Are these concepts influential because they capture the familiar, or are they familiar because they are uniquely powerful concepts? When the panel has disposed of this issue, perhaps it can finally resolve the primacy of the chicken or the egg.
Ideology, Power, and the Structure of Policy Networks

This article investigates the role of power and ideology in the endogenous formation of policy networks. According to the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), shared ideology (conceptualized as a system of policy-relevant beliefs and values) is the primary driver of collaboration within policy subsystems. On the other hand, Resource Dependency Theory suggests that power-seeking is an important rationale behind network structure, and that collaborative ties are formed primarily on the basis of perceived influence. Hypotheses are tested using a new method of egocentric network correlation, based on survey data of policy networks in five regional planning subsystems in California (N = 506). Results suggest that ideology is an important force behind network cohesion: Not only do policy elites systematically avoid networking with ideologically dissimilar actors but collaborative ties are also systematically formed among actors with shared beliefs. Power-seeking does not operate on a network-wide scale but may drive network formation among coalitions of ideologically similar agents.
Multi‐Agent Planning in the Presence of Multiple Goals

Traditionally, planning involves a single agent for which a planner needs to find a sequence of actions that can transform some initial state into some state where a given goal statement is satisfied. A good example of such a problem is how to solve Rubik’s cube. The initial state is some configuration of the cube, and we need to find a sequence of rotations such that every tile on each side have the same color. Even though this problem is hard, the planning agent has full control over the situation. The outcome of a rotation action is completely known. Real-world planning problems, however, seldom conform to this simple domain model. There may be uncontrollable actions of other agents in the domain interfering with the actions applied by the planning agent. Such uncertainty can be modeled by nondeterminism where actions may have several possible outcomes. One approach is to assume that transition probabilities are known and produce plans with a high likelihood to succeed (e.g., [13, 8]). The scalability of such planners, however, is limited due to the overhead of reasoning about probabilities. In addition, it may be hard to gather enough statistical data to estimate the transition probabilities. In this chapter, we consider a simpler model of nondeterminism without transition probabilities. The effect of a nondeterministic action is given as a set of possible next states. Recently, efficient planners have been developed for this class of nondeterministic domains (e.g., [3, 11]). These planners represents states and perform search implicitly in a space of Boolean functions represented efficiently with reduced Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams (OBDDs) [1]. The plans produced by these planners are encoded compactly with OBDDs and correspond to universal plans [19] or policies in Reinforcement Learning [14]. Hence, a nondeterministic plan is a state-action table mapping from states to actions relevant to execute in the state in order to reach a set of goal states. A plan is executed
Response of understory vegetation to feral pig removal from Hawaiian tropical montane wet forest

− Increase soil erosion and sediment load in surface water runoff Response of understory vegetation to feral pig removal from Hawaiian tropical montane wet forest Rebecca J. Cole1 and Creighton M. Litton2 1Institute of Arctic & Alpine Research, University of Colorado at Boulder, rebecca.j.cole@colorado.edu; 2Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, litton@hawaii.edu
Enterprise model management and next generation decision support

The papers included in this special issue sponsored by the Association for Information Systems' Special Interest Group in Decision Support, Knowledge and Data Management Systems are drawn from the first Annual Pre-ICIS SIG DSS Workshop. These papers and the presentations at the workshop highlight an important new direction for integrated decision support: enterprise model management (EMM). In this paper we discuss our underlying assumptions and suggest several EMM research propositions supported by evidence from the papers included in the special issue. We conclude with our thoughts on harnessing EMM for sustainable competitive advantage.
Cephalic vein cutdown at the wrist: Comparison to the standard saphenous vein ankle cutdown

We first developed a technique for cutdown of the cephalic vein at the wrist. We then conducted a prospective cross-over cadaver study comparing the ability of medical students to perform this technique with that of the standard saphenous vein cutdown at the ankle. All students had a previous course in anatomy but had never performed a cutdown. Before testing, the students were given written material and a ten-minute lecture describing both approaches. Seventeen students performed 34 cutdowns; nine students attempted the cephalic cutdown followed by the saphenous cutdown; the remaining eight used the reverse order. The mean time (+/- SD) to isolation of the cephalic vein was 85 +/- 70 seconds; for the saphenous vein, mean time was 70 +/- 89 seconds (P = NS). There was one failure (inability to isolate the vein within five minutes) in 17 attempts at the cephalic vein and two failures in 17 attempts at the saphenous (P = NS). There were no complications (nerve, artery, or tendon injury) with either technique. The mean external vein diameter (+/- SD) of the cephalic vein and the saphenous vein were 3.2 +/- 1.0 mm and 3.6 +/- 0.7 mm, respectively (P = NS). We conclude that relatively inexperienced providers can learn to perform the cephalic vein cutdown at the wrist on fresh cadavers with similar speed and success as that for the saphenous vein cutdown at the ankle. Cutdown at this site may provide a useful alternative to the saphenous cutdown in certain clinical situations.
Genetic variation in microRNA networks: the implications for cancer research

The presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms in microRNA genes, their processing machinery and target binding sites might affect cancer risk, treatment efficacy and patient prognosis. This evolving field of cancer biology is discussed in this Review.
AVOIDING MISDIAGNOSING NEUROBLASTOMA AS WILMS TUMOR

Purpose: Although occasionally difficult, distinguishing abdominal neuroblastoma (NBL) from Wilms tumor (WT) at presentation is important, as surgical management differs significantly. We reviewed our 20-year experience (1987-2006) treating patients with NBL, focusing on those with an initial diagnosis of WT, to determine presenting features that would have suggested the correct preoperative diagnosis. Methods: Retrospective case cohort study reviewing charts and imaging of patients with NBL initially diagnosed clinically with WT. Preoperative symptoms, laboratory studies, and imaging were evaluated. Similar variables were assessed in the 20 patients with WT most recently treated at our institution. Results: Nine patients with NBL were identified as those who had an exploratory laparotomy with a preoperative diagnosis of WT; 8 underwent nephrectomy at exploration. Children with NBL had symptoms such as fever and weight loss at presentation (67%) more often than patients with WT (20%). Preoperative computed tomography demonstrated intratumoral calcifications, vascular encasement, or both in 78% of patients with NBL but were never seen in WT patients. Of interest, preoperative urinary catecholamines were elevated in 5 patients ultimately diagnosed with NBL. Conclusion: Although NBL can be mistaken for WT at presentation, the presence of constitutional symptoms, or intratumoral calcification or vascular encasement on preoperative imaging should heighten suspicion for NBL. In addition, laboratory evaluation, including urinary catecholamines, should be completed before surgery when the etiology of an abdominal tumor is uncertain.
Monkey dander asthma

We recently cared for two patients who experienced acute asthma with exposure to dander of the cotton top tamarin, a species of New World monkey. Both patients had serologic evidence for an IgE antibody to monkey dander as determined by RAST and a positive immediate skin test response to an extract prepared from monkey dander. Furthermore, by RAST we were able to determine that cotton top tamarin urine and newborn cotton top tamarin dander had antigens that reacted with IgE in the serum of the affected patients. Thus we report two patients with asthma to monkey dander that appears to be mediated by an IgE mechanism. We also found that serum from a subject exposed to another species of New World monkey, the capuchin, yielded a positive RAST to the cotton top tamarin, suggesting that allergenic cross-reactivity may exist between the two species.
Leukocyte common antigen-related phosphatase (LRP) gene structure: conservation of the genomic organization of transmembrane protein tyrosine phosphatases.

The leukocyte common antigen-related protein tyrosine phosphatase (LRP) is a widely expressed transmembrane glycoprotein thought to be involved in cell growth and differentiation. Similar to most other transmembrane protein tyrosine phosphatases, LRP contains two tandem cytoplasmic phosphatase domains. To understand further the regulation and evolution of LRP, the authors have isolated and characterized mouse [lambda] genomic clones. Thirteen genomic clones could be divided into two non-overlapping clusters. The first cluster contained the transcription initiation site and the exon encoding most of the 5[prime] untranslated region. The second cluster contained the remaining exons encoding the protein and the 3[prime] untranslated region. The gene consists of 22 exons spanning over 75 kb. The distance between exon 1 and exon 2 is at least 25 kb. Characterization of the 5[prime] ends of LRP mRNA by S1 nuclease protection identifies putative initiation start sites within a G/C-rich region. The upstream region does not contain a TATA box. Comparison of the LRP gene structure to the mammalian protein tyrosine phosphatase gene, CD45, shows striking similarities in size and genomic organization. 29 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab.
Measurement of Ultrafast Carrier Dynamics in Epitaxial Graphene

Using ultrafast optical pump-probe spectroscopy, we have measured carrier relaxation times in epitaxial graphene layers grown on SiC wafers. We find two distinct time scales associated with the relaxation of nonequilibrium photogenerated carriers. An initial fast relaxation transient in the 70-120 fs range is followed by a slower relaxation process in the 0.4-1.7 ps range. The slower relaxation time is found to be inversely proportional to the degree of crystalline disorder in the graphene layers as measured by Raman spectroscopy. We relate the measured fast and slow time constants to carrier-carrier and carrier-phonon intraband and interband scattering processes in graphene.
Fluorescent Lifetime Imaging of Lignin in the Plant Cell Wall

Lignin, a highly complex but integral part of plant cell wall , is indigestible and therefore a concern in biomass deconstruction for cost effective biofuel production. A way to address this issue is to manipulate the plant to generate a cell wall that is amenable to breakdown. However, little is know about the actual assembly of lignin during plant cell wall biosynthesis. Fluorescent Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM) utilizes the lifetime of the auto-fluorophore signal generated, rather than its intensity , to create an image. An interesting characteristic of lignin is that it is highly auto-fluorescent in the UV excitation region due to its phenolic ring composition. Thus, it may be possible to infer structural and organizational information of lignin polymerization using this imaging technique. In this study FLIM is used to resolve differences in lignification in the plant cell wall during development.
Optical Vortex Pair Creation using a Continuous Face-sheet Deformable Mirror

We demonstrate the formation of optical vortex pairs using a continuous, face-sheet deformable mirror. This is a novel approach to creating photons with orbital angular momentum. These pairs are resistant to decoherence from turbulence.
Sequential Test for Correlation Coefficients

Abstract A sequential test for correlation coefficients is presented. The method consists of reducing the test of a correlation coefficient to that of a variance ratio and making use of Helmert transformations of sequential observations. The resulting test is identified as the sequential probability ratio test regarding the parameter of the Cauchy distribution. The average sample number of the test is given and it is shown that the proposed sequential test yields an appreciable saving in the required average number of observations compared to the usual fixed sample size test.
Curriculum assessment for prevention topics and the population perspective

Background: According to the Association of American Medical College’s (AAMC) Senior Questionnaire, medical students spend an inadequate amount of time learning about health promotion, disease prevention, and the population health perspective. Objective: Determine the health promotion/disease prevention (HPDP) content of the medical school curriculum at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, using an inventory of knowledge and skills in HPDP and using physician education objectives from Healthy People 2000. Methods: A 121-item survey to evaluate curriculum content was developed. All course directors evaluated their course by using this instrument. An average of three medical students used this instrument to assess each curriculum lecture and every clinical clerkship day in the required medical school curriculum. A teaching session was defined as spending a minimum of 3–5 minutes teaching an HPDP topic. Results: Of 21 required courses in the medical school curriculum, 11 accounted for the 393 teaching sessions in HPDP. Seventy-five percent (293 sessions) of these dealt with clinical prevention. Quantitative methods received 40 sessions, whereas the health services organization and delivery and the community dimensions of medical practice received 37 and 23 sessions, respectively. Course directors and students disagreed significantly in which HPDP topics were taught in the curriculum. Conclusions: Clinical prevention was fairly well covered in the medical school curriculum. Quantitative methods, health services organization and delivery, and community dimensions of medical practice were poorly covered. This assessment was used to substantially improve the curriculum. To track and improve curriculum content in all courses, course directors need to know more precise details about the content of their courses, so this detail can be used to better evaluate the overall curriculum.
Role of the sheath in desiccation tolerance of two entomopathogenic nematodes

The free-living infective juveniles of entomopathogenic nematodes are ensheathed in the retained cuticle from the previous moult. Desiccation tolerance is essential for persistence in a soil environment and the sheath may have a protective function. We evaluated the role of the sheath in the desiccation tolerance of two species of entomopathogenic nematodes, Steinernema carpocapsae and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora. The sheath of H. bacteriophora was critical for survival at 97% relative humidity with 80.9% of sheathed infective juveniles surviving after 21 d versus 20.0% and 6.3% for exsheathed and chemically desheathed nematodes respectively. The sheath did not influence S. carpocapsae survival after 21 d at 97% relative humidity. In sand assays at 2, 4, 8 and 16% moisture levels, desheathed H. bacteriophora caused significantly less Galleria mellonella mortality than sheathed H. bacteriophora. No differences were found between the three S. carpocapsae treatments or sheathed H. bacteriophora. Our results indicate that the sheath plays an important role in desiccation tolerance of H. bacteriophora but has no effect on tolerance of S. carpocapsae.
The end-product of behavioural stuttering therapy: three decades of denaturing the disorder.

Issue : The state of stuttering therapy continues to be of great concern in the field of speech-language pathology. Despite decades of research and clinical practical, stuttering is still treated by ineffective and inefficient means. Proposals : Our research group suggests that therapy failures stem from the use behavioural approaches; procedures that have resulted in only temporary and unnatural alleviation from the symptomatology by masking the disorder. These procedures 'denature' the disorder and induce pseudofluency rather than true fluency. It is proposed that in order to truly provide relief to those who stutter, professionals need to view both the overt and covert components of the disorder from the standpoint of attaining true fluency. Only then can the true syndrome-like nature of stuttering be addressed. In order to achieve true fluency the use of stuttering inhibitors must be incorporated such as choral speech and its permutations to derive natural sounding, stable and effortless speech in tho...
An inhibitory process influencing visual responses in a fibre of the ventral nerve cord of locusts

Abstract A particular large fibre in each thoracic connective of locusts responds to visual stimuli and is amenable to prolonged experiment and analysis. It responds readily to movement, but luminance change in a stationary target can be equally effective. The optimal non-moving stimulus is strong dimming of a small target. Larger targets elicit responses with shorter latencies and lower thresholds but with a markedly smaller number of spikes (optimal area effect). Dimming a large target can block a response which would have occurred to the simultaneous or immediately previous dimming of a small target up to a time interval approximately compensating the difference in latencies and independently of the position of the two targets. A prolonged depression independent of location follows activation of the fibre. The degree of depression increases with both the amount of dimming and the area, even when increasing the area has resulted in a diminution of the first response. It is argued that the optimal area effect, the blocking effect, and post-excitatory depression are all expressions of a single inhibitory process. The receptive field encompasses approximately a hemisphere. No evidence was obtained for a segregation of functionally distinct areas. The organization of the inhibition is probably different from (a) inhibitory surround, (b) Limulus -type lateral inhibition, or (c) recurrent inhibition. Repeated dimming of a small light guide results in rapid habituation. However, dimming of a contiguous group of ommatidia is again effective. Reversing the direction of intensity change in the same location does not by itself reactivate the response. Habituation must be a process different from inhibition, because it is strictly localized while the latter is location-independent.
Vision and Leadership: The View from Science Fiction

This article utilizes two works of science fiction to examine the moral implications of pursuing great visions, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Fiction writers often deal creatively with the darker side of human behavior, a perspective that social science researchers do not always explore. Both books offer insights into the way visions arise and the ethics of pursuing visions whose full consequences are not known.
Sequential analysis of comparative clinical trials

SUMMARY An adaptive procedure is proposed for a comparative clinical trial of two treatments in which the response variable has a normal distribution. Patients are assumed to 'arrive' in twos, and at each stage, after each pair has been treated, a decision is made either to continue to the next stage, or to suspend randomization and to assign patients to the 'best' treatment. This leads to stopping rules which are tabulated for a variety of patient horizons. In general, trials will be relatively short, and the patient horizon is less influential in determining trial duration than has been suggested by other authors.
Angular distribution of decay products in resonant processes

Abstract Angular distributions of decay products. Auger electrons and dipole photons, in resonant processes are reexamined, specifically in dielectronic recombination and resonant excitation scattering. The distributions in LS coupling are given for the energy- and polarization-averaged cross sections in the isolated resonance approximation. The resonant-transfer-excitation processes give similar distributions of their decay products. The effect of external electric fields in the interaction region on the distribution is also discussed.
Evaluating daytime alertness in individuals with Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) compared to sleep restricted controls

Background and purpose Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is a common sensorimotor disorder often associated with significant chronic sleep loss. Previous studies looking at the effects of sleep loss on daytime function in RLS individuals, using subjective reporting techniques have yielded mixed results. In this study we used more objective measures of alertness and compared RLS subjects who are off treatments and chronically sleep restricted to chronic sleep-restricted controls.
X-ray Investigation of Cleavage Plane of Single Layered Manganite La0.5Sr1.5MnO4

Abstract The top layer of a cleaved surface of the single layered manganite La0.5Sr1.5MnO4 is measured with crystal truncation rod scattering. Knowledge of the surface structure of strongly correlated electron systems is needed for nano-science and device application of such systems. The result shows that the cleaved surface is terminated by La/Sr layer and has little surface roughness.
Cationic surface segregation in doped LaMnO3

The surface cation chemistry in (La, A)MnO3 (A = Ca, Sr and Ba) is investigated using first-principles thermodynamics. We find that, all three dopants tend to segregate to the surface over a wide range of T– $$ p_{{{\text{O}}_{2} }} $$ conditions and the tendency for segregation increases with the increase in the dopant cationic size. Moving toward the low oxygen pressure, dopants prefer to remain in the surface regions accompanied by the appropriate number of charge compensating oxygen vacancies. The situation when dopants remain in the bulk regions tends to occur close to the thermodynamic conditions that also favor the decomposition of LaMnO3. The present work serves as an important step toward understanding of factors governing the cationic surface segregation in doped LaMnO3 and opens a pathway to study other important chemical environments (such as water- and CO2-containing air) which are crucially given the fact that the ‘real-world’ air enhances cationic segregation.
Tetrahydrofuran complexes of transition metal chlorides

Tetrahydrofuran complexes of TiCl3, VCl3, VOCl2, CrCl3, CrCl2, MnCl2, FeCl2, CoCl2, NiCl2, CuCl2 and ZnCl2 were isolated and their compositions determined. In general the anhydrous metal chlorides complexed easily. Ferric chloride cleaved the ring predominantly and CrCl3 required a zinc catalyst to react. Nickelous chloride would not react directly at all but a tetrahydrofuranate was prepared via a ligand exchange reaction. Titanium tris-tetrahydrofuran trichloride disproportionates readily several hundred degrees lower than TiCl3 by itself.
Do Cardiologists Do It Better

Pressure to lower the cost of health care delivery has fostered widespread efforts to limit patients' access to specialists such as cardiologists. However, there is concern that diminished specialist involvement may lead to poorer patient outcomes for specific clinical conditions. As part of a state-sponsored effort to improve the quality of health care in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council gathered clinical and administrative data on all 40,684 hospital admissions for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in that state in 1993. They prepared a detailed public report that included risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality and length of hospital stay by physician group, by hospital and by region. These data demonstrate that patients cared for by cardiologists, as a group, had a lower risk-adjusted mortality than patients cared for by either internists (risk ratio 1.26, 95% confidence interval 1.17 to 1.35) or family practitioners (risk ratio 1.29, 95% confidence interval 1.18 to 1.40). The patients of cardiologists also had a shorter length of stay than the other two groups. These data suggest that there is enhanced value in the care provided by cardiologists for patients with AMI and call into question the growing trend toward reliance on generalists instead of specialists.
Resistance of resin-impregnated VTC processed hybrid-poplar to fungal attack

Abstract Viscoelastic thermal compression (VTC) is an excellent method for improving the physical properties of low density woods, but it has little effect on resistance to microbial degradation. The potential for improving durability through pre-impregnation with either phenol formaldehyde resin (PF) or tung oil was investigated in laboratory tests. Tung oil had little effect on decay resistance; while PF resins markedly improved durability against both white and brown rot fungi. The results suggest that resin pre-treatment was compatible with the VTC process and produced markedly more durable materials.