cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Reciprocal phylogenetic conservation of molecular aging in mouse and human brain.

Studies of age-related molecular profiles have separately focused on the human and rodent brains, but the extent to which each organism predicts molecular events across species for the global signature of aging and for specific biological functions has only begun to be characterized. We previously showed that the molecular correlates of aging in the mouse cortex moderately, but significantly, predicted transcript changes in human frontal cortex. Using orthologous gene links between large-scale gene expression datasets, we now report a similar reciprocal human-to-mouse prediction of molecular aging in frontal cortex, but a limited and variable conservation of age-effects across a wide spectrum of biological functions. Thus, the moderate transcriptome correlations and partial functional concordance between late-life human and rodent cohorts (13–77 years in humans and 3–24 months in mice) suggest limitations of the mouse to model normal aging of the human brain cortex.
Cardiopulmonary effects of the novel neuromuscular blocking drug GW280430A (AV430A) in dogs.

Background: This investigation determined the cardiopulmonary side effects of a novel nondepolarizing neuromuscular blocking drug with an ultrashort duration of action in anesthetized male beagles. Methods: The ED 95 for GW280430A was first determined in four animals. These data were then used to guide bolus dosing in multiples of ED 95 in six dogs instrumented for hemodynamic measurements as well as inspiratory pressure and pulmonary compliance. Cardiopulmonary data were compared before and after the conclusion of a 60- to 90-min GW280430A infusion and in response to subsequent incremental bolus dosing starting with 3.125 x ED 95 . An adverse response was regarded as an alteration of 10% or greater in any variable. Arterial blood was obtained for histamine analysis before and 1 min after each dose. Results: The ED 95 of GW280430A was 0.064 ± 0.01 mg/kg, and stable neuromuscular blockade was maintained with infusion of 0.012 ± 0.002 mg.kg -1 .min -1 . With the exception of a late 14% increase in heart rate, there were no cardiopulmonary changes during infusion. Bolus dosing produced no cardiopulmonary change until a decrease in mean arterial pressure was elicited in four of six dogs at 25 x ED 95 . This response was modest, transient, and associated with a concomitant increase in plasma histamine concentration. There were no accompanying changes indicative of direct myocardial depression, pulmonary vasoconstriction, or bronchospasm. Conclusions: These data indicate that GW280430 does not produce demonstrable cardiovascular effects in the anesthetized dog until doses far in excess of the ED 95 are administered as a bolus.
Robust Event Boundary Detection in Sensor Networks - A Mixture Model Based Approach

Detecting event frontline or boundary sensors in a complex sensor network environment is one of the critical problems for sensor network applications. In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm for event frontline sensor detection based on statistical mixture methods with model selection (Akaike, 1973). A boundary sensor is considered as being associated with a multimodal local neighborhood of (univariate or multivariate) sensing readings, and each non-boundary sensor is treated as being with a unimodal sensor reading neighborhood. Furthermore, the set of sensor readings within each sensor's spatial neighborhood is formulated using Gaussian mixture model (McLachlan and Peel, 2000). Two classes of boundary and non-boundary sensors can be effectively classified using the model selection techniques for finite mixture models. Our extensive experimental results demonstrate that our algorithm effectively detects the event boundary with a high accuracy under moderate noise levels.
Commutation failure of DC motor drives from voltage sags during regeneration

DC motor drives are susceptible to nuisance tripping and faults during voltage sags. DC drives incorporating regenerative bridges are particularly vulnerable, and will often fault during a short-duration voltage sag. These faults can result in blown fuses or damaged power electronic components, and cause extended downtime for the end-user. During a voltage sag, thyristors can fail to commutate properly, leading to a ldquoshoot-throughrdquo fault or short circuit in the power electronic circuits. Commutation failure occurs chiefly because the thyristors are line commutated, and voltage sag can lead to insufficient voltage to commutate - causing a fault when a subsequent thyristor is fired. There are several possible scenarios that can cause commutation failure. This paper explores voltage sag situations that can cause commutation failure, simulations of DC drives operating in these situations, and experimental results that demonstrate commutation failure and faults in regenerative DC drives.
Managing risk of supply disruptions: Incentives for capacity restoration

A supplier facing the prospect of disruption has to decide whether or not to invest in restoration capability. With restoration capability, if disruption occurs, additional costly effort can be exerted to rebuild capacity, although its outcome is uncertain. We study how a firm (buyer) can use incentive mechanisms to motivate a supplier's investment in capacity restoration, and compare this approach with the traditional approach of diversifying part of the order to an expensive but reliable supplier. Under a Restoration Enhancement (RE) strategy, the buyer uses price and/or order quantity incentives to encourage the supplier's restoration investment decision. Two different cases are considered—when the incentive is committed to ex ante (prior to disruption) and when it is committed to ex post (after disruption). In contrast, under a Supplier Diversification (SD) strategy, the buyer splits orders between a reliable supplier and an unreliable supplier to hedge against the disruption risk. Here, the buyer does not provide any separate incentive to the unreliable supplier. Our analysis indicates that under the RE strategy, where the buyer offers incentives, both the buyer and the supplier (weakly) prefer the ex ante commitment over the ex post one. Furthermore, the RE strategy is preferred over the SD strategy when the unreliable supplier's restoration outcome is more predictable or when a high restoration outcome is more likely. However, the buyer's preference for the SD strategy increases as market demand increases.
Rock-physics Joint Inversion of Resistivity-log And Seismic Velocity For Hydrate Characterization

We present a method for joint inversion of electrical resistivity measurements and velocity data for estimating gas-hydrate concentration in deep-water environments. Our technique is based on a Bayesian approach and combines rock-physics elastic theories and empirical relations for electrical resistivity with stochastic simulations to account for the natural variability of the petrophysical parameters involved in the inversion.
Dosing Considerations in the Use of Sodium Phosphate Bowel Preparations for Colonoscopy

Objective:To review dosing considerations and other treatment recommendations to maximize the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of sodium phosphate (NaP) preparations.Data Sources:Literature was accessed through PubMed (1990–May 2007) and abstracts from scientific meetings.Study Selection and Data Extraction:English-language publications including clinical trials and case reports were evaluated. Recent reports assessing newer bowel preparations containing reduced doses of NaP were reviewed to evaluate efficacy, tolerability, and safety.Data Synthesis:Among commonly administered bowel preparations for colonoscopy, NaP preparations are generally more effective and better tolerated compared with polyethylene glycol electrolyte lavage solution regimens. However, NaP preparations are contraindicated in specific patient populations, and clinicians must use effective screening mechanisms to select proper patients to receive NaP preparation for colonoscopy. Recently, cases of renal failure in patients with previ...
Incremental hoarding and reintegration in mobile environments

Disconnection is one of the popular techniques for operating in mobile environments and is here to stay, until long-range wireless connectivity becomes a reality. However, disconnection requires periodic hoarding and reintegration of data, which raises performance issues especially during weak connection. A common hoarding and reintegration mechanism involves complete transfer of contents. In order to hoard and reintegrate efficiently, an incremental approach is being introduced to do data transfers based on the delta between changes. Analysis also shows that incremental reintegration is particularly beneficial in the weakly connected mode of operation. The incremental hoarding and reintegration setup is built within the Coda File System of the Carnegie Mellon University to replace the full file transfer mechanism with the incremental approach, based on the Revision Control System.
Significance of prone positioning in planning treatment for esophageal cancer

Abstract The treatment of esophageal cancer is made difficult by the close proximity of the esophagus to the spinal cord and the requirement to treat the esophageal target volume to doses greater than or equal to 60 Gy while limiting the spinal cord dose to less than or equal to 46 Gy. By placing the patient in the prone position, the esophagus can be displaced away from the spinal cord. We explored the results of this commonly used technique on 16 patients who have undergone simulation in both supine and prone positions. Both AP and lateral orthogonal radiographs were obtained in both positions. The distance between contrast material in the esophagus and spinal cord was noted in at least four transverse planes through the thoracic esophagus on each of the 16 patients. These four transverse planes were located at 3 cm above the carina, at the carina, 3 cm below the carina and 6 cm below the carina. The mean displacement (1 SD) of the esophagus away from the spinal cord when the patient was in the prone position compared to supine at each of these levels was 1.3 (± 0.8) cm, 1.8 (± 0.9) cm, 1.8 (± 1.0) cm, and 1.9 (± 1.1) cm. The range of displacement for all 64 displacement determinations was 0 to 4.2 cm with a mean of 1.7 cm. To evaluate further the consequences of prone positioning on treatment planning and doses received to target volumes and critical structures, we performed 3-dimensional treatment planning with a patient in both prone and supine positions. The requirements were to achieve a tumor volume dose of 60 Gy while keeping the spinal cord dose below 46 Gy. Two types of conventional treatment plans were examined in prone and supine positions. A 6-field plan consisted of delivery of 40 Gy through a large 3-field beam arrangement followed by delivery of 20 Gy through a similar 3-field cone down. An 8-field plan involved the delivery of 30 Gy through AP/PA beams followed by a 3-field beam arrangement to 40 Gy and a subsequent 3-field cone-down for the final 20 Gy. Comparison of dose volume histograms revealed that the 6-field plan spared relatively more heart whereas the 8-field plan spared relatively more lung. Regarding the primary consideration of coverage of target volume with avoidance of spinal cord, prone positioning was superior to supine positioning whether 6- or 8-field arrangements were used.
Critically attained threshold of cerebral hypoperfusion: the CATCH hypothesis of Alzheimer’s pathogenesis

This review discusses the experimental and clinical data which indicate that chronic cerebral hypoperfusion can affect metabolic, anatomic, and cognitive function adversely. In aged but not young animals, chronic brain hypoperfusion results in regional pre- and post-synaptic changes, protein synthesis abnormalities, energy metabolic dysregulation, reduced glucose utilization, cholinergic receptor loss, and visuo-spatial memory deficits. Additionally, aging animals that are kept for prolonged periods of time after chronic brain hypoperfusion, also develop brain capillary degeneration in CA1 hippocampus and neuronal damage extending from the hippocampal region to the temporo-parietal cortex where neurodegenerative tissue atrophy eventually forms. All these pathologic events occur in rodents in the absence of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Alzheimer brains reveal similar biochemical and structural changes as those experimentally induced in aging animals. Moreover, regional cerebral hypoperfusion is one of the earlier (if not the earliest) clinical manifestations in both the sporadic and familial forms of Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, therapy that improves or increases cerebral perfusion is generally of some benefit to Alzheimer patients. Conversely, a variety of disorders with different etiologies that impair or diminish cerebral perfusion are reported to be risk factors for this dementia. These findings have prompted us to propose the concept that advanced aging in the presence of a vascular risk factor can converge to create a critically attained threshold of cerebral hypoperfusion (CATCH) that triggers regional brain microcirculatory disturbances and impairs optimal delivery of energy substrates needed for normal brain cell function. The outcome of this defect generates a chain of events leading to the progressive evolution of brain metabolic, cognitive and tissue pathology that characterize Alzheimer’s disease. The possible role of CATCH in familial and early onset Alzheimer’s disease is briefly discussed from a theoretical vantagepoint. The growing and most recent evidence in support of the CATCH concept is the focus of this review.
Decision Support Visualizations for Schedule Management of Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are quickly becoming indispensable in military operations, particularly in time-critical missions. Although UAV systems are currently controlled by a team of people, in the future increased automation could allow one person to supervise multiple UAVs. These time-critical, complex single-operator systems will require advance prediction and mitigation of mission schedule problems. One challenge in designing an interface for the human/multi-UAV system is informing the operator of long-term consequences of potential mission schedule changes he or she may make. This paper presents two different decision support visualizations, StarVis and BarVis, designed to show the operator current mission schedule problems as well as the consequences of requesting schedule changes. An experiment tested these two visualizations against a no visualization control in a multiple UAV simulation. Results showed that StarVis produced the best performance and lowest subjective workload across different operational tempos, while BarVis supported lower but consistent performance and perceived workload under different operation tempos. This research effort highlights how different information provided in decision support can have different effects on performance and workload in a multiple UAV human supervisory control task.
Resolution of hydronephrosis after uterine artery embolization for fibroids.

Abstract Purpose To determine the prevalence, predisposing factors, and resolution of hydronephrosis among patients undergoing uterine artery embolization (UAE) for fibroids. Materials and Methods From October 2004 to May 2008, 1,114 patients underwent UAE at an academic medical center. Hydronephrosis was found on angiographic images in 101 patients. In 34 of these patients, 3-month ultrasound follow-up was available. The angiographic images were graded for hydronephrosis severity by three interventional radiologist reviewers. The degree of residual hydronephrosis was obtained from ultrasound images or reports in 3-month follow-up imaging. Descriptive statistics summarizing outcomes and interobserver agreement regarding hydronephrosis grade were calculated. In a parallel assessment, prospectively gathered baseline data available from 776 patients undergoing UAE were analyzed to identify predisposing factors to hydronephrosis. Results Among the 34 patients with hydronephrosis and appropriate follow-up, resolution occurred in 28 of 34 (82%) patients. Among the entire study group, 9.0% (101 of 1,114) of patients had unilateral or bilateral hydronephrosis. Hydronephrosis was less frequent in left kidneys (4.5% [35 of 776]) than right kidneys (6.3% [49 of 776]; P = .013). The mean uterine volume in the group with hydronephrosis was greater than in the group without hydronephrosis (1,041 cm 3 vs 609 cm 3 ; P 3 vs 147 cm 3 ; P Conclusions These results suggest that UAE may result in resolution of hydronephrosis in a notable number of cases. Large uterine size and dominant fibroid size was associated with hydronephrosis.
Farnesyltransferase inhibitors: Where are we now?

Importance of the field: Farnesyltransferase inhibitors (FTIs) target multiple pathways implicated in the pathogenesis of solid and hematologic malignancies.Areas covered in this review: Novel preclinical and clinical data on FTIs.What the reader will gain: Results of clinical trials of FTIs are critically summarized: Phase I – II studies demonstrated that tipifarnib (the most extensively investigated FTI) had antileukemic activity. The rates of complete response (CR), partial response (PR) and/or CR with incomplete platelet recovery (CRp) in patients with MDS and refractory/poor-risk AML were 5 – 25% and 11 – 14%, respectively (hematological improvement, 17 – 35% and 8 – 9.5%, respectively). A Phase III study comparing tipifarnib with best supportive care, including hydroxyurea in patients with untreated AML ≥ 70 years old showed no survival benefit in the tipifarnib arm. A two-gene classifier (RASGRP1:APTX gene expression ratio) predicted response and survival, indicating that a two-gene expression assa...
Experience with Holter monitoring during propranolol therapy for infantile hemangiomas

Background Although adverse events in children treated with propranolol have proven rare, the appropriate methods of assessing cardiovascular risk and monitoring for toxicity when the medication is used for infantile hemangiomas remain unclear. Objective We sought to analyze Holter monitor reports of otherwise healthy patients on propranolol for infantile hemangiomas to determine the incidence of sustained arrhythmias and to evaluate the utility of Holter monitoring in the outpatient setting. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the charts of patients with infantile hemangioma who underwent 24-hour Holter monitoring after initiation or dose escalation of propranolol between 2011 and 2014. Results In all, 43 patients aged 1.8 to 36.2 months, with 44 Holter monitor reports, were included in the study. No sustained arrhythmias were revealed. The treatment plan was not altered in any patient based on the Holter monitor report. Limitations This was a retrospective study design. Conclusion Our study suggests that Holter monitoring may be unnecessary in otherwise healthy patients with infantile hemangioma older than 12 weeks who are treated with propranolol in the outpatient setting.
Inter-radiologist agreement for CT scoring of pediatric splenic injuries and effect on an established clinical practice guideline

The American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA) advocates for the use of a clinical practice guideline to direct management of hemodynamically stable pediatric spleen injuries. The clinical practice guideline is based on the CT score of the spleen injury according to the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) CT scoring system. To determine the potential effect of radiologist agreement for CT scoring of pediatric spleen injuries on an established APSA clinical practice guideline. We retrospectively analyzed blunt splenic injuries occurring in children from January 2007 to January 2012 at a single level 1 trauma center (n = 90). Abdominal CT exams performed at clinical presentation were reviewed by four radiologists who documented the following: (1) splenic injury grade (AAST system), (2) arterial extravasation and (3) pseudoaneurysm. Inter-rater agreement for AAST injury grade was assessed using the multi-rater Fleiss kappa and Kendall coefficient of concordance. Inter-rater agreement was assessed using weighted (AAST injury grade) or prevalence-adjusted bias-adjusted (binary measures) kappa statistics; 95% confidence intervals were calculated. We evaluated the hypothetical effect of radiologist disagreement on an established APSA clinical practice guideline. Inter-rater agreement was good for absolute AAST injury grade (kappa: 0.64 [0.59–0.69]) and excellent for relative AAST injury grade (Kendall w: 0.90). All radiologists agreed on the AAST grade in 52% of cases. Based on an established clinical practice guideline, radiologist disagreement could have changed the decision for intensive care management in 11% (10/90) of children, changed the length of hospital stay in 44% (40/90), and changed the time to return to normal activity in 44% (40/90). Radiologist agreement when assigning splenic AAST injury grades is less than perfect, and disagreements have the potential to change management in a substantial number of pediatric patients.
Interaction of nocodazole with tubulin isotypes

Nocodazole is an anti-mitotic drug that has long been used as an experimental tool in cell biology. Although nocodazole is known to bind with high affinity to tubulin and to inhibit microtubule assembly, very little has been done on its precise mechanism of action. In fact, its binding to the different isotypes of tubulin has never been addressed. Although the nocodazole binding site overlaps with that of colchicine, the two drugs are structurally quite different. The tubulin molecule is an α/β heterodimer; both α and β exist as various isotypes whose distribution and drug-binding properties are significantly different. In this study, we measured the binding affinity of nocodazole for purified tubulin isotypes. Using fluorescence quenching analysis, we found that the binding kinetics of nocodazole with each type of tubulin best fits a two-affinity Michaelis-Menten binding model. The apparent dissociation constants for the high-affinity binding sites are 0.52 ± 0.02 for αβII, 1.54 ± 0.29 for αβIII, and 0.29 ± 0.04 for αβIV. Thus, nocodazole has the highest affinity for αβIV and the lowest affinity for αβIII. Knowledge of the isotype specificity of nocodazole may allow for development of novel therapeutic agents based on this drug. Drug Dev. Res. 55:91–96, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Is Emergency Department Cardioversion of Recent-onset Atrial Fibrillation Safe and Effective?

Abstract Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a very common dysrhythmia presenting to Emergency Departments (EDs). Controversy exists regarding the optimal clinical therapy for these patients, which typically focuses on rhythm rate-control and admission or cardioversion and discharge home. Clinical Question Is ED cardioversion of recent-onset atrial fibrillation safe, effective, and does it result in positive meaningful patient outcomes? Evidence Review Five observation studies with nearly 1600 ED patients with atrial fibrillation treated with either rate-control or cardioversion were reviewed and results compiled. Results Overall, ED cardioversion for recent-onset AF seems safe and effective, with success rates ranging from 85.5% to 97% in these studies. Although further research should seek to identify patients at low risk for thromboembolic complication, more rigorously assess patient satisfaction, and show cost savings, emergency physicians should feel comfortable using this approach in select patients. Conclusion ED cardioversion for recent-onset AF seems safe and effective.
Analog VLSI model of binaural hearing

The stereausis model of biological auditory processing is proposed as a representation that encodes both binaural and spectral information in a unified framework. A working analog VLSI chip that implements this model of early auditory processing in the brain is described. The chip is a 100000-transistor integrated circuit that computes the stereausis representation in real time, using continuous-time analog processing. The chip receives two audio inputs, representing sound entering the two ears, computes the stereausis representation, and generates output signals that can directly drive a color CRT display. Outputs from the chips for a variety of artificial and speech stimuli are shown. >
Diagnostic errors of primary care screens for depression and panic disorder.

Objective:As the health care reimbursement system has changed, brief screens for detecting mental disorders in primary care have been developed. These efforts have faced the formidable task of identifying patients with mental disorders, while at the same time minimizing the number of misclassified cases. Here we consider the balance between sensitivity and positive predictive value. Primary care patients with false positive and false negative results on screens for depression and panic disorder are compared with regard to comorbidity and functional impairment.Methods:This was a cross- sectional psychometric study. The study sample included 1001 primary care patients from the Department of Internal Medicine at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California. The Symptom-Driven Diagnostic System for Primary Care (SDDS-PC) screens and Sheehan Disability Scale were completed by the subjects. The SDDS-PC diagnostic interviews were administered to all subjects.Results:Patients with false positive results on the panic ...
Acute glomerulonephritis in children of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria

A three-year retrospective study was conducted to determine the incidence, pattern of presentation and other clinical and biochemical features as well as outcome of treatment of patients admitted with acute glomerulonephritis at the Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Oghara and GN Children's Clinic, Warri. The case notes of all the children who presented with renal diseases from January 2010 to December 2012 were retrieved and those with acute glomerulonephritis were analyzed. A total of 20 patients (13 male and seven female) with acute glomerulonephritis were seen during the three-year period under review. Twelve patients (60%) were from the low socioeconomic class, six (30%) from the middle class and only two (10%) were from the high-income group. The presentation of the illness was most common between October and January. The age range of the patients was three to 13 years, with an average age of eight years. Seventeen (85%) of the patients were in the school-going age group (>5 years to 10 years). The most common symptom/sign noted was anemia in 90% of the patients, followed by oliguria/anuria and edema seen in 80% of the patients. Seventy percent of the patients had cola-colored urine, while 55% had hypertension. Some patients gave a history suggestive of previous streptococcal infection. More patients had sore throat (25%) than skin infection (10%). All the patients had proteinuria, while 90% had hematuria. The most common complication was acute kidney injury, seen in eight (40%) of the patients, followed by hypertensive encephalopathy, which occurred in three (15%) patients. Most patients (60%) were hospitalized for one to two weeks. The outcome of the management of these patients showed 14 (70%) of the patients recovered fully while three (15%) had persistent hematuria and two (10%) had persistent proteinuria. Ninety-five percent of the patients recovered from the acute illness and one patient (5%), a boy aged nine years old, died.
Naturally Occurring Biological Control and Integrated Control

Faunistic surveys of agricultural, sylvan, or natural, undisturbed environments will disclose large numbers of herbivorous insect species that are of insignificant abundance, causing little or no harm to the plants growing in such habitats. Many of these insects are kept in check by native natural enemies. We describe this situation as naturally occurring biological control.
Interactions of unconjugated bilirubin with bile salts

The rate of peroxidation of unbound, unconjugated bilirubin (UCB) was used to assess the interactions of UCB with four taurine-conjugated bile salts at pH 8.2, 37 degrees C, and an ionic strength of 0.15. Each of the four structurally different bile salts markedly decreased the rate of peroxidation of UCB in the presence of horseradish peroxidase (HRP); 30% of UCB was bound even at low, premicellar bile salt concentrations (1 mM). At high bile salt concentrations (75 mM), taurocholate (TC) and tauro-3 alpha,7 alpha-dihydroxy-12-oxo-5 beta-cholan-24-oate (T12-OXO) exhibited the highest degree of inhibition of UCB peroxidation; only 0.6% and 1.1% of UCB were unbound, respectively. Taurochenodeoxycholate (TCDC) yielded somewhat less inhibition with 2.0% of UCB unbound. Taurodehydrocholate (TDHC), a bile salt that does not form micelles but does form dimers, was comparable to TC and T12-OXO with unbound UCB of 1.0%. With TC and T12-OXO, apparent affinity for UCB was at least four times greater above the published critical micellar concentration (CMC) than in the premicellar range. TCDC was only studied above its CMC value and only one region of UCB binding was noted. Interaction of UCB with TDHC was similar to premicellar interactions with TC and T12-OXO below 25 mM, but increased to values intermediate between monomer and micelle above 40 mM TDHC, compatible with formation of TDHC dimers above 20 mM. These data show that there are differences in the ability of bile salts to bind UCB. Thus, alterations in bile salt profile in bile might lead to higher concentrations of free UCB in bile predisposing to pigment gallstones.
Sickness and wickedness: new conceptions and new paradoxes

This article is a discussion of the conceptual relationship between wickedness and (mental) illness, quite apart from their uses in the criminal law. One of the these defended in the article is that in ordinary language illness has lost much of its power to mitigate and excuse, so that "sickos" are treated as if they were some strange minority or political sect.
The Candida albicans ATO Gene Family Promotes Neutralization of the Macrophage Phagolysosome

Candida albicans is an opportunistic human fungal pathogen that causes a variety of diseases, ranging from superficial mucosal to life-threatening systemic infections, the latter particularly in patients with defects in innate immune function. C. albicans cells phagocytosed by macrophages undergo a dramatic change in their metabolism in which amino acids are a key nutrient. We have shown that amino acid catabolism allows the cell to neutralize the phagolysosome and initiate hyphal growth. We show here that members of the 10-gene ATO family, which are induced by phagocytosis or the presence of amino acids in an Stp2-dependent manner and encode putative acetate or ammonia transporters, are important effectors of this pH change in vitro and in macrophages. When grown with amino acids as the sole carbon source, the deletion of ATO5 or the expression of a dominant-negative ATO1(G53D) allele results in a delay in alkalinization, a defect in hyphal formation, and a reduction in the amount of ammonia released from the cell. These strains also form fewer hyphae after phagocytosis, have a reduced ability to escape macrophages, and reside in more acidic phagolysosomal compartments than wild-type cells. Furthermore, overexpression of many of the 10 ATO genes accelerates ammonia release, and an ato5Δ ATO1(G53D) double mutant strain has additive alkalinization and ammonia release defects. Taken together, these results indicate that the Ato protein family is a key mediator of the metabolic changes that allow C. albicans to overcome the macrophage innate immunity barrier.
Capacity for Change: Dynamic Capabilities in Public Organizations

This paper seeks to understand the underlying processes that support change implementation in public and nonprofit organizations. It examines the role of dynamic capabilities in public organization...
Rebellion in the Colombian Llanos: The Arauca Affair of 1917

On January 8, 1917 Bogotanos who glanced at the morning newspapers were startled to learn of a rebellion in the Llanos. Ten days before Humberto Gomez and a band of armed men had seized the town of Arauca. Ordinarily such an event would excite little concern in the capital. A small village on the Venezuelan border, Arauca was surrounded by vast tropical plains and lacked even a telegraph connection with Bogota. It was a favorite refuge for Colombian and Venezuelan outlaws who routinely defied with impunity the laws of both countries. Yet Humberto, by killing the principal Colombian authority, the Comisario Especial and proclaiming himself Civil and Military Chief of the “Republic of Arauca” sounded a challenge that could not be ignored. Anxious to safeguard precarious treaty negotiations then in progress with Venezuela, President Jose Vicente Concha took swift action. He declared a state of siege and ordered two separate military expeditions commanded by General Jeśus Garcia to Arauca. The daily periodicals gave full coverage to the ensuing drama. Their interest continued even after Humberto's capture in Venezuela on February 9, when eye-witness reports of atrocities committed in the Llanos by Garcia's soldiers brought demands for an investigation. Between May and September, the editor of El Diario Nacional and future president, Enrique Olaya Herrera fanned the border incident into a major scandal by attacking the government in the columns of his newspaper and on the floor of the Chamber of Representatives. An analysis of what came to be called “The Arauca Affair” brings to light a little-known aspect of Concha's administration and explores a neglected theme of Colombian history—the interrelationship between the Andean interior and the Llanos frontier.
The role of the American Hospital Association in combating AIDS.

Abstract The American Hospital Association (AHA) has taken a leadership role in assisting health care providers in dealing effectively with the challenges of AIDS. Early work focused on preventing infection in the health care setting with the use of the Centers for Disease Control's recommended precautions concerning blood and body fluids. Supporting this effort were a number of live teleconferences, videotapes, and publications that addressed the use of precautions with AIDS patients, community issues associated with the disease, and the development of employee policies. In July 1987, a Special Committee on AIDS/HIV Infection Policy was formed by the AHA Board of Trustees and charged with developing recommendations on the issues that needed to be addressed if hospitals were to continue to meet the challenge of AIDS effectively. The committee's first set of recommendations, approved in November 1987, reaffirmed the use of universal precautions, provided guidance on the appropriate uses and application of HIV testing, and stated that the delivery of care should not be conditioned on the willingness of a patient to undergo testing. The second set of recommendations, which were approved in January 1988, focused on the need to distribute the responsibility for AIDS care among a wide variety of health care providers, to seek creative financing approaches that involve both the private and public sectors, and called on hospitals to provide leadership in ensuring that a continuum of services is available to AIDS patients. Continuing efforts to assist hospitals in the care delivery issues associated with AIDS are described.
Immune Regulation: Learning from Leprosy

The specific anergy seen in severe, disseminated leprosy appears to represent multifaceted actions of macrophages and suppressor T lymphocytes. Identification of cytokine mediation in these events helps to account for the immune system's “choice” of cellular versus humoral defenses—and points toward manipulation of cytokine switches for immunotherapy against infectious and autoimmune disease.
Reliability of Highly Stable Amorphous-Silicon Thin-Film Transistors Under Low Gate-Field Stress—Part I: Two-Stage Model for Lifetime Prediction

To predict reliability, an analytical model for drain current degradation in amorphous-silicon (a-Si) thin-film transistors (TFTs) is developed for the low-gate-field region, where defect creation dominates the threshold voltage shift. Starting with fundamental models where the local threshold shift depends on the local channel electron density, a stretched exponential expression for current degradation in linear and saturation modes is derived and related to an effective threshold voltage. The model was used to predict room temperature stability from accelerated stress up to 140 °C in highly stable TFTs with hydrogenated a-Si channels and silicon nitride (SiNx) gate insulators. For high temperatures and long times at all temperatures, defect creation dominated the decay. A “unified” stretched exponential fit, in which a single fitting parameter is used to convert time into “thermalization energy,” unifies drain current decay at different temperatures into a single curve. At short times near room temperature, a second mechanism ascribed to charge trapping also contributes to the initial degradation. This contribution is attributed to charge trapping in the SiNx gate insulator and can also be fitted with a stretched exponential expression. A two-stage model that combines both mechanisms is used for best predictions of room temperature stability. Part II of this paper will show that this two-stage model facilitates the optimization of the fabrication of a-Si TFTs with very high stability.
Testing as a Service

Testing as a Service (TaaS) [1] is gaining acceptance in software engineering industry for it finds outsourcing of testing a viable option for both, adhering to software production timeline and making testing cost-effective while not making compromise in product quality. In consequence, few companies have started offering tools automating TaaS process. This chapter highlights on this upcoming concept and presents a generic model explaining the steps involved in TaaS. It also explains use of cloud technology for TaaS implementation. This aims at effective utilization of resources while delivering a testing service. In addition, a pricing model for test outsourcing is proposed.
Participatory Video in Practice

The genesis and evolution of participatory video are examined in the contexts of documentary filmmaking, visual studies, and community development. Participatory video is then discussed in relation to the discourse on participatory culture that has emerged since the advent of interactive digital media and technology. Based on this literature review, I elaborate on the potential contributions that participatory video can make to social science research, social intervention, participatory culture, and community-based adult education, respectively.
A control method for consistent performance of automotive selective catalytic reduction systems under variant aging conditions

This paper presents a novel control method for realizing consistent emission reduction performance of automotive selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems under variant aging conditions. SCR systems have been widely recognized as one of the leading aftertreatment systems for reducing Diesel powertrain tailpipe NOx emissions in ground vehicle applications. While fresh SCRs are quite effective in reducing tailpipe NOx emissions, their NOx reduction capabilities and performances may substantially degrade with in-service aging. To ensure the emission control performance of a SCR system during the entire vehicle service life, it is thus critical for the SCR control system to be robust and adaptive against the SCR aging effects and strive to achieve the best possible and consistent tailpipe emission reductions even under the conditions that the SCR has been severely aged. A novel control method that combines a SCR ammonia coverage ratio reference generator and tracking controller with explicit consideration of SCR aging effects is analytically developed and verified in simulations. The simulation results under the US06 test cycle demonstrate high effectiveness of the proposed controller in achieving consistent tailpipe emission reductions against the system degradation derived from the catalyst aging.
The Transformation of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Father's Perspective over 36 Years

Abstract This article contains a perspective on the evolution of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) by a psychologist, who became the father of a premature baby in 1980. The perspective offered describes: a) parent support groups, b) research on emotional distress in NICU parents, c) the evolution of the NICU into neonatal intensive parenting units, d) fathers in the NICU, and e) psychologists in the NICU.
Global and Local: Collective Memory, Global Chinese Identities, and Nationalism

Collective memory is global in scope with global flows of information and transnational mobility of people, upon which global Chinese identities are built. The global connectivity of Weibo has brought Chinese-speaking users together, and the collective efforts to circumvent the Great Firewall have also allowed the sharing of forbidden or highly censored contents. However, global connectivity has also provided opportunities for the rise of nationalism, singing the praises of the Chinese government during globally significant crises. Global Chinese identities are also hinged upon a negative assessment of the national image based on an imagined standard of “civilized nation” and a cosmopolitan ideal, attributing China’s failure to reach these ideals to the faults of current regime. Global Chinese identities are products of transnational imaginations based on the sharing and comparison of global and local public events. These imaginations, however, largely lack a truly historical assessment of the past in societies and cultures of both “others” and “ours.”
Landscape-scale GPP and carbon density inform patterns and impacts of an invasive tree across wet forests of Hawaii.

Plant invasion typically occurs within a landscape-scale framework of abiotic and biotic conditions, often resulting in emergent feedbacks among environment, ecosystem functions and the dominance of invasive species. Understanding the mechanisms underlying successful invasions is an important component of conservation and management efforts, but this has been poorly investigated in a spatially explicit manner. Knowing where and why invasion patterns change throughout the landscape enables managers to use context-specific controls on the spread of invasive species. Using high-resolution airborne imaging spectroscopy, we studied plant performance in growth within and across landscapes to examine the dominance and spatial distribution of an invasive tree, Psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava), in heterogeneous environmental conditions of a submontane Hawaiian tropical forest. We assessed invader performance using the GPP ratio index, which is the relative difference in remotely sensed estimates of gross primary productivity between canopies of guava and canopies of the invaded plant community. In addition, we used airborne LiDAR data to evaluate the impacts of guava invasion on the forest aboveground carbon density in different environments. Structural equation modeling revealed that substrate type and elevation a.s.l. interact and amplify landscape-scale differences in productivity between the invasive species and the host plant community (GPP ratio); differences that ultimately control levels of dominance of guava. We found shifts in patterns of forest carbon storage based on both gradual increase of invader dominance and changes in environmental conditions. Overall, our results demonstrate that the remotely sensed index defined as the GPP ratio provided an innovative spatially explicit approach to track and predict the success of invasive plants based in their canopy productivity, particularly within a landscape-scale framework of varying environmental factors such as soils and elevation. This approach may help managers accurately predict where invaders of forests, scrublands, or grasslands are likely to exhibit high levels of dominance before the environment is fully invaded. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Schedulability analysis of mixed-criticality systems with multiple frequency specifications

In mixed-criticality systems functionalities of different criticalities, that need to have their correctness validated to different levels of assurance, co-exist upon a shared platform. Multiple specifications at differing levels of assurance may be provided for such systems; the specifications that are trusted at very high levels of assurance tend to be more conservative than those at lower levels of assurance. Prior research on the scheduling of such mixed-criticality systems has primarily focused upon the case where multiple estimates of the worst-case execution time (WCET) of pieces of code are provided; in this paper, a model is considered in which multiple estimates are instead provided for the rate at which event-triggered processes are executed. An algorithm is derived for scheduling such systems upon a preemptive uniprocessor; the effectiveness of this algorithm is demonstrated quantitatively via the speedup factor metric.
Cost analysis of the History, ECG, Age, Risk factors, and initial Troponin (HEART) Pathway randomized control trial

Abstract Introduction The HEART Pathway is a diagnostic protocol designed to identify low-risk patients presenting to the emergency department with chest pain that are safe for early discharge. This protocol has been shown to significantly decrease health care resource utilization compared with usual care. However, the impact of the HEART Pathway on the cost of care has yet to be reported. Methods and Results We performed a cost analysis of patients enrolled in the HEART Pathway trial, which randomized participants to either usual care or the HEART Pathway protocol. For low-risk patients, the HEART Pathway recommended early discharge from the emergency department without further testing. We compared index visit cost, cost at 30 days, and cardiac-related health care cost at 30 days between the 2 treatment arms. Costs for each patient included facility and professional costs. Cost at 30 days included total inpatient and outpatient costs, including the index encounter, regardless of etiology. Cardiac-related health care cost at 30 days included the index encounter and costs adjudicated to be cardiac-related within that period. Two hundred seventy of the 282 patients enrolled in the trial had cost data available for analysis. There was a significant reduction in cost for the HEART Pathway group at 30 days (median cost savings of $216 per individual), which was most evident in low-risk (Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction score of 0-1) patients (median savings of $253 per patient) and driven primarily by lower cardiac diagnostic costs in the HEART Pathway group. Conclusions Using the HEART Pathway as a decision aid for patients with undifferentiated chest pain resulted in significant cost savings.
Identification of the Lymphatic Drainage Pattern of Esophageal Cancer with Near-Infrared Fluorescent Imaging.

Abstract Objective: Nodal status is one of the most important long-term prognostic factors for esophageal cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of near-infrared (NIR) light fluorescent imaging to identify the lymphatic drainage pattern of esophageal cancer. Methods: Patients with distal esophageal cancer or esophagogastric junction cancer scheduled for esophagectomy were enrolled in this study. Before surgery, an endoscopy was performed with submucosal injection of 2 cc of indocyanine green (ICG) around the tumor. Real-time NIR images from the surgical field were obtained for each patient to visualize the lymphatic ICG drainage. Results: A total of nine patients were included in this study. Ivor Lewis esophagectomy was performed in all cases. ICG drainage was visualized to first drain along the left gastric nodes in eight patients (88.9%) and toward the diaphragmatic nodes in one patient (11.1%). The median number of resected nodes was 32. Three patients (33.3%) presented nodal involve...