cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Career Commitment: A Mediator of the Effects of Job Stress on Pharmacists' Work-Related Attitudes

Abstract Objective: The hypothesis for this study was that career commitment mediates the effects of job stress on several work-related attitudes of pharmacists. The effects of job stress, career commitment, met expectations, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment on job turnover intention were also investigated. Design: Cross-sectional mail survey. Setting: Nationwide sample of licensed pharmacy practitioners in the United States. Participants: 1,088 respondents (full- or part-time chain, independent, or hospital pharmacists) to a previous study. Main Outcome Measures: Rating scales measured each of the study variables. Demographic information was also collected. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling with latent variables. Interventions: None. Results: Responses were received from 653 pharmacists out of 921 contacted (71%). The effects of job stress on job turnover intention were mediated through career commitment, met expectations, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. Career commitment positively affected met expectations (β = 0.35), and met expectations positively affected organizational commitment (β = 0.66) and job satisfaction (β= 0.78). An increase in the mean level of job satisfaction and organizational commitment decreased the likelihood of job turnover intention. Independent pharmacy owners tended to have the most positive attitudes toward work. Conclusion: Strategies should be developed to increase the career commitment of pharmacists. Increased commitment can reduce the negative effects of job stress and improve work-related attitudes.
EFFECT OF VENTILATION ON HYALURONAN PRODUCED IN THE PLEURAL SPACE OF RABBITS

ABSTRACT The goal of these studies was to elucidate the effect of pleural hyaluronan on the mechanical interaction between the lung and the chest wall. In anesthetized rabbits, a 2-fold increase in ventilation for 6 hours resulted in a doubling of the hyaluronan present in pleural liquid. This behavior was reproduced in conscious rabbits with increased ventilation induced by breathing a 3% CO 2 -air mixture in a box for 24 hours. We postulated that the ventilation-induced hyaluronan serves as a boundary lubricant. Its role as a hydrodynamic lubricant was minimal because of its low concentration measured by radioassay (1 μg/ml). The increased hyaluronan was accompanied by an increased filtration, as indicated by arterial pressure and protein kinetics. Thus, it was unclear whether the increased hyaluronan was caused by a sliding-induced increase in pleural liquid shear stress or by a washout of hyaluronan from the pleura by the filtrate. To eliminate the latter, we ventilated rabbits postmortem for three hours. Compared to control rabbits, pleural liquid volume decreased by 30%, while pleural liquid protein concentration increased by 80%, which indicated absorption of protein-free liquid. We used an Alcian blue assay to measure hyaluronan produced in the pleura. Pleural tissue hyaluronan doubled after 3 hours and was considerably greater than pleural liquid hyaluronan. The increased pleural hyaluronan was consistent with an increased shear stress-induced production of hyaluronan from mesothelial cells as pleural volume was reduced. This was supported by a deeper blue stain on the parietal pleura of the chest wall in the postmortem rabbits. Pleural hyaluronan may serve as an effective lubricant when pleural liquid is depleted.
Atypical Ductal Lesions of the Breast: Criteria, Significance, and Laboratory Updates.

Context.— Atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) is a challenging diagnosis defined by cytologic and architectural features that carries an increased risk of subsequent carcinoma when diagnosed in isola...
Creating Scientific Theories with Online Communities using Gut Instinct

People's lived experiences provide intuitions about their health. Can they transform these personal intuitions into scientific theories that inform both science and their lives? My research introduces social computing architectures and system principles for people to brainstorm and test causal scientific theories. These ideas are instantiated in the Gut Instinct system (gutinstinct.ucsd.edu). 344 voluntary online participants from 27 countries created 399 personally-relevant questions about the human microbiome, 75 (19%) of which microbiome experts found potentially scientifically novel. To test their theories, end users design structurally-sound experiments, improve them via community reviews, and run them with other participants. Controlled experiments show that participants create better hypotheses and experimental designs when they have access to procedural training. My research illustrates a novel way to tackle complex, creative tasks online by building expertise in online volunteer communities.
Applications of convex analysis to consensus algorithms, pointwise asymptotic stability, and its robustness

Convex analysis and the theory of differential inclusions with maximal monotone right-hand sides suggests casting consensus algorithms as systems involving switching between such differential inclusions. Convergence of solutions to such switching systems is shown and applications to consensus are presented. Robustness of pointwise asymptotic stability for a single differential inclusion which has some monotonicity-related properties, but needs not be monotone, is shown.
Safer Sex Communication and Sexual Health Behaviors Among a Representative Statewide Sample of Homeless Adolescents.

Homeless adolescents are at substantial risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and unplanned pregnancy; however, little research has assessed fact...
Firearm-Facilitated Sexual Assault: Using Emergency Department Data to Provide a Novel Perspective of the Problem

Firearm-related injury is a significant public health problem within the United States. Efforts to reduce the burden of firearm injury and violence are limited in large part by a lack of robust dat...
When State-Building Hinders Growth: The Legacy of China's Confucian Bureaucracy

Do countries with a long history of state-building fare better in the long run? Recent work has shown that earlier state-building may lead to higher levels of present-day growth. By contrast, I use a natural experiment to show that the regions of China with over a thousand years of sustained exposure to state-building are significantly poorer today. The mechanism of persistence, I argue, was the introduction of a civil service exam based on knowledge of Confucian classics, which strengthened the social prestige of the civil service and weakened the prestige of commerce. A thousand years later, the regions of China where the Confucian bureaucracy was first introduced have a more educated population and more Confucian temples, but lower levels of wealth. The paper contributes to an important debate on the Great Divergence, highlighting how political institutions interact with culture to cause long-run patterns of growth.
Mechanism of Nickel Phyllosilicate Formation by Laser Ablation in Liquid

One-step synthesis of nickel-phyllosilicate (Ni-PS) nanocomposites was achieved using a femtosecond-reactive laser ablation in liquid (fs-RLAL) technique. The focusing of intense femtosecond laser ...
Autonomous Robot Teams for Lunar Mining Base Construction and Operation

There is growing interest in expanding beyond space exploration and pursuing the dream of living and working in space. The next critical step towards living and working in space requires kick-starting a space economy. One important challenge with this space-economy is ensuring the ready supply and low-cost availability of raw materials. The escape delta-v of 11.2 km/s from Earth makes transportation of materials from Earth very costly. Transporting materials from the Moon takes 2.4 km/s and from Mars 5.0 km/s. Based on these factors, the Moon and Mars can become colonies to export material into this space economy. One critical question is what are the resources required to sustain a space economy? Water has been identified as a critical resource both to sustain human-life but also for use in propulsion, attitude-control, power, thermal storage and radiation protection systems. Water may be obtained off-world through In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) in the course of human or robotic space exploration. The Moon is also rich in iron, titanium and silicon. Based upon these important findings, we plan on developing an energy model to determine the feasibility of developing a mining base on the Moon. This mining base mines and principally exports water, titanium and steel. The moon has been selected, as there are significant reserves of water known to exists at the permanently shadowed crater regions and there are significant sources of titanium and iron throughout the Moon's surface. Our designs for a mining base utilize renewable energy sources namely photovoltaics and solar-thermal concentrators to provide power to construct the base, keep it operational and export water and other resources using a Mass Driver. However, the site where large quantities of water are present lack sunlight and hence the water needs to be transported using rail from the southern region to base located at mid latitude. Using the energy model developed, we will determine the energy per Earth-day to export 100 tons each of water, titanium and low-grade steel into Lunar escape velocity and to the Earth-Moon Lagrange points. Our study of water and metal mining on the Moon found the key to keeping the mining base efficient is to make it robotic. Teams of robots (consisting of 300 infrastructure robots) would be used to construct the entire base using locally available resources and fully operate the base. This would decrease energy needs by 15-folds. Furthermore, the base can be built 15-times faster using robotics and 3D printing. This shows that automation and robotics is the key to making such a base technologically feasible. The Moon is a lot closer to Earth than Mars and the prospect of having a greater impact on the space economy cannot be stressed. Our study intends to determine the cost-benefit analysis of lunar resource mining.
Health education workshops with children in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective Describe the experience of extension activities in the prevention of COVID-19 with children from public school system. Methods Experience report of critical and reflexive approach on the extension experience of the project "Healthcare at School" (Atencao a Saude na Escola), in the COVID-19 pandemic context, in a countryside town in the State of Goias, in March 2020. Results It is carried out five hand sanitizing workshops as a prevention for COVID-19 with 57 children from 2 to 5 years old in the State of Goias. Final considerations The playful approach in a low-cost workshop format was a strategy to meet an emergency requirement of the Community in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The role of civic literacy in infodemic management

Earlier this year, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners called for their Member States to develop action plans to promote science-based inform...
Visual Acuity Testing for Telehealth Using Mobile Applications.

Importance The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic illustrates the increasingly important role of telemedicine as a method of clinician-patient interaction. However, electronic applications (apps) for the testing of ophthalmology vital signs, such as visual acuity, can be published and used without any verification of accuracy, validity, or reliability. Objective To reassess the accuracy of visual acuity-testing apps and assess their viability for telehealth. Design, setting, and participants The US Apple App Store was queried for apps for visual acuity testing. Anticipated optotype size for various visual acuity lines were calculated and compared against the actual measured optotype size on 4 different Apple hardware devices. No human participants were part of this study. Main outcomes and measures Mean (SD) errors were calculated per device and across multiple devices. Results On iPhones, 10 apps met inclusion criteria, with mean errors ranging from 0.2% to 109.9%. On the iPads, 9 apps met inclusion criteria, with mean errors ranging from 0.2% to 398.1%. Six apps met criteria and worked on both iPhone and iPad, with mean errors from 0.2% to 249.5%. Of the 6 apps that worked across devices, the top 3 most accurate apps were Visual Acuity Charts (mean [SD] error, 0.2% [0.0%]), Kay iSight Test Professional (mean [SD] error, 3.5% [0.7%]), and Smart Optometry (mean [SD] error, 15.9% [4.3%]). None of the apps tested were ideal for telemedicine, because some apps displayed accurate optotype size, while others displayed the same letters on separate devices; no apps exhibited both characteristics. Conclusions and relevance Both Visual Acuity Charts and Kay iSight Test Professional had low mean (SD) errors and functionality across all tested devices, but no apps were suitable for telemedicine. This suggests that new and/or improved visual acuity-testing apps are necessary for optimal telemedicine use.
Antibiotics in treatment of COVID-19 complications: a review of frequency, indications, and efficacy.

Abstract Objectives To report available information in the literature regarding frequency, indications, types of antibiotic usage, duration, and their efficacy in Covid-19 infected patients. Methods The search was conducted on April 30 and May 7, 2020, using Ovid database and Google search. Patients’ characteristics, clinical outcomes, as well as selected characteristics regarding antibiotic use (indication, class used, rates and types of bacterial secondary and co-infection, and duration of treatment) were analyzed. Results Nineteen clinical studies reporting data from 2834 patients were included. Mean rate of antibiotic use was 74.0 % of cases. Half the studies reported occurrence of a bacterial co-infection or complication (10 studies). Amongst the latter, at least 17.6 % of patients who received antibiotics had secondary infections. Pooled data of 4 studies show that half of patients receiving antibiotics were not severe nor critical. Detailed data on antibiotic use lack in most articles. Conclusions The present review found a major use of antibiotics amongst Covid-19 hospitalized patients, mainly in an empirical setting. There is no proven efficacy of this practice. Further research to determine relevant indications for antibiotic use in Covid-19 patients is critical in view of the significant mortality associated with secondary infections in these patients, and the rising antimicrobial resistance.
The Financial Restitution Gap in Consumer Finance: Insights from Complaints Filed with the CFPB

Consumers seek restitution for disputed financial services by filing complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). We find that filings from low-socioeconomic (i.e., low-income and African American) zip codes were 30% less likely to be resolved with the consumer receiving financial restitution. At the same time, low- and high-socioeconomic zip codes submitted an equal share of the CFPB complaints. The socioeconomic gap in financial restitution was scarcely present under the Obama administration, but grew substantially under the Trump administration. We attribute the change in financial restitution under different political regimes to companies anticipating a more industry-friendly CFPB, as well as to the more industry-friendly leadership of the CFPB achieving less financial restitution for low-socioeconomic filers. The financial restitution gap cannot be explained by differences in product usage nor the quality of complaints, which we measure using textual analysis.
Frailty and Quality of Life After Cochlear Implantation in Older Adults

ObjectiveTo examine the relationship among frailty index, hearing measures, and hearing-related quality of life (QOL) in older recipients of cochlear implants.Study DesignCross-sectional survey.Set...
Aortic Arch Anomalies: Aortic Arch Interruption

The interrupted aortic arch is very rare and occurs in about 1% of the infants with critical congenital heart disease. Perfusion distal to the interruption is dependent on the patency of the ductus arteriosus. Unrecognized and untreated cases have a median age of death at 4–10 days of life. Management of the interruption requires timely diagnosis, use of prostaglandin E infusion immediately after birth to ensure end-organ perfusion, and eventual surgical repair of the interruption. Very rarely there have been cases of patients surviving longer with significant collaterals supplying the lower half of the body. High-quality echocardiography can reveal types of interrupted aortic arch and associated cardiac lesions. Cardiac CT angiogram has played a very important role in delineating details of the interrupted aortic arch, absence/presence of collaterals, intersegmental distance to plan appropriate surgical approaches, and follow-up study to evaluate recurrent coarctation postoperatively.
Beyond city limits: infrastructural regionalism in rural Montana, USA

Regional infrastructures are a main object of governance questions in urban contexts, yet similar phenomena in rural areas are underexplored. Rural public institutions serve small populations dispe...
Habeas Marinus: A Proposal in Ocean Law

The lawyer and the social scientist must anticipate the problems arising from man's technical expansion. Submarine colonialism is not yet a major international issue, but it could become one in the 1970's. The term refers to a possible race among nations to appropriate the sea-bed and the riches lying over and under it. The incentive for such appropriation becomes stronger with every advance in man's ability to live and work under the ocean's surface. Illustrative of the treasures waiting to be tapped in the future is the rich concentration of gold, silver, zinc and copper ores recently found in just one area under the Red Sea at a depth of 7,000 feet. A very conservative estimate puts the value of ores in this deposit alone at about 1.5 billion dollars.
Proactive RSA with Non-interactive Signing

We show the first proactive RSA scheme with a fully non-interactive signature protocol. The scheme is secure and robust with the optimal threshold of t tamong ntrustees which implement a proactive RSA scheme, the trustees do not need to communicate between each other, and simply respond with a single "partial signature" message to the requester, who can reconstruct the standard RSA signature from the first t+ 1 responses he receives. The computation costs incurred by each party are comparable to standard RSA signature computation. Such non-interactive signature protocol was known for threshold RSA [1], but previous proactive RSA schemes [2,3] required all trustees to participate in the signature generation, which made these schemes impractical in many networking environments. On the other hand, proactivity, i.e. an ability to refresh the secret-sharing of the signature key between the trustees, not only makes threshold cryptosystems more secure, but it is actually a crucial component for any threshold scheme in practice, since it allows for secure replacement of a trustee in case of repairs, hardware upgrades, etc. The proactive RSA scheme we present shows that it is possible to have the best of both worlds: A highly practical non-interactive signature protocol andan ability to refresh the secret-sharing of the signature key. This brings attack-resilient implementations of root sources of trust in any cryptographic scheme closer to practice.
Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the nervous system

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses about nicotine acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) in the nervous system. AChRs channels are widely expressed in the nervous system where they are involved in signaling, neurological disease, and motivational/addictive behaviors. Like their relatives in muscle and electric organ, neuronal AChRs are pentameric transmembrane proteins belonging to a superfamily of ligand-gated ion channels that also includes GABAA, glycine and serotonin (5-HT 3 ) receptors. In each case, the occupation of the receptor's ligand binding domain by agonist induces an allosteric interaction among its constituent subunits causing the channel domain to make a transition from closed to open state. Despite these similarities, there are important differences among individual members of the ligand-gated ion channel superfamily, specifically between AChRs on neurons and those on muscle fibers. In particular, when compared with muscle AChRs, neuronal AChRs are assembled from a broader palette of homologous yet distinct subunits, resulting in a much wider array of receptor subtypes. This chapter provides an introduction to basic structural and functional features of AChRs. It describes the structural elements, and functions associated with neuronal AChRs by summarizing and updating information on these topics from previous treatments. It also addresses more recent findings that implicate AChRs in novel functional processes.
Cross-sectional associations of pulmonary function with systemic inflammation and oxidative stress in individuals with chronic spinal cord injury

Context/Objective: Systemic inflammation, and to a lesser extent oxidative stress, have been associated with reduced pulmonary function. Our objective was to evaluate the associations between biomarkers of inflammation (C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6)) and novel makers of global oxidative stress (fluorescent oxidation products (FLOx)) with spirometric and lung volume measures in individuals with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI).Design: Cross-sectional study.Setting: Veterans Affairs Medical Center.Participants: One-hundred thirty-seven men with chronic SCI participating in an epidemiologic study.Methods: Participants provided a blood sample, completed health questionnaires, and underwent pulmonary function testing, including helium dilution measurement of functional residual capacity (FRC). General linear models were used to model associations between increasing quartiles of inflammation or oxidative stress with each outcome measure, after adjustment for a number of potential confounders.Ou...
Environmental contaminants in blood, hair, and tissues of ocelots from the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas, 1986-1997

The ocelot (Felis pardalis) is an endangered neotropical cat distributed within a small range in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV), in Texas, U.S.A. Studies of the impacts of envir- onmental contaminants in wild cats are few. Approximately one fourth of the estimated population (about 100) of ocelots in the LRGV was sampled to evaluate the impacts of chlorinated pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, and trace elements on the population. Hair was collected from 32 ocelots trapped between 1986-1992, and blood was collected from 20 ocelots trapped between 1993-1997. A few blood samples were obtained from individuals recaptured two or three times. Tissue samples from 4 road-killed ocelots were also analyzed. DDE, PCBs, and Hg were some of the most common contaminants detected in hair and blood. Mean Hg levels in hair ranged from 0.5 to 1.25 gg 1 dw, Se from 1.5 to 3.48 gg 1 dw, and Pb from 0.56 to 26.8 gg 1 dw. Mean DDE concentrations in plasma ranged from 0.005 gg 1 ww to 0.153 gg 1 ww, and PCBs ranged from 0.006 gg 1 ww to 0.092 gg 1 ww. Mean Hg levels in red blood cells ranged from 0.056 gg 1 dw to 0.25g g 1 dw. Concentrations of DDE, PCBs, or Hg, did not increase significantly with age, although the highest concentrations of DDE and Hg were found in older animals. Overall, concentrations of DDE, PCBs, and Hg were low and at levels that currently do not pose any threat to health or survival of the ocelot. This is further supported by good reproduction of the ocelot in the LRGV, where adult females averaged about 1.5 kittens/litter. Thus, it seems that the current major threat to recovery of the ocelot in the LRGV may be habitat loss, although potential impacts of new generation pesticides, such as organophosphorus and carbamate insecticides need further study.
Unlocking the Hidden Value of Concepts: A Cognitive Approach to Business Model Innovation

We advance a theory of how business models can be innovated proactively in the absence of exogenous changes, through processes of generative cognition. We contribute to the cognitive perspective in strategy by analyzing business models as schemas that organize managerial understandings about the design of firms' value-creating activities and exchanges and by theorizing how they can be innovated through processes for proactive schema change. Drawing on cognitive psychology research on two major cognitive processes through which individuals change their schema to cope with novelty, analogical reasoning and conceptual combination, we theorize firm-level strategic processes for designing innovative business models. Copyright © 2015 Strategic Management Society.
Effect of the probiotic Enterococcus faecium SF68 on presence of diarrhea in cats and dogs housed in an animal shelter.

Background: Beneficial effects of probiotics have never been analyzed in an animal shelter. Hypothesis: Dogs and cats housed in an animal shelter and administered a probiotic are less likely to have diarrhea of ≥2 days duration than untreated controls. Animals: Two hundred and seventeen cats and 182 dogs. Methods: Double blinded and placebo controlled. Shelter dogs and cats were housed in 2 separate rooms for each species. For 4 weeks, animals in 1 room for each species was fed Enterococcus faecium SF68 while animals in the other room were fed a placebo. After a 1-week washout period, the treatments by room were switched and the study continued an additional 4 weeks. A standardized fecal score system was applied to feces from each animal every day by a blinded individual. Feces of animals with and without diarrhea were evaluated for enteric parasites. Data were analyzed by a generalized linear mixed model using a binomial distribution with treatment being a fixed effect and the room being a random effect. Results: The percentage of cats with diarrhea ≥2 days was significantly lower (P= .0297) in the probiotic group (7.4%) when compared with the placebo group (20.7%). Statistical differences between groups of dogs were not detected but diarrhea was uncommon in both groups of dogs during the study. Conclusion and Clinical Importance: Cats fed SF68 had fewer episodes of diarrhea of ≥2 days when compared with controls suggests the probiotic may have beneficial effects on the gastrointestinal tract.
TFP5, a Peptide Derived from p35, a Cdk5 Neuronal Activator, Rescues Cortical Neurons from Glucose Toxicity

Multiple lines of evidence link the incidence of diabetes to the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Patients with diabetes have a 50 to 75% increased risk of developing AD. Cyclin dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) is a serine/threonine protein kinase, which forms active complexes with p35 or p39, found principally in neurons and in pancreatic β cells. Recent studies suggest that Cdk5 hyperactivity is a possible link between neuropathology seen in AD and diabetes. Previously, we identified P5, a truncated 24-aa peptide derived from the Cdk5 activator p35, later modified as TFP5, so as to penetrate the blood-brain barrier after intraperitoneal injections in AD model mice. This treatment inhibited abnormal Cdk5 hyperactivity and significantly rescued AD pathology in these mice. The present study explores the potential of TFP5 peptide to rescue high glucose (HG)-mediated toxicity in rat embryonic cortical neurons. HG exposure leads to Cdk5-p25 hyperactivity and oxidative stress marked by increased reactive oxygen species production, and decreased glutathione levels and superoxide dismutase activity. It also induces hyperphosphorylation of tau, neuroinflammation as evident from the increased expression of inflammatory cytokines like TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6, and apoptosis. Pretreatment of cortical neurons with TFP5 before HG exposure inhibited Cdk5-p25 hyperactivity and significantly attenuated oxidative stress by decreasing reactive oxygen species levels, while increasing superoxide dismutase activity and glutathione. Tau hyperphosphorylation, inflammation, and apoptosis induced by HG were also considerably reduced by pretreatment with TFP5. These results suggest that TFP5 peptide may be a novel candidate for type 2 diabetes therapy.
MGAP applications in machine perception

Since image processing tasks in machine perception are computationally intensive, massively parallel processing is often employed to exploit the inherent parallelism. Some pioneering researchers have developed massively parallel processing systems including the CLIP family, the MPP, and the CM. All of these systems however, are hard to use in machine perception systems because of their expensiveness and physical size. To tackle these problems we developed an inexpensive and easily portable massively parallel processing system, the MGAP (Micro Grained Array Processor). The MGAP is a very fine grained, massively parallel, programmable array processor which is designed to be used as a low cost massively parallel coprocessor board in a desktop workstation. We discuss the versatile applications of the MGAP for image processing subtasks including an efficient histogramming algorithm, the systolic 2D Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), and the Dynamic Space Warping Algorithm (DSWA).
Calorimetric study of the phase transitions in graphite intercalated with iodine monochloride

Abstract Differential scanning calorimetry on graphite-ICl intercalation compounds of stages 1–4 showed that the melting temperature of graphite-ICl increases with stage, such that the melting temperature is 305, 309, 311, 312 and 315 K for stages 1, 2, 3, 4, and the residue material, respectively.
Traveling wave solutions in the Burridge-Knopoff model

The slider-block Burridge-Knopoff model with the Coulomb friction law is studied as an excitable medium. It is shown that in the continuum limit the system admits solutions in the form of self-sustained shock waves traveling with constant speed which depends only on the amount of accumulated stress in front of the wave. For a wide class of initial conditions the behavior of the system is determined by these shock waves and the dynamics of the system can be expressed in terms of their motion. The solutions in the form of the periodic wave trains and sources of counterpropagating waves are analyzed. It is argued that depending on the initial conditions the system will either tend to synchronize or exhibit chaotic spatiotemporal behavior.
Medical resistance to innovation

A certain amount of resistance to new ideas is normal and functional in science providing the innovations have a means of being tested. A number of differences between medicine and pure science are noted which can result in some medical innovations being ignored or rejected without an adequate assessment. Historical and current instances of resistance to innovation are given. Social-organizational factors in medicine appear to favor the acceptance of theoretically glamorous, pharmaceutical, and high technology innovations over simpler and less profitable ones.
Temporal trends in colorectal procedure use after colorectal cancer resection

Background After curative cancer resection, routine colon surveillance is recommended. It is not known whether trends over time in cancer survivors parallel that of the general population. Objective Our purpose was to describe temporal changes in the use of posttreatment procedures. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Linked tumor registry and Medicare claims data. Patients Medicare beneficiaries >65 years old who were diagnosed with local or regional stage colorectal cancer from 1992-2002 and who underwent surgical resection. Main Outcome Measurements Use of colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, or barium enema within 1 year, 18 months, or 3 years of diagnosis. Results A total of 62,882 patients were followed up for 1 year and 35,784 for 3 years. Colonoscopy within 1 year was performed in 25.9%, within 18 months in 53.8%, and within 3 years in 70.3%. Corresponding rates for sigmoidoscopy were 7.4%, 10.2%, and 14.9%, respectively, and were 3.4%, 5.1%, and 7.9%, respectively, for barium enema. There was a decrease over time in the receipt of colonoscopy within 1 year of diagnosis (31.3% in 1992 to 20.6% in 2002), no change in 18-month rates, and a smaller increase in colonoscopy use within 3 years (66.5% to 72.3%). The use of sigmoidoscopy and barium enema declined over time. Overall procedure use within 1 year and 18 months also decreased and 3-year rates were essentially unchanged. These differences were maintained in multivariate analyses. Limitations Accuracy of procedure coding and indications for tests could not be measured. Conclusions Temporal trends in procedure use in cancer survivors were consistent with the general population. Importantly, despite guideline recommendations and Medicare reimbursement, 25% of patients who undergo curative treatment do not receive surveillance examinations and this was unchanged over time.
Extending the Dewanji and Kalbfleisch model to incorporate marker data

The model of Dewanji and Kalbfleisch for the estimation of time to tumour onset from a serial-sacrifice experiment is extended to include a marker state prior to the onset of the tumour. There are two versions of the model, one where a tumour is allowed to develop without the onset of marker, the other where a tumour develops after the marker but in which the marker later becomes unobservable.
What are the Social Benefits of Homeownership? Experimental Evidence of Low-Income Households

We estimate the social benefits of homeownership using an exogenous instrument based on randomly assigned treatment status from a field experiment that subsidized saving for home purchase for low-income renters through Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). This approach attempts to eliminate the potential correlation present in previous analyses between unobserved individual characteristics leading to homeownership and traits leading to provision of social capital or local amenities. Consistent with previous work, we show that homeownership positively affects political engagement in simple probits. Instrumental variable probits, however, show no impact of homeownership on political involvement. IV results for other social outcomes are less conclusive. The analysis suggests that with the use of an exogenous instrument, it is possible to generate results that are different from the previous literature. Our results also suggest that being eligible to open an IDA did not spur households to provide more social capital or local amenities.
Slice‐thickness artifacts in gray‐scale ultrasound

We have become increasingly aware of the presence of a type of image artifact normally appearing in anechoic areas (eg, cyst, bladder, gallbladder) and giving the appearance of "sludge" or "debris." These artifactual echoes may be caused by the fact that the finite width of the transducer beam pattern produces a finite thickness of the patient scan plane. All echoes produced in this "thick" scan plane are misinterpreted as being due to structures in the normally assumed "thin" scan plane. We have tested and verified this hypothesis by simulating soft tissue interfaces with 400 grit silicon carbide sandpaper in a water tank. A set of clues are proposed to enable the rapid identification of these artifacts.
Use of amrinone and glucagon in a case of calcium channel blocker overdose

Hypotension resulting from calcium channel blocker ingestion often is refractory to standard therapeutic modalities. Amrinone and glucagon have been used separately and in combination with other agents in the treatment of calcium channel blocker overdose. We report the successful use of both amrinone and glucagon in the treatment of a 30-year-old woman who ingested 3.6 g of verapamil and presented with refractory hypotension. The use of the two agents together may provide improved inotropic support with minimal increases in myocardial oxygen consumption. In this case, the combination of amrinone and glucagon was safe and effective in the management of the hemodynamic instability associated with calcium channel blocker overdose.
The effect of spatial and temporal accumulation rate variability in west Antarctica on soluble ion deposition

Annually-dated snowpit and ice core records from two areas of West Antarctica are used to investigate spatial accumulation patterns and to evaluate temporal accumulation rate/glaciochemical concentration and flux relationships. Mean accumulation rate gradients in Marie Byrd Land (11–23 gcm−2yr−1 over 150 km, decreasing to the south) and Siple Dome (10–18 gcm−2yr−1 over 60 km, decreasing to the south) are consistent for at least the last several decades, and demonstrate the influence of the offshore quasi-permanent Amundsen Sea low pressure system on moisture flux into the region. Local and regional-scale topography in both regions appears to affect orographic lifting, air mass trajectories, and accumulation distribution. Linear regression of mean annual soluble ion concentration and flux data vs. accumulation rates in both regions indicates that 1) concentrations are independent of and thus not a rescaling of accumulation rate time-series, and 2) chemical flux to the ice sheet surface is mainly via wet deposition, and changes in atmospheric concentration play a significant role. We therefore suggest that, in the absence of detailed air/snow transfer models, ice core chemical concentration and not flux time-series provide a better estimate of past aerosol loading in West Antarctica.
Comments on a recent calculation for 17Na

I point out serious flaws in a recent calculation of energies and widths for levels of 17Na.
Self-oscillations of a cusped bubble rising through a micellar solution

Observations of the motion of a rising bubble in a wormlike micellar system are presented, obtained in both a rotating toroidal cell and a stationary box. For equimolar concentrations of aqueous CTAB/NaSal (8–11 mM), bubbles larger than a certain volume undergo oscillations in shape which include an apparent cusp. The average frequency of these oscillations is found to increase with bubble volume.
Mode of International Entry: An Isomorphism Perspective

The determination of entry-modes is examined using an institutional theory framework. Two sources of isomorphic pressures affect a strategic business unit's (SBU) entry-mode choice: (1) host country institutional environment, and (2) internal institutional environment (the parent organization). SBUs were hypothesized to adopt similar organizational forms, structures, policies, and practices, thus becoming isomorphic, based on felt pressures to conform to behavioral norms within the environments. The results indicated that SBUs using wholly-owned entry-modes demonstrated high levels of internal (parent) isomorphism; those using exporting, joint ventures, or licensing agreements demonstrated external isomorphism; and those using multiple or mixed entry-mode demonstrated low levels of isomorphic pressures.
Enantioselective Total Synthesis of (+)-Gliocladine C: Convergent Construction of Cyclotryptamine-Fused Polyoxopiperazines and a General Approach for Preparing Epidithiodioxopiperazines from Trioxopiperazine Precursors

A concise second-generation total synthesis of the fungal-derived alkaloid (+)-gliocladin C (11) in 10 steps and 11% overall yield from isatin is reported. In addition, the epipolythiodioxopiperazine (ETP) natural product (+)-gliocladine C (6) has been prepared in six steps and 29% yield from the di-(tert-butoxycarbonyl) precursor of 11. The total synthesis of 6 constitutes the first total synthesis of an ETP natural product containing a hydroxyl substituent adjacent to a quaternary carbon stereocenter in the pyrrolidine ring.
Dispersion of hyperenhancement in late gadolinium enhancement cardiovascular magnetic resonance measured with Moran's I is associated with a decrement in LVEF 6 months after cardiotoxic chemotherapy

Background In animals and human subjects, an increase in background signal intensity observed on late gadolinium enhanced (LGE-SI) images is associated with a decrement in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) during receipt of anthracycline chemotherapy. Moran’ sIs tatistic is a measurement of spatial dispersion of hyperenhanced voxels relative to the mean myocardial LGE-SI, ranging from highly clustered (I=+1) to highly diffuse (I=-1) (Figure 1). We hypothesize that a change in the distribution of hyperenhanced voxels (due to the development of high signal “micro clusters”) is associated with a decrement in LVEF after cardiotoxic chemotherapy. Methods We performed a prospective, extramurally-funded longitudinal cohort study of 51 participants (43 women, 8 men; aged 52±2 years) scheduled to receive 3 to 4 months of potentially cardiotoxic chemotherapy (anthracycline or trastuzumab) for treatment of breast cancer or hematologic malignancy. Before and then 3 and 6 months after chemotherapy initiation, participants underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) assessments of LVEF, LGE-SI, and Moran’s I statistic determined by personnel blinded to participant identifiers and all other aspects of the analyses. Results were analyzed using paired Student’s t-tests to test for a difference between baseline and subsequent examinations, and one-way ANOVA to test for trending change. All values are reported as mean ± standard deviation with p-values<0.05 considered statistically signficant.
The role of anxiety and arousal attribution in cheating

Abstract Previous research indicated that anticipating arousal symptoms (rather than benign) from a placebo pill reduced inhibiting emotion in men, resulting in more cheating. The effect did not occur for women. Using 180 males, Study I tested whether the placebo effect was due to mere attention to arousal symptoms, or whether attribution to the pill was required. In the placebo-attribution condition the arousal placebo facilitated cheating (p
On multifluids description of shock structure with radiation

Abstract Possible improvements of the description of shock structure are discussed with improved Navier-Stokes equations obtained for a multifluids system with non-equilibrium radiation and ionization.
Theory of Lubrication due to Poly-Electrolyte Polymer Brushes

It is shown using a method based on the mean field theory of Miklavic Marcelja that it should be possible for osmotic pressure due to the counterions associated with the two polyelectrolyte polymer brush coated surfaces to support a reasonable load (i.e., about 105 Pa) with the brushes held sufficiently far apart to prevent entanglement of polymers belonging to the two brushes, thus avoiding what is likely to be the dominant mechanisms for static and dry friction.
Four Human Thiopurine S-Methyltransferase Alleles Severely Affect Protein Structure and Dynamics

Thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) metabolizes cytotoxic thiopurine drugs used in the treatment of leukemia and inflammatory bowel disease. TPMT is a major pharmacogenomic target with 23 alleles identified to date. Several of these alleles cause rapid protein degradation and/or aggregation, making it extremely difficult to study the structural impact of the TPMT polymorphisms experimentally. We, therefore, have performed multiple molecular dynamics simulations of the four most common alleles [TPMT*2 (A80P), *3A (A154T/Y240C), *3B (A154T) and *3C (Y240C)] to investigate the molecular mechanism of TPMT inactivation at an atomic level. The A80P polymorphism in TPMT*2 disrupts helix alpha3 bordering the active site, which breaks several salt-bridge interactions and opens up a large cleft in the protein. The A154T polymorphism is located within the co-substrate binding site. The larger threonine alters the packing of substrate-binding residues (P68, L69, Y166), increasing the solvent exposure of the polymorphic site. This packing rearrangement may account for the complete lack of activity in the A154T mutant. The Y240C polymorphism is located in beta-strand 9, distant from the active site. Side-chain contacts between residue 240 and helix alpha8 are lost in TPMT*3C. Residues 154 and 240 in TPMT*3A are connected through a hydrogen-bonding network. The dual polymorphisms result in a flattened, slightly distorted protein structure and an increase in the thiopurine-binding site solvent accessibility. The two variants that undergo the most rapid degradation in vivo, TPMT*2 and *3A, are also the most deformed in the simulations.
Several glutathione S-transferase isozymes that protect against oxidative injury are expressed in human liver mitochondria.

Abstract The mitochondrial environment is rich in reactive oxygen species (ROS) that may ultimately peroxidize membrane proteins and generate unsaturated aldehydes such as 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (4HNE). We had previously demonstrated the presence of hGSTA4-4, an efficient catalyst of 4HNE detoxification, in human liver mitochondria to the exclusion of the cytosol. In the present study, GSH-affinity chromatography was used in conjunction with biochemical and proteomic analysis to determine the presence of additional cytosolic glutathione S -transferases (GSTs) in human hepatic mitochondria. HPLC-subunit analysis of GSH affinity-purified liver mitochondrial proteins indicated the presence of several potential mitochondrial GST isoforms. Electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry analysis of eluted mitochondrial GST subunits yielded molecular masses similar to those of hGSTP1, hGSTA1 and hGSTA2. Octagonal matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry and proteomics analysis using MS-FIT confirmed the presence of these three GST subunits in mitochondria, and HPLC analysis indicated that the relative contents of the mitochondrial GST subunits were hGSTA1 > hGSTA2 > hGSTP1. The mitochondrial localization of the alpha and pi class GST subunits was consistent with immunoblotting analysis of purified mitochondrial GST. Enzymatic studies using GSH-purified mitochondrial GST fractions demonstrated the presence of significant GST activity using the nonspecific GST substrate 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB), as well as 4HNE, δ 5 -androstene-3,17-dione (ADI), and cumene hydroperoxide (CuOOH). Interestingly, the specific mitochondrial GST activities toward 4HNE, a highly toxic α,β-unsaturated aldehyde produced during the breakdown of membrane lipids, exceeded that observed in liver cytosol. These observations are suggestive of a role of GST in protecting against mitochondrial injury during the secondary phase of oxidative stress, or modulation of 4HNE-mediated mitochondrial signaling pathways. However, other properties of mitochondrial GST, such as conjugation of environmental chemicals and binding of lipophilic non-substrate xenobiotics and endogenous compounds, remain to be investigated.