cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Structural requirements for the activation of human factor VIII by thrombin

The coagulation factors V (FV) and VIII (FVIII) are important at sites of vascular injury for the amplification of the clotting cascade. Natural variants of these factors frequently lead to severe bleeding disorders. To understand the mechanisms of activation of FVIII by thrombin, we used a bank of mutant thrombins to define residues important for its activation. From the initial screening of 53 mutant thrombins for the activation of human recombinant FVIII, we mapped thrombin mutants with 50% or less activity to anion-binding exosite-I (Lys21Ala, His66Ala, Lys65Ala, Arg68Ala, Arg70Ala, and Tyr71Ala) and anion-binding exosite-II (Arg98Ala), the Na+-binding site (Glu229Ala, Arg233Ala, Asp234Ala, and Asp193Ala/Lys196Ala), and the 50-insertion loop (Trp50Ala), which were similar to our results for the activation of FV. The role of these residues for cleavage at Arg372 and Arg1689 was investigated using plasma FVIII. Anion-binding exosite-I appears to be important for cleavage at both sites, whereas the anion-binding exosite-II residue Arg98Ala is important for cleavage at Arg372 alone. The Glu229Ala mutant, which contributes to the Na+-binding site, and the 50-insertion loop mutant W50A have severely impaired cleavage at Arg372 and Arg1689. This suggests that the integrity of the active site and the Na+-bound form of thrombin are important for its procoagulant activity against FVIII. Detailed mutagenic analysis of thrombin can assist in understanding the pathogenesis of bleeding disorders and may lead to the rational design of selective thrombin inhibitors.
Unmarked graves: The destruction of the Yugoslav Roma in the Balkan Holocaust, 1941–1945 1

(1999). Unmarked graves: The destruction of the Yugoslav Roma in the Balkan Holocaust, 1941–1945. Journal of Genocide Research: Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 81-89.
A critique of the role of serotonergic neurons in the phasic release of LH and in reproductive senescence

Abstract While the dysynchrony hypothesis proposed by Dr. Walker is an attractive explanation for the brain mechanism of reproductive acyclicity, it suffers from a paucity of data associating alterations in SCN 5HT neuronal activity with the onset of reproductive senescence and a relative lack of specificity of “serotonergic” drugs used to test this hypothesis.
Crystal growth and scintillation properties of Ce3+-doped KGd2Cl7

Abstract In this work, we report the crystal growth of KGd 2 Cl 7 :Ce via the vertical gradient freeze method. Various Ce concentrations from 0.5 to 10 at% have been tested to study the effect of dopant concentration on scintillation performance. The KGd 2 Cl 7 :Ce crystals have demonstrated good properties for gamma-ray and thermal neutron detection. Scintillation light yield of ∼30,000 ph/MeV and principal scintillation decay of 50 ns were measured for KGd 2 Cl 7 :Ce 3%. The crystals exhibited layered structure with cleavage planes.
Efficient terahertz coupling lens based on planar photonic crystals on silicon on insulator.

We present a promising coupling device, namely, a terahertz (THz) planar photonic crystal (PhC) lens based on the effective refractive-index contrast between the PhC and the surrounding unpatterned area. Three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain calculations show a 90% power transfer from a 100-?m silicon waveguide to a 10-?m waveguide, and 45% coupling efficiency is confirmed experimentally. These results demonstrate the utility of the PhC lens as an effective approach to coupling into PhC THz circuits.
Squamous cell differentiation in a clonal teratocarcinoma cell line.

Several clonal teratocarcinoma cell lines restricted to squamous cell differentiation have been established from a subculture of totipotential murine teratocarcinoma stem cells. These lines contain a continuum of cell types from less differentiated precursor cells to differentiated squamous cells. In contrast to their highly malignant progenitors, these cells are nontumorigenic. Chromosomally, the cells are near-tetraploid, and their DNA distributions are tetraploid. These cell lines may prove useful in the study of normal squamous cell differentiation and also will be important in studies concerning the conversion of malignant cells to non-malignant progeny.
Modeling/simulating the injection molding of isotactic polypropylene

A unified formulation is presented for modeling the injection molding of isotactic polypropylene (i-PP). The crystallization kinetics are based upon the differential Nakamura equation in which the characteristic time is dependent upon temperature, pressure and flow-induced shear stress, without any explicit need for an induction time. A Cross/WLF model is used to represent the shear viscosity in which η 0 is dependent upon temperature, pressure and crystallinity. Use is made of a recent correlation for the PVT behavior of i-PP with an explicit dependence upon crystallinity. A finite-difference implementation of the modeling is applied to two independent molding experiments available from the literature, with notable results concerning the late-time cavity pressure traces and time-dependent gapwise shrinkage prior to ejection.
Holistic lexicon reduction for handwritten word recognition

The holistic paradigm in HWR has been applied to recognition scenarios involving small, static lexicons, such as the check amount recognition task. In this paper, we explore the possibility of using holistic information for lexicon reduction when the lexicons are large or dynamic, and training, in the traditional sense of learning decision surfaces from training samples of each class, is not viable. Two experimental lexicon reduction methods are described. The first uses perceptual features such as ascenders, descenders and length and achieves consistent reduction performance with cursive, discrete and mixed writing styles. A heuristic feature-synthesis algorithm is used to 'predict' holistic features of lexicon entries, which are matched against image features using a constrained bipartite graph matching scheme. With essentially unconstrained handwritten words, this system achieves reduction of 50% with less than 2% error. More effective reduction can be achieved if the problem can be constrained by making assumptions about the nature of input. The second classifier described operates on pure cursive script and achieves effective reduction of large lexicons of the order of 20,000 entries. Downstrokes are extracted from the contour representation of cursive words by grouping local extrema using a small set of heuristic rules. The relative heights of downstrokes are captured in a string descriptor that is syntactically matched with lexicon entries using a set of production rules. In initial tests, the system achieved high reduction (99%) at the expense of accuracy (75%).© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Synthesis of milk fat in the bovine mammary gland.

Summary Milk fat synthesis was studied in normal lactating dairy cows following the intra-mammary infusion of C 14 -labeled glycerol, glucose, acetate, propionate, and butyrate. The metabolite under investigation was infused into one quarter (or half) of the udder and a comparison was made of the C 14 content of milk fat glycerol obtained from the infused and uninfused quarters. Our results indicate that glycerol is synthesized in the mammary gland from glucose but not from acetate, propionate, or butyrate. Further, we have shown that the newly formed glycerol is incorporated into milk fat. This strongly implies that one pathway of milk fat formation involves its de novo synthesis in the mammary gland from pools of free fatty acids and glycerol.
The β-nitroxyalkyl and β-sulfonatoxyalkyl radical rearrangements

Abstract The first examples of the migration of nitrate and sulfonate esters in β-nitroxyalkyl and β-sulfonatoalkyl radicals are presented: crossover and labelling experiments are used to determine the migrating group and the intramolecular nature of the rearrangement.
Initial experience with bevacizumab treatment for biopsy confirmed cerebral radiation necrosis.

Background Cerebral radiation necrosis is a serious complication of radiation treatment for brain tumors. Therapeutic options include corticosteroids, anticoagulation and hyperbaric oxygen with limited efficacy. Bevacizumab, an antibody against VEGF had been reported to reduce edema in patients with suspected radiation necrosis. We retrospectively reviewed 6 patients with biopsy proven cerebral radiation necrosis treated with bevacizumab between 2006 and 2008. Results Interval MRI follow-up demonstrated radiographic response in all patients with an average reduction of 79% for the post gadolinium studies and 49% for the FLAIR images. The initial partial radiographic response was noted for up to a mean follow-up time of 5.9 months (6 weeks to 18 months). Conclusion Bevacizumab appears to produce radiographic response and clinical benefits in the treatment of patients with cerebral radionecrosis.
Orientational Transitions of Liquid Crystals Driven by Binding of Organoamines to Carboxylic Acids Presented at Surfaces with Nanometer-Scale Topography

We recently reported that the orientations of nematic phases of 4-cyano-4‘-pentylbiphenyl (5CB), when supported on surfaces with nanometer-scale topography and oriented carboxylic acid groups, are strongly influenced by n-H2N(CH2)5CH3 bound to these surfaces. The changes in orientation of the liquid crystals were found to be triggered by amounts of bound n-H2N(CH2)5CH3 that were not measurable by optical methods such as ellipsometry (ellipsometric thicknesses <1 A). Here we describe a detailed experimental investigation of this phenomenon. We report that the transition in orientation of the 5CB corresponds to an azimuthal rotation of 90° with no measurable change in the tilt of the liquid crystal out of the plane of the surface. The magnitude of the azimuthal anchoring energy of 5CB is determined to be substantially weaker when n-H2N(CH2)5CH3 is bound to the surface. We also report that it is possible to manipulate the orientational response of 5CB to bound n-H2N(CH2)5CH3 by controlling the areal density ...
Using GELO to visualize software systems

GELO is a package that supports the interactive graphical display of software systems. Its features include built-in panning and zooming, abstraction of objects too small to see, pick correlation, windowing, and scroll bars. GELO creates a hierarchy of graphical objects that correspond to the components of the structure being displayed. Five flavors of graphical objects are supported, including those for simple structures, tiled layouts, and graph-based layouts. This framework is powerful enough to handle a wide variety of graphical visualizations, and it is general enough that new object flavors can be smoothly integrated in the future.GELO is easy to learn and to use, and is presently employed in two software development environments. Among its current applications are a variety of visual languages, an interactive display of call graphs, an interactive display of data structures, and a graphical representation of module dependencies.
The clinical spectrum of renal vein thrombosis: Acute and chronic

The present study is a prospective evaluation of 151 patients with the nephrotic syndrome in regard to the incidence of renal vein thrombosis, modes of clinical presentation, pathogenetic course and response to anticoagulant therapy. Of the 151 nephrotic patients studied, 33 had renal vein thrombosis and membranous nephropathy was present in 20. There were two modes of clinical presentation: (1) a sudden renal vein thrombosis was observed in the young patient with acute flank pain, marked costovertebral angle tenderness and macroscopic hematuria; a characteristic intravenous pyelogram, renal histologic changes and anticoagulant therapy were followed by marked improvement in renal function; (2) long-term renal vein thrombosis was observed in the older patients; they were asymptomatic and intravenous pyelograms disclosed no abnormalities; there were no suggestive renal histologic findings; the incidence of thromboembolic phenomena other than renal vein thrombosis was high, and there was mild progressive deterioration of renal function which was not altered by anticoagulant drugs; treated nephrotic patients with chronic renal vein thrombosis did not experience a new episode of thromboembolism whereas untreated nephrotic patients without renal vein thrombosis did. Finally, the sequence of nephrotic syndrome leading to renal vein thrombosis was clearly established showing the pathogenetic role of the nephrotic syndrome in renal vein thrombosis. Possible mechanisms in the pathogenesis of renal vein thrombosis are also discussed.
SPHERES: a platform for formation-flight research

New space missions, such as the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) and Darwin programs, call for the use of spacecraft which maintain precise formation to achieve the effective aperture of a much larger spacecraft. Achieving this requires the development of several new space technologies. The SPHERES program was specifically designed to develop a wide range of algorithms in support of formation flight systems. Specifically, SPHERES allows the incremental development of metrology, control, autonomy, artificial intelligence, and communications algorithms. To achieve this, SPHERES exhibits a wide array of features to 1) facilitate the iterative research process, 2) support experiments, 3) support multiple scientists, and 4) enable reconfiguration and modularity. The effectiveness of these aspects of the facility have been demonstrated by several programs including development of system identification routines, coarse formation flight control algorithms, and demonstration of tethered systems.
Increased acid phosphatase activity in hens following an oral dose of leptophos

Abstract Oral administration of a dose of leptophos which does not produce delayed neurotoxicity to hens caused significant inhibition of plasma cholinesterase. The enzymatic activity which was lowest one half day after the administration gradually increased with time and was completely recovered on day 20. Plasma acid phosphatase activity significantly increased following the oral administration of leptophos, and the enzymatic activity was significantly higher than that of the control throughout the experiment. The increase in acid phosphatase activity is implicated in the mechanism of delayed neurotoxicity caused by leptophos in hens.
Pediatric Doppler echocardiography 1987: major advances in technology.

Summary The major advances in the capabilities of pediatric cardiologists to evaluate the heart by ultrasound that have occurred in the last 5 years have been reviewed. In addition to the new Doppler methods, the evolution of higher resolution echo techniques have provided a comprehensive means of evaluating the heart noninvasively. This information has relegated catheterization to a more therapeutic arena, 19 leaving ultrasound as the major diagnostic technique for evaluation of congenital heart disease, both before and after birth.
Techniques to achieve an accurate real-time large-vocabulary speech recognition system

In addressing the problem of achieving high-accuracy real-time speech recognition systems, we focus on recognizing speech from ARPA's 20,000-word Wall Street Journal (WSJ) task, using current UNIX workstations. We have found that our standard approach---using a narrow beam width in a Viterbi search for simple discrete-density hidden Markov models (HMMs)---works in real time with only very low accuracy. Our most accurate algorithms recognize speech many times slower than real time. Our (yet unattained) goal is to recognize speech in real time at or near full accuracy.We describe the speed/accuracy trade-offs associated with several techniques used in a one-pass speech recognition framework:• Trade-offs associated with reducing the acoustic modeling resolution of the HMMs (e.g., output-distribution type, number of parameters, cross-word modeling)• Trade-offs associated with using lexicon trees, and techniques for implementing full and partial bigram grammars with those trees• Computation of Gaussian probabilities are the most time-consuming aspect of our highest accuracy system, and techniques allowing us to reduce the number of Gaussian probabilities computed with little or no impact on speech recognition accuracy.Our results show that tree-based modeling techniques used with appropriate acoustic modeling approaches achieve real-time performance on current UNIX workstations at about a 30% error rate for the WSJ task. The results also show that we can dramatically reduce the computational complexity of our more accurate but slower modeling alternatives so that they are near the speed necessary for real-time performance in a multipass search. Our near-future goal is to combine these two technologies so that real-time, high-accuracy large-vocabulary speech recognition can be achieved.
Multiple myeloma exacerbation following utilization of bone morphogenetic protein-2 in lateral lumbar interbody fusion: a case report and review of the literature.

Abstract Background context Recent studies generated antithetic results regarding the safety of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) use in spine surgery, and the effect of this biologic adjunct on myeloma cells remains to be fully elucidated. Purpose The purpose of this study was to present a case of multiple myeloma (MM) exacerbation after BMP-2 implantation in the setting of lateral lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF). Study design Case report and literature review. Methods The medical records, laboratory findings, and radiographic imaging studies of an 86-year-old female patient with exacerbation of previously undiagnosed MM were reviewed. Results The patient presented with a 10-year history of debilitating lower back pain and bilateral lower extremity claudication. Radiographic studies depicted lumbar scoliosis and lateral spondylolisthesis. Preoperative serum immunofixation electrophoresis showed a serum immunoglobulin A kappa paraprotein-peak; however, the patient had never been diagnosed with MM or reported any unexplained fever, night sweats, or weight loss indicative of MM. The patient underwent LLIF from L1–L5 supplemented by BMP-2. On postoperative day 1, the patient was evaluated by the hematology department for paraproteinemia. Serum electrophoresis showed decreased albumin, hypogammaglobulinemia, and suspicious broadening of the complement component in the beta region. Postoperative imaging studies (19 weeks) depicted progression of a previously visible intraosseous lesion, and anterior cortical breakthrough (L5), in addition to a soft tissue mass at the T10 level. Histological examination of iliac crest and T10 vertebral biopsies showed fatty marrow infiltration by plasma cells and plasma cell dyscrasia, proving the diagnosis of MM. The patient died 10 months after surgery due to complications related to a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection. Conclusions Based on the present case, perhaps one should consider that in patients with abnormal electrophoresis results, even in the absence of a prior diagnosis of MM as well as in the absence of symptoms indicative of MM, BMPs should be administered only after preoperative exclusion of neoplastic disease.
Fullerene tips for scanning probe microscopy

ABSTRACT We have succeeded in adsorbing individual C60 molecules onto the tunneling region of an STMtip. The individual tip-adsorbed molecules are imaged by scanning the fullerene-adsorbed tip overa defect covered graphite surface. The nanometer-size defects serve as a surface tip array which"inverse images" the molecules adsorbed to the tip when the surface is scanned. These tips were subsequently used to observe threefold symmetric electron scattering from point defects on a graphitesurface, an effect that could not be observed using bare metal tips. Functionalizing an STM tip with an appropriate molecular adsorbate alters the density of states near the Fermi level of the tip and changes its imaging characteristics. Keywords: fullerenes, scanning tunneling microscopy, graphite defects 1. BACKGROUND The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and the atomic force microscope (AFM) have becomeessential tools for the observation of electronic and topographic structure of materials on the atomic
Intensive care for acute stroke in the community hospital setting. The first 24 hours.

Reflexion sur l'interet d'un diagnostic et d'un traitement tres precoce de l'accident cerebrovasculaire et du monitorage dans une unite de soins intensifs hautement specialisee
Integration of compressed air energy storage with wind turbine to provide energy source for combustion turbine generator

This paper provides a preliminary technical and economic assessment of a proposed wind farm where the wind turbines are coupled directly to air compressors to produce pressurized air. The pressurized air is stored in an underground facility and used as a continuous energy source for a combustion turbine generator system. This proposed system is a departure from the conventional approach of Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) where the air compressor is driven by grid power during off-peak periods and compressed air is discharged to drive the combustion turbine during high-peak demand periods. As part of the technical evaluation, a set of system requirements is established based on the Alabama Electric Cooperative (AEC) McIntosh CAES plant that has been in successful operation since early 1990's. The technical analysis leads to the sizing of the CAES reservoir and the total wind turbine power requirement to produce 110 MW for 20-hr/day generation. A preliminary economic evaluation compares the levelized annual cost of the total plant against the potential annual revenue using an average locational marginal price (LMP) for the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) region. The paper concludes with a number of recommendations for further study.
MUC4 and MUC5B Transcripts Are the Prevalent Mucin Messenger Ribonucleic Acids of the Human Endocervix

Mucins secreted by the endocervical epithelium protect the surfaces of the reproductive tract epithelium from pathogen penetrance and modulate sperm entry into the uterus. Three large gel-forming mucins, MUCs 5AC, 5B, and 6, are expressed by the endocervical epithelium, as is MUC4, a relatively uncharacterized mucin for which only tandem repeat sequence has been reported. We sought to determine the relative abundance of each of these mucin gene transcripts and to relate their expression to blood progesterone and estradiol. Samples were obtained from six subjects at successive stages in the menstrual cycle. Primers to nontandem repeat sequences of MUCs 4, 5AC, 5B, and 6 were used in semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction to determine relative abundance of each mucin gene in relation to beta2-microglobulin message control. In order to design primers from a nontandem repeat region of MUC4 so that MUC4 message levels could be quantitated, we obtained approximately 2.7-kilobase nontandem repeat sequence 5' to the tandem repeat sequence of a MUC4 genomic clone. The sequence showed lack of cysteine-rich D-domains and was rich in serine and threonine. Semiquantitative polymerase chain reaction analyses indicated that the principal mucin transcripts of human endocervix are MUC4 and MUC5B, with MUC4 predominant in 15 of 21 samples. When correlated with plasma steroid levels, message levels of both MUC4 and MUC5B were inversely related to progesterone levels.
A misconception module to a database courseware

The Animated Database Courseware (http://adbc.kennesaw.edu) that will be presented consists of animations, examples, and sample tests to support database curricula. It consists of four major models (Database Design, SQL, Transactional Processing, and Advanced Concepts) as well as many sub-modules. This software has been used extensively at Kennesaw State University as well as many other universities throughout the country. Evaluations have indicated that it improves learning depth and breadth. However, students still commit some classical misconceptions. This work describes a new sub-module to address misconceptions and has recently been implemented in our courseware: SQL Misconceptions. This work has been funded by NSF grant # 0717707.
Sound waves in two-ion plasmas

The dispersive and nonlinear characteristics of sound waves in plasmas that consist of warm electron and two different ion fluids are studied in detail. Analytical solutions are used to illustrate the characteristics of sound waves and to validate a numerical scheme that solves fluid and Poisson equations. This scheme can be used to model sound waves that participate in stimulated Brillouin scattering in two-ion plasmas.
Optical Properties of Argonne/KICP TES Bolometers for CMB Polarimetry

We present optical data on prototype polarization sensitive Argonne/KICP detectors fabricated at Argonne National Labs which are designed to be installed on the South Pole Telescope and used to measure the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. The detectors are Mo/Au transition edge sensors (TES) suspended on silicon nitride, with radiation coupled to the TES using a gold bar absorber. Two stacked detectors with bars in orthogonal directions will be used to measure both polarizations. We discuss measurements of the optical bandpass, time constants and cross‐polarization of the detectors.
Erythromycin accelerates solid emptying at the expense of gastric sieving.

Erythromycin accelerates gastric emptying by inducing antral contractions similar to phase III of interdigestive MMC. These powerful contractions are capable of forcing coin-sized indigestibles out of the stomach. In contrast, fed motility is associated with submaximal contractions that fragment (trituration) and propel solids while retaining large (>0.5 mm) pieces for further size reduction (gastric sieving). In this study, using dogs with duodenal fistulas, we tested the hypothesis that erythromycin-induced acceleration of gastric emptying resulted in the passage of inadequately triturated (>0.5 mm) chunks of solids into the duodenum. We found that gastric emptying was accelerated by erythromycin (vs 0.15 M NaCl control,P 0.5-mm fraction was much greater (P<0.01) in the erythromycin-treated experiments (63±9%) than the controls (7±1%). Correspondingly, while a fine gruel was passed during controls, under erythromycin infusion, most of the solids were emptied as large chunks virtually unchanged from the swallowed pieces. We conclude that erythromycin accelerates gastric emptying at the expense of gastric sieving.
Understanding Why Patients Of Low Socioeconomic Status Prefer Hospitals Over Ambulatory Care

Patients with low socioeconomic status (SES) use more acute hospital care and less primary care than patients with high socioeconomic status. This low-value pattern of care use is harmful to these patients’ health and costly to the health care system. Many current policy initiatives, such as the creation of accountable care organizations, aim to improve both health outcomes and the cost-effectiveness of health services. Achieving those goals requires understanding what drives low-value health care use. We conducted qualitative interviews with forty urban low-SES patients to explore why they prefer to use hospital care. They perceive it as less expensive, more accessible, and of higher quality than ambulatory care. Efforts that focus solely on improving the quality of hospital care to reduce readmissions could, paradoxically, increase hospital use. Two different profile types emerged from our research. Patients in Profile A (five or more acute care episodes in six months) reported social dysfunction and di...
Effective post-silicon failure localization using dynamic program slicing

In post-silicon functional validation, one of the most complex and time-consuming processes is the localization of an instruction that exposes a bug detected at system level. The task is particularly difficult due to the silicon's limited observability and the long time between a failure's occurrence and its detection. We propose a novel method that automates the architectural localization of post-silicon test-case failures. Our proposed tool analyzes a failing test-case, while leveraging the information derived from executing the test on an Instruction Set software Simulator (ISS), to identify a set of instructions that could lead to the faulty final state. The proposed failure localization process comprises the creation of a resource dependency graph based on the execution of the test-case on the ISS, determining a program slice of instructions that influence the faulty resources, and the reduction of the set of suspicious instructions by leveraging the knowledge of the correct resources. We evaluate our proposed solution through extensive experiments. Experimental results show that, in over 97% of all cases, our method was able to narrow down the list of suspicious instructions to under 2 instructions, on average, out of over 200. In over 59% of all cases, our method correctly reduced a test-case to a single faulty instruction.
Intravenous corticosteroids versus intravenous gammaglobulin in the treatment of acute immune thrombocytopenic purpura.

Debate continues over the most appropriate treatment for children with acute immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). An institutional review of all admissions for acute ITP between 1986 and 1991 found 61 children treated with intravenous (IV) IgG or IV steroids with a bone marrow aspirate consistent with ITP, an age of 21 years or younger, and an admission platelet count of P20,000/ mm3. The efficacy of these two agents was compared in the described population. A response was defined as achieving a platelet count of 50,000/ mm3. A significantly greater percentage of patients responded to IV IgG compared to IV steroids during the first 36 hr of therapy; however, by 72 hr of treatment there was no significant difference. The cost of hospitalization was 3/2 times greater for the patients responding to IV IgG vs. IV steroids.
Outcome following moderate traumatic brain injury.

Abstract Background Little is known about the outcome following moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) (GCS 9-12). Most patients regain consciousness; however, the full magnitude of long-term cognitive and functional deficits is unknown. Methods We conducted a prospective observational study evaluating the outcome of patients suffering moderate TBI between October 1995 and March 1998. Long-term outcome was assessed by telephone interviews. Results A total of 79 consecutive patients were included. Average length of ICU and total hospital stay was 9.1 and 15.8 days respectively. The median GCS at 24 hours was 10 with 67% improving to GCS 15 by time of discharge. The presence of multisystem trauma did not affect outcome; however, age ≥45, initiation of enteral feeding after postinjury day 4 and the presence of pneumonia were all associated with longer lengths of stay and increased complication rates. Fifty-six (71%) patients were contacted for follow-up at an average of 27.5 months. GOS scores were 5 in 44%, 4 in 41%, 3 in 9%, 1 in 6%. Seventy-four percent of patients employed premorbidly returned to full-time work. Questions regarding cognitive and functional status revealed significant problems in the majority of patients. Conclusions Pneumonia, age ≥45 years and a delay in initiation of enteral feeding all increased the duration of acute care hospital stay following moderate TBI. In addition, cognitive, emotional, and functional problems following such injuries are extensive and long lasting. Physicians must be knowledgeable of these long-term sequela so they can provide the appropriate support and treatment to these patients.
The noncatalytic amino terminus of mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase 1 directs nuclear targeting and serum response element transcriptional regulation.

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphatase 1 (MKP-1) is an immediate-early gene comprised of a dual-specificity phosphatase domain and a noncatalytic NH2 terminus. Here, we show that the NH2 terminus of MKP-1, containing the cdc25 homology domains A (CH2A) and B (CH2B), mediates MKP-1 nuclear targeting and modulates MAPK-mediated gene expression. An LXXLL motif which is known to mediate protein-protein interactions with nuclear-targeted hormone receptors was identified proximal to the CH2A domain of MKP-1. The NH2 terminus alone of MKP-1 containing this LXXLL motif was sufficient to direct nuclear targeting, and mutating this motif to LXXAA resulted in the exclusion of MKP-1 from the nucleus. We found that the LXXLL motif proximal to the CH2A domain was present in other nuclear-localized MKPs but was absent in MKPs that localized to the cytoplasm. These data suggest that this LXXLL motif confers nuclear targeting properties to the MKPs. The NH2 terminus of MKP-1 was also found to inhibit the activation of the serum response element (SRE) by preventing MAPK-mediated phosphorylation of the regulatory serine 383 residue on Elk-1. Moreover, we show that MKP-1 plays a major role in the attenuation of serum-induced SRE activity, since MKP-1 null fibroblasts exhibited enhanced SRE activity in response to serum compared with wild-type fibroblasts. The NH2 terminus of MKP-1, when reconstituted into MKP-1 null fibroblasts to levels similar to endogenous MKP-1 following serum stimulation, reduced serum-mediated SRE activity. Collectively, these data reveal novel roles for the NH2 terminus of MKP-1 in nuclear targeting and transcriptional regulation.
AM-FM Demodulation of Spectrograms using Localized 2D Max-Gabor Analysis

We present a method that de-modulates a narrowband magnitude spectrogram S(f, t) into a frequency modulation term cos(Φ)(f,t)) which represents the underlying harmonic carrier, and an amplitude modulation term A(f,t) which represents the spectral envelope. Our method operates by performing a two-dimensional local patch analysis of the spectrogram, in which each patch is factored into a local carrier term and a local amplitude envelope term using a Max-Gabor analysis. We demonstrate the technique over a wide variety of speakers, and show how the spectrograms in each case may be adequately reconstructed as S(f, t) = A(f, t)cos(Φ(f, t)).
Equilibrium swelling of pigment gallstones: Evidence for network polymer structure

Synopsis A major component of pigment gallstones (PS) is a black, insoluble substance. It has been suggested that this pigment material might be a highly crosslinked polymer, and if such were the case, it should imbibe solvent (swell) to the maximum permitted by the crosslinks of its macromolecular network. We measured the equilibrium amount, qeq, by which pulverized, desiccated PS swells in different liquids, including isotonic aqueous buffers at pH values from 1.5-11.5. For ionic strengths 10.15, the dependence of qeq on pH exhibits a broad titration curve with a midpoint near pH 7. qeq was <1.2 in methanol, dimethylformamide, dimethylsulfoxide, and chloroform. The ir absorbance from vinyl groups in the black pigment was only one-eighth that of unconjugated bilirubin, the primary chemical building block of PS; this implicates vinyl groups in the formation of a polymer network. The rise in qeq with increasing pH suggests that the carboxyl groups are free to ionize and are therefore not involved in the covalent bonds that make the crosslinked polymer. A network polymer structure would account for the inability to dissolve PS in those solvents in which unconjugated bilirubin is soluble.
Behavior Support Interventions Implemented by Families of Young Children: Examination of Contextual Fit

Families are increasingly involved in the implementation of behavior support interventions to promote positive behaviors of young children in everyday family settings. Contextual fit, described as ...
Photorearrangements of benzyl phosphites. Stereochemistry at phosphorus

Abstract The photo-Arbuzov rearrangement of a cyclic benzyl phosphite is shown to proceed with retention of configuration at phosphorus. The mechanistic and potential synthetic implications of this result are discussed.
Interleukin-1β-induced airway hyperresponsiveness enhances substance P in intrinsic neurons of ferret airway

Interleukin (IL)-1β causes airway inflammation, enhances airway smooth muscle responsiveness, and alters neurotransmitter expression in sensory, sympathetic, and myenteric neurons. This study exami...
Crosswalk Confusion: More Evidence Why Pedestrian and Driver Knowledge of the Vehicle Code Should Not Be Assumed

Traffic safety researchers have long argued that driver behavior outweighs physical elements (such as road design) as a causal factor in motor vehicle collisions. A fundamental causal component of pedestrian—vehicle collisions is also behavior: that of the driver and that of the pedestrian. One determinant of this behavior may be whether the driver, the pedestrian, or both understand the motor vehicle code, which demarcates the right-of-way in pedestrian-vehicle interactions. That is, inappropriate or unlawful behavior may occur because the law is not understood or is misunderstood. Previous studies have shown that drivers and pedestrians have a limited knowledge of pedestrian right-of-way laws. This research expands on these studies by specifically considering knowledge of right-of-way laws related to marked and unmarked crosswalks. Driver and pedestrian knowledge was assessed by the use of intercept surveys and focus groups conducted in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. The results confirm that ...
Thrombin Regulates Expression of Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

Thrombin, a serine protease generated at sites of vascular injury, plays a role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and restenosis after angioplasty. Adherence of monocytes to the endothelium and migration into the subendothelial space is an important early event in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) may be an important mediator of monocyte recruitment to the tissue in this and other diseases. We have characterized the expression of MCP-1 in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) isolated from human renal artery and studied its regulation by thrombin. Serum-deprived cells release monocyte chemotactic activity that is neutralized (80%) by an MCP-1 antibody. The antibody recognized a 13- and 15-kD protein in smooth muscle cell-conditioned medium. Thrombin stimulates MCP-1 gene expression in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. An increase over basal levels was observed with concentrations of thrombin as low as 0.05 U/mL. The maximal effect occurred at 5 U/mL. The stimulatory effect was detected within 1 hour, reached a maximum at 3 hours, and was still present at 8 to 24 hours after the addition of thrombin. A concentration- and time-dependent effect of thrombin on MCP-1 gene expression was also found in rat VSMCs. The thrombin protease inhibitor hirudin blocked thrombin-induced MCP-1 expression. Thrombin stimulated the release of MCP-1 protein in conditioned medium of human VSMCs as measured by radioimmunoassay and chemotactic assay. Thrombin also increased monocyte chemotactic activity in short-term organ cultures of rat aortic rings and in first passage cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Molecular solid glasses: new insights into frustrated systems

High sensitivity dielectric constant and heat capacity measurements are reported for solid N2-Ar mixtures as well as pure N2 in the presence of a small external ac electric field in the audio frequency range. Unexpected field-induced aging and memory effects are observed for thermal cycles of field cooled samples, above a well-defined temperature Th. The magnitude and temperature dependences of the effects exclude any simple interpretation in terms of lattice defects. The results show that the free energy surface includes a complexity that allows for metastable states and that tunnelling can occur between the states.
Vigabatrin for Childhood Partial-Onset Epilepsies

Abstract To determine vigabatrin's effectiveness and the prevalence of symptomatic visual impairment (i.e., impairment affecting the ability to perform everyday activities) associated with its therapy in pediatric epilepsy, we retrospectively reviewed medical records of 156 patients receiving vigabatrin at Cincinnati Children's Medical Center from 1998-2010. In addition to demographics and vigabatrin dosing information, data included seizure type/frequency at presentation and subsequent follow-up. Of 156 patients, we excluded 35 because their medical records were insufficient to permit verification of the exact duration or timing of vigabatrin treatment. To evaluate efficacy (n = 121/135), we used a 5-point scale (0-4) to compare seizure frequency at several time points. To evaluate visual impairment (n = 63), we reviewed serial ophthalmologic evaluations at baseline and during treatment for patients in whom they were clinically indicated. Mean age at treatment initiation was 1.8 years (range, 0.1-29.2 years). Treatment duration ranged from 0.7-101.0 months, with an estimated average daily dose of 79 mg/kg/day. Tuberous sclerosis complex was the commonest seizure etiology (83%). Partial-onset seizure, alone or with infantile spasms, was the commonest seizure type (84%). Seizure frequency decreased from 3.7 ± 0.6 S.D. at baseline to 1.8 ± 1.7 S.D. at 6 months ( P
Shine: search heterogeneous interrelated entities

Heterogeneous entities or objects are very common and are usually interrelated with each other in many scenarios. For example, typical Web search activities involve multiple types of interrelated entities such as end users, Web pages, and search queries. In this paper, we define and study a novel problem: Search Heterogeneous INterrelated Entities (SHINE). Given a SHINE-query which can be any type(s) of entities, the task of SHINE is to retrieve multiple types of related entities to answer this query. This is in contrast to the traditional search,which only deals with a single type of entities (e.g., Web pages). The advantages of SHINE include: (1) It is feasible for end users to specify their information need along different dimensions by accepting queries with different types. (2) Answering a query by multiple types of entities provides informative context for users to better understand the search results and facilitate their information exploration. (3) Multiple relations among heterogeneous entities can be utilized to improve the ranking of any particular type of entities. To attain the goal of SHINE, we propose to represent all entities in a unified space through utilizing their interaction relationships. Two approaches, M-LSA and E-VSM, are discussed and compared in this paper. The experiments on 3 data sets (i.e., a literature data set, a search engine log data set, and a recommendation data set) show the effectiveness and flexibility of our proposed methods.
Evaluation of the consistency of long-term NDVI time series derived from AVHRR,SPOT-vegetation, SeaWiFS, MODIS, and Landsat ETM+ sensors

This paper evaluates the consistency of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) records derived from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), SPOT-Vegetation, SeaWiFS, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, and Landsat ETM+. We used independently derived NDVI from atmospherically corrected ETM+ data at 13 Earth Observation System Land Validation core sites, eight locations of drought, and globally aggregated one-degree data from the four coarse resolution sensors to assess the NDVI records agreement. The objectives of this paper are to: 1) compare the absolute and relative differences of the vegetation signal across these sensors from a user perspective, and, to a lesser degree, 2) evaluate the possibility of merging the AVHRR historical data record with that of the more modern sensors in order to provide historical perspective on current vegetation activities. The statistical and correlation analyses demonstrate that due to the similarity in their overall variance, it is not necessary to choose between the longer time series of AVHRR and the higher quality of the more modern sensors. The long-term AVHRR-NDVI record provides a critical historical perspective on vegetation activities necessary for global change research and, thus, should be the basis of an intercalibrated, sensor-independent NDVI data record. This paper suggests that continuity is achievable given the similarity between these datasets
Basic Properties of Multidimensional Convolutional Codes

Let \(\mathbb{F} \) be a finite field, and let \(\mathcal{D} = \mathbb{F}\left[ {{z_1}, \ldots ,{z_m}} \right]\) be a polynomial ring in m indeterminates over \(\mathbb{F} \). In this paper, we define an m-dimensional convolutional code of length n to be a D-submodule, C, of the free module D n. Using this point of view, a multidimensional convolutional code may be regarded as the row space of a polynomial matrix (the number of columns gives the length of the code).
Signal Transduction Pathways Activated by Chorionic Gonadotropin in the Primate Endometrial Epithelial Cells

Successful implantation requires synergism between the developing embryo and the receptive endometrium. In the baboon, infusion of chorionic gonadotropin (CG) modulates both morphology and physiology of the epithelial and stromal cells of the receptive endometrium. This study explored the signal transduction pathways activated by CG in endometrial epithelial cells from baboon (BE) and human (HES). Incubations of BE and HES cells with CG did not significantly alter adenylyl cyclase activity or increase intracellular cAMP when compared with Chinese hamster ovarian cells stably transfected with the full-length human CG/luteinizing hormone (LH) receptor (CHO-LH cells). However, in BE and HES cells, CG induced the phosphorylation of several proteins, among them, extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases 1 and 2 (ERK 1/2). Phosphorylation of ERK 1/2 in uterine epithelial cells was protein kinase A (PKA) independent. This novel signaling pathway is functional because, in response to CG stimulation, prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2) was released into the media and increased significantly 2 h following CG stimulation. CG-stimulated PGE 2 synthesis in epithelial cells was inhibited by a specific mitogen-activated protein kinase (MEK 1/ 2) inhibitor, PD 98059. In conclusion, immediate signal transduction pathways induced by CG in endometrial epithelial cells are cAMP independent and stimulate phosphorylation of ERK 1/ 2 via a MEK 1/2 pathway, leading to an increase in PGE 2 release as the possible result of cyclooxygenase-2 activation. human chorionic gonadotropin, signal transduction, uterus
Models of computation in coding theory

In this paper, we contrast some fundamental assumptions of coding theory with those used in complexity theory. In particular, we explain the differences in algorithms used in the software and hardware implementations of Reed-Solomon codes. We also explain how, when studying error-correcting codes, one must consider energy and communication delay to be resources, in addition to the usual space and time.