cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Chapter 17 – Medical surveillance

Publisher Summary Medical surveillance has become an intrinsic activity in any modern workplace. While, the nature and extent of medical surveillance in the workplace are variable with legal jurisdiction and type of industry, the broad dimensions of contemporary workplace medical surveillance are clearly established. Medical surveillance is subdivided into four basic categories—pre-employment screening, periodic operational monitoring, episodic monitoring, and termination examination. A medical surveillance program must be viewed as an essential lifeline for employees and should therefore be carefully monitored for effectiveness and efficiency. It is especially important that there should be at least an annual review of the entire program and during this annual programmatic review, contracted medical personnel be requested to present an in-plant oral review of findings to date and discuss their own recommendations regarding any potential changes in the surveillance program.
Communicating suicide risk to families of chronically suicidal borderline personality disorder patients to mitigate malpractice risk.

Abstract Objective The distinction between acute and chronic suicidality is important, because interventions designed to address acute suicidality can worsen chronic suicidality, resulting in an escalating cycle of suicide threats, suicide attempts, and futile hospitalizations. Though most chronically suicidal borderline personality disorder patients improve and do not complete suicide, the potential for suicide contributes to these hospitalizations and a paucity of outpatient services due to treaters' concern over malpractice lawsuits in case of suicide. Communicating with patients' families about the suicide risk has been suggested as a means to mitigate this malpractice risk, but the approach to such communication has not been described. Method Once chronic suicidality is identified, a stepwise approach to communicating with the patient's family is described. Results The potential benefits of this risk communication are described, for patients, families, treaters, healthcare systems, and health and malpractice insurers. Conclusion It helps to develop an alliance with families and patients around a shared understanding of outcomes in chronic suicidality – most eventually do better, but the risk of completed suicide is real. This enables patients and families to make a more fully informed choice about treatment, which in turn can reduce litigation risk in the minority of cases where the patient completes suicide.
Case 1: Rapidly Rising Bilirubin Level in a 3-day-old Term Infant.

A female infant is delivered at 38 weeks and 6 days’ gestation, after induction of labor for preeclampsia, to an otherwise healthy 37-year-old, gravida 1, para 0 woman via vacuum-assisted vaginal delivery with 4 pulls and no pop-offs. The vacuum was used secondary to fetal heart rate decelerations. The mother was colonized with group B Streptococcus and received adequate intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis. The infant is floppy at birth with a weak cry and heart rate greater than 100 beats/min. Continuous positive airway pressure is administered at 5 minutes of age because of respiratory distress, which resolves by 20 minutes of age. The infant’s Apgar scores are 4 and 7 at 1 and 5 minutes, respectively. She has a birthweight of 3.15 kg (43rd percentile). The mother and infant both have O+ blood type and screen negative for antibodies. The infant’s total bilirubin (TB) levels at 25 and 31 hours after birth are 9.1 mg/dL (155.6 μmol/L) and 11.5 mg/dL (196.7 μmol/L), respectively (Fig 1); direct bilirubin is not measured. Triple bank phototherapy (bili blanket and 2 bank overhead bili light) is initiated at 31 hours of age, because of a rapid rise in TB at a rate of 0.4 mg/dL per hour (6.8 μmol/L per hour). (Fig 1) The infant continues to receive phototherapy for 18 hours, with a subsequent TB level of 10.4 mg/dL (177.8 μmol/L). Phototherapy is stopped, and the infant is discharged from the hospital. Figure 1. Total bilirubin by age. Results displayed in conventional units. At 78 hours of age, the infant is readmitted because of a TB level of 18.9 mg/dL (323.2 μmol/L), with a phototherapy TB threshold of 18.3 mg/dL (312.9 μmol/L) and 0.30 mg/dL per hour (5.1 μmol/L per hour) rate of rise (1); direct bilirubin level is 0.63 mg/dL (10.8 μmol/L; normal <6.8 μmol/L). …
The Rule of Law: Donald E. Klingner

“The rule of law” is a principle of democratic government under which all persons, entities, and institutions are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced, independently ...
Lymphatic Pathways of the Thorax: Predictable Patterns of Spread

OBJECTIVE. This article reviews thoracic lymphatic pathways and tributaries, discusses lymphatic anatomic variants and their clinical implications, and emphasizes common patterns of thoracic lymphadenopathy from extrapulmonary malignancies. CONCLUSION. Recognition of common patterns and pathways of thoracic lymphatic drainage can help identify the site of tumor origin and allow a more focused examination of disease extent, both of which are important for disease prognosis and management.
Neural network-based band selection on hyperspectral imagery

Data reduction techniques are becoming increasingly important in modern data analysis problems{especially in fields involving big data. Although not quite on the same scale as high velocity and volume big data problems, remote sensing analysis on hyperspectral imagery (HSI) can suffer from the increase in dimensionality provided by this sensing modality. Common hyperspectral sensors divide the sensed optical bandwidth into as many as 270 different channels. Depending on the specific bandwidth and application, some channels may be unusable due to water absorption, while others may provide little-to-no discriminative information when considering their impact on algorithm performance. With this in mind, there are several techniques devised to subsample the original number of bands to a more manageable size allowing for increased algorithm performance both in classification accuracy and computation time. Herein, we propose a neural network-based band selection technique that seeks to generalize existing autoencoder-based methods and experiment with tracking input contributions throughout the network. We explore the ability to perform task-specific band selection by applying this method to a general multilayer perceptron architecture. We apply our proposed band selection methodology to a novel HSI dataset captured by the U.S. Army ERDC and compare performance to alternative band selection algorithms.
Dimensionless Quantities in Pre-chamber Turbulent Jet Ignition of Premixed Methane/Air

Stringent oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emission standards and regulations, increased consumer concern about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and cost-effective competition with battery-electric vehicles (BEV) have forced the automotive engine manufacturers to search for novel and innovative strategies. A viable approach for clean, high-efficiency operation for modern spark-ignited (SI) gasoline or natural gas engines is downsized boosted ultra-lean operation. Ultra-lean ignition process, however, gives rise to some serious challenges. Ignition becomes increasingly difficult with the leaner mixture. Moreover, engine operation becomes susceptible to misfires, cycle-to-cycle variability, reduced efficiency, increase unburned hydrocarbon (UHC) emission, etc. Turbulent jet ignition (TJI)—where pre-chamber combustion generated turbulent jet consisting of hot combustion products and active radicals ignite a lean mixture—is a robust yet straightforward ignition strategy that has potential to solve challenges encountered at lean-burn operation. The current study explores the fundamentals as well as the scalability aspect of the TJI strategy. Even though the TJI system is easy to implement, the fluid mechanics and chemical kinetics processes involved in TJI are incredibly complicated due to the complex coupling between turbulence and chemistry. Ignition and flame propagation behavior of TJI were studied in custom-built, optically accessible, constant-volume vessel for lean (\(\phi = 0.55 - 0.95\)) methane/air using simultaneous high-speed schlieren and OH* chemiluminescence imaging. Detailed characteristics of two distinct types of ignition mechanisms—jet ignition and flame ignition—and their dependence on the critical thermophysical and geometric parameters were discussed. The impact of four significant parameters—initial pressure, nozzle diameter, pre-chamber equivalence ratio and pre-chamber volume—was carefully examined. An in-depth discussion of various competing pre-chamber processes on TJI emphasized the necessity of non-dimensionalization. The non-dimensionalization of governing equations for compressible reacting flow produced four dimensionless numbers associated with TJI—Reynolds, Schmidt, Prandtl and Damkohler number. Assuming the transport coefficients are independent of temperature and kinematic transport coefficients are directly proportional to the temperature yielded unity Schmidt and Prandtl number. The remainder two non-dimensional numbers—Reynolds and Damkohler number, regulated the TJI mechanisms of premixed methane/air. Correlations were developed for TJI using Reynolds and Damkohler number. Lastly, the crucial factors and challenges in developing a scalable TJI system were addressed. These results provide useful insights about the TJI fundamentals and serve as a guideline for future pre-chamber design and optimization.
Standard Errors for Calibrated Parameters

Calibration, the practice of choosing the parameters of a structural model to match certain empirical moments, can be viewed as minimum distance estimation. Existing standard error formulas for such estimators require a consistent estimate of the correlation structure of the empirical moments, which is often unavailable in practice. Instead, the variances of the individual empirical moments are usually readily estimable. Using only these variances, we derive conservative standard errors and confidence intervals for the structural parameters that are valid even under the worst-case correlation structure. In the over-identified case, we show that the moment weighting scheme that minimizes the worst-case estimator variance amounts to a moment selection problem with a simple solution. Finally, we develop tests of over-identifying or parameter restrictions. We apply our methods empirically to a model of menu cost pricing for multi-product firms and to a heterogeneous agent New Keynesian model.
The process of infection with bacteriophage φX174: XXVII. Synthesis of a viral-specific chloramphenicol-resistant protein in φX174-infected cells☆☆☆

Cistron VI of φX174 codes for a chloramphenicol-resistant protein that is required for the synthesis of progeny replicative form. The gene product of cistron VI has been isolated by CaHPO_4 chromatography using a double label technique in the presence of 30 μg of CM‡/ml. (Levine & Sinsheimer, 1968a). This technique has been used to demonstrate that the kinetics of synthesis of cistron VI protein are similar to the kinetics of synthesis of progeny RF DNA. The molar quantities of this protein made in 30 μg of CM/ml. are approximately equal to the molar amounts of progeny RF made under these same conditions. Mutants in the six other known cistrons of φX174 synthesize about the same quantities of cistron VI protein as does wild-type φX in 30 μg of CM/ml. A study of the intracellular distribution of cistron VI protein demonstrated that this CM-resistant protein is first found associated with a rapidly sedimenting cellular component (along with the parental RF) and at later times is found in the more slowly sedimenting soluble protein fraction. In Rep− cells, which do not synthesize progeny RF, cistron VI protein is synthesized and is found associated only with the rapidly sedimenting fraction.
Breaking Down Barriers to Creating Safety-Net Accountable Care Organizations (ACO): Federal Statutory and Regulatory Issues

This report focuses on three major state law issues: tort liability, scope of practice, and the corporate practice of medicine doctrine. The authors argue that statutory and regulatory schemes need to be re-examined to ensure that Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) can form. For example, lawmakers should ask, in an age when health care is changing dramatically in America, whether the corporate practice of medicine doctrine should be preserved. The authors offer California as an example of a state that, like many others, has taken tentative steps toward health care innovation but needs to act decisively to ensure that the promise of the Affordable Care Act is realized for all Americans. This paper makes policy recommendations about the steps that lawmakers should take to prime California’s health care system to fully embrace safety-net ACOs. It concludes with brief examinations of ACO formation strategies that have been implemented successfully in other states.
Ethnic Variations in Dementia Caregiving Experiences: Insights from Focus Groups

Abstract The proportion of minority elders with dementia in the United States is projected to rise substantially. This study elicited perceptions of the caregiving experience from informal caregivers of persons with dementia, across different ethnicities. Six focus groups with 47 dementia caregivers of African-American, Chinese-American, Euro-American, and Hispanic-American ethnicities were conducted. Caregiving roles, concern about the person with dementia, and unmet information and resource needs were expressed similarly. However, perspectives differed across ethnic groups on stigma surrounding dementia, benefits of caregiving, spirituality/religion to ease caregiving burden, and language barriers and discrimination. Findings suggest that interventions to reduce disparities in dementia care quality need to address ethnic variations in caregiving experiences.
Weekly cycles of air pollutants, precipitation and tropical cyclones in the coastal NW Atlantic region

Direct human influences on climate have been detected at local scales, such as urban temperature increases and precipitation enhancement1,2,3, and at global scales4,5. A possible indication of an anthropogenic effect on regional climate is by identification of equivalent weekly cycles in climate and pollution variables. Weekly cycles have been observed in both global surface temperature6 and local pollution7 data sets. Here we describe statistical analyses that reveal weekly cycles in three independent regional-scale coastal Atlantic data sets: lower-troposphere pollution, precipitation and tropical cyclones. Three atmospheric monitoring stations record minimum concentrations of ozone and carbon monoxide early in the week, while highest concentrations are observed later in the week. This air-pollution cycle corresponds to observed weekly variability in regional rainfall and tropical cyclones. Specifically, satellite-based precipitation estimates indicate that near-coastal ocean areas receive significantly more precipitation at weekends than on weekdays. Near-coastal tropical cyclones have, on average, significantly weaker surface winds, higher surface pressure and higher frequency at weekends. Although our statistical findings limit the identification of cause–effect relationships, we advance the hypothesis that the thermal influence of pollution-derived aerosols on storms may drive these weekly climate cycles.
Excess observed in CDF B s 0 → μ + μ − and supersymmetry at the LHC

The recent excess observed by CDF in ${B}_{s}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ is interpreted in terms of a possible supersymmetric origin. An analysis is given of the parameter space of mSUGRA and nonuniversal SUGRA under the combined constraints from LHC-7 with $1.04\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{fb}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ of integrated luminosity, under the new XENON-100 limits on the neutralino-proton spin-independent cross section and under the CDF ${B}_{s}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ 90% C.L. limit reported to arise from an excess number of dimuon events. It is found that the predicted value of the branching ratio ${B}_{s}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ for mSUGRA parameter points consistent with all constraints contains the following set of next to lightest particles beyond the standard model: chargino, stau, stop or $CP$ odd (even) Higgs. The lower bounds of sparticles, including those from the LHC, XENON and CDF ${B}_{s}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ constraint, are exhibited and the shift in the allowed range of sparticle masses arising solely due to the extra constraint from the CDF result is given. It is pointed out that the two-sided CDF 90% C.L. limit puts upper bounds on sparticle masses. An analysis of possible signatures for early discovery at the LHC is carried out corresponding to the signal region in ${B}_{s}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$. Implications of GUT-scale nonuniversalities in the gaugino and Higgs sectors are discussed.
Interface Generation and Compositional Verification in JavaPathfinder

We present a novel algorithm for interface generation of software components. Given a component, our algorithm uses learning techniques to compute a permissive interface representing legal usage of the component. Unlike our previous work, this algorithm does not require knowledge about the component's environment. Furthermore, in contrast to other related approaches, our algorithm computes permissive interfaces even in the presence of non-determinism in the component. Our algorithm is implemented in the JavaPathfinder model checking framework for UML statechart components. We have also added support for automated assume-guarantee style compositional verification in JavaPathfinder, using component interfaces. We report on the application of the approach to interface generation for flight-software components.
String-Math 2011

The nature of interactions between mathematicians and physicists has been thoroughly transformed in recent years. String theory and quantum field theory have contributed a series of profound ideas that gave rise to entirely new mathematical fields and revitalized older ones. The influence flows in both directions, with mathematical techniques and ideas contributing crucially to major advances in string theory. A large and rapidly growing number of both mathematicians and physicists are working at the string-theoretic interface between the two academic fields. The String-Math conference series aims to bring together leading mathematicians and mathematically minded physicists working in this interface. This volume contains the proceedings of the inaugural conference in this series, String-Math 2011, which was held June 6-11, 2011, at the University of Pennsylvania.
Using Assessments for Instructional Improvement: A Literature Review.

The current educational reform policy discourse takes for granted the central role of using data to improve instruction. Yet whether and how data inform instruction depends on teachers’ assessment practices, the data that are relevant and useful to them, the data they typically have access to, and their content and pedagogical knowledge. Moreover, when one considers teachers’ organizational contexts, it is clear that school leadership and support for using data, capacity-building strategies, and the norms of adult learning and collaboration circumscribe opportunities to examine relevant data and to improve instructional practice in response. This literature review examines teacher as well as organizational practices and characteristics as they pertain to formative uses of assessment. We identify opportunities for important research to illuminate how and under what conditions teachers and schools as organizations can use data to inform instruction.
Centrality-based Connected Dominating Sets for Mobile Ad hoc Networks

We investigate the use of centrality measures to determine connected dominating sets (CDSs) for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) whose topology changes dynamically with time. A CDS is typically considered the graph theory equivalent for the backbone of a network and has been commonly used as the underlying topology for network-wide broadcasts with minimal retransmissions (accomplished by including fewer nodes in the CDS). In the case of MANETs, the degree centrality has been so far the most commonly used measure to determine a CDS with minimum node size (number of constituent nodes in the CDS). But, degree centrality-based CDS has been observed to be quite unstable in the presence of node mobility. In the rapidly emerging area of Network Science, centrality measures such as Eigenvector centrality, Betweenness centrality and Closeness centrality are used for complex network analysis. In this paper, we explore the use of these three centrality measures as the underlying criterion for inclusion of nodes in a CDS for MANETs and evaluate the lifetime and node size of such CDSs in comparison to that incurred for the degree centrality-based CDS and the maximum stable CDS determined using a benchmarking algorithm. We observe the Eigenvector centrality-based CDS to be the most stable (but the CDS node size is also the largest); the Betweenness centrality-based CDS is the least stable (but incurs the smallest CDS node size). The Betweenness centrality-based CDS incurs the lowest values for the CDS Node Size / CDS Lifetime tradeoff ratios when most of the nodes, if not all of them, are mobile.
trans‐2‐Methyl‐2‐Dodecenoic Acid

trans-2-Methyl-2-dodecenoic acid product: 2-methyl-2-dodecenoic acid solvent: Commercial hexane product: 2-methyl-2-eicosenoic acid product: 2-methyl-2-hexacosenoic acid product: 2,4-dimethyl-2-pentacosenoic acid Keywords: acylation; elimination, dehydrohalogenation; halogenation, bromination; hydrolysis, esters and lactones
Importance of channel coupling for very large angle proton-nucleus scattering and the failure of the optical model

The importance of inelastic channels in proton-nucleus scattering grows with momentum transfer, q, so that for large q coupled channels are required. This happens when the elastic and inelastic cross sections become comparable. We incorporate these ideas in a simple analytic framework to explain the large angle p-/sup 208/Pb elastic scattering data at 800 MeV for which standard optical model calculations have failed completely.
Conversion of a gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist to an agonist

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (pyroGlu1-His2-Trp3-Ser4-Tyr5-Gly6-Leu7-Arg8-Pro9-Gly10 amide, GnRH) stimulates pituitary luteinizing hormone (LH) release. An antagonist, D-pyroGlu1-D-Phe2-D-Trp3-D-Lys6-GnRH (GnRH-Ant), binds to the pituitary GnRH receptor and inhibits GnRH-stimulated (10−9 M) gonadotropin release from pituitary cultures (IC50 = 2 × 10×7 M). GnRH-Ant has no measurable agonist activity at concentrations up to 10−6 M. The presence of the D-Lys6 both affords protection against proteolysis and includes an amino group which may be used for derivatization without loss of receptor-binding activity. Formation of the GnRH-Ant dimer by cross-linking of the (lysyl) amino groups of two molecules with ethylene glycol bis(succinimidyl succinate) (EGS) results in a GnRH-Ant dimer joined by a 12–15 A chain. As the amino terminus on GnRH-Ant is blocked, leaving the D-Lys6 amino group the only reactive group1, the reaction of EGS with GnRH-Ant does not lead to larger polymers. Like the parent compound, this dimer is purely an antagonist. We now show, however, that when antibody (AB) to D-Lys6-GnRH (which cross-reacts with GnRH-Ant) is incubated with excess dimer, a product is formed which consists of a divalent antibody with a GnRH-Ant dimer attached to each arm: AB–((GnRH-Ant)–EGS–(GnRH-Ant))2. In contrast to the parent compounds, this conjugate is an agonist, stimulating LH release from pituitary cultures. Our results suggest that a pure antagonist becomes an agonist when it is capable of bringing two receptor molecules within a critical distance, d (15 A<d<150 A). The data indicate that formation of the receptor microaggregate itself is sufficient to stimulate a transmembrane response system.
Relationship between synoptic weather disturbances and particulate matter air pollution over the United States

[1] This study establishes connections between day-to-day variability of sea level pressure (SLP), surface air temperature (T), and precipitation (PR) and that of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution. In particular, matrix methods were applied to quantify statistical relationships between the daily anomalies of these fields over the continental US, during the 7 year study period. The anomalies were defined as deviations from nonoverlapping 2 week averages to focus on synoptic scales. The main effect of synoptic weather systems on day-to-day variability of PM2.5 air pollution consists of formation of a high-pollution area behind propagating anticyclones and a low-pollution region in the wake of cyclones. This property is rationalized by the fact that the regions just west of the eastward-propagating cyclones (or anticyclones) experience the cyclonic (anticyclonic) conditions detrimental to (favorable for) PM2.5 accumulation for the longest period of time. The advection of climatological PM2.5 concentrations by anomalous winds associated with propagating weather systems may also contribute to the formation of the above PM2.5 anomalies, but does not represent a dominant effect. This “synoptically controlled” PM2.5 variability accounts for as much as 30% of the total high-pass filtered particulate matter (PM) variance in the midwest region throughout the year (irrespective of season), while it is substantially less pronounced along the coasts and in the southern US. The authors argue that the apparent correlations between PM and T, as well as PM and PR anomalies do not imply causality, but rather show that these quantities are commonly related to the external factors associated with the life cycle of midlatitude synoptic storms.
Bacteriophage formation in disrupted cell preparations

Abstract The assay system described by us previously (Mackal et al. , 1964; Weinstein et al. , 1969) for the detection of infectious DNA from bacteriophage λ in disrupted Escherichia coli has been investigated in more detail. About 440,000 molecules of λ DNA can give rise to one infectious center. The number of infected centers was found to be linearly related to the DNA concentration in the range 3–225 μg/ml. A mean burst of approximately 40 phages per infected center was obtained. The infectious DNA has been found to be responsive to the presence of a functional λ repressor as well as an amber suppressor gene. An absolute requirement for the products of the λ genes N, O, and A as well as the structural integrity of the cells' ribosomes was demonstrated, thereby establishing the key role of the DNA in the production of phage particles in this system. Phage specified lysozyme was found to be required for maximum infectivity. Genetic recombination and complementation between infecting DNA molecules have been demonstrated. Both the circular and linear forms of λ DNA were found to be equally infectious.
Interrelationship of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D in juvenile renal osteodystrophy after therapy with 25-hydroxyvitamin 133

Abstract The interrelationship of circulating 25(OH)D 3 and 1,25(OH) 2 2D in children with uremic renalosteodystrophy has been examined in 19 patients treated for 1 to 4 yr with 25(OH)D 3 There was a direct correlation between 25(OH)D 3 and 1,25(OH) 2 2D levels when the GFR was ≤ 25 but not > 25 ml/min/1.73 m 2 ( r = 0.47, P = 2 2D was factored by serum phosphorus or serum creatinine but became nonsignificant when 1,25(OH) 2 2D was factored by serum bicarbonate. Overall, parathyroid hormone (PTH) did not change the correlation. However, when the data were subdivided by levels of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and PTH, the correlation between 25(OH)D 3 and 1,25(OH) 2 2D was significant only when GFR was ≤ 25 and the PTH was markedly elevated ( P = 2 2D production in these patients. Individual 1,25(OH) 2 2D levels measured over time (1–4 yr) fluctuated regardless of GFR. Despite high serum 25(OH)D 3 levels after 25(OH)D 3 therapy, there was no consistent increase in the 1,25(OH) 2 2D levels, and many posttreatment levels were lower than pretreatment levels. The kinetics of 1,25(OH) 2 2D metabolism failed to reveal a progressive increase in the serum levels between 2 and 24 hours after a pharmacologic dose of 25(OH)D 3 .
High-order harmonic generation from atoms and ions in the high intensity regime.

We present calculated optical harmonic spectra for atoms and ions in the high intensity regime to current short-pulse experiments. We find that ions can produce harmonics comparable in strength to those obtained from neutrals, and that the emission extends to much higher order. Simple scaling laws for the strength of the harmonic emission and the maximum observable harmonic are suggested. These results imply that the photoemission observed in recent experiments in helium and neon contains contributions from ions as well as neutrals.
Disease in history.

Abstract The role of infectious diseases in the development of civilizations has not been adequately formulated by historians. Comparative methods can be used to identify patterns of civilizational expansion, contact and change that were greatly influenced by the evolution and ecology of disease.
A Robust Current Pattern for the Detection of Intraventricular Hemorrhage in Neonates Using Electrical Impedance Tomography

We compared two 16-electrode electrical impedance tomography (EIT) current patterns on their ability to reconstruct and quantify small amounts of bleeding inside a neonatal human head using both simulated and phantom data. The current patterns used were an adjacent injection RING pattern (with electrodes located equidistantly on the equator of a sphere) and an EEG current pattern based on the 10-20 EEG electrode layout. Structures mimicking electrically important structures in the infant skull were included in a spherical numerical forward model and their effects on reconstructions were determined. The EEG pattern was found to be a better topology to localize and quantify anomalies within lateral ventricular regions. The RING electrode pattern could not reconstruct anomaly location well, as it could not distinguish different axial positions. The quantification accuracy of the RING pattern was as good as the EEG pattern in noise-free environments. However, the EEG pattern showed better quantification ability than the RING pattern when noise was added. The performance of the EEG pattern improved further with respect to the RING pattern when a fontanel was included in forward models. Significantly better resolution and contrast of reconstructed anomalies was achieved when generated from a model containing such an opening and 50 dB added noise. The EEG method was further applied to reconstruct data from a realistic neonatal head model. Overall, acceptable reconstructions and quantification results were obtained using this model and the homogeneous spherical forward model.
Expression of CD74 in high grade gliomas: a potential role in temozolomide resistance

Temozolomide (TMZ) is the most effective chemotherapeutic agent for glioblastoma (GBM). Resistance to this methylating agent is linked to DNA repair enzyme O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT). However, in recent studies MGMT status was not completely accurate as a predictor of TMZ response in GBM, suggesting other mechanisms of resistance. As part of an effort aimed at discovery of genes involved in TMZ resistance in GBM, the expression of CD74 was evaluated in GBM patient samples and the influence of CD74 on TMZ response was evaluated in GBM tumor models. Reverse transcription-polymerase-chain reaction (RT-PCR) demonstrated differential expression of CD74 mRNA among the GBM xenografts; 8 of 20 (40%) expressed CD74 mRNA. In a preliminary evaluation of whether CD74 expression might influence TMZ response, CD74 mRNA expression levels were inversely associated with in vivo TMZ resistance in 20 GBM xenograft lines (median survival 122 vs. 62.5 days; r = −0.48, P = 0.032). In follow up to this observation, CD74 shRNA knock down in U87 cells significantly suppressed in vitro proliferation and increased TMZ sensitivity as compared to a non-specific control shRNA. Consistent with an effect on proliferation and survival, silencing of CD74 by shRNA was associated with reduced Akt and Erk1/2 activation in response to stimulation by CD74 ligand macrophage-migration inhibition factor (MIF). Lastly, expression of CD74 protein was assessed in patient samples [nine anaplastic astrocytoma (AA), and 62 GBM] by immunohistochemistry, and appreciable expression was observed in 28% of samples. Collectively, these findings suggest that CD74 is expressed in a subset of high grade gliomas and may contribute to TMZ resistance.
Spatial analysis of gastroschisis in Massachusetts and Texas

Purpose Previous research has suggested gastroschisis, a congenital malformation, may be linked to environmental or infectious factors and cases can occur in clusters. The objective of this study was to identify geographic areas of elevated gastroschisis risk.
The effects of repeated administration of MDMA on the expression of sexual behavior in the male rat

Abstract 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “Ecstasy”) is a potent neurotoxin which preferentially produces 5-HT nerve terminal degeneration in the CNS in both rodents and primates. Timely research on the behavioral effects of acute and long term treatment of MDMA is critical due to the neuropathological effects of MDMA and its abuse liability. Presently, there are no published reports that have systematically examined the effects of acute or chronic treatment of MDMA on animal sexual behavior. Accordingly, the effects of repeated systemic administration of MDMA on a variety of parameters of male sexual behavior in sexually vigorous male rats were studied. Treatment consisted of subcutaneous injections of MDMA (40 mg/kg) or saline (1 ml/kg) every 12 hours for 4 consecutive days. In addition, neurochemical assessments of brain 5-HT and 5-HIAA depletion following repeated MDMA treatment were also conducted using reverse phase liquid chromatography. The results of this study revealed that repeated systemic administration of MDMA to sexually vigorous male rats produced a transient disruption of the expression of male copulatory behavior. In addition, in MDMA-treated males that did display copulatory behavior, both the ejaculation latency and postejaculatory interval were dramatically lengthened when compared to saline injected controls. Suprisingly, one week after the first behavioral test, copulatory behavior in MDMA treated rats appeared unaffected despite a marked depletion of 5-HT and 5-HIAA content in the striatum, and hippocampus.
Use of a ura5 + – lys7 + cassette to construct unmarked gene knock-ins in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

While the counterselectable Schizosaccharomyces pombe ura4 + gene can be used to prepare a site in the S. pombe genome to receive an unmarked mutant allele (loss of ura4 + confers 5FOA-resistant (5FOAR) growth), the desired unmarked knock-in strains are generally outnumbered by spontaneously arising 5FOAR mutants. Relative to the same approach using the homologous URA3 + gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, knock-ins in S. pombe are harder to identify due to a lower efficiency of homologous recombination and a relatively high background of spontaneous 5FOAR colonies. To develop an improved method for identifying cells receiving unmarked mutant alleles, we first determined that 5FOAR strains carry mutations in either of two genes; ura4 + and ura5 +. We then cloned the S. pombe ura5 + orotate phosphoribosyltransferase gene and constructed a 2.1 kb cassette containing ura5 + together with the S. pombe lys7 + gene. Using this doubly marked cassette to disrupt the sck1 + kinase gene, we can distinguish between strains created by homologous knock-in of unmarked wild-type or kinase-dead alleles and spontaneously arising ura4 − and ura5 − mutants by screening 5FOAR colonies for the loss of the lys7 + marker. The utility of this system, especially when the phenotype for the strain carrying the knock-in allele is indistinguishable from that of the disruption strain, is borne out by the fact that ~95% of 5FOAR colonies in our studies arose from background ura4 − and ura5 − mutations.
Virtualized Traffic: Reconstructing Traffic Flows from Discrete Spatiotemporal Data

We present a novel concept, Virtualized Traffic, to reconstruct and visualize continuous traffic flows from discrete spatiotemporal data provided by traffic sensors or generated artificially to enhance a sense of immersion in a dynamic virtual world. Given the positions of each car at two recorded locations on a highway and the corresponding time instances, our approach can reconstruct the traffic flows (i.e., the dynamic motions of multiple cars over time) between the two locations along the highway for immersive visualization of virtual cities or other environments. Our algorithm is applicable to high-density traffic on highways with an arbitrary number of lanes and takes into account the geometric, kinematic, and dynamic constraints on the cars. Our method reconstructs the car motion that automatically minimizes the number of lane changes, respects safety distance to other cars, and computes the acceleration necessary to obtain a smooth traffic flow subject to the given constraints. Furthermore, our framework can process a continuous stream of input data in real time, enabling the users to view virtualized traffic events in a virtual world as they occur. We demonstrate our reconstruction technique with both synthetic and real-world input.
Development of chromium barrier coatings for solid oxide fuel cells

Abstract The performance of electrolyte supported solid oxide fuel cell is impaired primarily due to poisoning of electrodes due to contaminants generated from the metallic components of the stack. Ferritic stainless steels are commonly used as stack material under severe operating conditions of SOFC environment. However, the high chromium content in this type of steels tends to form gaseous oxides and/or hydroxides which volatilize and condense on various components of stack assembly, particularly cathodes, resulting in performance degradation of the system. Two types of barrier coatings have been developed to minimize the chromium volatilization. In one case, coatings of oxide species were deposited by processes such as thermal and plasma spraying, and the other is by diffusion coating process such as aluminizing. This presentation will describe various barrier coatings, barrier properties provided by the coatings, and transpiration measurements adopted to evaluate the efficiency of those coatings.
Sclerotherapy for venous malformations

Of the congenital vascular abnormalities, venous malformations receive little attention and essentially no discussion of treatment. The author describes a 30-year experience with sclerotherapy, which was used for 34 venous malformations. In some cases, these lesions are localized and can be excised, but all the patients in this series had such extensive involvement of adjacent organ systems that no other treatment than sclerotherapy was tenable. Five patients had Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome, five had head and neck involvement, two had involvement of the entire left side and the remainder had other areas affected. Sodium morrhuate, ethanolamine, sotradecol, and absolute ethyl alcohol were the sclerosing agents used. A butterfly needle was inserted into an anomalous vein, and a three-way stopcock connected to saline and the sclerosing solution was used to ensure intraluminal injection. When rapid runoff into normal venous tributaries could be a concern, a venogram on the operating table preceded injection of the sclerosing solution. Small lesions required only one treatment; widespread bulky lesions required more than 30 injections. The volume of sclerosing solution varied from 5 to 90 mL per injection course. Because of pain, general anesthesia and an overnight hospital stay were necessary. Patients with pharyngeal and/or laryngeal involvement required preliminary tracheostomy or endotracheal ventilatory support for 3 days. Complications included skin necrosis, transient nerve palsy, hemoglobinuria, and one case of anaphylaxis. Repeated aggressive treatment was required for the very large malformations because recanalization occurred. All the patients have been very satisfied with the results.
ANTIGEN-DEPENDENT CD28 SIGNALING SELECTIVELY ENHANCES SURVIVAL AND PROLIFERATION IN GENETICALLY MODIFIED ACTIVATED HUMAN PRIMARY T LYMPHOCYTES

Most tumor cells function poorly as antigen-presenting cells in part because they do not express costimulatory molecules. To provide costimulation to T lymphocytes that recognize tumor cells, we constructed a CD28-like receptor specific for GD2, a ganglioside overexpressed on the surface of neuroblastoma, small-cell lung carcinoma, melanoma, and other human tumors. Recognition of GD2 was provided by a single-chain antibody derived from the GD2-specific monoclonal antibody 3G6. We demonstrate that the chimeric receptor 3G6-CD28 provides CD28 signaling upon specific recognition of the GD2 antigen on tumor cells. Human primary T lymphocytes retrovirally transduced with 3G6-CD28 secrete interleukin 2, survive proapoptotic culture conditions, and selectively undergo clonal expansion in the presence of an antiidiotypic antibody specific for 3G6-CD28. Polyclonal CD8+ lymphocytes expressing 3G6-CD28 are selectively expanded when cultured with cells expressing allogeneic major histocompatibility complex class I together with GD2. Primary T cells given such an antigen-dependent survival advantage should be very useful to augment immune responses against tumor cells.
Relationship between deterrence and toxicity of plant secondary compounds for the grasshopper Schistocerca americana

A variety of plant secondary compounds, several of which are quite widespread in nature were tested for their deterrence to the generalist grasshopperSchistocerca americana in short-term behavioral assays. The compounds were coumarin, salicin, tannic acid, gramine, nicotine, quinine, carvone, geraniol, abietic acid, umbelliferone, and ursolic acid. These were then tested for their post-ingestional effects over the whole of the last larval instar. Different methods were employed to mask the taste of compounds that were deterrent in order to ensure that any effects were not due to reduced feeding. In no case was there any indication of a detrimental effect or any trend suggesting one. In two cases, there was a significant increase in growth rate with the addition of the secondary compound to the diet. The evolutionary implications of these findings are discussed.
Injury and illness in mountain bicycle stage racing: experience from the Trans-Sylvania Mountain Bike Epic Race.

Objective The popularity of mountain bicycle (MTB) riding has increased significantly since its inception in the 1970s, as have injuries from MTB riding. As MTB stage racing is a relatively new segment of MTB racing, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the injury and illness patterns associated with MTB stage racing to assist future medical providers in covering events. Methods The Trans-Sylvania Mountain Bike Epic Race consisted of 7 stages. An onsite medical team of physicians, nurses, and paramedics provided medical coverage. The providers logged each medical encounter on a medical form. The log included the location where the treatment was provided (on course, at the finish or after the race), a description of the injury/illness, treatment that was rendered, the supplies needed for treatment, and the disposition of the patient (continue, withdraw but continue the next day, withdraw, or transfer to the hospital). Results A total of 52 athletes competed in the inaugural edition of the race. There were 30 separate medical encounters, with a total of 34 injuries/illnesses. Of these, 22 (65%) were classified as injury, and 12 (35%) were classified as illness. Four athletes withdrew from the race, 1 from injury and 3 from illness. Skin and soft tissue injuries/illnesses were the most prevalent. Conclusions Injury and illness patterns of MTB stage racing are similar to those of other wilderness sporting events and prior data on MTB-related injuries. Minor skin, soft tissue, and orthopedic injuries are the most common. Illness accounts for the majority of withdrawals.
Closed form expression for self-sensing microcantilever-based mass sensing

The dynamics of a self-sensing microcantilever beam for mass sensing applications are presented. The microcantilever is assumed to be uniform and obeying the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory assumptions. The beam possesses an unknown tip mass to be measured and a piezoelectric patch actuator deposited on the cantilever surface. The actuator is operated in a self-sensing mode, in the sense that the same piezoelectric patch is used to simultaneously actuate the beam and sense the voltage induced due to beam vibrations. A balanced impedance bridge is used to supply voltage to the piezoelectric actuator and to read the induced voltage. Mathematical models for this mechatronic system actuated through a pure capacitive and a resistive-capacitive bridge network are derived. Equations of motion are obtained using the Hamilton's principle by considering the microcantilever as a distributed-parameters system. A technique to estimate the unknown tip mass, based on the inverse solution to the characteristic equation problem is presented along with sensitivity analysis of the unknown mass with respect to the characteristic equation parameters. A closed-form solution for the determination of unknown tip mass is obtained which has many advantages over numerical estimation methods in a widespread mass sensing application.
Preconception Health Counseling for Women Exposed to Teratogens: The Role of the Nurse

Women with unintended pregnancies who are exposed to teratogens constitute the highest risk group for fetal harm. Teratogen exposures come from substances, medications, chronic and acute diseases, and environmental factors. Nurses play a critical role in reducing unintended pregnancy and promoting preconception health. A greater understanding of the role of teratogens and strategies to improve history taking and help women prevent unintended pregnancy will improve nurses' ability to reduce teratogen exposure in women at risk.
Estimating the audience level for library resources

WorldCat, OCLC's bibliographic database, identifies books and the libraries that hold them. The holdings provide detailed information about the type and number of libraries that have acquired the material. Using this information, it is possible to infer the type of audience for which the material is intended. A quantitative measure, the audience level, is derived from the types of libraries that have selected the resource. The audience level can be used to refine discovery, analyze collections, advise readers, and enhance reference services. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.