cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Remote, the Mouse, and the No. 2 Pencil: The Household Media Environment and Academic Achievement Among Third Grade Students

Background Media can influence aspects of a child’s physical, social, and cognitive development; however, the associations between a child’s household media environment, media use, and academic achievement have yet to be determined. Objective To examine relationships among a child’s household media environment, media use, and academic achievement. Methods During a single academic year, data were collected through classroom surveys and telephone interviews from an ethnically diverse sample of third grade students and their parents from 6 northern California public elementary schools. The majority of our analyses derive from spring 2000 data, including academic achievement assessed through the mathematics, reading, and language arts sections of the Stanford Achievement Test. We fit linear regression models to determine the associations between variations in household media and per-formance on the standardized tests, adjusting for demographic and media use variables. Results The household media environment is significantly associated with students’ performance on the standardized tests. It was found that having a bedroom television set was significantly and negatively associated with students’ test scores, while home computer access and use were positively associated with the scores. Regression models significantly predicted up to 24% of the variation in the scores. Absence of a bedroom television combined with access to a home computer was consistently associated with the highest standardized test scores. Conclusion This study adds to the growing literature reporting that having a bedroom television set may be detrimental to young elementary school children. It also suggests that having and using a home computer may be associated with better academic achievement.
Retroviral sequences related to human T-lymphotropic virus type II in patients with chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome.

Chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS) is a recently recognized illness characterized by debilitating fatigue as well as immunological and neurological abnormalities [Straus, S.E. (1988) J. Inf. Dis. 157, 405-412]. Once thought to be caused by Epstein-Barr virus, it is now thought to have a different but unknown etiology. We evaluated 30 adult and pediatric CFIDS patients from six eastern states for the presence of human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV) types I and II by Western immunoblotting, polymearse chain reaction, and in situ hybridization of blood samples. The majority of patients were positive for HTLV antibodies by Western blotting and for HTLV-II gag sequences by polymerase chain reaction and in situ hybridization. Twenty nonexposure healthy controls were negative in all assays. These data support an association between an HTLV-II-like virus and CFIDS.
Activation of the endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ pump of pancreatic acini by Ca2+ mobilizing hormones.

Stimulation of the pancreatic acinar cells with Ca2+ mobilizing hormones increased the ATP-dependent Ca2+ uptake into the ER of permeabilized cells. Activation of the ER Ca2+ pump resulted in increased apparent affinity for Ca2+ from 0.26 to 0.09uM and Vmax from 2.68 to 5.74 nmoles/mg prot./min. The apparent affinity of the pump for VO4= was dependent on [Ca2+]. Activation of the pump also decreased apparent affinity for VO4= from 12 to 32uM at [Ca2+] of 0.138uM. These findings suggest that pump activation is due to acceleration of the rate of the conformational transition between the VO4=(E2) and Ca2+(E1) sensitive forms of the pump.
A Comparative Study of Different Tomography Methods for Breast Cancer Application

The solution of three dimensional inverse scattering problem using first-order Born and Rytov approximations are implemented for the reconstruction of an unknown dielectric sphere. Synthetic scattered field data from a sphere are generated using the Mie scattering method. The results show that the Rytov approximation provides better estimation of the sphere's parameters in comparison with the Born approximation.
Experimental background for rf upgrade in the relativistic heavy ion collider

Abstract The electron cloud induced experimental background has been a concern in heavy ion and polarized proton operations in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. This background comes from the beam–gas collisions, and the electron cloud induced dynamic pressure rise at the interaction regions is a culprit. In recent proton runs, a dependence of the electron cloud on bunch length at the beam acceleration and store has been observed. For given beam intensity, shorter bunches produce stronger electron multipacting. The RHIC rf upgrade plan calls for shorter bunches at store, therefore, this background may become a luminosity limiting factor. The observation of the electron cloud induced background is reported, and the issues relevant to the RHIC rf upgrade are studied.
A novel recombinant fusion toxin targeting HER-2/NEU-over-expressing cells and containing human tumor necrosis factor.

Over-expression of the proto-oncogene HER2/neu in breast cancer and certain other tumors appears to be a central mechanism that may be partly responsible for cellular progression of the neoplastic phenotype. Transfection of mammalian cells and over-expression of HER2/neu appears to result in reduced sensitivity to the cytotoxic effects of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and reduced sensitivity to immune effector killing. The single-chain recombinant antibody sFv23 recognizes the cell-surface domain of HER2/neu. The cDNA for this antibody was fused to the cDNA encoding human TNF, and this sFv23/TNF fusion construct was cloned into a plasmid for expression in Escherichia coli. The fusion protein was expressed and purified by ion-exchange chromatography. SDS-PAGE demonstrated a single band at the expected m.w. (43 kDa). Western analysis confirmed the presence of both the antibody component and the TNF component in the final fusion product. The fusion construct was tested for TNF activity against L-929 cells and found to have biological activity similar to that of authentic TNF (SA 420 nM). The scFv23/TNF construct bound to SKBR-3 (HER2-positive) but not to A-375 human melanoma (HER2-negative) cells. Cytotoxicity studies against log-phase human breast carcinoma cells (SKBR-3-HP) over-expressing HER2/neu demonstrate that the sFv23/TNF fusion construct was 1,000-fold more active than free TNF. Tumor cells expressing higher levels of HER2/neu (SKBR-3-LP) were relatively resistant to both the fusion construct and native TNF. These studies suggest that fusion constructs targeting the HER2/neu surface domain and containing TNF are more effective cytotoxic agents in vitro than native TNF and may be effective against tumor cells expressing intermediate, but not high, levels of HER2/neu. Int. J. Cancer 88:267–273, 2000. © 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
I Knew-It-All-Along, Just Not on My Own

Do the multiple steps of a math problem increase the likelihood of hindsight bias in students? It is a ubiquitious phenomenon whereby the outcome seems obvious. Students were randomly assigned eith...
The effect of land use on channel geometry and sediment distribution in gravel mantled bedrock streams, Illinois River watershed, Arkansas

Headwater stream morphology is a direct reflection of watershed characteristics and therefore can inform our understanding of anthropogenic influence on channel geometry and sediment dynamics. Little knowledge of the geomorphology of headwater streams in the Ozark Plateaus region of northwest Arkansas exists. The Illinois River watershed, in northwest Arkansas, is of critical interest within the region because of land use changes in the headwaters due to rapid population growth. A mixture of forest and agricultural (open pasture and poultry houses) land use dominates the watershed, but urban areas are rapidly expanding. These land use types: forest, agriculture and urban are an effective proxy for increasing anthropogenic disturbance. Analysis of longitudinal profile, cross-section and sediment distribution in streams from each land use type shows a strong trend of increasing slope and channel cross-sectional area with a greater degree of anthropogenic disturbance. Additionally, urban streams are characterized by the presence of exposed bedrock in the stream bed, while agricultural and forested streams are gravel mantled. These data have important implications for current and future stream management policies and practices regionally. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Evaluation of a high-speed serial link for marine data acquisition

Abstract Evaluation of the Gazelle Microcircuits, Inc., HOT ROD high-speed (400 Mbit/sec) gallium arsenide serial link indicates that the device has tremendous potential as a multiplexer/demultiplexer designed to telemeter data through fiber-optic media. The TTL compatibility of all data I-O lines, transparent link operation, and synchronous mode of operation create a near-ideal environment for interfacing the HOT ROD chipset into external systems. The 40 bit parallel bus architecture of the chipset allows for great flexibility in system-level design, including the capability of simultaneous transmission of parallel and serial data. The chipset appears to be capable of extremely low bit error rates.
Bilayer graphene vertical tunneling field effect transistor

Electronic devices have been explored in the past based on resonant single-electron CB (conduction band) to CB tunneling between parallel quasi-two dimensional (2D) quantum wells within III–V heterostructures and their accompanying negative differential resistance (NDR) [1]. Such devices are attractive for high speed electronics, and digital logic circuits also have been demonstrated using a combination of conventional and such NDR FETs [2]. For two graphene layers separated by a tunnel barrier, we recently proposed the ultra-low-voltage Bilayer pseudoSpin FET (BiSFET) which would employ enhanced nonresonant VB (valence band) to CB tunneling, with a nevertheless very sharp NDR characteristic based on a predicted room-temperature many-body superfluid state [3]. However, NDR due to resonant single-particle CB-to-CB or VB-to-VB tunneling may also be achievable in such a structure. Furthermore, the atomically near-perfect 2D nature of the component graphene layers and the conduction/valence band symmetry may offer advantages over III–Vs. Here, we model the I–V characteristics due to single-particle tunneling in such a structure, Fig. 1, using a perturbative tunneling Hamiltonian approach [4,5], and deviations from this simple theory using atomistic tight-binding nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) simulation.
Association of Serum Bicarbonate Levels With Gait Speed and Quadriceps Strength in Older Adults

Background Metabolic acidosis is associated with skeletal muscle proteolysis, and alkali supplementation has shown improvements in lean body mass and urinary nitrogen wasting in several studies. However, the association of acidosis with functional outcomes has not been examined on a population-based level. Study Design Cross-sectional study. Setting & Participants 2,675 nationally representative adults 50 years or older in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2002. Factor Serum bicarbonate level. Outcomes Low gait speed and low peak torque were defined as being in the lowest sex-specific quartile of gait speed and peak torque, respectively. Measurements Serum bicarbonate was measured in all participants. Gait speed was determined from a 20-foot timed walk. Peak torque was calculated using peak isokinetic knee extensor force. Results Serum bicarbonate level 2 ; and were less likely to use diuretics. Serum bicarbonate level Limitations Cross-sectional study using a single bicarbonate measurement. Conclusions Lower serum bicarbonate levels are associated with slower gait speed and decreased quadriceps strength in older adults. Further studies should examine the effect of alkali therapy on functional outcomes.
Evaluation of the inflammatory response in experimentally induced synovitis in the horse: a comparison of recombinant equine interleukin 1 beta and lipopolysaccharide

Summary Objective To compare two transient models of synovitis-osteoarthritis (OA) in horses by characterizing biological changes in synovial fluid and joint tissue. Method Twelve skeletally mature mares were utilized in a block design. Synovitis was induced by an intra-articular injection of 100 ng recombinant equine interleukin 1 beta (reIL-1β) or 0.5 ng lipopolysaccharide (LPS) into a middle carpal joint in 1 ml volumes. One ml of saline was injected into the contra-lateral control joint. Lameness evaluations were conducted through post-injection hour (PIH) 8 (at which time arthroscopic removal of synovium and articular biopsies was done), and at PIH 240. Arthrocentesis collection of synovial fluid occurred between PIH 0 and 48. An arthroscopic examination at PIH 8 included synovium and articular cartilage biopsies for gene expression analysis. Results Synovial fluid analysis indicated that single injections of reIL-1β or LPS increased synovial white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil count, total protein, prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 ) concentrations and general matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity relative to control joints through PIH 8. Injections of either reIL-1β or LPS increased mRNA expression for MMP-1 and a disintegrin and metalloprotease with thrombospondin motifs (ADAMTS)-4 in synovium and for MMP-1, ADAMTS-4, ADAMTS-5 in articular cartilage collected at PIH 8 compared to saline injections. Conclusion Injections of reIL-1β into equine carpal joints resulted in a transient inflammatory response that was similar in severity to the LPS injection, causing increased expression of certain deleterious mediators in joint tissues at 8 h. Given that IL-1β is a known critical mediator of traumatic arthritis and OA, this humane and temporary model may be useful in evaluating therapeutics that act against early stages of joint disease.
Non-monotonic swelling of a macroion due to correlation-induced charge inversion

Abstract It is known that a large, charged body immersed in a solution of multivalent counterions may undergo charge inversion as the counterions adsorb to its surface. We use the theory of charge inversion to examine the case of a deformable, porous macroion which may adsorb multivalent ions into its bulk to form a three-dimensional strongly-correlated liquid. This adsorption may lead to non-monotonic changes in the size of the macroion as multivalent ions are added to the solution. The macroion first shrinks as its bare charge is screened and then reswells as the adsorbed ions invert the sign of the net charge. We derive a value for the outward pressure experienced by such a macroion as a function of the ion concentration in solution. We find that for small deviations in the concentration of multivalent ions away from the neutral point (where the net charge of the body is zero), the swollen size grows parabolically with the logarithm of the ratio of multivalent ion concentration to the concentration at the neutral point.
Selection for Four-Week Body Weight in Japanese Quail Under Two Nutritional Environments

Abstract THEORETICALLY the response to artificial selection proceeds at a decreasing rate until the limits to selection are reached. While Roberts (1966) discussed the limits to artificial selection for body weight in the mouse, comparable information for other species is unavailable. Realized heritabilities of 0.30 (Siegel, 1962) and 0.40 (Jaap, 1963) have been reported for short-term responses (four to five generations) to selection for 8-week body weight in chickens. Maloney et al. (1963, 1967) obtained realized estimates for 12-week body weight of 0.34 and 0.42 through 10 and 15 generations of selection, respectively. Eleven generations of selection for 8-week body weight yielded realized heritability estimates of 0.29 and 0.21 for two populations derived from crosses among commercial broiler stocks (Dev et al., 1969). While these estimates are in accord with a summary by Siegel (1962) of 176 published heritability estimates of body weights for chickens 6 to 12 weeks of age,…
Turnover of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide in cultures of human cells

The rate of turnover of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) in the human cell line, D98/AH2, has been estimated by measuring the rates of entry into and exit from NAD molecules of 14C-adenine. In one set of experiments, cells were labeled by growth in medium containing 14C-adenine for six hours and then shifted to medium without labeled adenine. The loss of 14C-adenine from the adenine nucleotide and pyridine nucleotide pools was measured, and the data were analyzed using an analytical treatment which corrects for the relatively slow turnover of precursor pools. The loss of 14C-adenine from the NAD pool and from the precursor ATP pool could be related to the absolute rate of NAD breakdown. Under the experimental conditions used, the rate of NAD turnover ranged from 83,000 to 126,000 molecules per second per cell. In a complementary experiment cells were grown in the presence of unlabeled adenine, then shifted into medium containing 14C-adenine and the rate of entry of 14C-adenine into adenine and pyridine nucleotides was measured. The data were treated using a similar analysis to relate the rate of entry of 14C-adenine into NAD and the precursor ATP pools to the absolute turnover rate of NAD. This analysis gave a value for NAD turnover of 78,000 molecules per second per cell in excellent agreement with results from the pulse-chase experiments. The results from both types of experiment indicate that within D98/AH2 cells the half-life of an intact NAD molecule is 60 +/- 18 minutes. Thus, in a human D98/AH2 cell growing with a generation time of 24 hours, NAD is turning over at twice the rate found in Escherichia coli with a generation time of half an hour.
Unusual reactivity of acetylacetone with imidazole/histamine complexes and fac-M(OH2)3(CO)3+ (M = Re, 99mTc)

Abstract The fac -M (CO) 3 + (M = Re, 99m Tc) moiety was investigated with a known bidentate ligand, acetylacetone (acac) and imidazole based ligands in a 2 + 1 and tridentate approach. In the 2 + 1 approach, the fac -Re(CO) 3 (acac)(OH 2 ) was reacted with imidazole or 1-methylimidazole to yield a unique anionic μ-bridging imidazol-1-ide dimer fac -[(imidazol-1-ide)-bis-( fac -acetylacetonatotricarbonylrhenium (I)], 1 , or the monomer version fac -M(CO) 3 (acac)(1-methylimidazole), 2 , respectively. Based on the Schiff base condensation of a ketone and a primary amine, a tridentate ligand approach for fac -M ( OH 2 ) 3 (CO) 3 + utilizing the reactivity of acac and histamine was explored in a didactic manner: (1) an in situ ligand synthesis approach reacting fac -M(CO) 3 (acac)(OH 2 ) with histamine (2 + 2 = 3) that led to the formation of an unexpected dimer μ-acachistimine, compound, 3 , or (2) direct complexation of fac -M ( OH 2 ) 3 (CO) 3 + with the prepared ligand acachistimine, 4 , to yield the monomer product fac -M(CO) 3 (acachistimine), 5 . The results observed with rhenium complexes characterized by standard chemical analysis and X-ray analysis correlated with the radioactive experiments conducted with 99 m Tc (CO) 3 + .
A Resonant Global Clock Distribution for the Cell Broadband Engine Processor

Resonant clock distributions have the potential to save power by recycling energy from cycle-to-cycle while at the same time improving performance by reducing the clock distribution latency and filtering out non-periodic noise. While these features have been successfully demonstrated in several small-scale experiments, there remained a number of concerns about whether these techniques would scale to a product application. By modifying the Cell broadband engine processor to incorporate a large resonant global clock network, power savings with full functionality is demonstrated over a 20% range in clock frequencies, and a 6-8 Watt power savings at 4 GHz. This was achieved by changing one wiring level and adding an additional thick copper level to create inductors and capacitors.
Dynamic program monitoring and transformation using the OMOS object server

By implementing an executable image loader as a persistent user-space program, system program loading capabilities can be extended. The authors present OMOS (Object/Meta-Object Server), which provides program loading facilities as a special case of generic object instantiation. They discuss the architecture of OMOS, the extensible nature of that architecture, and its application to the problem of dynamic program monitoring and optimization. Several optimization strategies and the results of applying these strategies are outlined. >
Automatic Detection of Temporal Gait Parameters in Poststroke Individuals

Approximately one-third of people who recover from a stroke require some form of assistance to walk. Repetitive task-oriented rehabilitation interventions have been shown to improve motor control and function in people with stroke. Our long-term goal is to design and test an intensive task-oriented intervention that will utilize the two primary components of constrained-induced movement therapy: massed, task-oriented training and behavioral methods to increase use of the affected limb in the real world. The technological component of the intervention is based on a wearable footwear-based sensor system that monitors relative activity levels, functional utilization, and gait parameters of affected and unaffected lower extremities. The purpose of this study is to describe a methodology to automatically identify temporal gait parameters of poststroke individuals to be used in assessment of functional utilization of the affected lower extremity as a part of behavior enhancing feedback. An algorithm accounting for intersubject variability is capable of achieving estimation error in the range of 2.6-18.6% producing comparable results for healthy and poststroke subjects. The proposed methodology is based on inexpensive and user-friendly technology that will enable research and clinical applications for rehabilitation of people who have experienced a stroke.
Standardized Patient Walkthroughs in the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network: Common Challenges to Protocol Implementation

Background: Training research staff to implement clinical trials occurring in community-based addiction treatment programs presents unique challenges. Standardized patient walkthroughs of study procedures may enhance training and protocol implementation. Objectives: Examine and discuss cross-site and cross-study challenges of participant screening and data collection procedures identified during standardized patient walkthroughs of multi-site clinical trials. Method: Actors portrayed clients and “walked through” study procedures with protocol research staff. The study completed 57 walkthroughs during implementation of 4 clinical trials. Results: Observers and walkthrough participants identified three areas of concern (consent procedures, screening and assessment processes, and protocol implementation) and made suggestions for resolving the concerns. Conclusions and Scientific Significance: Standardized patient walkthroughs capture issues with study procedures previously unidentified with didactic training...
Examining the stability of young-adult alcohol and tobacco co-use: A latent transition analysis

Although use of both alcohol and tobacco is common among college-attending young adults, little is known about the stability of co-use over time. Difficulties in studying change in these behaviors may reflect inconsistencies in how smoking in particular is categorized. This study used longitudinal data, gathered at three time points three months apart, to examine cigarette and alcohol use profiles and the stability of profile structure and membership. Undergraduate student smokers’ (N = 320) past 30-day alcohol and cigarette use was assessed using the timeline followback procedure. Smoking (number of cigarettes and number of smoking days) and drinking (number of drinks and number of binges) were entered into a latent transition analysis (LTA) to identify the latent taxonomic structure within the sample, and determine the probability of movement between groups over time. A three-profile solution emerged at each time point. The LTA probabilities highlighted both progression and reduction in the lower-use gr...
The Grassroots of a Discipline: A Review of Some Introductory Texts in Political Science

Several kinds of payoff might result from a comparative review of books which introduce, summarize, or characterize a field of study. Most obvious is assistance in selecting texts for introductory courses. Another less directly utilitarian but perhaps more interesting consequence is the impression such a review gives of the field. The books under consideration are not long descriptive introductory texts but instead relatively brief attempts to capture some of the essential features of contemporary political science. If successful such a book should give us a good idea of what a discipline is all about. This review will evaluate seven books in light of several issues which concern their appropriateness for use in introductory courses; but its main objective is to consider them in a broader perspective to see if they give us a better overall grasp of the discipline. Indeed, some of these books are themselves contributions to political knowledge. The seven books under consideration can be placed roughly into one of three categories, each category representing a strategy for conceptualizing and introducing political science. Two (Strum and Shmidman; and Murphy) take a "Brief Overview" approach; three (Dahl; Strickland, Wade, and Johnston; and Tinder) a "Central Questions or Concepts" approach; two somewhat different books (Beam and Thorson) take what can be described as "The Way to Look at Politics" approach. Books in the first category make the most conscious effort to tell the student what political science is all about and how political scientists occupy their time. They examine such top-
Transient recognition control for hybrid fuel cell systems

Hybrid power systems combining fuel cells with fast energy storage devices are good solutions to the fuel cell load-following problem. Hybrid systems may also offer efficiency and reliability advantages. In this paper, we propose a power control scheme for hybrid systems that exploits feed-forward information about the steady-state behavior of incoming load transients. The method uses a modified cluster-weighted modeling (CWM) algorithm to build a load transient recognition model. The model is formulated sequentially and can provide useful feed-forward information in real time. Simulation and experimental results are provided that demonstrate the effectiveness of the transient recognition model and the proposed power control scheme for hybrid fuel cell systems.
Effects of broiler carcass scalding and chilling methods on quality of early-deboned breast fillets

Abstract The impact of scalding and chilling methods on quality of broiler breast fillets (pectoralis major) was evaluated. In 4 replications, 6- to 7-wk-old male and female broilers were slaughtered and scalded either at 60°C for 1.5 min (hard scalding) or 52.8°C for 3 min (soft scalding). Following evisceration, the carcasses were either air-chilled (0.5°C, 120 min) or immersion-chilled in water and ice (79 L/carcass, 0.5°C, 40 min, air agitated). Breast fillets were removed from the carcass within 4 h postmortem. Quality attributes including fillet color (both dorsal-bone and ventral-skin sides), pH, total moisture content, water-holding capacity (drip loss and cook loss), and Warner-Bratzler shear force were determined. Significant interactions between replication and scalding were found for pH, ventral side redness (a*) value, and cook loss and between replication and chilling for pH and ventral side a* and yellowness (b*) values. There were no interactions (P > 0.05) between chilling and scalding methods for any of the measurements. Immersion chilling resulted in higher (P 0.05) between the 2 scalding methods were observed for any of the quality attributes. These results indicate that broiler carcass chilling method has a much greater impact on quality of breast meat than scalding method and that the influence of chilling on breast meat quality is independent of scalding treatment.
Control of Viral Contamination of Food and Environment

Viruses are often transmitted via food and the environment. Contamination may be controlled either by preventing its occurrence or by inactivating the contaminating virus. The majority of agents transmitted in this way are human enteric viruses, produced either in the intestines or the liver. They are shed in human feces (noroviruses also in vomitus) in a broad range of circumstances, and they are relatively stable outside the host. Non-enteric viruses are less often transmitted via foods and are generally less environmentally stable. Insofar as vaccines are available, they are able to prevent fecal shedding. Viruses shed in feces via the water-carriage toilet may be eliminated by proper treatment and disinfection of the wastewater. In the foods context, the most effective antiviral measures are cooking and hand washing. Detection methods are most useful after the fact, in investigating outbreaks and devising preventive measures.
Predicting gestational age using neonatal metabolic markers

Background Accurate gestational age estimation is extremely important for clinical care decisions of the newborn as well as for perinatal health research. Although prenatal ultrasound dating is one of the most accurate methods for estimating gestational age, it is not feasible in all settings. Identifying novel and accurate methods for gestational age estimation at birth is important, particularly for surveillance of preterm birth rates in areas without routine ultrasound dating. Objective We hypothesized that metabolic and endocrine markers captured by routine newborn screening could improve gestational age estimation in the absence of prenatal ultrasound technology. Study Design This is a retrospective analysis of 230,013 newborn metabolic screening records collected by the Iowa Newborn Screening Program between 2004 and 2009. The data were randomly split into a model-building dataset (n = 153,342) and a model-testing dataset (n = 76,671). We performed multiple linear regression modeling with gestational age, in weeks, as the outcome measure. We examined 44 metabolites, including biomarkers of amino acid and fatty acid metabolism, thyroid-stimulating hormone, and 17-hydroxyprogesterone. The coefficient of determination (R 2 ) and the root-mean-square error were used to evaluate models in the model-building dataset that were then tested in the model-testing dataset. Results The newborn metabolic regression model consisted of 88 parameters, including the intercept, 37 metabolite measures, 29 squared metabolite measures, and 21 cubed metabolite measures. This model explained 52.8% of the variation in gestational age in the model-testing dataset. Gestational age was predicted within 1 week for 78% of the individuals and within 2 weeks of gestation for 95% of the individuals. This model yielded an area under the curve of 0.899 (95% confidence interval 0.895−0.903) in differentiating those born preterm ( Conclusions The newborn metabolic profile, as derived from routine newborn screening markers, is an accurate method for estimating gestational age. In small-for-gestational age neonates, the newborn metabolic model predicts gestational age to a better degree than newborn weight alone. Newborn metabolic screening is a potentially effective method for population surveillance of preterm birth in the absence of prenatal ultrasound measurements or newborn weight.
Foreland-directed propagation of high-grade tectonism in the deep roots of a Paleoproterozoic collisional orogen, SW Montana, USA

The study of deeply exhumed ancient collisional belts offers important constraints on geologic processes and properties complementary to inaccessible portions of the crustal column in active orogens. The ca. 1.8−1.7 Ga Big Sky orogeny in southwest Montana is a major convergent belt associated with the Proterozoic amalgamation of Laurentia. New structural, petrologic, and geochronologic data from the Northern Madison Range, crossing the NE-SW trend of the belt, record key information about the internal dynamics of the orogen. At least two phases of Big Sky−related deformation are preserved, both nearly coeval with peak metamorphic conditions of ∼0.9−0.8 GPa and >700 °C. Metamorphic zircon grains from a deformed mafic dike yield a weighted mean ion probe U-Pb date of 1737 ± 28 Ma (2σ). Monazite grains from a metapelite yield electron microprobe U-Th total-Pb dates of ca. 1750−1705 Ma, spanning prograde, peak, and retrograde intervals. Exposed Proterozoic paleodepths range from deeper levels (∼45−40 km; 1.2 GPa) in the northwestern end of the range to shallower levels (∼30−25 km) in the central-southeast area. The age of high-grade tectonism appears to become younger southeastward away from the core of the orogen, from ca. 1810−1780 Ma in the Highland Mountains, to ca. 1780−1750 Ma in the Ruby Range, Tobacco Root Mountains, and northwesternmost Northern Madison Range, and 1750−1720 Ma in the central Northern Madison Range. These spatial and temporal patterns of lateral growth and propagation of the orogen are similar to those observed in other collisional orogenic systems, and they may reflect multiple collision phases, protracted collision, and/or postcollisional collapse.
Activity of minocycline against Nocardia asteroides: Comparison with tetracycline in agar-dilution and standard disc-diffusion tests and with sulfadiazine in an experimental infection of mice

Abstract Forty-nine strains of Nocardia asteroides were tested simultaneously for susceptibility to minocycline and tetracycline by an inocula-replicating method and by a disc diffusion method using a standard disc containing 30 μg of tetracycline and a similar disc containing 30 μg of minocycline. The minimum inhibiting concentration of minocycline by the former method was 3.1 μg per milliliter or less for 88 per cent of the strains, and all of them were inhibited by 6.3 μg per milliliter. Tetracycline inhibited only 8 of the strains in a concentration of 12.5 μg per milliliter or less, and 50 or 100 μg per milliliter were required to inhibit 61 per cent of the strains. The 30 μg disc of minocycline produced a clear zone greater than 20 mm. in diameter with all the strains, whereas the zone diameters produced by the standard 30 μg tetracycline disc were less than 20 mm. for 26 (53 per cent) of the strains. The standard 30 μg tetracycline disc was therefore ineffective for demonstrating susceptibility of N. asteroides to minocycline. Both minocycline and sulfadiazine were effective in eliminating a large inoculum of a clinical strain of N. asteroides from mice and prolonging their survival after intraperitoneal injection of a suspension in mucin.
Tillage and potassium placement effects on potassium utilization by corn and soybean.

Farmers in the lower corn belt region of the United States need to know how to fertilize soils in order to optimize the efficiency of potassium (K) use by plants under different tillage systems and with high yield management. A field study was conducted from 1994 to 1996 at the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center (DSAC) on a Bonnie silt loam (fine-silty, mixed, mesic Typic Fluvaquent) soil and at the SIU Belleville Research Center (BRC) on a Herrick silt loam (fine, montmorillonitic, mesic Aquic Argiudoll) soil. No-till (NT) and spring chisel tillage (CT) systems were compared in a corn (Zea mays L.)-soybean (Glycine max L.) rotation. Within each tillage system, K rates of 56, 112 and 168 kg K ha -1 as potassium chloride were combined with four placement methods that included surface broadcast, 25-cm surface band over the intended row, surface dribble 15 cm to the side of the intended row, and starter placement of 28 kg K ha -1 5 cm to the side and 5 cm below the seed at planting (with the remainder of the K surface broadcast). The broadcast K placement most often produced the lowest whole plant K composition of com or soybean tissue when sampled within a month after emergence. This indicated that the broadcast treatment was less efficient than other placement methods in providing K in the early stages of plant development. However, by the reproductive stage of development, there were no differences in leaf K concentrations among the various placement methods for either crop. Increasing K rates almost always increased leaf K concentrations and usually increased early plant growth and yields. Early plant growth and grain yield were affected to a greater degree in corn than soybean. Soybean yields appeared to maximize at 56 kg K ha -1 , whereas corn often showed higher yields (although not always significant) with K rates of 112 and 168 kg ha -1 . Corn usually requires more K than soybean, which would explain its greater responsiveness to K. For corn, the placement method of K was not as critical as rate, even for no-till, across the six site-years of this study. Lower yields occurred in 1996 at both locations with the long term banding of K fertilizers over the intended rows of soybean. This is in contrast to a yield benefit from surface banding at other locations or crops as reported in the literature. Weather problems related to a wet spring followed by dry conditions late in the season may have contributed to the atypical results in 1996. These weather problems probably either lead to larger plants early which ran out of water late in the season, or higher accumulated salt concentrations in the root volume which reduced water uptake late in the season.
Accurate Estimation of Generalization Performance for Active Learning

Active learning is a crucial method in settings where a human labeling of instances is challenging to obtain. The typical active learning loop builds a model from a few labeled instances, chooses informative unlabeled instances, asks an Oracle (i.e. a human) to label them and then rebuilds the model. Active learning is widely used with much research attention focused on determining which instances to ask the human to label. However, an understudied problem is estimating the accuracy of the learner when instances are added actively. This is a problem because regular cross validation methods may not work well due to the bias in selecting instances to label. We show that existing methods to address the issue of estimating performance are not suitable for practitioners since the scaling coefficients can have high variance, the estimators can produce nonsensical results and the estimates are empirically inaccurate in the classification setting. We propose a new general active learning method which more accurately estimates generalization performance through a sampling step and a new weighted cross validation estimator. Our method can be used with a variety of query strategies and learners. We empirically illustrate the benefits of our method to the practitioner by showing it is more accurate than the standard weighted cross validation estimator and, when used as part of a termination criterion, obtains more accurate estimates of generalization error while having comparable generalization performance.
Tgf-β, Notch, and HGF weave a tangled web of kidney repair.

acute and chronic kidney injury results from a variety of causes, and each may lead to the other. In either case, renal failure is a common outcome requiring renal replacement therapy. However, the kidney has endogenous repair mechanisms that are activated in response to injury. A better
Primary sclerosing cholangitis: detailed histologic assessment and integration using bioinformatics highlights arterial fibrointimal hyperplasia as a novel feature.

Objectives: Liver biopsy diagnosis of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is difficult. We performed a detailed histologic analysis of PSC cases using novel bioinformatics analysis to identify histologic features that may be useful in its diagnosis. Methods: PSC liver explants were examined and compared with primary biliary cirrhosis and hepatitis C explants to act as controls. Demographic, macroscopic, and histologic variables were analyzed using both conventional statistics and an integrative bioinformatics approach, significance analysis of microarrays (SAM), and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA). Results: The PSC group was younger and had distinctive PSC features, including bile duct scars, onion-skin fibrosis, and arterial fibrointimal hyperplasia. SAM allowed the integration of variables by comparing PSC and control groups, whereas HCA was able to correctly categorize each group. Conclusions: This study demonstrates characteristic PSC histology as well as arterial hyperplasia to be distinctive features that may aid in PSC diagnosis and be confirmed by bioinformatics.
Vibronic Motion with Joint Angstrom–Femtosecond Resolution Observed through Fano Progressions Recorded within One Molecule

Electroluminescence (EL) in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), which enables spectroscopy with submolecular spatial resolution, is shown to be due to radiative ionization with vibronic shape resonances that carry Fano line profiles. Since Fano progressions retain phase information, the spectra can be transformed to the time domain to reconstruct the vibronic motion. In effect, measurements within a molecule are accessible with joint space–time resolution at the A–fs limit. We demonstrate this through EL-STM on the Jahn–Teller-active Zn-etioporphyrin radical anion and visualize the orbiting motion of scattered electrons upon sudden reduction and oxidation. We discuss the elements that enable spectroscopy with submolecular spatial resolution through EL-STM and the closely related STM-Raman process.
Evaluating Pricing Models for Options on Futures

Riskless hedging simulations are used to evaluate the performance of alternative models for pricing options on cattle futures and to identify efficiency characteristics of the options market. Seven option contracts are examined. Mispriced contracts and resulting portfolios were evaluated daily using Black's model under five different assumptions about how the price-variance forecast is derived. The results suggest that economic profits are possible if "good" short-term forecasts of variance are available. However, the ex-ante estimates of variance used did not consistently identify arbitrage opportunities. Thus, in general, inefficiency within the live-cattle options market was not indicated. Finally, the findings suggest that researchers and practitioners should focus more on short-term variances or variance rates than on variances of prices over the option's life.
Patterns of Care and Outcomes of Adjuvant Radiotherapy for Meningiomas: A Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results and Medicare Linked Analysis

Background: The role of adjuvant stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and fractionated radiotherapy (XRT) are unknown in patients with resected meningiomas. Objective: To identify patterns of care and outcomes of adjuvant radiotherapy for meningiomas in the Linked Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Medicare data. Methods: A total of 1,964 patients older than 66 years included in the SEER-Medicare data, who were diagnosed with meningioma, and underwent craniotomy were included for analysis. Results: Patients were less likely to receive adjuvant therapy if they were older than 75 (OR 0.730, 95% CI 0.548-0.973), female sex (OR 0.731, 95% CI 0.547-0.978), or unmarried (OR 0.692, 95% CI 0.515-0.929). Patients were more likely to receive adjuvant treatment for Grade II/III tumors (OR 5.586, 95% CI 2.135-13.589), tumors over 5 cm (OR 1.850, 95% CI 1.332-2.567), or partial resection (OR 3.230, 95% CI 2.327-4.484). Yearly between 2000 and 2009, 10.65 – 19.77% of patients received adjuvant therapy. Although no survival benefit was seen with the addition of adjuvant therapy (p = 0.1236), the subgroup of patients receiving SRS had a decreased risk of death compared to those receiving surgery alone (aHR 0.544, 95% CI 0.318 – 0.929). Conclusion: Utilization of adjuvant XRT and SRS remained stable between 2000 and 2010. Male sex, young age, marriage, partial resection, Grade II/III tumors, and large tumors predicted the use of adjuvant therapy. For all patients, SRS decreased the risk of death compared to craniotomy alone.
Spastic Paralysis of the Elbow and Forearm

As the physiologic recovery period concludes, the patient is evaluated for surgical procedures that may rebalance muscle function and correct deformity. Upper extremity function is the product of complex and highly sophisticated mechanisms working in unison, and a careful, systematic preoperative evaluation is critical. A good function of the hand cannot be achieved without adequate position of the shoulder, elbow, forearm, and wrist. The goals of surgery must be practical and clearly understood by the patient and the family.
Problem-Based Learning in Biomechanics: Advantages, Challenges, and Implementation Strategies

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been shown to be effective in biomedical engineering education, particularly in motivating student learning, increasing knowledge retention, and developing problem solving, communication, and teamwork skills. However, PBL adoption remains limited by real challenges in effective implementation. In this paper, we review the literature on advantages and challenges of PBL and present our own experiences. We also provide practical guidelines for implementing PBL, including two examples of PBL modules from biomechanics courses at two different institutions. Overall, we conclude that the benefits for both professors and students support the use of PBL in biomedical engineering education.
Urological and Behavioral Approach to the Treatment of Secondary Impotence

Psychogenic impotence is far more common than organic impotence and may co-exist with or be a result of it. Psychological principles of therapy may be needed for all impotent patients treated by the urologist. These principles include 1) re-education in sexual function, 2) removal of pressure for male performance, 3) bringing existing performance fears to the surface for therapy, 4) teaching patients techniques to deal with the fears, 5) teaching the partner proper cooperation and 6) improving the communications between the 2 partners.
The Effects of Instruction on Students' Generation of Self-Questions When Reading Multiple Documents

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this research was to examine the effects of instruction on students' generation of questions when reading multiple documents. Participants were 151 undergraduate students who were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a treatment condition that received question generation instruction and a control condition that did not receive question generation instruction. All participants read four primary-source documents and were asked to generate up to 10 questions based on those documents. Results indicate that students generated significantly fewer higher-order integration questions without instructional support. These results are replicated with an alternative document set to demonstrate that the effects found were not due to the specific historical topic.