cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The risk of acute kidney injury following transapical versus transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve replacement: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background The aim of this systematic review is to examine the literature for the risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients who underwent transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) based on transapical (TA) versus transfemoral (TF) approaches. Methods A literature search was conducted utilizing Embase, Medline, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and ClinicalTrials.gov from inception through December 2015. Studies that reported relative risk, odds ratio or hazard ratio comparing the AKI risk in patients who underwent TA-TAVR versus TF-TAVR were included. Pooled risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using a random effect, generic inverse variance method. Results Seventeen cohort studies with 5085 patients were enrolled in the analysis to assess the risk of AKI in patients undergoing TA-TAVR versus TF-TAVR. The pooled RR of AKI in patients who underwent TA-TAVR was 2.26 (95% CI 1.79-2.86) when compared with TF-TAVR. When meta-analysis was confined to the studies with adjusted analysis for confounders evaluating the risk of AKI following TAVR, the pooled RR of TA-TAVR was 2.89 (95% CI 2.12-3.94). The risk for moderate to severe AKI [RR 1.02 (95% CI 0.57-1.80)] in patients who underwent TA-TAVR compared with TF-TAVR was not significantly higher. Conclusions Our meta-analysis demonstrates an association between TA-TAVR and a higher risk of AKI. Future studies are required to assess the risks of moderate to severe AKI and mortality following TA-TAVR versus TF-TAVR.
Reovirus μ1 Protein Affects Infectivity by Altering Virus-Receptor Interactions.

Proteins that form the reovirus outer capsid play an active role in the entry of reovirus into host cells. Among these, the σ1 protein mediates attachment of reovirus particles to host cells via interaction with cell surface glycans or the proteinaceous receptor junctional adhesion molecule A (JAM-A). The μ1 protein functions to penetrate the host cell membrane to allow delivery of the genome-containing viral core particle into the cytoplasm to initiate viral replication. We demonstrate that a reassortant virus that expresses the M2 gene-encoded μ1 protein derived from prototype strain T3D in an otherwise prototype T1L background (T1L/T3DM2) infects cells more efficiently than parental T1L. Unexpectedly, the enhancement in infectivity of T1L/T3DM2 is due to its capacity to attach to cells more efficiently. We present genetic data implicating the central region of μ1 in altering the cell attachment property of reovirus. Our data indicate that the T3D μ1-mediated enhancement in infectivity of T1L is dependent on the function of σ1 and requires the expression of JAM-A. We also demonstrate that T1L/T3DM2 utilizes JAM-A more efficiently than T1L. These studies revealed a previously unknown relationship between two nonadjacent reovirus outer capsid proteins, σ1 and μ1. Importance How reovirus attaches to host cells has been extensively characterized. Attachment of reovirus to host cells is mediated by the σ1 protein, and properties of σ1 influence the capacity of reovirus to target specific host tissues and produce disease. Here, we present new evidence indicating that the cell attachment properties of σ1 are influenced by the nature of μ1, a capsid protein that does not physically interact with σ1. These studies could explain the previously described role for μ1 in influencing reovirus pathogenesis. These studies are also of broader significance because they highlight an example of how genetic reassortment between virus strains could produce phenotypes that are distinct from those of either parent.
The Quality of Care for Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

Improving the quality of healthcare delivery is a cornerstone of modern medical care shared between all stakeholders. However, effectively improving quality requires both an understanding of the tenets of healthcare quality and how they relate to an individual disease process. This is especially important for common diseases, such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), where wide variations in practice exist. The high prevalence of GERD coupled with wide variation in clinical approach results in significant economic burden and poor quality of care. Thus, GERD serves as a useful framework to highlight the opportunities and current challenges of delivering high-quality care. In this article, we identify quality metrics in GERD and the areas in need of research to improve the quality of the management of GERD. Additionally, we suggest strategies for improvement as it relates to the proper diagnostic testing utilization and the decision-making process.
Addressing Acculturative Stress in Psychotherapy: A Case Study of a Latino Man Overcoming Cultural Conflicts and Stress Related to Language Use:

To foster engagement in treatment and improve therapeutic outcomes for immigrant clients, it is important for therapists to integrate cultural values and to recognize the psychological stressors fa...
Safety Performance of Combinations of Traffic and Roadway Cross-Sectional Design Elements at Straight and Curved Segments

AbstractThis study develops various crash modification factors (CMFs) for combinations of traffic and roadway cross-sectional elements at noncurved (i.e., straight) and curved roadway sections usin...
Spatio-temporal evolution of scientific knowledge

In this work we take a first step towards the problem of integrating the content and the spatio-temporal aspects of the evolution of the (published) scientific knowledge. A lot of research has been invested in developing tools and search engines that will enable more efficient querying of relevant medical (and broader scientific) data from various perspectives, spanning from retrieval of similar documents/images to HCI-based flexible query-answering systems. Variety of methodologies have been developed, founded on knowledge-bases, statistics, semantic similarity, etc. and quite a few systems are available (e.g., Medline). Parallel to this, another body of research works has emerged over the past couple of decades, targeting the efficient management of mobility and spatio-temporal data. What motivates this work is the observation that fusing the data (and corresponding techniques) developed in these two broad research fields could enable novel categories of queries that can be used to investigate various evolving spatio-temporal relationships between particular scientific topics.
Procedures: One, Multiple, Subtraction

This chapter attends to the prescribed procedures for relating one to multiple and multiplicity in Badiou’s and Deleuze’s work. I begin with the work of constructing consistent multiples in Badiou’s work, a procedure requiring attention to the void set and its mark O, their background in Zermelo and Bourbaki, and axioms of Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory. I attend to this procedure’s relation to Badiou’s earlier account of scission, a technique for ‘cutting’ a one from the multiple. I address one-production in Deleuze’s account by discussing the differential relation (dy/dx) and its mobilization toward the pre-individual singularity, which Deleuze develops in his account of the virtual idea. My analysis focuses on those procedures by which the relation of one to multiple is maintained, namely subtraction, apparent in the analysis of the war machine in A Thousand Plateaus and in their assessment of the cogito in “Example 1”. I show how Deleuze’s earlier concern with overturned Platonism expresses this subtractive impulse; in short, one sees that where multiplicity appears in Deleuze’s oeuvre, subtraction seems to follow.
Socialization to Acting, Feeling, and Thinking as Shakaijin : New Employee Orientations in a Japanese Company

In Japanese society, new college graduates are expected to acquire the new identity of shakaijin 'mature, contributing adult(s) in society' when they become full-time employees of a company. To make this major transition in life smooth, most Japanese companies provide new employees with orientation training. From the perspective of language socialization, this chapter examines the process of this culturally meaningful transition by qualitatively analyzing interactions between trainers and new employees in new employee orientations in a Japanese company. The chapter discusses different activities the trainers perform. The findings suggest that despite the world trend toward a globalized economy, in which the boundary between formal education and full-time work has become blurred, Japanese company’s new employee orientations contribute to keeping that boundary intact in Japanese society.
Hidden Mathematical Structures of Voting

The complexities of voting theory are captured by Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem and McKelvey’s chaos result in spatial voting. A careful analysis of Arrow’s theorem, however, proves that not all of the supplied information is used by the decision rule. As such, not only does this seminal result admit a benign interpretation, but there are several ways to sidestep Arrow’s negative conclusion. McKelvey’s result is described in terms of more general voting rules. Then a new solution concept, called the ‘finesse point’, is introduced. This centrally located point generalizes the core and minimizes what it takes to respond to any proposal by another person.
The revolution will not be controlled: natural stimuli in speech neuroscience

Humans have a unique ability to produce and consume rich, complex, and varied language in order to communicate ideas to one another. Still, outside of natural reading, the most common methods for studying how our brains process speech or understand language use only isolated words or simple sentences. Recent studies have upset this status quo by employing complex natural stimuli and measuring how the brain responds to language as it is used. In this article we argue that natural stimuli offer many advantages over simplified, controlled stimuli for studying how language is processed by the brain. Furthermore, the downsides of using natural language stimuli can be mitigated using modern statistical and computational techniques.
Abstract P208: Association of Baseline Medication Burden With Blood Pressure Control, Patient-Reported Outcomes, and Serious Adverse Events: Findings from the SPRINT Trial

Background: Achieving intensive systolic blood pressure (SBP) control (<120 mmHg) requires more antihypertensive medications than standard control (<140 mmHg). It is unclear how total medication bu...
Differential regulation of the Drosophila sleep homeostat by circadian and arousal inputs

One output arm of the sleep homeostat in Drosophila appears to be a group of neurons with projections to the dorsal fan-shaped body (dFB neurons) of the central complex in the brain. However, neurons that regulate the sleep homeostat remain poorly understood. Using neurogenetic approaches combined with Ca2+ imaging, we characterized synaptic connections between dFB neurons and distinct sets of upstream sleep-regulatory neurons. One group of the sleep-promoting upstream neurons is a set of circadian pacemaker neurons that activates dFB neurons via direct glutaminergic excitatory synaptic connections. Opposing this population, a group of arousal-promoting neurons downregulates dFB axonal output with dopamine. Co-activating these two inputs leads to frequent shifts between sleep and wake states. We also show that dFB neurons release the neurotransmitter GABA and inhibit octopaminergic arousal neurons. We propose that dFB neurons integrate synaptic inputs from distinct sets of upstream sleep-promoting circadian clock neurons, and arousal neurons.
Representing and reasoning with modular ontologies

Realizing the full potential of the semantic web requires the large-scale adoption and use of ontology based approaches to sharing of information and resources. In such a setting, instead of a single, centralized ontology, it is much more natural to have multiple distributed ontologies that cover different, perhaps partially overlapping, domains. Such ontologies represent the local knowledge of the ontology designers, that is, knowledge that is applicable within a specific context. Hence, many application scenarios, such as collaborative construction and management of complex ontologies, distributed databases, and large knowledge base applications, present an urgent need for ontology languages that support localized and contextualized semantics, partial and selective reuse of ontology modules, flexible ways to limit the scope and visibility of knowledge (as needed for selective knowledge sharing), federated approaches to reasoning with distributed ontologies, and structured approaches to collaborative construction of large ontologies. Against this background, this dissertation develops a family of description logics based modular ontology languages, namely Package-based Description Logics (P-DL), to address the needs of such applications. The main contributions of this dissertation include: (1) The identification and theoretical characterization of the desiderata of modular ontology languages that can support selective sharing and reuse of knowledge across independently developed knowledge bases; (2) The development of a family of ontology languages called P-DL, which extend the classical description logics (DL) to support selective knowledge sharing through a novel semantic importing mechanism and the establishment of a minimal set of restrictions on the use of imported concepts and roles to support localized semantics, transitive propagation of imported knowledge, and different interpretations from the point of view of different ontology modules; (3) The development of a family of sound and complete tableau-based federated reasoning algorithms for distributed, autonomous, P-DL ontologies including ALCP and SHIQP , i.e., P-DL onologies where the individual modules are expressed in the P-DL counterpart of DL ALC and SHIQ respectively, that can be used to efficiently reason over a set of distributed, autonomous, ontology modules from the point of view of any specific module, that avoid the need to integrate ontologies using message exchanges between modules as needed; (4) The formulation of criteria for answering queries against a knowledge base using hidden or private knowledge, whenever it is feasible to do so without compromising hidden knowledge, and the development of privacy-preserving reasoning strategies for the case of the commonly used hierarchical ontologies and SHIQ ontologies, along with a theoretical characterization of the conditions under which they are guaranteed to be privacy-preserving; (5) The development of some prototype tools for collaborative development of large ontologies, including support for concurrent editing and partial loading of ontologies into memory.
Parental Perspectives on Education: Mexican and Mexican-American Farmworker Families with Young Children Enrolled in Migrant and Seasonal Head Start

Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) is a Head Start program which serves exclusively young children from the migrant farmworker community, the majority of whom are Mexican nationals and second-g...
Dispersant Enhances Hydrocarbon Degradation and Alters the Structure of Metabolically Active Microbial Communities in Shallow Seawater From the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico

Dispersant application is a primary emergency oil spill response strategy and yet the efficacy and unintended consequences of this approach in marine ecosystems remain controversial. To address these uncertainties, ex situ incubations were conducted to quantify the impact of dispersant on petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) biodegradation rates and microbial community structure at as close as realistically possible to approximated in situ conditions [2 ppm v/v oil with or without dispersant, at a dispersant to oil ratio (DOR) of 1:15] in surface seawater. Biodegradation rates were not substantially affected by dispersant application at low mixing conditions, while under completely dispersed conditions, biodegradation was substantially enhanced, decreasing the overall half-life of total PHC compounds from 15.4 to 8.8 days. While microbial respiration and growth were not substantially altered by dispersant treatment, RNA analysis revealed that dispersant application resulted in pronounced changes to the composition of metabolically active microbial communities, and the abundance of nitrogen-fixing prokaryotes, as determined by qPCR of nitrogenase (nifH) genes, showed a large increase. While the Gammaproteobacteria were enriched in all treatments, the Betaproteobacteria and different families of Alphaproteobacteria predominated in the oil and dispersant treatment, respectively. Results show that mixing conditions regulate the efficacy of dispersant application in an oil slick, and the quantitative increase in the nitrogen-fixing microbial community indicates a selection pressure for nitrogen fixation in response to a readily biodegradable, nitrogen-poor substrate.
Evaluation of Seven Chemical Aging Modeling Schemes with the 2D-VBS Framework Against Ground and Airborne PEGASOS Campaign Measurements

The 2D-VBS framework describing the organic aerosol (OA) distribution as a function of its volatility and O:C is used in PMCAMx-Trj, a one–dimensional Lagrangian chemical transport model. The model is used to simulate the atmospheric OA during two PEGASOS campaigns in the Po Valley in Italy during 2012 and in Hyytiala, Finland during 2013. Po Valley is an area with many industrial and agricultural sources and Hyytiala is characterized by high biogenic secondary OA (SOA) levels. The simulations are evaluated with AMS measurements both at the ground and aloft with a Zeppelin airship. There were seven aging schemes with different assumptions about functionalization, biogenic SOA aging, and fragmentation that succeeded in reproducing the AMS measurements within measurement error. For all seven schemes, the assumed enthalpy of evaporation had a surprisingly small effect on the diurnal and vertical profiles of O:C and OA concentration. Even if the seven schemes have relatively different characteristics and assumptions, all provide a rather similar picture about the different sources and processes contributing to the total OA in these two very different areas.
Staphylococcal meningitis therapy with linezolid in a young infant: efficacy, CSF levels and side effects

Linezolid is a synthetic antibiotic which is active against most Gram-positive bacteria, especially on Staphylococcus aureus. Its administration can be required when the infection is due to staphylococcus strains, which are resistant to vancomycin. Although mostly well tolerated, some mild to moderate side effects have been reported. This case report describes an infant with multiloculated hydrocephalus, staphylococcal meningitis and prolonged linezolid therapy, in which we observed the association between linezolid administration and a lengthened QTc interval at the electrocardiogram (ECG). To rule out toxic levels during the therapy, plasma and cerebro-spinal fluid concentrations of linezolid were measured and reported. Although generally well tolerated in neonates and infants, linezolid prolonged administration seems be able to cause QTc interval prolongation. Therefore, its administration in such patients should be limited to cases of bacterial resistance to other antibiotics. In addition to well-known close monitoring of the platelet level, we suggest serial ECG controls before and during linezolid administration. In the case we report, linezolid plasma concentrations resulted within the therapeutic range during therapy, while cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations appeared lower than those considered effective.
Solutions of Problems: Second-Order and Higher-Order Circuits

In this chapter, the problems of the fifth chapter are fully solved, in detail and step-by-step. In solving the problems of this chapter, all the subjects of the previous chapters are applied. Moreover, the concepts of quality factor, circuit responses, impulse function, time-dependent second-order homogeneous and nonhomogeneous differential equations, characteristic equation, and general solution of a second-order differential equations are explained.
Endocrine modulation of acoustic communication: Xenopus laevis as a model system

Abstract Acoustic communication is an essential component of social interactions in many species. In anuran amphibians, acoustic communication plays a critical role in coordinating reproduction. The structures that produce, perceive, and process social cues are influenced by organizational and activational effects of endocrine signaling. The disruption of endocrine signaling can therefore have repercussions on the ability to communicate and reproduce, which can threaten the survival of the species. Understanding the effects of potential endocrine-disrupting chemicals is of extreme ecological importance, and we present the South African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) as a particularly useful model organism for these studies, building on a foundation of knowledge on endocrine regulation of anuran auditory processing. X. laevis elaborates on this foundation, producing complex vocal signals with a sexually dimorphic larynx. Both vocalization and laryngeal development are influenced by endocrine signaling. X. laevis provides the opportunity to investigate the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals on acoustic communication from multiple viewpoints, including the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying these behaviors.
ROBBER FLIES (DIPTERA: ASILIDAE) AS PREDATORS OF HARVESTER ANT WORKERS (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE: POGONOMYRMEX) IN EASTERN NEW MEXICO AND WEST TEXAS

Three species of robber flies (Asilidae) are recorded as preying on workers of Pogonomyrmex harvester ants in eastern New Mexico and western Texas: Cerotainiops abdominalis, Saropogon combustus, and Saropogon pritchardi. Of 379 prey records for C. abdominalis, 66% were Pogonomyrmex workers. Two species of Saropogon were collected in association with a large number of harvester ant workers: S. combustus (40% of 263 prey records) and S. pritchardi (94% of 288 prey records). All three species show a statistical preference for Hymenoptera, specifically for harvester ant workers, and avoidance of Diptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, and Orthoptera prey. A brief review of invertebrate predators of Pogonomyrmex workers is given, with emphasis on asilid predators. For the three asilid predators mentioned in the article, seasonality, observed behaviors, and a list of known prey taxa are included.
Preliminary Study of the Effects of BEST in CLASS—Web on Young Children’s Social-Emotional and Behavioral Outcomes:

Many young children entering early childhood programs demonstrate challenging behaviors that place them at risk for emotional/behavioral disorders (EBDs), which impact their future success in schoo...
Reduced-order models for microstructure-sensitive effective thermal conductivity of woven ceramic matrix composites with residual porosity

Abstract This paper presents a data-driven framework for the development of reduced-order models to predict microstructure-sensitive effective thermal conductivity of woven ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) with residual porosity . The main components of the proposed framework include (i) digital generation of representative volume elements (RVEs), (ii) estimation of the effective thermal conductivities of the RVEs using finite element (FE) models, (iii) low dimensional representation of the microstructure in the RVEs using 2-point spatial correlations and principal component analysis (PCA), and (iv) an active learning strategy based on Gaussian process regression (GPR) that minimizes the size of the training dataset through the selection of microstructures with the highest potential for information gain. The reduced-order models are demonstrated to provide high fidelity predictions on new RVEs.
RAC-drawability is $\exists\mathbb{R}$-complete

A RAC-drawing of a graph is a straight-line drawing in which every crossing occurs at a right-angle. We show that deciding whether a graph has a RAC-drawing is as hard as the existential theory of the reals, even if we know that every edge is involved in at most ten crossings and even if the drawing is specified up to isomorphism.
Characterization of the Rank Ligand Positive Giant Cell Found in the Interfacial Membrane

CHARACTERIZATION OF THE RANK LIGAND POSITIVE GIANT CELL FOUND IN THE IN THE INTERFACIAL MEMBRANE By Patrick Jones, B.S. A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2006 Director: Dr. Matthew J. Beckrnan Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry Aseptic osteolysis is a major complication to total joint arthroplasty requiring several thousand people a year to have to undergo revisions of their joint prosthesis. The formation of the interfacial membrane has been associated with aseptic osteolysis leading to the failure of all types of total joints. Recent evidence suggests that RANKL, a potent activator of bone reabsorption, is present in the interfacial membrane. Prior research in this laboratory to determine the source of RANKL in the interfacial membrane has revealed the presence of intense areas of RANKL concentration in the membrane. These areas of RANKL concentration correspond to multiple nuclei and a distinct cellular structure in the tissue as determined through light microscopy. This structure either represents a multi-nucleated giant cell or a cluster of cells that express high concentrations of RANKL. These following studies attempted to characterize this cell and determine its lineage. The results of these studies show that the RANIU producing anomaly appears multi-nucleated in all examples with a RANKL staining pattern that makes it appear as a multi-nucleated cell. Furthermore this RANIU positive giant cell (RPGC) stains negative for markers typically seen on myeloid cells, osteoclasts, and osteoblasts. This RPGC does however stain very well for fibroblast markers and the inflammatory cytokines TNF-a, IL1 P, and IL-6. The most interesting result from these studies revealed that this cell was positive for cytomegalovirus and expressed high concentrations of TNF-a converting enzyme (TACE). These data does lead to a hypothesis as to how this cell might form and how large an impact it might play in the interfacial membrane with respect to aseptic bone reabsorption. GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Transport as a Consequence of Incident Carrier Flux

The electrical resistance of a one-dimensional metal, with no inelastic scattering, is [1,2] $$\Re _{e1} = \left( {\hbar \pi /e^2 } \right)R/\left( {1 - R} \right).$$ (1.1) where R is the reflection probability for a carrier entering the specimen, at the Fermi level. Equation (1.1) allows for a two-fold spin degeneracy. This relationship received widespread attention in the localization literature, following the work of ANDERSON, et al. [3]. As an example of the many further extensions, we cite only [4]. The opportunities for generalizations of (1.1), as well as its limitations, are, perhaps, still inadequately appreciated. In that connection, I will stress the utility of a viewpoint taken over from circuit theory. It was originally invoked [5] in a paper treating the metallic residual resistance problem from a viewpoint in which the current flow into the specimen is taken as the causal agent, and the electric field is built up as the consequence of a continued flow of charges against scattering centers. The duality of currents and fields as source agents is, of course, very familiar in electrical engineering, but has not become a common viewpoint in transport theory.
Intracellular processing and secretion of parathyroid gland proteins.

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on parathyroid hormone (PTH), its synthesis, intracellular processing, and secretion, and provides current information on the chemistry and biology of secretory protein-I (SP-I) and its possible relationship to PTH. The parathyroid gland is important in fields related to calcium metabolism because of the role played by its hormone PTH plays in the regulation of body calcium. The chapter also focuses on the gland because of the realization that it also synthesizes and secretes a major glycoprotein termed SP-I that is similar to chromogranin A (CGA), a protein co-secreted with epinephrine by the adrenal. SP-I/CGA appears to be present in a large number of endocrine, but not exocrine, cells. PTH is unglycosylated and generally does not contain modified amino acids. PTH exhibits a complex conformation in solution that appears to reorder at different pHs. Images of PTH examined by dark-field electron microscopy suggest that the molecule consists of two domains connected by a short stalk. The fundamental mechanisms responsible for secretory control are at least as complex as those regulating intracellular formation and processing of the hormone.
Research opportunities and challenges in 2005.

Objectives: Biomedical informatics practice and research have become so broad that I will comment on only three areas. These are the electronic health record; prospective population studies; and interactive publications. Methods: Review of the literature, Internet resources and material and reports generated by internal and external research projects. Results: Development of an electronic health record continues to be problematic in the U.S. A number of large-scale prospective cohort studies of normal populations are now actively occurring or in planning stages in a number of countries; these present special research opportunities in biomedical informatics. Although there are engineering challenges to the implementation of interactive publications, they have the potential to enhance understanding, learning, and memory of scientific and health concepts. Conclusions: Three areas of bio-medical informatics challenge us and offer interesting and worthy research opportunities. These include the electronic health record, prospective cohort studies, and interactive publications.
Ethical and practical issues with opioids in life-limiting illness.

We all must die. But that I can save him from days of torture, that is what I feel is my great and ever new privilege. Pain is a more terrible lord of mankind than death itself. —Albert Schweitzer, MD, physician, humanitarian, theologian (1) As physicians, we understand that we cannot cure every patient we see. At best, we delay inevitable mortality. The relief of pain and suffering, however, is always within our capabilities, yet our endeavors to do so are not without uncertainty and misunderstanding, both within the profession and without. Consider the recently publicized case of Anna Pou, MD, the chief of the head and neck surgery service at Louisiana State University School of Medicine. During Hurricane Katrina, Dr. Pou stayed behind in New Orleans to tend to her patients when others fled. For her sacrifice and dedication in serving humanity in the most dire of circumstances, she has now been indicted for murder, along with two nurses, Lori Budo and Cheri Landry. The local district attorney in New Orleans has accused her of administering lethal doses of narcotics to frail, elderly patients who could not be evacuated. I do not personally know Dr. Pou, but I have read her resume and know many physicians like her—physicians dedicated first to the good of their patients, with their own needs taking a subservient role. Dr. Pou is not Dr. Kevorkian, and it strains credulity to claim that a physician of her obvious dedication and stature would intentionally kill a patient, as some are suggesting. Clearly there is misunderstanding on the part of other health care professionals at the hospital where she practiced and misunderstanding on the part of the district attorney. Her case points to the need to increase education about practical and ethical issues related to opioid use, particularly in life-limiting illness, both within the healing professions and among the broader public. This article reviews basic pain assessment, including the concept of total pain; the ethical foundation of pain management strategies; distinctions between tolerance, dependence, and addiction; and a rational, evidence-based approach to analgesia with an emphasis on opioid pharmacology.
An advanced condition monitoring system for turbopumps

Advanced condition monitoring (ACM) technologies developed for in situ turbomachinery applications are reviewed. The ACM concepts are based on direct in situ hardware monitoring and between-flight inspections, using novel real-time, automated, noncontacting, and nonintrusive sensor and associated electronic technologies.
A generic execution model for sharing of computer-interpretable clinical practice guidelines

We developed the Guideline Execution by Semantic Decomposition of Representation (GESDOR) model to share guidelines encoded in different formats at the execution level. For this purpose, we extracted a set of generalized guideline execution tasks from the existing guideline representation models. We then created the mappings between specific guideline representation models and the set of the common guideline execution tasks. Finally, we developed a generic task-scheduling model to harmonize the existing approaches to guideline task scheduling. The evaluation has shown that the GESDOR model can be used for the effective execution of guidelines encoded in different formats, and thus realizes guideline sharing at the execution level.
Visualization of the diaphragm muscle with ultrasound improves diagnostic accuracy of phrenic nerve conduction studies.

Introduction: Evaluation of phrenic neuropathy (PN) with phrenic nerve conduction studies (PNCS) is associated with false negatives. Visualization of diaphragmatic muscle twitch with diaphragm ultrasound (DUS) when performing PNCS may help to solve this problem. Methods: We performed bilateral, simultaneous DUS–PNCS in 10 healthy adults and 12 patients with PN. The amplitude of the diaphragm compound muscle action potential (CMAP) (on PNCS) and twitch (on DUS) was calculated. Results: Control subjects had <38% side-to-side asymmetry in twitch amplitude (on DUS) and 53% asymmetry in phrenic CMAP (on PCNS). In the 12 patients with PN, 12 phrenic neuropathies were detected. Three of these patients had either significant side-to-side asymmetry or absolute reduction in diaphragm movement that was not detected with PNCS. There were no cases in which the PNCS showed an abnormality but the DUS did not. Conclusions: The addition of DUS to PNCS enhances diagnostic accuracy in PN. Muscle Nerve 49: 669–675, 2014
Commentary on "oral health literacy: a pathway to reducing oral health disparities in Maryland".

Any unnecessary death and most especially the death of achild in an industrialized society such as ours with the meanstopreventthecauseof death,tointerveneearly,andtreatevenlate symptoms, is not simply tragic but criminal. Horowitzand Kleinman insist that we learn from the untimely death ofDeamonte Driver and take action.Horowitz and Kleinman review steps being taken in Mary-land and suggest that attention to health literacy – and,in thisimportant case, to oral health literacy, will enable us to avoidsucheventsandservetoreducehealthdisparitiesinthefuture.TheyrightlypointtotheaccumulatedevidencethatclosetoamajorityofUSadultshavelimitedliteracyskillsandthatasub-stantialbodyofresearchindicatesthatthosewithpoorliteracyskills are likely to experience untoward health outcomes. Weknow, for example, that those with limited literacy are lesslikelytoengageinpreventiveaction,toengageinscreeningandtreatment,andtomanageachronicdiseasewell.Thepublica-tionof ﬁndingsfromtheadultliteracysurveysconductedﬁrstin 1992 and again in 2003 spurred this interest in the possiblehealtheffectsof thepoorliteracyskills.However, educators remind us that literacy does not existin a vacuum. For example, assessments of reading skills mustalso consider the difﬁculty of the text; similarly, measures oflistening skills must appraise the spoken word and its deliv-ery. Thus, we cannot assess people’s ability to access oralhealth information if the messages are not provided or ﬁlledwith jargon.We cannot assess someone’s reading skills basedon health materials that are poorly written.Attention cannotbe entirely focused on the skills or deﬁcits of the public.Instead,we must focus attention on the abilities of health andsocial service professionals to communicate with the public,to identify and remove literacy-related barriers to informa-tion,decision making,and healthful action.Furthermore,wemust change those features of our health systems that hinderaccess to information and care.Horowitz and Kleinman avoid the errors perpetuated intheearlyhealthliteracystudiesandeditorialsthatevidencedasomewhat myopic focus on deﬁcits of patients. In contrast,Horowitz and Kleinman correctly point out that action mustalso be taken to enhance the oral health literacy and commu-nicationskillsof professionals.Theynotethatthe2007Mary-land Dental Action Committee Report calls for educatingparents, caregivers, and health professionals about oralhealth.Horowitz and Kleinman are establishing baseline dataof knowledge and understanding, practices and techniques,and skills of the lay public, as well as of social service andhealth professionals. In so doing, they present a balancedapproach for oral health literacy that practitioners and policymakers must emulate.Weneedtopayattentiontothemismatchbetweenwhatwenow know are average literacy skills of US adults and the bur-densome demands of messages, directions, and informationthat are not easily understood or accessible.ConﬂictofinterestThe author declares no conﬂict of interest.
Lipid metabolism in inositol-deficient yeast, Saccharomyces carlsbergensis: I. Influence of different carbon sources on the lipid composition of deficient cells

Abstract 1. 1. Saccharomyces carlsbergensis, ATCC 9080, was grown on three different carbon sources: glucose (1 or 10%), ethanol and lactate, in the presence and in the absence of added inositol. 2. 2. Lipids were extracted from whole cells and analyzed. In deficient cells, triglycerides were greatly enhanced with glucose as the carbon source, independant of the concentration of the nutrient. Triglyceride accumulation was less pronounced in ethanol-grown cells. 3. 3. The total phospholipid content of deficient cells grown on glucose was identical to that of normal cells. In ethanol-grown cells, the total phospholipids were decreased as compared to glucose-grown cells. The relative proportion of phospholipid classes was unaltered by inositol deficiency, with the exception of a lower phosphatidyl inositol content. The fatty acid composition of different lipid classes was almost identical in supplemented and deficient cells, although deficient cells contained slightly more medium-chain and saturated fatty acids. 4. 4. With cells grown on lactate without addition of inositol, lipid content, respiration and growth characteristics were identical to supplemented cells. 5. 5. Lipid accumulation occurred in deficient cells in the presence of glucose during the growth phase.
Genetic and Phenotypic Path Analyses in Sugarcane: Artificially Created Relationships

In sugarcan (Saccharum spp.) studies, tonnes per hectare of sugar (THS) is generally computed by mutiplying tonnes per hectare of cane (THC) and sugar per tonne of cane (S/T). Because of this multiplication, artificial relationships are created between THS and THC and between THS and S/T, but their effect on the relative importance of THC and S/T in determining THS in path analyses is not known. This study examined the possible effect of the artificially created relationships on the relative importance of THC and S/T in determining THS in genetic and phenotypic analyses
Using peer review to teach software testing

This paper explains how peer review can be used to teach software testing, an important skill that is typically not carefully taught in most programming courses. The goals of such peer review are (1) to frame testing as a fun and competitive activity, (2) to allow students to learn from each other, (3) to demonstrate the importance of testing by uncovering latent bugs in the students' code, and (4) to provide a mechanism for evaluating testing skills. This paper explains how we added peer review to an honors data structure course without significantly reducing its heavy programming load. We evaluate our intervention by summarizing surveys of student attitudes taken throughout the course.
Tremor induced by trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Excerpt Patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) treated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole forPneumocystis cariniipneumonia often have adverse reactions, with a frequency of 83%...
Cold welding: a phenomenon for spontaneous self-healing and shape genesis at the nanoscale

Making direct, intimate connections between individual nano-objects is crucial for the fabrication of hierarchical and multifunctional nanostructures with inherited properties superior to those arising from an individual entity. In this review, we introduce and discuss the significance of cold welding, an intriguing ambient condition route for making connections between nanoparticles, thin metal films, or nanowires. Factors such as the surface chemistry (activation, passivation) and the chemical nature of the material strongly influence the process of cold welding. Irrespective of the parent particle sizes and morphologies, the process is driven by a need to minimize the surface chemical potential. It is evident from recent studies that rapid atomic rearrangements, surface diffusion, and atomic hopping are the fundamental modes for atomic transport on nanoscale metal surfaces. In this fashion, highly curved surfaces generally become filled in order to minimize the surface curvature, satisfying the criterion for reduced free energy. It is possible to generate defect-free single-crystalline nanomaterials via three-dimensional (3-D) rotation or atom-by-atom orientation of the crystallographic planes at the inter-particle boundary, a novel remodelling process characteristic to cold welding. Cold welding has been successfully applied in the template-assisted synthesis of diverse and interesting morphologies, including nanogratings, nanotubules, and multipods, as well as the transfer of metal nano-objects onto metallic surfaces. Even though there has been significant progress in making nano-junctions, it remains largely limited to template-assisted synthesis. There is immense scope, however, for the improvement and expansion of the cold welding phenomenon toward site-specific coalescence, precise morphological and dimensional control of nano-junctions, and the construction of defect-free heterometallic junctions, among other areas. Although we acquaint the reader with the ground-breaking examples of cold welding reported by the few pioneers in the area, numerous examples discussed in this review are “found” examples which, in the original publication are not actually referred to as cold welding, although in hindsight they plainly should be categorized as such and they make important contributions to our understanding of the phenomenon. Given the infancy of the concept of cold welding, we anticipate that this review will serve as a call to arms, bringing broader awareness to this exciting and virtually-unexploited area of controlled nanoscale synthesis. With proven utility in the construction of diverse nanoassemblies and morphologically-distinct nanomaterials required for next-generation plasmonic, sensing, and catalytic efforts, cold welding surely has a role to play in the genesis of shape-controlled nanostructure and deserves wider attention.
Dual-catalyst aftertreatment of lean-burn engine exhaust

Abstract Pd/SZ catalysts prepared by a sol–gel technique were investigated with regards to their NO2 selective catalytic reduction activity for application in a novel integrated NO-CO-hydrocarbon oxidation and NOx-selective catalytic reduction system for aftertreatment of lean-burn natural gas reciprocating engine exhaust. The dual-catalyst system consists of a mechanical mixture of a non-noble-metal based oxidation catalyst component (Co/ZrO2) for elimination of carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons and oxidation of NO to NO2 and a reduction catalyst component (Pd/SZ) for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO2 with CH4. The effect of sol–gel preparation parameters on the activity of Pd/SZ was investigated. The zirconium alkoxide concentration was varied between 0.3 M and 1.3 M during preparation of the Pd/SZ series of catalysts while other sol–gel parameters, such as hydrolysis and zirconium-to-sulfur precursor ratios and palladium loadings were kept constant. Pd/SZ prepared with the lowest concentration of alkoxide was mainly composed of metastable tetragonal zirconia while increasing alkoxide concentration resulted in decreased stability of t-ZrO2 as evidenced by formation of m-ZrO2 domains. Crystal phase of ZrO2 was observed to have a significant effect on Pd dispersion. Palladium dispersion increased with increasing concentration of the monoclinic phase. The best performing Pd/SZ catalyst was further tested as the NOx reduction catalyst component for simulated lean exhaust treatment over the dual-catalyst scheme where, N2 yields in excess of 90% along with significant conversions of CO, CH4, C2H6 and C3H8 were achieved at 450 °C. The NOx reduction activity of Pd/SZ was significantly inhibited in the presence of water vapor. The presence of oxidation catalyst in close proximity to the reduction catalyst was shown to act to offset the effect of water vapor. Above 70% N2 yield was achieved at 450 °C in the presence of 7% water vapor during simulated lean exhaust treatment over the dual-catalyst system.
Empirical Study on Financing Order of the Listed firms on Small and Medium Enterprise Board in China

The author regards 2006 fiscal year data of 113 listed firms on small and medium enterprise board as research sample, and analyze financing status of these companies. Drawing the following research conclusion: The listed firms on small and medium enterprise board have a low asset-liability ratio, but their financing order accords with pecking order theory, that is to say, firstly selecting interior fund, secondly bank loan, finally stock financing, and preferring short-term loan of bank loan. The author does some explanations aiming at the research results.
Definition and epidemiology of overactive bladder.

Abstract The Standardisation Subcommittee of the International Continence Society (ICS) now recognizes overactive bladder (OAB) as a “symptom syndrome suggestive of lower urinary tract dysfunction.” It is specifically defined as “urgency, with or without urge incontinence, usually with frequency and nocturia.” The ICS definition was not formulated until January 2001 and was not formally approved until September 2001. Therefore, collection and discussion of the epidemiologic characteristics of OAB are somewhat hampered by the different definitions of this condition used by different investigators. Most communications that appeared before 2000 more often described characteristics of incontinence rather than OAB, and the estimates of OAB prevalence within those studies varied significantly. Until recently, little definite epidemiologic information was available on the prevalence and comorbidities of OAB. An important challenge in treating OAB is to increase awareness of this significant problem worldwide and to impress on other specialists and primary care physicians the importance of identifying this clinical problem and managing it in a way that will maximize quality-of-life improvement while minimizing morbidity.