cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Energy Cost of Active and Sedentary Music Video Games: Drum and Handheld Gaming vs. Walking and Sitting.

To compare energy expenditure during and after active and handheld video game drumming compared to walking and sitting. Ten experienced, college-aged men performed four protocols (one per week): no-exercise seated control (CTRL), virtual drumming on a handheld gaming device (HANDHELD), active drumming on drum pads (DRUM), and walking on a treadmill at ~30% of VO2max (WALK). Protocols were performed after an overnight fast, and expired air was collected continuously during (30min) and after (30min) exercise. DRUM and HANDHELD song lists, day of the week, and time of day were identical for each participant. Significant differences (p DRUM > HANDHELD. No significant differences in the rates of energy expenditure among groups during recovery were observed. Total energy expenditure was significantly greater (p < 0.05) during WALK (149.5 ± 30.6 kcal) compared to DRUM (118.7 ± 18.8 kcal) and HANDHELD (44.9±11.6 kcal), and greater during DRUM compared to HANDHELD. Total energy expenditure was not significantly different between HANDHELD (44.9 ± 11.6 kcal) and CTRL (38.2 ± 6.0 kcal). Active video game drumming at expert-level significantly increased energy expenditure compared to handheld, but it hardly met moderate-intensity activity standards, and energy expenditure was greatest during walking. Energy expenditure with handheld video game drumming was not different from no-exercise control. Thus, traditional aerobic exercise remains at the forefront for achieving the minimum amount and intensity of physical activity for health, individuals desiring to use video games for achieving weekly physical activity recommendations should choose games that require significant involvement of lower-body musculature, and time spent playing sedentary games should be a limited part of an active lifestyle.
Role of Duplex Ultrasound in Carotid Screening

Screening programs designed to identify disease in the general public have proliferated in recent years. Increased stroke awareness has resulted in both free and for-profit screening programs for carotid disease offered to the public. This chapter evaluates the effectiveness of screening for carotid artery disease, which by definition means testing individuals to identify asymptomatic internal carotid disease. The underlying premise of carotid screening is that disease will be identified that increases the patient’s risk for stroke, which then generates treatment that effectively reduces that risk. A literature review of the history of carotid screening for both general and high-risk populations was undertaken, and the cost-effectiveness of screening programs analyzed. Despite the increased interest related to patients with asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis, screening for carotid artery disease is difficult to justify as the prevalence of asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis and risk of subsequent ipsilateral stroke are low in the general public. Moreover, the number of patients needed to screen in order to prevent one stroke is excessive. At present, there are no data supporting screening for asymptomatic carotid disease in individuals appropriately treated for cardiovascular risk reduction. It is unlikely that screening for carotid artery disease will improve patient care or be cost-effective.
A Phenotype of Childhood Autism Is Associated with Preexisting Maternal Anxiety and Depression

This study explored whether ASD phenotypes in the child were associated with a history of anxiety or depression in the mother. We hypothesized that an ASD profile in children characterized by mild delays and increased rates of dysregulation would be associated with preexisting maternal anxiety or depression. Participants were 672 preschool children with ASD and their mothers. Children were classified as ASD after a comprehensive developmental evaluation. Mothers reported whether a healthcare provider ever diagnosed them with anxiety or depression before the birth of their child. Four child ASD phenotypes were derived from latent class analysis: Mild Language Delay with Cognitive Rigidity (Type 1), Significant Developmental Delay with Repetitive Motor Behaviors (Type 2), General Developmental Delay (Type 3), and Mild Language and Motor Delay with Dysregulation (i.e., aggression, anxiety, depression, emotional reactivity, inattention, somatic complaints, and sleep problems) (Type 4). Type 2 ASD served as the referent category in statistical analyses. Results showed that 22.6% of mothers reported a diagnosis of anxiety or depression before the birth of their child. Maternal anxiety or depression was associated with 2.7 times the odds (95% confidence interval: 1.4, 5.3) of Type 4 or Dysregulated ASD in the child; maternal anxiety and depression was associated with 4.4 times the odds (95% confidence interval: 1.4, 14.0) of Type 4 or Dysregulated ASD in the child. Our findings suggest an association between Dysregulated ASD in the child and anxiety and depression in the mother. These findings can enhance screening methods and inform future research efforts.
Crosstalk between mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitors and transforming growth factor-β signaling results in variable activation of human dermal fibroblasts

Fibroblast activation is a key step in the establishment of skin fibrosis induced by acute injury, and it is characterized by the differentiation of plastic resident tissue fibroblasts into contractile, extracellular matrix‑secreting myofibroblasts. As fibroblast activation must be regulated in vivo, fibroblasts receive signals from the surrounding environment that initiate their fibrotic program. Thus, the present study investigated the effects of mitogen‑activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways on fibroblast activation. It was demonstrated in primary human dermal fibroblasts that small molecule‑mediated inhibition of extracellular signal‑regulated kinase (ERK) and c‑Jun N‑terminal kinase (JNK) potentiated fibroblast activation, and that small molecule‑mediated inhibition of p38 antagonized fibroblast activation. ERK and JNK inhibition cooperatively enhanced fibroblast activation mediated by treatment with exogenous transforming growth factor (TGF)‑β1, and p38 inhibition antagonized ERK inhibitor‑mediated or JNK inhibitor‑mediated fibroblast activation. Transcript analysis demonstrated that ERK and JNK inhibitor‑mediated fibroblast activation was accompanied by distinct changes in the expression of TGF‑β‑associated ligands and receptors, and that p38 inhibitor‑mediated antagonism of fibroblast activation was accompanied by a distinct expression paradigm of TGF‑β‑associated genes, including upregulation of betaglycan. ERK inhibitor‑mediated and JNK inhibitor‑mediated fibroblast activation was partially antagonized by small molecule‑mediated inhibition of TGF‑β receptor (R)1, indicating that these mechanisms of fibroblast activation are partially dependent on TGF‑β/TGF‑βR signaling. These data collectively demonstrate and provide partial explanations of the varied effects and pathway dependencies of MAPK inhibitor‑mediated effects on fibroblast activation.
PruneNet: Channel pruning via global importance

Channel pruning is one of the predominant approaches for accelerating deep neural networks. Most existing pruning methods either train from scratch with a sparsity inducing term such as group lasso, or prune redundant channels in a pretrained network and then fine tune the network. Both strategies suffer from some limitations: the use of group lasso is computationally expensive, difficult to converge and often suffers from worse behavior due to the regularization bias. The methods that start with a pretrained network either prune channels uniformly across the layers or prune channels based on the basic statistics of the network parameters. These approaches either ignore the fact that some CNN layers are more redundant than others or fail to adequately identify the level of redundancy in different layers. In this work, we investigate a simple-yet-effective method for pruning channels based on a computationally light-weight yet effective data driven optimization step that discovers the necessary width per layer. Experiments conducted on ILSVRC-$12$ confirm effectiveness of our approach. With non-uniform pruning across the layers on ResNet-$50$, we are able to match the FLOP reduction of state-of-the-art channel pruning results while achieving a $0.98\%$ higher accuracy. Further, we show that our pruned ResNet-$50$ network outperforms ResNet-$34$ and ResNet-$18$ networks, and that our pruned ResNet-$101$ outperforms ResNet-$50$.
Differences in Self-Reported GPA for Students Experiencing Insecurities

This study examined the influence of multiple types of insecurity on student GPAs. Data demonstrated that students who did not experience one of the four insecurities had significantly higher GPAs ...
Machine Learning of Patient Characteristics to Predict Admission Outcomes in the Undiagnosed Diseases Network.

Importance The Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN) is a national network that evaluates individual patients whose signs and symptoms have been refractory to diagnosis. Providing reliable estimates of admission outcomes may assist clinical evaluators to distinguish, prioritize, and accelerate admission to the UDN for patients with undiagnosed diseases. Objective To develop computational models that effectively predict admission outcomes for applicants seeking UDN evaluation and to rank the applications based on the likelihood of patient admission to the UDN. Design, Setting, and Participants This prognostic study included all applications submitted to the UDN from July 2014 to June 2019, with 1209 applications accepted and 1212 applications not accepted. The main inclusion criterion was an undiagnosed condition despite thorough evaluation by a health care professional; the main exclusion criteria were a diagnosis that explained the objective findings or a review of the records that suggested a diagnosis. A classifier was trained using information extracted from application forms, referral letters from health care professionals, and semantic similarity between referral letters and textual description of known mendelian disorders. The admission labels were provided by the case review committee of the UDN. In addition to retrospective analysis, the classifier was prospectively tested on another 288 applications that were not evaluated at the time of classifier development. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcomes were whether a patient was accepted or not accepted to the UDN and application order ranked based on likelihood of admission. The performance of the classifier was assessed by comparing its predictions against the UDN admission outcomes and by measuring improvement in the mean processing time for accepted applications. Results The best classifier obtained sensitivity of 0.843, specificity of 0.738, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.844 for predicting admission outcomes among 1212 accepted and 1210 not accepted applications. In addition, the classifier can decrease the current mean (SD) UDN processing time for accepted applications from 3.29 (3.17) months to 1.05 (3.82) months (68% improvement) by ordering applications based on their likelihood of acceptance. Conclusions and Relevance A classification system was developed that may assist clinical evaluators to distinguish, prioritize, and accelerate admission to the UDN for patients with undiagnosed diseases. Accelerating the admission process may improve the diagnostic journeys for these patients and serve as a model for partial automation of triaging or referral for other resource-constrained applications. Such classification models make explicit some of the considerations that currently inform the use of whole-genome sequencing for undiagnosed disease and thereby invite a broader discussion in the clinical genetics community.
Machine-learning assisted fast critical area analysis

Critical Area Analysis (CAA) is an established DFM tool to assess the defect limited yield of a semiconductor design. However, several factors limit the usefulness of this tool for advanced technology nodes at 28nm and below. Specifically for metal design layers, retargeting has been a successful measure to improve defect limited yield. Retargeting will opportunistically widen lines and space them further apart where possible. Since retargeting happens during the tapeout phase it is not visible to the designer. A critical area analysis solely based on design shapes therefore underestimates defect limited yield by a substantial amount. Furthermore, CAA computation time for large designs has grown exponentially as the grid size of designs has been shrunk with each technology node. For a large design, CAA computation can take weeks and consume large computational resources. We have come up with a new and fast methodology to compute CAA that takes retargeting into account and thus gives far more realistic estimates of defect limited yield. Our method takes advantage of the fact that even large designs usually consist of millions of repetitions of similar design blocks that will report very similar CAA metrics. By training a machine learning model on representative design snippets one can come up with a flow that estimates the CAA of the full chip and runs very fast.
Thromboelastography-Based Profiling of Coagulation Status in Patients Undergoing Bariatric Surgery: Analysis of 422 Patients

Some clinical indicators suggest hypercoagulability/hyperaggregability in patients with morbid obesity. Thromboelastography (TEG®) has been used to profile coagulation status in surgical patients. We aimed to assess coagulation profiles in patients with morbid obesity undergoing bariatric surgery by correlating demographic and patient characteristics to pre-operative TEG® values. Pre-operative TEG® values from 422 patients undergoing bariatric surgery were evaluated. TEG® results were analyzed by gender, use of medications known to alter the coagulation profile, and body mass index (BMI). Patients have a mean of 45.03 ± 11.8 years, female (76.3%), and with a mean BMI of 42 kg/m 1. The overall coagulation profile of female patients was significantly different from males, even in the sub-cohort without use of medications known to alter coagulation. The majority of patients (94%) with a G value > 15 dynes/cm 1 (clot strength) were female. In females, there was no association between BMI and TEG® values; however, in men, there was a statistically significant difference in TEG® values for those with BMI 50 kg/m2. TEG®-based analysis of coagulation profiles offers unique insights. Compared to laboratory normal values (R time, angle, maximal amplitude, and G values), patients with morbid obesity may have a tendency for hypercoagulability/hyperaggregability, with mean values at the higher limit. A significant hypercoagulable difference in TEG® values was identified in female as compared to male patients. Male patients with a BMI greater than 50 kg/m2 were also found to be increasingly hypercoagulable.
Development of an Electronic Exchange of Medical Documentation for Power Mobility Devices.

Objectives Power mobility devices (PMDs) such as power wheelchairs and scooters are crucial for mobility, self-care, employment, and leisure activities. The documentation process for insurance coverage is complex and requires communication and document delivery among multiple stakeholders. The objective of this project was to develop an electronic submission process for medical documentation of PMDs submitted for prior authorization to a Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) and implement a standardized means of communication between providers and payers. Methods A protocol was developed to create and securely transmit an electronic prescription and several documents that outline medical necessity from a clinical team using EpicCare to a MAC via a Health Information Handler. A Rehabilitation Technology Supplier (RTS) added detailed product information and specifications to the electronic package during transmission. Setting The setting involved in the study was University-based outpatient assistive technology clinic. Results The protocol demonstrated successful transmission of an order, medical documentation, and request for signature. Results were transcribed to a readable format for the clinical team and RTS. A set of quality metrics for use in future projects was also identified. Conclusion This pilot project demonstrated successful electronic exchange and transmission of medical documentation for durable medical equipment from the electronic health record to a MAC.
An examination of sedation requirements and practices for mechanically ventilated critically ill patients with COVID-19.

PURPOSE: Preliminary reports suggest that critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection requiring mechanical ventilation may have markedly increased sedation needs compared with non-mechanically ventilated patients. We conducted a study to examine sedative use for this patient population within multiple intensive care units (ICUs) of a large academic medical center. METHODS: A retrospective, single-center cohort study of sedation practices for critically ill patients with COVID-19 during the first 10 days of mechanical ventilation was conducted in 8 ICUs at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA. The study population was a sequential cohort of 86 critically ill, mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19. Data characterizing the sedative medications, doses, drug combinations, and duration of administration were collected daily and compared to published recommendations for sedation of critically ill patients without COVID-19. The associations between drug doses, number of drugs administered, baseline patient characteristics, and inflammatory markers were investigated. RESULTS: Among the study cohort, propofol and hydromorphone were the most common initial drug combination, with these medications being used on a given day in up to 100% and 88% of patients, respectively. The doses of sedative and analgesic infusions increased for patients over the first 10 days, reaching or exceeding the upper limits of published dosage guidelines for propofol (48% of patients), dexmedetomidine (29%), midazolam (7.7%), ketamine (32%), and hydromorphone (38%). The number of sedative and analgesic agents simultaneously administered increased over time for each patient, with more than 50% of patients requiring 3 or more agents by day 2. Compared with patients requiring 3 or fewer agents, as a group patients requiring more than 3 agents were of younger age, had an increased body mass index, increased serum ferritin and lactate dehydrogenase concentrations, had a lower PaO2:FIO2 (ratio of arterial partial pressure of oxygen to fraction of inspired oxygen), and were more likely to receive neuromuscular blockade. CONCLUSION: Our study confirmed the clinical impression of elevated sedative use in critically ill, mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19 relative to guideline-recommended sedation practices in other critically ill populations.
Crowded electrolytes containing redoxmers in different states of charge: Solution structure, properties, and fundamental limits on energy density

Abstract Nonaqueous redox flow batteries use liquid electrolytes containing redox-active organic molecules (redoxmers) as their energy storage medium. To maximize energy density, the redoxmer concentration needs to be maximized while maintaining low viscosity and high ionic conductivity. During charge, a redoxmer molecule pairs with an ion in the electrolyte while another ion migrates across the membrane to maintain electric neutrality. In a crowded electrolyte, this reconstitution changes physical and chemical properties of the solution. To explore these behaviors, a phenothiazine redoxmer fully miscible with acetonitrile was used, and electrochemical charge was mimicked by chemical oxidation. The solutions were examined using small-angle X-ray scattering, nuclear magnetic resonance, and conductometry and modeled using classical molecular dynamics. Our study indicates that physical and structural properties of redoxmer solutions in both states of charge make it exceedingly difficult to increase the redoxmer concentrations over 2 M at any temperature without compromising dynamic properties of such solutions. The cause for this limitation is proximity to a gel-like regime in which fluidity, diffusivity, and ionic conductivity exponentially decrease with increasing concentration. This tendency is compounded by non-Arrhenius behavior of the electrolyte: a small increase in the concentration outruns gains in fluidity and conductivity at a higher temperature. Thus the properties of crowded electrolytes generally make it impossible to operate when gel-like behavior sets in. Pushing the redoxmer concentration to 2.5–3 M might be possible for small redoxmer molecules, but it would require the use of ionic liquid electrolytes at 340–360 K.
Radar Signature Prediction Using Iterative Physical Optics with Physical Theory of Diffraction

In this paper, it is proposed to use iterative physical optics (IPO) in conjunction with physical theory of diffraction (PTD) to improve accuracy in predicting radar cross section (RCS) of an electrically large complex conducting object. In addition to the IPO surface currents, PTD electric and magnetic line currents are introduced along physical edges that are extracted from the triangulated surface representing the object. The computational cost and memory requirements of IPO-PTD are almost the same as those of IPO. Improvements achieved by PTD to account for edge diffractions are demonstrated in comparison with the results of the multi-level fast multipole method (MLFMM) obtained using FEKO commercial electromagnetic simulation software for a tilted trihedron geometry at 10 GHz.
Gendered infrastructure and liminal space in Delhi’s unauthorized colonies:

This paper takes an embodied approach to the lived experiences and everyday politics of liminal neighborhoods and infrastructures in Delhi’s unauthorized colonies, which lack official entitlements ...
Novel High-Frequency Air Transducers

Ultrasonic transducers operating in air in the frequency range of 1–10MHz have major applications in robotics and nondestructive evaluation. For robotics applications, high-frequency air transducers make possible range measurements with a resolution in the 30–100 μm range. For nondestructive evaluation, it is possible to make transmission C-scan systems operating in air for the inspection of composites, green ceramics, and even metals at elevated temperatures. In this work, we report on the use of ligneous materials as a matching layer for PZT-based transducers.
Electrical characterization of sol-gel derived PZT thin films

Thin films of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) were deposited on a variety of substrates using the sol-gel process. These included Pt/Ti/SiO/sub 2//Si, RuO/sub 2//SiO/sub 2//Si, RuO/sub 2//MgO, Pt/MgO, and Pt/Ti/MgO. Epitaxial, oriented, and polycrystalline films were obtained after annealing at 700 degrees C for 10 min. Polycrystalline PZT films with RuO/sub 2/ as top and bottom electrodes showed superior hysteresis and fatigue behavior as compared to such films on Pt. Epitaxial films on Pt/MgO and Pt/Ti/MgO displayed excellent fatigue behavior and large remnant polarization as compared to their polycrystalline counterparts on Pt/Ti/SiO/sub 2//Si. The results suggest that different fatigue mechanisms may be simultaneously operating. >
Doob, Leonard W

Leonard W. Doob, born in New York on March 3, 1909, was one of the world's leading students of the psychology of propaganda and of conflict resolution. Following a B.A. at Dartmouth College (1929) and an M.A. at Duke University (1930), Doob studied at the University of Frankfurt in Germany, where his interest in news propaganda led to a dissertation on the topic and a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1934. Beginning in 1935 he had a distinguished career at Yale University until his retirement in 1977, and subsequently continued as Sterling Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Yale. Keywords: cross-cultural psychology; conflict management; communication
A method of hidden Markov model optimization for use with geophysical data sets

Geophysics research has been faced with a growing need for automated techniques with which to process large quantities of data. A successful tool must meet a number of requirements: it should be consistent, require minimal parameter tuning, and produce scientifically meaningful results in reasonable time. We introduce a hidden Markov model (HMM)-based method for analysis of geophysical data sets that attempts to address these issues. Our method improves on standard HMM methods and is based on the systematic analysis of structural local maxima of the HMM objective function. Preliminary results of the method as applied to geodetic and seismic records are presented.
Design and development of an automated stacker for highway products of Nucor Steel Corporation

In this paper, a robotic stacker is designed to enable precise stacking of highway sign posts produced by Nucor Steel Corporation, while complying with the required stacking pattern as well as time constraints. The Nucor Steel Corporation bar mill, located in Marion Ohio, relies heavily on manual work force in its highway products division. A highly manual process introduces many safety hazards as well as inefficiencies and inconsistencies. One hazardous position is the bundling of heavy sign posts, which are manually raked into bundles before being manually banded, and workers are at risk for overuse injuries. Moreover, the sign posts are randomly positioned within a bundle, and hence the disorganized bundle is much larger than an organized stack of the same count. Disorganized bundles also hinder further automation processes downstream the production line, such as banding and powder coating the sign posts. This paper offers a robotic stacker solution utilizing Fanuc robot manipulators, custom-built end-effectors, and programmable logic controller (PLC) integrated with human machine interface (HMI) that will result in smaller and organized stacks as compared with the current disorganized bundles, and the removal of a worker from the hazardous position in the process. Organized stacks will also allow for further downstream automation processes. This research project is to be executed at Michigan Technological University and is sponsored by Nucor Steel Corporation.
Personalized online promotions : long-term Impacts on customer behavior

Personalization is widely used by marketers in today’s world. It is not only a competitive advantage but is becoming a necessity for companies. Recent information technology advances have helped a lot to improve personalization methods. Companies could collect data about their customers through the Internet more easily and quickly. In return, companies create more values for their customers through personalization in performance as well as personalization in relationship. However, personalization may also bring new problems if customers are concerned about issues such as privacy, choice overload, and perceived fairness.This paper examines the advantages and disadvantages of personalization from both customers’ and companies’ perspectives. It also studies how customer reactions to personalization change over time, and suggests a conceptual framework that shows how customer behavior affects companies’ profitability. It concludes with recommendations about how companies should act in order to have successful online personalization strategies.
Medication adherence and cognition. Medical, personal and economic factors influence level of adherence in older adults.

Medication adherence is increasingly being recognized as a significant issue in treating geriatric patients. A report by the Institute of Medicine1 identified medication nonadherence as a notable source of medical errors. Poor adherence has been shown to decrease the effects of prescribed medications or other treatments and to increase the likelihood of poor outcomes.2 Adherence has been related to intermediate clinical outcomes in several diseases. An increased incidence of adverse events has been linked to nonadherence in the elderly.3 Elders' adherence to prescribed medications is a complex phenomenon that depends on an interaction of medical, medication, personal, and economic factors. Medical factors that affect adherence include cognitive abilities, as well as overall health status (eg, number of chronic conditions). Medication factors related to adherence include the characteristics of the medication (eg, dosing frequency or presence of side effects). Personal factors that affect adherence include: personal beliefs about the condition for which the medication is prescribed (eg, how serious the condition is and how likely the medication is to have a positive effect). individual cognitive abilities, including memory, overall intellectual ability, organization skills, and health literacy. Health literacy has emerged as an important factor that affects older persons' capacity, for example, to make health care choices.4 Economic factors pertinent to medication adherence include whether patients have insurance or other financial resources to pay for the medication. Patients' relationship with their physician as well as the physician's communication style can affect adherence.5 In the older adult with memory problems, we have found that whether patients depend on themselves or a caregiver can have a significant impact on adherence.6 Not all caregivers take responsibility for a patient's medication, and family members' beliefs about a medication can also affect the patient's adherence. Evaluation of elders' medication adherence as a factor in treatment success or failure is thus potentially complex, difficult, and time consuming.
Trade reform and household welfare : the case of Mexico

The authors use a two-step, computationally simple procedure to analyze the effects of Mexico's potentially unilateral tariff liberalization. First, they use a computable general equilibrium model provided by the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) as the new price generator. Second, they apply the price changes to Mexican household data to assess the effects of the simulated policy on poverty and income distribution. By choosing GTAP as the price generator, the authors are able to model Mexico's differential tariff structure appropriately: almost zero for North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) members and higher tariffs for nonmembers. Even starting with low tariff protection, simulation results show that tariff reform will have a positive effect on welfare for all expenditure deciles. Under an assumption of nonhomothetic individual preferences, trade liberalization benefits people in the poorer deciles more than those in the richer ones.
EUS-guided biliary drainage for patients with malignant biliary obstruction with an indwelling duodenal stent (with videos)

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) is the method most commonly used for palliation of malignant biliary obstruction. Percutaneous and, rarely, surgical bypass are used after failed ERC. EUS-guided biliary drainage (EGBD) is an emerging less-invasive alternative after unsuccessful transpapillary biliary cannulation in patients with altered anatomy (eg, pancreaticoduodenectomy) and those with gastric outlet obstruction. 1,2 EGBD can be performed entirely transhepatically or transduodenally without accessing the papilla or via rendezvous whereby the guidewire must pass through the papilla. Patients with gastric outlet obstruction resulting from duodenal tumor compression and/or infiltration present a particular challenge during ERC, especially in the presence of a duodenal self-expandable metal stent (SEMS). Although ERC can be accomplished by fenestration of a duodenal stent in some cases, 3 alternative approaches for biliary access and drainage are needed when the papilla is unable to be reached or visualized. 4,5
Histochemical studies on the distribution of some enzymes of the glycolytic pathways in the olfactory bulb of the squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus).

Detailed histochemical studies on the distribution of glycolytic enzymes have been made in the olfactory bulb of the Squirrel Monkey. The olfactory glomeruli, mitral cells, tufted cells, glial cells and nerve fibers are well equipped with the enzymes of the glycolytic pathways. Granule cells do not have the ability to synthesize or breakdown glycogen, but they have the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway and the Warburg-Dickens pathway. The synapses of the olfactory glomeruli may have the ability to break-down glycogen for an energy source. Small glial cells found in the olfactory glomeruli may be a special type of oligodendrocyte. Glial cells found abundantly in and around the olfactory glomeruli may be energy donators to the synapses of the olfactory glomeruli. It is suggested that oligodendrocytes and astrocytes of the olfactory bulb may have different branching enzymes.
Database Resources in Metabolomics: An Overview

Metabolomics is the characterization, identification, and quantitation of metabolites resulting from a wide range of biochemical processes in living systems. Its rapid development over the past few years has increased the demands for bioinformatics and cheminformatics resources that span from data processing tools, comprehensive databases, statistical tools, and computational tools for modeling metabolic networks. With the wealth of information that is being amassed, new types of metabolomic databases are emerging that are not only designed to store, manage, and analyze metabolomic data but are also designed to serve as gateways to the vast information space of metabolism in living systems. At present, metabolomics is underpinned by a number of freely and commercially available databases that provide information on the chemical structures, physicochemical and pharmacological properties, spectral profiles, experimental workflows, and biological functions of metabolites. This review provides an overview of the recent progress in databases employed in metabolomics.
EEG changes during tobacco withdrawal.

Tobacco smoking decreases theta and alpha power and increases the dominant alpha frequency in smokers deprived of cigarettes for 10-17 hrs. The slow alpha frequency in deprived smokers has been attributed to either (1) characterological differences between smokers and nonsmokers, or (2) nicotine withdrawal. Studies finding slower alpha in deprived smokers were not able to replicate previous findings of decreased alpha abundance after smoking, nor did they consider the importance of increased theta as a withdrawal sign. We studied 11 smokers for one day and 7 smokers for two days while they smoked a series of placebo and nicotine cigarettes. Theta and alpha power increased with tobacco deprivation but were decreased for 30-90 min by nicotine cigarettes. The dominant alpha frequency in deprived smokers was slower than after smoking a nicotine cigarette, but the decreases in frequency were not always statistically significant.
Prevalence of Asthma and Respiratory Symptoms among Alaskan Native Children♦ 1966

The prevalence of asthma among children has increased in the last decade, particularly among ethnic minorities. However, the prevalence of asthma and other respiratory conditions among Alaskan native children has not been previously reported. Children attending grades 6-9 in three villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta region of Alaska were surveyed in 1997 using modified validated instruments developed by the International Studies of Asthma and Allergies in Children (ISAAC). Children were categorized as those who had received a diagnosis of asthma by a doctor, children with asthma-like symptoms without a diagnosis of asthma, children with daily sputum production without asthma-like symptoms, and normal children without respiratory symptoms. The proportions of children (as% of total children surveyed/village) in each category are depicted below. The frequency of different respiratory symptoms varies among villages. Yet, in all three sites asthma symptoms are more common than diagnosed asthma. Daily sputum production suggestive of chronic bronchitis is more common than both diagnosed and undiagnosed asthma. Remarkably, more than half of middle school children in Southwest Alaska by self-reporting have chronic respiratory symptoms. Table
Dual‐broadband printed monopole antenna with a numeral‐7 slit

A 15-by-20-mm2 dual-broadband printed monopole antenna fed by a coplanar waveguide is presented. With a numeral-7 slit etched from the rectangular radiating element, the antenna can excite for its lower and upper impedance bands two and one resonant modes, respectively. With a back-patch appropriately printed on the other side of the substrate, a lower (upper) impedance band with a bandwidth of 39.3% (19.5%) can be obtained. These two impedance bands can cover the frequency bands required by UMTS/IMT-2000/IEEE802.11a/b/g/WiMAX. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 51: 2544–2547, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24677
Particle flow, mixing, and chemical reaction in circulating fluidized bed absorbers

Abstract A mixing model has been developed to simulate the particle residence time distribution (RTD) in a circulating fluidized bed absorber (CFBA). Also, a gas/solid reaction model for sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) removal by lime has been developed. For the reaction model that considers RTD distribution inside the core and annulus regions of a CFBA, a macrochemical reaction can be simulated based on microchemical reaction dynamics. The presented model can predict SO 2 and lime concentration distributions inside the CFBA, and give the amount of lime needed to remove a given percentage of SO 2 . It is found that SO 2 concentration decreases with the increase of CFBA distance from the bottom in the core region. However, lime concentration exhibits a very slight variation in the core region. This means that lime is efficiently utilized to remove SO 2 . The model also predicts that SO 2 partial pressure at the exit of the CFBA decreases with the increase in the percentage of fresh lime injected in the CFBA.
Epidemiologic impact of water reuse in Los Angeles County

Abstract The importance of recycled wastewater in the pathogenesis of disease has been considered in an ecologic analysis of four geographic areas of Los Angeles County. Two of the areas received recycled wastewater via the groundwater since 1962, while two similar areas served as controls. Of 19 health outcomes included in the analyses, five exhibited statistically significant differences among four areas. In none of these five analyses, however, were the differences in accord with the biologic hypothesis that recycled water causes disease. For only one outcome, deaths due to cancer of the rectum, were differences noted in which the high recycled water area had more excess deaths than the low recycled water area, and both had more excess deaths than the control areas. This positive association was of a low order, however, and might well have been due to chance ( P = 0.08). The results of this first stage of our investigation suggest that as of 1969–1971, there were no grossly apparent adverse health effects associated with the use of recycled water. Nonetheless, a cautious interpretation of the study findings is necessary due to the inherent limitations of this type of analysis.
Complications of percutaneous transhepatic biliary interventions.

Complications of percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage procedures range from skin discomfort to life-threatening arterial hemobilia. A thorough understanding of biliary anatomy and postprocedure care is essential if such procedures are to be performed. This article summarizes the anatomic, technical, and clinical issues related to biliary interventions and assists the interventional radiologist in the management of complications encountered in patients undergoing biliary interventions.
Probabilistic behavior analysis of MIMO fading channels under geometric mean decomposition

Geometric mean decomposition (GMD) has been proposed as a method to realize multiple spatial links with identical gains that are intrinsic to a MIMO channel. In order to simplify system design and implementation based on knowledge regarding probability behavior of MIMO-GMD schemes, the main objective of this paper is to statistically characterize the link gains and channel capacities that can be provided via GMD. In particular, closed-form univariate and bivariate probability density functions (PDFs) for these metrics under Rayleigh fading are derived using Gamma approximations. By applying these analytical results, the fluctuations of MIMO-GMD schemes are examined by modeling both link gains and capacities using finite-state Markov chains (FSMCs).
Monoterpene and sesquiterpene emission estimates for the United States.

Biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) contribute significantly to the formation of ozone and secondary organic aerosol (SOA). The Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGANv2.02) is used to estimate emissions of isoprene, monoterpenes (MT), and sesquiterpenes (SQT) across the United States. Compared to the Biogenic Emission Inventory System (BEIS3.0), MEGANv2.02 estimates higher isoprene but lower MT emissions for July 2001 and January 2002. A sensitivity study of SQT and MT emission factors and algorithm parameters was conducted by assigning values to four plant functional types (PFTs) using both recent measurements and literature values. The standard deviations of the emissions factors within these PFTs were two to four times the averages because of the variation in experimental basal emissions rate data. More recently published SQT and MT basal emission rates are generally lower than those reported in the literature through 2004. With the new emissions factors, monthly average SQT...
Statin Use in Patients With Extremely Low Low-Density Lipoprotein Levels Is Associated With Improved Survival

Background— Aggressive lipid management has recently become the standard of care for patients with coronary heart disease. The safety and effectiveness of statin usage for patients with extremely low low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels are less clear, however. The aim of this study was to investigate the safety and clinical outcomes of statin treatment in patients with LDL cholesterol levels below 60 mg/dL. Methods and Results— A total of 6107 consecutive patients with LDL levels less than 60 mg/dL were identified from a tertiary care medical center or affiliated community clinic. Statin therapy was defined as a prescription during the 150 days after the low LDL value was obtained. The propensity to be treated with a statin was used to adjust the association of statin therapy and survival. A total of 4295 patients (70%) had at least 1 prescription for any medication during the 150-day observation period after the low LDL value. Their mean age was 65 years, 43% had prior ischemic heart disease, and 47% ha...
"Prejudiced" Behavior Without Prejudice? Beliefs About the Malleability of Prejudice Affect Interracial Interactions

Prejudiced behavior is typically seen as emanating from prejudiced attitudes. Eight studies showed that majority-group members’ beliefs about prejudice can create seemingly “prejudiced” behaviors above and beyond prejudice measured explicitly (Study 1b) and implicitly (Study 2). Those who believed prejudice was relatively fixed, rather than malleable, were less interested in interracial interactions (Studies 1a‐1d), race- or diversity-related activities (Study 1a), and activities to reduce their prejudice (Study 3). They were also more uncomfortable in interracial, but not same-race, interactions (Study 2). Study 4 manipulated beliefs about prejudice and found that a fixed belief, by heightening concerns about revealing prejudice to oneself and others, depressed interest in interracial interactions. Further, though Whites who were taught a fixed belief were more anxious and unfriendly in an interaction with a Black compared with a White individual, Whites who were taught a malleable belief were not (Study 5). Implications for reducing prejudice and improving intergroup relations are discussed.
Compensatory smoking from gradual and immediate reduction in cigarette nicotine content

Reducing the addictiveness of cigarettes by reducing their nicotine content can potentially have a profound impact on public health. Two different approaches to nicotine reduction have been proposed: gradual and immediate. To determine if either of these approaches results in significant compensatory smoking behavior, which might lead to safety concerns, we performed a secondary analysis of data from studies that have utilized these two approaches. The number of cigarettes smoked per day, carbon monoxide exposure, and cotinine levels in plasma or urine were assessed while participants smoked reduced nicotine content cigarettes and compared with when they smoked their usual brand cigarettes. The results showed that in general, these two approaches led to minimal compensatory smoking and reduced levels of cotinine over the course of the experimental period, suggesting that neither of these approaches poses a major safety concern.
Demonstration of an early abortifacient effect of norethisterone (NET) in the primate (baboon)

A long-acting injectable contraceptive which provides continuous controlled release of norethisterone (NET) for three months following a single intramuscular injection was tested for antifertility effects in baboons using a low dose of microcapsules (total NET dose 2.5 mg; daily dose approximately 0.03 mg/day) which has no effect on ovarian function or ovulation. The continuous administration of NET during the cycle of conception had no effect on ovulation, fertilization or implantation as evidenced by the occurrence of nine pregnancies following 23 test matings. Pregnancy was diagnosed by the measurement of baboon chorionic gonadotropin hormone and the maintenance of elevated serum progesterone levels past the normal time of menstruation. Six of the nine pregnancies, however, ended in abortion between days 27 and 35 of pregnancy. The remaining three pregnancies continued to term and normal, healthy babies were delivered. Five control baboons included in this study became pregnant and all delivered normal, healthy infants. The results of this study demonstrate that early abortion should be considered as a mechanism of antifertility action for NET when administered continuously in low doses. These findings are contrary to the generally accepted explanation that low-dose synthetic progestins exert their contraceptive effect by inhibiting sperm transport and/or preventing implantation.
Mt. Pinatubo eruption

(1994). Mt. Pinatubo eruption. International Journal of Remote Sensing: Vol. 15, No. 10, pp. 1955-1955.
Bias against “marginal” individuals in jury wheel selection

Abstract The choice of potential jurors from the population to fill jury wheels in the United States may be accomplished by purposive selection (primarily by using “key man” systems) or by random selection (from voter registration, tax rolls, or other lists). In this study it was hypothesized that individuals who were “marginal” to mainstream values would be excluded from jury wheels more often than individuals more “central” to community norms and that nonrandom selection would be more exclusionary than random methods, with some random methods more exclusionary than others. A mail survey of both a key man jury wheel and hypothetical jury wheels drawn from voter registration and tax assessment lists was conducted in one judicial district total N = 2,058. Significant bias existed against females, the young, the elderly, blacks, singles, nonvoters, recent migrants to the community, those not in the work force, and individuals of low occupational prestige. Thus the data consistently showed exclusion of marginal individuals from jury wheels. The key man wheel was found to include more repeat jurors who would not request excusal from jury service. The history of jury wheels is discussed and an analysis of future options available for choosing jury wheels is presented.