cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Epiglottitis in the Hemophilus influenzae type B vaccine era: changing trends.

Objective To describe the epidemiology, natural history, and treatment of epiglottitis in the Hemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) vaccine era. Design Ten-year retrospective study. Setting Tertiary-care children's hospital. Patients Nineteen patients with a discharge diagnosis of epiglottitis. Intervention As indicated by the presentation of the patient, including direct laryngoscopy, intubation, intravenous antibiotics, and steroids. Main outcome measures Presentation, management, and microbiology. Results Presenting symptoms included fever, drooling, and hot potato voice. Patients' ages ranged from 15.8 months to 17.5 (mean 8.9) years. From 1992 to 1997, the mean age was 5.8 years; from 1998 to 2002, the mean age was 11.6 years. Sixty-eight percent of patients were transferred from an outside hospital. A lateral neck radiograph was recorded in 84% of patients. Mean leukocyte count was 16,600. Direct laryngoscopy with intubation was performed in 79%; intubation was for an average of 3.5 days. H. influenzae was cultured in six patients, five of which had up-to-date immunizations. The most commonly administered antibiotics were ampicillin/sulbactam and ceftriaxone. Steroids were administered to 63% of patients. Complications included deep neck space infection (2), seizure (1), recurrent illness (1), and vocal granuloma (1). There were no deaths. Conclusion The demographics, causative organisms, and natural history of epiglottitis have changed substantially in the Hib vaccination era. The clinician evaluating and treating patients with epiglottitis should be aware of current trends.
Endpoint accuracy for a small and a large hand muscle in young and old adults during rapid, goal-directed isometric contractions

The minimum variance theory proposes that stronger (larger) muscles produce less variable trajectories compared with weaker (smaller) muscles and thus can accomplish more accurate contractions. The purpose of the study was to determine the influence of muscle size and trajectory variability on the endpoint accuracy of goal-directed isometric contractions. Twelve young (25 +/- 5 years) and 12 old adults (76 +/- 6 years) performed 100 trials with each of two muscles in both hands. Subjects were instructed to match the peak of a force trajectory to a target force by controlling either the abduction (first dorsal interosseus muscle; FDI) or adduction force (second palmar interosseus muscle; SPI) exerted by the index finger of each hand. The time to peak force was 150 ms and the peak force required was 25% of the maximal force that could be achieved in 150 ms. Endpoint accuracy and variability in force and time along with intramuscular EMG activity of the agonist muscle (FDI and SPI) involved in each task were quantified for each set of 100 trials. The MVC force was less for the SPI muscle, and the force endpoint error and variance were greater in the SPI muscle compared with the FDI muscle. Conversely, endpoint measures that included timing were similar for the two muscles. Trajectory variability was greater for the FDI muscle, but did not influence endpoint error for either muscle. The young and old adults had similar strength values, but the old adults were less accurate and more variable than the young subjects. Nonetheless, the accuracy and variability displayed by the old adults for the two muscles was the same as that observed for the young adults. The force accuracy and variability findings are consistent with the predictions of the minimum variance theory that motor-output variability is inversely related to muscle size, strength, and motor unit number.
Thyrotropin releasing hormone: apparent receptor binding in retina.

Abstract Thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) binds with high affinity to sites on sheep retinal membranes. These sites closely resemble sheep pituitary receptors for TRH, as determined by direct comparison of binding in the two tissues. Specific [ 3 H]TRH binding in sheep pituitary and retina was measured relative to blanks containing 1 μ m [3-Me-His 2 ]TRH, an analog more selective and 10-fold more potent than TRH. Incubations were at 0°C; bound radioactivity was separated by filtration. High affinity retinal TRH binding sites resembled pituitary receptors in (1) equilibrium dissociation constant (about 20–40 n m ), (2) rate constant for association (about 1–2 μ m −1 min −1 ), (3) rate constant for dissociation (about 0·07 min −1 ), (4) effectiveness of 16 TRH analogs, ranging over six orders of magnitude in potency, in competing for binding. Major differences were (1) the retinal binding sites were present in only one quarter the concentration of pituitary receptors (about 5 pmol/g wet weight vs. 20 pmol/g wet weight) and (2) the pharmacological properties of retinal binding sites were partially obscured by the simultaneous presence of low affinity binding sites, absent in pituitary, with which 6 analogs appeared to compete more potently than for high affinity sites. These findings support the possibility that TRH or a closely related substance acts as a peptide neurotransmitter or neuromodulator in the retina.
Effect of shortened length of stay on functional and educational outcome after pediatric rehabilitation.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess changes in the length of stay and its effect on effectiveness and return to school in an inpatient pediatric rehabilitation unit during a 5-yr period from fiscal year 1997 through 2001. Design: We reviewed prospectively collected data for a cohort of 321 children during fiscal years 1997-2001. Results: Length of stay was significantly shortened, with mean lengths of stay of 58.9, 43.5, 30.7, 40.9, and 24.0 days in years 1997 through 2001, respectively. Change in length of stay remained significantly decreased after adjusting for age, sex, admission diagnosis, admission severity, and type of health insurance. There was no difference in mean change in effectiveness measured by change in admission and discharge WeeFIM® ratings. There were significant differences across years in the educational placement of children at discharge, with a declining trend in the proportion of children discharged to classroom-based educational services. Conclusion: There was a reduction in inpatient length of stay during a 5-yr period for children in this pediatric rehabilitation setting. During this time, there was no change in the effectiveness of rehabilitation as measured by functional outcome. However, using return to a classroom setting as a marker of reintegration into routine activities, fewer children returned to a similar level of community participation.
Violations of Evaluation Standards: Frequency and Seriousness of Occurrence

This study uses a series of items, derived from the Joint Committee Standards, to examine the frequency and seriousness of violations in program evaluations. Each item represents one of the 30 standards and reflects the pitfalls or common errors accorded to that standard. Respondents to the survey had varied experiences in evaluation ranging from no experience to teaching and/or regularly practicing evaluation. Results indicated that propriety and accuracy standards were viewed as the most serious violations, but that utility and feasibility are perceived as occurring more frequently. Experience with program evaluation also interacted with respondents' ratings, with experienced respondents emphasizing different standards than did those with less experience.
Critical illness myopathy

Acute myopathy is a common problem in intensive care units. Those at highest risk for developing critical illness myopathy are exposed to intravenous corticosteroids and paralytic agents during treatment of various illnesses. Diffuse weakness and failure to wean from mechanical ventilation are the most common clinical manifestations. Serum creatine kinase levels are variable. Electrodiagnostic studies reveal findings of a myopathic process, often with evidence of muscle membrane inexcitability. Based on animal model studies, the loss of muscle membrane excitability may be related to inactivation of sodium channels at the resting potential. In addition, human and animal pathologic studies reveal characteristic loss of myosin with relative preservation of other structural proteins. In some patients, there is also upregulation of proteolytic pathways, involving calpain and ubiquitin, in conjunction with increased apoptosis. Fortunately, the disorder is reversible, but there may be considerable morbidity.
The spectrum of major seed storage genes and proteins in oats (Avena sativa).

Background The oat seed storage proteins are mainly composed of two classes: the globulins and avenins. Among the major cereals, the globulins are the major seed protein class in rice and oats, and along with the higher protein content of oats is the basis for the relative higher nutrition content in oats compared to the other cereals. The second major class of oat seed proteins is the avenins; also classified as prolamins – seed proteins high in proline and glutamine amino acids. The prolamins are associated with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder of the gastrointestinal tract. In spite of their importance, neither the oat globulins nor the avenins have been completely analyzed and described for any single germplasm.
Physical and functional interactions between liver X receptor/retinoid X receptor and Sp1 modulate the transcriptional induction of the human ATP binding cassette transporter A1 gene by oxysterols and retinoids.

The lipid transporter ATP binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) promotes the efflux of cellular phospholipids and cholesterol to lipid-free apolipoprotein A-I and thus initiates the biogenesis of...
A low numerical dissipation immersed interface method for the compressible Navier-Stokes equations

A numerical method to solve the compressible Navier-Stokes equations around objects of arbitrary shape using Cartesian grids is described. The approach considered here uses an embedded geometry representation of the objects and approximate the governing equations with a low numerical dissipation centered finite-difference discretization. The method is suitable for compressible flows without shocks and can be classified as an immersed interface method. The objects are sharply captured by the Cartesian mesh by appropriately adapting the discretization stencils around the irregular grid nodes, located around the boundary. In contrast with available methods, no jump conditions are used or explicitly derived from the boundary conditions, although a number of elements are adopted from previous immersed interface approaches. A new element in the present approach is the use of the summation-by-parts formalism to develop stable non-stiff first-order derivative approximations at the irregular grid points. Second-order derivative approximations, as those appearing in the transport terms, can be stiff when irregular grid points are located too close to the boundary. This is addressed using a semi-implicit time integration method. Moreover, it is shown that the resulting implicit equations can be solved explicitly in the case of constant transport properties. Convergence studies are performed for a rotating cylinder and vortex shedding behind objects of varying shapes at different Mach and Reynolds numbers.
Effect of Whole and Expanded-Expelled Cottonseed on Milk Yield and Blood Gossypol

Thirty-two primiparous and 12 multiparous Holstein cows were randomly assigned at calving to treatments to determine the effects of type and amount of cottonseed product on plasma gossypol, milk production, and composition, and conjugated linoleic acid concentration in milk fat. Rations consisted of corn silage, corn grain, soybean meal, and cottonseed hulls, and contained on average 16.8% crude protein and 25.3% acid detergent fiber on a dry matter basis. On a dry matter basis, diets contained one of the following: 1) 14% whole cottonseed; 2) 14% expanded-expelled cottonseed; 3) 21% expanded-expelled cottonseed; or 4) 28% expanded-expelled cottonseed. Cows remained on treatment from 30 through 120 d in milk. Dry matter intakes were not significantly different, but intakes of crude protein, acid detergent fiber, and fat were higher for multiparous cows fed whole cottonseed. Multiparous cows fed whole cottonseed had higher yields of milk, fat-corrected milk, crude protein, fat and solids-not-fat than those fed any level of expanded-expelled cottonseed. Concentrations of milk fat, protein, and SNF were not affected by treatment. Although there were treatment differences in fat intake, there were no production differences in primiparous cows. Milk production efficiency (fat-corrected milk/dry matter intake) was not affected by treatment for either multiparous or primiparous cows. Cows fed 14% whole or 14% expanded-expelled cottonseed had similar levels of total plasma gossypol and plasma levels of the negative isomer of gossypol. Increasing the level of expanded-expelled cottonseed in the diet increased both total plasma gossypol and the negative isomer. In this experiment, multiparous but not primiparous cows fed whole cottonseed produced more milk than those fed expanded-expelled cottonseed at 14 to 28% of the diet dry matter, however, feed efficiencies were similar for all treatments.
The very low prevalence of polymyalgia rheumatica in blacks may be an artifact.

This article discusses the possibility that the reported low prevalence of polymyalgia rheumatica in blacks might be because of an underrecognition of the disease in this racial group.
The Feinberg Award Lecture 2013 Treatment of Intracranial Atherosclerosis: Learning From the Past and Planning for the Future

Thanks to my nominators and the International Stroke Conference program committee for selecting me for this year’s Feinberg award, which I would like to accept on behalf of all the investigators and coordinators who participated in the Warfarin Aspirin Symptomatic Intracranial Disease (WASID) trial, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Wingspan registry, and the Stenting and Aggressive Medical Management for Preventing Recurrent Stroke in Intracranial Stenosis (SAMMPRIS) trial. This award is particularly meaningful to me because Bill Feinberg was a member of the original WASID Planning Committee when he passed away. He was a generous collaborator and a wonderful person who is still greatly missed by those of us who knew him. It is a particular honor to receive an award that is named after him. Intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis is an important cause of ischemic stroke particularly in Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics.1–4 Given the racial and ethnic make-up of the world population, intracranial stenosis may be the most common cause of stroke worldwide.4–7 It is also associated with a particularly high risk of recurrent stroke compared with most other stroke subtypes.8 I first became interested in this disease during my residency training at Tufts—New England Medical Center with Lou Caplan and the late Mike Pessin, both master clinicians and teachers, who at the time were describing much of the clinical phenomenology and stroke mechanisms associated with atherosclerosis of the major intracranial arteries.9–12 I owe my fascination with stroke neurology to them. It was during my stroke fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic that Tony Furlan and Cathy Sila, both excellent mentors, stimulated my interest in clinical trials. This was the heyday of some of the most important trials in our field (North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial [NASCET], Asymptomatic Carotid Atherosclerosis …
The promise of modern radiotherapy in resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma: a response to Bekaii-Saab et al.

Determining the optimal adjuvant management strategy for patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma remains a controversial topic. In particular, defining the role for radiation continues to generate significant debate. As such, we welcome sustained investigation into whether radiation can improve oncologic outcomes after resection of pancreatic cancer. We therefore appreciate the work done by Bekaii-Saab et al. to review their institution’s experience with adjuvant chemoradiation for localized pancreatic cancer in which they find no benefit on overall survival or local control when comparing patients treated with chemoradiation versus chemotherapy alone. Despite their results, we disagree with the authors’ conclusion that there is ‘‘no benefit from chemoradiation over chemotherapy in the adjuvant treatment of pancreas cancer’’ and that ‘‘based on the available data and outside of a clinical trial, patients should be treated with chemotherapy alone following surgery.’’ Appreciation of the potential that modern radiotherapy may have for resected pancreatic cancer requires a historical understanding of early clinical trials that explored chemoradiation, some of which are referenced by the authors. Early institutional reports demonstrated poor local control after surgical resection of pancreatic cancer, with local failure rates of roughly 50 %. 1 As such, the Gastrointestinal Tumor Study Group (GITSG) undertook a clinical trial comparing 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-based chemoradiation versus observation in patients undergoing Whipple resection. The chemoradiation arm experienced improved 2-year overall survival (42 vs. 15 %, p = 0.03), leading to widespread adoption of adjuvant chemoradiation in the United States. 2 However, this survival benefit could not be replicated in subsequent trials by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and the European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer (ESPAC), with the latter trial demonstrating the best outcomes in patients treated with chemotherapy alone. 3,4 The
Comparison of the optical response of hydrogen-passivated germanium and silicon clusters

We present the calculation of the optical response of hydrogen-passivated germanium and silicon clusters using time-dependent density functional theory in the adiabatic local density approximation. The optical response, optical gaps, and other quantities of interest of Ge clusters are compared with the corresponding results for the Si clusters. Our most notable find is that in the low-energy region there are significant differences. More specifically, the Ge clusters exhibit higher oscillator strength and their energy gaps are smaller compared to Si clusters. The overall shape of the optical response of Ge clusters is very similar to that of Si clusters. We conclude that many similarities and differences of these clusters originate from the optical response of the corresponding bulk materials.
Quantitative thermal desorption spectrometry of ionically implanted inert gases—II. Technical requirements

Experimentally, quantitative thermal desorption spectrometry requires that a well characterized sample be subjected to specified ion bombardments, heated in an accurately defined temperaturetime profile, and the resulting gas desorption rate measured with the highest available sensitivity. This paper discusses the main considerations affecting the design of the sample, its heating equipment, the ion gun and the partial pressure detector to meet these requirements. It was shown in the preceding paper that the system sensitivity and background leak rate are the only apparatus parameters affecting the accuracy with which kinetic parameters (binding energy, frequency factor, reaction order) can be derived from the data. Approximate limits to the achievable values of these two parameters are given. The required properties of the data acquisition system and the data treatment and analysis procedures are also outlined. Some experimental examples are given to illustrate the quantitative accuracies that can be attained.
A Replicated Test for Correlated Responses in Egg Weight and Early Growth Rate from Selection for Hatching Time in the Fowl

Abstract Selection for fast and slow hatching time for a single generation in five replicates resulted in significant direct responses in hatching time. The realized heritability estimates varied from .10 to .34 over replicates with a mean value of .19 ± .02. No significant correlated responses were observed in embryo weight at 14 days of incubation or in chick body weight at hatching, measured on the progeny of the selected parents for the first generation. Previous results in single replicate experiments where a theoretical estimate of the random genetic drift error was used in the tests, indicated significant correlated responses in embryo and chick weight. It is suggested that replicated experiments such as the present one provide an empirical estimate of the error including random genetic drift which would be more accurate as a tester for line differences. No significant differences between the selected lines were observed for egg weight, adult body weight, age at 50% production, rate of lay, or hatchability when these means were measured on the selected parents. It is concluded that there is no evidence of genetic correlations between hatching time and any of the other traits measured in the egg production strains studied.
Length change characteristics of Ca(OH)2 compacts on exposure to water vapour

The presence of large quantities of Ca(OH)2 in hydrated Portland cement suggests that a study of the length change-sorption characteristics of Ca(OH)2 in the form of compacts should provide useful information. Length change-sorption data were obtained for water from 0 to 76% RH and various cycling experiments between 0 to 58 and 0 to 93% RH were performed during which length change data were obtained. Preliminary experiments were also performed in relation to the carbonatation of Ca(OH)2 compacts. Large irreversible shrinkages were observed while repeatedly determining the isotherms during the cycling experiments and it is suggested that these were the result of ionic diffusion from the points of contact of crystallites and the pulling together of these crystallites by van der Waals forces. The carbonatation of calcium hydroxide also produced shrinkage and it is considered that this could also be due to van der Waals surface forces.
Infant with Granulocytic Sarcoma of the Ovary: An Unusual Case Presentation of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (M6)

Abstract Clinical presentation of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) in infants as an ovarian tumor is extremely rare, although AML is well reported in older children and adults. Granulocytic sarcoma or chloroma is an extramedullary tumor seen in AML and myeloid and myeloproliferative disorders. We report a case of a 5-month-old female infant who presented with bilateral ovarian masses. Based on a left oophorectomy and bone marrow evaluation, the patient was diagnosed with bilateral ovarian granulocytic sarcoma and erythroleukemia (French-American-British type M6 AML). Our patient has unusual cytogenetics involving rearrangements of chromosomes 1, 11, and 16. The patient has received chemotherapy and is alive at 2 years from the diagnosis.
Aliovalent Substitutions in Olivine Lithium Iron Phosphate and Impact on Structure and Properties

Lithium transition metal phosphate olivines are enabling a new generation of high power, thermally stable, long-life rechargeable lithium batteries that may prove instrumental in the worldwide effort to develop cleaner and more sustainable energy. Nanoscale (<100 nm) derivatives of the olivine family LiMPO4 (M = Fe, Mn, Co, Ni) are being adopted in applications ranging in size scale from hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to utilities-scale power regulation. Following the previous paradigm set with intercalation oxides, most studies have focused on the pure ordered compounds and isovalent substitutions. In contrast, even the possibility for, and role of, aliovalent doping has been widely debated. Here, critical tests of plausible defect compensation mechanisms using compositions designed to accommodate Mg2+, Al3+, Zr4+, Nb5+ ions on the M1 and/or M2 sites of LiFePO4 with appropriate charge-compensating defects are carried out, and conclusive crystallographic evidence for lattice doping, e.g., up to at least 12 atomic percent added Zr, is obtained. Structural and electrochemical analyses show that doping can reduce the lithium miscibility gap, increase phase transformation kinetics during cycling, and expand Li diffusion channels in the structure. Aliovalent modifications may be effective for introducing controlled atomic disorder into the ordered olivine structure to improve battery performance.
Image science and image-quality research in the Optical Sciences Center

This paper reviews the history of research into imaging and image quality at the Optical Sciences Center (OSC), with emphasis on the period 1970-1990. The work of various students in the areas of psychophysical studies of human observers of images; mathematical model observers; image simulation and analysis, and the application of these methods to radiology and nuclear medicine is summarized. The rapid progress in computational power, at OSC and elsewhere, which enabled the steady advances in imaging and the emergence of a science of imaging, is also traced. The implications of these advances to ongoing research and the current Image Science curriculum at the College of Optical Sciences are discussed.
GAMETOPHYTES AND YOUNG SPOROPHYTES OF OPHIOGLOSSUM CROTALOPHOROIDES WALT.

A B S T R A C T The lens-shaped, dorsiventral gametophytes of Ophioglossum crotalophoroides are superficially different from the cylindrical gametophytes of other species of Ophioglossum. However, they have the same features as other Ophioglossum gametophytes (fundamentally axial organization, radially symmetrical apical meristem, radial distribution of gametangia) except that the cylindrical axis is reduced in length. Young sporophyte development is unique in the genus: all primary organs clearly arise from the embryo and develop simultaneously. The length of the life cycle of 0. crotalophoroides is considerably shorter than that of some other species in the Ophioglossaceae. A timetable for gametophyte and young sporophyte development is postulated. Spores germinate soon after they are released in the spring, and mature gametophytes develop by the next growing season. Fertilization occurs approximately one year after spore dispersal, and after two years, the photosynthetic first leaf of the young sporophyte emerges. IN CONTRAST TO the cylindrical gametophytes of
Role of the dorsal cochlear nucleus in the sound localization behavior of cats

The role of the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) in directional hearing was evaluated by measuring sound localization behaviors before and after cats received lesions of the dorsal and intermediate acoustic striae (DAS/IAS). These lesions are presumed to disrupt spectral processing in the DCN without affecting binaural time and level difference cues that exit the cochlear nucleus via the ventral acoustic stria. Prior to DAS/IAS lesions, cats made accurate head orientation responses toward sound sources in the frontal sound field. After a unilateral DAS/IAS lesion, subjects showed increased errors in the azimuth and elevation of their responses; in addition, the final orientation of head movements tended to be more variable. Largest deficits in response elevation were observed in the hemifield that was ipsilateral to the lesion. When a second lesion was placed in the opposite DAS/IAS, increased orientation errors were observed throughout the frontal field. Nonetheless, bilaterally lesioned cats showed normal discrimination of changes in sound source location when tested with a spatial acuity task. These findings support previous interpretations that the DCN contributes to sound orientation behavior, and further suggest that the identification of absolute sound source locations and the discrimination between spatial locations involve independent auditory processing mechanisms.
Optimal zone plates for x-ray lithography

It is well known that zone plates can print extremely small features in microlithography. However, the size and complexity of zone plates has limited their application. In this paper simulated and experimental results are presented for simple zone plates with very high performance. It has previously been shown that submicron diameter zone plates, with only 2 or 3 zones, can focus 1 nm wavelength X-rays to less than 40 nm FWHM. A zone plate with two zones is a ring, whose ratio of outer radius to inner radius is about 0.7. This implies dimensions that may be too small for easy control. However, simulations have demonstrated excellent focusing for both clear and opaque rings over a ratio of radii of at least 0.6 to 0.8. For high contrast, 1 nm wavelength zone plates are typically fabricated in 200-300 nm thick gold. This leads to high aspect ratios, which are difficult to pattern. However simulations have shown excellent focusing in much thinner gold. In addition, conditions were found in 30nm to 90 nm thick gold which generate narrow dark "foci." The focusing of linear zone plates was also simulated. Linear zone plates with 3 and 5 zones produced excellent line foci, although linear zone plates with 2 and 4 zones were much poorer. Scaled up experiments in visible light supported both the circular and linear simulation results.
Interactions between PGBx and disophenol in the isolated perfused rat heart.

Abstract 1. 1. When injected as a bolus, disophenol caused no significant alteration in spontaneous heart rate, isometric systolic tension and diastolic tension, but it did depress tissue concentrations of glycogen and adenine nucleotides. 2. 2. Inclusion of PGB x in the perfusion medium did not, however, modify the mechanical activity of the preparation significantly, but it altered the concentration of selected adenine nucleotides. 3. 3. Injection of disophenol in the presence of PGB x caused a significant decrease in isometric systolic tension accompanied by an increase in resting diastolic tension. 4. 4. The changes in metabolite concentrations were the same in disophenol-injected and PGB x -perfused/disophenol-injected hearts. 5. 5. The amount of ADP found in the PGB x -perfused/disophenol-injected preparations was, however, lower than that measured in hearts which did not receive this combination.
Dissociation of the adrenocorticotropin secretory responses to corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and vasopressin or oxytocin by using a specific cytotoxic analog of CRF.

Control of ACTH secretion in the pituitary in the absence of target cells for CRF, the most potent ACTH secretagogue, was studied in dissociated bovine anterior pituitary cells treated with a potent selective cytotoxin. The cytotoxin is a conjugate of the CRF analog [Nle21,38, Arg36]rat (r) CRF and the plant toxin gelonin. Dissociated bovine anterior pituitary cells were pretreated with vehicle, 2 nM ovine CRF, 2 nM cytotoxic conjugate, or unconjugated [Nle21,38, Arg36]rCRF and gelonin in amounts equivalent to that of 2 nM cytotoxic conjugate for 12 h, then extensively washed and cultured for 3 days before acute secretion experiments. Unstimulated ACTH secretion was similar in all groups. ACTH secretion in response to CRF was attenuated by pretreatment with the cytotoxic conjugate; CRF (2.5 nM)-stimulated secretion was 7.0, 6.3, and 2.8 times the unstimulated rate in cells pretreated with vehicle, 2 nM CRF, or 2 nM cytotoxic conjugate, respectively. Likewise, the ACTH secretory response to a cAMP analog w...
Naturalism, Physicalism and Epiphenomenalism

I argue that physicalistic naturalism entails the falsity of epiphenomenalism. I conclude by briefly discussing implications of my argument for cognitive science, non-reductive physicalism, and the possibility of formulating a naturalistic form of dualism.
Optical real-time measurement of collagen denaturation

Linear birefringence is a property of collagenous tissue that results from both its composition and structure. Previous investigations have shown that birefringence provides an indication of structural changes in collagen during slow heating. We now report the birefringent response of both mature and young rat tail tendon to laser-heating. The results indicate that denaturation of collagen from mature rats induced by a 200-microsecond(s) -long Ho:YAG laser pulse may not be described accurately by kinetic parameters. Several second-long pulses of CO2 laser pulse may not be described from young rats fit an Arrhenius model with Ea equals 12.1 kcal/mol and A equals e18.03 s-1. Typically, for slow-heating of collagen, Ea equals kcal/mol and A equals e120 s-1. Thus, it seems likely that the temperature and energy needed to initiate collagen denaturation is lower in young collagen, possibly due to its decreased hydroxyproline content and consequent decreased thermal stability.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Acceptorless, Neat, Ruthenium-Catalyzed Dehydrogenative Cyclization of Diols to Lactones

We report the dehydrogenation of 1,4-butanediol to γ-butyrolactone catalyzed by soluble ruthenium complexes without solvent or a hydrogen acceptor. An alkylphosphine version of ruthenium bis-phosphine diamine catalysts has been prepared and was found to be the longest-lived catalyst for the conversion of 1,4-butanediol to γ-butyrolactone. The catalytic production of γ-butyrolactone from 1,4-butandiol with this catalyst is simple to conduct, environmentally friendly, and highly efficient.
Hand Preference Consistency and Fine Motor Performance in Young Children

Recent investigations suggest that children who establish handedness early are better coordinated than those who lack this characteristic. To test this assumption, 160 4- to 6-year-olds were classified by consistent (established) and inconsistent (mixed) hand preference behavior and tested for fine motor performance using a finger tapping task. Analysis of the data revealed no significant differences existed between groups in finger tapping performance in relation to total sample, age or sex. Thus, contrary to recent reports, children with consistent and inconsistent hand preferences do not appear to differ in motor behavior as revealed by performance on a fine motor task. Furthermore, it appears that the performance of those with inconsistent hand preference presents a significant challenge to current theoretical notions of the genesis of handedness.
Health care expenditure prediction with a single item, self-rated health measure

Background:Prediction models that identify populations at risk for high health expenditures can guide the management and allocation of financial resources.Objective:To compare the ability for identifying individuals at risk for high health expenditures between the single-item assessment of general s
Optimal path placement for kinematically redundant manipulators

The problem of path placement for redundant manipulators is discussed. This includes the problem of where to place the art and other components (such as other robots, tables, or machining stations) relative to each other and how to resolve the redundancies of the system and process in an optimal fashion. The method developed involves assigning a variable to each degree of freedom of the transforms which define the system (i.e. to the system redundancies). These variables are then used to incorporate the path constraints of the robot into the cost function to be minimized. The resulting unconstrained minimization problem is numerically solved. This method is applied to a system of three cooperating robots, and results are presented. >
Enhanced resistance of DNA nanostructures to enzymatic digestion

The ability of nucleases to perform their catalytic functions depends on the sequence and structural features of target DNA substrates. Due to their size and shape, several DNA tetrahedra are resistant to the action of specific and non-specific nucleases. Such enhanced stability is a key requirement for DNA nanostructures to be useful as delivery vehicles.
Astronomical applications of grazing incidence telescopes with polynomial surfaces

The report has examined the claim that grazing incidence telescopes having surfaces described by generalized equations have image characteristics superior to those of the paraboloid-hyperboloid and Wolter-Schwarzschild configurations. With emphasis on specific applications in solar and cosmic X-ray/EUV astronomy, raytracing has shown that in many cases there is no advantage in the polynomial design, and in those cases where advantages are theoretically to be expected, the advantages are outweighed by practical considerations.
Performance analysis of a counter-intuitive automated stock-trading agent

Autonomous trading in stock markets is an area of great interest in both academic and commercial circles. A lot of trading strategies have been proposed and practiced from the perspectives of Artificial Intelligence, market making, external data indication, technical analysis, etc. This paper examines some properties of a counter-intuitive automated stock-trading strategy in the context of the Penn-Lehman Automated Trading (PLAT) simulator [1], which is a realtime, real-data market simulator. While it might seem natural to buy when the market is on the rise and sell when it is on the decline, our strategy does exactly the opposite. As a result, we call it the reverse strategy. The reverse strategy was the winner strategy in the first and second PLAT live competitions. In this paper, we analyze the performance of the reverse strategy. Also, we suggest ways to control the risk of using the reverse strategy in certain kinds of markets.
Composition and Seasonal Phenology of a Nonindigenous Root-Feeding Weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Complex in Northern Hardwood Forests in the Great Lakes Region

Phyllobius oblongus (L.), Polydrusus sericeus (Schaller), and Sciaphilus asperatus (Bonsdorff) comprise a complex of nonindigenous root-feeding weevils in northern hardwood forests of the Great Lakes region. Little is known about their detailed biology, seasonality, relative abundance, and distribution patterns. We studied 10 sites over a 2-yr period. Two sites were in northeastern Wisconsin, and eight were in the neighboring southern upper peninsula of Michigan. Larval abundance was estimated by soil sampling, and adult abundance was estimated by sweep netting, emergence trapping, and beating samples. Sweep netting collected the most weevils overall (71.0%), whereas beating and emergence traps collected 22.1 and 6.9%, respectively. P. sericeus were the predominant larvae, representing 34.3% of total Curculionidae, whereas P. oblongus were the predominant adults, representing 66.4% of Curculionidae. Few S. asperatus and Trachyphloeus aristatus (Gyllenhal) larvae and adults were collected, with the latter being a new record for Wisconsin. Two additional species, Barypeithes pellucidus (Boheman) and an undetermined Polydrusus sp., were collected only as larvae. Six species of curculionids were collected overall, with at least five being confirmed as nonindigenous species. P. oblongus and P. sericeus adults were the most abundant. These did not coincide temporally. Over 63% of P. oblongus and P. sericeus were collected during single 4-wk intervals in mid-June and mid-July, respectively. Conversely, S. asperatus adults overlapped with both other species, occurring sparingly from 4 June through 28 August. One species was predominant at each site and generally accounted for ≥80% of the total weevil population. P. oblongus larvae and adults predominated in five and eight sites, respectively, whereas P. sericeus and S. asperatus larvae and adults predominated in one site each. Adult and larval populations were generally clustered. We evaluated vertical stratification of P. sericeus larvae in the soil, and most were located within the top 10 cm.
Injuries to Kickers in American Football The National Football League Experience

Background: Very little information is available regarding the incidence, causative mechanisms, and expected duration of time lost after injuries to kickers (placekickers and punters) in American football.Hypothesis: Lower extremity musculotendinous injuries are the most common type of injury in American football kickers. The injuries related to punting differ from injuries related to placekicking.Study Design: Descriptive epidemiologic study.Methods: A retrospective review of all documented injuries to kickers in the National Football League over a 20-year period (1988-2007) was performed using the League’s injury surveillance database. The data were analyzed from multiple perspectives, with emphasis on the type of kick or activity at the time of injury and the factors that affect return to play after injury.Results: There were 488 total injuries over the 20-year period: 72% involved the lower extremity, 9% involved the lumbosacral spine, and 7% involved the head. Muscle-tendon injuries (49%) were the mo...
Fast implementations of the filtered-X LMS and LMS algorithms for multichannel active noise control

In some situations where active noise control could be used, the well-known multichannel version of the filtered-X least mean square (LMS) adaptive filter is too computationally complex to implement. We develop a fast, exact implementation of this adaptive filter for which the system's complexity scales according to the number of filter coefficients within the system. In addition, we extend computationally efficient methods for effectively removing the delays of the secondary paths within the coefficient updates to the multichannel case, thus yielding fast implementations of the LMS adaptive algorithm for multichannel active noise control. Examples illustrate both the equivalence of the algorithms to their original counterparts and the computational gains provided by the new algorithms.
Is ‘Clarity of Responsibility’ Important for Economic Voting? Revisiting Powell and Whitten's Hypothesis

In the words of Martin Paldam, comparative economic voting studies suffer from a ‘great instability’ – i.e., economic effects appear in some countries at some times, but not others, and tend to be weak and inconsistent across studies. Powell and Whitten propose a possible solution to the ‘instability’ of cross-national voting studies: ‘to explain differences in retrospective economic voting across nations and over time we must take account of the political context within which elections take place’. More specifically, they take into account the ‘context of political responsibility’, arguing that voters are more likely to punish/reward incumbent governments if it is very clear which parties are responsible for economic conditions. They find that voters hold government parties responsible for the economy when there is high ‘clarity of responsibility’, but not when ‘clarity of responsibility’ is low. Over Four Decades', in Helmut Norpoth, Michael Lewis-Beck and Jean-Dominique Lafay, eds, Economics and Politics: The Calculus of Support (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1991), pp. 9–31, at p. 26. G. Bingham Powell Jr and Guy D. Whitten, ‘A Cross-National Analysis of Economic Voting: Taking Account of the Political Context’, American Journal of Political Science, 37 (1993), 391–414, p. 409. Powell and Whitten, ‘A Cross-National Analysis of Economic Voting’, p. 410.
Dietary sodium intake and mortality: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I)

Summary Background Population-wide restriction of dietary sodium has been recommended. However, little evidence directly links sodium intake to morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to assess the relation of sodium intake to subsequent all-cause and cardiovascular-disease (CVD) mortality in a general population. Methods The first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey established baseline information during 1971–75 in a representative sample of 20 729 US adults (aged 25–75). 11 348 underwent medical examination and nutritional examination based on 24 h recall. Two had no data on sodium intake available. Vital status at June 30, 1992, was obtained for the 11 346 participants through interview, tracing, and searches of the national death index. Mortality was examined in sex-specific quartiles of sodium intake, calorie intake, and sodium/calorie ratio. Multiple regression analyses were done to assess the relations with mortality. Findings There were 3923 deaths, of which 1970 were due to CVD. All-cause mortality (per 1000 person-years; adjusted for age and sex) was inversely associated with sex-specific quartiles of sodium intake (lowest to highest quartile 23·18 to 19·01, p Interpretation This observational study does not justify any particular dietary recommendation. Specifically, these results do not support current recommendations for routine reduction of sodium consumption, nor do they justify advice to increase salt intake or to decrease its concentration in the diet.
Intimate Partner Physical and Sexual Violence and Outcomes of Unintended Pregnancy Among National Samples of Women From Three Former Soviet Union Countries

The article examines the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and unintended pregnancy among nationally representative samples of women in three former Soviet Union countries. Women who experienced physical and/or sexual IPV from their current or most recent husband or living together partner demonstrated higher risks of unintended last pregnancy, either terminated through abortion (in Azerbaijan, Moldova, and Ukraine) or resulting in unintended live birth (in Ukraine). IPV prevention components should be integrated into reproductive health programs to reduce the risk of unintended births and abortions among women living with abusive partners in these former Soviet Union countries.
The defense of extreme emotional disturbance in New York County: pleas and outcomes.

A number of studies have investigated the use of the insanity defense; however, there are few reports on the use of other types of psychiatric defenses. This study explored the use of the affirmative psychiatric defense of extreme emotional disturbance (EED) in New York County (one of the five counties which comprise New York City). The results of the study indicate that, as in the case of the insanity defense, EED is rarely proffered by criminal defendants (plea rate 0.84%). The defense only prevailed on one occasion at a jury trial. While the EED defense was successful 39% of the time that it was entered, this was usually only when the prosecutor accepted the argument that was offered by the defense.
Explaining the Upswing in Direct Investment: A Test of Mainstream and Heterodox Theories of Globalization

The internationalization of production has played an integral role in the process of globalization. Using data on direct investment outflow from 18 OECD nations and dynamic panel data methods, I explore various accounts of the recent upswing in direct investment outflow. I test a model that is informed by mainstream theories of international production and by heterodox theories of globalization. Consistent with mainstream theories, the results indicate that direct investment is affected by factors such as skill intensity and population. Support is also found for arguments that link direct investment to social democratic government, strike intensity, and union density. Contrary to the popular wisdom on globalization, the size of the social wage and de-commodification are found to be negatively related to direct investment outflow.