cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Classification of Major Depressive Disorder from Resting-State fMRI

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a very serious mental illness that can affect the daily lives of patients. Accurate diagnosis of this disorder is necessary for planning individualized treatment. However, diagnosing MDD requires the clinicians to personally interview the subjects and rate the symptoms based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which can be very time consuming. Discovering quantifiable signals and biomarkers associated with MDD using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of patients have the potential to assist the clinicians in their assessment. This paper explores the use of resting-state functional connectivity and network features to classify MDD vs. healthy subjects. For each subject, mean time-series are extracted from 85 brain regions and they are decomposed to 4-frequency bands. Mean time-series for each of the frequency bands are utilized to compute the Pearson correlation and network characteristics. Features are selected separately from correlation and network characteristics using Minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance (mRMR) to create the final classifier. The proposed scheme achieves 79% accuracy (65 out of 82 subjects classified correctly) with 86% sensitivity (42 out of 49 MDD subjects identified correctly) and 70% specificity (23 out of 33 controls identified correctly) using leave-one-out classification with in-fold feature selection. Pearson correlation had the highest discrimination in band 0.015-0.03 Hz and network based features had the highest discrimination in band 0.03-0.06 Hz for distinguishing MDD vs. healthy subjects.
Microbial Ecology: Complex Bacterial Communities Reduce Selection for Antibiotic Resistance

Summary Competition between antibiotic-resistant and -susceptible bacteria is well studied in single-species communities, but less is known about selection for resistance in more complex ecologies. A new experiment shows natural microbial communities can hinder selection by increasing the fitness costs of resistance or by offering protection to drug-sensitive strains.
Cognitive Vulnerabilities as Prognostic Predictors of Acute and Follow-Up Outcomes in Seasonal Affective Disorder Treatment with Light Therapy or Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

First-line treatments for winter seasonal affective disorder include light therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy; however, it is unclear whether particular patient profiles respond differentially to each treatment type. This study examined baseline patient cognitive and chronobiological vulnerabilities as prognostic and prescriptive predictors of acute and follow-up treatment outcomes. 177 adults with seasonal affective disorder were randomized to 6-weeks of either light therapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy. Participants completed baseline measures of cognitive vulnerabilities (Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale; Ruminative Response Scale; Seasonal Belief Questionnaire) and chronobiological vulnerability (Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire). Depression was assessed at pre- and post-treatment and at follow-ups one and two winters later. Pre-treatment depression severity correlated significantly with each cognitive vulnerability measure, and significantly predicted future depression. After controlling for pre-treatment depression, higher scores on the Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire were prognostic of lower depression at treatment endpoint, but no cognitive vulnerability emerged as a prognostic or prescriptive predictor of outcome. Greater morningness was associated with less severe post-treatment depression in both cognitive-behavior therapy and light therapy. No cognitive vulnerability emerged as a prognostic or prescriptive predictor, perhaps because they correlated with pre-treatment depression severity, a robust predictor of outcome. Future research should test alternative cognitive constructs.
Learning Structure in Nested Logit Models.

This paper introduces a new data-driven methodology for nested logit structure discovery. Nested logit models allow the modeling of positive correlations between the error terms of the utility specifications of the different alternatives in a discrete choice scenario through the specification of a nesting structure. Current nested logit model estimation practices require an a priori specification of a nesting structure by the modeler. In this we work we optimize over all possible specifications of the nested logit model that are consistent with rational utility maximization. We formulate the problem of learning an optimal nesting structure from the data as a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) optimization problem and solve it using a variant of the linear outer approximation algorithm. We exploit the tree structure of the problem and utilize the latest advances in integer optimization to bring practical tractability to the optimization problem we introduce. We demonstrate the ability of our algorithm to correctly recover the true nesting structure from synthetic data in a Monte Carlo experiment. In an empirical illustration using a stated preference survey on modes of transportation in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, we use our algorithm to obtain an optimal nesting tree representing the correlations between the unobserved effects of the different travel mode choices. We provide our implementation as a customizable and open-source code base written in the Julia programming language.
MIT’s moral machine project is a psychological roadblock to self-driving cars

In the moral machine project, participants are asked to form judgments about the well-known trolley example. The project is intended to serve as a starting point for public discussion that would eventually lead to a solution to the social dilemma of autonomous vehicles. The dilemma is that autonomous vehicles should be programed to maximize the number of lives saved in trolley-style dilemmas. But consumers will only purchase autonomous vehicles that are programed to favor passenger safety in such dilemmas. We argue that the project is seriously misguided. There are relevant variants of trolley to which the project’s participants are not exposed. These variants make clear that the morally correct way to program autonomous vehicles is not at odds with what consumers will purchase. The project is hugely popular and dominates public discussion of this issue. We show that, ironically, the project itself is largely responsible for the dilemma.
Electrocaloric devices part I: Analytical solution of one-dimensional transient heat conduction in a multilayer electrocaloric system

The analytical solution is reported for one-dimensional (1D) dynamic conduction heat transfer within a multilayer system that is the typical structure of electrocaloric devices. Here, the multilaye...
Taxonomic and Functional Shifts in the Sprout Spent Irrigation Water Microbiome in Response to Salmonella Contamination of Alfalfa Seeds.

ABSTRACT Despite recent advances in Salmonella-sprout research, little is known about the relationship between Salmonella and the sprout microbiome during sprouting. Sprout spent irrigation water (SSIW) provides an informative representation of the total microbiome of this primarily aquaponic crop. This study was designed to characterize the function and taxonomy of the most actively transcribed genes in SSIW from Salmonella enterica serovar Cubana-contaminated alfalfa seeds throughout the sprouting process. Genomic DNA and total RNA from SSIW was collected at regular intervals and sequenced using Illumina MiSeq and NextSeq platforms. Nucleic acid data were annotated using four different pipelines. Both metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analyses revealed a diverse and highly dynamic SSIW microbiome. A “core” SSIW microbiome comprised Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Pantoea, and Cronobacter. The impact, however, of Salmonella contamination on alfalfa seeds influenced SSIW microbial community dynamics not only structurally but also functionally. Changes in genes associated with metabolism, genetic information processing, environmental information processing, and cellular processes were abundant and time dependent. At time points of 24 h, 48 h, and 96 h, totals of 541, 723, and 424 S. Cubana genes, respectively, were transcribed at either higher or lower levels than at 0 h in SSIW during sprouting. An array of S. Cubana genes (107) were induced at all three time points, including genes involved in biofilm formation and modulation, stress responses, and virulence and tolerance to antimicrobials. Taken together, these findings expand our understanding of the effect of Salmonella seed contamination on the sprout crop microbiome and metabolome. IMPORTANCE Interactions of human enteric pathogens like Salmonella with plants and plant microbiomes remain to be elucidated. The rapid development of next-generation sequencing technologies provides powerful tools enabling investigation of such interactions from broader and deeper perspectives. Using metagenomic and metatranscriptomic approaches, this study identified not only changes in microbiome structure of SSIW associated with sprouting but also changes in the gene expression patterns related to the sprouting process in response to Salmonella contamination of alfalfa seeds. This study advances our knowledge on Salmonella-plant (i.e., sprout) interaction.
Evaluating the Implementation of Human Rights Law: A Data Analytics Research Agenda

Human rights law relies on national-level implementation and enforcement to give it full meaning. The United Nations’ reporting process, a built-in component of all major human rights treaties, enables monitoring and evaluation of countries’ progress toward human rights goals. However, the operation and effectiveness of this process have been largely under-studied. This Article lays the foundations for a data analytics research agenda that can help assess the reporting process and inform human rights law implementation. As a first step, we use a relatively new set of computational tools to evaluate the Concluding Observations issued by a human rights treaty body, the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Concluding Observations provide both an appraisal of states’ practices and a set of recommendations that act as an agenda for the state going forward. Using text and data analytics tools, we mined the text of Concluding Observations issued by the Committee on the Rights of the Child over a twenty-seven year period to identify the topics addressed in each report and parsed the language of these reports to determine the tenor and tone of the Committee’s discussion. We then mapped our findings by state and year, to form a detailed descriptive picture of what the Committee has said, and how the Committee has delivered its message(s), across both geography and time. In doing so, we hope to show how these data analytics tools can contribute to a deeper understanding of the Committee’s work and, more broadly, of the effectiveness of the reporting process in securing and protecting human rights.
Description of conversion of an EG&G VMCM into a MVMS (multi-variable moored sensor)

A standard EG&G VMCM (vector measuring current meter) has been modified to acquire data from external sensors. The external sensors are mounted on a compact backpack which attaches to the VMCM's cage. Some simple changes to the VMCM's A/D (analog/digital) board opened up eight analog voltage channels. Changes to the VMCM's firmware were made to allow control over the period of time between toggling external power on and the A/D sampling cycle. Some sensors with low power consumption were powered continuously and their signals passed through a low-pass filter to match time constants and minimize aliasing. Sixteen VMCMs were modified and three deployments of these MVMSs (multivariable moored sensors) were made in 1987 with durations of three to four months. >
Modeling a piezoelectric TSM sensor to study kinetics of multi-layer biosensing structure

Most of the biological processes are surface mediated; but limited techniques are available to study interfacial biological processes. These techniques exhibit significant limitation due to their low sensitivity and selectivity, and poor temporal resolution. We are studying a novel measurement technique which utilizes piezoelectric thickness shear mode (TSM) sensor for the study of interfacial biological processes in real time. A typical real-life biological system is a multi-layer system comprising of several biological surfaces or interfaces. This multi-layer sensing structure loaded on piezoelectric TSM sensor has been simulated based on Mason's model, which represents each layer as T-network of acoustic and electrical impedances. Each layer is described by its mechanical properties (stiffness, viscosity, density) and geometrical properties (thickness). These properties can be varied for a variety of material parameters which represent broad range of biologically relevant operation conditions. Our model predicts the changes in the total impedance of the sensor system, which is related to the resonance frequency and amplitude of the sensor. In turn, these changes can be related to the ongoing biological processes. The study shows three different processes simulating interfacial phenomena and gelation (solidification) of materials
The Theory of Fexprs is Trivial

We provide a very simple model of a reflective facility based on the pure λ-calculus, and we show that its theory of contextual equivalence is trivial: two terms in the language are contextually equivalent iff they are α-congruent.
Improved dissociation energy of the K39Rb85 molecule

The predissociation data for the 1Π1 state of K39Rb85 of Kasahara et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 111, 8857 (1999)] are combined with the recent determination of the long range C6 coefficients of the predissociating 2Σ+3∼2(0−), 2(1) states [Wang et al., Eur. Phys. J. D31, 165 (2004) ] molecule: to infer a more precise dissociation energy of the K39Rb85 molecule D0=4180.06±0.42cm−1 and De=4217.91±0.42cm−1.
Successful treatment of severe immune hemolytic anemia after allogeneic stem cell transplantation with bortezomib: report of a case and review of literature.

Background Immune hemolytic anemia is a well-known complication after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Posttransplant hemolytic anemia results in increased red blood cell transfusions and medical sequelae including iron overload. Case Report We present a case report of immune hemolytic anemia that occurred after allogeneic HSCT from an ABO major–mismatched, HLA-matched unrelated donor. The patient had high anti-donor A type antibodies that were unresponsive to treatment with steroids and rituximab, resulting in persistent transfusion dependence. A detailed time course of anti-A titers, plasma cell content of the marrow, and B-cell content of the blood is presented. Treatment with bortezomib, a protease inhibitor, eliminated residual host-type plasma cells secreting anti-A and restored normal donor-derived erythropoiesis. Conclusion This report, and a review of literature for treatment of immune hemolytic anemia after allogeneic HSCT, supports the utility of bortezomib as plasma cell–targeted therapy in this setting.
A REVIEW OF THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF HUMAN BREAST CANCER

A comprehensive review of what was known of the epidemiology of breast cancer as of the early 1970s was published by MacMahon et al. in 1973. This review covers the major aspects of the epidemiology of breast cancer included in the 1973 review and additionally emphasizes recently reported work. Attention is directed to the following: magnitude of the problem in the U.S.; demographic characteristics of breast cancer cases; international variation; laterality of breast cancer; reproductive variables; benign breast diseases; multiple primary cancers involving the breast and other sites; familial aggregation and genetics; endogenous hormones (estrogens progesterone prolactin androgens and thyroid); exogenous estrogens; diet; body build; radiation; exposure to radiation in screening for breast cancer; mammographic parenchymal patterns; viruses; other exposures of current interest (reserpine hair dyes); and breast cancer in males. The high incidence and mortality rates and the detrimental impact on the quality of life of those affected indicate that breast cancer in the U.S. continues to be a serious problem for women. An annual age-adjusted incidence rate of 84.9/100000 women was reported for the 1973-1976 years; the annual age-adjusted mortality rate among women in the U.S. was 27.7/100000 over this same time period. From these figures it may be estimated that each year in the U.S. almost 100000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed and over 30000 deaths occur. Age specific incidence rates increase rapidly with age until about 45-50 years of age after which they continue to increase but at a slower rate. In addition to age a few other risk factors including a history of bilateral premenopausal breast cancer in a 1st degree relative a history of breast cancer in the contralateral breast and residence from an early age in North America compared to Asia are associated with large relative risks. Other risk factors including whether or not an oophorectomy has been performed age at 1st birth a history of fibrocystic disease previous exposure to high levels of radiation in the chest socioeconomic status obesity and a previous cancer in the ovary or endometrium are associated with relative risks of at least 2 but less than 4-fold. Finally age at menarche age at menopause marital status place of residence and the white compared to the black race are associated with small but real differentials in risk.
Bioavailability of iron, zinc, and other trace minerals from vegetarian diets

Iron and zinc are currently the trace minerals of greatest concern when considering the nutritional value of vegetarian diets. With elimination of meat and increased intake of phytate-containing legumes and whole grains, the absorption of both iron and zinc is lower with vegetarian than with nonvegetarian, diets. The health consequences of lower iron and zinc bioavailability are not clear, especially in industrialized countries with abundant, varied food supplies, where nutrition and health research has generally supported recommendations to reduce meat and increase legume and whole-grain consumption. Although it is clear that vegetarians have lower iron stores, adverse health effects from lower iron and zinc absorption have not been demonstrated with varied vegetarian diets in developed countries, and moderately lower iron stores have even been hypothesized to reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Premenopausal women cannot easily achieve recommended iron intakes, as modified for vegetarians, with foods alone; however, the benefit of routine iron supplementation has not been demonstrated. It may be prudent to monitor the hemoglobin of vegetarian children and women of childbearing age. Improved assessment methods are required to determine whether vegetarians are at risk of zinc deficiency. In contrast with iron and zinc, elements such as copper appear to be adequately provided by vegetarian diets. Although the iron and zinc deficiencies commonly associated with plant-based diets in impoverished nations are not associated with vegetarian diets in wealthier countries, these nutrients warrant attention as nutritional assessment methods become more sensitive and plant-based diets receive greater emphasis.
Investigation of high-frequency microwave ablation using floating-sleeve dipole antennas

Microwave ablation (MWA) is a promising low-cost, minimally invasive alternative to surgical resection for the treatment of many different types of cancerous tumors. High frequency MWA antennas are desirable because they are smaller, which makes them less invasive and able to reach tumors not accessible by lower frequency MWA antennas, but the vast majority of past MWA work has focused on the use of frequencies below 2.5 GHz. The few exceptions involve antennas operating at 9.2 GHz (Hodgson et al., Brit. J. Obstet Gynaec, 106, 684–694, 1999), 14.5 GHz (Hancock et al., IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., 61, 5, 2230–2241, 2013), 18 GHz (Yoon et al., Int. J. Cancer, 129, 1970–1978, 2011), and 24 GHz (Komarov, Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys., 68, 2014). In the past, greater attention has been given to lower-frequency designs, in part due to concerns that the decrease in microwave penetration depth with increasing frequency would preclude the creation of sufficiently large volumes of ablated tissue.
Rational Curves on Varieties

The aim of these notes is to give an introduction to the ideas and techniques of handling rational curves on varieties. The main emphasis is on varieties with many rational curves, which are the higher dimensional analogs of rational curves and surfaces.
Estimating cumulative pathway effects on risk for age-related macular degeneration using mixed linear models.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of irreversible visual loss in the elderly in developed countries and typically affects more than 10 % of individuals over age 80. AMD has a large genetic component, with heritability estimated to be between 45 % and 70 %. Numerous variants have been identified and implicate various molecular mechanisms and pathways for AMD pathogenesis but those variants only explain a portion of AMD’s heritability. The goal of our study was to estimate the cumulative genetic contribution of common variants on AMD risk for multiple pathways related to the etiology of AMD, including angiogenesis, antioxidant activity, apoptotic signaling, complement activation, inflammatory response, response to nicotine, oxidative phosphorylation, and the tricarboxylic acid cycle. While these mechanisms have been associated with AMD in literature, the overall extent of the contribution to AMD risk for each is unknown. In a case–control dataset with 1,813 individuals genotyped for over 600,000 SNPs we used Genome-wide Complex Trait Analysis (GCTA) to estimate the proportion of AMD risk explained by SNPs in genes associated with each pathway. SNPs within a 50 kb region flanking each gene were also assessed, as well as more distant, putatively regulatory SNPs, based on DNaseI hypersensitivity data from ocular tissue in the ENCODE project. We found that 19 previously associated AMD risk SNPs contributed to 13.3 % of the risk for AMD in our dataset, while the remaining genotyped SNPs contributed to 36.7 % of AMD risk. Adjusting for the 19 risk SNPs, the complement activation and inflammatory response pathways still explained a statistically significant proportion of additional risk for AMD (9.8 % and 17.9 %, respectively), with other pathways showing no significant effects (0.3 % – 4.4 %). Our results show that SNPs associated with complement activation and inflammation significantly contribute to AMD risk, separately from the risk explained by the 19 known risk SNPs. We found that SNPs within 50 kb regions flanking genes explained additional risk beyond genic SNPs, suggesting a potential regulatory role, but that more distant SNPs explained less than 0.5 % additional risk for each pathway. From these analyses we find that the impact of complement SNPs on risk for AMD extends beyond the established genome-wide significant SNPs.
Management of condensation on a foldable acrylic intraocular lens after vitrectomy and fluid-air exchange

Purpose To describe the management of condensation on the posterior surface of a foldable acrylic intraocular lens during vitrectomy and fluid-air exchange. Methods A 70-year-old Pseudophakic man with a foldable acrylic intraocular lens and open posterior capsule underwent vitrectomy and fluid-air exchange for repair of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. Results During pars plana vitrectomy and fluid-air exchange, condensation immediately formed on the posterior surface of the foldable acrylic intraocular lens. This condensation, which prevented a view of the retina, was eliminated by wiping the posterior surface of the intraocular lens with a soft-tipped cannula. Conclusion Although condensation may rapidly form on acrylic intraocular lenses during vitrectomy and fluid-air exchange, it can be managed readily by wiping with a soft-tipped cannula.
Solution‐Focused Brief Therapy: Its Effective Use in Agency Settings

T. Pichot and Y. M. Dolan. (2003). Solution-Focused Brief Therapy: Its Effective Use in Agency Settings. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press. 244 pp. Hardcover ISBN 0-7890-1553-1 6: $49.95; Paperback ISBN 0-7890-1554-4: $32.95. This book provides a practical guide to interventions and basic philosophy of solution-focused therapy as applied primarily to group work with involuntary court-mandated clients in substance abuse treatment programs. The authors discuss the challenges posed by reluctant clients, daunting diagnoses, family distress, critical legal problems, time pressures for results, relapse risks, and therapist exhaustion in agency settings. The central argument is that solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) is an effective way to engage the creativity of clients in finding incremental steps toward establishing a context in which the problem is less disabling. It also energizes therapists and awakens their curiosity about each client's discovery of a meaningful route to personal change. The chapter about group work with adolescents is provocatively titled, "This Is Stupid, I Don't Need This, and I Don't Want To be Here." The authors' premise is that although adolescent problems often are specific to their age as they relate to family, peers, and school, these clients' discoveries of solutions are unique to the individual. They argue that the SFBT approach is particularly suited to this population because their developmental stage makes adolescents ready to jettison external limits. Youth are willing to explore relationship questions and think about who they are and what type of future they desire to create. Counselors find that setting limits gently and maintaining a solution-focused orientation in group work ensures adolescents a safe space where the goals selected by group members can be addressed. Likewise, when working with family members, the SFBT focus ensures that parents and children notice what behaviors result in positive responses from each other. The same approach applies when they include children of all ages in their parents' treatment for substance abuse. Given that treatment referrals come from social services, probation departments, and governing agencies, the authors argue that these professionals also should be viewed as clients and their goals incorporated into interventions. The therapist can use the SFBT approach to get the referring professional to provide clear, evidence-based descriptions of behavior that the client needs to exhibit. The therapist asks the external unit to assess the client's progress and define a position on a scale of progress so it can be measured. …
Respiratory Disease the Current Target for Antiviral Therapy

If we accept the premise that the systemic viral exanthemata, as measles, rubella, varicella, and variola, as well as poliomyelitis, are controllable with current and future vaccines, the discussion this evening is primarily related to respiratory disease. Furthermore, if we exclude infectious hepatitis, there are few known viral diseases of significant incidence which justify energetic antiviral research.
Infrasonic detection of a Leonid bolide: 1998 November 17

— During the early morning hours of the night of the peak of the annual Leonid meteor shower on 1998 November 17, a bright fireball (approximately −12 to −14 visual magnitude at 100 km in the zenith) was observed over northern New Mexico with visual sightings as far away from Los Alamos as Albuquerque (∼150 km to the south of Los Alamos), including direct persistent trail observations at the U. S. A. F. Starfire Optical Range (SOR), which is also near Albuqerque. This event did not produce any sonic boom reports, presumably because of its high altitude. It was also detected locally by an infrared radiometer at Sandia National Laboratory and by an intensified charge-coupled device (CCD) camera located in Placitas, New Mexico. Subsequent investigations of the data from the six infrasound arrays used by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and operated for the Department of Energy as a part of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) Research and Development program for the International Monitoring System (IMS) showed the presence of an infrasonic signal from the proper direction at the correct time for this bolide from two of our six arrays (both located in Los Alamos). The infrasound recordings (i.e., the wave amplitude and period data) indicated that an explosion occurred in the atmosphere at a source height of ∼93.5 km (with respect to sea level) or ∼90 km with respect to the altitude of Los Alamos, having its origins slightly to the north and west of Los Alamos. Purely geometric solutions from the ground observers reports combined with direct measurements from the CCD camera at Placitas produced a source height of 91 ± 7 km. The signal characteristics analyzed from 0.5 to 3.0 Hz include a total duration of about 3–4 s for a source directed from Los Alamos toward 353.6 ± 0.4° measured from true north at a maximum elevation arrival angle of ∼72.7°. The latter was deduced on the basis of the observed signal trace velocities (for the part of the recording with the highest cross-correlation) and ranged from a constant value of about 920–1150 m/s (depending on the window length used in the analysis) for a ray trajectory along a direct refractive path between the source and the Los Alamos arrays. The dominant signal frequency at maximum amplitude at Los Alamos was ∼0.71 Hz. These highly correlated signals had a peak to peak, maximum amplitude of ∼2.1 microbars (0.21 Pa). Using several methods that incorporate various observed signal characteristics, total distance traveled, etc., our analysis indicates that the bolide probably had a source energy of ∼1.14 t (TNT equivalent) or 4.77 × 109 J. This is ∼14.1× smaller than the source energy estimate made using the infrasonic, empirical source energy relationship for low-altitude stationary point sources developed in the 1960s by the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC), Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. This relation was originally developed, however, for much larger source energies and at much longer ranges.
Simultaneous Evaluation of Cardiorespiratory and Analgesic Effects of Intravenous Analgesia using Pentobarbital, Meperidine, and Scopolamine with Local Anesthesia

Cardiorespiratory and analgesic effects of intravenous analgesia with pentobarbital, meperidine, and scopolamine were investigated in healthy volunteers not undergoing operation. Relief of anxiety and tension attendant on the dental experience were achieved with minimal physiologic upset. The lack of analgesia to tooth stimulation indicated the need for local anesthesia in conjunction with this technique.
Tools of inaction: the impasse between teaching social issues and creating social change

Within the field of teacher education, increased emphasis has been placed on social justice education (SJE). This qualitative study examined a group of beginning teachers who voluntarily participated in a social justice critical inquiry project (CIP). The findings indicate that while many of them were successful at teaching social issues, they provided few to no opportunities for their students to engage in social action and they themselves did not participate in activism. To explain this, the participants used the following four tools of inaction: tools of substitution, postponement, displacement, and dismissal. These tools relieved the tension of not taking action and allowed the participants to postpone, justify, or redirect the responsibility of becoming active in struggling for sustainable social change. Understanding the use of these tools can help teacher educators to understand the process of development of social justice educators.
Association of seasonality with hypertension in pregnancy: a systematic review

A systematic literature review was conducted to examine all academic, peer-reviewed studies of seasonal or monthly variation in the prevalence of gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, or eclampsia. The objective was to test the hypothesis that prevalence rates are highest during the winter months in non-tropical regions and during wet or humid periods in tropical climates. The authors searched the epidemiological literature indexed in PubMed, cross-referenced bibliographic materials, and reviewed personal archives. Of 60 abstracts and articles screened, 20 met the final inclusion criteria. Studies included were published between 1938 and 2010. Despite differences in setting, data sources, study design, outcome definitions, and control of known risk factors, 16 separate studies (11 non-tropical and 5 tropical) concurred that prevalence rates were higher for winter delivery in non-tropical regions or delivery during wet or humid periods in tropical climates. Although the reasons for these patterns are unknown, seasonal variation in infectious diseases, environmental triggers of asthma, vitamin D levels, physiological responses to cold temperatures, healthcare access, and nutritional intake may all play a role.
Ferromagnetic resonance study of polycrystalline Fe1−xVx alloy thin films

Ferromagnetic resonance has been used to study the magnetic properties and magnetization dynamics of polycrystalline Fe1−xVx alloy films with 0⩽x<0.7. Films were produced by cosputtering from separate Fe and V targets, leading to a composition gradient across a Si substrate. Ferromagnetic resonance studies were conducted at room temperature with a broadband coplanar waveguide at frequencies up to 50GHz using the flip-chip method. The effective demagnetization field 4πMeff and the Gilbert damping parameter α have been determined as a function of V concentration. The results are compared to those of epitaxial FeV films.
The US anti-prostitution pledge: a call for cooperation.

Masenior and Beyrer's article is an important contribution to the continuing debate as to the direction of public health efforts regarding commercial sex work [1]. The authors are correct in that the debate between those focused on the social and economic rights of prostituted women and girls as “workers” and those focused on preventing the trafficking of women and girls into prostitution has resulted in precious little dialogue on how to best proceed. Regrettably, as illustrated by the authors, the US anti-prostitution pledge may well have contributed to the polarization of these two groups. However, to make progress, multiple realities must be acknowledged and considered. The authors present the conflation of sex trafficking and prostitution as a barrier to effective action and policy that must be eliminated; however, compelling evidence exists to support such conflation. Specifically, approximately half of sex workers are prostituted as minors [2,3]. Studies including prostituted minors indicate that virtually all were trafficked into sex work [4], and studies of sex workers across multiple countries indicate that the majority would prefer to leave prostitution if it were safe and economically feasible to do so [2,5]. Thus, anti-trafficking advocates may reasonably contend that maintaining the institution of sex work through decriminalization and organization of health and social welfare programs will likely lead to continued trafficking of women and girls to maintain this highly profitable activity. On the other hand, as presented by Masenior and Beyrer, the many thousands of women and girls involved in commercial sex work need and deserve assistance based on the tremendous health risks they suffer (e.g., HIV infection). However, those focused on promoting the health of sex workers have often inadequately considered the presence of minor girls [6] or trafficking victims in the sex work venues within which they operate [7]. While such programs appear to empower adults purporting to be engaged in voluntary sex work, no evidence suggests that these efforts contribute to reducing the numbers or protecting the health of trafficked women and girls. While we cannot reasonably make the assumption that all sex workers are trafficked, we also cannot reasonably accept that all sex workers are voluntarily prostituted. Amazingly, we have yet to conduct adequate research to answer this question. Thus the conflation of sex work and trafficking continues, as lamented by the authors. To move forward, both sides must work together based on their common goal of improving the health and well-being of this highly vulnerable population. Advocates, practitioners, and researchers representing both sides of this debate must dialogue to find effective means of reducing trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation, and also to find ways to assist sex workers to minimize the health risks they face, while simultaneously remaining vigilant in detecting and humanely assisting prostituted children and adult trafficking victims.
Tridimensional ultrastructure of freeze-fractured rat kidney cortex (studied in stereo).

Abstract The tridimensional ultrastructure of the inner cortex of rat kidney has been studied by observing freeze-fractured tissue in stereo. The complex structure of the tubules, fenestrated capillaries and glomeruli is more readily observed through the irregular fracturing of the tissue that occurs in this technique. The ultrastructure of the brush border and interdigitating membranes of the proximal tubules, the structure of the fenestrated endothelial membranes of the capillaries and the ribbonlike appearance of the filtration space between the foot processes of the glomeruli were especially well depicted in stereo images of freeze-fractured renal tissue.
High resolution interferometric technique for in-situ studies of crystal growth morphologies and kinetics

Abstract We have developed an interferometric technique for the high resolution monitoring of interfacial morphologies. Changes in feature height of 200 A over several days can be resolved across crystal facets several 100 μm wide. This is achieved through signal processing based on the phase information contained in the interferometric intensity field and by applying corrections determined from an interferometric reference signal. Extensive tests on {110} faces of lysozyme crystals revealed growth rate fluctuations as a result of step bunching and other interfacial position-dependent step kinetics.
A unique sulfur ylide reaction: on the question of R4S intermediates

The question of the availability of the sulfur Td orbitals for bonding 3 in the ground state remains unanswered despite many studies. In the case where the ligands are carbon, two types of such systems must be considered. Type A possesses three sigma and one pi bond to sulfur as represented by the ylides; whereas, type B possesses four sigma bonds to sulfur. Intermediates 88 R.$-CHe e R2:=CH2 R4S: Type A Type B
Chromosome breakpoints near CpG islands in double minutes

Double minute chromosomes (DMs) are the principal genetic vehicles for amplifying oncogenes in human tumors and drug resistance genes in cultured mouse cells. Mouse EMT-6 cells resistant to methotrexate (MTX) generally contain circular DMs, approximately 1 megabase (Mb) in size, that amplify the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene. The 1 Mb DMs generally have CpG islands located 500 kb upstream of the DHFR gene. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between CpG islands and chromosomal breakpoints giving rise to the DM. We show that EMT-6 cells growing in very low levels of MTX that do not yet contain the 1 Mb DHFR-amplifying DM, develop a NotI/EagI site 500 kb upstream of the DHFR gene. This NotI site is close to, if not identical with, one of the chromosomal breakpoints giving rise to the DM. We show that 500 kb of DM DNA from upstream of the DHFR gene is derived from 500 kb of chromosomal DNA upstream of the chromosomal DHFR gene. The downstream breakpoint maps to a region approximately 200 kb downstream of the DHFR gene near a chromosomal SstII/EagI site. Therefore, approximately 700 kb of DM DNA was derived from the genomic region surrounding the DHFR gene. To confirm the organization of the DM DNA, we isolated DNA probes from the 1 Mb DM. Using pulsed field gel electrophoresis and Southern hybridization, we determined the approximate location of each probe with respect to the CpG island in both the DM and the chromosome. Approximately 300 kb of chimeric DNA from a region unrelated to the DHFR gene was incorporated during DM formation. Implications for the mechanism of DM formation are discussed.
Between the Human, the Citizen and the Tribal

On 15 July 2004, a public protest was staged in the state of Manipur, in India's Northeast, to oppose the rape and custodial killing of a young Meitei woman, Thangjam Manorama, by soldiers of a counter-insurgency paramilitary battalion, the Assam Rifles, who suspected she was a militant. At this protest, several women appeared nude, holding a banner that read ‘Indian army rape us’. This analysis considers how we might read the nudity and the statement ‘Indian army rape us’. I argue that the language of law, human rights and women's rights as human rights, are inadequate to analyze the protest and the events surrounding it because they do not situate the protest within larger political struggles in the Northeast. Further, such universalist approaches take categories like ‘Indian citizen’, ‘woman’ and ‘tribal’ as a given and do not allow for an engagement with how these categories are mutually constituted, or the law's complicity in their constitution. Accordingly, concerns about contested notions of citize...
Absorption and scattering effects by silver nanoparticles near the interface of organic/inorganic semiconductor tandem films

We experimentally and theoretically characterize back-scattering and extinction of Ag nanoparticle (AgNP) arrays on both Si wafer substrates and optically-thick Ag substrates with and without organic poly(3-hexylthiophene):[6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) bulk-heterojunction thin film coatings. A strong red-shift in back-scattered light wavelength occurs from AgNP arrays on Si as a function of increasing mean nanoparticle diameter (ranging from 30 to 90 nm). Back-scattering from the AgNP array is notably quenched in the wavelength range of strong P3HT absorption when the organic layer is applied. However, back-scattering is enhanced to a degree relative to the uncoated AgNP array on Si at wavelengths greater than the absorption band edge of P3HT. For comparison, the optical properties of AgNPs on an optically-thick Ag substrate are reported with and without P3HT:PCBM thin film coatings. On the reflective Ag substrates, a significant enhancement (by a factor of 7.5) and red-shift of back-scattered light occurred upon coating of the AgNPs with the P3HT:PCBM layer. Additionally, red-edge extinction was enhanced in the P3HT:PCBM layer with the presence of the AgNPs compared to the planar case. Theoretical electromagnetic simulations were carried out to help validate and explain the scattering and extinction changes observed in experiment. Both increasing nanoparticle size and an increasing degree of contact with the Si substrate (i.e., effective index of the nanoparticle environment) are shown to play a role in increasing back- and forward-scattering intensity and wavelength, and in increasing absorption enhancements in both the organic and Si layers. AgNPs placed at the P3HT:PCBM/Si interface give rise to absorption increases in P3HT of up to 18 %, and only enhance Si absorption at wavelengths longer than the absorption band edge of P3HT (by almost 90 % in the 660–1,200 nm wavelength range). These results provide insight into how metal nanoparticles placed near an organic/inorganic interface can be employed for light management in tandem or hybrid organic/inorganic thin-film semiconductor configurations for solar energy harvesting applications or light detection applications.
Iron nutrition of the broadleaf evergreen shrub, Euonymus japonica thunb

Abstract The decline in pH of a complete nutrient solution, during flushes of shoot growth for the evergreen shrub, Euonymus japonica, was suspected of being caused by Fe deficiency. Experiments with plants grown in buffered and unbuffered solutions and in solutions with and without Fe, coupled with analyses for Fe in Euonymus tissue and for reductant in the nutrient solution indicated that these pH changes were not a response to Fe deficiency. When Euonymus became Fe‐deficient, however, it did lower the pH of an all NO3‐nitrogen nutrient solution as so‐called “Fe‐efficient”; plants do and released reductant into solution. If Fe was not added to solution, plants became severely Fe‐chlorotic and lowered the solution pH but did not release substantial amounts of reductant until Fe was added.
Why quantum mechanics indeed

Classical mechanics assumes that its laws (and specifically the second law of Newton) are independent of spatio-temporal resolutions. To see whether there is an alternative to this assumption we write the energy of a relativistic particle in a finite-difference form, e.g., ɛ=ɛ0[1-(Δx/c Δt)2]1/2. We assume that in the limit Δt→0 the energy e has a simple pole a/Δt. We show that quantum mechanics in its different formulations (Schrodinger, Feynman, Schwinger, Klein-Gordon, and Dirac) follows in elementary fashion from this assumption. We also rigorously prove that the classical Poisson brackets represent a coefficient in the first power of h in the expansion of the commutator in power series in h. The uncertainty relations are seen as the consequences of well-defined resolution dependence of measurements. In particular, if the simple pole in the energy dependence on Δt is located at α′ m/h, where α′ is the stringy constant, then this dependence yields the uncertainty principle of the string theory. Here α′ m/h can be interpreted as the highest physically allowed temporal resolution.
Dose–Volume Effects on Patient-Reported Acute Gastrointestinal Symptoms During Chemoradiation Therapy for Rectal Cancer

Purpose Research on patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in rectal cancer is limited. We examined whether dose–volume parameters of the small bowel and large bowel were associated with patient-reported gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms during 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)–based chemoradiation treatment for rectal cancer. Methods and Materials 66 patients treated at the Brigham & Women's Hospital or Massachusetts General Hospital between 2006 and 2008 were included. Weekly during treatment, patients completed a questionnaire assessing severity of diarrhea, urgency, pain, cramping, mucus, and tenesmus. The association between dosimetric parameters and changes in overall GI symptoms from baseline through treatment was examined by using Spearman's correlation. Potential associations between these parameters and individual GI symptoms were also explored. Results The amount of small bowel receiving at least 15 Gy (V15) was significantly associated with acute symptoms ( p = 0.01), and other dosimetric parameters ranging from V5 to V45 also trended toward association. For the large bowel, correlations between dosimetric parameters and overall GI symptoms at the higher dose levels from V25 to V45 did not reach statistical significance ( p = 0.1), and a significant association was seen with rectal pain from V15 to V45 ( p Conclusions The results of this study using PROs are consistent with prior studies with physician-assessed acute toxicity, and they identify small bowel V15 as an important predictor of acute GI symptoms during 5-FU–based chemoradiation treatment. A better understanding of the relationship between radiation dosimetric parameters and PROs may allow physicians to improve radiation planning to optimize patient outcomes.