cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The innervation of the mouse adrenal cortex

The fine structure of the mouse adrenal cortex was examined with the electron microscope for the presence of neural elements. Several axon terminals containing mostly clear vesicles (60 nm) were noted in the vicinity (250 nm) of the capsular fibroblasts. In the subcapsular region, myelinated as well as unmyelinated fibers were commonly found. Preterminal and terminal axons were also found in close relationship to the parenchymal cells in the zona glomerulosa. Nerve bundles were the most common neural elements in the zona fasciculata. In the zona reticularis axon terminals containing both clear (60 nm) and dense core (120 nm) vesicles were seen in close proximity (30 nm) to parenchymal cells. Although this study did not delineate the type of fibers involved, the axon terminals resemble those of autonomic nerves. This study demonstrates innervation of the mouse adrenal cortex, thus corroborating similar reports by others in different species.
Study of Free-Piston Stirling Engine With a Generalized Displacer-Drive Configuration

A free-piston Stirling engine (FPSE) with a generalized displacer-drive configuration having the displacer sprung to both the engine casing and power piston is described, characterized and analyzed. The analysis includes motion of the moving components, power transmitted from the displacer to the piston and power produced by the gas in the work space, and the effect of the displacer-drive configuration to the engine efficiency. Results are presented, from testing a FPS engine which has a gas spring linking the displacer to the engine casing and the power piston magnetically coupled to a linear alternator. The analysis and analytical prediction of the engine characteristics showed close agreement with the test results.Copyright © 2003 by ASME
Comparing arctan and maximum likelihood methods for bearing estimation

One well-known system for estimating the bearing to an underwater acoustic source consists of two crossed dipole sensors and an omni-directional sensor. At DRDC Atlantic, several bearing estimation methods for this three-channel system in the presence of ocean noise have been examined with the goal of minimizing the bearing error. However, any practical bearing-estimation algorithm must remain efficient enough for implementation in a real-time sonar processor. In this paper, we discuss some of the different methods used and their trade-offs based on estimate accuracy and computational efficiency.
Commitment to change: a strategy for promoting educational effectiveness.

Background: Short lecture-based courses are the most common format used in continuing medical education (CME) activities, yet they are relatively ineffective for inducing behavioral changes. This study investigates the effectiveness of the commitment to change strategy for identifying behavioral changes stimulated by such a short course. Methods: Attendees at an annual 3-day lecture-based course voluntarily committed to instituting up to four changes in their practice. Those who made commitments were surveyed 1 month following the conference. Results: Fifty-four percent of the intended changes had already been accomplished. There was no relationship between the audience's post-lecture evaluation scores for achieving the learning objectives compared to the number of changes committed to by the attendees. Implications: An unanticipated finding was the differential participation between those professions that have more autonomy (physicians and advanced practice nurses) versus those professions with less (nurses and physician's assistants). Insufficient elapsed time was the nearly universal limitation for initiating change. Encouraging participants to make a commitment to change holds a great deal of potential for both stimulating and documenting behavioral outcomes resulting from CME activities.
Process simulation in polymer manufacturing

Abstract A prototype simulator for applications in polymer manufacturing is presented. This prototype results from the integration of extensive development and application efforts in modeling a wide range of commercial polymerization processes using ASPEN PLUS™, a well-established process flowsheet simulator with a graphical user interface called ModelManager™. The main issues in the application of simulation technology to polymer processes and in the development of the prototype simulator, specifically in the areas of polymer component characterization, polymerization kinetics, and thermodynamic property requirements, are described in this paper. Examples taken from commercial applications will be used to demonstrate the approaches used for handling the different issues.
Multinucleated Foreign Body Giant Cells in Placental Membrane

We report the pathologic finding of a multinucleated foreign body giant cell reaction to squames and fetal hair in the placental membranes in a 37-week 1-day intrauterine gestation. This reaction appeared to have developed in association with repeated intrauterine procedures performed in the third trimester, including cordocentesis for fetal blood sampling, intrauterine blood transfusion, and amnioreduction for polyhydramnios. This type of reaction most likely was directed to prolonged amniotic fluid leakage that occurred spontaneously or after intrauterine procedures in the second half of the second trimester and the third trimester. Careful examination of the placental membranes and recognition of the foreign body giant cell reaction may provide etiologic insight in cases of unexplained oligohydramnios.
A single mutation that results in an Asp to His substitution and partial exon skipping in a family with congenital contractural arachnodactyly

Congenital contractural arachnodactyly (CCA) is an autosomal dominant disorder of connective tissue and is characterized by multiple congenital contractures, arachnodactyly, and external ear malformations. Recent investigations indicate that mutations in the fibrillin-2 gene (FBN2) cause CCA. Here, we report a G-->C transversion at nucleotide 3340 (G3340C) of FBN2 in a family with phenotypic characteristics of CCA. The G3340C mutation predicts the substitution of histidine for aspartic acid at amino acid residue 1114 (Asp1114His) and also alters the 5' donor splice site consensus sequence of exon 25. Reverse transcription/polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequence analyses demonstrate that this missense mutation also causes low level in-frame mis-splicing of exon 25 (del exon 25). Consequently, this single point mutation produces a heterogeneous population of mutant fibrillin-2 molecules in a single individual. Despite the complex manifestation of the mutation, it is associated with a relatively mild phenotype. Analysis of FBN2 allele expression in cultured dermal fibroblasts derived from the proband has shown that the mutant allele is preferentially expressed, contributing about 84% of the total transcript. This indicates that an overabundance of mutant transcript does not necessarily correlate with a more severe CCA phenotype.
A computable prototype model of economic development

Abstract Economic development models need to advance beyond the two-gap type capital-output models of growth. This paper presents a prototype model of economic development where development is defined more broadly than aggregative output growth in terms of four objectives, namely, income, consumption, distribution, and employment. It is in keeping with the basic needs approach recently developed by the World Bank and other international organizations. The model formulation is based on the dualistic theory of capital formation and structural change. The specification is on the supply side. A novel aspect of the model is that it incorporates the role of education, health, and nutrition in economic development. Further it makes use of cross section data, which is unusual in model building. The model is put to illustrative use to generate dynamic policy multipliers of education and health expenditure. The results do not support the Malthusian fears that increased health expenditure would cause massive unemployment and reduce the standard of living in LDCs.
Solvatochromism and solvation dynamics of structurally related cyanine dyes

Absorption, fluorescence, and magic-angle pump−probe experiments characterize the solvatochromism and relaxation dynamics of three structurally related near-infrared tricarbocyanine dyes (HDITCP, IR125, and IR144) in solution. Agreement with solvatochromic theory is found in solvents where the conductivity approximately matches that predicted for complete ionic dissociation. The nonpolar solvatochromism of HDITCP and IR125 allows the polar solvatochromism of the IR144 absorption spectrum to be attributed to a specific functional group. Resonance structure arguments predict a dipole moment decrease upon electronic absorption by IR144, consistent with the observed solvatochromism. Assuming a point dipole, spherical cavity reaction field model, self-consistent feedback between the solvent and the polarizable IR144 solute accounts for 1/2 to 1/3 of the observed polar solvent shifts. A geometry change in the excited state leads to nearly nonpolar solvatochromism in the IR144 emission spectrum. Femtosecond magi...
Infrared diode laser probes of photofragmentation products: Bending excitation in CO2 produced by excimer laser photolysis of pyruvic acid

Abstract The vibrational energy distribution of CO 2 product molecules produced by UV photolysis of pyruvic acid (CH 3 COCOOH) has been studied with an infrared diode laser, absorption probe technique. This experimental method provides a 10000-fold improvement in spectral resolution over infrared fluorescence techniques used to study dynamic molecular processes. The CO 2 produced by photodissociation was found to have significant population in the 01 1 0 first excited ν 2 bending level. The population of the 00 0 1 first excited stretching level was less than one tenth that of 01 1 0 and below the detection limit for the present apparatus.
Pupal colour dimorphism in swallowtail butterflies as a threshold trait: Selection in Eurytides marcellus (Cramer)

Pupal colour dimorphism in swallowtail butterflies as a threshold trait: Selection in Eurytides marcellus (Cramer)
Advanced age is an independent predictor for increased morbidity and mortality after emergent surgery for diverticulitis

Background The objectives of our study were to determine the association between age and postoperative outcomes after emergency surgery for diverticulitis and to identify risk factors for postoperative mortality among elderly patients. Methods All patients from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 2005–2009 Participant User Files undergoing emergent surgery for diverticulitis were included. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the association between age and postoperative morbidity and mortality after adjustment for perioperative variables. A separate regression model was used to determine risk factors for postoperative mortality among elderly patients, with specific postoperative complications being included as potential predictors. Results We included 2,264 patients for analysis, of whom 1,267 (56%) were Conclusion Advanced age is an independent risk factor for death after emergency surgery for diverticulitis, with mortality being greatest among elderly patients who experience certain postoperative complications. Prevention of these complications should form the cornerstone of initiatives designed to lower the mortality associated with emergency surgery in elderly patients.
Respiratory Effects of Inhaled Sulfuric Acid on Senior Asthmatics and Nonasthmatics

The objective of this study was two-fold: (1) to investigate the response of asthmatic subjects who were 60 to 75 y of age to inhaled sulfuric acid, and (2) to compare that response to findings from healthy subjects in the same age group. Nine subjects who had asthma and eight healthy subjects participated. Each subject was exposed to clean air, an inert ammonium sulfate aerosol, or 70 micrograms/m3 sulfuric acid during a 40-min exposure period composed of 30 min at rest and 10 min of light exercise on a treadmill. The sulfuric acid was delivered twice, one preceded by a lemonade drink to neutralize oral concentrations of ammonia. Exposures were separated by at least 1 wk. Oral ammonia levels and pulmonary function parameters (forced expiratory volume in one second, forced vital capacity, and total respiratory resistance) were measured before and after each exposure. None of the functional parameters in either group showed significant changes. However, total respiratory resistance changes from baseline after sulfuric acid exposure were significantly higher (+16%) in the asthmatic subjects, compared with the healthy subjects (-6%). These data suggest that older subjects are not at increased risk for adverse respiratory effects from inhalation of sulfuric acid by virtue of age alone, and older subjects with asthma are slightly more vulnerable than are their healthy peers.
Hydrogenated monoterpenes as diesel fuel additives

Myrcene and limonene were hydrogenated to their fully saturated forms, 2,6-dimethyloctane and 1-isopropyl-4-methylcyclohexane, respectively. Mixtures of diesel fuel and up to 10% of each saturated hydrocarbon were tested by ASTM D975 to evaluate the 2,6-dimethyloctane and 1-isopropyl-4-methylcyclohexane as diesel fuel additives. The results showed that all tested mixtures were within the acceptable ranges specified by ASTM for diesel fuel and that the additives lowered the measured cloud point, compared to the base diesel fuel. Saturated limonene had positive effects on viscosity, as well. As myrcene and limonene are produced naturally in plants, these species represent a renewable route to fuel additives.
766 CYSTINOTIC FIBROBLASTS ACCUMULATE CYSTINE FROM CYSTINE BUT NOT CYSTEINE RESIDUES OF EXTRACELLULAR PROTEINS

Cystine depleted cystinotic fibroblasts reaccumulate cystine when incubated in cystine free medium supplemented with a variety of disulfide (cystine)-containing proteins. The cystine accumulation is linear with the concentration of added protein. Correlation of the amount of degradation of 125I labelled protein with cystine accumulation yields a significant correlation (r=0.97 for bovine serum albumin [BSA], and r=0.81 for bovine insulin). Similar results have been found for human and rat albumin, and bovine y globulin & thyroglobulin. This cystine accumulation is inhibited by inhibitors of proteolysis, and inhibitors of selective endocytosis. Reduced BSA (RBSA) produced by pre-treatment with mercaptoethanol in 6 M urea yields diminished cystine accumulation even though more of the reduced protein is degraded:0.18 nmol/106 cells cystine accumulated and 0.50 mg/106 cells RBSA degraded in 24 hrs; 0.70 nmol/106 cells cystine accumulated and 0.20 mg BSA degraded in 24 hrs. Ovalbumin (OVA), which contains 4 mol of cysteine/mol of protein and 1 mol cystine yields no cystine accumulation after 24 hrs incubation in which 0.86 mg/106 cells OVA was degraded. Addition of OVA or RBSA to non-depleted cystinotic fibroblasts produces cystine depletion (30% in 4 hrs, 55% in 24 hrs). We conclude that cystinotic cells accumulate cystine through the lysosomal retention of cystine, but not cysteine residues following their release from peptide chains during proteolysis. Supported by USPHS AM 25548.
Topographic shear and the relation of ocular dominance columns to orientation columns in primate and cat visual cortex

Shear has been known to exist for many years in the topographic structure of the primary visual cortex, but has received little attention in the modeling literature. Although the topographic map of V1 is largely conformal (i.e. zero shear), several groups have observed topographic shear in the region of the V1/V2 border. Furthermore, shear has also been revealed by anisotropy of cortical magnification factor within a single ocular dominance column. In the present paper, we make a functional hypothesis: the major axis of the topographic shear tensor provides cortical neurons with a preferred direction of orientation tuning. We demonstrate that isotropic neuronal summation of a sheared topographic map, in the presence of additional random shear, can provide the major features of cortical functional architecture with the ocular dominance column system acting as the principal source of the shear tensor. The major principal axis of the shear tensor determines the direction and its eigenvalues the relative strength of cortical orientation preference. This hypothesis is then shown to be qualitatively consistent with a variety of experimental results on cat and monkey orientation column properties obtained from optical recording and from other anatomical and physiological techniques. In addition, we show that a recent result of Das and Gilbert (Das, A., & Gilbert, C. D., 1997. Distortions of visuotopic map match orientation singularities in primary visual cortex. Nature, 387, 594-598) is consistent with an infinite set of parameterized solutions for the cortical map. We exploit this freedom to choose a particular instance of the Das-Gilbert solution set which is consistent with the full range of local spatial structure in V1. These results suggest that further relationships between ocular dominance columns, orientation columns, and local topography may be revealed by experimental testing.
Analysis of flow instabilities and their role on critical heat flux for two-phase downflow and low pressure systems

A stability analysis of a flow boiling two-phase low pressure and downflow system relative to the occurrence of critical heat flux has been carried out. The problem formulation is based on a time and area averaged one-dimensional drift flux model, with the necessary constitutive equations. A characteristic equation is obtained to predict the onset of flow excursion and density wave oscillations. By non-dimensionalizing the characteristic equation, important groups governing the system stability are determined. The results of the analysis are useful in determining the region of stable operation for downflow in the Westinghouse Savannah River Site Reactor and in avoiding the onset of flow excursions and density wave oscillations. The analytical results for flow excursion are compared with the Babcock and Wilcox flow excursion experimental data with a Savannah River Mark 22 fuel assembly mockup.
Positional cloning moves from perditional to traditional

The technique of positional cloning has become a familiar component of modern human genetics research. After a halting start in the mid-1980s, the number of disease genes succumbing to cloning efforts based solely on pinpointing their position in the genome is growing exponentially. More than 40 genes have been identified so far. But the positional candidate approach, which combines knowledge of map position with the increasingly dense human transcript map, greatly expedites the search process and will soon become the predominant method of disease gene discovery. The challenge ahead is to apply such methods to identifying genes involved in complex polygenic disorders.
Radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer: hysterectomy before pelvic lymphadenectomy or vice versa?

. Angioli R, Estape R, Salom E, Cantuaria G, Mirhashemi R, Mendez L, Yoo R, Penalver M. Radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer: Hysterectomy before pelvic lymphadenectomy or vice versa? The technique for radical abdominal hysterectomy (RAH) and lymphadenectomy (LND) for patients with cervical cancer has been well described. Whether RAH should be performed before or after pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) is a controversial issue. This study compared the two procedures performed at the same institution. Patients treated with type III RAH for cervical cancer stage IB–IIA at our institution between 1987 and 1995 were included in this study. Only patients who underwent para-aortic lymph node dissection (PALND) first, followed by PLND and then RAH (Group A) or RAH and then PLND (Group B) were included. Clinical and surgical information including intraoperative and postoperative complications was collected. Operative reports were used to identify the patients who had RAH performed before PLND or vice versa. Data analysis was obtained using unpaired t-test with significance set at P < 0.05. Complete information was obtained for 314 patients. The results of Group A (157 patients) and Group B (157 patients) were as follows: mean age = 45.3 and 44.8 (P = 0.73); mean weight = 149 and 149 lb.; mean length of stay = 10 and 8 days (P < 0.0001); mean operative time = 230 and 172 mins (P = 0.004); mean estimated blood loss (EBL) = 1,238 and 1098 cc (P = 0.21); mean number of PALN removed = 7 and 6 (P = 0.06); mean number of PLN removed = 28 and 26 (P = 0.24). No statistical difference in major intraoperative and postoperative complications was observed. The most common complication was postoperative fever (53/157 in Group A and 49/157 in Group B). Radical hysterectomy can be safely performed either before or after PLND. The number of pelvic lymph nodes removed, as well as the EBL and the intraoperative complications are similar and are not affected by the operative time. The surgeon should decide the sequence of the procedures accordingly to his/her personal preference.
Book Review: Corruption and Reform in India: Public Services in the Digital Age:

Jennifer Bussell, Corruption and Reform in India: Public Services in the Digital Age. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2012. 306 pages. ₹ 895.
Measuring architecture quality by structure plus history analysis

This case study combines known software structure and revision history analysis techniques, in known and new ways, to predict bug-related change frequency, and uncover architecture-related risks in an agile industrial software development project. We applied a suite of structure and history measures and statistically analyzed the correlations between them. We detected architecture issues by identifying outliers in the distributions of measured values and investigating the architectural significance of the associated classes. We used a clustering method to identify sets of files that often change together without being structurally close together, investigating whether architecture issues were among the root causes. The development team confirmed that the identified clusters reflected significant architectural violations, unstable key interfaces, and important undocumented assumptions shared between modules. The combined structure diagrams and history data justified a refactoring proposal that was accepted by the project manager and implemented.
After the Crisis: Lower Consumption Growth But Narrower Global Imbalances?

We estimate consumption dynamics in the G-7 economies, paying particular attention to the possibility of precautionary behavior in the face of uncertainty. We find that in the short run, continued income uncertainty will significantly dampen consumption growth. As such, consumption in the G-7 economies is unlikely to be the engine that revives global growth. Differences in the pace and timing of consumption moderation have implications for the evolution of global imbalances. With the U.S. experiencing a sharper rise in unemployment and, perhaps, more widespread loss of financial wealth than elsewhere in the G-7, the relative rise of the U.S. savings rate is helping narrow global imbalances. But with a likely earlier recovery in the U.S., this narrowing could be short-lived. Moreover, long-term differences- in economic and financial volatility and in demographic structures-have been an important source of the imbalances and could soon reassert their prominence.
Choosing a Two-Sample Location Test.

Abstract Type I error rate and power for the t test, Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney (U) test, van der Waerden Normal Scores (NS) test, and Welch-Aspin-Satterthwaite (W) test were compared for two independent random samples drawn from nonnormal distributions. Data with varying degrees of skewness (S) and kurtosis (K) were generated using Fleishman's (1978) power function. Five sample size combinations were used with both equal and unequal variances. For nonnormal data with equal variances, the power of the U test exceeded the power of the t test regardless of sample size. When the sample sizes were equal but the variances were unequal, the t test proved to be the most powerful test. When variances and sample sizes were unequal, the W test became the test of choice because it was the only test that maintained its nominal Type I error rate.
FORWARD EXCHANGE RATES AND INTEREST-RATE DIFFERENTIALS

THE SIMPLE THEORY OF interest parity calls for adjustment of the discount, or premium, on forward exchange to the short-term interest differential between home and foreign country.1 For example, if the short-term interest rate abroad exceeds that at home, it will be profitable to shift funds abroad, covered against exchange risk, until the forward discount on the foreign currency expressed as a per annum percentage is equal, or nearly equal, to the interest differential. When this equilibrium relationship rules, we shall say for convenience that "interest parity has been established." It is all too familiar that large-scale speculative attack can cause forward rates to depart widely from their interest parity values and induce an arbitraging capital flow away from the currency under attack. There are other, less pathologic, circumstances in which the spot and forward exchange rate relationship may depart from interest parity. This paper is concerned with such a situation between sterling and the dollar during 1960. I
Ranking States by Seismic Activity

Frequently, one sees comparisons and rankings of the various states. Perhaps it is interesting to compare the states by numbers of earthquakes. The main value of such a ranking is to provide an additional means to convey the importance of earthquake hazard awareness to the general population and to motivate earthquake preparedness and mitigation in the more active states. We consulted the catalog of earthquakes compiled by the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) and made available through the Northern California Earthquake Data Center (http://www.ncedc.org/anss/catalog-search.html). The catalog contains data from 1898 to 2005. Earthquakes in the catalog with magnitude 5.0 or greater are shown in figure 1. The ANSS catalog has varying levels of completeness, and most regions do not have earthquake entries going back to 1898. To compensate for incompleteness at the larger magnitudes, we supplemented the ANSS catalog with the catalog of significant U.S. earthquakes (1568–1989) available from the U.S. Geological Survey on the World Wide Web at http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/epic/epic.html. This extends the seismic history at the larger magnitudes. It is beyond the scope of this paper to seek out and incorporate regional studies that might provide a higher level of completeness, so the ranking in table 1 and the curves in figure 2 are limited to what can be inferred from the ANSS and USGS catalogs. We will address the issue of catalog completeness later. Figure 1. Epicenters of earthquakes with magnitude 5.0 or greater, 1755–2005, based on the ANSS seismicity catalog (http://www.ncedc.org/anss/catalog-search.html) and the USGS Catalog of Significant Earthquakes after 1769 (http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/epic). We also have edited in the 1755 Cape Ann earthquake. View this table: TABLE 1 Numbers of earthquakes, by magnitude, in the 10 most active states based on the ANSS catalog (1898–2005) and Significant U.S. Earthquakes (1568–1989) . * For those states that have coastlines, this table includes earthquakes up to …
Planetary science: Prebiotic chemistry on the rocks

Organic compounds called nitriles have been detected in material surrounding a young star. The finding hints at a vast reservoir of ice and volatile species that can seed the surfaces of young rocky planets or moons.
Continuing participation supports ultrasound screening for ovarian cancer

The effect of ovarian cancer screening on survival is enabled by women who continue to actively participate in screening. In this report, factors that affect participation are examined. Participants included 13 963 Kentucky women who received 56 392 screens accounting for a 46 113 screening year experience. Background, health history and reasons for participating in transvaginal sonographic screening were collected via a self-reported questionnaire. Screening participants were characterized as >50 years old, mostly married, well educated, medically insured, health conscious women, living in the vicinity of the screening centre or 51–150 miles away. Approximately 70% of the participants can be considered active in the study based upon a screening visit during the 1997–1998 2-year period. The probabilities of a return screen at 1, 2, 5 and 7.5 years were 77.8%, 72.0%, 58.7% and 50.6%, respectively. A total of 96% of return visits occurred within 2 years, with 33.7% having intervals of <1 year. Perceived family history was not observed to affect continuation. However, abnormal findings were associated with a shortened participation. These high levels of continuation in ultrasound screening indicate that women take this disease seriously and demonstrate that this disease is of consequence to them. Copyright © 2000 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology
AN ACCURACY ASSESSMENT OF VARIOUS GIS-BASED VIEWSHED DELINEATION TECHNIQUES

The widespread availability of geographic information systems allows spatial analysts to predict what can be seen from various locations, thereby allowing them to find advantageous sites for facilities requiring wide fields of view and for facilities whose visual impacts are to be minimized. This study uses standard surveying techniques to delineate actual viewsheds in the field, and then compares these actual viewsheds to predicted viewsheds generated by computer analysis using various commonly used elevation data sets, data models and visibility criteria. Results showed that some data sets produced predicted viewsheds that mimicked surveyed viewsheds much more accurately than other data sets, and that some combinations of data model and visibility criteria produced much greater matching accuracies than other combinations. However, even under the best of conditions, the average level of agreement between predicted viewsheds and field surveyed viewsheds was only slightly higher than 50 percent. Plausible causes of these predicted viewshed inaccuracies include likely errors in the elevation data used in creating the predicted viewsheds and insufficient spatial resolution of the elevation data.
Of Selves and Souls, Bodies and Persons, Individuals and Societies: A Commentary on Donald Pollock's “Personhood and Illness among the Kulina”

ith this richly textured medical ethnography of the western Amazonian Kulina Indians, Don Pollock boldly takes on the current medical anthropology fixation on the Body and offers a much-needed corrective and refinement in the form of the concept of "personhood." While in some areas his analysis threatens to throw the baby's Body out with the bathwater, his critique of the current fixation on the Body-not just in medicine but in anthropology generally, as well as other disciplines in the social sciences and humanities-is quite timely. I have discussed elsewhere (Laderman and Roseman 1996:4-5) the significance of medical and psychological anthropology's development of the paradigm of embodiment. These disciplines' investigations into the cultural constructions of illness and health necessitated a reexamination of theoretical constructs distinguishing mind, body, and spirit; person, self, and society; cognition and emotion (see Csordas 1990; Lutz 1988; Rosaldo 1980; Scheper-Hughes and Lock 1987). But we often overlook the role of feminist theory in the discovery of bodies situated in historically and contextually shifting discursive fields. Indeed, feminist theory contributed to the progressive shift in anthropological focus from "kinship" to "gender" to "the body." Nonessentialist feminist theoretical approaches share much with Pollock's ethnohistorical account of Kulina illnesses as "languages for the simultaneous negotiation of social issues and personhood" (p. 319). Reminding us that the political is bodily inscribed and experienced in the personal, feminist theory has helped legitimate the turn from a mere scrutiny of disembodied, decontextualized words (the "phallogocentric") toward a scholarly respect for embodied utterances and emotional gestures and the social jockeying they accomplish. Pollock deftly traces the links whereby the "fundamental bifurcation of persons in American culture into bodies and minds surely forms the cultural and historical ground for the parallel fundamental bifurcation of illnesses into the physical and the mental, and of professional medical specialties into physical
Enabling mHealth While Assuring Compliance: Reliable and Secure Information Access in a Mobile World

An increasingly mobile clinical workforce rapidly adopting consumer devices to access mobile, cloud-based applications, complemented by the wide range of mobile storage devices and other portable electronics, such as digital cameras, MP3 players, can make it difficult to efficiently assure compliance without impacting user productivity. This article reviewed a number of healthcare use cases and introduced comprehensive concepts and possible automated solutions to meet the requirements of a highly complex infrastructure of devices accessing confidential information.
Data Mining of MISR Aerosol Product using Spatial Statistics

In climate models, aerosol forcing is the major source of uncertainty in climate forcing, over the industrial period. To reduce this uncertainty, instruments on satellites have been put in place to collect global data. However, missing and noisy observations impose considerable difficulties for scientists researching global aerosol distribution, aerosol transportation, and comparisons between satellite observations and global-climate-model outputs. In this paper, we propose a Spatial Mixed Effects (SME) statistical model to predict the missing values, denoise the observed values, and quantify the spatial-prediction uncertainties. The computations associated with the SME model are linear scalable to the number of data points, which makes it feasible to process massive global satellite data. We apply our proposed methodology, which we call Fixed Rank Kriging (FRK), to the level-3 Aerosol Optical Depth dataset collected by NASA's Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometor (MISR) instrument flying on the Terra satellite. Overall, our results were superior to those from nonstatistical methods and, importantly, FRK has an uncertainty measure associated with it
Heartworms, macrocyclic lactones, and the specter of resistance to prevention in the United States

In order to provide a background to current concerns relative to the possible resistance of heartworms to macrocyclic lactones, this review summarizes various studies in which lack of efficacies (LOEs) have been observed in dogs on macrocyclic lactone preventives relative to the United States of America. Some of these studies have been published in the peer-reviewed literature, others have appeared in various reports to the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the USA as New Animal Drug Application (NADA) summaries, and one appeared as a letter to US veterinarians. This review also discusses reports relating to the potential problem of heartworm resistance in microfilariae and third-stage larvae, as well as molecular markers associated with resistance to macrocyclic lactones within Dirofilaria immitis. As more work is being done in this area of great concern relative to the protection of dogs from infection using this class of preventives, it seems timely to summarize what is known about heartworms, their potential resistance to treatment, and the means of selecting for resistance genes in populations of this helminth in the laboratory and in the field.
Marginal Social Cost Pricing on a Transportation Network: A Comparison of Second-Best Policies

In this paper we evaluate and compare long-run economic effects of six road-pricing schemes aimed at internalizing social costs of transportation. In order to conduct this analysis, we employ a spatially disaggregated general equilibrium model of a regional economy that incorporates decisions of residents, firms, and developers, integrated with a spatially-disaggregated strategic transportation planning model that features mode, time period, and route choice. The model is calibrated to the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area. We compare two social cost functions: one restricted to congestion alone and another that accounts for other external effects of transportation. We find that when the ultimate policy goal is a reduction in the complete set of motor vehicle externalities, cordon-like policies and variable-toll policies lose some attractiveness compared to policies based primarily on mileage. We also find that full social cost pricing requires very high toll levels and therefore is bound to be controversial.
Using CBM as an Indicator of Decoding, Word Reading, and Comprehension: Do the Relations Change With Grade?

The primary purpose of this study was to assess whether the relation between curriculum-based measurement (CBM) and specific reading skills changes as a function of grade. In addition, this study s...
Are patient falls and pressure ulcers sensitive to nurse staffing

Research has demonstrated an association between more nurses and more qualified nursing staff in hospitals and better patient outcomes. Patient falls and pressure ulcers have been advanced as nursing-sensitive outcomes. This article evaluates the state of the science linking nurse staffing to falls and pressure ulcers. Studies that employed multivariate analysis to discern the effect of nurse staffing on patient falls and pressure ulcers in hospitals were evaluated. Eleven studies that met inclusion criteria were contrasted on their data sources and measures, data analysis, risk adjustment, and results. The evidence of an effect of nursing hours or skill mix on patient falls and pressure ulcers is equivocal. Substantial differences in research methods across studies may account for the mixed findings. Two study types were identified based on the level at which nurse staffing was measured, hospital or nursing unit, which exhibited systematic differences in measures and methods. Improvements in measurement and methods are suggested.
A Constant Factor Approximation Algorithm for Event-Based Sampling

We consider a control system in which sensor data is transmitted from the plant to a receiver over a communication channel, and the receiver uses the data to estimate the state of the plant. Using a feedback policy to choose when to transmit data, the goal is to schedule transmissions to balance a trade-off between communication rate and estimation error. Computing an optimal policy for this problem is generally computationally intensive. Here we provide a simple algorithm for computing a suboptimal policy for scheduling state transmissions which incurs a cost within a factor of six of the optimal achievable cost.
Challenges and opportunities for new protein crystallization strategies in structure-based drug design

Structure-based drug design (SBDD) has emerged as a valuable pharmaceutical lead discovery tool, showing potential for accelerating the discovery process,while reducing developmental costs and boosting potencies of the drug that is ultimately selected. SBDD is an iterative, rational, lead compound sculpting process that involves both the synthesis of new derivatives and the evaluation of their binding to the target structure either through computational docking or elucidation of the target structure as a complex with the lead compound. This method heavily relies on the production of high resolution(< 2 A) 3D structures of the drug target, obtained through X-ray crystallographic analysis, in the presence or absence of the drug candidate.The lack of generalized methods for high quality crystal production is still a major bottleneck in the process of macromolecular crystallization. This review provides a brief introduction to SBDD and describes several macromolecular crystallization strategies, with an emphasis on advances and challenges facing researchers in the field today. Recent trends in the development of more universal macromolecular crystallization techniques, particularly nucleation-based techniques that are applicable to both soluble and integral membrane proteins, are also discussed.
Robust performance of adaptive controllers with general uncertainty structure

Sufficient conditions are given under which an adaptive control system is robustly stable and achieves a guaranteed robust asymptotic performance level equal to that of the robust controller given perfect parameter information. The conditions are general in several respects. For example, structured nonparametric uncertainty (e.g., block diagonal) is allowed as well as exogenous noise inputs. In addition, the structure of the parametric uncertainty is very general and allows for parameters which scale the uncertainty magnitudes. This allows one to identify the size of the nonparametric uncertainty and to schedule the controller based on this size. The robust gain scheduled controller is largely unrestricted. For this general problem, concrete robust identification mechanisms have not yet been found. >
The DRD2 gene in psychiatric and neurological disorders and its phenotypes

The TaqIA D2 dopamine receptor (DRD2) minor (A1) allele was first associated with severe alcoholism a decade ago. Since then, studies both confirming and not confirmnning this finding were reported. However, a meta-analysis of a large number of Caucasian alcoholics (both more severe and less severe) and controls (both assessed and unassessed for substance use disorders) revealed a significantly higher frequency (p < 10(-6)) and prevalence (p < 10(-8)) of the DRD2 A1 allele in the alcoholics. Further analysis showed that the more severe alcoholics had a 3-fold higher prevalence of the DRD2 A1 allele than the assessed controls (p < 10(-10)), whereas no difference was found between the less severe alcoholics and the unassessed controls. DRD2 exonic or promoter mutations have not yet been associated with alcoholism, although two intronic variants at the TaqIB and intron 6 sites, which are in linkage disequilibrium with the TaqIA site, were associated with this disorder. Variants of the DRD2 gene have also been associated with cocaine, nicotine and opioid dependence, obesity and gambling. It is hypothesised that the DRD2 is a reinforcement or reward gene. Although less intensively studied than substance use disorders, the DRD2 gene has been implicated in Tourette's syndrome (TS), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and certain symptoms associated with affective disorders and schizophrenia. Further, DRD2 variants have been implicated in Parkinson's disease (PD) and in iatrogenically-induced movement disorders, as well as in certain migraineurs. Phenotypic differences have been associated with DRD2 variants. These include reduced D2 dopamine receptor numbers and diminished glucose metabolism in the brain of subjects who carry the DRD2 A1 allele. In addition, phenotypic differences have been found in neurocognitive and personality characteristics, and in treatment outcome of DRD2 variants. The involvement of the DRD2 gene in certain neuropsychiatric disorders opens up the potential of a targeted pharmacogenomic approach to the prevention and treatment of these disorders.
De novo prediction of DNA-binding specificities for Cys2His2 zinc finger proteins

Proteins with sequence-specific DNA binding function are important for a wide range of biological activities. De novo prediction of their DNA-binding specificities from sequence alone would be a great aid in inferring cellular networks. Here we introduce a method for predicting DNA-binding specificities for Cys2His2 zinc fingers (C2H2-ZFs), the largest family of DNA-binding proteins in metazoans. We develop a general approach, based on empirical calculations of pairwise amino acid-nucleotide interaction energies, for predicting position weight matrices (PWMs) representing DNA-binding specificities for C2H2-ZF proteins. We predict DNA-binding specificities on a per-finger basis and merge predictions for C2H2-ZF domains that are arrayed within sequences. We test our approach on a diverse set of natural C2H2-ZF proteins with known binding specificities and demonstrate that for >85% of the proteins, their predicted PWMs are accurate in 50% of their nucleotide positions. For proteins with several zinc finger isoforms, we show via case studies that this level of accuracy enables us to match isoforms with their known DNA-binding specificities. A web server for predicting a PWM given a protein containing C2H2-ZF domains is available online at http://zf.princeton.edu and can be used to aid in protein engineering applications and in genome-wide searches for transcription factor targets.
Quantization of ordered data

The use of filters and detectors based on amplitude-ordered data has become quite popular in applications such as image and radar signal processing. However, current data quantization schemes do not take into account the amplitude-ordered data and therefore may not perform optimally. The problem of determining optimum quantizers for ordered data is considered. Two different design approaches are presented, and performance characteristics of quantizers obtained using the two approaches are given. >
Crystal Structures of Diphosphinated Chromium Fischer Amino Carbenes

The crystal structures of four new diphosphinated chromium Fischer amino carbenes with the compositions fac-[(P-P)(CO)3Cr=C(NR2′)(R)] (R = Me, NR2′ = pyrrolidino, P-P = dppe, 1; R = Me, NR2′ = pyrrolidino, P-P = dppp, 2; R = Me, R′ = Me, P-P = dppe, 3; R = Me, R′ = Me, P-P = dppp, 4) have been determined at 243 K. Compound 1 crystallizes in the monoclinic system, space group P21 /n with a = 12.1597(11) A, b = 20.1556(17) A, c = 14.0557(12) A, β = 114.163(3)°, V = 3143.0(5) A3, and Z = 4. Compound 2 crystallizes in the triclinic system, space group P − 1 with a = 7.4424(3) A, b = 10.8830(5) A, c = 20.6040(9) A, α = 100.9880(10)°, β = 91.7650(10)°, γ = 97.6610(10)°, V = 1620.90(12) A3, and Z = 2. Compound 3 crystallizes in the monoclinic system as a mono-solvate of d5-pyridine, space group P21 /c with a = 11.485(2) A, b = 22.825(5) A, c = 14.092(3) A, β = 108.53(3)°, V = 3502.7(12) A3, and Z = 4. Compound 4 crystallizes in the orthorhombic system, space group P2 1 2 1 2 1 with a = 8.359(3) A, b = 15.364(6) A, c = 23.784(9) A, V = 3055(2) A3, and Z = 4. Steric repulsions with the diphosphine ligand favor a conformation with the amino moiety directed away from the diphosphine backbone in 1–4.
The phosphoinositide 3-kinase pathway and therapy resistance in cancer

The phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt/mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling network is a master regulator of processes that contribute to tumorigenesis and tumor maintenance. The PI3K pathway also plays a critical role in driving resistance to diverse anti-cancer therapies. This review article focuses on mechanisms by which the PI3K pathway contributes to therapy resistance in cancer, and highlights potential combination therapy strategies to circumvent resistance driven by PI3K signaling. In addition, resistance mechanisms that limit the clinical efficacy of small molecule inhibitors of the PI3K pathway are discussed.
Primary Meningococcal Conjunctivitis In An Infant

A case of primary meningococcal conjunctivitis in an infant was presented and its treatment is discussed. Because of the potential for systemic spread of the infection in the patient, local and systemic therapy was instituted. The current literature on meningococcal conjunctivitis with its potential complica tions is briefly reviewed.