cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Synovial Sarcoma: A Series of Small Tumors in Active Duty Service Members

Synovial Sarcoma is a soft tissue sarcoma with a propensity to imitate a benign neoplasm. It is most common in males 15-40 years old, typically presents as a slow growing painful mass, and often arises insidiously without alarm to the patient. Three patients with synovial sarcomas who had each undergone an index procedure to treat a small presumedly benign mass that was later identified as synovial sarcoma were reviewed. All three patients required re-excision of the tumor and tumor bed and are currently undergoing routine surveillance. All patients exhibited the classic translocation t(X;18) (p11.2; q11.2) and all were of the monophasic type. All lesions were less than 35 mm in greatest longitudinal dimension on MRI. None have experienced recurrences of synovial sarcoma to date. Healthcare providers should be aware of the synovial sarcoma's propensity to masquerade as a benign disease and the characteristic clinical and radiological findings. We advocate for a low threshold to obtain advanced imaging and consideration of a tissue diagnosis prior to excision. A referral to an orthopedic oncologist should be considered and biopsy should only be performed where the definitive treatment will take place if malignancy is identified.
Aggregation Temperature of Escherichia coli Depends on Steepness of the Thermal Gradient.

Abstract Bacterial chemotaxis, the directed migration of bacteria in a gradient of chemoattractant, is one of the most well-studied and well-understood processes in cell biology. On the other hand, bacterial thermotaxis, the directed migration of bacteria in a gradient of temperature, is understood relatively poorly, with somewhat conflicting reports by different groups. One of the reasons for that is the relative technical difficulty of the generation of well-defined gradients of temperature that are sufficiently steep to elicit readily detectable thermotaxis. Here, we used a specially designed microfluidic device to study thermotaxis of Escherichia coli in a broad range of thermal gradients with a high rate of data collection. We found that in shallow temperature gradients with narrow temperature ranges, E. coli tended to aggregate near a sidewall of the gradient channel at either the lowest or the highest temperature. On the other hand, in sufficiently steep gradients with wide temperature ranges, E. coli aggregated at intermediate temperatures, with maximal cell concentrations found away from the sidewalls. We observed this intermediate temperature aggregation in a motility buffer that did not contain any major chemoattractants of E. coli, in contradiction to some previous reports, which suggested that this type of aggregation required the presence of at least one major chemoattractant in the medium. Even more surprisingly, the aggregation temperature strongly depended on the gradient steepness, decreasing by ∼10° as the steepness was increased from 27 to 53°C/mm. Our experiments also highlight the fact that assessments of thermal gradients by changes in fluorescence of temperature-sensitive fluorescent dyes need to account for thermophoresis of the dyes.
Performance Characteristics of the Abbott Architect SARS-CoV-2 IgG Assay and Seroprevalence Testing in Idaho

Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID19), the novel respiratory illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is associated with severe morbidity and mortality. The rollout of diagnostic testing in the United States was slow, leading to numerous cases that were not tested for SARS-CoV-2 in February and March 2020, necessitating the use of serological testing to determine past infections. Here, we evaluated the Abbott SARS-CoV-2 IgG test for detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies by testing 3 distinct patient populations. We tested 1,020 serum specimens collected prior to SARS-CoV-2 circulation in the United States and found one false positive, indicating a specificity of 99.90%. We tested 125 patients who tested RT-PCR positive for SARS-CoV-2 for which 689 excess serum specimens were available and found sensitivity reached 100% at day 17 after symptom onset and day 13 after PCR positivity. Alternative index value thresholds for positivity resulted in 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity. We then tested 4,856 individuals from Boise, Idaho collected over one week in April 2020 as part of the Crush the Curve initiative and detected 87 positives for a positivity rate of 1.79%. These data demonstrate excellent analytical performance of the Abbott SARS-CoV-2 IgG test as well as the limited circulation of the virus on the West Coast. We expect the availability of high-quality serological testing will be a key tool in the fight against SARS-CoV-2.
Abstract IA08: Pooled CRISPR screens for novel autophagy-related factors identify TMEM41, an ER-resident protein predicted to be a channel

The power of forward genetics in yeast is the foundation on which the field of autophagy research firmly stands. Complementary work on autophagy in metazoans has revealed both the deep conservation of this process, as well as novel mechanisms by which autophagy is regulated in the context of development, immunity, and neuronal homeostasis. The recent emergence of new CRISPR/Cas9-based technologies has begun facilitating efforts to define novel autophagy factors and pathways by forward genetic screening in mammalian cells. Here, we set out to develop an expanded and improved toolkit of autophagy reporters for CRISPR/Cas9 screening. Genome-wide screening of our reporters in mammalian cells recovered virtually all known ATG factors as well as previously uncharacterized factors including VPS37A, TMEM251, ALS2, ACP1, and TMEM41B. To validate this dataset, we used quantitative microscopy and biochemical analyses to show that one novel hit, TMEM41B, is required for a late step in phagophore maturation. We found that TMEM41B is an integral ER membrane protein distantly related to the established autophagy factor VMP1, and our data show that these two factors play related, albeit not fully overlapping, roles in autophagosome biogenesis. In sum, our work uncovers new ATG factors, reveals a malleable network of autophagy receptor genetic interactions, and provides a valuable resource (http://crispr.deniclab.com) for further mining of novel autophagy mechanisms. Citation Format: Vladimir Denic. Pooled CRISPR screens for novel autophagy-related factors identify TMEM41, an ER-resident protein predicted to be a channel [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Targeting PI3K/mTOR Signaling; 2018 Nov 30-Dec 8; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2020;18(10_Suppl):Abstract nr IA08.
“I Want to Be like Michelle or Kamala”: On Becoming, Liminality, & Social Justice

“As much as the Obamas, Jordan and that other Chicago 80s and 90s success story, Oprah – who like Michelle has been touted as a possible 2020 political saviour – have become symbols of Black except...
Stewart Macaulay and the Law of Contract

Stewart Macaulay has taken the complicated, almost ironic, position of a prominent contract law theorist who doubts that contract law plays a significant role in contracting practice. And it is his insistence on focusing on how parties actually behave in relation to such transactions that keeps Macaulay’s ideas central and influential for many working in contract scholarship.
Three-dimensional propagation of seismic airgun signals in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico

Seismic airgun signals recorded on two hydrophone arrays during an oil and gas survey were analyzed for investigation of three-dimensional (3D) underwater sound propagation in the Mississippi Canyon area. A 3D numerical model with realistic seafloor and oceanographic inputs has been established to explain the intensified canyon focusing seen in the airgun signals received at one of the arrays. This study was under a passive acoustic monitoring program for establishing a current baseline of natural and anthropogenic sound sources and levels in the Gulf of Mexico. The reported investigation provides insight into the propagation effects affecting underwater soundscape in the area.
Le niveau de résilience est corrélé aux résultats rapportés par les patients après une arthroplastie totale inversée de l’épaule

Abstract Background Personal and social factors may account for much of the variation in patient reported outcome scores, yet little evidence exists on how psychological properties affect patient outcomes following reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (rTSA). The objective of this study is to determine if resilience, characterized by the ability to return to a healthy level of function after experiencing stress, correlates with patient reported outcome scores after rTSA. Hypothesis Resilience score will correlate positively with patient reported outcomes after rTSA. Methods Seventy-three patients were identified that had undergone primary rTSA with minimum 2 year follow up (4.7 ± 1.8). These patients completed a phone survey that included the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), a measure of general resilience in all aspects of life, along with American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeon (ASES), Penn, and Single Assessment Numerical Evaluation (SANE) scores. Mean outcome scores were calculated to identify any correlation between resilience and clinical outcomes. Results The mean BRS score was 23.8 ± 4.8 (range 12.0–30.0), with 41 patients classified as normal resilience (NR), 17 patients as low resilience (LR), and 15 as high resilience (HR). Postoperative BRS scores correlated with ASES (r = 0.31, p = 0.008), Penn (r = 0.25, p = 0.03), and SANE score (r = 0.32, p = 0.007). The mean ASES score was 14.0 points lower in the LR group (77.0 points) compared to the HR group (91.0 points; p = 0.04). Similarly, the LR group had a mean SANE score that was 18.6 points lower than the HR group (73.4 and 91.9 points, respectively; p = 0.021). Discussion The observation that greater general life resilience correlates with lower pain intensity, lesser magnitude of limitations, and perception of greater normality of the shoulder after reverse total shoulder arthroplasty emphasizes the importance of addressing personal and social health opportunities along with the physical in musculoskeletal care. Resilience may be a useful predictor of outcomes following rTSA. Level of evidence III.
Wilson Family Foundation

An up-and-coming staffer at a small family foundation was considering whether to recommend a corporate bond investment to the foundation's investment committee. Her exploration was inspired by an article that identified some attractive corporate bond investments, and she was examining the merits of specific bond issues from Allegiant Travel, GameStop, and Western Union. Information is provided that would support a variety of bond pricing analyses, with a focus on uncovering possible mispricing and the drivers of that mispricing. Excerpt UVA-F-1899 Feb. 28, 2020 Wilson Family Foundation Janet O'Brien had been working in the family office of a central Virginia family-owned business for over five years. Her initial responsibility had been to evaluate proposals that came to the family's charitable foundation, the Wilson Family Foundation (the Foundation), and make recommendations as to which proposals most aligned with the Foundation's objectives and, at the same time, seemed most likely to achieve stated goals. By late 2018, however, she was helping others in the office identify investments for the Foundation's assets. While most of the Foundation's assets were managed by outside professionals, about $ 20million was managed in-house—typically invested in equities, government securities, or corporate bonds. The Foundation tended to adjust its holdings infrequently, and typically held investments for at least a year, and often much longer. The investment committee comprised two family members and the foundation's executive director. On December 21, 2018, O'Brien was scanning headlines and came across a piece in U.S. News and World Report that identified seven corporate-bond investments that professionals believed would make good choices for 2019. Of those seven investments, she was most intrigued by possible investments in the bonds of three companies: Allegiant Travel, GameStop, and Western Union. Having identified specific bonds issued by these companies that the Foundation might wish to hold, her next task was to evaluate each bond's attractiveness and select which, if any, to recommend to the investment committee. . . .
Venlafaxine prescription claims among insured women of reproductive age and pregnant women, 2011-2016.

Background Some studies have reported associations between prenatal use of venlafaxine, a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor used for depressive and anxiety disorders, and some birth defects. We described the prevalence of venlafaxine prescription claims among privately insured women of reproductive age and pregnant women. Methods Venlafaxine prescription claims were examined using the IBM MarketScan Commercial Databases. We included women of reproductive age (15-44 years) who had ≤45 days of lapsed enrollment during the calendar year of interest (2011-2016) in a non-capitated healthcare plan sponsored by a large, self-insured employer with prescription drug coverage and no mental health service carve-out. Annual cohorts of pregnant women were identified among eligible women of reproductive age via pregnancy diagnosis and procedure codes. Venlafaxine prescriptions were identified via National Drug Codes in outpatient pharmacy claims and we estimated the annual proportion of women with venlafaxine claims by pregnancy trimester (pregnant women only), age, and Census division. Results Each year during 2011-2016, approximately 1.2% of eligible reproductive-aged and 0.3% of eligible pregnant women filled a venlafaxine prescription. Among pregnant women, the proportion with venlafaxine claims was highest during the first trimester and decreased during the second and third trimesters. Small temporal increases in venlafaxine claims were observed for reproductive-aged and pregnant women, with the largest among women aged 15-19 years. Conclusions Venlafaxine prescription claims were low among women of reproductive age and pregnant women during 2011-2016, with some increasing use over time among women aged 15-19 years.
In-Band Full-Duplex Wireless Systems Overview

Detailed systems engineering is required to integrate multiple self-interference cancellation (SIC) techniques for inband full-duplex (IBFD) wireless designs enabling novel applications. These SIC methods span the propagation, analog and digital domains of a typical transceiver, and must be individually analyzed before combining them to create an IBFD system. This paper discusses the various techniques within these domains as well as presents a survey of measured IBFD systems that have successfully demonstrated SIC across multiple domains. Additionally, several key research areas are outlined, and highlight the need for a resource that details both the fundamentals and state-of-the-art performance of IBFD techniques, systems and applications in order to accelerate the adoption of this technology within networking standards.
Thermoregulatory morphodynamics of honeybee clusters

During reproductive swarming, honeybees form clusters of more than 10,000 bees that hang from structures in the environment (e.g., tree branches) and are exposed to diurnal variations in ambient temperature for up to one week during the search for a new nesting site. Swarm clusters collectively modulate their morphology in response to these variations (i.e., expanding/contracting in response to heating/cooling) to maintain their internal temperature within a tolerable range and to avoid exhausting their honey stores prematurely. To understand the spatiotemporal aspects of thermoregulatory morphing, we measured the change in size and shape of swarm clusters over time and the internal temperature profiles in response to dynamic temperature ramp perturbations. We found that swarm clusters can achieve a twofold increase/decrease their volume/density when heated from 15{degrees}C to 30{degrees}C, but they do not reach an equilibrium size or shape when held at 30{degrees}C for 5 hours, long after the core temperature of the cluster has stabilized. Furthermore, the changes in cluster shape and size are hysteretic, contracting in response to cooling faster than expanding in response to heating. Although the contact diameter of the cluster increased continuously when the swarm is heated, the change in length of the swarm (base to tip) over time is non-monotonic. Consequently, the aspect ratio of the swarm fluctuated continuously even when held at a constant temperature. Taken together, our results quantify the hysteretic and anisotropic morphological responses of swarm clusters to ambient temperature variations while suggesting that both mechanical constraints and heat transfer govern the thermoregulatory morphing dynamics of swarm clusters.
The Rise of the Viewpoint-Discrimination Principle

The Supreme Court’s freedom-of-speech jurisprudence is complicated. There are few hard and fast rules. One is that judicially-imposed prior restraints on speech are hardly ever permissible. In recent years, another hard and fast rule appears to have developed. It is that the government may never prohibit speech simply on account of its viewpoint. It remains unclear whether this is a per se prohibition or whether such viewpoint-focused regulation must overcome the all but insurmountable burden of serious strict scrutiny. In any event, any governmental rule that attempts to regulate speech based on its point of view will almost certainly be invalidated. The anti-viewpoint-discrimination principle is of relatively recent origin. The recent decisions in Matal v. Tam and Iancu v. Brunetti have especially invigorated it, suggesting that a majority of the Court is prepared to apply it rigorously. This article will describe the origin of the anti-viewpoint-discrimination principle, define and consider its contours, develop the theory behind the principle, and attempt to explain why it has recently emerged as a focal point of free speech jurisprudence.
Hydroclimatology: Perspectives and Applications

Hydroclimatology provides a systematic structure for analysing how the climate system causes time and space variations (both global and local) in the hydrologic cycle. Changes in the relationship between the climate system and the hydrologic cycle underlie floods, drought and possible future influences of global warming on water resources. Land-based data, satellite data, and computer models contribute to our understanding of the complex time and space variations of physical processes shared by the climate system and the hydrologic cycle. Blending key information from the fields of climatology and hydrology - which are not often found in a single volume - this is an ideal textbook for students in atmospheric science, hydrology, Earth and environmental science, geography, and environmental engineering. It is also a useful reference for academic researchers in these fields.
The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative: Adaptation across media

Adaptation as creative destruction If the creative leeway between script and performance is wide in the production of plays, it is enormous when adaptation crosses media boundaries. This is necessarily the case. Reviewers who complain that a film or play is a poor “translation” of the original may miss the fact that adaptation across media is not translation in anything but the loosest sense. In fact, it can sometimes be the attempt to make a strict translation that winds up in failure. George Bluestone formulated the strong “destructivist” position on this issue fifty years ago: What happens … when the filmist undertakes the adaptation of a novel … is that he does not convert the novel at all. What he adapts is a kind of paraphrase of the novel – the novel viewed as raw material…. It has always been easy to recognize how a poor film “destroys” a superior novel. What has not been sufficiently recognized is that such destruction is inevitable. In the fullest sense of the word, the filmist becomes not a translator for an established author, but a new author in his own right. This holds for plays as well as movies. In the words of a still earlier critic and director, Bela Balazs, “Shakespeare, reading a story by Bandello, saw in it not the artistic form of a masterpiece of story-telling but merely the naked event narrated in it” (Bluestone, 63).
Estimating downwind concentrations of viable airborne microorganisms in dynamic atmospheric conditions

A Gaussian plume model has been modified to include an airborne microbial survival term that is a best-fit function of laboratory experimental data of weather variables. The model has been included in an algorithm using microbial source strength and local hourly mean weather data to drive the model through a summer- and winter-day cycle. For illustrative purposes, a composite airborne "virus" (developed using actual characteristics from two viruses) was used to show how wind speed could have a major modulating effect on near-source viable concentrations. For example, at high wind speeds such as those occurring during the day, or with short travel times, near-source locations experience high viable concentrations because the microorganisms have not had time to become inactivated. As the travel time increases, because of slow wind speed or longer distances, die-off modulation by sunshine, relative humidity, temperature, etc., potentially becomes increasingly predominant.
Moving forward: nurses are key to achieving the United Nations Development Program's Millennium Development Goals

AMIEVA S. & FERGUSON S. (2011) Moving forward: nurses are key to achieving the United Nations Development Program's Millennium Development Goals. International Nursing Review59, 55–58 Aim: This article highlights the role of nurses in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5 (reducing child and maternal mortality) and proposes actions for nurses that stream into the strategic frameworks of the World Health Organization and the United Nations. Background: The least amount of progress has been made with MDG 5 and failing to achieve MDG 5 jeopardizes the progress of MDG 4. Conclusion: This article makes the following recommendations to nurses: partner with local healthcare leaders, ensure equitable access to health services, collect health data to close research gaps and take on policy making responsibilities.
Transcriptional regulation: RUPture in the ER.

Regulated ubiquitin/proteasome-dependent processing controls transcription by triggering the release of dormant transcriptional activators from the endoplasmic reticulum. This intersection of transcription and proteolysis has important implications for gene control, proteasome–substrate interactions and signal integration.
Δ-9 Tetrahydrocannabinol inhibits growth and metastasis of lung cancer.

AACR Annual Meeting-- Apr 14-18, 2007; Los Angeles, CA 4749 Lung cancer is the major cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Many of these over-express epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and are usually highly aggressive and resistant to chemotherapy. Recent studies have shown that Δ-9 Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the major component of Cannabis sativa, possess anti-tumor properties against various types of cancers. However, not much is known about its effect on lung cancer. In this study, we sought to characterize the effect of THC on EGF-induced growth and metastasis of human non small lung cancer cell (NSCLC) lines A549 and SW-1573. We demonstrate that these cell lines and primary tumor samples derived from lung cancer patients express cannabinoids receptors CB1 and CB2, the known targets for THC action. We further show that THC inhibits EGF-induced growth in these cell lines. In addition THC attenuated EGF-stimulated chemotaxis and chemoinvasion. Next we characterized the effect of THC on in vivo lung cancer growth and metastasis in a murine model. A549 cells were implanted in SCID mice (n=6 per group) through subcutaneous and intravenous injections to generate subcutaneous and lung metastatic cancer, respectively. THC (5mg/kg body wt.) was administered once daily through intraperitoneal injections for 21 days. The mice were analyzed for tumor growth and lung metastasis. A significant reduction (~50%) in tumor weight and volume were observed in THC treated animals compared to the vehicle treated animals. THC treated animals also showed a significant (~60%) reduction in macroscopic lesions on the lung surface in comparison to vehicle treated control. Immunohistochemical analysis of the tumor samples from THC treated animals revealed anti-proliferative and anti-angiogenic effects of THC with significant reduction in staining for Ki67, a proliferative marker and CD31, an endothelial marker indicative of vascularization. Investigation into the signaling events associated with reduced EGF-induced functional effects revealed that THC also inhibits EGF-induced Akt phosphorylation. Akt is a central signaling molecule of EGFR-mediated signaling pathways and it regulates a diverse array of cellular functions, including proliferation, angiogenesis, invasion and apoptosis. Cumulatively, these studies indicate that THC has anti-tumorigenic and anti-metastatic effects against lung cancer. Novel therapies against EGFR overexpressing, aggressive and chemotherapy resistant lung cancers may include targeting the cannabinoids receptors.
Rate of lower-extremity ultrasonography in trauma patients is associated with rate of deep venous thrombosis but not pulmonary embolism.

Background Disparate lower-extremity ultrasonography (LUS) screening practices among trauma institutions reflecta lack of consensus regarding screening indications and whether screening improves outcomes. We hypothesized that LUS screening for deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) is not associated with a reduced incidence of pulmonary embolism (PE). Methods The 2012 ACS National Trauma Data Bank Research Data Set was queried to identify 442,108 patients treated at institutions reporting at least one LUS and at least one DVT. Institutions performing LUS on more than 2% of admitted patients were designated high-screening facilities and remaining institutions were designated low-screening facilities. Patient characteristics and risk factors were used to develop a logistic regression model to assess the independent associations between LUS and DVT and between LUS and PE. Results Overall, DVT and PE were reported in 0.94% and 0.37% of the study population, respectively. DVT and PE were reported more commonly in designated high-screening than low-screening facilities (DVT: 1.12% vs 0.72%, P Conclusion LUS in trauma patients is not associated with a change in the incidence of PE. Aggressive LUS DVT screening protocols appear to detect many clinically insignificant DVTs for which subsequent therapeutic intervention may be unnecessary, and the use of these protocols should be questioned.
Design of controllers for flexible structures using uncertain modeling techniques and finite-element based CAV

The authors present a design methodology for controllers of flexible structures based on uncertain modeling techniques. The particular problem which is addressed is the control of a single flexible link planar manipulator. An extremely simple control strategy is derived by treating the effects of compliance as an uncertain torque about which no a priori knowledge is assumed other than a bound. However, because the torque is modeled as an uncertainty, it is necessary to perform computer-aided verification (CAV) of the present design on a finite-element simulation program which is based on the standard Bernoulli-Euler model found in literature studies. >
Prophylactic digital cryotherapy is associated with decreased incidence of laminitis in horses diagnosed with colitis.

Summary Reasons for performing the study Recent research suggested that prophylactic digital cryotherapy (ICE) improved lameness scores, diminished histological changes and early laminar inflammatory signalling in horses following oligofructose administration. In clinical practice, horses at risk for sepsis-associated laminitis receive ICE. Evidence to support this practice is lacking. Objectives To determine factors associated with development of laminitis in horses diagnosed with colitis, including ICE. Study design Multicentre retrospective case series. Methods Medical records for horses admitted to 2 university hospitals diagnosed with colitis with evidence of systemic inflammatory response from 2002 to 2012 were reviewed. Horses were excluded if they exhibited signs of laminitis at admission, were ponies, miniature or draught breeds, or <2 years old. Data were analysed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Results Twenty-seven of 130 horses (21%) developed laminitis. Seven of 69 (10%) horses treated with ICE developed laminitis compared with 20/61 (33%) horses that developed laminitis but did not receive ICE. Factors associated with laminitis included site of hospitalisation, admission respiratory rate () and blood L-lactate (), and ICE (), P<0.05. Horses treated with ICE had 10 times less odds of developing laminitis compared with horses treated without ICE (odds ratio 0.11, 95% confidence limit 0.03–0.44). Sixteen horses (16/130, 12%) were subjected to euthanasia in hospital. Fourteen of these horses had laminitis and 2 did not develop laminitis. Survival for horses with colitis that developed laminitis was 13/27 (48%) compared with survival for horses with colitis that did not develop laminitis, 101/103 (98%). Conclusion Laminitis occurred in more clinically compromised horses. Use of ICE reduced the incidence of clinical laminitis in the study population suggesting that digital cryotherapy is an effective prophylactic strategy for the prevention of laminitis in horses with colitis.
ISOLATION AND PRELIMINARY CHARACTERIZATION OF BACTERIOPHAGE φμ-4

Shafia, Fred (University of Nebraska, Lincoln), and T. L. Thompson. Isolation and preliminary characterization of bacteriophage φμ-4. J. Bacteriol. 87:999–1002. 1964.—Bacteriophage φμ-4 was isolated from lysogenic Bacillus stearothermophilus NU strain 4, and was propagated in strain 10 of the same species. The phage was extremely host-specific. One of the 23 strains of thermophiles screened for susceptibility supported phage replication. Plaque-forming efficiency of φμ-4 depended on the agar medium employed and the temperature of incubation. Generally, media which resulted in restricted growth of the host cells on agar plates were most satisfactory for plaque formation. A latent period of 35 min was terminated in cell lysis and release of about 175 plaque-forming units (PFU) per infected cell. The phage particles, propagated in cells cultured in Trypticase (BBL)-yeast extract-dextrose-calcium chloride broth, were routinely removed from the lysate by 0.6 ammonium sulfate saturation in the cold. Phage purification was by ultracentrifugation followed by sucrose density-gradient. The phage particles appeared spherical, in electron micrographs. Particle size determination by electron micrographs indicated a diameter of less than 100 A.
KDD, data mining, and the challenge for normative privacy

The present study examines certain challenges that KDD (Knowledge Discovery in Databases) in general and data mining in particular pose for normative privacy and public policy. In an earlier work (see Tavani, 1999), I argued that certain applications of data-mining technology involving the manipulation of personal data raise special privacy concerns. Whereas the main purpose of the earlier essay was to show what those specific privacy concerns are and to describe how exactly those concerns have been introduced by the use of certain KDD and data-mining techniques, the present study questions whether the use of those techniques necessarily violates the privacy of individuals. This question is considered vis-a-vis a recent theory of privacy advanced by James Moor (1997). The implications of that privacy theory for a data-mining policy are also considered.
The relationship between firearm design and firearm violence. Handguns in the 1990s.

IN 1994, an estimated 39720 persons died from firearm-related injuries.1Firearms now rank a close second to motor vehicles as a cause of traumatic death nationwide. This convergence results not so much from an increase in the firearm-related death rate, which has remained relatively stable for the past 15 years, as from a steady decrease in the death rate from motor vehicle injuries.2That decrease stems in large part from an explicit focus on the contribution to motor vehicle death rates made by the design and marketing of motor vehicles themselves.3,4
Vertebral osteoid osteoma masquerading as a malignant bone or soft-tissue tumor on MRI.

Purpose. Four pediatric patients were sent to our institution with the diagnosis of soft-tissue/malignant bone tumor. In all cases an MRI was the initial study performed for neck or back pain. All were surgically proven to have an osteoid osteoma/osteoblastoma (OO) as a final diagnosis. The MRI findings are reviewed.¶Methods. Four patients, three boys and one girl, ranging in age from 5 to 17 years, presented with symptoms of neck or back pain for 2 months to 2 years. Two had neurological findings. All patients underwent MRI.¶Results. All MRIs demonstrated decreased T1 signal and increased T2 signal in the soft tissues and bone surrounding the lesions consistent with edema. Enhancement was observed in the adjacent soft tissues and in the lesion nidus retrospectively.¶Conclusion. Investigating neck or back pain with an initial MRI may lead to misleading diagnoses unless the radiologist is aware of the typical MRI appearance of vertebral osteoid osteoma.
Revealing protein infrared spectral detail in a heterogeneous matrix dominated by starch

Abstract Wheat endosperm may be described as a high population of starch granules in a sea of protein. From in situ microspectroscopy of a 24 μm ×24 μm spot size of a wheat endosperm section, a spectrum is produced that is dominated by carbohydrate bands from the large starch granules that fill up the field. The strategy used to reveal good in situ spectra of the protein located interstitially includes the following: the use of spatial resolution achievable with synchrotron infrared microspectroscopy and sorting out protein dominated spectra among adjacent mapping pixels to minimize the starch absorption and scattering contributions. High density mapping was done on beamlines U10B and U2B at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY. Confocal 5 μm spot size mapping data with 5 μm step size in a 5×5 grid pattern and 3 μm single masking in the same step size and grid pattern, respectively, on the two beamlines produced spectra for cultivars that included both hard and soft classes of wheat. A numerical estimate of α-helix population relative to other secondary protein structures is done from the position and shape of the amide I absorption band after appropriate data treatment. The potential of high spatially resolved infrared microspectroscopy with synchrotron radiation is explored in this work. Data treatments include deconvolution and modeling of the resulting bands in the region to enable measurement of relative amounts of both forms. The relative percent of α-helix difference between hard and soft wheat classes reported in this study is in agreement with those recently reported using Raman microspectroscopy for the same purpose.
Metallurgical factors influencing the corrosion of aluminum, Al-Cu, and Al-Si alloy thin films in dilute hydrofluoric solution

The corrosion behavior of sputter-deposited Al, Al-Cu, and Al-Si alloy thin films in dilute hydrofluoric (HF) acid solution was investigated. These materials maintain a thin aluminum oxide film in dilute HF solutions and, consequently, are susceptible to localized corrosion. Pit densities increase for the alloys with Cu and, to a lesser extent, Si additions. Open circuit potentials (OCP) are more positive for such alloys relative to the OCP of pure Al. Metastable pits in Al-Cu alloys are formed in Cu-depleted zones at grain boundaries which are galvanically coupled to adjacent θ-Al2Cu precipitates. Metastable pits in Al-Si alloys are formed in the Al matrix which is galvanically coupled to adjacent elemental Si nodules. θ-Al2Cu has different electrochemical characteristics than Al, even though both maintain a thin Al oxide in dilute HF solutions. θ-Al2Cu has a more positive OCP than pure Al and facilitates cathodic reactions at enhanced rates relative to pure Al. Hence, its presence raises the potential of the adjacent pure Al grain boundary to potentials which increase the probability of metastable pitting. Evidence is also presented which suggests that metastable pit growth may be cathode limited. A new hypothesis describing one mechanism by which θ-Al2Cu supports cathodic electron transfer re-actions is discussed.
Modeling the effect of hint timing on the idea generation process

In this paper we study the effect of external ideas on brainstorming by means of two computational models: a transient emergent attractors model (TEAM) and a probabilistic associative model (PAM). New behavioral experimental results show that hints or others' ideas can either hinder or enhance ideas generated during exposure period, while they consistently enhance the quantity of ideas produced after exposure. The TEAM model consists of a neural network of concept nodes connected by means of category membership and relatedness. Ideas emerge dynamically from the activity of the network by temporarily strengthening the connections between co-active nodes. Local inhibition inactivates current idea nodes and allows another idea to form. Active nodes prime connected inactive nodes depending on the recent activity of the node. The model shows that hindering of the number of ideas during hint presentation depends on the strength of hints and that the speed and duration of priming is essential for the long-term priming effect of hints observed in experiments. For comparison purposes, a PAM model originally proposed by Brown and Paulus (1998) is used to explain the same experimental data.
United States undergraduate nursing education: a system pathology

A set of forces emerged, meshed and reinforced one another after World War II to influence the future course of development in United States nursing education. These forces, which have been identified and comprehensively debated in numerous journals, include: (a) major commissioned studies of nursing education (Brown, 1948; Ginzberg, 1948; Lysaught, 1973; National Commission, 1970); (b) strengthening of the professional nursing associations and their resulting position papers on nursing education (ANA, 1965; Freeman, 1977); (c) massive hospital construction in the 1950s combined with a concern over a nurse shortage (Schutt, 1971; Yett, 1965); (d) the Nurse Training Act (NTA) of 1964 and 1968 (Altman, 1971); and (e) tightening of nursing school accreditation requirements (Alexander, 1972, p.26). A result of this combination of social and economic pressures when mixed with the active efforts of many leaders in nursing and higher education was an evolutionary shift in emphasis toward today’s collegiate system of nursing education. However, an important problem now confronting nursing educators is reflected by the many current nurse graduates who are encountering difficulties in making a successful transition from student to professional nurse. Numerous nursing practitioners, nursing educators, hospital administrators and other health care professionals are presently concerned about the reported inability of many new nursing graduates to successfully make the transition from student to the realities of professional nursing unless they have had previous job experience. Weiss and Ramsey (1977) found that a lack of attention to the role transition from student to graduate nurse with its accompanying set of expectations and responsibilities has led to inadequate performance in the professional nurse’s role, a sense of dissatisfaction and powerlessness
Temporal characterisation of the organ-specific Rhipicephalus microplus transcriptional response to Anaplasma marginale infection

Arthropods transmit important infectious diseases of humans and animals. Importantly, replication and the development of pathogen infectivity are tightly linked to vector feeding on the mammalian host; thus analysis of the transcriptomes of both vector and pathogen during feeding is fundamental to understanding transmission. Using Anaplasma marginale infection of Rhipicephalus microplus as the experimental model, we tested three hypotheses exploring the temporal and organ-specific nature of the tick midgut and salivary gland transcriptomes during feeding and in response to infection. Numerous R. microplus genes were regulated in response to feeding and were differentially regulated between the midgut and salivary gland; additionally, there was a progression in regulated gene expression in the salivary gland over time. In contrast, relatively few tick genes were specifically regulated in response to A. marginale infection and these genes were predominantly annotated as hypothetical or were of unknown function. Notable among the genes with informative annotation was that several ribosomal proteins were down-regulated, suggesting that there may be a corresponding decrease in translation. The hypotheses that R. microplus midgut and salivary gland genes are differentially regulated and that the salivary gland transcriptome is dynamic over time were accepted. This is consistent with, and important for understanding the roles of, the two organs, the midgut serving as an initial site of uptake and replication while the salivary gland serves as the final site of replication and secretion. The nominal effect of A. marginale on the tick transcriptome in terms of numbers of regulated genes and fold of regulation supports the view that the vector-pathogen relationship is well established with minimal deleterious effect on the tick. The small set of predominantly hypothetical genes regulated by infection suggests that A. marginale is affecting a novel set of tick genes and may provide new opportunities for blocking transmission from the tick.
Surface boiling – an “obvious” explanation for the observed limiting temperature of finite nuclei

Limits of stability of nuclear systems are explored within the framework of a finite-range interacting Fermi gas model and microcanonical thermodynamics in Thomas-Fermi approximation. It is found that with increasing excitation energy, infinite systems become unstable against volume boiling, while finite systems become subject to surface boiling, providing a natural explanation for the observed saturationlike patterns, or limiting temperature, in caloric curves. Boiling patterns of iso-asymmetric matter are discussed.
Well-Being in Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White Survivors of Breast Cancer

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To test a well-being model on Hispanic and non-Hispanic white survivors of breast cancer by comparing responses about variables hypothesized to predict well-being. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES Healthcare orientation, uncertainty, social support, resourcefulness, self-esteem, and well-being. DESIGN Descriptive and comparative. SAMPLE 50 Hispanic and 50 non-Hispanic white women who completed treatment for breast cancer and were disease-free. SETTING Regional cancer center in southwestern United States. METHODS Subjects completed the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale-Health Care Orientation Subscale, Mishel Uncertainty Illness Scale, Personal Resource Questionnaire, Self-Control Schedule, Self-Esteem Inventory, and Index of Well-Being. FINDINGS Both groups of women reported high well-being. Sample characteristics were not related significantly to well-being in either group. No statistically significant differences were found between Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women on any variables. CONCLUSIONS Comparison of well-being models revealed similarities between the two groups, including variables entering each regression equation, and explained variance. Further research is needed to explore whether commonalities in women's responses to breast cancer exist independent of ethnicity. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING Nurses should continue encouraging both Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women to share concerns and seek information from healthcare providers while strengthening feelings of self-worth because these factors directly affect well-being.
Dynamics of condensate shells: Collective modes and expansion

We explore the physics of three-dimensional shell-shaped condensates, relevant to cold atoms in ``bubble traps.'' We study the ground state of the condensate wave function, spherically symmetric collective modes, and expansion properties of such a shell using a combination of analytical and numerical techniques. We find two breathing-type modes with frequencies that are distinct from that of the filled spherical condensate. Upon trap release and subsequent expansion, we find that the system displays self-interference fringes. We estimate characteristic time scales, degree of mass accumulation, three-body loss, and kinetic energy release during expansion for a typical system of $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$.
Simple deterministic approximation algorithms for counting matchings

We construct a deterministic fully polynomial time approximationscheme (FPTAS) for computing the total number of matchings in abounded degree graph. Additionally, for an arbitrary graph, weconstruct a deterministic algorithm for computing approximately thenumber of matchings within running time exp(O(√n log2n)),where n is the number of vertices.Our approach is based on the correlation decay technique originating in statistical physics. Previously thisapproach was successfully used for approximately counting thenumber of independent sets and colorings in some classes of graphs [1, 24, 6].Thus we add another problem to the small, but growing, class of P-complete problems for whichthere is now a deterministic FPTAS.
NO and NO2 Concentration Modeling and Observer-Based Estimation Across a Diesel Engine Aftertreatment System

This paper presents an experimentally validated control-oriented model and an observer for diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC)-diesel particulate filter (DPF) system in the context of exhaust gas NO and NO 2 concentration estimations. NO and NO 2 have different reaction characteristics within DPF and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems, two most promising diesel engine aftertreatment systems. Although the majority of diesel engine-out NO 2 emissions is NO, the commonly used DOC located upstream of a DPF and a SCR can convert a considerable amount of NO to NO 2 . Knowledge of the NO/NO 2 ratio in exhaust gas is thus meaningful for the control and diagnosis of DPF and SCR systems. Existing onboard NO x sensors cannot differentiate NO and NO 2 , and such a sensory deficiency makes separate considerations of NO and NO 2 in SCR control design challenging. To tackle this problem, a control-oriented dynamic model, which can capture the main NO and NO 2 dynamics from engine-out, through DOC, and to DPF, was developed. Due to the computational limitation concerns, DOC and DPF are assumed to be standard continuously stirred tank reactors in order to obtain a OD ordinary differential equation model. Based on the model, an observer, with the measurement from a commercially available NO x sensor, was designed to estimate the NO and NO 2 concentrations in the exhaust gas along the aftertreatment systems. The stability of the observer was shown through a Lyapunov analysis assisted by insight into the system characteristics. The control-oriented model and the observer were validated with engine experimental data and the measured NO/NO 2 concentrations by a Horiba gas analyzer. Experimental results show that the model can accurately predict the main engine-out/DOC/DPF NO/NO 2 dynamics very well in semisteady-state tests. For the proposed observer, the predictions converge to the model values and estimate the NO and NO 2 concentrations in the aftertreatment system well.