cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A novel technique for the repair of urostomal hernias using human acellular dermal matrix.

Objective To report a new technique to reconstruct the abdominal wall at the site of the hernia with 2 separate layers of human acellular dermal matrix (hADM). Parastomal hernia is the most commonly encountered complication of ileal conduit urinary diversion, occurring at a rate of 5%-25%. 1 , 2 , 3 Multiple methods of parastomal hernia repair, including primary fascial repair, mesh repair, and stoma resiting have been reported, with a wide variety of approaches and materials being used. Methods Between 2008 and 2009, 4 patients underwent surgical repair of urostomal hernias using hADM (LifeCell, Branchburg, NJ). All were operated on by a single surgeon using a standard technique of open repair whereby the posterior and anterior rectus fascia at the stoma site were reconstructed with hADM. Demographic data, preoperative and intraoperative risk factors, immediate postoperative complications, and hernia recurrence were collected and analyzed. Results Four patients underwent urostomal hernia repair with Alloderm without intraoperative complications. Mean operative time was 261.25 ± 80.8 minutes. Mean hospital stay was 9 ± 3 days. With an average of 270 ± 104-days' follow-up, there were no recurrent hernias detected. Conclusions In patients with urostomal hernia, reconstruction of the stoma site and abdominal wall with hADM appears to be a safe and effective management solution and avoids the difficulty with relocating the urostomy or placing prosthetic material in the site.
Interoperable executive library for the simulation of biomedical processes

Abstract We present an Interoperable Executive Library (IEL) built to run, in parallel, a collection of multi-component tasks focusing on simulating complex biomedical phenomena of the heart. The IEL is a light-weight software integrator designed for managing the distribution of data and memory, coordinates communication among parallel processes, and directs execution of a set of loosely coupled numerical and physics tasks or modules. The dynamical process of the heart uses computing modules of electrical generation, physiological signal propagation, mechanics deformation, and fluid flow transportation. The cardiac electro-physiology is represented by a reaction–diffusion equations using the Beeler–Reuter model. The contracting motion of the heart is described by the continuum mechanical equilibrium equations. At the end of a heart beat, the fluid flow pattern inside the ventricle is computed by solving the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The finite element method is used to solve these loosely coupled sets of equations. Simulations are performed on two simplified heart models as well as a dog ventricle. The functionality and performance of the IEL framework on a distributed computing system are demonstrated and shown.
Measuring the Benefits of Public Chargers and Improving Infrastructure Deployments Using Advanced Simulation Tools

With support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory developed BLAST-V—the Battery Lifetime Analysis and Simulation Tool for Vehicles. The addition of high-resolution spatial-temporal travel histories enables BLAST-V to investigate user-defined infrastructure rollouts of publically accessible charging infrastructure, as well as quantify impacts on vehicle and station owners in terms of improved vehicle utility and station throughput. This paper presents simulation outputs from BLAST-V that quantify the utility improvements of multiple distinct rollouts of publically available Level 2 electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) in the Seattle, Washington, metropolitan area. Publically available data on existing Level 2 EVSE are also used as an input to BLAST-V. The resulting vehicle utility is compared to a number of mock rollout scenarios. Discussion focuses on the estimated number of Level 2 stations necessary to substantially increase vehicle utility and how stations can be strategically sited to maximize their potential benefit to prospective electric vehicle owners.
Degradation of signal-to-noise ratio due to amplitude distortion

The effect of filtering on the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a coherently demodulated band-limited signal is determined in the presence of worst-case amplitude ripple. The problem is formulated as an optimization in the Hilbert space L/sub 2/. The form of the worst-case amplitude ripple is specified, and the degradation in the SNR is derived in closed form. It is shown that, when the maximum passband amplitude ripple is 2 delta (peak-to-peak), the SNR is degraded by at most (1- delta /sup 2/), even when the ripple is unknown or uncompensated. For example, an SNR loss of less than 0.01 dB due to amplitude ripple can be assured by keeping the amplitude ripple under 0.42 dB. >
Comparison of 2D and 1D approaches to forward problem in mine detection

Recently, we have successfully applied the Elliptic Systems Method to inverse problems in laser medical imaging applications. As part of applying this method to mine detection, accurate and fast algorithms are required for solving the forward problem to generate data for the inverse problem. Results for the 2D forward problem using GMRES method are compared with 1D transmission line models. Simulation result for miens and clutter are provided for both methods. The comparison with 1D results suggests that GMRES is an effective approach to modeling the forward problem in mine detection. In addition, the contrast between results for mines and clutter provide useful signal features for initial screening between mines and clutter.
Optimizing the Gaussian excitation function in the finite difference time domain method

A systematic method is presented for determining the optimal pulsewidth and variance of a Gaussian excitation function in the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. We highlight the interaction of several criteria, such as the stability condition, machine precision limits, the numerical grid cutoff frequency, and the dispersion relation, that play crucial roles in the design of the initial pulse. Optimal Gaussian pulse design is desirable if numerical dispersion, an inherent yet unavoidable property of the standard second-order FDTD Yee algorithm, is to be minimized. A method for determining the phase error of a Gaussian pulse is also presented.
2-Trans-Abscisic Acid Biosynthesis and Metabolism of ABA-Aldehyde and Xanthoxin in Wild Type and the aba Mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana

Abscissic acid (ABA) and 2-trans-ABA biosynthesis were studied in wild type Landsberg erecta and the three allelic aba mutants of A. thaliana which are impaired in epoxy-carotenoid biosynthesis
Pneumomediastinum in cats: 45 cases (2000-2010).

Objective To characterize the incidence, etiology, presenting complaint, clinical course, and outcome of cats with pneumomediastinum. Design Retrospective study from the period of January 1st, 2000 to December 31st, 2010. Setting University teaching hospital. Animals Forty-five cats with a radiographic diagnosis of pneumomediastinum. Interventions None. Measurements and Main Results Medical and radiographic records were reviewed to identify cats with a radiographic diagnosis of pneumomediastinum. Clinical data were retrieved, including signalment, history, presenting clinical signs, diagnostic test results, treatment, complications, and survival to discharge. In 31 of 45 (69%) cats the pneumomediastinum was secondary to an obvious inciting cause. General anesthesia with endotracheal intubation and positive pressure ventilation was the most common cause in 17 of 45 (38%) cases. This was followed by trauma in 12 of 45 (27%) cats, and tracheal foreign bodies in 2 of 45 (4%) cats. Spontaneous pneumomediastinum (unknown underlying cause) was diagnosed in 14 of 45 (31%) of cases. Onset of clinical signs and diagnosis of spontaneous pneumomediastinum was preceded by emesis in 6 of 14 cats. Common presenting signs were tachypnea seen in 27 of 45 (60%) cats, increased respiratory effort in 26 of 45 (58%) cats, and subcutaneous emphysema in 30 of 45 (66%) cats. Concurrent pneumothorax was identified in 21 of 45 (47%) cats, pleural effusion in 10 of 45 (22%), and pneumoretroperitoneum in 21 of 45 (47%). The mainstay of treatment was supportive care and treatment of the underlying disease process. The prognosis for recovery was good, with 87% survival until hospital discharge. Conclusions Pneumomediastinum in cats is an infrequently diagnosed condition. It is often secondary to an event such as general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation and positive pressure ventilation but less frequently may occur spontaneously. The prognosis is good with appropriate supportive care.
Properties of anomalous eμ events produced in e+e- annihilation

Abstract We present the properties of 105 events of the form e + + e − → e +- + μ ∓ + missing energy, in which no other charged particles or photons are detected. The simplesthypothesis compatible with all the data is that these events come from the production of a pair of heavy leptons, the mass of the lepton being in the range 1.6 to 2.0 GeV/ c 2
Struggle for Synthesis of the Neuron Theory

The neuron theory is the most inclusive theory that has yet been constructed in neuroscience. The mode of its construction, historically and conceptually, can be understood in terms of a realist conception of the history and philosophy of neuroscience that I have laid open in previous chapters. I might emphasize that I have not attempted to find laws of historical development that can be used to explain the past or predict the future of neuroscience.
Three-Dimensional Shape-Based Imaging in Diffuse Optical Tomography Using Spherical Harmonics

We reconstruct polar three-dimensional shapes in Diffuse Optical Tomography using a basis of spherical harmonics. We also show how to efficiently compute the derivative of our measurement with respect to shape perturbations.
Multiple Hypotheses in the Analysis of a Crossover Trial

Crossover trials are used in a variety of fields, such as medicine, biology, psychology, and some commercial goods investigations. The aim of this paper is to extend a methodology for multiple comparisons to the problem of testing in crossover trials with two treatments. These two treatments are given in two orderings, treatment A first or treatment B first. We perform inference on the effect of one treatment relative to the effect of the other, without assuming that these effects are independent of treatment ordering, using techniques from order-restricted inference and multiple comparisons, and compare to some existing multiple comparison tests.
Laboratory Evaluation of Food Placement and Food Types on the Feeding Preference of Reticulitermes virginicus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)

Two pieces of cardboard or filter paper were placed in a paired or split design in a choice test to examine the effect of food placement on termite food choice. When cardboard pieces were presented within an experimental unit to Reticulitermes virginicus Banks, one piece was significantly consumed more than the other in experimental units for 24 and 48 h in the paired design. In the filter paper treatments, significant differences in consumption on pieces in the split design were detected at 48 and 72 h. Bioassays that result in significant differences when food types are the same may lead to spurious conclusion about preference when food types that are not equivalent are tested. Although the paired design may overcome the tendency for termites to feed on the 1st food source encountered, the split design was a more sensitive bioassay for detecting consumption differences between cardboard and filter paper under these conditions. Feeding behavior under our conditions was affected by food placement, indicating that termites did not feed randomly. Food type also affected feeding behavior. Because termites do not feed randomly regardless of whether the paired or the split design is used, replicating control experimental units sufficiently to overcome significant differences in consumption when food types are the same is paramount.
Probabilistic Analysis of Human Intrusion in a High Level Nuclear Waste Repository in Salt Using Draft EPA Assumptions

The Office of Nuclear Waste Isolation (ONWI) has planned performance assessments that will quantify various performance measures for the eventual licensing of a repository in salt. In addition to studying “expected” conditions, selected discrete event scenarios must be analyzed. This paper presents a probabilistic analysis of a human intrusion scenario in which boreholes may be drilled into the repository, contact nuclear waste, and release the radionuclides to the environment. A stochastic analysis using draft EPA limiting factors regarding probability of drilling and quantities of water flow is compared to the proposed EPA 10,000 year limits. The years in which boreholes penetrate the repository are probabilistically determined in each iteration of the analysis. For each borehole, the probability of contacting radioactivity is an increasing function of time. When a borehole does make contact with radioactivity, the curie release of a given nuclide is a function of solubility limits and current inventory. Prediction intervals and complementary cumulative probability distribution functions are developed for the curie release as a fraction of the EPA limits. Radionuclide releases are small fractions of the EPA limits. This study shows that there is a high expectation that the EPA requirements would be met with a repository in salt.
Assessment of orchard N losses to groundwater with a vadose zone monitoring network

Abstract A 2-year study was conducted to explore the impact of current and alternative best management practices (BMPs) of irrigation and fertigation on nitrate (NO 3 − ) leaching below the root zone. Using a fully randomized complete block design, three fertigation strategies were compared: current BMP with and without accounting for NO 3 − -N in irrigation-water, and a high frequency fertigation treatment with low-N concentration applications. Temporal changes in water content, pore water NO 3 − concentrations and soil water potential were monitored within and below the root zone to a soil depth of 3 m at eight sites in an almond and a pistachio orchard. NO 3 − concentrations below the root zone ranged from −1 to more than 2400 mg L −1 (almond), and up to 11,000 (pistachio) mg L −1 , with mean concentrations of 326 and 4631 mg L −1 , respectively. Within the fertigation cycle, fertilizer injection at the end of an irrigation event generally resulted in lower NO 3 − losses below the root zone compared with fertilizer injection midway through the irrigation. Pre-bloom and post-harvest flood irrigation in the almond orchard caused deep soil wetting and flushing of NO 3 − below the root zone, threatening groundwater quality. Statistical analysis using principal component analysis, Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detector and the Artificial Neural Network showed that most of the deep soil NO 3 − concentration variability could not be explained by irrigation duration, fertigation timing or local variations in soil physical characteristics. However, mass balance estimates for water and N indicated the annual orchard average N loss could be estimated based on eight monitoring sites in spite of the inherent spatial variations in soil properties and the spatiotemporal variations in water and NO 3 − applications. The study indicated that reduction of N losses at the orchard scale would require alternative fertigation and irrigation practices, including better control of fertigation amounts and irrigation duration.
Generic Report Design of Smart Hydropower Plant Integration Platform

The report function is one of the core applications for smart hydropower plant integration platform,This paper describes functional requirements of report.At the same time details implementation technologies,Drawing scheme,Data model,secondary development of report,Fill capacity etc.The field applications shows the design can meet the requirements of Production systems of Hydropower plant.
Does the use of specialized proresolving molecules in critical care offer a more focused approach to controlling inflammation than that of fish oils

Purpose of reviewThe literature regarding the use of fish oils in the critically ill to limit the inflammatory and catabolic response have been inconsistent. The objective of this manuscript is to review a newly discovered class of specialized proresolving molecules (SPMs), which could help elucidat
A new species of Schwenckfeldina (Diptera: Sciaridae) from Japan

Schwenckfeldina lobocoxa sp. n. is described and illustrated, and represents the first record of this primitive genus of sciarid flies from Japan. The morphology of this new species is compared with that of related congeners from the Holarctic Region.
Effects of intrauterine challenge with serovar on fertility in cattle

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of Leptospira interrogans serovar hardio on fertility in cattle. Twenty seronegative mature dairy cows were assigned to two groups. Group I (challenged cows) was bred by a seronegative bull followed by intrauterine infusion (within 30 minutes) of Leptospira interrogans serovar hardjo . Group II was bred by the same bull followed by intrauterine infusion of 5 ml of sterile culture medium. Blood samples were collected at two-day intervals to monitor serum antibody titers. Daily blood cultures for 10 days and weekly urine cultures for five weeks were performed to monitor the animals for leptospiremia and leptospiuria. Cows were slaughtered 35 days post-breeding, and their reproductive tracts were examined. All animals remained clinically normal following intrauterine challenge. There was no difference in pregnancy rates (Group I, 7 10 ; Group II, 6 10 ). All embryos, reproductive tracts, and kidneys appeared normal. A microscopic agglutination test (MA) showed that 4 of 10 challenged cows developed serum antibody titers between 8 and 20 days after challenge. However, on the basis of the hamster passive protection test, all challenged cows had serum antibodies present. All blood and urine cultures were negative through the experimental period, as were the final kidney and uterine cultures. In a second experiment, six seronegative cows were infused with killed microorganisms immediately after insemination. Results of a microscopic agglutination test and a hamster passive protection test indicated that these cows did not develop humoral antibodies against serovar hardjo . These results indicated that intrauterine inoculation of Leptospira interrogans serovar hardjo (hamster-adapted strain) following breeding did not affect pregnancy rates despite an intrauterine challenge which caused the development of humoral antibodies.
COMPARING SIMULATOR WEAR FOR MOM BEARINGS IN ANATOMICAL VS INVERTED CUPS POSITIONS

Introduction Hip simulators proved to be valuable, pre-clinical tests for assessing wear. Preferred implant positioning has been with cup mounted above head, i.e. ‘Anatomical’ (Figs. 1a-c) 1,2 while the ‘Inverted’ test (cup below head) was typically preferred in debris studies (Figs. 1d-f). 3,4 In an Anatomical study, wear patterns on cups and heads averaged 442 and 1668 mm² area, respectively, representing 8% and 30% of available hemi-surface (Table 1), i.e. the head pattern was ×3.8 times larger than cup. This concept of wear patterns is illustrated well in the ‘pin-on-disk’ test (Fig. 1) in which the oscillating pin has the ‘contained’ wear area (CWP) and the large wear track on the disk is the ‘distributed’ pattern (DWP). Hip simulators also create CWP and DWP patterns, site dependant on whether Anatomical (Fig. 1a-c) or ‘Inverted’ (Fig. 1d-f) test. However there is scant foundation as to clinical merits of either test mode. Retrieval studies of MOM bearings have indicated that cups have the larger wear patterns, i.e. contrary to simulator tests running Anatomical cups (Table 1). 5 Therefore we compared Anatomical and Inverted cup modes using 38mm and 40mm MOM in two 5-million cycle simulator studies. Methods 38mm and 40mm MOM bearings were run in Anatomical mode (study-1) and Inverted (study-2) mode, respectively, in a hip simulator. Lubricant was bovine serum diluted to provide protein concentration 17 mg/ml. Wear was measured gravimetrically and wear-rates calculated by linear regression. Wear patterns were assessed by stereomicroscopy and compared to algorithms using standard spherical equations. Results MOM wear-rates ranged 0.3 to 6 mm³/Mc by 5-million cycles duration. Contained wear patterns (CWP) averaged 410 mm² for cups in study-1 (Anatomical) and 397 mm² for heads in study-2 (Fig. 3: Inverted). Distributed wear patterns (DWP) averaged 945mm² in study-1 (heads, Anatomical) and 846mm² in study-2 (cups, Inverted). Cup Hemi-ratios averaged 18% and 38% in studies 1 and 2 respectively (Table 2). Discussion While vendor, implant and experimental differences were clearly present, study-1 (Anatomical) and study-2 (Inverted) produced almost identical CWP and DWP wear patterns, only reversed on heads versus cups. This unequivocal evidence demonstrated that there was no difference in wear mechanics for spherical CoCr bearings run in either test mode. In addition, wear patterns observed in MOM cup retrievals 5 (1000–2700 mm²) were much larger than produced in Anatomical simulator tests (Fig. 2h: 400–500 mm²). Such large discrepancies in cup wear patterns between Anatomical simulator tests and retrieved MOM cups indicated that the Inverted cup mode (Fig. 2g) may be more clinically relevant.
Tarsals of Sespedectinae (?Lipotyphla) from the Middle Eocene of Southern California, and the Affinities of Eocene ‘Erinaceomorphs’

ABSTRACT Postcranial morphology of Paleogene lipotyphlans (Mammalia: Laurasiatheria) is poorly known relative to dental morphology. When these elements can be referred, they have proven to be a rich source of data for phylogenetic and ecological inferences. In particular, tarsal morphology has challenged hypothesized relationships of several taxa. We refer isolated tarsals from several early and late Uintan (middle Eocene) localities in the San Diego area to three genera of sespedectine erinaceomorph lipotyphlan, Crypholestes, Proterixoides, and Sespedectes, based on patterns of size, morphology, and abundance. Astragali and calcanei are confidently referred to all three genera, whereas naviculars are more tentatively referred to Proterixoides and Sespedectes, and cuboids to Sespedectes. Tarsals of the three genera are morphologically nearly uniform, supporting their hypothesized close relationship. The most significant difference is a relatively longer calcaneal tuber in Proterixoides. The tarsal morphol...
Detection of Human T-cell Leukemia Viruses

Human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type I (HTLV-I) is the cause of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) and a chronic neurologic syndrome It occurs worldwide but with clusters of high seroprevalence in Japan, Africa, and the Caribbean. A related virus known as HTLV-II occurs in endemic clusters in New World Indian populations and is very common among intravenous drug users in some regions. HTLV-II accounts for about half of all HTLV seropositivity in the USA. HTLV-II is not known to be a pathogen Serologic reagents for the detection of these viruses, made from lysates of HTLV-I-infected cells, are believed to be very sensitive to HTLV-I infection Their sensitivity to HTLV-II is largely unknown. Highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection systems are available and are particularly useful for the evaluation of serologie tests, for distinguishing HTLV-I from HTLV-II, for determining whether or not infection is present in patients with incomplete or absent seroreactivity or in the obligately seropositive children of seropositive mothers.
The Kinetics and the Permeation Properties of Piezo Channels.

Abstract Piezo channels are eukaryotic, cation-selective mechanosensitive channels (MSCs), which show rapid activation and voltage-dependent inactivation. The kinetics of these channels are largely consistent across multiple cell types and different stimulation paradigms with some minor variability. No accessory subunits that associate with Piezo channels have been reported. They are homotrimers and each ∼300 kD monomer has an N-terminal propeller blade-like mechanosensing module, which can confer mechanosensing capabilities on ASIC-1 (the trimeric non-MSC, acid-sensing ion channel-1) and a C-terminal pore module, which influences conductance, selectivity, and channel inactivation. Repeated stimulation can cause domain fracture and diffusion of these channels leading to synchronous loss of inactivation. The reconstituted channels spontaneously open only in asymmetric bilayers but lack inactivation. Mutations that cause hereditary xerocytosis alter PIEZO1 kinetics. The kinetics of the wild-type PIEZO1 and alterations thereof in mutants (M2225R, R2456K, and DhPIEZO1) are summarized in the form of a quantitative model and hosted online. The pore is permeable to alkali ions although Li+ permeates poorly. Divalent cations, notably Ca2+, traverse the channel and inhibit the flux of monovalents. The large monovalent organic cations such as tetramethyl ammonium and tetraethyl ammonium can traverse the channel, but slowly, suggesting a pore diameter of ∼8 A, and the estimated in-plane area change upon opening is around 6–20 nm2. Ruthenium red can enter the channel only from the extracellular side and seems to bind in a pocket close to residue 2496.
The difference between general care planning and advance care planning

Social and health care requires planning. Holistic patient assessment enables individual needs to be identified before the provision of appropriate care. Often care provision requires a multidisciplinary, coordinated response. Holistic assessment helps this process, allowing individuals and families to consider all aspects of care and plan for the future. Assessment should be centred around people’s concerns and be flexible enough to respond to new circumstances. Assessment during end-of-life care should be a continual process. The nature of the dying phase of terminal illness will vary from individual to individual and according to diagnosis. Assessment should, therefore, be repeated whenever the individual or a professional considers it necessary. Offering terminally ill patients the opportunity to conduct advance care planning enables decisions to be made about future treatment, which reflect individual patient preferences. This process is particularly important to protect individuals in the event that they lose the mental capacity to make decisions regarding their care. To mark the ‘Dying Matters Week’ in March 2010, the National End of Life Care Programme published a chart describing the differences between general care planning and advance care planning. Amongst the factors considered in the chart is the legal status of each type of decision or care planning. This chart is available in a table format and can be downloaded from the National End of Life Care Programme website (see web address below). Individuals involved in a person’s care must understand the difference between general care planning and advance care planning (ACP). Robust assessment processes must be used to ensure ACP information is up to date and that patients’ wishes are shared between different professional groups — although patient consent to such sharing is required. ### General care planning The activity of general care planning may be undertaken in any …
Bayesian Multiple Atlas Deformable Templates

The computational anatomy project has largely been a study of large deformations via diffeomorphic mapping. This article looks at various estimation problems within this setting, including disease scoring, segmentation, and template estimation. All are posed in the augmented orbit of unions of multiple atlases or templates. These make our generative Bayesian probability models multimodal, in which the posterior probability of interpreting a single image is shared across multiple atlases. We derive the maximum a posteriori estimation in this multimodal context for (i) disease scoring/classification of a single target image given multiple disease cohorts, (ii) segmentation of images, and (iii) atlas generation from populations.
Leukocyte migration enhancement as an indicator of immunologic enhancement: II. Malignancy

Abstract Leukocyte migration studies were performed on 19 cancer patients and 24 control subjects. Amniotic fluid (AF) as well as autologous plasma (PL) were investigated. No difference in the migration pattern between patients and control subjects was observed with AF, but cancer patients showed significant leukocyte migration enhancement (LME) with PL when compared to control subjects (p
Statutory Interpretation in Washington

It is easy to be cynical about statutory interpretation. It often appears that courts simply grab what is handy - be it legislative history, canon of construction, or caselaw - to support an interpretation. Washington courts do have a loosely prescribed procedure for investigating statutory meaning. It is far from rigid, either in definition or application, but it represents an effort to achieve consistency. The court is to begin with the statute's plain meaning, and only if plain meaning leaves an ambiguity should the court resort to extrinsic aids to construction, such as legislative history or policy-based canons. This procedure is flexible. Plain meaning includes not only text but also context. The definition of ambiguity and the rule to avoid absurd results give further interpretive room. Nevertheless, the approach provides some structure for advocates and courts.
Scrotal Ultrasound in the Infertile Man: Detection of Subclinical Unilateral and Bilateral Varicoceles

AbstractClinical and laboratory studies have provided convincing evidence that varicoceles are detrimental to spermatogenesis and that this effect is unrelated to their size. Thus, physicians have used diagnostic techniques other than physical examination to find these small but clinically significant varicoceles. Because scrotal sonography has proved to be invaluable to detect many intrascrotal abnormalities, and has the unique ability to visualize the testicle and surrounding structures, we used it to evaluate 50 infertile men.Of our 50 patients 22 had a clinically palpable left varicocele and 3 additional patients had bilateral varicoceles. All clinical varicoceles were confirmed by sonography. However, sonography also demonstrated a left varicocele in an additional 12 patients (34 of 50 or 68 per cent) and a right varicocele in 21 (a total of 24 or 48 per cent). Reflux on the right side always occurred in conjunction with that on the left side. Thus, among our 50 infertile men 24 of 34 (70 per cent) h...
Product-state control of bi-alkali-metal chemical reactions

exoergicreactioncanbecompletelyturnedoff.Thispossibility is afforded by the fact that, for alkali dimers, the final states of reaction are not terribly different in energy from the reactants. Specifically,weconsidercollisionsofapairofKRbmolecules, prepared in their vibrational ground state (ν1 = ν2 = 0) and particular rotational states n1 and n2. These molecules are, in general, subject to two kinds of reactions: the formation of trimers via
A Conserved Role for Serotonergic Neurotransmission in Mediating Social Behavior in Octopus

Summary Human and octopus lineages are separated by over 500 million years of evolution [ 1 , 2 ] and show divergent anatomical patterns of brain organization [ 3 , 4 ]. Despite these differences, growing evidence suggests that ancient neurotransmitter systems are shared across vertebrate and invertebrate species and in many cases enable overlapping functions [ 5 ]. Sociality is widespread across the animal kingdom, with numerous examples in both invertebrate (e.g., bees, ants, termites, and shrimps) and vertebrate (e.g., fishes, birds, rodents, and primates) lineages [ 6 ]. Serotonin is an evolutionarily ancient molecule [ 7 ] that has been implicated in regulating both invertebrate [ 8 ] and vertebrate [ 9 ] social behaviors, raising the possibility that this neurotransmitter’s prosocial functions may be conserved across evolution. Members of the order Octopoda are predominantly asocial and solitary [ 10 ]. Although at this time it is unknown whether serotonergic signaling systems are functionally conserved in octopuses, ethological studies indicate that agonistic behaviors are suspended during mating [ 11 , 12 , 13 ], suggesting that neural mechanisms subserving social behaviors exist in octopuses but are suppressed outside the reproductive period. Here we provide evidence that, as in humans, the phenethylamine (+/−)-3,4-methylendioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) enhances acute prosocial behaviors in Octopus bimaculoides. This finding is paralleled by the evolutionary conservation of the serotonin transporter (SERT, encoded by the Slc6A4 gene) binding site of MDMA in the O. bimaculoides genome. Taken together, these data provide evidence that the neural mechanisms subserving social behaviors exist in O. bimaculoides and indicate that the role of serotonergic neurotransmission in regulating social behaviors is evolutionarily conserved.
From Alloy to Oxide: Capturing the Early Stages of Oxidation on Ni–Cr(100) Alloys

The interaction of oxygen with Ni–Cr(100) alloy surfaces is studied using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS) to observe the initial steps of oxidation and formation of the a...
A Context-Driven Complex Activity Framework for Smart Home

Internet of Things (IoT) will provide a data rich world to afford smart systems which, in a context of a smart home, will have to adapt to people according to their needs for work and living. This paper describes the work to establish a framework for building a database to capture all possible user interactions associated with a given activity and lists the conditions for these user interactions leading to the activity goal. As an application of this framework, an activity performance-based supervised recommender system to recommend tasks related to different activities in a smart home is presented. Its usefulness to enhance the quality of life of people in technology-laden surroundings can be seen, especially for the elderly people, by providing environments with smart agents, that can effectively assist them in user interactions, as well as recommend tasks or activities, or even guide them through the intended tasks. Furthermore, the future intelligent assistant agents will have to learn a universal set of user interactions related to any activity to effectively mitigate distractions and adapt to the situations and recommend tasks to aid users in reaching to the end goal of performing the desired activity. A preliminary result demonstrates a performance accuracy of 75% when evaluated on a subset of the UK DALE dataset [1].
A 25-GS/s 4-bit Single-core Flash ADC in 28 nm FDSOI CMOS

This paper presents a 25-GS/s 4-bit flash analog-to-digital converter (ADC) designed in a 28 nm FDSOI CMOS process. A comprehensive analysis of the track-and-hold (T/H) bandwidth requirement is performed, providing design guideline for a single-core ADC targeting the leading-edge speed performance. A 1-to-2 StrongArm latch based demux comparator structure with a fat tree thermometer code-to-binary code encoder and body biasing in FDSOI are utilized to reduce the power consumption. The ADC achieves a SNDR of 19.48 dB near Nyquist and dissipates 440 mW of power.
Cardiomegaly on chest radiographs as a predictor of heart disease in the pediatric population.

Abstract Background Cardiomegaly on chest radiographs (CXR) in pediatric patients leads to multiple tests. We aimed to determine the positive predictive value (PPV) of cardiomegaly on CXR in predicting subsequent heart disease and to assess the utility of obtaining a B-type Natriuretic Peptide level (BNP) and/or electrocardiogram (EKG) in such patients. We hypothesized that an echocardiogram may not be appropriate in all cases of cardiomegaly on CXR, particularly in a patient with a normal EKG and BNP level. Methods We performed a retrospective cohort study of pediatric patients with cardiomegaly on their initial CXR between January 2015–December 2017. Patients without a subsequent echocardiogram or known congenital heart disease were excluded. A patient was deemed to have heart disease if they had structural abnormalities, functional abnormalities or a pericardial effusion on echocardiogram. The PPV of CXR and the PPV/NPV of the other tests (EKG, BNP) were calculated using contingency tables. Results Four hundred and eighty nine patients met inclusion criteria. The PPV of cardiomegaly on CXR alone without any other diagnostic testing in predicting subsequent heart disease was 15%. The PPV increased if there was either an abnormal EKG or a BNP >100 pg/ml and further increased if both of these were present. The PPV values were higher in patients Conclusions Cardiomegaly on CXR can often predict the presence of heart disease, particularly in infants. Further testing with EKG and BNP can better predict who may have heart disease, but it may not eliminate the need for echocardiography.
An alternative to slow transit, drunk driving, and walking in bad weather: an exploratory study of ridesourcing mode choice and demand

Abstract Companies providing ridesourcing, or the use of mobile phone apps to request rides from drivers of privately-owned vehicles, have expanded rapidly in many cities in recent years. To shed light on this phenomenon, this paper reports an exploratory study of ridesourcing trip patterns and mode choice in Washtenaw County, Michigan, USA, which obtained a convenience sample of 167 respondents (reporting 192 trips) via geographically targeted online and offline ads. Consistent with previous empirical studies, ridesharing users are younger and a greater percentage are female than the the general public, and most trips occur in a small number of high density block groups. When asked what other options were available for ridesourcing trips, respondents reported transit (63%), private vehicles (32%), walking (32%) and bicycling (18%). Specific reasons for choosing ridesourcing instead of these options included the frequency of transit, alcohol use for driving, and weather and distance for walking and biking. A multivariate analysis found variables related to greater ridesourcing use for a block group included job density, jobs-housing balance, bar and restaurant density, and presence of households without vehicles. The paper demonstrates the potential of survey data to generate greater geographic insights into ridesourcing use, as well as the potential for extending established travel-behavior research approaches to ridesourcing.
NOX1 Promotes Mesothelial-Mesenchymal Transition through Modulation of Reactive Oxygen Species-mediated Signaling.

Pleural organization may occur after empyema or complicated parapneumonic effusion and can result in restrictive lung disease with pleural fibrosis (PF). Pleural mesothelial cells (PMCs) may contri...
Profanity from the heart as exceptional civic rhetoric

During a televised ceremony celebrating the Boston Marathon bombing heroes, Red Sox star David Ortiz used profanity in his unscripted message of support for the city. The rhetorical significance of...
Electromagnetic Structure of the He 3 Nucleus

The electromagnetic structure of the ${\mathrm{He}}^{3}$ nucleus has been investigated by means of high-energy electron scattering. A separation of the charge and magnetic form factors has been accomplished. The charge form-factor data extend to ${q}^{2}=20$ ${\mathrm{fm}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ and exhibit a diffraction minimum at ${q}^{2}=11.6$ ${\mathrm{fm}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$; the magnetic scattering is measured to ${q}^{2}=12.5$ ${\mathrm{fm}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$. The results are discussed in terms of models for the charge and magnetic distributions of the nucleus.
Water chemistry and nitrogen source affect foliar uptake efficiency in ‘champion’ bermudagrass

Given the growing adoption and use of recycled irrigation across the turfgrass industry, there is importance in understanding the effects of irrigation chemistry on N uptake efficiency as it relate...
Evaluation of cardiovascular and renal outcomes with ertugliflozin: what is the VERdict from the VERTIS-CV trial?

A growing number of antidiabetic agents have demonstrated cardiovascular and renal benefits in cardiovascular outcome trials (CVOTs), despite such trials being principally required to rule out exce...
Towards Tabular Embeddings, Training the Relational Models

Correctly identifying the semantic label of a table column (e.g. artist ) or the domain of a tuple (e.g. Song) is crucial for data science tasks, such as schema matching, data cleaning and discovery. Existing data preparation and integration systems are known to make mistakes that need to be corrected by humans, which is labor-intensive and expensive especially at scale [19], [20], [25], [9], [8]. The accuracy is also known to suffer on dirty data. In this paper we define and evaluate tabular embeddings to help increase the accuracy.Embeddings, is a well-known dimensionality reduction technique, usually applied to represent (one-dimensional) text documents/sentences as vectors for further analytics [28], [7], [23]. Using embeddings lowers dimensionality, as well as the models trained with embeddings often exhibit higher accuracy, compared to the same trained without such, because the embeddings vectors store the context information. Our 2-dimensional embeddings are more suitable for tables rather than text. We justify their efficiency on fundamental tasks on tables such as classifying columns and tuples.We perform an extensive experimental evaluation and compare the Neural Network trained with tabular embeddings against the same trained without such embeddings. We report significant accuracy gains in tuple classification when using the Neural Network trained with our tabular embeddings - up to 17.6% delta in F-measure for Songs compared with the same without our embeddings. For training and evaluating all our embeddings and models, we use a large-scale WebTables dataset having ≈15 million tables coming from ≈ 248K English Web sources [12].
Macroscale friction of granular soils under monotonic and cyclic loading based upon micromechanical determination of dissipated energy

Macroscopic frictional behavior of granular materials is of great importance for studying several complex problems associated with fault slip and landslides. The main objective of this study is to model the macroscale frictional behavior of granular soils under monotonic and cyclic loadings based upon micromechanical determination of dissipated energy at particle contacts. This study is built on the general observation that the externally computed energy dissipation should be equal to the total internal energy dissipation derived from inter-particle sliding and rolling, energy losses from inter-particle collisions, and damping. For this purpose, the discrete element method is used to model a granular soil and determine the stored, dissipated, and damping energies associated with shear loading for applied monotonic and cyclic velocities. These energies are then related to the friction by an application of the Taylor-critical state power balance relationship. Also, the contributions of the different modes of energy dissipation (normal, shear, and rolling) to the total frictional resistance were studied. By changing the inter-particle friction, the simulations showed that the macroscopic friction was nearly constant, the slip friction increased almost linearly with increasing inter-particle friction, and the difference between the two was attributed to the non-energy dissipating dilatancy component. By providing a clear relationship between energy dissipated by micro-scale mechanisms versus the traditional engineering definition based on macro-scale (continuum) parameters, this study provides a means to develop a better understanding for the frictional behavior of granular media.
Influence of rectal gel volume on defecation during dynamic pelvic floor magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract Purpose To evaluate effects of altering rectal contrast volume on defecatory effort during magnetic resonance defecography (MRD). Methods We assessed defecation qualitatively and quantitatively as a function of rectal distention (group A: 180 cc, n= 31; group B: 120 cc, n= 31). Quantitative evaluation comprised measuring rectal area on midline sagittal images pre- and post-defecation. Results Resting rectal area was significantly higher for group A than for group B (35.2 vs. 28.3 cm2, P Conclusion Decreasing rectal gel volume from 180 to 120 cc did not compromise defecation performance during MRD.
Geranylgeranyltransferase I inhibitors induce p27 accumulation and G1 arrest in human breast cancer cell lines independently of Rb status and expression levels of Erb1, 2, 3 and 4

3864 Several peptidomimetics such as GGTI-2431 were designed based on the C-terminal CAAL tetrapeptide sequence of geranylgeranyltransferase I (GGTase I) substrates. GGTI-2431 inhibited GGTase I potently (IC50 = 20nM) and selectively over the closely related enzyme farnesyltransferase (FTase) (IC50 = 170μM). Enzyme kinetic studies demonstrated that GGTI-2431 inhibits GGTase I in a competitive manner to the CAAL tetrapeptide. The effects of GGTI-2431 on signaling pathways and cell cycle progression was determined in 6 human breast cancer cell lines over-expressing various levels of ErbB receptors: MDA-MB-231 (ErbB1 & 2), MDA-MB-468 (ErbB1), BT474 (ErbB2), MCF-7 (ErbB4), Sk-Br3 (ErbB2), MDA-MB-453 (ErbB2 &3). Regardless of the ErbB expression level status, GGTI-2431 induced G1 arrest in all cell lines except MDA-MB-453. Induction of Rb hypophosphorylation was not necessary for G1 arrest since GGTI-2431 did not induce Rb hypophosphorylation in all cell lines and in some cell lines Rb was not present. GGTI-2431 also increased p27 protein levels in all 6 cell lines. GGTI-2431 inhibited tyrosine phosphorylation levels of STAT3 and Akt only in MDA-MB-468. In contrast, P-ERK 1/2 levels were decreased in MDA-MB-231, MD-MB-468 and MCF-7. Thus, our results demonstrate that inhibition of protein geranylgeranylation in breast cancer cells induces G1 block and increases p27 in a manner independent of ErbB receptor overexpression, functional Rb status, and oncogenic signaling pathways such as P-STAT3, P-Akt and P-Erk1/2. (This work was partially supported by NCI grant CA67771.)
Intravenous Ciprofloxacin Therapy in Respiratory Infections

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5915/24-1-15458 Of the quinolone class of antimicrobials, only intravenous (IV) ciprofloxacin is currently available for treatment of various bacterial infections. Pathogens causing pneumonia in otherwise healthy adult patients may differ from those found in elderly patients, nursing home residents, alcoholics, and in individuals with debilitating diseases. Nosocomial pneumonias typically involve Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli. Aspiration pneumonia in the community most often involves anaerobes, but in the hospital S. aureus and Gram-negative organisms are commonly found. Based on these clinical and microbiological issues, a comparative evaluation of sequential IV and oral (PO) ciprofloxacin versus other antibiotics were reviewed and the results are summarized in this article. The focus is on the role of sequential intravenous/oral ciprofloxacin in the treatment of lower respiratory tract injection. Presented at the lMA 24th Annual Convention Long Island, New York, July 1991