cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Relationship of Schmorl's nodes to vertebral body endplate fractures and acute endplate disk extrusions.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Literature regarding clinical pain syndromes associated with acute, traumatic Schmorl9s nodes (SNs) is limited. Our purpose was to determine whether an SN could be related to a previous traumatic event producing either acute SN or a vertebral endplate fracture. METHODS: Two neuroradiologists independently reviewed initial and follow-up MR examinations of 14 patients with a clinical diagnosis of acute, symptomatic thoracolumbar SNs or vertebral body endplate fractures that evolved into SNs to evaluate marrow edema, signal intensity, margin definition, presence of intravertebral extruded disk material, and pattern of contrast enhancement. RESULTS: Edema of the affected vertebral body, adjacent to an endplate without wedging or collapse, was observed on the initial MR images in all cases. The initial MR images of six (43%) of 14 patients exhibited only edema of the marrow immediately adjacent to the endplate without wedging or collapse. The MR images obtained at the time of follow-up showed subsequent formation of a chronic and eventually asymptomatic SN for all six patients. The initial MR images of eight (57%) of the 14 patients showed the typical appearance of acute SNs with marrow edema of the affected vertebra. The contrast-enhanced images of three patients manifested enhancement of the invaginated disk material in three (100%) of three cases and enhancement of the surrounding vertebral body in one case (33%). Six (43%) of 14 patients had acute typical compression fracture of a vertebral body of at least one additional level. CONCLUSION: Most (57%) of the SNs in this series could be traced to episodes of significant, sudden-onset, localized, nonradiating back pain and tenderness for which the MR images showed SNs surrounded by vertebral body marrow edema. The remaining SNs (43%) were not immediately apparent as SNs and manifested only as vertebral body edema representing endplate fracture but did evolve into classical chronic SNs that follow-up imaging revealed.
Career preferences and perceptions of the medical labor market among Mexican interns

This paper examines the relationship between choice of career and perception of the medical labor market, as well as the effects of social origin, type of medical school, and place of internship. The data are derived from a survey of interns which was conducted in Mexico during 19:/8, when a substan- tial proportion of physicians was unemployed or underemployed. Career preferences were operationalized in terms of type of activity (general practice or specialty}, site (ambulatory or hospital) and institution (public assistance, social security or private). Perceptions of the medical labor market were measured as an 'objective' feasibility perception and a 'subjective' oppor- tunity assessment. Additionally, composite indices of career preferences and perceptions were con- structed in order to take account of two integrated career patterns: dominant (or majority preference) vs alternative (or minority preference). Analysis of the data consistently revealed that perception of the medical labor market had a much stronger impact on preference for alternative than for dominant career patterns. Whereas social origin had "no effect on career preference, type of medical school and place of internship exhibited a statistical ineraction with career preference, suggesting that certain structural conditions of the medical school and the teaching hospitals lead to preference for alternative rather than dominant careers. The implications of the findings are discussed with regard to health manpower policy, to conceptions of rational career choice and to the professional status of medicine in Mexico.
Canada’s turbulent medical tourism industry

According to conventional wisdom, the global medical tourism industry is experiencing rapid expansion, with medical tourism companies proliferating and patients traveling around the world for medical care. Both health researchers and journalists assume that Canada’s medical tourism industry is
Use of Aquaculture Ponds and Other Habitats by Autumn Migrating Shorebirds Along the Lower Mississippi River

Populations of many shorebird species are declining; habitat loss and degradation are among the leading causes for these declines. Shorebirds use a variety of habitats along interior migratory routes including managed moist soil units, natural wetlands, sandbars, and agricultural lands such as harvested rice fields. Less well known is shorebird use of freshwater aquaculture facilities, such as commercial cat- and crayfish ponds. We compared shorebird habitat use at drained aquaculture ponds, moist soil units, agricultural areas, sandbars and other natural habitat, and a sewage treatment facility in the in the lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley (LMAV) during autumn 2009. Six species: Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla), Killdeer (Charadrius vociferous), Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla), Pectoral Sandpiper (C. melanotos), Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus himantopus), and Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes), accounted for 92 % of the 31,165 individuals observed. Sewage settling lagoons (83.4, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 25.3–141.5 birds/ha), drained aquaculture ponds (33.5, 95 % CI 22.4–44.6 birds/ha), and managed moist soil units on public lands (15.7, CI 11.2–20.3 birds/ha) had the highest estimated densities of shorebirds. The estimated 1,100 ha of drained aquaculture ponds available during autumn 2009 provided over half of the estimated requirement of 2,000 ha by the LMAV Joint Venture working group. However, because of the decline in the aquaculture industry, autumn shorebird habitats in the LMAV may be limited in the near future. Recognition of the current aquaculture habitat trends will be important to the future management activities of federal and state agencies. Should these aquaculture habitat trends continue, there may be a need for wildlife biologists to investigate other habitats that can be managed to offset the current and expected loss of aquaculture acreages. This study illustrates the potential for freshwater aquaculture to provide habitat for a taxa at risk. With the rapid growth of aquaculture worldwide, the practices of this industry deserve attention to identify benefits as well as risks to wildlife.
Traditional resource-use systems and tropical deforestation in a multi-ethnic region in North-West Ecuador

There is general consensus that resource-use strategies of recent migrants in tropical rainforests result in extensive deforestation and other negative environmental impacts. Less agreement exists about the nature and extent of the impact of indigenous and long-standing migrant communities living in rainforests. It has often been argued that the high value these communities place on local resources results in environmental conservation in areas under their control, but this is being increasingly challenged. The aim of this study was to contribute to this debate by comparing the regional environmental impact of indigenous and non-indigenous households in North-west Ecuador, with emphasis on tropical deforestation. The basic premise was that long-term resource-use strategies and related decision-making processes should be discernible as characteristic land-use patterns. Three indigenous and non-indigenous populations coexist in the study region, and demographic, land-use and historical sources of information were used to evaluate their relationship to regional deforestation in the period 1983-93. No significant differences were found in the recent deforestation associated with each group based on their cultural or ethnic background, although differences did exist in the past. The need to differentiate between a given environmental impact and the decision-making process behind it was also evident. In North-west Ecuador, markets, factors of production, and access to and control of resources, are key for understanding the environmental impact of local communities. Low-impact resource-uses often result from low-return productive activities in forest environments with low labour opportunity costs, high discount rates for income generated through activities compromising food security, and from uncertainty about future conditions. Environmental policy-making and programme design need to recognize this relationship. Conservation will be possible only if the perceived benefit to local users is greater than that of resource transformation, both of which respond to the dominant environmental, economic and social conditions at a given time and place. Creating or fostering the appropriate conditions should be a key objective of both.
Fundamental–subharmonic interaction: effect of phase relation

The effect of the phase relation (i.e. phase difference and coupling) between the fundamental and subharmonic modes on the transition to turbulence of a mixing layer is investigated. Experiments are conducted to study the development of the subharmonic and fundamental modes under different phase-controlled excitations. Higher-order spectral moments are used to measure phase differences, levels of phase coupling, and energy transfer rates between the two modes at different downstream locations. Local measurements of the wavenumber–frequency spectra are used to examine the phase-speed matching conditions required for efficient energy transfer. The results show that when the phase coupling between the fundamental and the subharmonic is high, maximum subharmonic growth is found to occur at a critical phase difference close to zero. The subharmonic growth is found to result from a resonant parametric interaction between the fundamental and the subharmonic in which phase-speed matching conditions are satisfied. In contrast, when the phase coupling level is low, the phase difference is irregular and varying, the efficiency of parametric interactions is low, phase-speed matching conditions are not met and subharmonic growth is suppressed.
Glaucophane schists and ophiolites of the northern California Coast Ranges: Isotopic ages and their tectonic implications

The geology of a strip of 15′ quadrangles across the Franciscan Complex in the Coast Ranges of northern California is the basis for interpretation of the significance of potassium-argon and fossil ages of glaucophane schists, ophiolitic materials, and associated sedimentary rocks. Whole-rock and mineral separates of Franciscan rocks were analyzed, and 69 potassium-argon ages were obtained. White micas and actinolites from blueschist blocks in melange give apparent ages clustering about 142 and 153 m.y., but they probably represent a continuum. Blue amphibole ages from blocks range from 98 to 151 m.y.; the younger ages are from the eastern portion of the central melange belt. Published U-Pb ages from the ophiolite belt give crystallization ages from 153 to 165 m.y.; K-Ar ages extend from 143 to 166 m.y. Whole-rock ages from the South Fork Mountain Schist range from 113 to 158 m.y. but cluster around 124 m.y. The association of older K-Ar ages with more coarsely crystalline schist suggests that metamorphism occurred prior to 124 m.y. ago. Fossil evidence indicates that the basal sediments of the Great Valley Sequence were deposited upon the disrupted Coast Range Ophiolite within 5 to 10 m.y. of the oldest crystallization ages for ophiolite. Fossils within melange units, broken formations, and unsubducted trench-slope deposits provide evidence for melange development by the Early Cretaceous, with youngest melange units generally lying to the west. Available chronologic evidence is compatible with a tectonic model involving melange formation in a restricted flow channel beneath the accretionary wedge of the subduction complex. Upflow of melange returned blocks of coarsely crystalline metamorphic rocks that were accreted during the initial stages of subduction when the hanging wall was still hot. The viability of this and other proposed tectonic models can be assessed by continued careful field documentation of the nature of contacts between key lithotectonic units and by detailed application of temperature-sensitive geochronologic tools.
God as Consuming Fire

Three times in Scripture, God is explicitly called a "consuming fire" (Deut 4:24; 9:3; Heb 12:29).' A few other times he is compared to a "consuming fire" (Exod 24:17; Isa 30:27, 30; 33:14[?]). The church fathers often quote or allude to this notion of God as a "consuming fire." In particular, Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine do so a number of times.2 I want here only to point out that on several occasions these words ("God is a consuming fire") are strangely misquoted and commentators refrain from discussing the peculiarity. My purpose is to call scholars' attention to this strange quotation and in addition to offer possible solutions to the problem. In his Hexaemeron Ambrose, in the context of God and fire, apparently quotes our verse(s) as God's words, "ego sum ignis consumens" ("I am a consuming fire");3 again, in De officiis, "Pater Deus dixit, ego sum ignis consumens" ("God the Father has said, 'I am a consuming fire' ").4 Jerome in his Commentary on Obadiah verse
A novel cluster-based maximum likelihood blind equalization of ISI impaired channels

A novel clustering-based blind channel equalizer suitable for both linear and nonlinear channels is proposed. The clusters formed by the received data are identified using a new class of unsupervised clustering algorithms known as K-Harmonic Means (KHMp). The KHMp algorithms are insensitive to the initialization of the cluster centers owing to a built-in boosting function, resulting in better performance over algorithms used in the past like ISODAT A. The identified cluster representatives are then mapped to the input signal vectors using a discrete Hidden Markov Model and the mapping is used to compute the branch metrics in a cluster-based maximum likelihood sequence estimator (MLSE) to perform signal detection. Computer simulations showing the equalizer performance with the new clustering algorithm are presented.
Regulation of the messenger ribonucleic acid for corticotropin-releasing factor in the paraventricular nucleus and other brain sites of the rat

CRF, from the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), is the major hypothalamic releasing factor that controls pituitary ACTH. Recently, the mRNA for CRF and the CRF peptide have been detected in other brain sites. However, there is little information on the function and regulation of CRF in brain sites outside the paraventricular nucleus. We investigated the content of CRF mRNA in the PVN, the central nucleus of the amygdala (CN), the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BN), and the supraoptic nucleus (SON). Northern gel analysis showed that the mRNA for CRF is present in the BN, CN, and SON as well as the PVN, and that all are the same size. In response to adrenalectomy, the level of hybridizable mRNA increased 2.75-fold over 7 days in the PVN; there was no change in the CN, BN, or SON. High dose dexamethasone decreased, but did not eliminate, the PVN CRF mRNA; it was without effect in the other sites. Glucocorticoid replacement with constant low blood levels of corticosterone (5.6 ± 0.3 μg/...
Baseline Characteristics, Natural History, and Risk Factors to Progression in Eyes with Stage 2 Macular Holes: Results from a Prospective Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this study is (1) to determine baseline characteristics and natural history of immature full-thickness macular holes, (2) to describe progression and resolution, and (3) to present new aspects of pathogenesis of idiopathic macular hole. Methods: The authors analyzed 41 eyes with stage 2 macular holes (37 patients) in a multicentered prospective randomized trial; 19 eyes were randomized to observation (versus surgery) and had more than 12 months of follow-up, allowing determination of the natural course. Baseline and subsequent examinations included best-refracted visual acuity (Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study, potential acuity meter, Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity, and Bailey-Lovie reading vision), of clinical examinations, photography, and fluorescein angiography. Result: Mean Snellen visual acuity was 20/66 at baseline. Centric holes usually had a small break (201 μm average mean diameter) with a dark yellow ring and without significant retinal elevation. Eccentric holes had a high maximum/minimum diameter ratio (mean, 1.88 ± 0.7) and an incomplete cuff of subretinal fluid or yellow ring. Posterior vitreous detachment prevalence was 32% (8/25) in the centric hole group and 0% (0/16) in the eccentric hole group (P Conclusion: Eccentric and centric stage 2 macular holes may have a different pathogenesis. Most stage 2 macular holes, especially with PCH (P
A ray-driven approach to analytical SPECT reconstruction of non-uniform attenuation with variable focal-length fan-beam collimators

Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is based on the measurement of radiation emitted by a radiotracer injected into the patient. Because of photoelectric absorption and Compton scatter, the /spl gamma/ photons are attenuated inside the body before arriving at the detector. A quantitative reconstruction must consider the attenuation, which is usually non-uniform. Novikov had derived an explicit formula for non-uniformly attenuated SPECT reconstruction of parallel-beam collimators. In this paper, we extend their researches to variable focal-length fan-beam collimators, and derived a ray-driven analytical variable fan-beam reconstruction formula with non-uniform attenuation. Its accuracy is demonstrated by computer simulation experiments.
Irrational Choices, Unfathomable Outcomes: Patient Ethnographies In Pharmaceutical Research

With the proliferation of oral therapies (in place of injectables) for many chronic conditions, the locus of medical treatment is shifting from the surveilled context of the clinic to the private space of the home. In the home, compliance and persistency – the extent to which patients take medications over time – have become pressing concerns. Non-compliance adversely affects health outcomes, and costs manufacturers millions. The medical community has difficulty understanding non-compliance, often relegating it to individual irrationality or dysfunction in the doctor-patient relationship. Ethnography opens up the issue by entering the private space of pill-taking to understand the beliefs, relationships, and activities that contribute to patient (non-)compliance.
Getting Started in Gene Orthology and Functional Analysis

selection pressure on a gene, revealed from its evolutionary history, is determined by the role played by the gene, i.e., its biological function. The known conservation of a gene’s sequence coupled with the knowledge of the timing/dating of evolutionary events provides clues about the gene’s function. If a gene is preserved in all species with high sequence similarity and there are only a few duplication events along its evolutionary history, we have high confidence that its orthologs have the same function in different species. On the other hand, a large number of duplications and/or deletions along a gene’s evolutionary history could indicate neofunctionalization and/or nonorthologous gene displacement [3], and consequently, orthologs in different genomes may have different functions. These facts highlight the significance of functionoriented ortholog identification. In this article, we will review the general procedures to identify orthologs and make ortholog groups. We will focus on the functional analyses of orthologs, review previous work to assess functional consistency of orthologs, and make suggestions to construct better ortholog groups. Lastly, because orthologs can only be identified when the whole gene inventories from all the involved species are examined, the distribution of identified orthologs among species is an immediate result of looking into the composition of ortholog groups. Composition of ortholog groups, which bears important information for downstream research and applications, will also be briefly discussed.
Air Displacement Plethysmography: Cradle to Grave

Differences in body composition are associated with increased disease risk in various stages of life. Despite numerous available methods in assessing body composition (air displacement plethysmography, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, bioelectrical impedance, hydrometry, and magnetic resonance imaging), due to innate technical limitations, the ability for one singular method to track body composition over the life span (ie, infancy to adulthood) is challenging and imperfect. The primary goal of this review is to determine if there are body composition methods that can accurately track body composition from infancy into adulthood. After careful consideration and taking into account the best available scientific evidence, we feel air displacement plethysmography is the best instrument at this time for tracking body composition, starting in infancy and forward into adulthood, partly because it is the only "practical" clinical tool currently available for use during infancy.
Near-Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure Spectroscopy of MDI and TDI Polyurethane Polymers

The sensitivity of near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) to differences in key chemical components of polyurethane polymers is presented. Carbon 1s NEXAFS spectra of polyurethane polymers made from 4,4‘-methylene di-p-phenylene isocyanate (MDI) and toluene diisocyanate (TDI) isocyanate monomers illustrate that there is an unambiguous spectroscopic fingerprint for distinguishing between MDI-based and TDI-based polyurethane polymers. NEXAFS spectra of MDI and TDI polyurea and polyurethane models show that the urea and carbamate (urethane) linkages in these polymers can be distinguished. The NEXAFS spectroscopy of the polyether component of these polymers is discussed, and the differences between the spectra of MDI and TDI polyurethanes synthesized with polyether polyols of different molecular composition and different molecular weight are presented. These polymer spectra reported herein provide appropriate model spectra to represent the pure components for quantitative microanalysis.
Environment and the Lifetime of Tropical Deep Convection in a Cloud-Permitting Regional Model Simulation

AbstractBy applying a cloud-tracking algorithm to tropical convective systems in a regional high-resolution model simulation, this study documents the environmental conditions before and after convective systems are initiated over ocean and land by following them during their lifetime. The comparative roles of various mechanisms of convection–environment interaction on the longevity of convective systems are quantified. The statistics of lifetime, maximum area, and propagation speed of the simulated deep convection agree well with geostationary satellite observations.Among the environmental variables considered, lifetime of convective systems is found to be most related to midtropospheric moisture before as well as after the initiation of convection. Over ocean, convective systems enhance surface fluxes through the associated cooling and drying of the boundary layer as well as increased wind gusts. This process appears to play a minor positive role in the longevity of systems. For systems of equal lifetim...
Towards Awareness in the Large

Management of shared artifacts is critical to ensure the correct integration and behavior of code created by multiple teams working in concert. Awareness of inter-team development activities and their effects on shared artifacts provides developers the opportunity to detect potential integration problems earlier and take proactive steps to avoid these conflicts. However, current awareness tools do not provide such kinds of awareness making them unsuitable for global software development. In this paper, we discuss their drawbacks, present three strategies to make them suitable for global settings, and illustrate these strategies through a new view for Palant?r that better addresses awareness in the large.
The diagonal Born-Oppenheimer correction to molecular dynamical properties

We examine the eAect of the diagonal Born‐Oppenheimer correction on dynamics in two simple systems ‐ the Hooke’s atom in an external harmonic potential and the collinear hydrogen exchange reaction. The transmission probability for the Hooke’s atom, calculated within the Born‐Oppenheimer approximation, is simply shifted in energy with respect to the exact result, and this is corrected by the diagonal adiabatic contribution. The reaction probability for the H3 system reflects the fact, that the diagonal Born‐Oppenheimer correction raises the barrier to the reaction by
Effect of Ultraviolet Light and Oral Vitamin D3 on Rachitic Chicks Fed Diets Containing Either Corn or Rye

Three experiments using day-old chicks were conducted in battery brooders to further study the rye-vitamin D antagonism. Birds were fed a vitamin D3-free diet containing corn or rye and submitted to diverse treatments for the first 10 days. At this time the chicks were either continued on the same diet or changed to other grain-type diets. The effect of ultraviolet light exposure on the chicks and of a single oral dose of vitamin D3 was studied, and body weight gain and bone ash were determined after a one-week experimental period. Rachitic chicks on a corn diet responded significantly better than rye-fed chicks to a single oral dose of vitamin D3, based on bone ash of fat-free, dry tibia. This rachitogenic effect of rye was completely overcome by exposing the chicks to ultraviolet light or by water extraction or acid-autoclaving this grain. The results also demonstrate that the interference by rye does not persist after this grain is removed from the diet.
An analytical approach to efficient circuit variability analysis in scaled CMOS design

CMOS scaling has led to increasingly high variability in device and circuit performance. To improve design robustness, it is important to consider variation in the design flow. In this paper a closed-form solution is proposed to predict the variability in gate timing, which significantly reduces computation cost in statistical analysis. The proposed model covers both nominal delay and its variability across a wide range of device sizes, load capacitances and input transition times. Stack effect, such as that in NAND and NOR gates, is taken into account thereby making the model sensitive to the switching patterns. For ISCAS'85 benchmark circuits, implemented using a 45nm library, the model demonstrates high accuracy with less than 3.5% error for nominal delay and within 5ps variation of the critical path. Finally, use of the proposed model in design flow is demonstrated for setup time violations.
Exhaled breath analysis with a colorimetric sensor array for the identification and characterization of lung cancer.

Introduction: The pattern of exhaled breath volatile organic compounds represents a metabolic biosignature with the potential to identify and characterize lung cancer. Breath biosignature-based classification of homogeneous subgroups of lung cancer may be more accurate than a global breath signature. Combining breath biosignatures with clinical risk factors may improve the accuracy of the signature. Objectives: To develop an exhaled breath biosignature of lung cancer using a colorimetric sensor array and to determine the accuracy of breath biosignatures of lung cancer characteristics with and without the inclusion of clinical risk factors. Methods: The exhaled breath of 229 study subjects, 92 with lung cancer and 137 controls, was drawn across a colorimetric sensor array. Logistic prediction models were developed and statistically validated based on the color changes of the sensor. Age, sex, smoking history, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were incorporated in the prediction models. Results: The validated prediction model of the combined breath and clinical biosignature was moderately accurate at distinguishing lung cancer from control subjects (C-statistic 0.811). The accuracy improved when the model focused on only one histology (C-statistic 0.825‐0.890). Individuals with different histologies could be accurately distinguished from one another (C-statistic 0.864 for adenocarcinoma versus squamous cell carcinoma). Moderate accuracies were noted for validated breath biosignatures of stage and survival (C-statistic 0.785 and 0.693, respectively). Conclusions: A colorimetric sensor array is capable of identifying exhaled breath biosignatures of lung cancer. The accuracy of breath biosignatures can be optimized by evaluating specific histologies and incorporating clinical risk factors.
A comparison of the effect of glucocorticoids on glucose uptake and hexokinase activity in lymphosarcoma P1798.

Abstract Exposure of cortisol-sensitive lymphosarcoma P1798 cells to 1 · 10 −6 M dexamethasone for 3 h resulted in a marked depression in the uptake of labeled 2-deoxyglucose. The majority of the trichloroacetic acid-soluble radioactivity was present as deoxyglucose 6-phosphate, with a small amount present as the free sugar. Approximately a 60% reduction was seen in both intracellular deoxyglucose and deoxyglucose 6-phosphate following exposure to the hormone. The inhibitory effect of glucocorticoids on glucose uptake was compared with their effect on tumor hexokinase activity after treatment both in vivo and in vitro . No change in tumor hexokinase activity could be detected at times when there was a significant inhibition of glucose uptake. No detectable glucokinase activity was found in untreated tumors. From these experiments it may be concluded that glucocorticoids are acting to decrease the entry of glucose into sensitive P1798 cells. Several possible modes of corticosteroid action on glucose uptake are discussed.
Multigroup Construct Validity Evidence of the HOPE Scale: Instrumentation to Identify Low-Income Elementary Students for Gifted Programs

Students with exceptional academic potential who come from low-income families are frequently not identified for and consequently are underrepresented in gifted and talented programs. Because of this, new means of identifying such children must be developed. This article presents the findings of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses conducted on the HOPE Scale, a 13-item teacher-rating instrument designed to identify academic and social components of giftedness in elementary-aged students. Participants included 349 teachers who completed HOPE Scales on 5,995 ethnically and economically diverse students from three rural and two metropolitan school districts in the Midwest. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis was also used to evaluate measurement invariance between income groups. Findings suggest a two-factor model represents good fit for the data while remaining loyal to the latent constructs of academic and social giftedness. Although showing some legitimate mean differences, invariance test results suggested equivalence of model form, factor loading, and factor variances across income groups. Putting the Research to Use : This research has important implications for practice. Frequently, traditional measures of achievement or aptitude under-identify children from low-income families. Concerns exist about the usefulness of teacher-ratings forms or scales in gifted and talented student identification. However, when given specific items or descriptors, teachers can provide useful information concerning student performance. The HOPE Scale provides items that teachers can use to rate specific social and academic behaviors of their students. Findings from this study revealed that teaches can effectively nominate low-income students for gifted programs. Further, items on the HOPE Scale were not biased against low-income students as rated by their teachers, meaning that the social and academic scales provided similar information concerning students in either income group. However, mean scores for student from low-income families on both scales were lower than their non-low income peers, providing evidence that instruments need to be normed on the specific groups for which their use is intended. Practitioners, should not shy away from using teacher nomination instruments, but they should consider the psychometric information available concerning the use of these instruments or rating forms as used with students in demographic groups of intended use. The HOPE Scale, as developed with indicated revisions, will provide educators and researchers with a simple, psychometrically sound instrument to help with identification of underrepresented student for gifted education services.
The effect of banthine on the central nervous system.

The newly described quaternary ammonium compound, Banthinet (B-diethylaminoethyl xanthene-9-carboxylate methobromide) has been found to be a useful drug in the therapy of peptic ulcer, spastic colon and certain other disturbances in which over-activity of the parasympathetic innervation exists due to its atropine like action1 • 2 • 3 • 4• Like atropine, it reduces gastric and bowel motility, although in therapeutic doses this reduction of motility is relatively greater than can be obtained with therapeutic doses of atropine5• The drug also reduces the volume of gastric secretion and to some extent the degree of gastric acidity5• It resembles atropine also in that it produces side reactions similar to those caused by intensive atropine medication. These consist of dry mouth, blurred vision and occasionally urinary retention. These symptoms in most cases seem to subside after 48 to 72 hours of treatment with the drug even though treatment is continued at the same dosage level. It does not seem to have the cardiovascular effects of atropine. Banthine is said to exert a blocking effect on both sympathetic and parasympathetic ganglia, although in the usual therapeutic dosages the blocking effect is more marked on the parasympathetic ganglia. It is thought that the drug also has an atropine effect on post-ganglionic cholinergic nerve endings. In the course of evaluating the effect of this drug on a group of 50 patients with peptic ulcer or spastic colon, six of the patients complained of symptoms or manifested behavior suggesting a central nervous system stimulating effect from Banthine. These symptoms consisted of mild elation which in one case seemed almost hypomanic, sensations of "floating" or unreality, and in one case, a patient (G. M.) on Banthine therapy developed a full blown psychotic reaction which subsided when the drug was withheld for 24 hours (Table I). In general, these subjective symptoms suggesting a central stimulating effect by the drug commence soon after therapy is begun and subside spontaneously as do the other side reactions after about the second or third day of treatment. However, two patients, (G. R. and S. S.) continued to manifest a moderate degree of elation or hyperactivity after the third day. In both these cases this
“It won't be any good to have democracy if we don’t have a country”: Climate change and the politics of synecdoche in the Maldives

Abstract Critical attention has recently turned to the climate change “synecdoche”: a place uniquely exposed to the environmental consequences of climate crisis, such as sea-level rise, that becomes a stand-in for the global crisis as a whole and a harbinger of more widespread disaster. The Maldives, which scientists, politicians, and activists predict could be completely submerged by 2100, filled that role between the 2008 inauguration of Mohamed Nasheed, the country's first democratically elected president after years of authoritarian rule, and his 2012 ouster. This ethnography of the Maldivian challenge to climate change asks how claiming a geopolitical identity as the world’s “canary in the coalmine” fostered an emerging internal political culture. I argue that arming climate change solutions became a state-making device in the Maldives, whose fragile coral atoll ecosystem itself became the synecdoche of a young democracy. Between 2008 and 2012, how was environmental knowledge creation understood as a democratic activity? To answer this question, I draw on ethnographic interview testimony and participant-observation in Male, the Maldivian capital, with politicians, activists, and city residents, as well as an analysis of the Nasheed administration’s public rhetoric. The article centers on the case of Bluepeace, the country’s oldest environmental NGO, which has seen significant international publicity. Following Bluepeace’s efforts to help the Maldives achieve carbon neutrality by 2020—part of Nasheed’s plan to end global climate change through exemplary national sacrifice—this article finds that climate problem solving and democracy were put to work for one another through small-scale mitigation and adaptation experiments.
Systemic and strength effects: Experimental concentrations of topical menthol

SYSTEMIC AND STRENGTH EFFECTS: EXPERIMENTAL CONCENTRATIONS OF TOPICAL MENTHOL Lee J. Winchester August 9, 2010 Menthol has been regularly utilized as a treatment in sports related injuries for many years, yet little is known about its physiological interactions or its effect on performance. Our previous study indicates that topically applied menthol may cause an acute decrease in blood flow and may improve strength capabilities. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of two different concentrations of menthol (3.5% and 10%) on systemic blood flow and strength. 16 subjects participated in this 4 week study examining blood flow and strength effects after menthol or control treatment. Results indicate that the 3.5% menthol causes a significant «.05) decrease in blood flow, and arterial diameter in the treated leg, and decreased blood flow in the untreated leg. 10% menthol treatment attenuates the statistically significant increase in blood flow observed with Control treatment, and significantly decreases arterial diameter in the treated leg. Results indicate that menthol is capable of suppressing arterial blood flow locally and systemically.
Never trust a drug that can be pronounced in three different ways : medication errors in anaesthesia : SASA refresher course texts

Medication errors cause patient death or injury. The worst medication errors involve patient-adverse events with an unknown medication error. This leads to wrong factors being incorrectly blamed and to the development of an illogical adverse event preventive protocol. Most medication errors cause no patient harm. There is a higher risk of medication errors occurring in paediatric than in adult anaesthesia as more drugs need to be diluted.
The Application of Reliability Margin Analysis to Fuel Element Performance

A method is presented for the fuel element designer to relate the reliability required of the fuel element to its design. Random and systematic uncertainties are used to determine the fraction of f...
Study Risk Determinations

Two of the questions the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) Office commonly receives are: A significant risk device presents a potential for serious risk to the health, safety, or welfare of a subject.
Parasitization of the Mexican Bean Beetle by Pediobius foveolatus in Urban Vegetable Gardens

Parasitization of the Mexican bean beetle (MBB), Epilachna varivestis , by the wasp Pediobius foveolatus was monitored in five urban vegetable gardens in Washington, D.C., in 1979 and 1980. We innoculated all five gardens with P. foveolatus in 1979 and one of these gardens in 1980. This wasp is an exotic, non-overwintering biocontrol agent that is used in Maryland soybean fields. Our innoculative releases, P. foveolatus that probably came from Maryland, or both parasitized from 97 to 100% of the MBB larvae in each garden by late summer. Therefore, most of the MBB damage m these urban gardens probably could be eliminated by making innoculative releases of adequate numbers of P. foveolatus throughout gardens at appropriate times.
Paying for Tissue: Net Benefits—Response

Kominers and Becker argue that compensating patients for their tissue will increase the supply of tissue for research. But there is no evidence that lack of compensation, the current standard, is an impediment to procurement of tissue. This is tissue that will be discarded if it is not used for research, and we doubt that very many patients refuse to give permission for the use of such tissue or that those who do refuse would reconsider if offered compensation. Kominers and Becker propose compensation mechanisms that would be complex and difficult to implement. Compensation to the patient could not be linked to the actual value of the tissue at the time of donation, because it is impossible to know the value of waste tissue at that point. It could be many years before it is known whether a sample has value. An alternative reimbursement scheme based on a future royalty interest would lead to substantial transaction costs and would favor patients whose identity, location, and relatives could be easily tracked over time, thereby unfairly disadvantaging those with less social stability and family integrity. Even the suggestion to consider a compensation scheme based on a fixed fee for all samples is problematic. If we are correct that the number of tissue samples that have little or no value dwarfs the number of those that do (an empirically testable question), the actual amount of the fixed fee would likely be quite small. While it is difficult to predict the effect that a small amount of compensation would have on the willingness of patients to donate, some empirical evidence does suggest that small payments can decrease altruistic behavior in comparison with no payments at all ([ 1 ][1]). The complexity and costs to the research enterprise of any of these mechanisms would need to be justified by a positive argument about why those who donate waste tissue deserve financial compensation, an argument that Kominers and Becker do not provide. Finally, on the question of fairness, we disagree with the authors that there is anything unfair about rewarding medical researchers for their ingenuity, talents, hard work, and willingness to take risks and to absorb opportunity costs in transforming medical waste into products that have scientific value. We want to be clear that our Policy Forum only analyzed whether donors of waste tissue should receive financial compensation. Other forms of compensation, such as recognition or commitments to use a portion of the proceeds for other worthwhile purposes, are commendable and entirely appropriate. Indeed, when the research is federally funded, all proceeds retained by the academic institution, net of expenses such as the costs of protecting intellectual property, must be used for research and educational purposes, both important public goods. The question we addressed, however, focused only on the propriety of payments to the individual and family for the use of the original discarded specimen. 1. [↵][2] 1. M. J. Sandel , What Money Can't Buy (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York, 2012), pp. 93–130. [1]: #ref-1 [2]: #xref-ref-1-1 "View reference 1 in text"
Lift-dispersion control of spinning reentry vehicles

Abstract : A control system is described that will limit cross-range dispersion of spinning reentry vehicles caused by lift variations. The controls consist of small trim flaps or reaction jets that utilize information derived from strapdown motion sensors to minimize lift nonaveraging. Because epicyclic oscillations in angle of attack do not cause dispersion, only the phasing of complex angle-of-attack motion must be controlled to minimize the net transverse velocity that would otherwise result from lift variations. This requires relatively little control energy compared with a system that would trim the vehicle at zero angle of attack. A simple control law is derived that specifies minimum feedbacks required, and the open- and closed-loop vehicle response to impulsive disturbance moments is demonstrated. (Author)
Simultaneous Determination of Beta-1 and Beta-2-Adrenergic Receptors in Tissues Containing Both Receptor Subtypes

A method for determining the relative concentrations and properties of β-1 and β-2-adrenergic receptors in tissues containing both receptor subtypes has been developed. Since (125I)-iodohydroxybenzylpindolol has similar affinities for β-1 and β-2-adrenergic receptors, it is possible to determine the total concentration of β-adrenergic receptors in a tissue by Scatchard analysis of specific (125I)-iodohydroxybenzylpindolol binding. In the presence of GTP, inhibition of specific (125I)-iodohydroxybenzylpindolol binding in rat heart, lung and five regions of rat brain by agonists and antagonists that are not specific for β-1 or β-2-adrenergic receptors yields linear Hofstee plots with Hill coefficients of approximately 1.0. On the other hand, the inhibition of specific (125I)-iodohydroxybenzylpindolol binding by drugs which have been shown to have different affinities for heart (β-1) and lung (β-2) receptors in vitro results in nonlinear Hofstee plots in each of these tissues. Two of these drugs (practolol and metoprolol) are more potent on β-1 than β-2 receptors and two of these drugs (zinterol and salmefamol) are more potent on β-2 than on β-1 receptors. The nonlinear Hofstee plots are consistent with there being two types of binding sites in each of the tissues with different affinities for the drugs. The relative number of each type of binding site and the affinity of each drug for each of the two types of site has been calculated using a computer based iterative procedure. Using this method, the relative percentages of the two receptor subtypes in rat heart, lung, cerebral cortex, caudate, cerebellum, hippocampus and diencephalon were determined. In each tissue, the use of four different drugs with different in vitro selectivity (two β-1 selective and two β-2 selective) resulted in approximately the same calculated β-1/β-2 ratio. This suggests that the assumption that the nonlinear Hofstee plots are composed of only two components is correct. In addition, the calculated affinity of each drug for β-1 and β-2 receptors was quantitatively similar in each of the seven tissues examined. The calculated ratios of β-l:β-2-adrenergic receptors are: heart 83:17; lung 15:85; cortex 81:19; caudate 76:24; cerebellum 15:85; hippocampus 81:19; and diencephalon 71:29. The absolute concentrations of β-1-adrenergic receptors in the brain regions examined varied by almost 20-fold. However, the absolute concentration of β-2-adrenergic receptors varied less than 3-fold. This suggests that β-2-adrenergic receptors in rat brain are associated with a more homogeneously distributed cellular element than are β-1-adrenergic receptors.
The native TRPP2-dependent channel of murine renal primary cilia

Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is the most common life-threatening monogenic renal disease. ADPKD results from mutations in either of two proteins: polycystin-1 (also known as...
Decolonial articulations of gender: queering Buen Vivir in the Tsotsil-Maya documentary film La Pequeña Semilla en el Asfalto

Buen Vivir is familiar largely due to its integration into the Ecuadorian and Bolivian Constitutions, yet it is also known in the Tsotsil and Tseltal-Maya communities of Chiapas, Mexico as lekil ku...