cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ten-year trends in minimally invasive hernia repair: a NSQIP database review.

Utilization of minimally invasive techniques for ventral and inguinal hernia repairs continues to rise. The purpose of this study was to provide updates on national utilization trends and wound complications of minimally invasive versus open ventral and inguinal hernia repairs. Data were accessed from the 2006 to 2017 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database. All CPT codes that correlated to laparoscopic and open inguinal and ventral hernia repairs were queried. The total number of cases and wound complications, including superficial surgical site infection (SSI), deep SSI, organ space SSI, and wound dehiscence, was collected for each respective CPT code and compared for each year. IBM SPSS Statistics Software and Microsoft Excel were used to collect and analyze the data. Between 2009 and 2017, the percentage of minimally invasive inguinal hernia repairs increased from 23.1 to 37.8%, whereas the percentage of minimally invasive ventral hernias only increased from 31.5 to 36.6%. Open inguinal hernia repairs had a wound complication rate ranging from 0.60 to 0.74%, which was double the rate of minimally invasive repairs (0.24 to 0.49%) for nearly each respective year. Minimally invasive ventral hernia repairs had total wound complication rates ranging from 0.91 to 1.37%, whereas open ventral hernias had the highest total wound complication rates ranging from 5.07 to 6.26%. Over the last ten years, the utilization of minimally invasive inguinal and ventral hernia repair has increased by nearly two-fold. A larger proportion of this increase has been secondary to minimally invasive inguinal compared to ventral hernia repairs. Wound complications across all techniques remained stable or improved, and remained significantly less in the minimally invasive compared to open approaches. This study highlights the continued growth of minimally invasive techniques in hernia repair over the last decade.
Low-Cost Handle Study for Photovoltaics on Transfer Printed Virtual Substrates

This work expands upon previous research related to transfer printed virtual substrates: a technique for generating low-cost engineered substrates that is not based on wafer reuse. Here, silicon and sapphire are evaluated as candidate low-cost handle materials, validated by metal organic chemical vapor deposition regrowth of GaAs single-junction solar cells. Resulting devices are studied via materials and electrical characterization techniques, including concentration measurements that indicate GaAs//sapphire TPVS open-circuit voltage at >10 suns comparable with identical devices grown on a prime GaAs substrate.
Robotic-assisted Ivor Lewis esophagectomy, a review of the technique

Esophageal resection is a key component of the multidisciplinary management of esophageal cancer. Robotic-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy is gaining widespread approval amongst few centers with promising early data. There is significant variability in the operative approach utilized by different centers and this review describes, step-by-step, the operative technique at a high-volume tertiary center. The cornerstone of management is individualized surgical approach, based on patient, tumor and technical factors. Although our approach is based on aforementioned factors, our preferred approach is an Ivor Lewis esophagectomy and this review focuses on that. The procedure is broken down into three key parts, starting with an abdominal exploration and creation of the gastric conduit, placement of jejunostomy tube, moving to thoracic mobilization and creation of the side-side 6 cm stapled esophagogastric anastomosis with a final abdominal portion to assure proper positioning of the conduit and reducing redundancy. This approach is fully robotic and a side to side anastomosis facilitates the creation of a widely patent anastomosis therefore minimizing the risk of anastomotic leaks and strictures. Our experience with minimally invasive esophagectomy, as has been previously published, is associated with a 5.1% of anastomotic leak and 7.6% of anastomotic stricture. The robotic platform further optimizes this technique and helps us safely accomplish a side to side stapled anastomosis. Superior instrument dexterity in a restricted thoracic space is facilitated by intracorporeal suturing and robotic stapling. Thus, it obviates the need for a larger thoracotomy incision, which is typically needed for an EEA anastomosis, and that is traditionally associated with higher stricture rate.
Hyper-localized measures of air pollution and risk of preterm birth in Oakland and San Jose, California.

Author(s): Riddell, Corinne A; Goin, Dana E; Morello-Frosch, Rachel; Apte, Joshua S; Glymour, M Maria; Torres, Jacqueline M; Casey, Joan A | Abstract: BackgroundUS preterm-birth rates are 1.6 times higher for Black mothers than for White mothers. Although traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) may increase the risk of preterm birth, evaluating its effect on preterm birth and disparities has been challenging because TRAP is often measured inaccurately. This study sought to estimate the effect of TRAP exposure, measured at the street level, on the prevalence of preterm birth by race/ethnicity.MethodsWe linked birth-registry data with TRAP measured at the street level for singleton births in sampled communities during 2013-2015 in Oakland and San Jose, California. Using logistic regression and marginal standardization, we estimated the effects of exposure to black carbon, nitrogen dioxide and ultrafine particles on preterm birth after confounder adjustment and stratification by race/ethnicity.ResultsThere were 8823 singleton births, of which 760 (8.6%) were preterm. Shifting black-carbon exposure from the 10th to the 90th percentile was associated with: 6.8%age point higher risk of preterm birth (95% confidence interval = 0.1 to 13.5) among Black women; 2.1%age point higher risk (95% confidence interval = -1.1 to 5.2) among Latinas; and inconclusive null findings among Asian and White women. For Latinas, there was evidence of a positive association between the other pollutants and risk of preterm birth, although effect sizes were attenuated in models that co-adjusted for other TRAP.ConclusionsExposure to TRAP, especially black carbon, may increase the risk of preterm birth for Latina and Black women but not for Asian and White women.
FoveaTer: Foveated Transformer for Image Classification.

Many animals and humans process the visual field with a varying spatial resolution (foveated vision) and use peripheral processing to make eye movements and point the fovea to acquire high-resolution information about objects of interest. This architecture results in computationally efficient rapid scene exploration. Recent progress in vision Transformers has brought about new alternatives to the traditionally convolution-reliant computer vision systems. However, these models do not explicitly model the foveated properties of the visual system nor the interaction between eye movements and the classification task. We propose foveated Transformer (FoveaTer) model, which uses pooling regions and saccadic movements to perform object classification tasks using a vision Transformer architecture. Our proposed model pools the image features using squared pooling regions, an approximation to the biologically-inspired foveated architecture, and uses the pooled features as an input to a Transformer Network. It decides on the following fixation location based on the attention assigned by the Transformer to various locations from previous and present fixations. The model uses a confidence threshold to stop scene exploration, allowing to dynamically allocate more fixation/computational resources to more challenging images. We construct an ensemble model using our proposed model and unfoveated model, achieving an accuracy 1.36% below the unfoveated model with 22% computational savings. Finally, we demonstrate our model's robustness against adversarial attacks, where it outperforms the unfoveated model.
Design of T cell epitope-based vaccine candidate for SARS-CoV-2 targeting nucleocapsid and spike protein escape variants

The current COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread and devastate in the absence of effective treatments, warranting global concern and action. Despite progress in vaccine development, the rise of novel, increasingly infectious SARS-CoV-2 variants makes it clear that our response to the virus must continue to evolve along with it. The use of immunoinformatics provides an opportunity to rapidly and efficiently expand the tools at our disposal to combat the current pandemic and prepare for future outbreaks through epitope-based vaccine design. In this study, we validated and compared the currently available epitope prediction tools, and then used the best tools to predict T cell epitopes from SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid proteins for use in an epitope-based vaccine. We combined the mouse MHC affinity predictor and clinical predictors such as HLA affinity, immunogenicity, antigenicity, allergenicity, toxicity and stability to select the highest quality CD8 and CD4 T cell epitopes for the common SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern suitable for further preclinical studies. We also identified variant-specific epitopes to more precisely target the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Cluster 5 and US variants. We then modeled the 3D structures of our top 4 N and S epitopes to investigate the molecular interaction between peptide-MHC and peptide-MHC-TCR complexes. Following in vitro and in vivo validation, the epitopes identified by this study may be used in an epitope-based vaccine to protect across all current variants, as well as in variant-specific booster shots to target variants of concern. Immunoinformatics tools allowed us to efficiently predict epitopes in silico most likely to prove effective in vivo, providing a more streamlined process for vaccine development in the context of a rapidly evolving pandemic.
Operant Conditioning in the Crab

Several operant conditioning procedures have been successfully used with the green crab, Carcinus maenas. Animals learned to press a bar for food reward and showed high rates of responding on a continuous reinforcement schedule or on a fixed ratio 2 schedule (every other response reinforced). Animals on a variable time schedule showed lower rates of responding. Crabs readily learned a spatial discrimination task in which one bar causes food to be dispensed (S+) and one is inactive (S-). The eye elevation system of the green crab can also be used in a yoked procedure using air puff to the eye as punishment. Master animals reduced the number of eye elevations after reflex withdrawal and showed longer latency compared to yoked controls. A delay introduced between response and punishment reduced the suppressing effect of the punishment.
Measures and Functions of Bounded Variation on R

This chapter is devoted to the context of set functions and corresponding point functions on R, a context so important that it deserves a treatment beyond the discussion of Lebesgue-Stieltjes measures in Chapter IV. The first topic will be the derivation of monotone functions, for which a covering lemma will be needed.
Computational Results for an Efficient Implementation of the GOP Algorithm and Its Variants

Recently, Floudas and Visweswaran (1990, 1993) proposed a global optimization algorithm (GOP) for the solution of a large class of nonconvex problems through a series of primal and relaxed dual subproblems that provide upper and lower bounds on the global solution. Visweswaran and Floudas (1995a) proposed a reformulation of the algorithm in the framework of a branch and bound approach that allows for an easier implementation. They also proposed an implicit enumeration of all the nodes in the resulting branch and bound tree using a mixed integer linear (MILP) formulation, and a linear branching scheme that reduces the number of subproblems from exponential to linear. In this paper, a complete implementation of the new versions of the GOP algorithm, as well as detailed computational results of applying the algorithm to various classes of nonconvex optimization problems is presented. The problems considered including pooling and blending problems, problems with separation and heat exchanger networks, robust stability analysis with real parameter uncertainty, and concave and indefinite quadratic problems of medium size.
Self-adaptive method for high frequency seismic surface wave method

Abstract When the high frequency multi-channel analysis of surface waves (MASW) method is conducted to explore soil properties in the vadose zone, existing rules for selecting the near offset and spread lengths cannot satisfy the requirements of planar dominant Rayleigh waves for all frequencies of interest and will inevitably introduce near and far field effects as well as spatial aliases at certain frequencies. To solve these problems, a self-adaptive method is developed to determine high frequency dispersion trends. In this method, an initial dispersion curve is obtained by a fixed-offset MASW method and used to estimate wavelengths at all frequencies of interest. At each frequency, the near offset and spread lengths are then set to be 0.2–0.6 and 2–4 wavelengths respectively. In other words, the near offset and spread lengths are self-adaptive to the corresponding wavelength. Furthermore, in order to avoid spatial aliases and minimize the number of sensors or sensor locations, a variable sensor spacing configuration is proposed, in which the spacing for the first 120 steps is set to be 0.5 cm and the next 40 steps start with 1 cm spacing followed by 1 cm incremental spacing for each subsequent step. In this study, an accelerometer was used as a sensor to detect surface vibrations generated by an electrodynamic shaker operating in chirp mode. Two field tests were conducted and the results from the fixed-offset, self-adaptive, and variable spacing MASW methods were compared. The study demonstrates the ability of the self-adaptive MASW method to preferentially identify the dispersion trends of either the fundamental mode or higher modes of Rayleigh waves. It is also found that the dispersion trends can be determined beyond the source frequency range due to nonlinear effects that generate high harmonics of surface waves. This nonlinear phenomenon deserves future investigation.
Classical Conditioning in Marketing

In the earlier chapters we examined the process of perception and demonstrated a number of ways in which learning plays a crucial role in interpreting what we are seeing. Now, we need to take a closer look at this mechanism that we call learning. Without getting bogged down in the differences between the many definitions of learning, let us simply consider learning to be the process of storage and retrieval of experiences. Sometimes retrieval is spoken of as a separate process called memory because storage and retrieval clearly operate separately. For example, our conscious minds remember only a tiny fraction of the experiences we have had in our lives, but under the right circumstances, for instance, with prompting, we are able to recall much more. Indeed, some evidence suggests that everything we ever knew is still there, and recall is hampered, not by storage, but by retrieval.
The genesis of carbon-supported Fe$z.sbnd;Mn and K$z.sbnd;Fe$z.sbnd;Mn catalysts from stoichiometric mixed-metal carbonyl clusters II. Characterization by Mssbauer spectroscopy and TEM/EDS

Abstract Mossbauer effect spectroscopy (MES) and transmission electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy ( TEM EDS ) were used to study the chemistry of the iron particles produced by the thermal decomposition of Stoichiometric KFe, FeMn, and KFeMn mixed-metal carbonyl clusters on a high surface area carbon. Intermediate chemical states during the cluster decomposition process below 473 K were identified using MES, and they indicated that decarbonylation occurred via the formation of Fe(CO) 5 and [Fe 4 (CO) 13 ] − during heating in H 2 . Following decomposition at 473 K, the principal final phase was the D-structure, which has been associated with superparamagnetic Fe combined with an Fe 2+ state. Additionally, a doublet characteristic of Fe 3+ oxide and/or superparamagnetic carbide appeared in the spectrum. No evidence for a mixed spinel such as Fe 2 MnO 4 was obtained, but the Fe and Mn appeared to remain in contact, presumably as MnO x on top of small Fe crystallites. A subsequent treatment in H 2 at 673 K caused the K-promoted catalysts to sinter and form separate phases of Mn oxide and large particles of α-Fe, as detected by MES and TEM EDS . For the unpromoted FeMn sample, little sintering occurred under H 2 at 673 K, and the particles existed in a phase which has been previously found in Fe-only Carbon-supported catalysts.
High Resolution Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy Imaging

Several modern microanalytical techniques strive to describe the chemical composition of materials by images at ever increasing spatial resolution and sensitivity. Digital micrographs that depict the two-dimensional distribution of selected constituents (analytical maps) across small areas of a sample are one of the most effective vehicles for recording the retrieved information quantitatively. One technique in particular, secondary ion mass spectroscopy or, more appropriately, spectrometry (SIMS) imaging, has been advanced during the last two decades to reach analytical image resolution of a few tens of nanometers. High-resolution SIMS imaging has become practical due to the development of finely focused scanning ion probes of high brightness, incorporated in scanning ion microscopes or microprobes (SIM), as is illustrated in this context. SIMS images are shown that embody a wealth of correlative interwoven information in a most compact form. These can be thought of as two-dimensional projections of an abstract multidimensional space that encompasses the spatial dimensions (physical structure), the mass or atomic number dimension (chemical structure), and, as a further variable, the concentration of each constituent in a sample (quantification). In this article, the fundamental principles that underlie the formation of SIMS images, the requirements and limitations in attaining high spatial resolution (<100 nm), the engineering details of a state-of-the-art SIM, and a number of applications, illustrated by images, in the materials sciences are reviewed. Keywords: high resolution secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS); imaging fundamentals; dynamic SIMS imaging; design; performance; scanning ion microprobe; research application
US public policy and emerging technologies: The case of solar energy

Abstract Public policy is generally believed to have an effect on the emergence and rate of diffusion of technology. Solar energy technologies are no exception. This article explores the relationship between a variety of US public policies and the emergence and diffusion of solar energy technologies using data gathered as part of the National Solar Energy Policy Study. The article presents findings regarding the status and policy position of US renewable energy R&D and manufacturing organizations. Specific policy options which could be adopted to speed emergence and diffusion of solar energy technology products are discussed.
Iterative Methods, Preconditioners, and Multigrid

This chapter contains sections titled: Definitions Iterative Methods for the Solution of Large Matrices Generalized Minimum Residual Method Conjugate Gradient Method The Preconditioner Matrix Multigrid Process and Its Use as a Preconditioner ]]>
Dynamics of a sticky price small open economy facing technology shocks: why be open?

This article presents a small open economy model which is a part of the world that consists of a continuum of infinitesimal open economies. New Keynesian Investment Saving Line (IS) and Phillips curves are derived for the small open economy and the rest of the world. For five different policies, (i.e. domestic inflation targeting, consumer price index (CPI) inflation targeting, exchange rate peg, domestic inflation Taylor rule and CPI inflation Taylor rule) the effects of domestic and world technology shocks are analysed. The degree of openness is discussed and the effect of openness is addressed by comparing the impulse responses of a small open economy and closed economy that face productivity shocks.
Internal Rate of Return

The internal rate of return is defined. Keywords: cash flow; net present value; expected present value
Heat capacity of semicrystalline, linear poly(oxymethylene) and poly(oxyethylene)†

The heat capacities of 38 semicrystalline poly(oxymethylene)s and poly(oxyethylene)s were determined by differential scanning calorimetry from 205 K through the melting transition. By comparison with the well known limiting heat capacities of the supercooled liquids and the crystals of the macromolecules it was found that there are negative and positive deviations from additivity of the heat capacities with crystallinity between the glass transition and the melting transition. The negative deviations are linked with “rigid amorphous” material, and the positive deviations were previously linked to defect formation or early melting. The rigid amorphous fraction in poly(oxymethylene) is constant up to the melting region, in contrast to polypropylene, where it is decreasing with temperature. The proposed mesophase transition in poly(oxymethylene) is shown to be a minor effect. The poly(oxyethylene) heat capacity is governed by positive heat capacity deviations within the rather short temperature range between glass transition and melting.
Weighted Caccioppoli-type estimates and weak reverse Holder inequalities for $A$-harmonic tensors

We obtain a local weighted Caccioppoli-type estimate and prove the weighted version of the weak reverse Holder inequality for A-harmonic tensors.
Improved color flow mapping using the wideband maximum likelihood estimator

The use of the wideband maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) is shown to improve the color flow mapping of the blood velocity profile. Using a transmitted signal with a significant fractional bandwidth, it is shown that the wideband MLE improves the quality of the color flow estimate and simultaneously allows an increase in the frame rate. It is the improved global accuracy of the estimate, with the use of a new signaling scheme, that allows an increase in the frame rate of the display. The signaling scheme interleaves transmission of pulses in two or three directories. This interleaving, with nonperiodic transmission, reduces the total number of pulses required to achieve a fixed level of local and global accuracy. To study the overall estimator performance, the authors evaluate the expected estimator output and demonstrate that the width of the mainlobe and height of subsidiary peaks are reduced through the use of this estimator and signaling scheme. >
Comments on: A new model for statistical error analysis in XAS: about the distribution function of the absorption coefficient by E. Curis & S. Bénazeth (2001). J. Synchrotron Rad.8, 264-266.

The recent paper by Curis & Benazeth (2001) considers modeling of the experimental distribution of the absorption coefficient. As a preamble to this, the authors consider the exact law of the quotient of two independent normal random variables. They claim to have derived the exact law, it being a ‘quite long and complex’ expression not given in the paper. In fact, the problem of the quotient of two independent or dependent normal random variables was considered in the 1960s by Marsaglia (1965) and Hinkley (1969). Both these papers provide neat and compact expressions for the exact law of the ratio. So, we are somewhat surprised by the claim by Curis & Benazeth (2001). For completeness, we would like to add that Yatchew (1986) has recently extended the work of Marsaglia (1965) and Hinkley (1969) to the multivariate case. The purpose of this correspondence is not just to correct the mistake. We feel the references mentioned above can help the readers and authors of this journal in making appropriate choices with regard to similar modeling problems. It will also help to prevent similar mistakes in the future.
Environmental Licensing and Conflict in Peru's Mining Sector: A Path-Dependent Analysis

Summary What is the relationship between formal participatory structures and the onset and evolution of popular mobilization? Under what conditions does mobilization bring about policy and even institutional change? This article examines mining conflict—and in particular the project approval stage, when mobilization is most likely to interrupt extraction—in Peru. Utilizing a path-dependent framework, the paper finds that very limited spaces for community participation in the environmental impact assessment process in fact have prompted and transformed popular mobilization in extractive zones, leading to outside scrutiny and the stalling of major projects.
Predicting alcohol consumption in adolescence from alcohol-specific and general externalizing genetic risk factors, key environmental exposures and their interaction

Background Alcohol consumption is influenced by specific genetic risk factors for alcohol use disorders (AUDs), non-specific genetic risk factors for externalizing behaviors and various environmental experiences. We have limited knowledge of how these risk factors inter-relate through development.
Characterization of thermal desorption phenomena for the cleanup of contaminated soil

Abstract The overall goal of this research is to develop an understanding of the fundamental transport phenomena associated with the evolution of hazardous constituents from several types of solid materials, in particular, soils. At the present time, incineration is a relatively costly alternative for the cleanup of contaminated soils. An understanding of the mass transfer and heat transfer limitations might lead to a more economical option, where the contaminants and other constituents are desorbed from the soil at lower temperatures in a primary combustor and then a secondary,high temperature combustor (afterburner) decomposes the potentially hazardous off-gases. This work is aimed at providing fundamental rate information which will be used to model thermal desorption of chemical constituents from soils under a Variety of thermal conditions, soil properties, and contaminants. The experimental approach is threefold. First, a bench-scale particle-characterization reactor (PCR) has been developed and is being used to characterize intraparticle transport under conditions where the bulk concentration and temperature at the particle surface are known. Following these studies, a packed-bed reactor will be used to examine interparticle transport within a well-characterized bed of particles. In the third portion of the work a 73 kW pilot-scale rotary kiln will be used to obtain time resolved measurements of trace species evolution. This paper reports recent PCR results which indicate that soil properties, type of contaminant, and temperature are important in the desorption of contaminants from soil particles.
Game-based assessment: an integrated model for capturing evidence of learning in play

This paper presents the assessment data aggregator for game environments (ADAGE), a click-stream data framework designed to test whether click-stream data can provide reliable evidence of learning. As digitally-based games become increasingly prevalent in both formal and informal learning environments, robust research and assessment vehicles within well-designed games become vital. A central challenge with this video games research in education is to demonstrate evidence of player learning. Rather than ignore the motivating and information-rich features of games in capturing learning, assessment designers need to attend to the ways in which game-play itself can provide a powerful new form of assessment. This requires learning researchers to think of games as both intervention and assessment; and to develop methods for using the internal structures of games as paths for evidence generation to document learning. ADAGE consists of two main layers: 1) the semantic template that determines which click-stream data events could be indicators of learning; 2) the learning telemetry that captures data for analysis. This study highlights how ADAGE was implemented in science game to provide a wealth of in-game player data indicative of both gameplay and learning progress to reveal important relationships between kinds of success, failure and learning in the game.
Frequency-based real-time line trip detection and alarm trigger development

Wide-area measurement systems have made it possible for operators to monitor the dynamics of the whole power system in real time. By utilizing the FNET/GridEye system in the distribution network, many synchrophasor-based event detectors have been developed. This paper focuses on the development of a real-time application for line trip detection. A frequency-based algorithm is selected to identify line trip events by assembling low-pass filters and peak detectors. The detection and alarm trigger application is implemented using Adapters based on the openPDC platform. The performance of this application is tested with historical line trip events.
An experimental expert system for process planning of sheet-metal parts

Abstract This paper presents an experimental expert system for process planning of sheet-metal parts. A basic framework for representing the necessary expert knowledge and part geometry information is outlined. The system, which is developed in Turbo Prolog and implemented for the planning of simple bent and punched parts, is described. Directions for further research are also examined.
Building a framework for a geriatric acute care model

Purpose – The purpose of this mixed methods study is to define the core components of a system‐wide, acute care program designed to meet the needs of older adults.Design/methodology/approach – Concept mapping methodology (multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis) was used to obtain data describing the core components of a geriatric acute care model. The input of 306 “stakeholders” (clinicians, administrators, consumers, educators, and researchers) was obtained through a world wide web interface, supplemented with consumer interviews.Findings – The findings yielded eight clusters describing components of a geriatric acute care program: guiding principles, leadership, organizational structures, physical environment, patient‐ and family‐centered approaches, aging‐sensitive practices, geriatric staff competence, and interdisciplinary resources and processes. A total of 113 items that describe dimensions of quality were identified with these clusters.Practical implications – The clusters and dimensions pr...
Evidence of altered neurogranin immunoreactivity in areas 9 and 32 of schizophrenic prefrontal cortex

Schizophrenia is a complex and poorly understood neuropsychiatric disorder. Much research has begun to implicate the prefrontal cortex in the disease. Using immunocytochemistry we determined if neurogranin, a protein found in dendrites, spines and cell bodies and an upstream regulator of calcium was altered in areas 9 and 32 of schizophrenic prefrontal cortex. We examined its expression in pyramidal cells in layers III and V. Tissues from 7 controls and 7 schizophrenics (from our original MAP2 study, Jones, L., Johnson, N., Byne, W., 2002. Alterations in MAP2 staining in area 9 and 32 of schizophrenic prefrontal cortex. Psych. Res. 114, 137–148) matched for age, sex and postmortem interval were examined. Using area fraction analysis we quantified the immunostaining. Additionally, we counted the number of positively stained pyramidal cells in the same 7 pairs. Neurogranin immunostaining was dramatically reduced in both layers III (72%) and V (50%) in area 9. In area 32 there was a more modest reduction in both layers III (36%) and V (40%). There was no difference in either brain region or layer in the density of positively stained pyramidal cells. These data confirm mounting evidence suggesting dendritic loss in the prefrontal cortex and suggest that the loss of protein does not appear to be due to a change in the number of cells producing the protein but rather in the amount of protein being produced. Additionally, these data suggest that the loss of neurogranin may alter the calcium–calmodulin dependent pathways due to its role as a regulator of calmodulin suggesting a link between structural and functional alterations of the pyramidal cells in the prefrontal cortex.
Magnetic resonance imaging with laser-polarized 129Xe

Abstract To investigate the feasibility of magnetic resonance imaging with laser-polarized 129 Xe we have undertaken the study of time dependences of the 129 Xe magnetization in the whole body and its build-up in the brain. We conclude that by increasing the production and absolute polarization of the 129 Xe, it will be possible to apply this technique to human brain activation studies based on quantitative measurement of regional cerebral blood flow.
Modification of ethanol effects by bicuculline: genotype-dependent responses and inheritance.

Genetic influences on the interaction between ethanol (ETOH) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmitter systems were eveluated with a survey of responses to coadministration of ETOH and a GABA antagonist, bicuculline, in a battery of inbred mouse strains. The selectively bred ETOH-sensitive Long-Sleep (LS) mice, the relatively ETOH-resistant Short-Sleep (SS) mice, and a genetically heterogeneous stock (GHS) were also evaluated. The effect of bicuculline on ETOH-induced sedation, hypothermia, and blood ethanol content upon recovery from sedation was assessed. Inheritance of these responses was also examined using F1 hybrids. The effect of bicuculline on ETOH-produced narcosis varied widely among stocks and included antagonism, potentiation, and no effect. Changes in ETOH-induced narcosis produced by bicuculline were accompanied by changes in blood ethanol concentrations consistent with an hypothesis of altered central nervous system sensitivity to ETOH. Knowledge of a strain's seizure susceptibility to the GABA antagonist or of its sensitivity to the hypnotic effects of ETOH were of no predictive value in estimating the outcome of coadministration studies, suggesting at least partially separate genetic influences on each phenotype. In cross-breeding studies there was commonly dominance toward a profile of bicuculline antagonism of ETOH narcosis but different patterns of dominance were observed for seizure susceptibility, again inicating separate genetic control. The results suggest considerable complexity of GABAergic involvement in genotype-dependent ETOH sensitivity.
Free Radicals from Selenium and Sulphur Antioxidants

RESEARCH on the biochemical function of trace selenium in animal nutrition indicates it probably functions in lipid antioxidant and free radical acceptor reactions. Selenoprotein fractions from selenate-fed animals have up to 500 times the antioxidant activity of vitamin E (ref. 1). Selenoamino-acids were very effective in reducing free-radical damage to enzymes and amino-acids when aqueous solutions were exposed to ionizing radiation2. Woodbridge3 found organic selenium compounds to be powerful antioxidant agents. These unusual properties of selenium compounds in reacting with free radicals suggested that an electron paramagnetic resonance investigation of selenium amino-acids and antioxidants and their sulphur analogues would be of interest.
Simultaneous assessment of rodent behavior and neurochemistry using a miniature positron emission tomograph

A miniature portable tomograph allows the imaging of awake, behaving rats with positron emission tomography while simultaneously measuring their behavior. This method for noninvasive whole-brain imaging can link studies of brain activity with particular behaviors.
Restructuring of the Polish Passenger Car Industry through Foreign Direct Investment

A U.S.-based geographer discusses the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Polish passenger car industry. The paper illustrates the magnitude of enterprise restructuring and changes in...
On applications of asymptotic reliability functions to the reliability and risk evaluation of pipelines

Abstract In the reliability investigation of large systems the problem of the complexity of their reliability functions appears. This problem may be approximately solved by assuming that the numer of the system components tends to infinity and finding the limit reliability function of the system. The solution for two-state series and parallel systems is well known and given for instance in `Statistical theory of reliability and life testing' by Barlow and Prochan. Limit reliability functions of more complex two-state series-parallel and parallel-series systems with identical components are discussed by Kolowrocki (Reliability Engineering and System Safety 1993;41:251–7). The results on limit reliability functions of two-state series-parallel and parallel-series systems with different components are given by Kolowrocki (Reliability Engineering and System Safety 1994;46:179–88). Systems with multistate components are more general and play an important role in the reliability practice, specially in system safety analysis. Therefore in the paper, besides of the classes of limit reliability functions for non-homogeneous two-state systems, the classes of such functions for any large homogeneous multistate series and series-parallel systems are given. Moreover, some applications of the results to the reliability and risk evaluation of pipelines are presented.
Does Surgical Approach Affect the Incidence of Inflatable Penile Prosthesis Infection

Abstract Objectives. To review retrospectively the rate of infection in 380 consecutive organically impotent men implanted with a Mentor Alpha I inflatable penile prosthesis, stratified by surgical approach (scrotal or infrapubic). Methods. Data were obtained from review of medical records. One hundred percent of cases were available for a minimum postoperative follow-up of 6 months. Results. Twenty patients had a prior penile prosthetic operation and were excluded, leaving 360 primary implants for review. Overall, 6 patients (1.7%) developed periprosthetic infection. Four of these 6 patients were diabetic. Four of 139 infrapubic cases (2.9%) and 2 of 221 scrotal cases (0.9%) developed periprosthetic infection. This difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.15). Equal proportions of the infrapubic (39.6%) and scrotal cases (40.3%) were diabetic patients. The infection rate in patients with and without diabetes was 4 of 144 (2.8%) and 2 of 216 (0.9%), respectively. This difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.18). Conclusions. This study indicates that there is no statistically significant difference in the infection rate when the scrotal and infrapubic approaches to inflatable penile prosthesis insertion are compared.
A systematic review: The effect of clinical supervision on patient and residency education outcomes

PurposeTo summarize the literature regarding the effect of clinical supervision on patient and educational outcomes, especially in light of the recent (2010) Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education report that recommends augmented supervision to improve resident education and patient sa
Oxidation of NO with O2 on Pt(111) and Pt(321) Large Single Crystals

The kinetics of the oxidation of NO by O2 was studied on 1 cm diameter single crystals, Pt(111) and Pt(321), at atmospheric pressure. The surface of the (321) crystal is composed of 20% kink, 20% step, and 60% terrace atoms and simulates small 1−3 nm size Pt particles on supported catalysts, while the (111) surface simulates the most stable plane found on large, >5 nm, particles. The turnover rates (TORs), that is, rate normalized by the exposed platinum, on the two single crystals differ by less than a factor of 2 over the range of conditions studied and are also similar to the TOR on a supported catalyst with an average particle size of 9 nm. Both surfaces show a dynamic kinetic behavior as evidenced by a change in the apparent activation energy and reaction orders as a function of reaction conditions. The oxygen coverage after initial rate experiments on Pt(111) was 0.6 monolayer (ML) on average which is similar to that measured previously by in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) under similar...
Limiting the Risk of Bayes and Empirical Bayes Estimators—Part I: The Bayes Case

Abstract The first part of this article considers the Bayesian problem of estimating the mean, θ, of a normal distribution when the mean itself has a normal prior. The usual Bayes estimator for this situation has high risk if θ is far from the mean of the prior distribution. We suggest rules which do not have this bad property and still perform well against the normal prior. These rules are compromises between the Bayes rule and the MLE. Similar rules are suggested for the empirical Bayes situation where the mean and variance of the prior is unknown but can be estimated from the data provided by several simultaneous estimation problems. In this case the suggested rules compromise between the James-Stein estimator of a mean vector and the MLE.
New Arctic Air Crash Aftermath Role-Play Simulation™: Orchestrating a Fundamental Surprise:

We describe an aviation scenario-based role-play simulation used to teach healthcare practitioners about barriers to learning from accidents. Participants searched for the causes of the crash in a scenario that encouraged a “garden path” explanation that the root cause was a risky decision to take off despite visible ice on the wings. During a debriefing session, the actual structure of how the system failed is revealed, including over 100 active and latent contributors to the failure with a multitude of potential lessons to improve safety. The dissonance between lessons learned during the role-play and the potential lessons creates a “fundamental surprise” situation that allows oversimplified assumptions of how complex systems fail to be challenged.
Mars: runtime support for coordinated applications

Expert knowledge from many disciplines is frequently embodied in stand-alone codes used to solve particular problems. Codes from various disciplines can be composed into cooperative ensembles that can answer questions larger than any solitary code can. These multi-code compositions are called multidisciplinary applications and are a growing area of research. To support the integration of existing codes into multidisciplinary applications, we have constructed the Multidisciplinary Application Runtime System (MARS). MARS supports legacy modules, heterogeneous execution environments, conditional execution flows, dynamic module invocation and realignment, runtime binding of output data paths, and a simple specification language to script module actions.
Construction of functionalized tricyclic dihydropyrazino-quinazolinedione chemotypes via an Ugi/N-acyliminium ion cyclization cascade.

Dihydropyrazino-quinazolinedione chemotypes are complex and structurally challenging structures of biological interest, being found in the marine alkaloids such as brevianamide M–N and fumiquinazolines A–C. Herein we report the synthesis of this tricyclic system in three synthetic operations by means of an Ugi multi-component reaction (MCR) followed by a tandem N-acyliminium ion cyclization-intramolecular nucleophilic addition reaction sequence. Additional structural diversification for further library enrichment was also accomplished via sequential N-alkylation and N-acylation/sulfonation.
Anomalous results for the 9Be(α, t)10B and 13C(α, t)14N reactions at Eα = 27 meV

Abstract Angular distributions for the reactions 9Be(α, t)10B and 13C(α, t)14N have been measured at Eα = 27 MeV in the angular range 15°–110° c.m. for transitions to the first four states in 10B and the first five states in 14N. Excitation functions for 9Be(α, t)10B measured at the lab angles 25° and 45° in the energy range 26–27.5 MeV showed little structure indicating a small compound nucleus contribution. For both reactions the transition to the 0+T = 1 state is suppressed by at least a factor of five compared to the transition to the T = 0 states. DWBA and CCBA calculations gave a poor description of the data and did not predict the suppression of the T = 1 transitions in the (α, t) reactions. A reanalysis of more recent (d, n) and (τ, d) data in terms of the Cotanch-Robson isospin dependent DWBA model, which explains the spectroscopic factor ratio for T = 1 T = 0 transitions in the two reactions, is also presented.
The natural history of pelvi‐ureteric junction obstruction in children presenting clinically with the complaint

Objective To determine the natural history of untreated pelvi-ureteric junction (PUJ) obstruction in children presenting clinically with the complaint. Patients and methods The study comprised 42 children with anatomical PUJ obstruction (three with bilateral lesions) who were managed expectantly in the first instance, who had no immediately troublesome symptoms and differential function in the affected kidney(s) of >40%. They were followed by serial ultrasonography and dynamic diuresis renography. Pyeloplasty was advised for those with persistent symptoms or where differential renal function fell below 40%. Results Only 15 children had presented with clearly relevant symptoms (loin pain or febrile urinary infection). Thirty-four kidneys showed obstructive renographic curves initially and 38 had moderate or severe hydronephrosis. During the follow-up (range 14–120 months, mean 56) patients remained asymptomatic except for four of the nine presenting with loin pain. Renographic curves were apt to change, with ‘obstruction’ increasing or decreasing with time, in the latter instance usually with lessening or resolution of hydronephrosis. Eleven patients underwent pyeloplasty, five for symptoms and six because of deteriorating renal function. Renal function did not decline in any patient with mild hydronephrosis and/or a non-obstructive renographic curve at presentation, but did so disproportionately in those with severe hydronephrosis or a Type IV renographic curve. Conclusions Patients effectively asymptomatic at presentation are likely to remain so. Expectant management is appropriate for patients with mild hydronephrosis and/or non-obstructive renographic curves at the outset. Conversely, pyeloplasty may be advisable for those with severe hydronephrosis or Type IV renographic curves. Otherwise, for most the natural history of the complaint remains to be determined.