cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Behavioral Pharmacology of Alcohol

The actions of ethyl alcohol (ethanol) on behavior are diverse and depend on amount of ethanol administered, the time-course of administration, route of administration, and particularly blood ethanol level. Blood ethanol level is determined by the administration parameters, exposure history (both long term and recent), and environmental context. A wide spectrum of behavioral effects have been studied, particularly positive reinforcing actions maintaining self-administration and aversive effects observed in conditioned taste aversion. This chapter reviews the behavior pharmacology of ethanol.
Clindamycin and metronidazole

Metronidazole is a bactericidal antibiotic with strong activity against most anaerobes and certain parasites. The drug has excellent bioavailability and good penetration in most tissues, including the cerebrospinal fluid and brain abscess contents. It is usually well tolerated with few side effects. With a few exceptions, the percentage of anaerobes, including B. fragilis group, that are resistant to metronidazole remains low. Metronidazole has been used extensively in clinical practice for years, and its uses have expanded. Its exact role in the management of Crohn's disease and entities related to H. pylori is evolving.
Using big data to examine the effect of urbanism on social networks

Sociological theories suggest that urban life affects human sociability in negative ways. People in urban areas are expected to have fewer and weaker ties than those in rural areas. Rural areas sho...
Comparison of Two Low-Power Signal Processing Algorithms for Optical Heart Rate Monitoring

Photoplethysmographic (PPG) heart rate monitoring is widely used in commercial wearable fitness trackers, including those from Fitbit, Apple, Samsung, etc. Wearable sensors must provide accurate data while consuming minimal power to maximize battery life. In PPG monitors, signal processing is used to convert pulsations in a reflected optical signal to a heart rate measurement given as a beat-to-beat interval. This paper compares two low-power, point-by-point signal processing algorithms suitable for PPG monitoring. One is based on derivative filtering, and the other is based on high pass filtering. Both methods have low computational requirements, but the derivative method is shown to be more robust in tracking heart rate during activity and at rest. It provides near beat-to-beat accuracy in a wearable PPG during walking and biking.
Context matters: Novel metaphors in supportive and non-supportive contexts

Creative language is defined as linguistic output that is both novel and appropriate. Metaphors are one such example of creative language in which one concept is used to express another by highlighting relevant semantic features. While novelty is an inherent property of unfamiliar metaphors, appropriateness depends on the context. The current study tests the hypothesis that the context in which metaphors are encountered affects their processing. We examined the neural effects of comprehending metaphors in context by comparing neural activations in response to novel metaphors and literal sentences that were either embedded in a meaningful narrative or in matched jabberwocky contexts. We found that the neural correlates of processing metaphoric sentences and their literal counterparts are indistinguishable when embedded in a narrative: both conditions activate bilateral areas along the anterior temporal poles, middle temporal gyri, superior temporal sulci, and the angular gyri. Metaphors embedded in a narrative as compared to their identical counterparts embedded in jabberwocky show increased responses in sensorimotor areas that correspond to the modality of the literal meaning of the target word, perhaps reflecting deeper semantic processing. Our results confirm that context affects neural mechanisms for understanding creative ideas.
Regulation of Metabolic Homeostasis in Cell Culture Bioprocesses

Mammalian cells are the main tool for the production of therapeutic proteins, viruses for gene therapy, and cells for cell therapy. In production processes cell metabolism is the main driver that causes changes in the growth environment and affects productivity and product quality. Of all nutrients, glucose has the most prominent impact on bioprocesses. We summarize recent findings on the regulation of glucose and energy metabolism in cultured cells. Local allosteric regulations and post-translational modifications of enzymes in metabolic networks interplay with global signaling and transcriptional regulation. These regulatory networks sustain homeostasis across the cytosolic and mitochondrial compartments. Understanding the regulation of glucose metabolism and metabolic state is crucial for enhancing process productivity and product quality.
A novel multi-relation regularization method for regression and classification in AD diagnosis

In this paper, we consider the joint regression and classification in Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis and propose a novel multi-relation regularization method that exploits the relational information inherent in the observations and then combines it with an l2,1-norm within a least square regression framework for feature selection. Specifically, we use three kinds of relationships: feature-feature relation, response-response relation, and sample-sample relation. By imposing these three relational characteristics along with the l2,1-norm on the weight coefficients, we formulate a new objective function. After feature selection based on the optimal weight coefficients, we train two support vector regression models to predict the clinical scores of Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), respectively, and a support vector classification model to identify the clinical label. We conducted clinical score prediction and disease status identification jointly on the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative dataset. The experimental results showed that the proposed regularization method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods, in the metrics of correlation coefficient and root mean squared error in regression and classification accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve in classification.
Dermatologic sequelae of breast cancer: From disease, surgery, and radiation

The care of breast cancer patients is important to dermatologists. Breast cancer's initial presentation, clinical progression, and its associated treatments can result in a variety of cutaneous complications. Dermatologists may be the first to identify a breast cancer diagnosis, as a subset of patients first present with direct extension of an underlying tumor or with a cutaneous metastasis. The surgical treatment of breast cancer also begets a variety of skin sequelae, including postoperative lymphedema, soft tissue infections, seromas, pyoderma gangrenosum, and scarring disorders. Moreover, breast cancer radiation treatment commonly results in skin changes, which can range from mild and temporary dermatoses to chronic and disfiguring skin ulceration, fibrosis, and necrosis. Radiation may also precipitate secondary malignancies, such as angiosarcoma, as well as rarer dermatologic diseases, such as radiation-induced morphea, lichen planus, and postirradiation pseudosclerodermatous panniculitis. Finally, breast cancer is also associated with an array of paraneoplastic phenomena, including Sweet's syndrome and the rarer intralymphatic histiocytosis. Herein, we review the dermatological manifestations of breast cancer, including conditions associated with its presentation, progression, and treatment sequelae. Chemotherapy-induced cutaneous side effects are beyond the scope of this review. This article provides a comprehensive review for dermatologist to be able to identify, diagnose, and manage breast cancer patients from initial presentation to treatment monitoring and subsequent follow-up.
Sovereign Wealth Funds

A sovereign wealth fund is an investment pool of foreign currency reserves owned by a government. SWFs have become a great source of liquidity for many MNCs in dire need of cash. They constitute an unorthodox financial market, per se. It would be a mistake to encourage the perception that foreign investment, even from government-owned entities, is a threat to national security.
Re-examining the Association Between E-Cigarette Use and Myocardial Infarction: A Cautionary Tale.

Introduction Cross-sectional analyses have suggested that e-cigarette use, independent of combustible cigarette use, elevates the risk of myocardial infarction. Previous researchers confused their own models’ assumptions that these risks were independent with the idea that their analyses validated the presence of independent risks. This study avoids this pitfall. Methods Cross-sectional analyses of the 2014–2019 National Health Interview Surveys (N=175,546) were conducted in 2020. Results Logistic regressions found that e-cigarette use was associated with having had a myocardial infarction, but this association significantly varied on the basis of one's smoking history. With a host of demographic and clinical variables controlled, e-cigarette use was associated with lifetime myocardial infarction occurrence only among current smokers. A counterfactual analysis first removed all (current or former) e-cigarette‒using respondents who had suffered a myocardial infarction without a history of smoking. The independent-effects model used in previous research misleadingly indicated that daily vaping increases never smokers' odds of having had a myocardial infarction by 1.55 (95% CI=1.11, 2.15), even though no such myocardial infarction sufferers remained in the analyzed data. The association between myocardial infarction and vaping daily has shown a significant annual decline (AOR=0.81, 95% CI=0.67, 0.98). Conclusions There is no reliable evidence that e-cigarette use is associated with ever having had a myocardial infarction among never smokers. Contrary to concerns that the harms associated with e-cigarettes are only now emerging after more years of possible product use, the only evidence of time-dependent variation in the association between e-cigarette use and myocardial infarction ran counter to this possibility. The scientific community must insist that researchers engage in accurate public communication of peer-reviewed findings.
An ab-initio study of hydrogen trapping energetics at BCC tungsten metal-noble gas interfaces

Abstract Density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been performed to assess the trapping and segregation strength of hydrogen (H) to noble gas interfaces in tungsten (W). These calculations consist of a supercell containing a slab of BCC W and an initial lattice of FCC noble gas atoms. The interfaces included noble gases of helium, neon, and argon, with densities in the range of 1-4 atoms-per-vacancy (V), and W surface orientations of (100), (110), and (111). We report on the binding energy of H to these interfaces as well as the modification to the migration barriers in the W slab, which together provide information on the segregation strength and de-trapping energy for H at noble gas bubbles. These calculations indicate that the binding energy of H to W-noble gas interfaces varies with surface orientation and decreases with increasing gas density; whereas the H migration energy is sensitive to the noble gas density, surface orientation, and diffusion pathway, and typically increases with gas density. Together, the de-trapping energy of H to these interfaces is shown to depend less significantly on noble gas density. These DFT calculations provide valuable first-principles energetics necessary for mesoscale models, and provide insight into the temperatures required to de-trap tritium from He bubbles in fusion plasma facing components.
An Energetic Approach to Modeling Cytoskeletal Architecture in Maturing Cardiomyocytes

Through a variety of mechanisms, a healthy heart is able to regulate its structure and dynamics across multiple length scales. Disruption of these mechanisms can have a cascad- ing effect, resulting in severe structural and/or functional changes that permeate across different length scales. Due to this hierarchical structure, there is interest in understand- ing how the components at the various scales coordinate and influence each other. However, much is unknown regarding how myofibril bundles are organized within a densely packed cell and the influence of the subcellular components on the architecture that is formed. To elucidate potential factors influencing cytoskeletal development, we proposed a compu- tational model that integrated interactions at both the cel- lular and subcelluar scale to predict the location of indi- vidual myofibril bundles that contributed to the formation of an energetically favorable cytoskeletal network. Our model was tested and validated using experimental metrics derived from analyzing single cell cardiomyocytes. We demonstrated that our model-generated networks were capable of repro- ducing the variation observed in experimental cells at different length scales as a result of the stochasticity inher- ent in the different interaction between the various cellu- lar components. Additionally, we showed that incorporat- ing length-scale parameters resulted in physical constraints that directed cytoskeletal architecture towards a structurally consistent motif. Understanding the mechanisms guiding the formation and organization of the cytoskeleton in individual cardiomyocytes can aid tissue engineers towards developing functional cardiac tissue.
The Twitching Trunk: Etiology and Treatment of Truncal Myoclonus (2256)

Objective: To discuss truncal myoclonus as a post-stroke movement disorder that can be associated with rare focal status epilepticus. Background: Myoclonus is classified by its source of generation: cortical, subcortical, spinal, or peripheral. Post-stroke movement disorders are typically due to lesions of the basal ganglia and thalamus but only occur 4% of the time. Post-stroke myoclonus is much rarer. Design/Methods: A 55-year-old female with history of right MCA stroke one year prior and subsequent right frontal focal seizures presented with left hand twitching. EEG demonstrated right centro-temporal sharp waves with lateralized periodic discharges. She was started on carbamazepine with resolution of hand twitching and normalization of the EEG, without further epileptiform discharges. However, she developed myoclonic jerks of her abdomen without alteration in consciousness. The myoclonus was present at rest, improved during sleep, and not painful. Brain MRI demonstrated encephalomalacia of old stroke. MRI C-spine, T-spine, and repeat EEG were normal. Carbamazepine was discontinued due to worsening truncal myoclonus. Valproic acid was started with significant improvement. Results: Our patient had features that may mimic other etiologies of truncal myoclonus such as Lance-Adams, diaphragmatic flutter, and propriospinal myoclonus. However, she did not have post-anoxic injury, respiratory symptoms, or spinal abnormalities. The truncal myoclonus was likely secondary to her underlying stroke and therefore cortical. When post-stroke myoclonus persists it may be a rare variant of focal status epilepticus. In the future, electromyography would be useful to confirm specific pathophysiology. Conclusions: The underlying pathology of post-stroke myoclonus is due to dysfunction in GABA inhibitory neurotransmission. It can be challenging to diagnose myoclonus in patients who have concurrent focal epilepsy from underlying stroke. It is most important to determine physiology since this dictates treatment: carbamazepine may worsen myoclonus; clonazepam is effective in all forms of myoclonus; valproic acid and levetiracetam are effective for cortical myoclonus, but not other forms. Disclosure: Dr. Niazi has nothing to disclose. Dr. Frey has nothing to disclose. Dr. Raghavan has nothing to disclose. Dr. Murray has nothing to disclose.
Synonymy in the armoured scale insect genus Unaspis MacGillivray (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Diaspididae).

In recent years, an undescribed species of Unaspis MacGillivray (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Diaspididae) has become a damaging pest on the fruit crop Lansium domesticum Correa (family Meliaceae) in the Philippines.
On the Gromov-Witten/Donaldson-Thomas Correspondence and Ruan's Conjecture for Calabi-Yau 3-Orbifolds

For any toric Calabi–Yau 3-orbifold with transverse A-singularities, we prove the Gromov–Witten/Donaldson–Thomas correspondence and Ruan’s crepant resolution conjecture in all genera.
Bánffi Soda Limited Partnership

The Banffi Soda Limited Partnership (Banffi) case d escribes a small, family-owned Hungarian soda water producer. The company faces several challenges, including declining industry sales, changing market structure, and increasingly popular substitute products. The case challenges students to work with the limited company, market, and industry information that is typically available to small businesses. Students are asked t o summarize the competitive situation for the company and develop and analyze several alternatives to help the company improve profitability.
TinkerNet: a low-cost networking laboratory

The 2002 SIGCOMM Workshop on Educational Challenges for Computer Networking [Kur02a] exposed many issues related to teaching computer networking with the need for a laboratory in parallel with lecture a recurring theme. We have created TinkerNet, a low cost (mostly throw-away PCs), laboratory environment for networking experiments focused on the Build-Your-Own-Stack (BYOS) activity. This paper describes the hardware and software environment that is TinkerNet together with a set of student experiments. We discuss our plans for formal assessment to determine how the addition of laboratory experiments affects student learning. Finally the status and availability of TinkerNet is noted.
Element Abundances in Damped Lyman-Alpha Quasar Absorbers

We probe the chemical evolution of DLAs by studying low-z DLAs for which very little information exists. We use Zn to get the metallicity (since it is almost undepleted on dust), and relative abundances of other elements to study nucleosynthesis and dust-depletion (Kulkarni et al. 1999, to be submitted).
Phosphonium polyelectrolytes: influence of diphosphine spacer on layer-by-layer assembly with anionic conjugated polymers

Three phosphonium polyelectrolytes have been prepared wherein the flexibility of the spacer between charge-bearing phosphonium units was varied from 1,2-ethyl to 1,4-phenyl to 1,1′-ferrocenyl. The influence of inter-phosphonium spacer flexibility on the ability of the polyelectrolyte to form ordered films via layer-by-layer supramolecular assembly with anionic polythiophene and anionic poly(p-phenylenevinylene) derivatives was also assessed through a combination of UV−visible spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The more flexible ionic polymers were found to be capable of forming thicker films and to maintain growth linearity up to at least 800 bilayers in some cases. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry
Lanthanide binding to cardiac and skeletal muscle microsomes. Effects of adenosine triphosphate, cations, and ionophores.

Abstract Lanthanide (gadolinium, Gd) binding to cardiac and skeletal muscle microsomes was studied, and high- and low-affinity sites were identified. The high-affinity constant was 10 6 M −1 , and there were 131 and 107 nmol/mg bound to this site in dog heart and rabbit skeletal muscle, respectively. Zn 2+ , Cd 2+ , Al 3+ , and Ca 2+ (5 m m ) inhibited binding, especially of the high-affinity site. Ionophores X537A (10 μ m ) and A23187 (1–2 μ m ) increased lanthanide binding and did not cause release. Addition of ATP in low concentration (20–50 μ m ) increased the binding of Gd without hydrolysis of the ATP. The extra binding induced by ATP was blocked by heating the microsomes and was reversed by [ethylenebis(oxyethylenenitrilo)]tetraacetic acid. High concentrations (10 −4 –10 −3 , m ) of ATP blocked extra Gd binding by competitive chelation. The Ca 2+ -activated ATPase was inhibited by Gd and stimulated by X537A. The Gd did not block the ionophore-stimulated increase in Ca 2+ -ATPase activity. It is postulated that lanthanides bind predominantly to the ionophoric component of the Ca-transport site rather than the hydrolytic site and that ATP may facilitate such binding without being split.
Experimental induction of a toxemia-like syndrome in the pregnant beagle

A toxemia-like syndrome was induced in pregnant beagles by intraperitoneal inoculation of concentrates prepared from placentas of patients with preeclampsia-eclampsia and hydatidiform mole, which contained an agent, Hydatoxi lualba, that stained in a unique fashion with toluidine blue-O-. The pregnant dogs inoculated with either of these concentrates progressively developed hypertension, eyeground changes consistent with hypertensive retinopathy, proteinuria, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and hepatic dysfunction in addition to intrauterine growth retardation and intrauterine fetal death. Hepatic periportal hemorrhage and glomeruloendotheliosis, lesions usually seen in preeclampsia-eclampsia, were also noted to occur in pregnant beagles inoculated with these concentrates. A significant increased sensitivity to angiotensin II infusion was also noted. The toxemia-like syndrome did not develop in pregnant beagles when inoculated in a similar fashion with concentrates prepared from placentas from normal term pregnancies which were free of Hydatoxi lualba or in nonpregnant beagles inoculated with concentrates containing Hydatoxi lualba. Although the agent was not injected in pure form, the inoculation of concentrates containing Hydatoxi lualba appears to be required for the manifestation of the toxemia-like syndrome.
Groundwater Pollution and Remediation

Contamination of groundwater resources by a variety of anthropogenic pollutants from both point and non-point sources represents a key global environmental problem. Contaminant species of concern include solvents, fuel hydrocarbons, heavy metals, pesticides, nitrate, and radionuclides. Groundwater contamination reflects local physical hydrogeological considerations but also the inherent properties of the contaminants. An understanding of the factors controlling contaminant behavior in the subsurface is a necessary prerequisite to exploring possible remedial solutions. These factors include the partitioning processes that govern the distribution of contaminant species between the aqueous phase, the solid phase (including adsorption onto soil particle surfaces), the gas phase, and, in some cases, nonaqueous phase liquids. Chemical and biological transformation processes also impact the behavior of different types of subsurface contaminants. The designs of passive and active groundwater remediation approaches often reflect consideration of one or more of these factors; however, the efficacy of most methods is often most closely dependent upon the physical characteristics of the subsurface environment, such as the distribution of hydraulic conductivity. Keywords: groundwater contamination; chlorinated solvents; fuel hydrocarbons; heavy metals; radionuclides; groundwater remediation; natural attenuation
Reachable workspace and performance of upper limb (PUL) in duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Introduction: The Kinect-based reachable workspace relative surface area (RSA) is compared with the performance of upper limb (PUL) assessment in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Methods: 29 individuals with DMD (ages: 7–23; Brooke: 1–5) underwent both Kinect-based reachable workspace RSA and PUL assessments. RSAs were also collected from 24 age-matched controls. Total and quadrant RSAs were compared with the PUL total, shoulder-, middle-, and distal-dimension scores. Results: The total reachable workspace RSA correlated well with the total PUL score (Spearman ρ = -0.602; P < 0.001), and with each of the PUL dimensional scores: shoulder (ρ = -0.624; P < 0.001), middle (ρ = -0.564; P = 0.001), and distal (ρ = -0.630; P < 0.001). With quadrant RSA, reachability in a particular quadrant was closely associated with respective PUL dimensional-level function (lateral-upper quadrant for shoulder-, lateral-upper/lower quadrants for middle-, and lateral-lower quadrant for distal-level function). Conclusions: This study demonstrates concurrent validity of the reachable workspace outcome measure (RSA) with the DMD-specific upper extremity outcome measure (PUL). Muscle Nerve 53: 545–554, 2016
Mechanical and hydrogen characteristics of hermetically coated optical fibre

Corning's hermetically coated fibre has been evaluated for mechanical and hydrogen performance under severe test conditions using large sample sizes. The results indicate that the carbon coating is truly hermetic, and that it provides an effective barrier for preventing hydrogen and water from reaching the glass surface. As a result the hermetically coated fibre possesses superior resistance to fatigue and hydrogen permeation over standard fibre. These attributes make this hermetically coated fibre and excellent candidate for use in terrestrial communication and undersea cables, as well as in other special applications where a harsh environment is present.
Concerning the role of zinc in the antitumor activity of 3-ethoxy-2-oxobutyraldehyde bis(thiosemicarbazonato) zinc(II) and related chelates.

Abstract The pH-dependent stability constants for several bis(thiosemicarbazonato) zinc(II) and copper(II) complexes have been measured. The zinc chelates are very much less stable than the copper complexes. This is reflected in their stabilities in plasma and ascites tumor fluid. While the copper complexes are undissociated, 3-ethoxy-2-oxobutyraldehyde bis(thiosemicarbazonato) zinc(II) (ZnKTS) and its N 4 -methylthiosemicarbazone derivative are nearly completely dissociated in plasma and only somewhat less in ascites fluid. However, 3-ethoxy-2-oxobutyraldehyde bis( N 4 -dimethylthiosemicarbazonato) zinc(II) is stable in each medium in accord with its larger stability constant. The free ligands approach a similar final state of zinc chelation as their corresponding zinc chelates. In neither medium is copper unequivocally bound by the ligands. These results are used to assess the importance of ZnKTS in the mechanism of cytotoxicity in vivo and to rationalize the large variation in cytotoxicity observed in vitro with these zinc complexes.
High frequency plant regeneration from stem explants of Brassica alboglabra Bailey in vitro

Culture conditions for shoot regeneration and proliferation, and rooting of Brassica alboglabra Bailey were optimized by a judicious selection of explants and manipulation of hormonal combinations in the culture medium. Both half and whole stem explants were more regenerative than cotyledons and hypocotyls. The highest shoot regeneration frequency (100%) accompanied by high number of shoots was obtained using half stem explants grown on Murashige & Skoog [14] medium supplemented with 2 mgl-1 BA in combination with 1 mgl-1 NAA, or 4 mgl-1 2iP with 0.5 mgl-1 NAA. For shoot proliferation, 4 mgl-1 kinetin was most effective. The presence of auxin reduced shoot proliferation significantly. Maximum rooting (100%) of shoot cuttings was obtained either in the absence or in the presence of 0.5 mgl-1 NAA, or IBA or IAA ranging from 0.1 to 8 mgl-1.
A binomial method for analyzing psychological functions

On the basis of the assumption that distributions of scores on psychological functions are generated by a finite number of equally probable factors, a method is presented which yields the number of factors and their probabilityp. The statisticsβ1 andβ2 are used for this purpose. An experiment utilizing a code-transcription test is described in which the method was employed to analyze performance at several stages in the learning process.n was found to be 10 for the first 2 minutes of practice and 19 for the second 2 minutes. For the third, fourth, and fifth 2-minute periods, no value could be obtained owing to the pronounced leptokurtosis of the distributions. The first 3 periods of practice, when lumped together, gave ann of 33. It is suggested that the method offers a means of comparing the variability and “complexity” of otherwise non-comparable psychological functions. The use of the method as an instrument of investigation in the field of factor analysis is described.
The influence of the patient-clinician relationship on healthcare outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

To determine whether the patient-clinician relationship has a beneficial effect on either objective or validated subjective healthcare outcomes.; Systematic review and meta-analysis.; Electronic databases EMBASE and MEDLINE and the reference sections of previous reviews.; Included studies were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in adult patients in which the patient-clinician relationship was systematically manipulated and healthcare outcomes were either objective (e.g., blood pressure) or validated subjective measures (e.g., pain scores). Studies were excluded if the encounter was a routine physical, or a mental health or substance abuse visit; if the outcome was an intermediate outcome such as patient satisfaction or adherence to treatment; if the patient-clinician relationship was manipulated solely by intervening with patients; or if the duration of the clinical encounter was unequal across conditions.; Thirteen RCTs met eligibility criteria. Observed effect sizes for the individual studies ranged from d = -.23 to .66. Using a random-effects model, the estimate of the overall effect size was small (d = .11), but statistically significant (p = .02).; This systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs suggests that the patient-clinician relationship has a small, but statistically significant effect on healthcare outcomes. Given that relatively few RCTs met our eligibility criteria, and that the majority of these trials were not specifically designed to test the effect of the patient-clinician relationship on healthcare outcomes, we conclude with a call for more research on this important topic.
Analytical modeling and experimental studies of robotic fish turning

Turning is one of the most important maneuvers for biological and robotic fish. In our group's prior work, an analytical framework was proposed for modeling the steady turning of fish, given asymmetric, periodic body/tail movement or deformation. However, the approach was not illustrated with simulation or validated with experiments. The contributions of the current paper are three fold. First, an extension to the modeling framework is made with a more rigorous formulation of the force balance equation. Second, we have worked out two examples explicitly, one with an oscillating, rigid tail, and the other with a flexible tail having a uniform curvature, and compared their turning behaviors through numerical results. Third, for model validation purposes, a robotic fish prototype has been developed, with the tail shaft controlled precisely by a servo motor. For a rigid tail, experimental results have confirmed the model prediction that, for the tested range, the steady-state turning radius and turning period decrease with an increasing bias in the tail motion, and that the turning period drops with an increasing tail beat frequency. We have also found that, with a flexible fin attached to the tail shaft, the robot can achieve faster turning with a smaller radius than the case of a rigid fin, and modeling within the same framework is underway to understand this phenomenon.
Low-Speed Wind Turbine Design and Fabrication

A wind energy has getting more attention due to its free-source, its nature of renewable energy, and free of carbon dioxide emission. As the wind map varies area to area, the wind energy collection strongly depends on the site. In order to maximize the amount of energy captured, an improved, low airspeed wind turbines are demanded to be designed. A wind turbine studied was created using the NACA 4412 foil shape and a decreasing chord length with increasing distance from the center of the turbine. The pitch was also varied along the span of the blade. The blade was analyzed using CFD and tested in a wind tunnel facility. The turbine was connected to a motor which was connected to a resistor and current and voltage meters. Using the voltage and current data at a prescribed rate of rotation, the model generated decent power output. The study focused mostly for a low-speed wind up to 2m/s (or 3.4 mph). For practical use the turbine would need to be scaled to a greater size and a proportional-integral-derivative controller (PID controller) that can generate higher resistance would need to be employed.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Nucleotide sequence of the Rickettsia prowazekii ATP/ADP translocase-encoding gene

The Rickettsia prowazekii ATP/ADP translocase (Tlc) gene (tlc), previously cloned in Escherichia coli was localized to a 1.6-kb chromosomal fragment. Nucleotide sequence analysis of this fragment revealed an open reading frame of 1494 bp that could encode a hydrophobic protein of 497 amino acids (aa) with an Mr of 56,668. Analysis of the deduced aa sequence revealed that it contained twelve potential membrane-spanning regions. Comparisons between the deduced aa sequence of the R. prowazekii ATP/ADP Tlc and the sequences of mitochondrial (mt) Tlc revealed no detectable homologies between the rickettsial and mt sequences. The major protein synthesized in E. coli minicells containing the rickettsial gene exhibited and Mr of approx. 34,000.
Community-Based School Finance and Accountability: A New Era for Local Control in Education Policy?.

Top-down accountability policies have arguably had very limited impact over the past 20 years. Education stakeholders are now contemplating new forms of bottom-up accountability. In 2013, policymakers in California enacted a community-based approach that creates the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) process for school finance to increase flexibility. The reform also seeks to involve stakeholders at the local level by creating a Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP). We conducted a statutory analysis of the state’s new funding formula in comparison to its predecessor. We also analyze the state’s new system of district implementation, support, and intervention. We then discuss the implications of California’s reforms for future K-12 funding and accountability policy.
AAV vectors, insertional mutagenesis, and cancer.

By now we have all heard a lot about retroviral vectors and cancer, but other types of vectors have typically been left out of these discussions. However, results presented at the recent American Society of Gene Therapy meeting and just published in Science1 show that this is a subject that goes beyond retroviruses, hematopoietic cells, and gamma C transgenes. In this study, mice developed hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) that contained adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector proviruses at a specific chromosomal locus, raising important questions about the safety of in vivo gene therapy. The experiments were a collaboration among three laboratories: Mark Sands's group, which generated the mice; the lab of Dan Miller, who isolated the vector:chromosome junctions; and my own (let's just say I made sure Dan got the samples from Mark).
Bootstrap-based ARMA order selection

Modelling the underlying stochastic process is one of the main goals in the study of many dynamic phenomena, such as signal processing, system identification and time series. The issue is often addressed within the framework of ARMA (Autoregressive Moving Average) paradigm, so that the related task of identification of the ‘true’ order is crucial. As it is well known, the effectiveness of such an approach may be seriously compromised by misspecification errors since they may affect model capabilities in capturing dynamic structures of the process. As a result, inference and empirical outcomes may be heavily misleading. Despite the big number of available approaches aimed at determining the order of an ARMA model, the issue is still open. In this paper, we bring the problem in the framework of bootstrap theory in conjunction with the information-based criterion of Akaike (AIC), and a new method for ARMA model selection will be presented. A theoretical justification for the proposed approach as well as an e...
Final Reflections on Editing Symbolic Interaction: Farewell and Smooth Sailing

I am grateful to the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction for the opportunity to edit your journal, Symbolic Interaction. I take away relationships and life lessons that will be with me, always. The production team at University of California Press has been wonderful to work with. Cheryl Owen Swope and Mae Lum, our principal production coordinators, have done a terrific job of coordinating services and making sure that each issue is a product of which we are all proud. As authors, we know that having Paula Dragosh copyedit one of our manuscripts is a memorable lesson in both our strengths and our weaknesses as writers. We are all better off for having responded to her author queries. Cenveo Publisher Services, our typesetter, has been patient with us as we have stretched the boundaries of what can and cannot be printed between the covers of SI. From Rebekah Darksmith, our sales and marketing director, on up the chain, we are grateful to the UC Press staff for working with us and helping us become the strong, financially stable organization we are today. We owe a great debt of thanks to UC Press for helping our organization become more self-sufficient than it was when we first started our relationship with them. Times are changing and the definition of the situation is evolving: Symbolic Interaction is going global. We have manuscripts submitted regularly from around the world and requests from membership outside the United States to host interactionist conferences. With this focus in mind, we have amicably parted ways with UC Press and chosen Wiley-Blackwell as our new publisher. After much consideration, the publication and executive committees are convinced Wiley-Blackwell’s platform and distribution network can reach international audiences and increase both the journal’s circulation and interest in symbolic interaction, globally. With this global focus in mind, SSSI has selected Robert Dingwall, from the United Kingdom, as our new editor. Robert’s six years as editor in chief of Sociology of Health and Illness and other editorial experience, coupled with his grand vision for SI, will serve SSSI well as we steer through this period of transition. I have
The electrocardiogram in normal pregnancy.

vascular obstruction is unknown. Accordingly, we have studied the effects of several laser sources (including argon-ion, Neodymium-YAG, and CO*) upon human cadaver coronary arteriosclerotic occlusions. Intact coronary arteries with obstructing atheromatous plaques were extracted at necropsy from patients who died of ischemic heart disease. The involved vessels were sectioned transversely and subjected to laser radiation throughout a wide spectrum of specific power intensities and time exposures employing a Laserscope (Trimedyne, Inc., Arlington Heights, Ill.). Strikingly, the argon-ion vaporization beam effected patency in fibrous (Fig. l), lipoid (Fig. Z), and calcified (Fig. 3) plaque obstructions. Investigations are currently in progress to extend this new therapeutic modality to the clinical relief of atherosclerotic obstructions in the coronary and other vascular beds.
Nonweak-Coupling Regge Trajectories from Field-Theory Models

Perturbation-theory techniques are used to generate an approximate transcendental equation for the leading Regge pole produced by an infinite sum of Feynman ladder diagrams. This equation is not restricted to the weak-coupling domain and can be used to produce trajectories with $\ensuremath{\alpha}(0)g0$. The equation is solved both below and above the elastic and inelastic thresholds to provide the first complete description of a relativistic Regge trajectory in the ladder-diagram model. The same technique is used to generate potential-theory trajectories which agree with the exact solutions obtained by more complicated methods.
Sensitivity of Laser Absorption Wave Formation to Nonequilibrium and Transport Phenomena

Experiments have shown that laser absorption waves (LAW's) may be ignited in air from aerosols or solid surfaces at laser intensities below the clean air breakdown threshold. We present detailed numerical calculations of the formation and structure of such LA W's made with a two-temperature, Laprangian hydrodynamic computer program containing a fully coupled nonequilibrium breakdown chemistry, electron diffusion, and radiation transport. The detailed LAW structure is then interpreted to delineate the roles of the nonequilibrium, radiative, and transport processes in various regimes.
Making Pono Choices: a collaborative approach to developing a culturally responsive teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections prevention curriculum in Hawai'i.

The overall extent of evidence-based culturally responsive health education programs targeting ethnic minority groups in Hawai‘i is limited. The few that do exist were adapted from models developed with other majority ethnic groups in mind and may not always be appropriate for Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander youth (Okamoto et al. in J Alcohol Drug Educ 54(1):56–75, 2010; Helm and Baker in J Ethn Cult Divers Soc Work 20(2):131–149, 2011; Po’a-Kekuawela et al. in J Ethn Cult Divers Soc Work 18(3):242–258, 2009). The need for a culturally responsive, evidence-based health curriculum is clear considering the large disparities reported among Hawaiian youth in health, academic achievement, and other identified risk factors. School-based health interventions are an opportunity not only to improve the physical well being of students, but also to increase their ability to learn and succeed in school. The University of Hawai‘i at Manoa-Center on Disability Studies (UH-CDS) received a highly competitive grant from the US Office of Adolescent Health to develop a teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention curriculum for Hawai‘i middle school youth. The authors will detail a collaborative process that led to a culturally responsive sexual health curriculum for middle school youth designed to meet the rigorous standards of an evidenced-based review and more importantly reduce teen pregnancies and STI transmission.
Wear of English Monumental Brasses caused by Brass Rubbing

THERE are about 8,000 monumental brasses in the churches of Britain, representing only a small proportion of the total number of brasses set in place between about 1250 and 1650 (ref. 1). The preparation of rubbings of many of these brasses is extensively practised at present, particularly by visitors to England. Although brass rubbing (in the Netherlands) is documented as far back as 1656, the use of a wax crayon on paper has been popular in Britain only since the early nineteenth century2. Thus, when viewed in historical perspective, the increasingly popular brass rubbing activity must be considered as a comparatively new feature in the history of the monumental brasses. Our study was undertaken to determine whether repeated brass rubbing over periods of the order of a century will result in significant brass wear caused by the friction of the back of brass rubbing paper against the brass.
Left atrial volume overload in mitral regurgitation: A two dimensional echocardiographic study

Left atrial volume in patients with mitral valve disease was studied with two dimensional echocardiography. The left atrial dimension was derived by planimetry of the left atrial area and, assuming spherical geometry, left atrial volume was calculated. Patients with severe mitral regurgitation had marked systolic expansion of the left atrium with large phasic changes in left atrial cubic dimension. Conversely, patients with severe mitral stenosis had small changes in the cubic dimension in comparison with the large left atrial size. Left atrial volumetric changes were similar among patients with atrial fibrillation and normal sinus rhythm. Therefore, left atrial volume overload is an additional two dimensional echocardiographic diagnostic feature of severe mitral regurgitation.
Exploratory behavior in peripherally blinded rats

Female rats were anesthetised and half of them were enucleated. All rats were given a 10 min. free exploration period in a Y-maze and four trials in a T-maze with a forced turn in the stem. Blinded rats showed significantly more activity and less stimulus alternation than the normal rats. This was seen as supporting a prediction of Glanzer’s stimulus satiation theory.
First Report of Endophytic Candida ipomoeae Isolated from Ovules of Upland Cotton in Mississippi.

Cotton is grown on approximately 34.5 million ha worldwide to provide fiber, food oil, and animal feed. To our knowledge, this report is the first of Candida ipomoeae on cotton, and this yeast was found on ovules of the most commercially important cotton species in a major cotton-growing region. The yeast was isolated from ovules of upland cotton grown in vitro. A culture (NRRL Y-48065) was sent to Microbial ID Inc. (Newark, DE) where a partial 176-bp sequence for the D2 domain of the large subunit rDNA was obtained. A BLAST search on the GenBank database (www.ncbi.nih.gov/Genbank/index.html) found a 100% match between our sequence and accessions from two strains of C. ipomoeae (Accession Nos. AF050148 and AF050149). In addition, the distinctive colony morphology (white pseudomycelium with a raised stellate to lobate edge) was consistent with previous descriptions of C. ipomoeae (1). No growth was observed at 37°C for the current and previously described isolates. C. ipomoeae is a recently described asexu...
Beyond individual and visible acts of violence: A framework to examine the lives of women in low-income neighborhoods

Synopsis Low-income minority women are among the most disadvantaged in terms of social location, which exposes them to various forms of violence that perpetuate their poverty. Previous research has focused on individual explanations of actions that affect them. We seek to redirect our understandings away from individual explanations to focus on the broader contexts and inequalities that lie at the root of multiple and interconnected forms of violence in the lives of women in vulnerable positions. This approach facilitates recognition of violent structures often unrecognized or misrecognized as such. Our framework includes structural, interpersonal, and symbolic forms of violence, which we apply to examine the lives of a subsample of minority-status women gathered ethnographically in low-income neighborhoods in Boston, Los Angeles and New York through the Three City Study of Moving to Opportunity. In this exercise, we highlight the broader contexts that create conditions for individuals to harm one another.
Sensory, Symptomatic, Inflammatory, and Ocular Responses to and the Metabolism of Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether in a Controlled Human Exposure Experiment

AbstractThe Clean Air Act of 1990 mandates that those areas of the country that do not attain the health-based National Ambient Air Quality Standard for CO must add oxygenates (2.7% by weight) to auto fuels (oxyfuels). In the fall of 1992, the addition of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) to automotive fuels coincided with complaints of illness in some parts of the country. In Alaska, the reported symptoms included headache, nasal, throat, or ocular irritation, nausea or vomiting, dizziness, and sensations of “spaciness” or disorientation. We conducted a chamber exposure experiment to determine if exposure to pure MTBE would elicit similar responses to those reported to be related to MTBE exposure. Nineteen male and 18 female subjects were exposed in a repeated-measures design to clean air (CA) and 1.39 ppm (5.0 mg/m3) MTBE for 1 h. This level was selected to approximate a typical exposure experienced during refueling. Exposures were separated by at least I wk. Symptom questionnaires were completed befor...