cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Soft-tissue resurfacing of the glenoid in the treatment of glenohumeral arthritis in active patients less than fifty years old.

Background: Soft-tissue resurfacing of the glenoid, with arthroplasty of the humeral head, has been proposed as a viable treatment option for younger patients with symptomatic osteoarthritis of the shoulder. The purpose of this study was to evaluate our results with soft-tissue resurfacing of the glenoid in patients with glenohumeral arthritis who were less than fifty years of age, as we were concerned that this type of procedure was leading to poor outcomes. Methods: Between 2000 and 2006, thirteen patients with an average age of thirty-four years underwent soft-tissue resurfacing of the glenoid and humeral head arthroplasty. Achilles tendon allograft was used in eleven patients; fascia lata autograft, in one; and anterior shoulder joint capsule, in one. Three patients had resurfacing of the humeral head with a stemless resurfacing implant, and ten patients had a hemiarthroplasty. The patients were followed for a minimum of two years or until failure, and the duration of follow-up averaged forty-eight months. The results were graded with a visual analog pain scale, the subjective shoulder value, and the Constant and Murley score. Radiographic review was performed in order to determine the degree of joint space loss and glenoid erosion. Results: Ten of the thirteen patients required a revision total shoulder arthroplasty at a mean of fourteen months (range, six to thirty-four months) postoperatively. The principal reasons for revision were persistent pain and a decreased range of motion. Radiographic evaluation at the time of the revision surgery demonstrated loss of joint space and glenoid erosion in all cases. At the revision surgery, the allograft was found to be absent, and thick scar tissue, which may have been a graft remnant, was found at the perimeter of the glenoid. Of the three patients who did not have a revision arthroplasty, one had good function, pain relief, and an improved range of motion; however, the postoperative course of the other two was complicated by infection. One of them had a salvage with early irrigation and debridement as well as intravenous antibiotics, whereas the other underwent resection arthroplasty because of persistent infection. Conclusions: Soft-tissue resurfacing of the glenoid with an Achilles tendon allograft combined with humeral head arthroplasty is not a reliable method of treatment of glenohumeral arthritis in an active patient younger than fifty years of age, as the clinical outcome is poor. Moreover, we found no evidence that the graft acts as a durable bearing surface. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
A frame-level FSBM motion estimation architecture with large search range

Motion estimation plays an important role in video compression to remove temporal redundancies between successive frames. It is also useful in aiding detection of moving objects. Full-search block-matching (FSBM) is the most preferred algorithm for motion estimation. Frame-level pipelined FSBM architectures have advantages over block-level pipelined architectures in their simpler control and reduced number of memory accesses. In this paper, a frame-level pipelined FSBM motion estimation array processor for large search range p = qN is presented where q/spl ges/ 1/2 and N/spl times/N is the block size.
The Burden of Negro Schooling: Tax Incidence and Racial Redistribution in Postbellum North Carolina

The disparate allocation of public revenues for education reflected racial discrimination in the public sector of the South.1 Suffrage restrictions in North Carolina after 1901, in conjunction with changes in the tax law, enabled whites to increase spending for the public education of white children without increasing it for black children.2 Officials in North Carolina justified (and condemned) this growing racial disparity in spending by asserting that whites as a group subsidized the education of blacks. Their estimates of the tax burden of education expenditures received national attention at the time and continue to be cited by current scholars.3 Their estimates, however, only consider the legal and not the economic incidence of the property tax. Tax shifting increases the burden of school taxes on renters and workers while reducing the tax burden on property owners. Because whites owned a disproportionate share of the land, the shifting of the property tax reduced the burden on whites while increasing it on blacks. This note focuses on the economic incidence of public school taxes. This represents a significant departure from previous studies in that tax incidence is explicitly considered in the context of a single sector model of an agrarian economy. The burden is shown to be largely dependent on the share of land and labor supplied by blacks and on the elasticities of supply and derived demand for property. While no estimates of the burden are presented, the necessary conditions under which blacks paid for their own education are derived.
Mechanism of Mo-Dependent Nitrogenase

Nitrogen-fixing bacteria catalyze the reduction of dinitrogen (N2) to two ammonia molecules (NH3), the major contribution of fixed nitrogen to the biogeochemical nitrogen cycle. The most widely studied nitrogenase is the molybdenum (Mo)-dependent enzyme. The reduction of N2 by this enzyme involves the transient interaction of two component proteins, designated the iron (Fe) protein and the MoFe protein, and minimally requires 16 magnesium ATP (MgATP), eight protons, and eight electrons. The current state of knowledge on how these proteins and small molecules together effect the reduction of N2 to ammonia is reviewed. Included is a summary of the roles of the Fe protein and MgATP hydrolysis, information on the roles of the two metal clusters contained in the MoFe protein in catalysis, insights gained from recent success in trapping substrates and inhibitors at the active-site metal cluster FeMo cofactor, and finally, considerations of the mechanism of N2 reduction catalyzed by nitrogenase.
Multidisciplinary management of perihilar bile duct cancer

Cancers of the extrahepatic biliary system remain a challenge to surgical, medical, and radiation oncologists. Although surgical resection is the only curative option, many patients are incurable at the time of diagnosis and palliative treatment is often undertaken. Understanding the options for surgical resection and the limits of operative intervention is critical in caring for these patients. Cholangiocarcinoma may occur intrahepatically, or extrahepatically in perihilar or distal ductal locations. Perihilar lesions constitute approximately 75% of tumors. Distal bile duct tumors and intrahepatic tumors follow in frequency. This anatomic classification has therapeutic relevance. Intrahepatic tumors are treated with liver resection; distal tumors are managed, as are pancreatic cancers, with pancreaticoduodenectomy. Perihilar cancers require a combination of operative and nonoperative approaches and will be the focus of the current discussion. In the United States strong associations have been made between cholangiocarcinoma and biliary cystic disease, sclerosing cholangitis, and ulcerative colitis. In autopsy series as many as 40% of patients with sclerosing cholangitis have been shown to have cholangiocarcinoma, often undiagnosed in life. Approximately one third of patients undergoing hepatic transplantation for liver failure secondary to sclerosing cholangitis are discovered, on histologic examination of the recipient hepatectomy, to have bile duct cancer. The association of sclerosing cholangitis with ulcerative colitis provides the link of the latter condition with bile duct cancer. In East Asia, liver flukes and hepatolithiasis are both associated with cholangiocarcinoma. The large majority (90%) of bile duct tumors are adenocarcinomas. Most lesions demonstrate a diffuse infiltrative pattern of growth with a strong desmoplastic component, making the pathologic demonstration of malignancy notoriously difficult. Percutaneous fineneedle aspiration biopsy has the highest diagnostic yield, although biopsy is often hampered by the absence of perihilar mass effect. Luminal brush biopsy and cytologic examination of bile are alternatives of lower diagnostic value. The typical patient is between 60 and 65 years of age; men and women are affected with approximately equal frequency. Jaundice will develop in greater than 90% of patients with perihilar cholangiocarcinoma. Serum liver tests demonstrate hyperbilirubinemia and disproportionate elevation in alkaline phosphatase. Most patients will have a serum bilirubin level greater than 10 mg/dL. Bilirubin elevations to this level are unusual for nonmalignant causes of jaundice. Serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), -fetoprotein, and CA 19-9 are usually normal when biliary obstruction is relieved. Cholangitis is not usually a presenting problem in the absence of earlier biliary manipulation. Anorexia, upper abdominal pain, and weight loss are common, but nonspecific, symptoms.
Augmentation of the anterior temporal fossa after temporalis muscle transfer

Pedicled transfer of the temporalis muscle has proven to be a reliable and versatile procedure in reconstructive craniomaxillofacial surgery. Excluding those complications related to the coronal incision, little specific attention has been given in the literature to the prevention or treatment of the esthetic defect that remains after muscle transfer. This article describes a case in which block porous high-density polyethylene was used to eliminate the residual defect of the anterior temporal fossa after transmaxillary pedicled transfer for closure of a large oral-antral communication. The implant provided an esthetically pleasing augmentation of the defect. A discussion and analysis of the implant materials available for reconstruction of this region is also presented.
Classroom resources and impact on learning

In the past, educators and policy makers believed that by providing more resources they could directly improve student-learning outcomes. To their frustration, this turns out not to be entirely true. Resources may be necessary but they are not sufficient. Resources themselves are not selfenacting, that is, they do not make change inevitable. Differences in their effects depend on differences in their use. This is also true in the case of educational technologies. As developers of these technologies we need to understand how resources fit within the classroom environment as enacted and how they can be effectively used to increase student learning. I report on four case studies conducted within the context of the Scaling-Up SimCalc study. In the study, “treatment” teachers were given a set of new resources to use: a combination of curriculum, educational software, and teacher professional development. “Delayed treatment” (control) teachers were asked to use their usual curriculum. Year-one study results demonstrated by randomized controlled testing the successful use of technology in class settings; however, there was little information on how the students and teachers actually interacted with the resources. Case study classrooms were selected to examine the effects of variation of computational resource arrangements: one utilized a computer lab, two used mobile laptop carts, and one used a laptop connected to a projector. The first round coding and analysis shows that the observed classrooms varied not only in their classroom set-ups but also in how teachers and students interacted with the software, the workbooks, and with one another. The variety of resource interaction points to the robustness of the SimCalc project: students and teachers can interact with the SimCalc resources in a variety of ways and still achieve student-learning gains. However, through subsequent review and analysis of the observation data five themes emerged. These themes suggest commonalities in classrooms practices surrounding the use of resources. Two new theoretical constructs, “socio-physical resource richness” and “resource use withitness”, help describe (1) physical and social arrangements of resources and (2) how teachers and students manage resource use.
DNA as a medium for hiding data

Background Steganography is the science of hiding information by transmitting secret messages through unsuspicious cover carriers in a way that makes the presence of any embedded messages undetectable. The term originates in the Greek language and means, “covered writing”. While the goal of cryptography is to make a message unreadable, steganography aims at avoiding suspicion to the existence of a hidden message. A coding scheme is a set of rules that determines which symbol of the source alphabet is represented by which symbol in the target alphabet. Several different coding schemes have been developed within the past decade by different groups of researchers. The coding schemes differ in codon length, detectability, number of characters that can be encoded, and the number of steps involved in encoding a message. Recent advances in genetic engineering have allowed the insertion of artificial DNA strands into the living cells of organisms. Instead of expressing a message as a series of ones and zeros, it is represented in DNA code as a series of As, Cs, Gs, and Ts. A number of algorithms have been developed to encode a message in DNA characters and either disguise these messages as novel DNA sequences or encapsulate them within existing ones. In this work we describe methods to insert information into a DNA sequence for the purpose of data storage, watermarking, or communication of secret messages.
Identification of MglA-Regulated Genes Reveals Novel Virulence Factors in Francisella tularensis

The facultative intracellular bacterium Francisella tularensis causes the zoonotic disease tularemia. F. tularensis resides within host macrophages in vivo, and this ability is essential for pathogenesis. The transcription factor MglA is required for the expression of several Francisella genes that are necessary for replication in macrophages and for virulence in mice. We hypothesized that the identification of MglA-regulated genes in the Francisella genome by transcriptional profiling of wild-type and mglA mutant bacteria would lead to the discovery of new virulence factors utilized by F. tularensis. A total of 102 MglA-regulated genes were identified, the majority of which were positively regulated, including all of the Francisella pathogenicity island (FPI) genes. We mutated novel MglA-regulated genes and tested the mutants for their ability to replicate and induce cytotoxicity in macrophages and to grow in mice. Mutations in MglA-regulated genes within the FPI (pdpB and cds2) as well as outside the FPI (FTT0989, oppB, and FTT1209c) were either attenuated or hypervirulent in macrophages compared to the wild-type strain. All of these mutants exhibited decreased fitness in vivo in competition experiments with wild-type bacteria. We have identified five new Francisella virulence genes, and our results suggest that characterizations of additional MglA-regulated genes will yield further insights into the pathogenesis of this bacterium.
Benefits of resection for metachronous lung cancer

Abstract Objectives The benefits of resection for metachronous lung cancer are not well described. The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of surgical resection for metachronous lung cancers. Methods We reviewed the charts of all patients who underwent a second resection for a metachronous lung cancer from July 1, 1988, to December 31, 2002. Type of resection, operative morbidity, mortality, and survival by stage were analyzed. Survival was determined by using the Kaplan-Meier survival method. All patients were pathologically staged by using the 1997 American Joint Committee on Cancer standards. Results Pulmonary resections were performed in 69 patients who had undergone a previous resection. The mean interval between the first and second resection was 2.4 ± 2.5 years. Seventy-three percent of patients presented with stage I cancers, 9% with stage II cancers, and 17% with stage III cancers. Lobectomy and wedge resection were performed with equal frequency (42% each) for the metachronous cancers. Operative mortality for the second resection was 5.8%. The mean follow-up after the second resection was 37 months. Overall 5-year actuarial survival for the entire group after the second resection was 33.4%. Conclusions Operations for metachronous cancers provided survival that approximated the expected survival for lung cancer. Surgical intervention should be considered as a safe and effective treatment for resectable metachronous lung cancer in patients with adequate physiologic pulmonary reserve.
Reduction of leg pain and lower-extremity weakness for 1 year with Oxiplex/SP gel following laminectomy, laminotomy, and discectomy.

Object. Although good surgical technique is effective in reducing postoperative epidural fibrosis, compression or tethering of the nerve root may cause recurrent radicular pain and physical impairment. The implantation of a bioresorbable gel on the dura may further decrease the amount of scar formation after surgery and thus improve the patient’s ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL). This study is a 12-month evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of Oxiplex/SP Gel (FzioMed, Inc., San Luis Obispo, CA) in the reduction of pain and radiculopathy after lumbar discectomy. Methods. A pilot randomized single-blind multicenter clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the performance of Oxiplex/SP Gel in patients who underwent surgery for unilateral herniation of the lumbar disc at L4–5 or L5–S1. Eighteen patients with severe leg pain and lower-extremity weakness (11 women and seven men) were randomly assigned intraoperatively to receive the gel at the conclusion of surgery (treatment group) or to undergo surgery alone (control group). Self-assessment questionnaires (Lumbar Spine Outcomes Questionnaire) to assess pain, symptoms, and ADL were completed preoperatively and at scheduled postoperative intervals (30 days, 90 days, 6 months, and 12 months). The authors examined the spine and lower extremities of patients scheduled for discectomy to assess neurological function and pain. Treated patients received sufficient Oxiplex/SP Gel (1–3 ml) to coat the nerve root and fill the epidural space. Postoperative clinical evaluations were performed at 30 and 90 days. Patients completed the selfassessment questionnaires at baseline and were contacted by telephone or mail for the completion of the postoperative self-assessment questionnaires. Surgical procedures were well tolerated; no device-related adverse events and no clinically significant laboratory results were reported. The 11 patients with severe leg pain and lower-extremity weakness who were treated with Oxiplex/SP Gel had a reduction in those symptoms at 30 days, 90 days, 6 months, and 12 months after discectomy, compared with the seven control patients who underwent surgery only. Conclusions. Oxiplex/SP Gel was easy to use and safe in patients who underwent unilateral discectomy. A greater benefit in clinical outcome measures was seen over the 12-month follow-up period in gel-treated patients.
Optimization of energy conversion in monolithic superconducting magnets

As part of an effort to develop an electromagnetic launcher, the authors have studied magnetic to kinetic energy conversion in a system of monolithic superconducting magnets. They present the dependence of optimal shapes on design parameters such as speed, scale, and critical current density, as well as an optimized shape.
Psychological correlates of functional hypothalamic amenorrhea

Abstract Objective: To determine whether mood, attitudes, or symptoms of disordered eating discriminated women with functional hypothalamic amenorrhea (FHA) from those with organic causes of amenorrhea and eumenorrhea. Design: Cross-sectional comparison of women with FHA, women with organic amenorrhea, and eumenorrheic control women. Setting: Clinical research center in an academic medical institution. Patient(s): Seventy-seven women ≥18 years old with time since menarche ≥5 and ≤25 years were recruited by advertisement. Intervention(s): Ovulation was confirmed in eumenorrheic control women. Causes of anovulation were carefully documented in amenorrheic participants and LH pulse profiles were obtained to document the diagnosis of FHA. All participants were interviewed and completed questionnaires. Main Outcome Measure(s): Self-report measures of dysfunctional attitudes, coping styles, and symptoms of depression and eating disorders. Result(s): Women with FHA reported more depressive symptoms and dysfunctional attitudes than did eumenorrheic women, but not significantly more than women with organic amenorrhea. However, women with FHA reported significantly more symptoms of disordered eating than did either anovulatory or ovulatory women. Conclusion(s): The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that FHA is precipitated by a combination of psychosocial stressors and metabolic challenge.
Optimizing GridFTP through dynamic right-sizing

In this paper, we describe the integration of dynamic right-sizing - an automatic and scalable buffer management technique for enhancing TCP (transport control protocol) performance - into GridFTP, a subsystem of the Globus Toolkit for managing bulk data transfers across computational Grids. Such Grids are often characterized by networks with large bandwidth-delay products. Unfortunately, many of today's Grid applications use only a small fraction of available bandwidth because the default buffer sizes in TCP are tuned for yesterday's WAN (wide access network) speeds. Buffer sizes can be manually tuned to allow TCP flow control to adapt to high-speed WAN environments, but this is a tedious process. Although recent work has shown how to automatically tune system buffers during connection set-up, these values may not be appropriate for the connection's lifetime due to varying network delay and throughput. We show how using the technique of dynamic right-sizing (DRS) in GridFTP helps us optimize memory usage while maintaining high throughput over the lifetime of the connection. We also show how DRS enhances important GridFTP features such as striped and third-party data transfers in a scalable way. The technique is implemented entirely in user space so that end users do not have to modify the kernel.
NOS1 Methylation and Carotid Artery Intima Media Thickness in Children

Background— Nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in cardiovascular health by maintaining and regulating vascular tone and blood flow. Epigenetic regulation of NO synthase (NOS), the genes responsible for NO production, may affect cardiovascular disease, including the development of atherosclerosis in children. Methods and Results— We measured percentage DNA methylation using bisulfite conversion and pyrosequencing assays on DNA from buccal cells provided by 377 participants of the Children’s Health Study on whom carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) measurements were also collected. We examined a total of 16 CpG loci located within NOS1 , NOS2A , NOS3 , ARG1 , and ARG2 genes responsible for NO production. CIMT was measured using high-resolution B-mode carotid ultrasound. The association between percentage DNA methylation in ARG and NOS genes with CIMT was evaluated using linear regression adjusted for sex, ethnicity, body mass index, age at CIMT, town of residence, and experimental plate for pyrosequencing reactions. Differences in the association by ethnicity and ancestral group were also evaluated. For a 1% increase in average DNA methylation of NOS1 , CIMT increased by 1.2 μm ( P =0.02). This association was greater in Hispanic children of Native American descent (β=2.3; P =0.004) than in non-Hispanic whites (β=0.3; P =0.71) or Hispanic whites (β=1.0; P =0.35). Conclusions— DNA methylation of NOS1 has a plausible role in atherogenesis through regulation of NO production, although ancestry may alter the magnitude of this association.
Genetic Tools To Enhance the Study of Gene Function and Regulation in Staphylococcus aureus

The bursa aurealis transposon has been used to create transposon insertion libraries of Bacillus anthracis and Staphylococcus aureus. To provide a set of genetic tools to enhance the utility of these libraries, we generated an allelic-exchange system that allows for the replacement of the transposon with useful genetic markers and fluorescent reporter genes. These tools were tested in the Nebraska Transposon Mutant Library (NTML), containing defined transposon insertions in 1,952 nonessential S. aureus genes. First, we generated a plasmid that allows researchers to replace the genes encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP) and erythromycin resistance in the transposon with a noncoding DNA fragment, leaving a markerless mutation within the chromosome. Second, we produced allelic-exchange plasmids to replace the transposon with alternate antibiotic resistance cassettes encoding tetracycline, kanamycin, and spectinomycin resistance, allowing for the simultaneous selection of multiple chromosomal mutations. Third, we generated a series of fluorescent reporter constructs that, after allelic exchange, generate transcriptional reporters encoding codon-optimized enhanced cyan fluorescent protein (ECFP), enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (EYFP), DsRed.T3(DNT), and eqFP650, as well as superfolder green fluorescent protein (sGFP). Overall, combining the NTML with this allelic-exchange system provides an unparalleled resource for the study of S. aureus.
Food and Drug Administration Approval of Laboratory Tests

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted accelerated approval to crizotinib (Xalkori; Pfizer, New York, New York) to treat patients with advanced-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that is positive for anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) fusion genes. Concurrently, the FDA granted accelerated approval for a companion diagnostic test, the Xysis ALK Break Apart FISH Probe Kit (Abbott Molecular, Inc, Chicago, Illinois), designed to detect rearrangements of the ALK gene, which are found in about 5% of patients with NSCLC. Crizotinib comes with ‘‘a hefty price tag’’— $9600 per month, or $115 000 per year; however, ‘‘[w]e are going to be treating patients more effectively and avoiding treatments that don’t work.’’ 1 ‘‘This is the first targeted agent to be developed with an accompanying diagnostic test, said Mace Rothenberg, MD, senior vice president of Pfizer’s Oncology Business Unit.’’ 1 ‘‘‘The Abbott ALK FISH test was developed in conjunction with Pfizer and the clinical trials for crizotinib,’ said Kathryn B. Becker, PhD, director of Abbott Molecular Oncology. ‘It was configured to work specifically in NSCLC patients . . .’’’ 1 (emphasis added). The launch of crizotinib and the companion Abbott ALK FISH test has made FDA-approved laboratory tests a hot topic among pathologists. Food and Drug Administration approval of laboratory tests is new, and raises many questions. How did FDA approval of laboratory tests come about? What laboratory tests, if any, should require FDA approval? What is FDA approval meant to accomplish? What does this change mean to the pathologist? To the patient? Is FDA approval desirable? Political? Inevitable?
Political Trust in the American States

This article illustrates that trust in state government varies considerably across states. Using newly available public opinion data, the authors investigate the effects of political polarization, corruption, income inequality, unemployment, state fiscal conditions, median income, ideology, state size, tax rates, and social capital on differences in trust in state government. A number of these variables have statistically significant effects on trust in state government, including state fiscal conditions, unemployment, state ideology, and corruption. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for policy makers and elected officials.
Artificial neural networks-learning and generalization

Summary form only given. This presentation is intended to address issues that are related to learning and generalization capability of ANN. It is also intended to examine the state-of-the-art and, hopefully, stimulate discussions on where research should be directed. A survey on recent developments in supervised and unsupervised learning is given. Details of both learning strategies are elaborated with regard to some classes of ANN and their applications examined. The concept of selective learning is also discussed. Generalization capability of some classes of ANN is addressed, particularly, from the viewpoint of function realization. Special attention is focused on multilayer perceptrons. Other related questions such as "How large does a network have to be to perform a desired task?" are discussed.
Integrative Literature Review: Concept Mapping: A Strategy to Support the Development of Practice, Research, and Theory Within Human Resource Development:

The purpose of this integrative literature review is to summarize research on concept mapping and to offer ideas on how concept mapping can facilitate practice, research, and theory development within human resource development. In this review, more than 300 articles, written in both English and Spanish, presented at two different concept mapping conferences were reviewed. Six researchers reviewed the articles and created a matrix outlining the research studies, the methods, the findings, and the implications. This matrix was then used to conduct an in-depth analysis and identify six overall themes of the research presented. These themes were identified as (a) teaching and learning, (b) assessment and scoring, (c) knowledge development, (d) software development, (e) professional development, and (f) research methods. Finally, the identified themes were used to advance implications for the use of concept mapping within human resource development.
Strategies for Internet Reading with Different Reading Purposes: A Descriptive Study of Twelve Good Internet Readers

This descriptive study explored different reading strategies 12 adult good Internet readers used while doing 3 Internet reading tasks, each with a different reading purpose: seeking specific information, acquiring general knowledge, and being entertained. This study investigated whether readers' strategies differed by reading purpose. Purposive selection was used in selecting adult, good, experienced Internet readers to participate in the study. The design of the study allowed for inclusion of additional participants if it was found that new reading strategies were still being identified by the 12th reader (they were not). Data were collected through navigational records and participants' stimulated recall following the three tasks about their reading process. More than 50 strategies were identified. Some strategies were used across purposes; others were not. In addition, readers adopted different patterns of reading strategies for different reading purposes. Results of the study suggest that it may be he...
The Use of Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction in Thoracic Malignancies

Recent progress in the molecular analysis of NSCLC tumors and lymph node status will likely translate into a clearer understanding of the variables and predictors of tumor recurrence. This understanding may lead to more appropriate therapeutic decisions both in the operating room and in the clinic. With these analyses at the molecular level, a more precise molecular classification is on the horizon which includes a molecular substaging. All of these aspects of NSCLC biology await testing or final analysis of prospective multi-institutional trials such as that set forth in CALGB 9761.
Empowering the Surgical Patient: A Randomized, Prospective Analysis of an Innovative Strategy for Improving Patient Compliance with Preadmission Showering Protocol

BACKGROUND: Surgical site infections (SSIs) are responsible for significant morbidity, mortality, and excess use of health care resources. The preadmission antiseptic shower is accepted as an effective strategy for reducing the risk for SSIs. The study analyzes the benefit of an innovative electronic patient alert system (EAS) for enhancing compliance with a preadmission showering protocol with 4% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG). STUDY DESIGN: After providing informed consent, 80 volunteers were randomized to 4 CHG showering groups. Groups A1 and A2 showered twice. Group A1 was prompted to shower via EAS. Groups B1 and B2 showered 3 times. Group B1 was prompted via EAS. Subjects in groups A2 and B2 were not prompted (non-EAS groups). Skin-surface concentrations of CHG (mg/ mL) were analyzed using colorimetric assay at 5 separate anatomic sites. Study personnel were blinded to the randomization code; after final volunteer processing, the code was broken and individual groups were analyzed. RESULTS: Mean composite CHG skin-surface concentrations were significantly higher (p < 0.007) in EAS groups A1 (30.9 � 8.8 mg/mL) and B1 (29.0 � 8.3 mg/mL) compared with non-EAS groups A2 (10.5 � 3.9 mg/mL) and B2 (9.5 � 3.1 mg/mL). Overall, 66% and 67% reductions in CHG skin-surface concentrations were observed in non-EAS groups A2 and B2 compared with EAS study groups. Analysis of returned (unused) CHG (mL) suggests that a wide variation in volume of biocide was used per shower in all groups. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that EAS was effective in enhancing patient compliance with a preadmission showering protocol, resulting in a significant (p < 0.007) increase in skin-surface concentrations of CHG compared with non-EAS controls. However, variation in amount of unused 4% CHG suggests that rigorous standardization is required to maximize the benefits of this patient-centric interventional strategy. (J Am Coll Surg 2014;-:1e9. � 2014 by the American College of Surgeons)
Ionizing Irradiation Quarantine Treatment Against Plum Curculio (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst), is a quarantine pest of many temperate fruits, such as pomes, Malus spp.; stone fruits, Prunus spp.; and blueberries, Vaccinium spp.; in North America east of the Rocky Mountains and a small area in Utah. There are two strains, a northern univoltine one that undergoes obligate diapause as an adult and a southern multivoltine strain that usually has facultative diapause. Current quarantine treatments for shipment to areas that do not have the pest include methyl bromide fumigation and cold storage for several weeks. The cold storage treatment may not be effective against northern strain adults in diapause. The objective of this research was to develop an irradiation quarantine treatment against plum curculio. The estimated dose to kill southern strain plum curculio adults in one day is ≈4 kGy. Diapausing northern strain plum curculios were prevented from reproducing with 40 Gy. Reproduction of southern strain plum curculios was prevented with a target dose of 80 Gy, and the dose recommended as a quarantine treatment, that would prevent adults from reproducing, is 92 Gy, the maximum absorbed dose measured when a target dose of 80 Gy was sought. At that dose, oviposition may still occur for up to 1 wk and some of the eggs may hatch, but there is no development beyond the first instar. Hosts of the plum curculio would tolerate that dose well. Immature plum curculios were prevented from reproducing with lower doses.
Association Between the Use of 4 Recommended Drug Categories and Patient Perceptions of Health Status Following an ACS Event

BACKGROUND: Four categories of medication have been shown to reduce mortality following an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) event: (a) antiplatelets, (b) beta-blockers, (c) statins, and (d) angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs). OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between use of 1 or more of 4 categories of evidence-based medications and patient-perceived health status. METHODS: Data from the registry of a large university-based health system were used for an analysis of prescribing at discharge following an inpatient hospitalization for ACS. Use of evidence-based medications and patientperceived health status were measured in a telephone survey administered 6 to 12 months (mean [SD] = 10 [3.5] months) after hospital discharge. Surveys were conducted from January 2002 through March 2005. Subjects were included in the survey if they were prescribed at least 1 of the 4 evidence-based drug categories at the time of discharge. Each patient was assigned to 1 of 5 groups (range: 0 to 4) based on the number of drug categories self-reported by the patient as current at the time of the survey. Patient-perceived health status was assessed using the question “How would you rate your health at the present time?” using a 5-point scale from excellent (1) to poor (5). Mean perceived health status scores for each of the 4 evidence-based medication categories were compared using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Multivariate logistic regression determined the association between patient-perceived health status—dichotomized to excellent/very good/good versus fair/poor—and the evidence-based medication group, controlling for patient demographics and comorbidities. P values of < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 393 of 1,206 patients (32.6%) responded to the survey between 6 and 12 months after discharge for an ACS event. The mean (SD) patient-perceived health status ranged from 3.3 (1.1) for patients with no (0) self-reported evidence-based medications (n = 14) to 2.5 (1.0) for patients with 4 evidence-based medications (n = 130, P = 0.028), indicating higher self-perceived health status for patients who were taking more of the evidence-based medications. Using patients with no (0) evidencebased medications as the comparator, the odds of higher patient-perceived health status were multiplied by 8.2 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.737.9, P = 0.007) for those with 4 medications, 9.3 (95% CI = 2.0-43.4, P = 0.004) for those with 3 medications, 4.9 (95% CI = 1.1-22.6, P = 0.041) for those with 2 medications, and not significantly different for those with 1 medication (odds ratio = 2.5, 95% CI = 0.4-14.4, P = 0.316). Younger age, prior myocardial infarction, and recurrent ACS events occurring between discharge and the survey date were significantly associated with poorer perceived health status. CONCLUSION: Better patient-perceived health status was associated with use of a greater number of evidence-based medications for patients with ACS.
Interleukins: An Overview

Immune responses are in the beginning, specific in that a given lymphocyte is initially triggered via its membrane receptors for a specific antigen. But following the initial antigen trigger, a specific T lymphocyte elaborates a number of nonspecific soluble mediators with a wide range of effects on other cells, both proximal and distal, both within the immune system and outside it, A complex network develops in which these immune cytokines exert positive and negative feedback effects on one another. Immune cytokines include: interleukin 1 (produced by macrophages and other cells, with actions on many cell types), interleukin 2 (produced by T cells, with actions on T and B cells), interleukin 3 (produced by T cells, with actions on hematopoietic stem cells), interferon-γ (produced by T cells, with actions on many cell types), B cell stimulating factor or BSF 1 (produced by T cells, with actions on B and T cells), lymphotoxin (produced by T cells, actions on tumor cells and various normal cell types) and tumor necrosis factor also termed cachectin (produced by macrophages and various other cell types, with actions on fat cells, macrophages and other cells.
Use of the E2F Transcription Factor by DNA Tumor Virus Regulatory Proteins

In most cases the normal host cell for infection by the DNA tumor virus is a quiescent, terminally differentiated cell that is not dividing. Various experiments have demonstrated that upon infection these cells are stimulated to enter S phase, as indicated by the synthesis of cellular DNA and the induction of activities associated with DNA replication, particularly those enzymes involved in deoxynucleotide biosynthesis (Hatanaka and Dulbecco 1966; Ledinko 1968; Yamashita and Shimojo 1969; Dulbecco et al. 1965; Frearson et al. 1965, 1966; Hartwell et al. 1965; Kara and Weil 1967; Kit et al. 1966a, b, 1967a, b; Sheinin 1966). This viral-mediated S phase induction almost certainly reflects the need of these viruses to create an environment appropriate for viral DNA synthesis since the levels of deoxynucleotides are low in quiescent cells and normally rise only when cells are stimulated to enter S phase (Bjorklund et al. 1990; Engstrom et al. 1985). Thus, the normal host for infection by these viruses, a nongrowing cell, is not an environment conducive to DNA replication. The capacity of the DNA tumor viruses to drive a quiescent cell into S phase is dependent largely on the action of the viral regulatory proteins that include adenovirus E1A, SV40 T antigen, and human papillomavirus (HPV) E7. These are also viral proteins that possess oncogenic activity through their common ability to inactivate the retinoblastoma gene product Rb. Indeed, it is now clear that the ability of these viral proteins to promote entry into S phase, so as to create an environment that facilitates viral DNA replication, also results in a loss of cell growth control when a viral infection cannot proceed to completion. Recent developments have led to the realization that these viral proteins mediate these events through the activation of the E2F transcription factor, and studies of their interactions have provided considerable insight into the basic mechanisms of cell growth control and oncogenesis.
Inhibition of acid secretion by electrical acupuncture is mediated via beta-endorphin and somatostatin

Electroacupuncture (EAP) was shown to inhibit basal gastric acid secretion in dogs and sham feeding-stimulated acid secretion in humans. However, its effect on a meal-stimulated acid secretion in dogs and the mechanisms involved remain unclear. In five dogs prepared with gastric cannulas, gastric acid secretion was determined by a dye-dilution technique for 60 min after intragastric administration of 200 ml of 4% mixed amino acid meal in six different experiments: study 1, no acupuncture; study 2, sham acupuncture (SAP); study 3, EAP; study 4, EAP plus naloxone; study 5, naloxone alone; and study 6, intravenous infusion of somatostatin (SS) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) at doses of 0.5 and 1.0 micrograms.kg-1.h-1, respectively. EAP was performed on three different points including Pishu, ZusanLi, and Neiguan. Biphasic electrical pulse (25-100 Hz, 12-16 mA) was applied continuously via needles for 75 min starting 15 min before meal. SAP on nonacupoints in hind- and forelegs was performed with the same electrical pulse. Plasma SS, VIP, beta-endorphin, and gastrin were determined by specific radioimmunoassays. EAP significantly inhibited acid secretion (75%; P < 0.01), which coincided with significant increases in plasma SS, VIP, and beta-endorphin and a significant decrease in plasma gastrin. Naloxone completely reversed EAP-induced inhibition of acid secretion and changes in plasma concentration of peptides. SAP also significantly suppressed acid output (30%; P < 0.05), with a modest but significant increase in plasma beta-endorphin. However, the inhibition by EAP on the acid output was significantly greater than that by SAP (P < 0.01). Furthermore, exogenous SS (0.5 microgram.kg-1.h-1) significantly inhibited acid output (78%), whereas VIP failed to inhibit gastric acid secretion. We conclude that, in dogs, EAP significantly inhibits meal-stimulated acid secretion. This acid inhibition is mediated by the release of beta-endorphin and somatostatin, and an endogenous opiate or opiates appear to play an important role in the release of SS, VIP, and beta-endorphin.
Service Centric Scheduling with Strict Deadlines

Wireless networks are evolving to meet the needs of transforming wireless services. The demands of wireless service users should guide the evolution of networks to be service centric, meaning towards greater and more efficient service provisioning capabilities. Users commonly abandon delayed services and many services are rendered useless due to delay. Such delays can be caused by collisions or the stochastic nature of wireless networks. Through scheduling, a wireless network can overcome these obstacles. To meet the need for timely services, we present a service centric scheduling framework aimed at maximizing service payoffs under strict deadlines. We consider three scenarios for the amount of network information available for scheduling: full, local, and statistical. An optimization framework under full network information is presented along with a method for deriving the optimal solution. With local information scenario, which is a more practical consideration than full information, we present a greedy strategy and an approach via optimal stopping theory to derive an optimal threshold to minimize the time to transmission. A fixed scheme and an opportunistic scheme are presented under the assumption that statistical network information is available alongside local information. Our opportunistic scheme maximizes the average service payoff. A complexity reducing technique which potentially decreases the required computations to make the optimal opportunistic decision is also presented. We evaluate the performance of the various schemes via simulations.
Temperature and time dependence of the electro-mechanical properties of flexible active fiber composites

Active fiber composites (AFCs) are comprised of piezoelectric fibers embedded in a polymeric matrix. AFCs use interdigitated electrodes, which produce electric field lines parallel to the fiber direction, thus taking advantage of the larger d 33 piezoelectric coefficient. The polymer volume content of the AFCs is generally more than 50%; since polymers tend to have behaviors affected by their viscoelastic characteristics especially at elevated temperatures, it is necessary to understand the thermo-electro-mechanical behavior of AFCs at different loading rates. In this study, mechanical, electrical and electromechanical properties of AFCs were measured at different isothermal temperatures, namely 25 °C, 50 °C and 75 °C and at different loading rates. The measurements of all the properties of AFCs were done along the fiber direction. It was found that at higher temperatures, the modulus and tensile strength decreased for all strain rates and the strain at failure increased. The remnant polarization increased with decrease in frequency and increase in temperature; however, the coercive field decreased with temperature and was not affected by the frequency. Due to the viscoelastic behavior of the epoxy, the piezoelectric coefficient d 33 increased at higher temperature and lower frequency. It was also noted that this coefficient is dependent on the magnitude of the electric field.
SFC-FTIR Spectroscopy and SFC-MS of Nonvolatile Extractants of Microwave Susceptor Packaging

Microwave susceptor packaging is designed to brown and crisp food in a microwave oven. During microwave cooking, the package can reach temperatures above 260 o C. Because of these high temperatures and the multilayer construction of the packages, many types of chemicals can potentially migrate into the food. Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy in series with flame-ionization detection provides a unique solution to the simultaneous determination of both aromatic and aliphatic nonvolatile compounds. We demonstrate the utility of SFC for determining these potential migrants in solvent extracts of several microwave susceptor packaging materials. The extract of one package studied contained 2-(2-butoxyethoxy)ethanol and several aliphatic chemicals whose FTIR and mass spectra are characteristic of aliphatic ketones