cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hydrocephalus in children: Neurosurgical and neuroimaging concerns

The neuroimaging of hydrocephalus from the perspective of the pediatric neurosurgeon is discussed. Processes with new developments in therapy and imaging are described, including congenital causes of hydrocephalus, unilateral hydrocephalus, trapped fourth ventricle, and benign external hydrocephalus.
Analysis of a dense-medium separator for coarse coal separation using computational fluid dynamics

The raw-coal feeding system and the upward medium current flow in a dense-medium vessel (DMV) are, in addition to the residence time of particles in the separator, important factors for efficient coarse particle separation. The feed material from a raw coal screen and/or pre-wet screen merge with the major volume of circulating medium as push medium, guided by an adjustable submergence baffle plate deep fed into the separator effective separation. The remaining volume of the circulating medium enters from the purge and drain for hoppers at the bottom of the DMV. This generates a gentle upward medium current flow in the separator, which prevents dense medium stratification/settling and merges as part of the push medium. A two-dimensional, two-phase model developed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used to describe the flow pattern and evaluate the function of the dip plate for understanding the mechanisms of particle separation in the separator. The particle movement in the DMV is also tracked to investigate the major operating parameters affecting the separation performance of the DMV. The simulation results of the DMV separation performance are validated by in-plant test data.
A Robust Optimization Model for an Invasive Species Management Problem

Invasive species pose a significant threat to global biodiversity. Managing invasive species often involves modeling the species’ spread pattern, estimating control costs and damage costs due to the invasion, designing control efforts, and accounting for uncertainties in model parameters. Dealing with uncertainty is arguably the most important part of the process, since biological, environmental, and economic factors can cause parameter values to vary greatly. Managers need decision tools that are robust to such limited or variable information. Here, we present a robust spatial optimization model to select treatment sites in a way that maximally reduces the size of an invasive population, given a constraint on financial resources. We develop an integer programming model that includes population dynamics and management costs over space and time. The model incorporates uncertainty in the available budget and the invasive spread rate as sets of discrete scenarios to determine a robust, cost-effective management plan in a novel way.
A Survey of School Administrators' Training and Support Related to Evaluating Special Education Teachers.

School administrators are often responsible for observing and evaluating special education teachers. The current study examined the training school administrators received, their needed knowledge and supports, and their confidence in performing job functions related to special education teacher evaluation. A total of 929 school administrators in California completed a 26-item survey in which they reported the training they had received, the usefulness of the training for informing practice, and the confidence they felt in evaluating special educators. Results indicated that most school administrators did not have a background in special education, did not receive training related to evaluating special educators, and felt less confident evaluating special educators than general educators. School administrators, especially those without a background in special education, may need more training and support related to evaluating special education teachers during preparation and in the early years of administration. Training and support should focus on evidence-based practices for teaching- ing students with disabilities.
SYNTHESIS OF A CHIRAL MACROCYCLIC DIBENZODICYCLOHEXANOTETRAAMIDE-CONTAINING STATIONARY PHASE FOR LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY

Allyloxy-substituted macrocyclic dibenzodicyclohexanotetraamide 2 was prepared by the following sequence. MonoBoc-protected chiral 1,2-cyclohexanediamine (3) was treated with isophthaloyl chloride followed by removal of the Boc group to form bisisophthalamide 5. Compound 5 was then treated with allyloxyphthaloyl chloride to form the macrocyclic tetraamide 2 in a 56% yield. Chiral selector 2 was converted to its ethoxydimethylsilane derivative and heated in a suspension of silica gel and toluene to form the chiral macrocycle-containing silica gel phase 1. This phase separated the enantiomers of (±)-α-methylbenzylamine and (±)-DL-α-aminobutyric acid methyl ester in a liquid chromatograph.
Fabrication and multiscale characterization of 3D silver containing bioactive glass-ceramic scaffolds

In this work, we fabricated and characterized bioactive 3D glass-ceramic scaffolds with inherent antibacterial properties. The sol-gel (solution-gelation) technique and the sacrificial template method were applied for the fabrication of 3D highly porous scaffolds in the 58.6SiO2 - 24.9CaO - 7.2P2O5 - 4.2Al2O3 - 1.5Na2O -1.5K2O - 2.1Ag2O system (Ag-BG). This system is known for its advanced bioactive and antibacterial properties. The fabrication of 3D scaffolds has potential applications that impact tissue engineering. The study of the developed scaffolds from macro-characteristics to nano-, revealed a strong correlation between the macroscale properties such as antibacterial action, bioactivity with the microstructural characteristics such as elemental analysis, crystallinity. Elemental homogeneity, morphological, and microstructural characteristics of the scaffolds were studied by scanning electron microscopy associated with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), transmittance electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and UV-visible spectroscopy methods. The compressive strength of the 3D scaffolds was measured within the range of values for glass-ceramic scaffolds with similar compositions, porosity, and pore size. The capability of the scaffolds to form an apatite-like phase was tested by immersing the scaffolds in simulated body fluid (SBF) and the antibacterial response against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was studied. The formation of an apatite phase was observed after two weeks of immersion in SBF and the anti-MRSA effect occurs after both direct and indirect exposure.
Retrospective evaluation of serum/plasma iron, red blood cell distribution width, and nucleated red blood cells in dogs with acute trauma (2009–2015): 129 cases

Objective To compare the prognostic value of admission hematologic parameters serum/plasma iron, red blood cell distribution width (RDW), and nucleated red blood cells (nRBCs) in dogs presenting with acute traumatic injury. Design Retrospective observational study (2009-2015). Setting University teaching hospital. Animals One hundred and twenty-nine clinical dogs presenting within 24 hours of acute traumatic injury. Interventions None. Measurements and main results One hundred and twenty-nine dogs met the inclusion criteria and 109 (84.5%) survived, while 20 (15.5%) died or were euthanized in hospital. Patients with blunt force trauma comprised 79.8% of the patient population; dogs with penetrating trauma comprised 20.2% of cases. Hypoferremia occurred in all nonsurvivors, and the median serum/plasma iron concentration was significantly lower in nonsurvivors than survivors (P = 0.028). Normal or increased serum/plasma iron had 100% specificity and 100% positive predictive value for survival. Red blood cell distribution width was not significantly different between groups (P = 0.417). The presence of nRBCs was significantly associated with nonsurvival (P = 0.030), although the absolute nRBC concentrations were not significantly different (P = 0.070). A multiple logistic regression model found age, type of injury, presence of nRBCs, and serum/plasma iron to be independent predictors of survival with an area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of 0.813. Conclusions The presence of nRBCs and low serum/plasma iron are associated with mortality in patients with acute trauma; however, red blood cell distribution width was not associated with survival. Absence of hypoferremia was highly associated with a favorable prognosis in this patient population. These parameters may warrant inclusion in trauma scoring systems.
Lattice finite-volume dependence of the nucleon parton distributions

There have been rapid developments in the direct calculation of the Bjorken-$x$ dependence of parton distribution functions (PDFs) using lattice QCD, and the technique shows promising results. Among various new methods, large-momentum effective theory (LaMET), which calculates boosted hadron matrix elements of multiple spatial displacements on the lattice, shows promising PDFs at physical pion mass by both ${\mathrm{LP}}^{3}$ and ETMC Collaborations. However, the finite-volume systematics have not yet been studied, and it has been suggested that such systematics can be more significant for LaMET-type operators than the traditional bilinear quark operators in charges and form factors. In this work, we present the first study of the finite-volume systematic for both isovector nucleon unpolarized and helicity matrix elements on three lattice volumes (2.88, 3.84, 4.8 fm) with lattice spacing 0.12 fm and 220-MeV pion mass. We perform two-state simultaneous fits using multiple source-sink separations to remove excited-state contamination and obtain reliable ground-state matrix elements. We then implement nonperturbative renormalization and Fourier transform the matrix elements to momentum-space quasi-PDFs. Overall, we do not see significant finite-volume systematics at the studied boost momenta of ${P}_{z}=1.3$ and 2.6 GeV.
Beyond Stro&#776;mgren Spheres and Wind-Blown Bubbles: An Observational Perspective on H II Region Feedback

Massive stars produce copious quantities of ultraviolet radiation beyond the Lyman limit, photoionizing the interstellar medium (ISM) and producing H II regions. As strong sources of recombinationand forbidden-line emission, infrared continuum, and thermal (free-free) radio continuum, H II regions serve as readily-observable beacons of massive star formation in the Milky Way and external galaxies. Along with supernovae, H II regions are dominant sources of feedback in star-forming galaxies, injecting radiative and mechanical luminosity into the ISM. H II regions may prove more important than supernovae as triggers of star formation through localized compression of cold cloud cores. In this review, I give a broad overview of the structure and time-evolution of H II regions, emphasizing complications to the theoretical picture revealed by multiwavelength observations. I discuss a recent controversy surrounding the dominant feedback mechanism in 30 Doradus, the most luminous H II region in the Local Group. I summarize the first results from the Milky Way Project (MWP), which has produced a new catalog of several thousand candidate Galactic H II regions by enlisting >35,000 "citizen scientists" to search Spitzer Space Telescope survey images for bubble-shaped structures. The MWP and similar large catalogs enable empirical studies of Galactic H II region evolution across the full range of luminosities and statistical studies of triggered star formation.
Hölder-topology of the Heisenberg group

The Heisenberg group is an example of a sub-Riemannian manifold homeomorphic, but not bi-Lipschitz equivalent to the Euclidean space. Its metric is derived from curves which are only allowed to move in so-called horizontal directions. We report on some recent progress in the analysis of the Holder topology of the Heisenberg group, some related and some unrelated to density questions for Sobolev maps into the Heisenberg group. In particular we describe the main ideas behind a result by Hajlasz, Mirra, and the author regarding Gromov’s conjecture, which is based on the linking number. We do not prove or disprove the Gromov Conjecture.
Equivalence of light-front quantization and instant-time quantization

Commutation or anticommutation relations quantized at equal instant time and commutation or anticommutation relations quantized at equal light-front time not only cannot be transformed into each other, they take completely different forms. While they would thus appear to describe different theories, we show that this is not in fact the case. By looking not at equal times but at unequal times, we show that unequal instant-time commutation or anticommutation relations are completely equivalent to unequal light-front time commutation or anticommutation relations. Light-front quantization and instant-time quantization are thus the same and thus describe the same theory, with it being only the restriction to equal times that makes them look different. However, for fermions there is a caveat, as the light-front anticommutation relations involve projection operators acting on the fermion fields. Nonetheless, not only can one still derive fermion unequal light-front time anticommutators starting from unequal instant-time ones, one can even derive unequal instant-time fermion anticommutators starting from unequal light-front time anticommutators even though the fermion projection operators that are relevant in the light-front case are not invertible. To establish the equivalence for gauge fields we present a quantization procedure that does not involve the zero-mode singularities that are commonly encountered in light-front gauge field studies. We also study time-ordered products of fields, and again show the equivalence despite the fact that there are additional terms in the fermion light-front case. We establish our results first for free theories, and then to all orders in interacting theories though comparison of the instant-time and light-front Lehmann representations. Finally, we compare instant-time Hamiltonians and light-front Hamiltonians and show that in the instant-time rest frame they give identical results.
Black-Tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) Reintroduction Can Limit Woody Plant Proliferation in Grasslands

Tree and shrub proliferation has been widespread in grasslands worldwide, and has altered ecosystem function and wildlife habitat. Several causes have been proposed for the woody plant encroachment phenomenon. The widespread eradication of a native keystone herbivore in North American grasslands, the prairie dog (Cynomys spp.), is one potential contributing factor that has received relatively little attention. We hypothesized prairie dogs would have historically suppressed woody plants by creating “browse traps” through their systematic clipping of vegetation. We tested this hypothesis by conducting surveys and experimentally manipulating shrub accessibility via exclosures and artificial saplings on and around recently reestablished black-tailed prairie dog (C. ludovicianus) colonies in southeastern Arizona, USA. Shrubs were common on the nascent colonies (mean ± SE = 132 ± 32.7 plants ha-1), but at substantially reduced densities compared to off colonies (305 ± 94.9 plants ha-1). Among branches placed on colonies to simulate ‘saplings’, 89% were damaged within three days of ‘planting’, whereas those placed off colonies were virtually untouched. This was true for both a deciduous, N2-fixing shrub (velvet mesquite, Prosopis velutina) and an evergreen non-N2-fixing shrub (creosote bush, Larrea tridentata). Prairie dogs on newly established colonies did not extirpate woody plants over the time-frame of our study, but reduced their abundance and suppressed their growth, which would ostensibly prevent them from achieving dominance. Implications for extending the longevity of widely practiced ‘brush management’ grassland restoration treatments are discussed in the context of perceptions of prairie dogs as rangeland pests. Prairie dogs represent an enigma in keystone conservation. Whereas the reintroduction of large or charismatic keystone species (e.g. sea otters [Enhydra lutris]) are conducted to restore critical ecological function, reintroductions of other keystone species, such as gray wolves [Canis lupus] and in our case, prairie dogs, are highly controversial. Our findings suggest reintroductions of this negatively perceived small herbivore could function as a tool to locally suppress woody plant proliferation that is widely regarded as an impediment to livestock production. Accordingly, prairie dogs could promote restoration efforts to re-establish and maintain habitat for grassland endemics while promoting biological diversity and other ecosystem services.
Wikipedia: A Medical Student Educational Project to Edit Wikipedia in Preparation for Practicing Evidence-Based Pain Medicine

Objective:Wikipedia is commonly used to acquire information about various medical conditions such as chronic pain. Ideally, better online pain management content could reduce the burden of opioid u...
Elastocapillary interactions of thermoresponsive microgels across the volume phase transition temperatures.

Abstract Hypothesis Effective interactions of thermoresponsive microgels are known to be influenced by their volume phase transition. These soft colloids behave as repulsive spheres in the swollen state but show strong attraction in the collapsed state. We hypothesize that this transition in microgel interactions is governed by the interplay between surface tension and bulk elasticity. Experiments Using dissipative particle dynamics, we modeled the interactions between two coarse-grained microgel particles having a lower critical solution temperature around 32 °C, which are suspended in an explicit solvent. The potentials of mean force between microgels with different crosslinking densities were systematically characterized in the temperature range of 12–58 °C across the volume phase transition from steered molecular dynamics simulation trajectories. Findings The detailed dynamics of interaction is uncovered for microgels in different states. The simulations reveal the formation of capillary bridges between collapsed microgels at high temperatures, which contributes to strong attraction at contact. An elastocapillary model based on interface thermodynamics is proposed to describe microgel interactions and accurately predicts simulation data in a wide range of temperatures and overlapping distances. The results provide important physical insights into effective interactions between soft colloids that underpin broad applications of stimuli-responsive microgels.
Program Director Opinions of Virtual Interviews: Whatever Makes my Partners Happy.

Objective To assess the processes and outcomes of 2021 colon and rectal surgery match season: one of the first National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) match to conduct uniformly virtual interviews for all programs and candidates due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since this if the first-year interviews were held entirely virtual for a (NRMP) match season, we sought to determine: (1) How did program directors (PDs) in this year's fellowship conduct their virtual interviews? (2) Were any of these conduct decisions associated with the PD satisfaction with the resulting match? (3) What is the PDs opinion of how interviews should occur next year if COVID-19 is not a factor? Design and Setting The authors sent an anonymous survey to the PDs of all programs participating in the 2021 colon and rectal surgery residency match directly following match day 2020. Participants Forty-one colon and rectal residency PDs (70% response rate) responded to the survey (78% Male) representing a range of experience (M = 7.61, SD = 5.66, years as PD at current institution), and program type (77.5% Academic, 7.5% Independent Academic Medical Center, 15% Nonacademic). Results While programs utilized several different platforms, conducted various forms of training for their faculty, and provided applicants with different types of information, interview day(s) across the specialty are reported to have proceeded smoothly. PDs as a whole were very satisfied with their match results this year (M = 4.65, SD = .66), and this satisfaction was not impacted by virtual interview decisions or processes. However, only 55% of PDs agree or strongly agree that next year's interviews should be virtual regardless of COVID-19, a judgement solely influenced by the opinion of other program faculty on virtual interviews, regardless of satisfaction with match or comfort with technology. Conclusion While PDs report high satisfaction with virtual interview processes and outcomes, there is less agreement that colon and rectal surgery residency interviews should move to a solely virtual platform.
Performance of PET Imaging in a Dedicated Breast PET-DBT scanner

1145 Objectives: The limited spatial resolution of whole-body PET scanners makes it challenging to accurately quantify lesion uptake in smaller lesions ( Conclusions: Custom waveform sampling electronics developed specifically for a dedicated clinical TOF breast PET scanner supports its needs. In a dual-panel scanner design, TOF helps in maintaining image quality and quantitative accuracy. In comparison with whole-body PET scanners, the higher spatial resolution and sensitivity improve contrast recovery in lesions
Functional correction of CFTR mutations in human airway epithelial cells using adenine base editors.

Mutations in the CFTR gene that lead to premature stop codons or splicing defects cause cystic fibrosis (CF) and are not amenable to treatment by small-molecule modulators. Here, we investigate the use of adenine base editor (ABE) ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) that convert A•T to G•C base pairs as a therapeutic strategy for three CF-causing mutations. Using ABE RNPs, we corrected in human airway epithelial cells premature stop codon mutations (R553X and W1282X) and a splice-site mutation (3849 + 10 kb C > T). Following ABE delivery, DNA sequencing revealed correction of these pathogenic mutations at efficiencies that reached 38-82% with minimal bystander edits or indels. This range of editing was sufficient to attain functional correction of CFTR-dependent anion channel activity in primary epithelial cells from CF patients and in a CF patient-derived cell line. These results demonstrate the utility of base editor RNPs to repair CFTR mutations that are not currently treatable with approved therapeutics.
Global Attractors: Topology and Finite-Dimensional Dynamics

Many dissipative evolution equations possess a global attractor \(A\) with finite Hausdorff dimension d. In this paper it is shown that there is an embedding X of \(A\) into \(\mathbb{R}^N \), with N=[2d+2], such that X is the global attractor of some finite-dimensional system on \(\mathbb{R}^N \) with trivial dynamics on X. This allows the construction of a discrete dynamical system on \(\mathbb{R}^N \) which reproduces the dynamics of the time T map on \(A\) and has an attractor within an arbitrarily small neighborhood of X. If the Hausdorff dimension is replaced by the fractal dimension, a similar construction can be shown to hold good even if one restricts to orthogonal projections rather than arbitrary embeddings.
The Effectiveness of Corporate Ethics On-site Visits for Teaching Business Ethics

This paper describes and reports the evaluation ofusing corporate ethics field site visits in a businessethics course. The dilemma of how to design ameaningful business ethics course has been the subjectof debate for business school ethics instructors andis reviewed here. The structure of the site visitsand how student work is evaluated is presented. Twostudies evaluating the field site visits were done. The first study utilized qualitative methods toevaluate students' reactions as well as comments fromthe corporate ethics officers who host the visits. The second study utilized a pretest-posttest surveydesign to quantitatively evaluate student reactions tothe site visits. Results showed a statisticallysignificant, positive change in students' attitudes. This effect was moderated by gender, showing astronger positive effect for females than for males.
Glauberman-Watanabe corresponding p-blocks of finite groups with normal defect groups are Morita equivalent

Let G be a finite group and let A be a solvable finite group that acts on G such that the orders of G and A are relatively prime. Let b be a p-block of G with normal defect group D such that A stabilizes b and D < C G (A). Then there is a Morita equivalence between the block b and its Watanabe correspondent block W(b) of C G (A) given by a bimodule M with vertex ΔD and trivial source that on the character level induces the Glauberman correspondence (and which is an isotypy by a theorem of Watanabe).
From Pilgrimage to Package Tour: Travel and Tourism in the Third World

When people in First World countries think of tourists in the vast expanses of the Third World today, they typically think of pampered westerners, filling up the luxury hotels and imposing their Orientalist gazes on the teeming masses. As David Gladstone shows us in this fascinating and provocative book, such preconceptions are wrong. Coupling incisive and colorful ethnographic accounts of tourism in India and Mexico with sharp analysis, Gladstone demonstrates the amazing complexity of this industry, which now comprises close to ten percent of the world economy. As he also shows, the vast majority of tourists in the Third World are indigenous people with few resources-often making pilgrimages to religious shrines. From Pilgrimage to Package Tour is a fresh and entirely original account that stands tourism studies on its head and proves that this industry is far more complicated than it initially appears.
Enterprise Business Integration in 2010A.D.

This paper looks at how the use of ontologies to describe businesses and systems may allow a move away from standardization, as a basis for Enterprise Business Integration in favor of mediation between different standards. It proposes the Supply Chain Councils SCOR [1] model as a possible base for an ontology to describe businesses and systems. A workbench is described that would allow automatic configuration of orchestration systems to manage business to business and system to system integration. It also shows how the Semantic Web [2] could be used by agents to identify beneficial changes in a company’s supply chain.
Intersubjective Norms Cultural and Interpersonal Perspective

Morris, M. W., & Liu, Z. (2015). Psychological functions of subjective norms: Reference groups, moralization, adherence and defiance. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 46, 1279-1360. Pepitone, A. (1976).Toward a normative and comparative biocultural social psychology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 641-653. Shteynberg, G., Gelfand, M. J., & Kim, K. (2009). Peering into the “magnum mysterium” of culture. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 40, 46-69. Shteynberg, G. (2015). Shared Attention at the Origin: On the Psychological Power of Descriptive Norms. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 46, 1245-1251. Tam, K.-P., Lee, S.-L., Kim, Y.-H., Li, Y., & Chao, M. M. (2012). Intersubjective model of value transmission: Parents using perceived norms as reference when socializing children. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 1041-1052. Wan, C. (2015). Understanding cultural identification through intersubjective cultural representation. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 46, 1267-1272. Zou, X., Tam, K., Morris, M., Lee, S. L., Lau, I. Y., & Chiu, C. Y. (2009). Culture as commonsense: Perceived consensus versus personal beliefs as mechanisms of cultural influence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 579-597.
Studies on leukocyte phosphatases. II. Inhibition of leukocyte alkaline phosphatase by amino acids and its reversal by zinc.

The activity of leukocyte alkaline phosphatase is inhibited by a number of amino acids, most notably cysteine and histidine. The mechanism of this inhibition involves chelation of Zn2+ by the amino acids, as indicated by the complete reversal of the inhibition by added Zn2+. The concentrations of amino acids and Zn2+ required to affect the enzyme activity are such that their interaction might represent an in vivo mechanism for the control of leukocyte alkaline phosphatase activity.
Potentially Pathogenic, Nonfermentative, H2S-Producing Gram-Negative Rod (1 b)

An unnamed, polarly flagellated, nonfermentative, H2S-producing gram-negative rod which was isolated from pathological material of 13 adult individuals is described.
Rapid Real-Time PCR Assays for Detection of Klebsiella pneumoniae with the rmpA or magA Genes Associated with the Hypermucoviscosity Phenotype: Screening of Nonhuman Primates

The relationship of mucoviscosity-associated (magA) and/or regulator of mucoid phenotype (rmpA) genes to the Klebsiella pneumoniae hypermucoviscosity (HMV) phenotype has been reported. We previously demonstrated that rmpA+ K. pneumoniae can cause serious disease in African green monkeys and isolated rmpA+ and magA+ HMV K. pneumoniae from other species of non-human primates. To rapidly screen African green monkeys/non-human primates for these infections, we developed three real-time PCR assays. The first was K. pneumoniae-specific, targeting the khe gene, while the others targeted rmpA and magA. Primer Express 2 was used with the three K. pneumoniae genes to generate sequence-specific TaqMan/TaqMan-Minor Groove Binder assays. Oral/rectal swabs and necropsy samples were collected; swabs were used for routine culture and DNA extraction. K. pneumoniae colonies were identified on the Vitek 2 with DNA tested using the K. pneumoniae-specific assays. Testing of 45 African green monkeys resulted in 19 khe+ samples from 14 animals with none positive for either rmpA or magA. Of these 19 khe+ samples, five were culture-positive, but none were HMV "string test"-positive. Subsequent testing of 307 non-human primates resulted in 64 HMV K. pneumoniae isolates of which 42 were rmpA+ and 15 were magA+. Non-human primate testing at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases demonstrated the ability to screen both live and necropsied animals for K. pneumoniae by culture and real-time PCR to determine HMV genotype.
A robust pointer segmentation in biomedical images toward building a visual ontology for biomedical article retrieval

Pointers (arrows and symbols) are frequently used in biomedical images to highlight specific image regions of interest (ROIs) that are mentioned in figure captions and/or text discussion. Detection of pointers is the first step toward extracting relevant visual features from ROIs and combining them with textual descriptions for a multimodal (text and image) biomedical article retrieval system. Recently we developed a pointer recognition algorithm based on an edge-based pointer segmentation method, and subsequently reported improvements made on our initial approach involving the use of Active Shape Models (ASM) for pointer recognition and region growing-based method for pointer segmentation. These methods contributed to improving the recall of pointer recognition but not much to the precision. The method discussed in this article is our recent effort to improve the precision rate. Evaluation performed on two datasets and compared with other pointer segmentation methods show significantly improved precision and the highest F 1 score.
Teicoplanin in home therapy of the terminally ill child

: Children discharged in the terminal phase of illness were offered the possibility of having central venous line infections treated with teicoplanin at home by their parents after suitable instruction. The decision to begin antibiotic treatment was subjective, based on a history of rigors and/or raised temperature in an otherwise “well” child. No difficulties were encountered in instructing the chosen parents. In all, five treatment periods of 7 days were required in the five children selected. The review time was 31 weeks (mean duration, 6.2 weeks/patient; range, 4–12 weeks), ended in all cases by death. Infection occurred a mean of 3.2 weeks after discharge (range, 1–8 weeks), and all episodes were successfully treated at home without hospital admission or ward-based support. No deaths occurred as a result of antibiotic therapy failure, and there were no clinically relevant side-effects. Autopsy confirmed the absence of central venous line infection in one patient, but blood culture was positive for Staphylococcus aureus in another. This study shows that home treatment of line infections with teicoplanin is effective and well tolerated, and offers advantages in terms of quality of life and parent-child relationships.
Regulation of Atherogenesis by Chemokine Receptor CCR6

Atherosclerosis is a complex vascular pathology characterized in part by accumulation of innate and adaptive inflammatory cells in arterial plaque. Molecular mediators responsible for inflammatory cell accumulation in plaque include specific members of the chemokine family of leukocyte chemoattractants and their G protein-coupled receptors. Studies using the ApoE knockout mouse model have recently implicated chemokine receptor Ccr6 and its ligand Ccl20 as a nonredundant ligand-receptor pair in atherosclerosis, potentially operating at several stages of cell recruitment and on several leukocyte subtypes.
Organizational processes and nuclear power plant safety: research summary

Problems related to the behavior of individuals in the nuclear environment have been found to influence not only the likelihood that a nuclear power plant (NPP) will be involved in an incident, but also the ability of the organization to deal with the incident once it has begun. A program which has the objective of identifying and assessing organizational factors related to the safety of NPPs is described. A second aim of this research is to examine the relationship of organizational factors to traditional measures of plant safety. The theoretical foundation and the research methodology proposed for assessing NPP organizational factors are outlined. The quantitative and qualitative results of a pilot implementation of the authors' assessment approach are summarized. A description of how this approach will be used in upcoming years to better understand the relationship between organizational factors and nuclear power plant safety is given. >
Coupled model of concentration polarization and pore transport in crossflow nanofiltration

A coupled model of concentration polarization and pore transport of multicomponent salt mixtures in crossflow nanofiltration rigorously predicts local variations of ionic concentrations, flux and individual ion rejections along a rectangular crossflow filtration channel by a coupled solution of the convective-diffusion and extended Nernst-Planck equations. Coupling the pore transport model with the multicomponent convective-diffusion equation in the concentration polarization layer provides a comprehensive understanding of the interplay between concentration polarization and salt rejection. The coupled model is used to predict the local variations of ion rejection, permeate flux and mixture composition in a rectangular crossflow filtration channel for three-component salt mixtures. The total membrane surface concentration of the ions and the ratio of different ions in the mixture (salt ratio) can change considerably along a crossflow filtration channel, and, consequently, cause remarkable variations in intrinsic ion rejections with axial position in the channel.
Improvement of Retinal Neovascularization with Diltiazem in an Animal Model of Retinopathy of Prematurity † 272

Purpose. The goal of this study was to determine if systemic calcium channel blockade in the mouse model of oxygen induced retinopathy during the period of vascular injury (hyperoxia) would modulate the resultant retinopathy. Methods. C57BL6 mice pups were placed in 75% oxygen from postnatal day 7 through 12 (Smith et. al., IVOS, 1994) to induce retinal neovascularization which is maximal at postnatal day 17-21. Mice pups received varying doses of diltiazem (0.05, 0.2, and 0.5 mg/kg/day) from day 7 to 12. Animals were sacrificed at day 17-21 and retinal neovascularization was assessed by quantification of extra retinal neovascular nuclei in retinal sections and by a retinal scoring system of whole mount preparations. Results. Animals who received 0.2 and 0.5 mg/kg/day of diltiazem concurrent with oxygen exposure had significantly lower degrees of retinopathy as assessed by the neovascular nuclei and the retinal scoring system (p<0.01). Animals who received 0.05 mg/kg/day of diltiazem concurrent with oxygen exposure had similar retinopathy when compared to animals receiving oxygen alone. Control animals who were not exposed to oxygen showed no differences in retinal evaluation when compared to animals receiving the various doses of diltiazem. Animal growth was equal across the groups. Conclusions. Diltiazem improves oxygen induced retinopathy in the mouse in a dose dependent fashion and does not affect normal retinal vascularization. We speculate that diltiazem modulates retinal vasoconstriction or vascular injury early in the mouse model, thus improving the resultant retinopathy.
Finite-difference simulation of transonic separated flow using a full potential boundary layer interaction approach

A new, fast, direct-inverse, finite-difference boundary-layer code has been developed and coupled with a full-potential transonic airfoil analysis code via new inviscid-viscous interaction algorithms. The resulting code has been used to calculate transonic separated flows. The results are in good agreement with Navier-Stokes calculations and experimental data. Solutions are obtained in considerably less computer time than Navier-Stokes solutions of equal resolution. Because efficient inviscid and viscous algorithms are used, it is expected this code will also compare favorably with other codes of its type as they become available.
An extension of the Hilbert transform product theorem

A Hilbert transform multiplication theorem, well known in communicacation theory, is extended to the case when the functions involved are functions of n-dimensional real vectors.
Inhibition of 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3-Dependent Transcription by Synthetic LXXLL Peptide Antagonists that Target the Activation Domains of the Vitamin D and Retinoid X Receptors†

The vitamin D receptor (VDR) is known to mediate the biological actions of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3] through its ability to regulate cellular programs of gene expression. Although RXR appears to participate as a heterodimeric partner with the VDR, absolute evidence for its role remains equivocal in vivo. To test this role and to investigate the requirement for comodulator interaction, we identified VDR- and retinoid X receptor (RXR)-interacting LXXLL peptides and examined whether these molecules could block vitamin D and 9-cis retinoic acid (9-cis RA) response. We used a mammalian cell two-hybrid system to screen a series of nuclear receptor (NR)-reactive LXXLL peptides previously identified through phage display screening for hormone-dependent reactivity with either VDR or RXR. Three categories of peptides were identified: those reactive with both VDR and RXR, those selective for RXR, and those unreactive to either receptor. Peptide fusion proteins were then examined in MC3T3-E1 cells for their ability to block induction of the osteocalcin (OC) promoter by 1,25(OH)2D3 or stimulation of a retinoic acid response element-thymidine kinase (RARE-TK) reporter by 9-cis-RA. Peptides that interacted with both VDR and RXR blocked 1,25(OH)2D3-dependent transcription by up to 75%. Control LXXLL sequences derived from Src-1 and Grip also suppressed 1,25(OH)2D3-induced transactivation; peptides that interacted with RXR blocked 9-cis-RA-induced transcription. Interestingly, two RXR-interacting peptides were also found to block 1,25(OH)2D3 response effectively. These studies support the idea that comodulator recruitment is essential for VDR- and RXR-mediated gene expression and that RXR is required for 1,25(OH)2D3-induced OC gene transcription. This approach may represent a novel means of assessing the contribution of RXR in various endogenous biological responses to 1,25(OH)2D3.
Enhancing sensitivity and specificity in rare cell capture microdevices with dielectrophoresis

The capture and subsequent analysis of rare cells, such as circulating tumor cells from a peripheral blood sample, has the potential to advance our understanding and treatment of a wide range of diseases. There is a particular need for high purity (i.e., high specificity) techniques to isolate these cells, reducing the time and cost required for single-cell genetic analyses by decreasing the number of contaminating cells analyzed. Previous work has shown that antibody-based immunocapture can be combined with dielectrophoresis (DEP) to differentially isolate cancer cells from leukocytes in a characterization device. Here, we build on that work by developing numerical simulations that identify microfluidic obstacle array geometries where DEP–immunocapture can be used to maximize the capture of target rare cells, while minimizing the capture of contaminating cells. We consider geometries with electrodes offset from the array and parallel to the fluid flow, maximizing the magnitude of the resulting electric field at the obstacles' leading and trailing edges, and minimizing it at the obstacles' shoulders. This configuration attracts cells with a positive DEP (pDEP) response to the leading edge, where the shear stress is low and residence time is long, resulting in a high capture probability; although these cells are also repelled from the shoulder region, the high local fluid velocity at the shoulder minimizes the impact on the overall transport and capture. Likewise, cells undergoing negative DEP (nDEP) are repelled from regions of high capture probability and attracted to regions where capture is unlikely. These simulations predict that DEP can be used to reduce the probability of capturing contaminating peripheral blood mononuclear cells (using nDEP) from 0.16 to 0.01 while simultaneously increasing the capture of several pancreatic cancer cell lines from 0.03–0.10 to 0.14–0.55, laying the groundwork for the experimental study of hybrid DEP–immunocapture obstacle array microdevices.
Triaxial compression behavior of sand and gravel using artificial neural networks (ANN)

Abstract The stress–strain and volume change behavior of sand and gravel under drained triaxial compression test conditions was modeled using feed-back artificial neural networks. A large experimental database obtained from published literature was used in training, testing, and prediction phases of three neural network based soil models. Issues related to the number of hidden units, magnitude of strain increment during feed-back, and over-training error are discussed. These models can accurately represent the effects of mineralogy, grain shape and size distribution, void ratio, and confining pressure. The observed behavior in terms of a non-linear stress–strain relation, compressive volume change at low stress levels, and volume expansion at high stress levels are captured well by these models.
A new pediatric respiratory monitor that accurately measures imposed work of breathing: a validation study.

Objective. A new, microprocessor-controlled respiratory monitor (model CP-100 Pediatric, Bicore Monitoring Systems, Irvine, CA) that measures imposed work of breathing and a variety of respiratory parameters for pediatric patients receiving ventilatory support has recently been developed. To validate its accuracy, measurements obtained using this monitor were compared with those obtained using conventional laboratory equipment.Methods. An in vitro lung model was used to simulate spontaneously breathing pediatric patients ranging from infancy to 10 years of age. Tidal volume, respiratory rate, and peak inspiratory flow rates were simulated in a stepwise manner. Values for imposed work, tidal volume, peak inspiratory flow rate, and change in airway pressure for both methods were compared using regression analysis.Results. The coefficients of determination (r2) describing the relationships of both methods of measuring imposed work, tidal volume, peak inspiratory flow rate, and the change in airway pressure ranged from 0.99 to 1.00, and were highly significant (p<0.001). For all measurements, bias was minimal and precision was calculated.Conclusions. Our data reveal that this pediatric respiratory monitor accurately measures imposed work of breathing, as well as tidal volume, flow rate, and airway pressure. Imposed work of breathing measurements obtained from the monitor may be used to adjust pressure support ventilation, so that the imposed work of the breathing apparatus is reduced to zero and the patient's total work of breathing is thus decreased.
An approach to the aryl-C-glycoside DEF-ring system of nogalamycin

Abstract Ketone16, a key intermediate in synthesis of the nogalamycin DEF-rings, has been efficiently and stereospecifically synthesized in nine steps using a strategy centered on an intramolecular N-sulfinyl dienophile Diels-Alder cycloaddition.
Two poset polytopes

Two convex polytopes, called theorder polytope ?(P) andchain polytope ?(P), are associated with a finite posetP. There is a close interplay between the combinatorial structure ofP and the geometric structure of ?(P). For instance, the order polynomial ?(P, m) ofP and Ehrhart polynomiali(?(P),m) of ?(P) are related by ?(P, m+1)=i(?(P),m). A "transfer map" then allows us to transfer properties of ?(P) to ?(P). In particular, we transfer known inequalities involving linear extensions ofP to some new inequalities.
Phosphatides in American soy beans and oil

It has been found that the precipitate separating from clarified expressed crude oil from soy beans grown in North Carolina and Virginia is composed chiefly of phosphatides. Methods have been described for the determination of phosphatide phosphorus in soy beans which is applicable to seeds in general and in the oil. Soy beans of the more important varieties used by the oil mills both in the Eastern and Middle West States have been examined for their respective phosphatide content. With but few exceptions it was found that the beans grown in the East contained less phosphatides than those from the West, which indicated that the quantity of these substances present is not a factor in causing a partial separation of them in some oils but not in others. Regardless of whether or not a separation of phosphatides takes place, all the crude soy bean oils which have been examined so far have contained notable quantities of them.
Xenobiotic induction of esterases in cultures of the yeast-like symbiont from the cigarette beetle

By using the I-naphthyl acetate assay system, we found that xenobiotics can induce increased esterase activity in cultures of the yeast-like symbiont, Symbioraphrina kochii Jurzitza ex. W. Gams and v. Arx, of the cigarette beetle, Lasiodermaserricome L.. The activities expressed as percent of solvent control are as follows: flavone, 184.2% ; griseofulvin, 115.8 ~~ ; cis(- )-p-pinene, 111.4 % ; and malathion, 114.0%. Gel electrophoresis showed new enzymes are induced by three of the compounds tested. Thus, the yeast responds in a manner consistent with detoxification enzyme regulation common in insects and micro­ organisms.