cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Functional imaging for early prediction of response to chemoradiotherapy: 3'-deoxy-3'-18F-fluorothymidine positron emission tomography--a clinical application model of esophageal cancer.

Pathologic complete response after neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy is associated with increased survival in esophageal cancer. Early detection of response or nonresponse to neoadjuvant chemoradiation might allow individualization of treatment strategies and avoidance of unnecessary treatment. Positron emission tomography (PET) with [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) permits detection of changes in tumor proliferation before any change in tumor size occurs, and FDG-PET findings have been correlated with outcomes in esophageal cancer. However, FDG-PET may fail to distinguish between residual tumor and inflammation and between complete response and partial response with substantial residual tumor burden. PET with the nucleoside analogue 3′-deoxy-3′-18F-fluorothymidine (FLT) has been found to be more accurate than FDG-PET in visualizing early changes in tumor proliferation. In a recent study in experimental models of esophageal cancer, FLT-PET was more accurate than FDG-PET in detecting early changes in proliferation following docetaxel and radiation therapy in human SEG-1 cells and mouse SEG-1 xenografts, including having a much stronger correlation with histologic findings. Clinical studies are needed to determine if FLT-PET can distinguish among degrees of response to neoadjuvant chemoradiation in patients with esophageal cancer.
Everyday Ethics in Dementia Day Care: Narratives of Crossing the Line

The purpose of this study was to gain understanding of the ethical aspects of the experience of providing day care to people with dementia. Telephone interviews were conducted to elicit phenomenological narratives of satisfying and dissatisfying experiences from staff members of a state-wide random sample of dementia day care facilities. The analysis was guided by the concept of situated ethics. Findings reveal that ethical challenges of dementia day care are embodied in the everyday incidents when participants, staff, or family members "cross the line" of acceptable behavior. An ethical hierarchy of staff responses ranges from benign manipulation to termination of day care. These findings help us understand the situated ethics of dementia day care and heighten our sensitivity to the lived experience of dementia day care staff.
Integrating Technology Into The Classroom: Using Mainstream Tax Software To Teach Personal Income Tax

Integrating technology into the college classroom is often difficult and may come at the expense of content. Practical usage of the computer in business situations is even more difficult to achieve in an educational environment. The business school educator must seek out ways to expose all students to practical computer applications. In light of many studies, HBCU business educators must pay special attention to technology issues and make sure that their graduates are as competitive in the market place as non-minority business school graduates. An exciting and rewarding opportunity exists for instructors of Individual Income Tax who wish to integrate subject matter, technology and practical application. By using common tax software products in the classroom in combination with the IRS VITA program, an educator can successfully integrate content, computers and community service into one classroom situation.
Precision of the pacemaker nucleus in a weakly electric fish: network versus cellular influences.

We investigated the relative influence of cellular and network properties on the extreme spike timing precision observed in the medullary pacemaker nucleus (Pn) of the weakly electric fish Apterono...
High-pressure compressibility and phase stability of Mn-dolomite (kutnohorite)

We measured the bulk modulus and phase stability of a natural Mn-dolomite, kutnohorite, to 19 GPa. At room temperature, kutnohorite is stable in the rhombohedral dolomite phase up to 19 GPa, with an isothermal bulk modulus of 85(6) GPa ( K ′ = 4). The compressibility of kutnohorite is found to match well with both single and double carbonate trends with respect to bulk modulus and unit-cell volume. The thermoelastic properties measured in this study show that the Mn dolomite end-member fits well with the systematic of all the rhombohedral carbonates, both calcite (single carbonate) and dolomite (double carbonate) type.
A new Troglosiro species (Opiliones, Cyphophthalmi, Troglosironidae) from New Caledonia

A new species of Cyphophthalmi belonging to the New Caledonian endemic genus Troglosiro Juberthie, 1979 is described and illustrated using SEM, including the first description of a troglosironid ovipositor. T. longifossa sp. nov., known only from its type locality in Port Boise, and found at low elevation near sea level, constitutes the seventh species of Troglosiro to be described to date. The new species has a unique disposition of the four ventral opisthosomal gland pores in the anterior portion of a long depression of the sternal segments 3 to 7. Information on other specimens recently collected in New Caledonia indicates that the number of described species in the island is a gross underestimate of the real diversity of New Caledonian Cyphophthalmi, both in number of species and morphology.
Mechanisms of benzo(a)pyrene-induced modulation of antigen presentation

Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) has been shown previously to affect humoral immunity in part through alterations in the normal functioning of macrophages. In this study we investigated several specific events affected by BaP. Concanavalin A-elicited macrophages from BaP-exposed animals had a decreased capacity to present keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) to nylon wool nonadherent, KLH-primed lymph node T cells. BaP treatment 7 days before and after administration of KLH resulted in a decrease in the responsiveness of KLH primed T cells to antigen. BaP administration beginning 3 days before (day -3), concurrently with (day 0) or 7 days after (day +7) KLH antigen treatment had no effect on the ability of KLH primed T cells to respond to KLH presented by untreated macrophages. The decreased capacity of BaP-exposed macrophages to present KLH is due in part to a decrease in the amount of KLH taken up by these cells. There was no alteration in the amount of soluble interleukin-1 released by BaP exposed cells or was there a change in the expression of membrane associated interleukin-1. BaP treatment resulted in a dose-dependent increase in the percentage of Ia+ macrophages. These results demonstrate that BaP affects antigen presentation through alteration in macrophage function.
An Overview of the Cooperative Operations in UrbaN TERrain (COUNTER) Program

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has an ongoing investigation to evaluate cooperative control algorithms for multiple heterogeneous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). This research is being conducted through the Cooperative Operations in UrbaN TERrain (COUNTER) research and flight demonstration program. COUNTER is a theoretical and experimental program to develop the technology needed to integrate multiple small and micro UAVs with a single human operator in a layered sensing architecture for persistent intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance of obscured targets in an urban environment as well as in Integrated Base Defense (IBD) scenarios.
Assisted hatching facilitates earlier implantation

Objective To examine whether opening of the zona pellucida (i.e., assisted hatching) accelerates implantation. Design In a controlled, randomized trial, patients were assigned to control and assisted hatching groups. Setting All patients studied were of the Center for Reproductive Medicine at Cornell University Medical College. Intervention All patients underwent stimulation with gonadotropins after luteal phase GnRH down regulation. Assisted hatching with zona drilling using acidic Tyrode’s solution was performed on the assigned embryos. Main Outcome Measures Luteal E 2 , P, and hCG on days + 5, + 6, + 7, + 8, + 9, + 11, + 13, and + 15 were measured. The implantation time, peak midluteal E 2 and intervals between these two values were studied. Results Implantation occurred significantly earlier in the assisted hatching group. The interval between implantation and peak midluteal E 2 was also significantly shorter in the assisted hatching group than in the controls. However, there was no significant difference in the day of the peak midluteal E 2 between the assisted hatching and control groups. Conclusion Assisted hatching may enhance embryo implantation not only by mechanically facilitating the hatching process but also by allowing earlier embryo-endometrium contact. Such early contact may enhance embryonic development potential and may optimize synchronization between embryo and endometrium, resulting in improved implantation efficiency.
The Hematopoietic Microenvironment: Phylogeny and Ontogeny of the Hematopoietic Microenvironment.

Although there is no formalized area of study called phylogeny or ontogeny of the hematopoietic microenvironment, new models and molecular tools are now available for such studies. The concept of a hematopoietic microenvironment has developed from the need to answer basic questions about migration, control of proliferation and differentiation of lymphohematopoietic cells; e.g. how are cells with the same genes induced to express different sets of these genes which lead to differentiation. These questions were first approached when cells could only be identified morphologically. The ontogeny of hematopoiesis was traced from the blood islands of the embryonic yolk sac, to the fetal liver, spleen, and bone marrow. Cells with reticular morphology were associated with areas of hematopoiesis and, in the embryo, they were thought to give rise to both hematopoietic and supportive cells. In the 1960's the classic work of McCulloch, Till and Siminovitch led the study of hematopoietic precursors which have no distin...
A Novel Cross Modal Hashing Algorithm Based on Multi-modal Deep Learning

With the popularity of multi-modal data on Web, cross media retrieval has become a hot research topic. Existing cross modal hash methods assume that there is a latent space shared by multi-modal features, and embed the heterogeneous data into a joint abstraction space by linear projections. However, these approaches are sensitive to the noise of data, and unable to make use of unlabelled data and multi-modal data with missing values in the real-world applications. To address these challenges, in this paper, we propose a novel Multi-modal Deep Learning based Hashing (MDLH) algorithm. In particular, MDLH adopts deep neural network to encode heterogeneous features into a compact common representation and learn the hash functions based on the common representation. The parameters of the whole model are fine-tuned in supervised training stage. Experiments on two standard datasets show that our method achieves more effective results than other methods in cross modal retrieval.
Care of the Emerging Adult

The period of life between 18 and 25 years represents a distinct developmental phase known as emerging adulthood. In addition to poor health outcomes, this phase is distinct in the missed opportunities and potential to alter life course health trajectories with appropriate anticipatory guidance and prevention services. The HEADDSS (home, education/employment, activities, drugs, diet, sexuality, suicide) approach to a social history, more commonly used in adolescent medicine (for children between the ages of 12 and 18 years) can and should be adapted for use with emerging adults by adult health providers. Preconception counseling, mental health, and substance use are areas of greatest impact on future health outcomes if addressed in the emerging adulthood period. For emerging or young adults with chronic childhood-onset conditions, implementing models such as the patient-centered medical home and chronic care models can improve health outcomes. Finally, adapting the Got Transition framework for use in adult patients can provide a framework for primary care practices to optimize their care of this population.
Alternative Paths of Green Entrepreneurship: The Environmental Legacies of the North Face’s Doug Tompkins and Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard

This working paper examines the impact of two entrepreneurs who offered alternative paths to reach their shared goal of a more sustainable world. Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins were respective founders of the prominent outdoor apparel brands Patagonia and The North Face. Chouinard pursued incremental sustainability strategies over decades at his firm. Tompkins, who went on to manage the fashion company Esprit, opted in 1989 to exit business entirely having concluded that capitalism could never be sufficiently sustainable to reverse environmental degradation. He purchased 1.5 million hectares of land in Chile and Argentina which he converted to protected areas and national parks. The Chouinard strategy represented best practice green entrepreneurship which if widely adopted might markedly reduce the environmental impact of business, but its full execution appeared possible only because Patagonia was a private company. The Tompkins dual strategy of exit from business and application of entrepreneurial skills to conservation resulted in large environmental gains, including sequestering and storing an estimated 80 million tons of carbon. We lack the metrics and methodologies to compare rigorously which offers the better path to sustainability, but a case can be made that the application of entrepreneurial talents to activities beyond for-profit business (of which conservation is one example) might be a more effective strategy.
Recruiting African American Children for Research: An Ecological Systems Theory Approach.

With health disparities still pervasive and persistent in the United States, medical researchers and social scientists continue to develop recruitment strategies to increase the inclusion of racial...
Hierarchical Control of Weakly Coupled Systems

Abstract The usual concept of weakly coupled systems is generalized to provide a definition in terms ot the decomposition used. The definition inciudes a measure of the strength ot the coupling. The main result of the paper is a local convergence result for natural decompositions (decompositions which exploit system structure) of systems which are sufficiently weakly coupled.
Number Theory and Codes

Various practical situations require codes to encode or decode information. For instance, codes provide some secrecy and security of communications during conflicts. Moreover, through redundancies, codes also provide capabilities for detecting and correcting errors in the storage or transmission of information. The theorems that guarantee such codes, and the algorithms to carry out the codes, rely on the characteristics of integer arithmetic (reviewed in chapter 3), and on the concepts of prime numbers, integer divisions with remainders, and prime factors explained in the present chapter.
Phosphonate-Directed Catalytic Asymmetric Hydroboration: Delivery of Boron to the More Substituted Carbon, Leading to Chiral Tertiary Benzylic Boronic Esters

Phosphonate-directed catalytic asymmetric hydroboration (CAHB) of β-aryl/heteroaryl methylidenes and trisubstituted alkenes by pinacolborane enables facile access to functionalized, chiral tertiary benzylic boronic esters. Hydroboration is catalyzed by a chiral rhodium catalyst prepared in situ from a Rh(I) precursor in combination with a simple TADDOL-derived chiral cyclic monophosphite in a 1:1 ratio. The regio- and stereochemistry arise from the combined effects of the relative disposition of the directing group to the alkene, the alkene substitution pattern, and the necessity of an aryl substituent attached to the alkene. A range of aryl and heteroaryl substituents can be accommodated, and for several chiral substrates, the reactions are efficiently catalyst-controlled, enabling the choice of diastereomeric products as desired. Stereospecific transformations of the chiral boronic ester afford chiral phosphonates bearing a quaternary carbon stereocenter. The synthetic utility of the products is further...
Surgery for very large and giant intracranial aneurysms: Results and complications

Background: Results of and the complications encountered during surgery for very large and giant intracranial aneurysms are illustrated. Objective: To analyze a consecutive series of patients with very large and giant aneurysms treated with microsurgery. Methods: This retrospective study included seventy six very large and giant aneurysms which were managed by clipping and bypass technique. Sixty two (82%) aneurysms were located in anterior circulation, and 14 (18%) aneurysms were located in posterior circulation. The bypasses performed included local bypasses, extra-intracranial bypasses, double bypasses and combination techniques of external carotid-internal carotid (EC-IC) bypass and local bypasses. Results: 73 patients with 76 aneurysms were treated over 13 years. There were 44 very large and 32 giant aneurysms. Twenty-four patients presented with subarachnoid hemorrhage [SAH] (32%) while forty nine patients with 52 aneurysms (68%) were unruptured. These 73 patients underwent 63 bypass procedures with aneurysm occlusion and 13 clipping procedures. Out of 62 anterior circulation aneurysms, bypass surgery was performed in 49 patients while 13 underwent clipping. In posterior circulation aneurysms, all patients were treated with bypass procedures with proximal occlusion or trapping. In the ruptured group, 16 (67%) patients had postoperative modified Rankin Scale (mRs) 0-2, six patients (25%) had mRs 3-5, and two patients (8.4%) died. In the unruptured group, 45 patients (87%) had mRs 0-2, 3 patients (6%) had mRs 3-5, and four patients (7.6%) died. Conclusions: In this large series of very large and giant aneurysms treated with microsurgical clipping and bypasses, excellent results were obtained in the long term, in regards to aneurysm occlusion, functional status, and graft patency. Our experience will be very useful to other neurosurgeons who treat these complex lesions
The effects of a teaching intervention on weight bias among kinesiology undergraduate students

Weight bias is present among kinesiology professionals and this may cause a significant negative impact on their clients with obesity. Thus, our objective was to test if learning about uncontrollable cause of obesity and about weight bias would reduce explicit and implicit weight bias among kinesiology undergraduate students compared to the traditional curriculum which is more focused on controllable causes of weight gain. We recruited undergraduates from two classes of the same kinesiology major course taught by the same instructor. In-class teaching activities consisted of 80 min lecture on day 1, video watching session and a group activity on day 3 for both groups. Intervention group (n = 33) learned about uncontrollable causes of obesity and about weight bias and had activities to evoke empathy. Control group (n = 34) learned the traditional curriculum where they learned the role of exercise and diet in weight management. We measured explicit and implicit weight bias using Anti-Fat Attitude Test (AFAT) and Implicit Association Test (IAT), respectively pre-intervention, immediate post intervention and 1 month later. In mixed model analysis, AFAT Blame scores had significant group by time interaction (p < 0.001). Blame scores significantly reduced with mean differences (standard error (SE)) of −0.35 (0.08) post intervention (p < 0.001) and persisted to be reduced with mean differences (SE) of −0.39 (0.08) even after 4-week follow-up (p < 0.001) only in the intervention group. Odds of having less implicit weight bias was significantly lower at 4-week follow-up than pre-intervention (odds ratio = 0.4; 95% CI: 0.22–0.73) in the control group but no changes were seen in the intervention group. “Blame” component of explicit weight bias significantly decreased when students learned about controllable causes of obesity and weight bias, but implicit bias did not reduce. However, implicit weight bias appears to increase when education on obesity is limited to diet and exercise interventions as taught in the traditional curriculum.
In vitro evaluation of minimum inhibitory concentration of several antibacterial agents against Rickettsia japonica using a plaque reduction assay system.

Abstract The study was conducted to determine the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of several antibacterial agents against Rickettsia japonica, which causes Japanese spotted fever. A plaque reduction assay as an in vitro culture method was conducted to determine the MICs of antibacterial agents (4 types of tetracyclines: tetracycline, doxycycline, minocycline, and tigecycline; 3 types of quinolones: ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, and levofloxacin; and 2 types of macrolides: azithromycin and clarythromycin) against R. japonica. R. japonica was sensitive to the antibacterial agents tested with MICs similar to those against other spotted fever rickettsia determined in previously described plaque reduction assays.
Raising the Bar Really High: An MTD Approach to Protect Data in Embedded Browsers

The safety of web browsers is essential to the privacy of Internet users and the security of their computing systems. In the last few years, there have been several cyber attacks geared towards compromising surfers' data and systems via exploiting browser-based vulnerabilities. Android and a number of mobile operating systems have been supporting a UI component called WebView, which can be embedded in any mobile application to render the web contents. Yet, this mini-browser component has been found to be vulnerable to various kinds of attacks. For instance, an attacker in her WebView-Embedded app can inject malicious JavaScripts into the WebView to modify the web contents or to steal user's input values. This kind of attack is particularly challenging due to the full control of attackers over the content of the loaded pages. In this paper, we are proposing and testing a server-side moving target defense technique to counter the risk of JavaScript injection attacks on mobile WebViews. The solution entails creating redundant HTML forms, randomizing their attributes and values, and asserting stealthy prompts for the user data. The solution does not dictate any changes to the browser or applications codes, neither it requires key sharing with benign clients. The results of our performance and security analysis suggest that our proposed approach protects the confidentiality and integrity of user input values with minimum overhead.
Timbs v. Indiana on Excessive Fines and Civil Forfeitures

Almost all the provisions of the Bill of Rights have been applied by the Supreme Court to the states as well as the federal government, but the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment had not. Timbs presents this question to the Court—whether the Bill of Rights constrains state governments from imposing excessive fines—but also begins to address the question of whether civil forfeitures may violate this prohibition. The practice of seizing cars, houses, or boats that have been used in illegal activity has become a controversial policing practice. Timbs begins to address the constitutionality of this question that affects many Americans.
The early modern “creation” of property and its enduring influence:

This article redescribes early modern European defenses of private property in terms of a theoretical project of seeking to establish the true or essential nature of property. Most of the scholarly...
Femtosecond laser micromachining in hydrophobic intraocular lenses: efficacy and material effects

Intraocular lenses (IOLs) are widely used to treat cataracts and restore vision, however, the accuracy of manufacture and surgical implantation of IOLs is subject to some limitations. Femtosecond laser micromachining relies on tightly focused, ultrashort laser pulses to locally modify the properties of bulk materials, and has been recently applied in the field of vision correction. In this study, multi-layer dense line patterns were inscribed into Tecnis IOLs using a femtosecond laser operating at 8.3 MHz at a wavelength of 405 nm. Below the damage threshold, uniform phase changes could be obtained within each pattern, and its magnitude increased nonlinearly with laser power. To explore the mechanisms underlying the refractive index (RI) changes, microstructural changes of the phase pattern were quantified by confocal micro-Raman spectroscopy using sectioned IOLs. A significant decrease of the integral intensity of 2988 cm-1 band (v(C-H)) that confined in the written layer was observed from the lateral scan profile of IOL cross section. We posit that the positive RI changes in IOLs were likely associated with localized photochemical depolymerization, which includes broken of chemical bonds and diffusion of molecular fragments. These findings enhance our understanding of femtosecond micromachining as a new method to customize high visual-quality IOLs.
The Life and Works of Mariano Cubí Y Soler: A Distinguished Spanish Linguist of the 1800s

Mariano Cubi y Soler was a distinguished and prolific Spanish linguist in the 1800s in the United States, Latin America and Europe. A pioneer in the field of education, he published many works on Spanish language learning that soon became highly recognized as among the best academic publications in Spanish education during his time. Over the years his works have been forgotten and his groundbreaking efforts in the revitalization of Spanish language pedagogy in the United States remain a myth. This article reflects on the life of Mariano Cubi y Soler as a renowned Spanish language educator who made significant contributions in the field of Spanish language pedagogy and who deserves to be recognized. Furthermore, the authors of this article acknowledge Professor Cubi y Soler’s work in the field of linguistics as the foundation for today’s thriving Spanish language education in the United States
Mapping hot-pressed Li6.25Al0.25La3Zr2O12 (LLZO) grains and grain boundaries through a simple thermal grooving technique

Li6.25Al0.25La3Zr2O12 (LLZO) is one of the most promising solid-state electrolytes due to its electrochemical and chemical stability against metallic Li and high ionic conductivity at room temperat...
Unintended Consequences: Ambiguity Neglect and Policy Ineffectiveness

When a policymaker introduces a novel policy, she will not know what citizens' choices will be under the policy, and citizens themselves may have to construct new choice sets. This imparts inherent ambiguity to novel policy implementation: The policymaker does not know the probability that citizens will select actions that align with her policy. Assuming that citizens will follow a fixed approach may expose the policymaker to ambiguity neglect, which can result in unintended consequences. We provide examples and a simple formalization. Our results suggest that before implementing novel policies, policymakers should attempt to elicit preferences from citizens.
Reflection on the Importance of Interprofessional Training

Historically, physicians have worked in isolation. More recently, there has been an emphasis to create interprofessional patient care teams to provide better patient care and reduce patient risk. This shift in focus has filtered down to the undergraduate medical education level where the American Association of Medical Colleges has created accreditation standards focused on interprofessional team training. This paper gives a first-hand narrative on how interdprofessional training can shift perspectives and create effective team members centered around patient care.
Prolonged hepatitis and jaundice: a rare complication of paediatric Epstein-Barr virus infection

We herein report the case of a 14-year-old girl with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infectious mononucleosis who developed prolonged hepatitis and jaundice. At presentation, she had tender hepatomegaly with a markedly deranged liver function test. Abdominal ultrasonography showed hepatomegaly and a thickened gallbladder wall. During the subsequent 11 weeks, her transaminases showed two further peaks, which corresponded with clinical deterioration. Her highest alanine transaminase level was 1,795 µ/L and total bilirubin level was 154 µmol/L. She recovered fully with conservative management. EBV-related liver involvement is typically mild and self-limiting. We believe that tender hepatomegaly and gallbladder thickening may be important predictors of significant liver involvement. Although multiple transaminase peaks may occur, we do not consider this an indication for antiviral or immunosuppressive therapy. In the absence of strong evidence supporting the use of any specific therapy, we recommend a conservative approach for an immunocompetent patient.
Accounting Essays by Professor William W. Cooper: Revisiting in Commemoration of his Ninety‐Fifth Birthday

Over a career extending back to the late 1930s Professor William W. Cooper has published books and articles in the field of accounting, mathematics, operations research, management science, engineering, economics, public policy and the behavioural sciences, reflecting wide interdisciplinary scholarship. To commemorate his ninety-fifth birthday in 2009, we publish excerpts from twelve of his accounting essays, together with postscripts adding to their historical context. We also publish Thomas Burns' Citation when Cooper was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame in 1995 and Professor Cooper's Response to the Citation. Two appendixes list all Cooper's books and articles in the field of accounting, and the honours and awards he has received in a long and distinguished career.
Radio frequency sustainment of laser initiated seeded high-pressure discharge

Summary form only given, as follows. The radio-frequency power required to initiate a discharge at high gas pressure (>100 Torr) is quite high. But once the gas breakdown has occurred and discharge is initiated, the radiofrequency power can be much more efficiently absorbed by the plasma through inductive coupling of the wave fields. The ohmic heating of the antenna and the coil current required to sustain the discharge reduce significantly. The discharge is initiated by photoionization of a low ionization potential (6.1 eV) organic gas tetrakis(dimethylamino)ethylene or TMAE, using a high power excimer laser (wavelength 193 nm and a maximum laser energy of 300 mJ for 20(/spl plusmn/) ns half-pulse width) seeded in a high-pressure gas. The discharge is then sustained by coupling 1-25 kW of radio frequency power through a five turn helical antenna using a capacitive matching network. Recent results with the laser-initiated discharge of 2-6 mTorr of seed gas with a high-pressure background gas (/spl ges/760 Torr of nitrogen and argon mix) will be presented. A large volume plasma 300-500 cm/sup 3/ in the density range 10/sup 12/-10/sup 13/ cm/sup -3/ is produced. The influence of the accurate timing of the laser and radio frequency pulses along with the radio frequency power level and gas mix to produce the high-density plasma will be discussed.
Pre-operative breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) influences patient selection for partial breast irradiation

604 Background: Many patients with localized breast cancer undergo breast conservation therapy. Partial breast irradiation (PBI) is a technique that reduces irradiated tissue volume and decreases treatment time. Appropriate patient selection for this technique is critical. We studied the influence of pre-operative breast MRI on patient selection for PBI. Methods: Between 05/04 and 05/05, 231 women with newly diagnosed breast cancer underwent pre-operative bilateral breast MRI (median age = 64, range 34 to 89). Following initial clinico-pathologic review, patients were deemed to be eligible for PBI based on the NSABP B39 protocol if they satisfied its inclusion criteria (tumor size ≤3 cm, ≤3 positive nodes, negative surgical margins, lack of multicentric disease), derived through physical examination, mammography and/or ultrasonography. Breast MRI scans of all patients deemed eligible for PBI by these criteria were then reviewed to determine the impact of the MRI findings on their eligibility for PBI. Only...
Effect of Maternal Zinc Deficiency of Food Restriction on Rat Fetal Pancreas. 2. Insulin and Glucagon

The influence of a maternal dietary deficiency of zinc, or food restriction on the content and in vitro secretion of pancreatic hormones was measured in rat fetuses on day 19 of gestation. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a zinc-deficient diet (0.4 Â±0.1ppm zinc) ad libitum or a zinc-supple mented control diet (100 ppm zinc) either ad libitum or with restricted intake. The insulin content of the fetal pancreas was lower in fetuses from rats sub jected to zinc deprivation or to food restriction than in controls. The lower insulin content of fetal pancreata from zinc-deficient rats was related to a lower than normal proportion of insulin-containing beta cells. The lower insulin content of fetal pancreata from rats subjected to food restriction was related to a less than normal amount of insulin per beta cell. Glucagon concentration in the fetal pancreas was lower than normal in response to zinc deficiency but not to food restriction. Fetal hormone release in vitro was also influenced by the maternal diet. The rate of insulin secretion in vitro was normal in fetuses from zinc-de ficient rats, but was accelerated in those from females subjected to calorie re striction. The rate of glucagon secretion in vitro was lower than normal in the pancreata of zinc-deficient fetuses. We conclude that insulin and glucagon levels in the fetus were affected by maternal zinc deficiency and, to a lesser extent, by calorie restriction. J. Nutr. Ill: 869-877, 1981.
Multiple identities: Examining gender and marital status differences in distress.

Based upon assumptions that the social self is comprised of major role-identities and that role-identities reduce psychological distress, this paper examines the mental health advantage of married and unmarried men relative to comparable women as a function of multiple-role occupancy. Panel data from surveys of!, 106 adult heads of household in Chicago and 720 adults in New Haven are utilized. Possession of multiple role-identities (up to 6 in Chicago, 8 in New Haven) does significantly reduce distress in both samples. But identity summation does not consistently reduce gender or gender by marital status differences in distress. Further exploration revealed that men and women appear to experience equivalent levels of distress when they hold the same numbers and types of roles. When sex differences do occur, they appear to be a function of employment rather than of marriage, contrary to popular belief. Although structural inequalities in role occupancy appear to produce status differences in distress, future research will require deliberately stratified samples to adequately test this hypothesis.
The detection of DNA-protein complexes in vitro by an immunological assay

Abstract We have developed an immunological assay to detect DNA-protein complexes (DPCs) in cell cultures treated with environmental toxicants. The assay uses an antiserum developed against K2CrO4-induced DPCs, which recognizes an acidic protein with a molecular weight of 95 kDaltons. The method uses a filter-binding assay to trap the DPCs from SDS-lysed cell cultures on polycarbonate filters, after which they are immunologically probed with the DPC antiserum. Cultures of Chinese hamster ovary cells were treated with K2CrO4, formaldehyde or UV irradiation. DPCs were detected immunologically in cells treated with K2CrO4 or UV irradiation, but not in those treated with formaldehyde. These results were similar to those obtained when DPCs were detected by filter-binding assay using radiolabelled cell cultures to measure the adherence of protein and DNA to the filters. In addition, both methods gave analogous dose responses of DPC formation in K2CrO4-treated cells. This novel immunological assay for detecting DNA lesions allows the rapid analysis of samples, which do not need to be radiolabelled, and thus it may have an application as a non-invasive test to screen for DNA-protein complexes.
The Numerical Range of Normal Matrices with Quaternion Entries

The convexity of the numerical range of a normal matrix with quaternion entries is studied.
Catecholate/salicylate heteropodands: demonstration of a catecholate to salicylate coordination change.

While iron release from enterobactin-mediated iron transport occurs primarily via an esterase that destroys the siderophore, other catechol siderophores that are not susceptible to hydrolysis act as bacterial growth factors. Elucidating the structures of protonated ferric enterobactin may reveal the pathway by which synthetic analogues fulfill bacterial iron requirements. In order to more completely model this potential delivery pathway for ferric iron, as well as to understand the pH dependent structural dynamics of ferric enterobactin, two ligands, (2-hydroxybenzoyl-2-aminoethyl)-bis(2,3-dihydroxybenzoyl-2-aminoethyl)amine (TRENCAMSAM) and (2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoyl-2-aminoethyl)-bis(2,3-dihydroxybenzoyl-2-aminoethyl)amine (TRENCAM(3M)SAM), have been synthesized as models for monoprotonated enterobactin. The coordination chemistry of these ligands with Fe3+ and Al3+ has been investigated. Fe[TRENCAMSAM]2- crystallizes in the triclinic space group P1: Z = 1, a = 11.3307(6) A, b = 12.5479(7) A, c = 15....
Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation for Adults with Myelodysplastic Syndromes: Importance of Pretransplant Disease Burden

Abstract Allogeneic stem cell transplantation is the only known curative therapy for myelodsyplastic syndromes (MDS). We present the transplant outcomes for 84 adult MDS patients, median age 50 (18-69 years), undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) at the University of Minnesota between 1995 and 2007. By WHO criteria 35 (42%) had refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB-1 or 2), 23 (27%) had refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia (RCMD) or RCMD and ringed sideroblasts (RCMD-RS), and the remaining 26 (31%) had refractory anemia (RA), myelodysplastic syndrome-unclassifiable (MDS-U), chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML), myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative disease (MDS/MPD), or myelodysplastic syndrome-not otherwise specified (MDS-NOS). Graft source was related in 47 (56%), unrelated donor (URD) marrow in 11 (13%), and unrelated cord blood (UCB) in 26 (31%). The conditioning regimen included total body irradiation (TBI) in 94% of transplantations; 52 (62%) myeloablative (MA) and 32 (38%) nonmyeloablative (NMA) regimens. Cumulative incidence of neutrophil engraftment by day +42, acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) by day +100, and chronic GVHD (cGVHD) by 1 year were 88% (80%-96%, 95% confidence interval [CI]), 43% (36%-50%, 95% CI), and 15% (10%-20%, 95% CI), respectively. One-year treatment-related mortality (TRM), relapse, disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) were 39% (28%-50%, 95% CI), 23% (12%-32%, 95% CI), 38% (28%-48%, 95% CI), and 48% (38%-58%, 95% CI) respectively. Cumulative incidence of relapse at 1 year in patients with pre-HCT complete remission (CR) or
Merging complementary remote sensing datasets in the context of snow water equivalent reconstruction

Abstract Time series of snow covered area (SCA) estimates from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) were merged with a spatially explicit snowmelt model to reconstruct snow water equivalent (SWE) in the Rio Grande headwaters (3419 km 2 ). A linear optimization scheme was used to derive SCA estimates that preserve the statistical moments of the higher spatial resolution (i.e. 30 m) ETM+ data and resolve the superior temporal signal (i.e. ∼ daily) of the MODIS data. It was found that merging the two SCA products led to an 8% decrease and an 18% increase in the basinwide SWE in 2001 and 2002, respectively, compared to the SWE estimated from ETM+ only. Relative to SWE simulations using only ETM+ data, the hybrid SCA estimates reduced the mean absolute SWE error by 17 and 84% in 2001 and 2002, respectively; errors were determined using intensive snow survey data and two separate methods of scaling snow survey field measurements of SWE to the 1-km model pixel resolution. SWE bias for both years was reduced by 49% and skewness was reduced from − 0.78 to 0.49. These results indicate that the hybrid SWE was closer to being an unbiased estimate of the measured SWE and errors were distributed more normally. The accuracy of the SCA estimates is likely dependent on the vegetation fraction.
INJECTION OF RADIOACTIVE NUCLIDES FROM THE STELLAR SOURCE THAT TRIGGERED THE COLLAPSE OF THE PRESOLAR NEBULA

We examine the gravitational capture of supersonic gas and dust as it impacts and triggers the collapse of a molecular cloud core. We use two techniques to track the triggering material in two dimensions, a set of tracer particles and a color field, much like a dye, computed in the same manner as the hydrodynamic density variable. The two tracking techniques produce very similar results. We find that about 10% to 20% of the supersonic material with an initial impact parameter less than the molecular cloud core's initial radius is captured by the collapsing cloud. This fraction is less than the 100% capture estimate often used to constrain the distance to possible stellar sources of radioactive isotopes, and hence may require these stars to be closer than would otherwise be the case. Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities occur and aid in the mixing of the shock material with the target cloud. The impacting material is injected into the outer layers of the collapsing protostar roughly one free-fall time (2 × 105 yr) after the first contact of the triggering material with the cloud, and injection continues for approximately two more free-fall times. These time intervals are substantially less than the mean life of one of the radioactive nuclides of interest, 1.1 × 106 yr for 26Al, and are comparable to the mean life (1.5 × 105 yr) of another short-lived nuclide,41Ca. Evidence for live 26Al and 41Ca in the early solar system is thus consistent with a scenario involving supersonic triggering and injection of freshly synthesized radioactive nuclides into the presolar cloud. Because injection proceeds at a steady pace, it does not appear to be a significant source of temporal heterogeneity in the distribution of 26Al, though the outer layers of the presolar cloud are preferentially enriched in the injected material.
Formulas for Fabry-Perot velocimeter performance using both stripe and multifrequency techniques.

New stripe and multifrequency techniques for Fabry–Perot velocimetry are incorporated into an analytical model for the entire system. Properties of striped interferometers (FP's) are derived. An understanding of energy flow in both striped and unstriped FP's is presented. Nine contributions to the velocity resolution are examined, and analytical approximations are provided for each of them. Formulas for the overall velocity and time resolution of each fringe are derived. Using brightness arguments to limit the maximum usable light acceptable by the system, we also derived analytical limits on the photographic writing speed of each fringe.
Sugar-sweetened soda consumption, hyperuricemia, and kidney disease

The metabolism of high-fructose corn syrup used to sweeten soda drinks may lead to elevations in uric acid levels. Here we determined whether soda drinking is associated with hyperuricemia and, as a potential consequence, reduced kidney function. At baseline, 15,745 patients in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study completed a dietary questionnaire and had measurements of their serum creatinine and uric acid. After 3 and 9 years of follow-up, multivariate odds ratios from logistic regressions for binary outcome of hyperuricemia and chronic kidney disease (eGFR less than 60 ml/min per 1.73 m 2 ) were evaluated. Compared to participants who drank less, consumption of over one soda per day was associated with increased odds of prevalent hyperuricemia and chronic kidney disease. The odds ratio for chronic kidney disease significantly increased to 2.59 among participants who drank more than one soda per day and had a serum uric acid level over 9.0 mg/dl. In longitudinal analyses, however, drinking more than one soda per day was not associated with hyperuricemia or chronic kidney disease. Neither preexistent hyperuricemia nor development of hyperuricemia modified the lack of association between soda drinking and incident chronic kidney disease. Thus our study shows that high consumption of sugar-sweetened soda was associated with prevalent but not incident hyperuricemia and chronic kidney disease.
Waste not, want not: cognitive impairment should not preclude research participation.

Rhodes (2005) asks us to rethink or recalibrate current medical research guidelines and practices because they have developed along an historically fraught—and misguided, in her view—trajectory bor...
The magnetohydrodynamic wake of the Moon

Lee wave of magnetohydrodynamic interaction of solar wind with moon observed by IMP-1 satellite
Twiddler syndrome with a twist: a cause of vagal nerve stimulator lead fracture

Twiddler syndrome is uncommon in children and most commonly described as causing lead retraction with implanted cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators. We report an uncommon case of a child repeatedly “twiddling” a vagal nerve stimulator to the point of lead fracture. The findings of Twiddler syndrome illustrated here apply to all implanted devices and show the complication of lead fracture in addition to the more commonly reported complication of lead retraction. This case highlights the need to be aware of the radiographic findings of this phenomenon in children with implanted vagal nerve stimulators due to the perceived increased risk of “twiddling” in pediatric and developmentally delayed patients.
Supramolecular Protein Structure Determination by Site-Specific Long-Range Intermolecular Solid State NMR Spectroscopy

We demonstrate that 3D Z-filtered TEDOR experiments, when performed on mixtures of isotopically labeled protein samples, report on site-specific intermolecular distance restraints. These data sets can be leveraged to perform rigorous structure calculations of the protein interface. In the example demonstrated here, we determine the packing arrangement of our nanocrystalline GB1 preparation to be consistent with the trigonal form as determined by X-ray diffraction. This represents an important proof of principle, in a case where the results can be directly compared with other structural information. We envision the application of this approach to determining the registry and quaternary arrangement of protein fibrils, which most often cannot be determined by diffraction methods.
Labor Prices and the Treatment of Nursing Home Residents with Dementia

Abstract An important aspect of dementia care for nursing home residents is the management of symptoms such as behavioral problems and wandering. Nursing homes can manage these symptoms using a mix of labor, medications and physical restraints. Medications such as antipsychotics are hypothesized to be a substitute for direct care staff, while physical restraints are considered to be a complement to staff time. Using an instrumental variables approach, we investigate whether an increase in nursing home wages leads to greater substitution towards antipsychotic medications and away from the use of physical restraints. Our results suggest a 10% increase in weekly nursing home wages increases the inappropriate use of antipsychotics among dementia patients by 1.1% to 3.5%, while it decreases the use of physical restraints by roughly 26% to 28%. These findings suggest policymakers should consider nursing home market factors when overseeing and regulating issues of nursing home quality.