cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract B26: Genomic analysis of the virus-induced tumor microenvironment in six cancer types

With the growing successes of immunotherapy, there is now a focus on identifying biomarkers that can predict response and long-term survival following treatment. The presence of immunogenic antigen proteins has been linked to improved response rates across patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors. However, these findings have been localized to melanoma and lung tumors which contain high mutation burdens and thus higher neoantigen loads. Viruses cause approximately 20% of all human cancers and are especially prevalent in head and neck cancers, cervical cancers, and liver cancers. Viral protein expression is another source of immunogenicity, making these tumor types potent targets for immune checkpoint inhibitors. Recent advances in genome-based immune profiling technologies have enabled the systematic characterization of the tumor microenvironment over large cohorts of patients. In this study, we apply several of these tools to The Cancer Genome Atlas and other datasets to define how virus infection shapes the tumor microenvironment of 6 virus-associated tumor types. Across all tissues studied, the cellular composition of the tumor microenvironment varied between tumors based on viral status, with infected tumors often exhibiting increased infiltration of cytolytic cell types. A gene expression signature capturing these virus-induced changes in the tumor microenvironment successfully predicted virus status in independent datasets and was associated with improved prognosis in head and neck cancer, indicating a protective role for virus-induced immune infiltration. To examine how viral gene expression affects the infiltrating T cell repertoire, T cell receptor diversity and abundance comparisons were made between viral and non-viral samples. The analyses presented here suggest virus infection is associated with a robust immune response. These findings have implications for precision medicine approaches to tumor immunotherapy. Citation Format: Frederick S. Varn, Dawei Li, Chao Cheng. Genomic analysis of the virus-induced tumor microenvironment in six cancer types [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy; 2017 Oct 1-4; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2018;6(9 Suppl):Abstract nr B26.
Unexpected Findings: Positive Air Leak

Unexpected findings are not infrequently encountered, either intraoperatively or in the postoperative settings. This chapter will discuss options for a positive air leak test following a low anterior resection.
Examining the Pathways Between Self-Awareness and Well-Being in Mild to Moderate Alzheimer Disease

Objective To investigate the relationship between awareness of memory loss and psychological well-being in a nonclinically depressed sample of participants with mild to moderate Alzheimer disease (AD). Methods Study participants (N = 104) enrolled through Columbia University Medical Center and the University of Pennsylvania completed clinical and cognitive assessments. Participants were rated with regard to their degree of awareness of memory deficits and completed questionnaires relating to their psychological well-being, including mood and quality of life (QOL). Mediating models were used to establish the relationship between awareness, depression, and QOL and to examine potential mediators of awareness and depression, including psychological distress, objective memory deficits, and negative self-ratings. Results There was a direct association between awareness of memory deficits and depressed mood but not awareness and QOL. However, there was an indirect association between awareness and QOL through depression. Neither psychological distress, memory deficits, nor negative self-ratings mediated the relationship between awareness and depression. Conclusion Awareness is associated with depressed mood in nonclinically depressed participants with mild to moderate AD. However, depressed mood does not appear to reflect the direct psychological reaction to awareness of memory loss. Moreover, awareness has only an indirect association with QOL via depressed mood. These results suggest that preserved awareness does not have a direct negative impact on overall psychological well-being in AD.
Benign vs. Self-Serving Information Reduction: Do Individuals Understand the Difference?

To ease consumer choice, regulators often require producers to make standardized and comparable disclosures over key product attributes. At the same time, product advertising may emphasize similar comparisons, albeit over strategically chosen attributes. We show that individuals may conflate these two cases; largely failing to understand that self-serving disclosures are uninformative, they are consequently exploited by producers. The fallacy is not due to consumer naivete regarding producer behavior; rather, subjects incorrectly adjust prior beliefs in response to strategically disclosed information. Thus, for the boundedly rational to benefit from reduced information loads, limited disclosures must be independent of other parties' motives.
Diagnostic Evaluation of Gastroparesis

Gastroparesis is suspected in patients with postprandial abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, or bloating, once peptic ulcer disease and gastric outlet obstruction are ruled out endoscopically. Multiple tests are available for the diagnosis of gastroparesis and include gastric emptying scintigraphy (GES), stable isotope breath test, wireless motility capsule, antroduodenal manometry, and other imaging modalities such as ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). While GES is the gold standard, each of those tests provides different advantages and limitations to their use clinically. GES entails the ingestion of a radiolabeled solid meal and measuring the percentage of radioactivity remaining in the stomach at 0, 1, 2, and 4 hours after meal ingestion. It is considered delayed if there is >60% retention at 2 hours and/or >10% retention at 4 hours. Stable isotope breath test is commonly used and relies on the conversion of an ingested 13C-labeled substrate to 13CO2, which is exhaled from the lungs and measured by breath tests at 30 minutes intervals. It requires healthy subjects for proper absorption and metabolization of 13C labeled to 13CO2. The wireless motility capsule, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to evaluate for gastric and bowel transit times in patients with suspected slow transit constipation, has the major advantage of assessing extragastric motility which can alter management options. Ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging are mostly used in research settings as they require significant skills and expertise.
The Use of Written Naming and Repetition to Treat Naming Deficits in Aphasia

Purpose The purpose of the study was to examine the use of a combined written naming + repetition (WN + REP) approach and an REP-only approach to treat naming deficits in a group of individuals wit...
El Espectro de la Locura en 2666, de Roberto Bolaño: los Casos de Ingeborg y de Edwin Johns

El presente articulo analiza la representacion de la locura en 2666 (2004), de Roberto Bolano, por medio de dos figuras clave: Edwin Johns e Ingeborg. Mi hipotesis sostiene que la locura es un prisma conceptual, desde el cual es posible proyectarse de forma radicalmente distinta en cuanto de praxis se trata. El binomio aqui analizado (Johns e Ingeborg) representa el punto maximo de divergencia en el espectro de la demencia: alienacion y horror en el caso de Johns, subversion y critica en el caso de Ingeborg.
Synaptic Plasticity and its Modulation by Alcohol.

Alcohol is one of the oldest pharmacological agents used for its sedative/hypnotic effects, and alcohol abuse and alcohol use disorder (AUD) continues to be major public health issue. AUD is strongly indicated to be a brain disorder, and the molecular and cellular mechanism/s by which alcohol produces its effects in the brain are only now beginning to be understood. In the brain, synaptic plasticity or strengthening or weakening of synapses, can be enhanced or reduced by a variety of stimulation paradigms. Synaptic plasticity is thought to be responsible for important processes involved in the cellular mechanisms of learning and memory. Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a form of synaptic plasticity, and occurs via N-methyl-D-aspartate type glutamate receptor (NMDAR or GluN) dependent and independent mechanisms. In particular, NMDARs are a major target of alcohol, and are implicated in different types of learning and memory. Therefore, understanding the effect of alcohol on synaptic plasticity and transmission mediated by glutamatergic signaling is becoming important, and this will help us understand the significant contribution of the glutamatergic system in AUD. In the first part of this review, we will briefly discuss the mechanisms underlying long term synaptic plasticity in the dorsal striatum, neocortex and the hippocampus. In the second part we will discuss how alcohol (ethanol, EtOH) can modulate long term synaptic plasticity in these three brain regions, mainly from neurophysiological and electrophysiological studies. Taken together, understanding the mechanism(s) underlying alcohol induced changes in brain function may lead to the development of more effective therapeutic agents to reduce AUDs.
Magmatic origin of low-T mafic blueschist and greenstone blocks from the Franciscan mélange, San Simeon, California

Abstract The Franciscan melange exposure near San Simeon contains abundant greenstone and minor blueschist blocks that were tectonically boudinaged while encased in the shale-matrix. Tectonic deformation of the blueschists is evident from variable amounts of cataclastic flow along their margins and in pinched tails. Major, trace, and rare earth elemental analyses indicate that blueschist and greenstone blocks in this area of the melange were derived from sources with MORB-like composition along with some having trace element and REE patterns similar to OIB compositions. Most blocks are low LREE basalts that probably formed in an open ocean ridge setting, but some blocks have high LREE contents similar to off-axis seamounts. Linear trends of incompatible elements for both blueschist and greenstone blocks indicate that both lithologies were probably derived from a similar, variably fractionated, tholeiitic magma. Blueschist blocks with sodic amphibole + lawsonite ± epidote were pervasively recrystallized at 300–350 °C and foliated during ductile deformation that included folding. Their protolith can only be identified as mafic. A few blocks contain very small amounts of metasedimentary materials indicating some were probably seafloor basalts, but some may have been diabase or even gabbro. Where interlayered sediment was present, the mafic protolith was enriched in K, Rb, and Na. Greenstones, on the other hand, contain abundant pseudomorphic evidence of magmatic textures. Alteration to albite, chlorite and pumpellyite at temperatures of 100–200 °C is intense, especially in cataclastic margins and pinched tails. Some of the basaltic greenstones have attached radiolarian chert, and a few have relict diabasic textures. The mafic blueschists and greenstones in the melange near San Simeon are probably fragments from the uppermost part of the Farallon plate. The blueschists may be mostly mafic slabs uprooted from the subducting crust, underplated to the base of the North American plate and later detached and carried back towards the surface in upwelling melange. The greenstones are most likely fragments detached from seamounts subducted during times of melange upwelling.
Identification of the Physiologically Difficult Airway in the Pediatric Emergency Department.

BACKGROUND The risk factors for peri-intubation cardiac arrest in critically ill children are incompletely understood. The study objective was to derive physiologic risk factors for deterioration during tracheal intubation in a pediatric emergency department (PED). METHODS This was a retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing emergency tracheal intubation in a PED. Using the published literature and expert opinion, a multidisciplinary team developed high-risk criteria for peri-intubation arrest: 1) hypotension, 2) concern for cardiac dysfunction, 3) persistent hypoxemia, 4) severe metabolic acidosis (pH < 7.1), 5) post-return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), and 6) status asthmaticus. We completed a structured review of the electronic health record for a historical cohort of patients intubated in the PED. The primary outcome was peri-intubation arrest. Secondary outcomes included tracheal intubation success rate, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) activation, and in-hospital mortality. We compared outcomes between patients meeting one or more versus no high-risk criteria. RESULTS Peri-intubation cardiac arrest occurred in 5.6% of patients who met at least one high-risk criterion compared to 0% in patients meeting none (5.6% difference, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.0 to 18.1, p = 0.028). Patients meeting at least one criterion had higher rates of any postintubation cardiac arrest in the PED (11.1% vs. 0%, 11.1% difference, 95% CI = 4.1 to 25.3, p = 0.0007), in-hospital mortality (25% vs. 2.3%, 22.7% difference, 95% CI = 11.0 to 38.9, p < 0.0001), ECMO activation (8.3% vs. 0%, 8.3% difference, 95% CI = 2.5 to 21.8, p = 0.004), and lower likelihood of first-pass intubation success (47.2% vs. 66.1%, -18.9% difference, 95% CI = -35.5 to -1.5, p = 0.038), respectively. CONCLUSIONS We have developed criteria that successfully identify physiologically difficult airways in the PED. Children with hypotension, persistent hypoxemia, concern for cardiac dysfunction, severe metabolic acidosis, status asthmaticus or who are post-ROSC are at higher risk for peri-intubation cardiac arrest and in-hospital mortality. Further multicenter investigation is needed to validate our findings.
Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts: Versatile Players in the Tumor Microenvironment

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are indispensable architects of the tumor microenvironment. They perform the essential functions of extracellular matrix deposition, stromal remodeling, tumor vasculature modulation, modification of tumor metabolism, and participation in crosstalk between cancer and immune cells. In this review, we discuss our current understanding of the principal differences between normal fibroblasts and CAFs, the origin of CAFs, their functions, and ultimately, highlight the intimate connection of CAFs to virtually all of the hallmarks of cancer. We address the remarkable degree of functional diversity and phenotypic plasticity displayed by CAFs and strive to stratify CAF biology among different tumor types into practical functional groups. Finally, we summarize the status of recent and ongoing trials of CAF-directed therapies and contend that the paucity of trials resulting in Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals thus far is a consequence of the failure to identify targets exclusive of pro-tumorigenic CAF phenotypes that are mechanistically linked to specific CAF functions. We believe that the development of a unified CAF nomenclature, the standardization of functional assays to assess the loss-of-function of CAF properties, and the establishment of rigorous definitions of CAF subpopulations and their mechanistic functions in cancer progression will be crucial to fully realize the promise of CAF-targeted therapies.
Intestinal Atresia and Webs

Congenital intestinal obstruction occurs in approximately 1 in 2000 live births and is one of the most common causes for admission to a neonatal care unit. Morphologically they are divided into either atresia and stenosis depending the continuity of the intestine. Furthermore, they are divided by the region of the gastrointestinal tract involved: duodenal, jejunoileal and colonic. Prenatally they present as polyhydramnios and dilation of the intestine on ultrasound. Neonatally infants present with obstructive symptoms. Usually a radiograph is enough to make the diagnosis of any of these conditions, depending the point of obstruction there might be a “double-bubble” sign or more diffuse intestinal dilation with or without pneumoperitoneum. For more distal obstruction a contrast enema might be needed. Treatment is surgical with a thorough exploration and repair through a single anastomosis or resection with or without anastomosis depending the portion of the gastrointestinal tract involved, other abnormalities and if perforation had occurred.
Toward $k$ -Connectivity of the Random Graph Induced by a Pairwise Key Predistribution Scheme With Unreliable Links

We study the secure and reliable connectivity of wireless sensor networks. Security is assumed to be ensured by the random pairwise key predistribution scheme of Chan, Perrig, and Song, and unreliable wireless links are represented by independent ON/OFF channels. Modeling the network by an intersection of a random $K$ -out graph and an Erdős–Renyi graph, we present scaling conditions (on the number of nodes $n$ , the scheme parameter $K$ , and the probability $p$ of a wireless channel being on), such that the resulting graph contains no nodes with a degree less than $k$ with high probability. Results are given in the form of zero–one laws with $n$ getting large, and are shown to improve the previous results by Yagan and Makowski on the absence of isolated nodes (i.e., absence of nodes with degree zero) in the same model. Through simulations, the established zero–one laws are also shown to hold for the property of $k$ -connectivity, i.e., the property that graph remains connected despite the deletion of any $k-1$ nodes or edges.
Negligible evidence for detrimental effects of Leucocytozoon infections among Emperor Geese (Anser canagicus) breeding on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska.

Abstract Emperor Geese (Anser canagicus) are iconic waterfowl endemic to Alaska and adjacent areas of northeastern Russia that are considered to be near threatened by the International Union for Conservation. This species has been identified as harboring diverse viruses and parasites which have, at times, been associated with disease in other avian taxa. To better assess if disease represents a vulnerability for Emperor Geese breeding on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, we evaluated if haemosporidian parasites were associated with decreased mass or survival among adult female nesting birds captured during 2006–2016. Through molecular analyses, we detected genetically diverse Leucocytozoon, Haemoproteus, and Plasmodium parasites in 28%, 1%, and 1% of 607 blood samples screened in triplicate, respectively. Using regression analysis, we found evidence for a small effect of Leucocytozoon infection on the mass of incubating adult female Emperor Geese. The estimated mass of infected individuals was approximately 43 g (95% CI: 20–67 g), or approximately 2%, less than uninfected birds when captured during the second half of incubation (days 11–25). We did not, however, find support for an effect of Leucocytozoon infection on survival of adult female nesting Emperor Geese using a multi-state hidden Markov framework to analyze mark-resight and recapture data. Using parasite mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b sequences, we identified 23 haplotypes among infected Emperor Geese. Leucocytozoon haplotypes clustered into three phylogenetically supported clades designated as ‘L. simondi clade A’, ‘L. simondi clade B’, and ‘other Leucocytozoon’. We did not find evidence that parasites assigned to any of these clades were associated with differential mass measures among nesting adult female Emperor Geese. Collectively, our results provide negligible evidence for Leucocytozoon parasites as causing detrimental effects to adult female Emperor Geese breeding on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
Bending Tests of Thin-Walled Sandwich Cylinders

A series of tests was conducted on thin-walled circular sandwich cylinders under bending loads using aluminum-alloy faces and either cellular cellulose acetate or end grain balsa cores. I t was found that for cylinders with cellular cellulose acetate cores, the buckling strength averaged 32 per cent higher than the theoretical value. From previous tests under compressive loads, excellent agreement was obtained between the corresponding theoretical value and tests. Thus, it was concluded that, under bending loads, the buckling stress depends upon the average stress on the cross section rather than on the maximum stress. This behavior has been noted previously from tests on homogeneous cylinders.
Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation on CONUS Military Installations

Military installations must be maintained and managed to provide appropriate training and testing opportunities. As climate changes, natural areas on installations may shift, and the costs to maintain training and testing areas may change. This chapter looks across continental U.S. (CONUS) installations with respect to the habitat and erosion consequences associated with climate forecasts from four Global Climate Models (GCMs). Habitat is important from two perspectives: its ability to support training and testing, and its capacity to meet federal requirements regarding the maintenance of listed threatened and endangered species. That capacity can change due to shifts in weather patterns, flooding, drought potential, and annual temperature patterns. With substantial change, species can be directly affected by invasive species, loss and fragmentation of habitat, or increased disease and predation. Population losses for these species can result in loss of training lands and/or time.
Tectonic Deformation Associated with the 1964 Alaska Earthquake: The earthquake of 27 March 1964 resulted in observable crustal deformation of unprecedented areal extent

Alaska's Good Friday earthquake of 27 March 1964 was accompanied by vertical tectonic deformation over an area of 170,000 to 200,000 square kilometers in south-central Alaska. The deformation included two major northeast-trending zones of uplift and subsidence situated between the Aleutian Trench and the Aleutian Volcanic Arc; together they are 700 to 800 kilometers long and from 150 to 250 kilometers wide. The seaward zone is one in which uplift of as much as 10 meters on land and 15 meters on the sea floor has occurred as a result of both crustal warping and local faulting. Submarine uplift within this zone generated a train of seismic sea waves with half-wave amplitudes of more than 7 meters along the coast near the source. The adjacent zone to the northwest is one of subsidence that averages about 1 meter and attains a measured maximum of 2.3 meters. A second zone of slight uplift may exist along all or part of the Aleutian and Alaska ranges northwest of the zone of subsidence.
Localized Neuronal Outgrowth Induced by Long-Term Sensitization Training in Aplysia

Biophysical, biochemical, and morphological studies have implicated sensory neurons as key sites of plasticity in the formation and retention of the memory of long-term sensitization in Aplysia californica. This study examined the effects of different sensitization training protocols on the structure of sensory neurons mediating the tail-siphon withdrawal reflex. A 4 d training period produced a robust localized outgrowth in these sensory neurons observed 24 hr after the end of training. These changes are consistent with previous results in siphon sensory neurons (Bailey and Chen, 1988a). In contrast, 1 d of sensitization training, which has been shown to effectively induce long-term behavioral sensitization and synaptic facilitation (Frost et al., 1985; Cleary et al., 1998), is not associated with morphological changes in tail sensory neurons at either 24 hr or 4 d after training. Similarly, a single treatment with the growth factor TGF-beta, which also induced facilitation, did not alter sensory neuron morphology. The different effectiveness of the two protocols was not simply a reflection of the number of stimuli presented, because a 1 d massed training protocol did not produce sensitization 24 hr after training, nor did it induce neuronal outgrowth. These results suggest that extensive sensitization training is required to induce neuronal outgrowth in tail sensory neurons, indicating that the memory of long-term sensitization induced by 1 d of training is mechanistically different from that induced by 4 d of training. Moreover, the induction of a form of long-term sensitization associated with neuronal outgrowth does not appear to be a function of the amount of stimulation but does appear to be dependent on the temporal spacing of the stimulation over multiple days.
Building a Framework for Governance: Retrospective Review and Rulemaking Petitions

This article demonstrates that collaborative approaches to regulatory policymaking are largely underutilized as a result of regulatory inertia. It proposes the expanded use of petitions for rulemaking as a device for breaking this inertia. Individual citizens or groups would file a petition offering a proposed regulatory alternative, which may include collaborative programs such as private standard-setting and first or third party certification of regulatory compliance. Any successful petition would demonstrate that the proposed alternative is equally as protective of the public welfare as the existing regulation but imposes less onerous compliance burdens on regulated entities. By marrying the principles of collaborative governance and retrospective review, the article seeks to move the dialogue beyond stale debates concerning the appropriate quantity or stringency of regulations and identify opportunities for minimizing regulatory burdens while preserving the strong public welfare protections that are the hallmark of the modern regulatory state.
Quantum-Merlin-Arthur-complete problems for stoquastic Hamiltonians and Markov matrices

We show that finding the lowest eigenvalue of a $3$-local symmetric stochastic matrix is Quantum-Merlin-Arthur-complete (QMA-complete). We also show that finding the highest energy of a stoquastic Hamiltonian is QMA-complete and that adiabatic quantum computation using certain excited states of a stoquastic Hamiltonian is universal. We also show that adiabatic evolution in the ground state of a stochastic frustration-free Hamiltonian is universal. Our results give a QMA-complete problem arising in the classical setting of Markov chains and adiabatically universal Hamiltonians that arise in many physical systems.
Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior

With insight and wit, Robert J. Richards focuses on the development of evolutionary theories of mind and behavior from their first distinct appearance in the eighteenth century to their controversial state today. Particularly important in the nineteenth century were Charles Darwin's ideas about instinct, reason, and morality, which Richards considers against the background of Darwin's personality, training, scientific and cultural concerns, and intellectual community. Many critics have argued that the Darwinian revolution stripped nature of moral purpose and ethically neutered the human animal. Richards contends, however, that Darwin, Herbert Spencer, and their disciples attempted to reanimate moral life, believing that the evolutionary process gave heart to unselfish, altruistic behavior. "Richards's book is now the obvious introduction to the history of ideas about mind and behavior in the nineteenth century." Mark Ridley, Times Literary Supplement "Not since the publication of Michael Ghiselin's "The Triumph of the Darwinian Method "has there been such an ambitious, challenging, and methodologically self-conscious interpretation of the rise and development and evolutionary theories and Darwin's role therein." John C. Greene, "Science " "His book . . . triumphantly achieves the goal of all great scholarship: it not only informs us, but shows us why becoming thus informed is essential to understanding our own issues and projects." Daniel C. Dennett, "Philosophy of Science ""
Has Insider Trading Become More Rampant in the United States? Evidence from Takeovers

In this paper, we investigate whether the recent increase in enforcement action against insider trading by the SEC and the Department of Justice correspond to increased illegal insider trading activity. We examine the pricing of common stocks and options around the announcement of tender offers to detect the presence of illegal insider trading. Our objective is to determine whether illegal insider trading occurs before tender offers and whether illegal insider trading has become more rampant over time. Our evidence indicates that the pre-takeover announcement run-up in stock prices has become larger over time. During the 2006-2011 sub-period, the pre-bid run-up is 50% higher than in the pre-2006 period. We also find that toehold investments by bidders do not explain the time-series variation in stock price behavior around takeovers. In contrast, increases in implied volatility of the options on target stock are consistent with increasing illegal insider trading.
Influence of notch severity on thermomechanical fatigue life of a directionally solidified Ni‐base superalloy

The aim of this work is to understand the influence of notches under thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) in a directionally solidified Ni-base superalloy. Experiments were performed utilizing linear out-of-phase and in-phase TMF loadings on longitudinally oriented smooth and cylindrically notched specimens. Several notch severities were considered with elastic stress concentrations ranging from 1.3 to 3.0. The local response of the notched specimens was determined using the finite element method with a transversely isotropic viscoplastic constitutive model. Comparing the analysis to experiments, the locations observed for crack nucleation in the notch, which are offset from the notch root in directionally solidified alloys, are consistent with the maximum von Mises stress. Various local and nonlocal methods are evaluated to understand the life trends under out-of-phase TMF. The results show that a nonlocal invariant area-averaging method is the best approach for collapsing the TMF lives of specimens with different notch severities.
Putting Race Back in History: History and Discourse in Studies of Diaspora Blacks

Disparate Dia.sporas: Identity and Politics in an African-Nicaraguan Community. Edmund T. Gordon. New Interpretations of Latin America. Austin: University of Texas Press. Institute of Latin American Studies, 1998. xiv. 330 pp. (Cloth US$35.00; Paper USS 15.95) Panama's Poor: Victims, Agents, and Historymakers. Gloria Rudolf. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. 1999. xiii. 298 pp., 17 tables. maps. (Cloth USS49.95) Racism in. Racial Democracy: The Maintenance of White Supremacy-in Brazil. France Winddance Twine. New Brunswick, NJ, and London, UK: Rutgers University Press. 1998. xiii. 175 pp., 20 illustrations. tables. (Cloth US$49.95; Paper US$17.00) Race and Ethnicity in Latin America. Peter Wade. London, UK. and Chicago. IL: Pluto Press, 1997. viii. 144 pp. (Cloth US$45.00; Paper US$14.95).
Relationship between Auditory and Cognitive Abilities in Older Adults

Objective The objective was to evaluate the association of peripheral and central hearing abilities with cognitive function in older adults. Methods Recruited from epidemiological studies of aging and cognition at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, participants were a community-dwelling cohort of older adults (range 63–98 years) without diagnosis of dementia. The cohort contained roughly equal numbers of Black (n=61) and White (n=63) subjects with groups similar in terms of age, gender, and years of education. Auditory abilities were measured with pure-tone audiometry, speech-in-noise perception, and discrimination thresholds for both static and dynamic spectral patterns. Cognitive performance was evaluated with a 12-test battery assessing episodic, semantic, and working memory, perceptual speed, and visuospatial abilities. Results Among the auditory measures, only the static and dynamic spectral-pattern discrimination thresholds were associated with cognitive performance in a regression model that included the demographic covariates race, age, gender, and years of education. Subsequent analysis indicated substantial shared variance among the covariates race and both measures of spectral-pattern discrimination in accounting for cognitive performance. Among cognitive measures, working memory and visuospatial abilities showed the strongest interrelationship to spectral-pattern discrimination performance. Conclusions For a cohort of older adults without diagnosis of dementia, neither hearing thresholds nor speech-in-noise ability showed significant association with a summary measure of global cognition. In contrast, the two auditory metrics of spectral-pattern discrimination ability significantly contributed to a regression model prediction of cognitive performance, demonstrating association of central auditory ability to cognitive status using auditory metrics that avoided the confounding effect of speech materials.
Growth failure and decreased levels of insulin-like growth factor I in obstructive jaundice are reversed by bile diversion

Abstract Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) is one of the principal stimuli of linear growth. Growth failure in children with chronic cholestatic jaundice may be related to decreased hepatic synthesis of IGF-I. It was hypothesized that (1) biliary obstruction would lead to growth retardation and decreased circulating IGF-I levels; and (2) surgical drainage of the obstructed biliary system would reverse these effects. To test this hypothesis, the following study of male Sprague-Dawley rats (135 g; 10 animals per group) was performed. Group I underwent common bile duct ligation (CDL); group II underwent choledochoduodenostomy 2 weeks following CDL; group III were sham-operated and pair-fed with CDL rats; and group IV were sham-operated and fed ad libitum. Daily food intake and weekly body weight were recorded. Statistical analysis was by repeated-measures analysis of variance and individual comparisons were evaluated by Student's t test. Biliary obstruction results in decreased food intake, rate of weight gain, and IGF-I levels. A significant reduction in IGF-I levels was also noted in the pair-fed sham-operated rats (group III). Relief of obstructive jaundice by surgical drainage results in a reversal of these changes. It is concluded that the growth failure and decreased IGF-I levels associated with obstructive jaundice can be reversed by surgical drainage of the obstructed biliary system and, in part, are due to inadequate nutrition.
Explicit maximum likelihood estimators for certain patterned covariance matrices

Given a random sample of size N from a p-variate normal distribution with mean vector μ and covariance matrix Σ, max-imum likelihood estimation of Σ is considered when both Σ and Σ−1 have linear structure, that is, when and where G1,…,Gm and H1,…,Hn are sets of known p×p symmetric linearly independent matrices. Theorems are given relating m and n and the sets G1,…,Gm and H1,…,Hn in the general case and when Σ is totally reducible. Explicit maximum likelihood estimators of σ1,…,σ m are found when m = n, and several examples, are given.
Zero-order release from biphasic polymer hydrogels

Abstract This is the first controlled release study performed using a new material, namely, biphasic polymer hydrogels. The uptake and release of tryptophan and theophylline were investigated. Dried gels were reswollen to constant volume in an excess of saturated aqueous drug solution. They were found to contain 70 ± 6% ( N = 3) or 50 ± 10% ( N = 3) more drug than the equivalent volumes of saturated water solutions for tryptophan and theophylline, respectively. The release of drug from the gels was investigated in both batch mode, in which the gel was immersed in a single water bath and the efflux of drug was monitored with time, and semi-batch mode, in which the water bath was changed hourly. In both modes, drug exited with zero- or near zero-order kinetics until approximately 67–88% of the excess drug in the gel was released. Thereafter a time-dependent release rate was observed. Mathematical models of different mechanisms of release from two-phase networks were developed to explain the observed profiles.
Zoom lenses with a single moving element

For the past year or so, we have been exploring a technique for finding potential solutions of what might be called the generalized imaging problem. The underlying hypothesis is that any basic imaging problem can be solved, if at all, by using not more than two generic lenses. A generic lens can comprise a number of elements to affect aberration control, distribute power, etc. Application of this technique yields a plot of regions where potential solution may exist (conversely, regions where solution do not exist). Typically, the abscissa and ordinate are the powers of the two lenses. Once a "power pair" is chosen for evaluation, the spatial positions of the lenses are readily calculated. This technique will be discussed in detail in an upcoming paper. After some success was realized in employing the method to fixed geometries, we investigated its application to finding possible regions of solutions for problems involving zoom lenses. Although the same technique is employed to find potential solutions, presentation of the information for use by the designer is significantly more involved than when dealing with the fixed geometry case. Various parametric constraints can be imposed to appropriately limit solution space. Further discussion of this subject will be contained in the aforementioned paper.
Capital Markets and Financial Issues in Economies in Transition

The legacy of the command economy includes numerous hindrances to the successful development of capital markets in the economies in transition (EITs). Throughout the former socialist nations, the Soviet-developed and imposed financial system, designed primarily as an adjunct control system for the physical planning system, will require substantial overhaul. This paper discusses certain problematic aspects of that overhaul, namely the creation of new banking and securities-market institutions and the macroeconomic and policy consequences of institutional change. For the purposes of this paper, the term "EIT" includes Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech and Slovak Federal Republics, and the states of the former Soviet Union. Most of the examples cited are from the Russian experience (where deregulation brought especially rapid growth of banks and exchanges), but illustrate issues common throughout the larger group.
A long-range, fully-integrated, regulator-less CMOS power amplifier for wireless sensor communications

A CMOS PA system intended for long-distance sensor communication is presented. The PA utilizes a dynamic-VDD and operates directly off of a super-capacitor energy-storage element, obviating the need for a voltage regulator. A power-combining PA impedance scaling approach has been implemented to eliminate energy loss from a high-current voltage regulator. The device integrates a 2-to-1 power combiner with a set of pre-drivers and an output stage. The PA monitors the output power, and digitally modulates the PA load impedance. The entire power control loop is integrated in a 90nm, 9-metal-layer TSMC process and delivers 24dBm of output power at 1.9GHz, making it suitable for sensor data communication over distances of several hundred meters. During a TX-burst, the PA VDD varies from 2.5V to 1.4V, while the power control loop maintains constant output power with an accuracy of 1.6dB.
High coherent flux at the NSLS-II coherent soft x-ray beamline

The optical design of the coherent soft x-ray (CSX) and fast polarization switching beamline at NSLS-II has been optimized to deliver photon flux in the range of 1012 − 1013 ph/s in the energy range from 200 to 2000 eV. Two identical APPLE-II undulators will be operated in two different modes: canted and phased. In the canted mode, one beam will be directed to the coherence branch and the other to the fast polarization switching branch. In the phased mode, the two undulators will be operated as a single device to deliver the highest coherence flux to the coherence branch. The monochromator for the coherence branch is a focusing variable line spacing plane grating monochromator designed to deliver a moderate resolving power (2000 to 3000). The horizontal focusing onto the exit slit will be performed with a cylindrical bendable mirror located downstream of the monochromator and having similar demagnification as the monochromator.
On mean convergence of extended Lagrange interpolation

Abstract Lagrange interpolation to any continuous function on [-1,1] at the zeros of orthogonal polynomials is known to converge in the mean. Here, following Bellen, we study mean convergence of Lagrange interpolation on an extended set of nodes that includes, in addition to the n zeros of the orthagonal (relative to some positive weight function w) polynomial πn of degree n, other n+1 nodes, which in turn are zeros of an orthogonal polynomial \ gp n+1 of degree n+1 corresponding to the weight function w n =π 2 n w . A sufficient criterion of Bellen for mean convergence (as n→∞) of such extended Lagrange interpolation, for arbitrary continuous functions, is shown to fail for Chebyshev weight functions of the first, third and fourth kind. (It holds trivially for Chebyshev weights of the second kind.) Based on extensive computations, it is conjectured, on the other hand, that the criterion is satisfied for certain Jacobi weights with parameters α and β suitably restricted. Necessary conditions for mean convergence, due to Erdős and Turan, are shown to be violated for the three kinds of Chebyshev weights mentioned above. For smooth functions, a comparison is made of the speed of convergence of simple vs. extended Lagrange interpolation.
Clinicopathology conferences: Inflammation-induced cholestasis

Intrahepatic cholestasis may arise from many sources, and it therefore presents a particular challenge when it develops in the seriously ill patient. A 54-year-old patient with a myeloproliferative disorder is presented, who developed jaundice in the setting of a severe decubital infection, polypharmacology, multiple blood transfusions for anemia, renal insufficiency, parenteral alimentation, and a history of long-standing alcohol abuse, a positive purified protein derivative, and recent biopsy-proven laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. The thesis is advanced that many insults may cause local and systemic activation of the inflammatory cytokine system, and that these proinflammatory events are potent inducers of intrahepatic cholestasis.
The effect of density on the thermal conductivity of uranium dioxide

The thermal conductivity of 82, 86, 91 and 95% theoretical density (T.D.) sintered uranium dioxide has been measured by the radial heat flow technique, between 800 and 2000 °C in an argon atmosphere. The data indicate that use of the simplified Loeb or Maxwell-Eucken equations, or currently recommended modifications of these thermal conductivity-density relationships are not applicable for the temperature, temperature gradient, and density ranges investigated. Thermal conductivity values for uranium dioxide were related to both temperature and density by the equation k=0.0130+{T(0.4848-0.4465D}−1, [W/cm·°C], for temperatures between 800 and 2000 °C and densities between 82% and 95% T.D. (T=temperature in °C, and D=density in fraction of theoretical). The time required for microstructural and/or density changes to occur in oxide fuel elements under irradiation is generally short relative to the total exposure time. Because the thermal conductivity of a typical oxide fuel has been found to be quite dependent on density in this investigation, a model utilizing the relationships derived is described in which thermal conductivity and ∫kdT curves corrected for fuel densification occurring in-reactor can be generated.
Jaw Dysfunction in Viola and Violin Players

Violin and viola players often experience pain and stiffness in the right temporomandibular joint area. This study attempts to document jaw dysfunction in a group of professional musicians and to correlate it with practice time and instrument weight and size.
Flow-directed assembly of nanostructured thin films from suspensions of anisotropic titania particles

Nanostructured thin films are fabricated by directing the assembly of anisotropic titanium dioxide particles from a colloidal suspension by fixed blade flow coating. The titania particles (equatorial radius a = 24 ± 4 nm, polar radius b = 130 ± 31 nm, aspect ratio b/a = 5.4 ± 0.9) undergo an isotropic–nematic (I–N) transition at a volume fraction ϕ* ≈ 0.40. For ϕ > ϕ* the deposited film has three structures depending on the substrate velocity, v. At a blade angle α = 25° and a gap d = 200 μm, nanoparticles orient either isotropically in the direction of the coating flow (v ≥ 350 μm s−1), exhibit partially oriented “wavy” structures (100 < v < 300 μm s−1), or are isotropically oriented (v < 100 μm s−1). Below the I–N transition (ϕ < ϕ*), nanoparticles assemble into domains of uniform orientation with dimensions that increase with increasing v. Increasing the blade angle shifts these structural transitions to lower substrate velocities, consistent with an increasing extensional component of the flow. Established scaling relationships describe the film height dependence on ϕ and v. Overall, these results enable nanostructured films to be deposited with desired thickness and structure.
Modeling of equilibration times at high pressure for multicomponent vapor–liquid diffusional processes

Abstract Isothermal multicomponent diffusion in a vapor–liquid system at high pressure is analyzed. It is assumed that there are no composition gradients in the bulk vapor due to mixing; diffusion takes place only in the liquid phase and in a thin film near the interface on the vapor side. This model is of value in the analysis of the supercritical drying of porous media and approach to phase equilibrium in a closed system at high pressure. The principle model used is the Fick's Law in one-dimensional form, which is a second order partial differential equation with respect to time and a spatial dimension. The change in the position of the interface is taken into account as an ordinary differential equation. The Fick diffusivities are estimated through the Maxwell–Stefan approach, which decouples the drag effects from the thermodynamic non-ideality effects. The model equations are solved using a fixed grid finite difference formulation. The effects of temperature, pressure, diameter to height ratio of the autoclave, mixing in the vapor phase, the starting mole fraction of the liquid and the initial liquid composition on the equilibration times and equilibrium compositions are analyzed. It is found that for uniform bulk vapor compositions, equilibration times are in the order of hours, while they increase at least one order of magnitude when there is no mixing in the vapor phase. Also, when the starting mole fraction of liquid increases, the equilibration times and the equilibrium position of the interface change significantly.