cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Leptin signalling reduces the severity of cardiac dysfunction and remodelling after chronic ischaemic injury

Aims Leptin is elevated under conditions of both obesity and heart failure (HF), and activation of leptin receptor (ObR) signalling is known to increase in vivo cardiac contractility and to have anti-hypertrophic effects on the left ventricle (LV). However, it is unknown whether ObR signalling is altered in cardiomyocytes after myocardial infarction (MI) leading to HF, or if a deficiency in ObR signalling leads to worse HF. Methods and results In separate experimental protocols, C57BL/6J and leptin-deficient (ob/ob) mice underwent open-chest surgery to induce permanent left coronary artery ligation (CAL) or had a sham operation. Subgroups of ob/ob mice examined were lean (food-restricted), obese (food- ad libitum ), and leptin repleted. Four weeks post-surgery, cardiac structure and function was examined by echocardiography, and the activation of cardiac leptin signalling was characterized through quantitative PCR, western blotting, and DNA-binding activities. CAL produced echocardiographic evidence of HF in C57BL/6J mice, elevated circulating leptin, increased cardiomyocyte leptin and ObR expression, and activated myocardial signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3). In leptin-deficient ob/ob mice, whether lean or obese, CAL caused increased hypertrophy and dilation, decreased contractility of the LV, and worsened survival relative to wildtype or leptin-repleted mice after CAL. In ob/ob mice, activation of cardiac STAT3 signalling after CAL is enhanced in the presence of leptin and parallels the induction of the STAT3-responsive genes, tissue-inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 and heat shock protein-70. Conclusion These data demonstrate that HF increases ObR signalling in cardiomyocytes and that activation of ObR signalling improves functional outcomes in chronic ischaemic injury leading to HF.
Hepatitis following famotidine: a case report

H2 receptor antagonists can rarely cause idiosyncratic drug reactions leading to acute hepatitis. Famotidine, however, is considered a relatively safe drug with regards to hepatotoxicity. We report a case of a 47 year old male with a history of hepatitis C who developed acute hepatitis on the third day of hospitalization with a dramatic rise in his liver enzymes from normal values at the time of admission. The acute rise in liver enzymes made us consider an adverse drug reaction and famotidine was discontinued. Subsequently his liver enzymes came back to normal in seven days. Thus, physicians should consider famotidine induced hepatitis as a possible etiology of acute liver dysfunction.
Silent Cerebral Embolism During Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation How Concerned Should We Be

Radiofrequency catheter ablation is recommended with increasing frequency as part of a treatment regimen for both paroxysmal and persistent forms of symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF), largely because of the relatively poor efficacy of antiarrhythmic medications1 and trials showing improvement in quality of life and reduction in AF in selected patients.2 The ongoing Catheter Ablation Versus Antiarrhythmic Drug Therapy for Atrial Fibrillation (CABANA) trial is a randomized, multicenter study currently enrolling up to 3000 patients to test whether a treatment strategy of left atrial catheter ablation for the purpose of eliminating AF will be superior to current medical therapy for reducing total mortality in patients with AF.3 For catheter ablation to be superior, procedural complications need to be minimized. Article see p 1667 Catheter ablation for AF is infrequently associated with clinically apparent thromboembolism. Cappato et al4 reported a 0.94% incidence of stroke or transient ischemic attack in a worldwide survey of AF ablation, and Scherr et al5 reported a 1.4% incidence overall with a higher incidence in patients with CHADS2 score ≥2 or prior transient ischemic attack. In a study at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, we observed a 0.7% incidence of stroke or transient ischemic attack.6 It is important to recognize that the incidence of asymptomatic embolic events may …
Cholesterol-modified polyurethane valve cusps demonstrate blood outgrowth endothelial cell adhesion post-seeding in vitro and in vivo.

Background The clinical and experimental use of polyurethane heart valve prostheses has been compromised by thrombosis and calcified thrombus. This is caused in part by the lack of an intact endothelium on these implant surfaces. We hypothesize that endothelial seeding of a polyurethane heart valve leaflet with autologous sheep blood outgrowth endothelial cells (BOECs) could be achieved with cholesterol-modified polyurethane (PU-Chol) to promote BOEC adhesion, thereby resulting in an intact, shear-resistant endothelium that would promote resistance to thrombosis. Methods Cholesterol-derivatized polyurethane was formulated by bromoalkylation of the urethane nitrogens followed by reactive attachment of mercaptocholesterol. In vitro shear flow studies were carried out comparing BOEC retention on control surfaces versus PU-Chol using forces comparable to those observed in vivo with cardiac valves (75 dyne/cm 2 ). Autologous sheep BOECs were seeded onto PU-Chol before pulmonary leaflet replacement surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass. Studies were terminated at 30 and 90 days followed by retrieval analyses. Results Blood outgrowth endothelial cell seeding of PU-Chol surfaces resulted in an endothelial monolayer that was positive for von Willebrand factor. Polyurethane-cholesterol demonstrated significantly greater BOEC adhesion under 75 dyne/cm 2 shear force in vitro than control polyurethane (75.3% ± 12.3% versus 5.8% ± 3.9%, respectively; p Conclusions Polyurethane-cholesterol represents a polyurethane formulation with very high adhesive properties for BOECs under heart valve level shear forces both in vitro and in vivo.
A 3D Motion Prediction Model for Arm Movement

A mathematic prediction model based on numerical method is investigated for human arm-reaching movement. Unlike the previous solutions that optimized certain cost functions with global nonlinear multi-constraints of the kinematics and kinetics, the model applies Listing's Law to reduce the degrees of freedom. The rotation vectors, which describe arm positions as a rotation relative to given reference positions, are confined to a flat range called Listing's plane. The major benefit of this model is that it is biologically plausible and supported by other experimental results and the model requires little computation aim to find a feasible, not necessarily optimal path; therefore, make it more applicable for biomechanical simulation. The anatomical assumptions and the model development are detailed and a validating experiment was conducted. The result of experiment shows that the proposed method generated the motion trajectory with reduced calculation complexity.
Network multicomputing using recoverable distributed shared memory

A network multicomputer is a multiprocessor in which the processors are connected by general-purpose networking technology, in contrast to current distributed memory multiprocessors where a dedicated special-purpose interconnect is used. The advent of high-speed general-purpose networks provides the impetus for a new look at the network multiprocessor model, by removing the bottleneck of current slow networks. However, major software issues remain unsolved. It is pointed out that a convenient machine abstraction must be developed that hides from the application programmer low-level details such as message passing or machine failures. Use is made of distributed shared memory as a programming abstraction, and rollback recovery through consistent checkpointing to provide fault tolerance. Measurements of the authors' implementations of distributed shared memory and consistent checkpointing show that these abstractions can be implemented efficiently. >
Capture of Xylosandrus crassiusculus and Other Scolytinae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Response to Visual and Volatile Cues

ABSTRACT In Jun and Jul 2011 traps were deployed in Tuskegee National Forest, Macon County, Alabama to test the influence of chemical and visual cues on the capture of bark and ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae). The first experiment investigated the attractiveness of traps baited with different ratios of ethanol to methanol (0:100, 25:75, 50:50, 75:25, 100:0). No differences occurred in total Scolytinae trap captures for any of the various ratios of ethanol to methanol. The second experiment tested the attractiveness of ethanolbaited traps supplemented with light emitting diodes (LED) of various wavelengths to Scolytinae. Ethanol-baited traps supplemented with UV (395 nm) and green (525 nm) LEDs were more attractive than traps baited only with ethanol, but they were not more attractive than ethanol-baited traps supplemented with blue (470 nm) and red (625 nm) LEDs. This study indicates ethanol-baited traps supplemented with UV or green LEDs would be useful for detecting various Scol...
Variance-Mean Analysis in the Presence of a Rapid Antagonist Indicates Vesicle Depletion Underlies Depression at the Climbing Fiber Synapse

Many types of synapses throughout the nervous system are transiently depressed during high-frequency stimulation. Several mechanisms have been proposed to account for this depression, including depletion of release-ready vesicles. However, numerous studies have raised doubts about the importance of depletion in depression of central synapses and have implicated alternative mechanisms, such as decreased release probability. We use variance-mean analysis to determine the mechanism of depression at the climbing fiber to Purkinje cell synapse. We find that postsynaptic receptor saturation makes it difficult to distinguish between a decrease in available vesicles and a reduction in release probability. When AMPA receptor saturation is relieved with a low-affinity antagonist, variance-mean analysis reveals that depression arises from a decrease in the number of release-ready vesicles. Vesicle depletion is prominent, despite numerous docked vesicles at each release site, due to multivesicular release. We conclude that vesicle depletion can contribute significantly to depression of central synapses.
Upstream electron oscillations and ion overshoot at an interplanetary shock wave

During the passage of a large interplanetary shock on Oct. 13, 1981, the ISEE-1 and -2 spacecraft were in the solar wind outside of the upstream region of the bow shock. The high time resolution data of the University of California particle instruments allow pinpointing the expected electron spike as occurring just before the magnetic ramp. In addition, two features that occur at this shock have not been observed before: electron oscillations associated with low frequency waves upstream of the shock and sharp 'overshoot' (about 1 sec) in the ion fluxes that occur right after the magnetic ramp. This interplanetary shock exhibits many of the same characteristics that are observed at the earth's bow shock.
Prolonged Cre expression driven by the α-myosin heavy chain promoter can be cardiotoxic

Studying the importance of genetic factors in a desired cell type or tissue necessitates the use of precise genetic tools. With the introduction of bacteriophage Cre recombinase/loxP mediated DNA editing and promoter-specific Cre expression, it is feasible to generate conditional knockout mice in which particular genes are disrupted in a cell type-specific manner in vivo. In cardiac myocytes, this is often achieved through α-myosin heavy chain promoter (αMyHC)-driven Cre expression in conjunction with a loxP-site flanked gene of interest. Recent studies in other cell types demonstrate toxicity of Cre expression through induction of DNA damage. However, it is unclear to what extent the traditionally used αMyHC-Cre line [1] may exhibit cardiotoxicity. Further, the genotype of αMyHC-Cre(+/-) is not often included as a control group in cardiac myocyte-specific knockout studies. Here we present evidence that these αMyHC-Cre(+/-) mice show molecular signs of cardiac toxicity by 3months of age and exhibit decreased cardiac function by 6months of age compared to wild-type littermates. Hearts from αMyHC-Cre(+/-) mice also display evidence of fibrosis, inflammation, and DNA damage. Interestingly, some of the early functional changes observed in αMyHC-Cre(+/-) mice are sexually dimorphic. Given the high level of Cre recombinase expression resulting from expression from the αMyHC promoter, we asked if degenerate loxP-like sites naturally exist in the mouse genome and if so, whether they are affected by Cre in the absence of canonical loxP-sites. Using a novel bioinformatics search tool, we identified 619 loxP-like sites with 4 or less mismatches to the canonical loxP-site. 227 sites overlapped with annotated genes and 55 of these genes were expressed in cardiac muscle. Expression of ~26% of the 27 genes tested was disrupted in αMyHC-Cre(+/-) mice indicating potential targeting by Cre. Taken together, these results highlight both the importance of using αMyHC-Cre mice as controls in conditional knockout studies as well as the need for a less cardiotoxic Cre driver for the field.
Transoral robotic surgery

Surgical robotics is a rapidly developing field. The application of robotic technology to head and neck procedures potentially offers patients alternatives to conventional open surgical procedures with decreased morbidity. Additionally, transoral robotic surgery (TORS) may extend minimally invasive head and neck surgery beyond transoral laser microsurgery with the ability to work around corners while avoiding certain line-of-site limitations. This article describes the history of TORS including original laboratory data, early clinical data, and a description of technical aspects of the procedures.
The Economic Cost of Substance Abuse Treatment in the State of Florida

Objective:Public and private stakeholders of substance abuse treatment services require economic cost data to guide program evaluations and funding decisions.Background:Rigorous cost assessments have been conducted for several treatment programs across the United States, but a systematic and comprehensive evaluation of programs in a particular state has never been attempted.Research Design:The present study recruited all publicly funded treatment programs in the State of Florida and administered the Brief Drug Abuse Treatment Cost Analysis Program.Subjects:A total of 175 programs participated in the study, representing a 71% response rate.Measures:Annual, weekly, and episode costs are estimated by modality.Conclusion:The study procedures and empirical findings from this research can be used by program evaluators and government officials in Florida and other states as they develop service reimbursement algorithms and initiate more extensive evaluations of publicly funded substance abuse treatment programs.
Abstract 12630: Implementation of Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) Reduces in Hospital Mortality and Hospital Length of Stay

Background: Most in-hospital adverse events are often preceded by warning signs of clinical instability. These early signs typically involve subtle changes in multiple parameters rather than a dramatic change in an isolated value and are frequently overlooked by healthcare providers. MEWS is a weighted score based on 5 basic bedside parameters: systolic blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, and level of consciousness. It has been developed in an attempt to assist healthcare providers with the early detection of patients with potential for clinical deterioration. Objective: To examine the impact of proactive MEWS based rounding and intervention on in-hospital mortality and hospital length of stay (LOS). Methods: This study was conducted in three urban university hospitals following implementation of a MEWS-based algorithm for early intervention in March 2013. Inpatient nurses were trained to observe patients MEWS at four hour intervals. For MEWS of 4, nurses were encouraged to call the...
A ROBUST PHYLOGENY OF THE OROPENDOLAS: POLYPHYLY REVEALED BY MITOCHONDRIAL SEQUENCE DATA

Abstract We present a robust, fully resolved phylogeny for the oropendolas that will serve as a basis for comparative studies in this group. We sequenced 2,011 base pairs (bp) of the mitochondrial cytochrome-b and ND2 genes from 22 individuals to reconstruct relationships between recognized species and subspecies and to assess variation within polytypic taxa. A single phylogenetic tree was produced despite the use of a wide range of weighting schemes and phylogenetic reconstruction methods. Our data provide strong evidence that oropendolas are polyphyletic, with two distinct groups within a larger clade of oropendolas and caciques. We confirm the monophyly of recognized species, but indicate that some within-species relationships do not conform to recognized subspecies limits. Our findings thus demonstrate the importance of including multiple exemplars from each taxon of interest. The two genes provided complimentary and equally effective phylogenetic information for comparisons within the oropendolas, bu...
Electronic structure of the para-benzoquinone radical anion revisited

Photoinduced dynamics of the para-benzoquinone anion features a subtle interplay between autodetachment and non-adiabatic transitions involving a dense manifold of resonances. We report the results of a multistate multireference perturbation theory study of the electronic structure of the para-benzoquinone anion in the ground, several low-lying excited electronic states, and in the lowest electron-detached state (the ground state of the neutral molecule). The electronic structure calculations revealed non-planar equilibrium geometry of the 2Au excited state of the anion, but the effects of non-planarity on the shape of the absorption spectrum are found to be minor. Despite the large differences in the vertical excitation energies for the two lowest bright excited states, 2Au (2.55 eV) and 2B3u (2.93 eV), the simulated absorption spectra significantly overlap for the photon energies below 2.7 eV. Relevant minimum energy crossing points have been located using the CASSCF method. Excited-state deactivation channels are discussed in the context of accurate energetics and recent spectroscopic studies of the para-benzoquinone anion.
Structural rearrangement and dispersion of functionalized graphene sheets in aqueous solutions

Abstract Surfactants are widely used for dispersing graphene and functionalized graphene sheets (FGS) in colloidal suspensions, but there have been few studies of the structure of the dispersed graphene–surfactant complexes in suspension and of their time evolution. Here, we combine experimental study of efficiencies of ionic surfactants/polymers in suspending FGS in water with characterization using atomic force microscopy, small angle neutron scattering, and molecular simulations to probe the detailed structures of FGSs. The small angle scattering technique provides quantitative measurement of structure of graphene sheets in the solution. This study suggests that in both ionic and nonionic surfactants, the dispersion tends to degrade over time through detachment of the surfactant molecules and structural rearrangements. Ionic surfactants with strong interfacial binding and large molecular weight increase the dispersing power by over an order of magnitude.
Spending Power Bargaining After Sebelius

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) decision, it’s easy to get lost in debate over the Chief Justice’s stated theory of the commerce power, or what precedential effect it will have under the Marks doctrine (given that his only supporters wrote in dissent). Still, the practical implications for existing governance is likely to be small, at least in the foreseeable future. After all, much of the debate over the individual mandate focused on how unprecedented it was: despite months of trying, nobody produced a satisfying example of this particular Congressional tool used in previous health, environmental, or any other kind of federal law. By contrast, the most immediately significant portion of the ruling — and one with far more significance for most regulatory governance — is the part of the decision limiting the federal spending power that authorizes Medicaid. Congress uses its spending power to persuade states to engage in programs of cooperative federalism all the time, ranging from environmental programs under the Clean Air Act to cooperative management of the national highway system. Last month’s decision represents the first time the Court has ever invalidated a congressional act for exceeding its power under the Spending Clause, and the decision has important implications for the way that many state-federal regulatory partnerships work.This very short essay, based on a blog published in the immediate wake of the decision, offers both criticism and praise for different elements of the Chief Justice’s plurality opinion. After explaining the spending bargaining enterprise, it critiques the unprecedented and unworkable imposition the new decision creates on legislative authority to modify these bargains over time. After Sebelius, Congress can never modify a spending power program without potentially creating two tracks — one for states that like the change and another for those that prefer the original (and with further modifications, three tracks, ad infinitum). The decision fails to distinguish permissible modifications from new-program amendments, leaving every bargain improved by experience vulnerable to legal challenge. That said, the decision also exposes an important problem in spending power bargaining that warrants our attention: that is, how the analysis shifts when the states are not opting in or out of a cooperative federalism program from scratch, but after having developed substantial infrastructure around a long-term regulatory partnership.
Antigen elimination from the site of Arthus phenomenon in the guinea pig.

SummaryAn Arthus phenomenon delays removal of the antigen from the area. This is believed to be primarily due to the presence of antibodies. However, a non-specific effect due to inflammation must also be contributory to this slower removal of antigen because removal of a non-antigen from the Arthus reaction area is decreased.
Use of Marital Deduction Trusts Helps Achieve Planning Goals

Prof. Elaine Hightower Gagliardi explains how creative use of marital deduction trusts can help taxpayers achieve their estate planning goals.
Impact of Energy Prices on Energy Intensity in China's Steel Industry

Linkage between energy intensity and energy prices in Chinese steel sector is systemically investigated,based on energy consumption and price data of coal,oil and electricity during the period of 1984-2009.Results indicate that: own-price elasticity of coal intensity,electricity intensity and oil intensity is negative;energy intensity could be reduced by raising relatively energy price.Coal and electricity are complements to each other and substitutes to oil in Chinese steel sector.Regulating coal price is more effective to lower overall energy intensity than regulating electricity prices.In all equations,the proportion of coal consumption is positive with energy intensity;the proportion of electricity consumption is negative with energy intensity.
A step-by-step overview of the dynamic process of epitope selection by major histocompatibility complex class II for presentation to helper T cells

T cell antigen receptors (TCRs) expressed on cytotoxic or helper T cells can only see their specific target antigen as short sequences of peptides bound to the groove of proteins of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I, and class II respectively. In addition to the many steps, several participating proteins, and multiple cellular compartments involved in the processing of antigens, the MHC structure, with its dynamic and flexible groove, has perfectly evolved as the underlying instrument for epitope selection. In this review, I have taken a step-by-step, and rather historical, view to describe antigen processing and determinant selection, as we understand it today, all based on decades of intense research by hundreds of laboratories.
Microstructural informatics for accelerating the discovery of processing–microstructure–property relationships

The study of microstructure–property relationships and processing history leading to those relationships is at the core of materials engineering. The historical evolution of the understanding of processing–microstructure–property relationships has largely relied on empirical evidence that, in turn, has helped catalyze theories iteratively linking modeling to experiments, which has then helped the maturation process of materials design. While the power of modeling methods has increased, we have, as of yet, no unified mathematical formalism to seamlessly connect materials chemistry with kinetics and micro- and mesoscale information despite decades of work. In this article, we provide an overview of how “microstructural informatics” permits one to capture the interaction between processing variables and their influence on microstructure–chemistry–property correlations. This includes a particular focus on the use of manifold representations and data compression methods for defining microstructure–chemistry– property relationships that can explain known materials behavior and aid in designing new processing pathways of materials with enhanced properties. The concept of identifying an irreducible representation of microstructure is introduced.
Analysis of Elementary Steps in Oscillating Chemical Reactions

The recently discovered chlorine(III) (chlorite-based) oscillators show a wide range of dynamical phenomena in “batch” and “flow.” In addition to oscillations, these systems give rise to chaos, birhythmicity, spatial inhomogeneity, and other unusual effects [1]. To uncover the chemical origins of these phenomena, we construct multi-step mechanisms, and test them out by modeling the system’s observed behavior with them. However, the validity of a mechanism may not be judged fairly, if insufficient rate data exist for elementary steps in the mechanism.
Diverse mechanisms evolved by DNA viruses to inhibit early host defenses.

In mammalian cells, early defenses against infection by pathogens are mounted through a complex network of signaling pathways shepherded by immune-modulatory pattern-recognition receptors. As oblig...
A unified theory of calcium alternans in ventricular myocytes

Intracellular calcium (Ca2+) alternans is a dynamical phenomenon in ventricular myocytes, which is linked to the genesis of lethal arrhythmias. Iterated map models of intracellular Ca2+ cycling dynamics in ventricular myocytes under periodic pacing have been developed to study the mechanisms of Ca2+ alternans. Two mechanisms of Ca2+ alternans have been demonstrated in these models: one relies mainly on fractional sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ release and uptake, and the other on refractoriness and other properties of Ca2+ sparks. Each of the two mechanisms can partially explain the experimental observations, but both have their inconsistencies with the experimental results. Here we developed an iterated map model that is composed of two coupled iterated maps, which unifies the two mechanisms into a single cohesive mathematical framework. The unified theory can consistently explain the seemingly contradictory experimental observations and shows that the two mechanisms work synergistically to promote Ca2+ alternans. Predictions of the theory were examined in a physiologically-detailed spatial Ca2+ cycling model of ventricular myocytes.
Fault tolerant multicast couple hop routing

Light trails, a fairly recent optical networking architecture for LAN and MAN, and possibly WAN applications, can support both optical unicast and multicast. In this paper we consider routing both types of traffic in a survivable light trail network with multiple wavelengths. The algorithm supports multi-hop routing where traffic may use up to two light trails to reach its destination. An ILP is developed to help plan traffic placement in such a network. Our results show that considering the multicast nature of traffic may be necessary when planning optical routing and protection.
Regional Labor Market Adjustment in the United States: Trend and Cycle

We present new evidence on the evolution of labor mobility in the United States over the past four decades. Building on the seminal methodology by Blanchard and Katz (1992), combined with multiple sources of regional population and migration data, we show that interstate mobility in response to relative labor demand conditions is not as high as previously established and has been weakening since the early 1990s. In addition, we find that mobility is countercyclical: net migration across regions responds more strongly to spatial disparities in recessions than in normal times. While the declining trend in mobility has been driven by weaker out-migration from states experiencing negative relative shocks, the mobility surge in recessions is mostly accounted for by temporarily stronger in-migration to better-performing states.
Thoracoscopic Placation for Eventration of the Diaphragm

The major advantage of the thoracoscopic approach for the repair of eventration of the diaphragm is that it avoids the morbidity of a thoracotomy, including: pain, opioid analgesia, chest drainage, intensive care admission, a prolonged hospital stay, a large scar, and scoliosis. The indications for surgery include: respiratory distress, failure to wean from invasive ventilation and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), recurrent chest infections, and phrenic nerve palsy.
Finite-element model to predict roll-separation force and defects during rolling of U-10Mo alloys

Abstract A major goal of the Convert Program of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) is to enable high-performance research reactors to operate with low-enriched uranium rather than the high-enriched uranium currently used. To this end, uranium alloyed with 10 wt% molybdenum (U-10Mo) represents an ideal candidate because of its stable gamma phase, low neutron caption cross section, acceptable swelling response, and predictable irradiation behavior. However, because of the complexities of the fuel design and the need for rolled monolithic U-10Mo foils, new developments in processing and fabrication are necessary. This study used a finite-element code, LS-DYNA, as a predictive tool to optimize the rolling process. Simulations of the hot rolling of U-10Mo coupons encapsulated in low-carbon steel were conducted following two different schedules. Model predictions of the roll-separation force and roll pack thicknesses at different stages of the rolling process were compared with experimental measurements. The study reported here discussed various attributes of the rolled coupons revealed by the model (e.g., waviness and thickness non-uniformity like dog-boning). To investigate the influence of the cladding material on these rolling defects, other cases were simulated: hot rolling with alternative can materials, namely, 304 stainless steel and Zircaloy-2, and bare-rolling. Simulation results demonstrated that reducing the mismatch in strength between the coupon and can material improves the quality of the rolled sheet. Bare-rolling simulation results showed a defect-free rolled coupon. The finite-element model developed and presented in this study can be used to conduct parametric studies of several process parameters (e.g., rolling speed, roll diameter, can material, and reduction).
Clerical Fascism: Chile and Austria

Had Hayek and Mises been genuine Classical Liberals they would have objected to human rights abuses; had they been White Terror promoters masquerading as scholars they would have been indifferent. Mises insisted that countries where order is maintained by ‘the knout and the prison-camp’ should be left ‘alone’; and Hayek objected to ‘interference with the policy of other countries.’ Mises praised the achievements of Fascist Austria and its one-party Corporatist State; and Hayek defended the ‘one-party’ state, Pinochet’s Chile, and the ‘civilisation’ of apartheid from the American ‘fashion’ of ‘human rights’ while dismissing Amnesty International’s evidence about Pinochet’s human rights abuses as ‘allegations’ from ‘a bunch of leftists.’ This chapter describes some common White Terror characteristics of the Clerical Fascist regimes that ruled Austria (1934–1945) and Chile (1973–1990).
Nuchal cord and its implications

Nuchal cord occurs when the umbilical cord becomes wrapped around the fetal neck 360 degrees. Nuchal cords occur in about 10–29% of fetuses and the incidence increases with advancing gestation age. Most are not associated with perinatal morbidity and mortality, but a few studies have shown that nuchal cord can affect the outcome of delivery with possible long-term effects on the infants. Nuchal cords are more likely to cause problems when the cord is tightly wrapped around the neck, with effects of a tight nuchal cord conceptually similar to strangulation. Umbilical cord compression due to tight nuchal cords may cause obstruction of blood flow in thin walled umbilical vein, while infant’s blood continues to be pumped out of the baby through the thicker walled umbilical arteries causing hypovolemia, acidosis and anemia. Some of these infants have physical features secondary to tight nuchal cords that are distinct from those seen with birth asphyxia. The purpose of this article is to review the pathophysiology of tight nuchal cords and explore gaps in knowledge and research areas.
The National High Blood Pressure Education Program

Hypertension is one of the most prevalent chronic disease conditions in the United States. Approximately 35 million Americans, about 1 in 6, have high blood pressure that warrants some form of treatment. An additional 25 million are estimated to have borderline high blood pressure that requires medical surveillance. Untreated hypertension is the largest single contributor to stroke and a major contributor to heart disease and kidney failure. It is these complications caused by hypertension rather than hypertension itself that generally results in hospitalization. Hypertension is more common among blacks than whites—about 1 out of 4 blacks has definite high blood pressure, contrasted to 1 in 6 in the general population.
Improving Aztreonam Stewardship and Cost Through a Penicillin Allergy Testing Clinical Guideline.

Background Patients reporting penicillin allergy often receive unnecessary and costly broad-spectrum alternatives such as aztreonam with negative consequences. Penicillin allergy testing improves antimicrobial therapy but is not broadly used in hospitals due to insufficient testing resources and short-term expenses. We describe a clinical decision support (CDS) tool promoting pharmacist-administered penicillin allergy testing in patients receiving aztreonam and its benefits toward antimicrobial stewardship and costs. Methods A CDS tool was incorporated into the electronic medical record, directing providers to order penicillin allergy testing for patients receiving aztreonam. An allergy-trained pharmacist reviewed orders placed through this new guideline and performed skin testing and oral challenges to determine whether these patients could safely take penicillin. Data on tests performed, antibiotic utilization, and cost-savings were compared with patients tested outside the new guideline as part of our institution's standard stewardship program. Results The guideline significantly increased penicillin allergy testing among patients receiving aztreonam from 24% to 85% (P < .001) while reducing the median delay between admission and testing completion from 3.31 to 1.05 days (P = 0.008). Patients tested under the guideline saw a 58% increase in penicillin exposure (P = .046). Institutional aztreonam administration declined from 2.54 to 1.47 administrations per 1000 patient-days (P = .016). Average antibiotic costs per patient tested before and after CDS decreased from $1265.81 to $592.08 USD, a 53% savings. Conclusions Targeting penicillin allergy testing to patients on aztreonam yields therapeutic and economic benefits during a single admission. This provides a cost-effective model for inpatient testing.
The Socratic Roots of Retributivism

Much ado has been made in criminal punishment theory over the past several decades over the plausibility status of retributivism, especially in philosophical circles. Indeed, there are about as many construals of retributivism as there are defenders and opponents of the view, or cluster of views, rightly called “retributivism.” Whether pure or mixed versions of the theory, what all punishment theories worthy of the name “retributivism” share with one another is that the justification of both the institution and particular forms of punishment are primarily matters of deservedness, however “desert” and its cognates (desert words) are understood by the various retributivists themselves. According to the standard retributivist line of thinking, those who are responsible for a harmful wrongdoing deserve to be punished (positive retributivism). The innocent are never to be punished for any reason whatsoever (negative retributivism). And the guilty ought to be punished in, albeit approximate, proportion to the kind and degree of their harms wrongfully caused to others. Strong versions of retributivism (deemed as such by many theorists), such as Immanuel Kant’s which is covered in the next chapter of this book, hold that the state has a perfect moral duty to punish all offenders, while weak retributivists hold that the state has an imperfect duty to punish them. While some retributivist theories also admit (consonant with certain statements made by Kant) that considerations of social utility (deterrence, rehabilitation, etc.) might serve as secondary justifications of the institution and particular forms of punishment, all retributivisms hold that the notion of desert is central to why, if ever, punishment is morally justified.
On Some Approximation Problems in Topology

Abstract There are two basic types of approximation problems in topology: 1) to approximate a given topological space by better spaces; 2) to approximate a given map by better maps. Here we shall discuss examples of both types. We consider two approximation problems which appeared in different areas of topology as keystone problems. One of them is the area of intensive research formed around the Novikov Higher Signature conjecture. The other deals with the transversality of mappings of compacta to euclidean space. In both cases the problems are partially solved and in each case any further progress on them could lead to a major breakthrough in the area.
Built-In Self-Test of Embedded SEU Detection Cores in Virtex-4 and Virtex-5 FPGAs.

A Built-In Self-Test (BIST) approach is presented for the Internal Configuration Access Port (ICAP) and Frame Error Correcting Code (ECC) logic cores embedded in Xilinx Virtex-4 and Virtex-5 Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). The Frame ECC logic facilitates the detection of Single Event Upsets (SEUs) in the FPGA configuration memory. The ICAP provides read and write access to the configuration memory from within the FPGA fabric, enabling embedded dynamic reconfiguration and fault-tolerant applications with memory scrubbing. Therefore, the fault-free operation of the ICAP and Frame ECC logic is critical for space and fault-tolerant applications that require detection and repair of SEUs. The BIST approach presented is applicable to all Virtex-4 and Virtex-5 FPGAs for both manufacturing and system-level testing of the ICAP and Frame ECC logic. The actual implementation of the BIST approach in Virtex-4 and Virtex-5 FPGAs and associated experimental results are discussed. 1
Mode of Calcium Activation of Calmodulin-Regulated Enzymes

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the mode of calcium activation of calmodulin-regulated enzymes. Calmodulin regulated enzymes can be roughly classified into two types: those that acquire their Ca2+ sensitivity solely through complexation with CaM, such as cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase (PDE) and myosin light chain kinase; and those that also contain a Ca2+-binding subunit, such as glycogen phosphorylase kinase and CaM-dependent phosphoprotein phosphatase. The regulatory aspect is necessarily tied to the mechanisms involved. In this regard, one must consider the significance of multiple Ca2+ ion binding; any resultant cooperativity in terms of Ca2+ and other ligand concentration; the relative levels of CaM and target enzymes or receptors in different tissues; and the redistribution of CaM among its target enzymes upon the release and removal of Ca2+ in terms of time and the redistribution in relation to the levels of substrates, other metal ions, and effectors, including covalent modifiers. The binding of Ca2+, CaM, and enzyme can be treated as in rapid equilibrium, provided certain conditions are satisfied.
Normal Biopsy Anatomy/Histology and General Changes

As was the case with the esophagus section, the first chapter in this section on the stomach illustrates the normal components of the gastric mucosa as we encounter them in biopsy specimens. Our most common “diagnosis” in gastric biopsies is “no significant abnormality,” just as it is in the esophagus and elsewhere in the gastrointestinal tract. Indeed, one of the most important things we as pathologists can do for our patients and our clinical colleagues is to render such a diagnosis rather than to describe every minor, clinically unimportant change in our reports, as it allows entire categories of disease to be eliminated from the clinical differential diagnosis.
Delivery and Obstetrical Issues

The prenatal diagnosis of hypoplastic left heart syndrome is becoming more common since the advent of fetal echocardiography as a reliable modality to assess cardiac anatomyin utero.In addition, staged reconstructive surgery and cardiac transplantation have markedly improved neonatal survival. Consequently, obstetricians increasingly have the opportunity to implement prenatal and intrapartum strategies when hypoplastic left heart syndrome is recognized prenatally. In this chapter, we will review the appropriate diagnostic studies, counseling techniques, antepartum surveillance, and intrapartum care that are recommended in these difficult cases.
Trichloroethylene-Induced Oxidative Stress and Autoimmunity

Trichloroethylene (trichloroethene, TCE) is a widely used organic solvent and a common environmental and occupational contaminant. Apart from diseases like cancer and heart defects, TCE exposure has also been implicated in the development of various autoimmune diseases (ADs), such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), systemic sclerosis and fasciitis, both from occupational and environmental exposures. Experimental studies using MRL+/+ mice as an animal model also support an association between TCE exposure and autoimmunity. Increasing evidence suggests that free radical-mediated reactions could play a potential role in the pathogenesis of ADs, and TCE exposure is known to cause oxidative stress both in vivo and in vitro. Recent studies have contributed to the understanding of the role of oxidatively modified proteins, especially lipid peroxidation-derived aldehyde (LPDA)-modified proteins in TCE-induced autoimmune response. These studies support that oxidative modification of endogenous proteins leads to structural alterations, resulting in the formation of neoantigens which elicit autoimmune responses by stimulating T and/or B lymphocytes, particularly Th1 and Th17 lymphocytes. More detailed studies to understand the distinct pathways by which oxidative stress contributes to autoimmunity, especially mapping of gene expression, analyzing proteome, blocking/inhibiting specific signal transduction pathways will also unravel critical mechanisms in TCE-mediated autoimmunity.
It Was Social Consistency That Mattered All Along

In retrospect, Leon Festinger’s (1957, 1964) cognitive dissonance theory could be considered the opening salvo of the cognitive revolution in psychology. Its canonical experimental demonstration, F...
Integrating cost-benefits analysis and life cycle assessment of green roofs: a case study in Florida

Multiple environmental benefits can be achieved by using a green roof instead of conventional roofs. To better understand the LCA and cost-effectiveness of a green roof, a case study was performed....
Globalization and U.S. Industry Concentration

I show that a tariff policy change that increased trade with China led to a decline in U.S. public listing rates and elevated industry concentration. Consistent with heterogeneous firm models of trade, the shock impeded the entry and performance of small domestic manufacturers but did not adversely impact large multinationals. In addition, stock price reactions to the policy change and threat of reversal imply that trade liberalization creates or destroys value depending on firm size. These findings suggest that recent trends in the U.S. public equity market are driven, in part, by fundamental changes in the global competitive landscape.
Variational Formulation of Elliptic Boundary Value Problems

This chapter is devoted to the functional analysis tools required for developing the variational formulation of differential equations. It begins with an introduction to Hilbert spaces, including only material that is essential to later developments. The goal of the chapter is to provide a framework in which existence and uniqueness of solutions to variational problems may be established.
Analysis of a celestial icosahedron shaped vacuum lighter than air vehicle

Abstract The celestial icosahedron geometry is considered as a potential design for a vacuum lighter than air vehicle. The goal of this research is ultimately to determine the feasibility of the design and to understand the initial fluid-structure interaction of the vacuum lighter than air vehicle and the surrounding airflow. The aerodynamic effects of a deformed structure due to the external atmospheric pressure must be understood. In order to obtain a solid model to manufacture a structure for use in wind tunnel and computational fluid dynamics analysis, a method for converting structural analysis models into a physical representation had to be developed. The pressure profiles experienced by the structure in the wind tunnel experiments and computational fluid dynamics analysis are comparatively similar. Therefore, the computational fluid dynamics data is used to conduct a structural analysis in which aerodynamic effects are incorporated. The research concluded that the aerodynamic pressures do not significantly affect the stress on the structure at a wind velocity of 15.6 m/s and sea-level atmospheric conditions. As a result, it is recommended that the celestial structure be considered as a potential vacuum lighter than air vehicle design, and further nonlinear analysis be carried out for a final design.