cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A New Normal

Who says the “norms” in culture are healthy, just that they are common. How hard to be different, yet the creator can often challenge—whether large or small—some status quo. Plus they can be aware and conscious voices in a sometimes mindless rat race. Significantly, negative stereotypes of creative people exist, even showing hair askew and bumping into walls. Classroom teachers may not recognize or reward the creative voices. In shifting and broadening our “acceptable limits of normality” (the range as well as the average) we can better honor our own uniqueness as well as the sparkling diversity of cultures on a shrinking globe.
Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Intrawound Vancomycin in Total Hip and Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Call for a Prospective Randomized Trial.

Abstract Background Topical intrawound vancomycin has been used extensively in spine surgery to decrease surgical site infections. However, the efficacy of intrawound vancomycin in total hip (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) to prevent periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) has not been established. Methods The PubMed and MEDLINE databases were searched to identify studies utilizing intrawound vancomycin in primary and revision THA and TKA. Data for postoperative infection were pooled using random effect models with results reported as odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals. Studies were weighted by the inverse variance of their effect estimates. Results Of the 91 studies identified, 6 low-quality retrospective studies (level III) were pooled for further analysis. A total of 3298 patients were assessed, 1801 of which were treated with intrawound vancomycin. Overall, patients who received vancomycin had a decreased rate of PJI (OR 0.2530, P Conclusion Intrawound vancomycin may reduce the risk of PJI in primary and revision TKA and THA. However, only low-quality evidence exists, highlighting the need for randomized controlled trials before broad adoption of this practice can be recommended given the potential implications of widespread use of vancomycin in hip and knee arthroplasty.
False activation of the cardiac catheterization laboratory: The price to pay for shorter treatment delay:

IntroductionIn patients with acute ST elevation myocardial ischemia (STEMI), national efforts have focused on reducing door-to-balloon (D2B) times for primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PC...
When Favoritism Fails: The Politics of Cross-ethnic Voting among Muslims in India

In a political system characterized by strong loyalty to coethnic politicians and parties, why do some voters support a non-coethnic party? Scholars theorize that voters support coethnics in order ...
Regulation of Macrophage Foam Cell Formation During Nitrogen Mustard (NM)-Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis by Lung Lipids

Nitrogen mustard (NM) is a vesicant known to target the lung, causing acute injury which progresses to fibrosis. Evidence suggests that activated macrophages contribute to the pathologic response to NM. In these studies, we analyzed the role of lung lipids generated following NM exposure on macrophage activation and phenotype. Treatment of rats with NM (0.125 mg/kg, i.t.) resulted in a time-related increase in enlarged vacuolated macrophages in the lung. At 28 days postexposure, macrophages stained positively for Oil Red O, a marker of neutral lipids. This was correlated with an accumulation of oxidized phospholipids in lung macrophages and epithelial cells and increases in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) phospholipids and cholesterol. RNA-sequencing and immunohistochemical analysis revealed that lipid handling pathways under the control of the transcription factors liver-X receptor (LXR), farnesoid-X receptor (FXR), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-ɣ, and sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP) were significantly altered following NM exposure. Whereas at 1-3 days post NM, FXR and the downstream oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor, Cd36, were increased, Lxr and the lipid efflux transporters, Abca1 and Abcg1, were reduced. Treatment of naive lung macrophages with phospholipid and cholesterol enriched large aggregate fractions of BAL prepared 3 days after NM exposure resulted in upregulation of Nos2 and Ptgs2, markers of proinflammatory activation, whereas large aggregate fractions prepared 28 days post NM upregulated expression of the anti-inflammatory markers, Il10, Cd163, and Cx3cr1, and induced the formation of lipid-laden foamy macrophages. These data suggest that NM-induced alterations in lipid handling and metabolism drive macrophage foam cell formation, potentially contributing to the development of pulmonary fibrosis.
Language and Languages

The editorial organization of the contents of the Course in General Linguistics contributed to establishing the primacy of the language system (la langue) by situating it above the empirical plurality of world languages (les langues). La langue is defined by means of dogmatic, axiom-like statements with little empirical justification or background early on in the book. A survey of concrete data pertaining to linguistic diversity is found only toward the end, and it seems to offer a series of contingent variations on the basic theme of a pre-existent language structure. The validity of such a central language structure is assumed a priori, and the diversity of linguistic practices around the world is considered a posteriori as a set of factual consequences. This presentation is fueled largely by the editors’ methodological commitments, especially Sechehaye’s self-avowed “taste for great abstractions,” and it is at odds with a more nuanced view developed in Saussure’s Nachlass. In the student lecture notes, the order of presentation moves from a detailed survey of several languages (les langues) to a concluding, hypothetical notion of language (la langue) as such. La langue is a generalization from out of a vast linguistic plurality and not an a priori axiom.
Upper mantle structure in the Basin and Range province, western North America, from the apparent velocities of S waves

Shear velocity variation with depth in upper mantle for Basin and Range province of western North America, using S waves measurements
Block Design with Common Reference Samples Enables Robust Large-Scale Label-Free Quantitative Proteome Profiling

Label-free quantitative proteomics has become an increasingly popular tool for profiling global protein abundances. However, one major limitation is the potential performance drift of the LC-MS platform over time, which, in turn, limits its utility for analyzing large-scale sample sets. To address this, we introduce an experimental and data analysis scheme based on a block design with common references within each block for enabling large-scale label-free quantification. In this scheme, a large number of samples (e.g., >100 samples) are analyzed in smaller and more manageable blocks, minimizing instrument drift and variability within individual blocks. Each designated block also contains common reference samples (e.g., controls) for normalization across all blocks. We demonstrated the robustness of this approach by profiling the proteome response of human macrophage THP-1 cells to 11 engineered nanomaterials at two different doses. A total of 116 samples were analyzed in six blocks, yielding an average coverage of 4500 proteins per sample. Following a common reference-based correction, 2537 proteins were quantified with high reproducibility without any imputation of missing values from 116 data sets. The data revealed the consistent quantification of proteins across all six blocks, as illustrated by the highly consistent abundances of house-keeping proteins in all samples and the high levels of correlation among samples from different blocks. The data also demonstrated that label-free quantification is robust and accurate enough to quantify even very subtle abundance changes as well as large fold-changes. Our streamlined workflow is easy to implement and can be readily adapted to other large cohort studies for reproducible label-free proteome quantification.
Lacrimal Gland Intravascular Micrometastasis From a Human Papillomavirus-Driven Anorectal Squamous Cell Carcinoma With a Review of Metastatic Disease to the Lacrimal Gland.

Purpose To document a unique case of anorectal squamous cell carcinoma that was metastatic to the microvasculature of the lacrimal gland in a patient with human immunodeficiency virus and to review previously reported cases of metastases to the lacrimal gland. Methods Both a retrospective chart review and comprehensive literature review were performed. The unusual histopathologic pattern of the current case was illustrated with immunohistochemical studies (CD31, D2-40, pancytokeratin, p16, and p63) and in situ hybridization studies for high-risk human papillomavirus types 16 and 18. Results The authors describe the first case of metastatic anorectal squamous cell carcinoma to the lacrimal gland. Only 24 cases of metastatic disease to the lacrimal gland have been reported, the majority from breast carcinomas. The metastasis did not form a macroscopic lesions, instead was composed of microscopic intravascular and intraparenchymal tumor deposits, a subtle phenomena. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the presence of the intravascular neoplastic cells. p16 served as a surrogate marker for human papillomavirus-associated squamous cell carcinoma and was confirmed with in situ hybridization for human papillomavirus 16 and 18. This testing, combined with the clinical history, defined the diagnosis and confirmed human papillomavirus as the tumor driver. Conclusions Metastases to the lacrimal gland remain rare, but clinicians and pathologists alike must be attuned to the possibility of subtle microscopic foci of tumor as a pattern of metastasis in scenarios without a discrete mass-forming lesion, as this may portend a poor prognosis.
Executive functions and English reading comprehension growth in Spanish-English bilingual adolescents

Abstract This longitudinal study investigated whether and, if so, how executive functions predict English reading comprehension development among Spanish-English bilingual adolescents. Students (N = 116) were followed from Grade 6 (age 11) through Grade 8 (age 13) and their cognitive (i.e., working memory, inhibitory control, attention shifting), linguistic, and reading skills were assessed annually. Growth modeling indicated that a Grade 6 measure that tapped both attention shifting and inhibitory control moderately predicted reading comprehension growth, controlling for other executive functions and processing speed. This relation was not significant when controlling for word reading and language comprehension, suggesting overlap in the contributions of these skills. Concurrent mediation analyses suggested multiple mechanisms for the contributions of individual executive functions to reading comprehension. Results provide cautious support for the importance of executive functions to reading comprehension development for bilingual adolescents and suggest multiple pathways by which they contribute via established componential skills.
Electroconvulsive Therapy for Trauma-Related Nightmares: A Case Report and Commentary

Trauma-related nightmares (TRN), one of the most reported symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), may not always respond to current pharmacologic and therapeutic treatments. Validity of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), which is used worldwide in clinical treatment for a broad range of neuropsychiatric conditions, is investigated as a potential therapeutic option for TRN in this report. A case of a 39-year-old male with a history of severe combat-related PTSD, major depressive disorder, history of traumatic brain injury, suicidal ideations, and persistent TRN is discussed here. Successful treatment outcome of this case with six sessions of right unilateral ECT is presented. On initial presentation, the patient had a Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) score of 27 and a Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) score of 77. After six sessions of ECT, the patient had a PHQ-9 score of 3 and a PCL-5 score of 45. Furthermore, the rationale and potential mechanisms of action underlying the ECT treatment for treatment-resistant PTSD and TRN are also reviewed in this report.
Spectral entropy outperforms MS/MS dot product similarity for small-molecule compound identification.

Compound identification in small-molecule research, such as untargeted metabolomics or exposome research, relies on matching tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) spectra against experimental or in silico mass spectral libraries. Most software programs use dot product similarity scores. Here we introduce the concept of MS/MS spectral entropy to improve scoring results in MS/MS similarity searches via library matching. Entropy similarity outperformed 42 alternative similarity algorithms, including dot product similarity, when searching 434,287 spectra against the high-quality NIST20 library. Entropy similarity scores proved to be highly robust even when we added different levels of noise ions. When we applied entropy levels to 37,299 experimental spectra of natural products, false discovery rates of less than 10% were observed at entropy similarity score 0.75. Experimental human gut metabolome data were used to confirm that entropy similarity largely improved the accuracy of MS-based annotations in small-molecule research to false discovery rates below 10%, annotated new compounds and provided the basis to automatically flag poor-quality, noisy spectra. This manuscript proposes the use of spectral entropy similarity as a measure of similarity for small-molecule mass spectra and the use of a one-bond-difference approach for improving false discovery rates.
Hardware Benchmarking of Cryptographic Algorithms Using High-Level Synthesis Tools: The SHA-3 Contest Case Study

The growing number of candidates competing in the cryptographic contests, such as SHA-3, makes the hardware performance evaluation extremely time consuming, tedious, and imprecise, especially in the early stages of the competitions. The main difficulties include the long time necessary to develop and verify HDL (hardware description language) codes of all candidates, and the need of developing (or at least tweaking) codes for multiple variants and architectures of each algorithm. High-level synthesis (HLS), based on the newly developed Xilinx Vivado HLS tool, offers a potential solution to the aforementioned problems. In order to verify a potential validity of this approach, we have applied our proposed methodology to the comparison of five Round 3 SHA-3 candidates. Our study has demonstrated that despite a noticeable performance penalty, caused by the use of high-level synthesis tools vs. manual design, the ranking of the evaluated candidates, in terms of four major performance metrics, frequency, throughput, area, and throughput to area ratio, has remained unchanged for Altera Stratix IV FPGAs.
Design and evaluation of a visual acclimation aid for a semi-natural locomotion device

One of the limitations of most virtual reality (VR) systems is that users cannot physically walk through large virtual environments. Many solutions have been proposed to this problem, including locomotion devices such as the Virtusphere. Such devices allow the user to employ moderately natural walking motions without physically moving through space, but may actually be difficult to use at first due to a lack of interaction fidelity. We designed and evaluated a visual aid that shows a virtual representation of the sphere to the user during an acclimation phase, reasoning that this would help users understand the forces they were feeling, plan their movements, and better control their movements. In a user study, we evaluated participants' walking performance both during and after an acclimation phase. Half of the participants used the visual aid during acclimation, while the other half had no visual aid. After acclimation, all participants performed more complex walking assessment tasks without any visual aid. The results demonstrate that use of the visual aid during acclimation was effective for improving task performance and decreasing perceived difficulty in the assessment tasks.
Progress Report on Some Turbulent Diffusion Research

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the measurement of joint probability in turbulent dispersion of heat from two line sources. It discusses that resistance thermometer correlation measurements of the thermal pulse signals due to the unsteady hot sheets behind parallel line sources, are suggested for estimation of the joint probability density of fluid particle displacements. In addition to the well-known nearly normal shape of the individual probability densities, it is found that these displacements are also close to being jointly normal. Still, there is insufficient data for reliable calculation of the streamwise variation of mean square displacement difference. The chapter also discusses some of the problems connected with particle dispersion. Under appropriate restrictions the differential equation for the motion of a small, solid sphere in turbulent fluid can be linearized and approximated in the quasi-steady form often assumed.
Multielectron effects of diatomic molecules in strong laser fields

The study of atoms and molecules in strong laser fields is one of the most active research areas in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics. Following extensive study over the past two decades, most phenomena involving strong fieldatom interactions have been relatively well understood. However, there have been a number of observations suggesting that molecules in strong fields behave significantly differently from what we have learned from atoms. Revised concepts are discussed in this article for phenomena as simple as single- and double-electron ionization in molecules. These findings provide a more uniform picture to understand behaviors of atoms and molecules in strong laser fields.
Phosphorus in Runoff and Streams

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses physical and chemical factors affecting the dynamics of phosphorus in runoff and streams. These factors determine not only the movement of phosphorus into runoff and streams but also its distribution between the aqueous and particulate phases. The factors affecting the dynamics and loads of phosphorus in runoff and streams illustrate the problems in interpreting the data thus far obtained. The major difficulty in data interpretation and comparison is the lack of uniformity in the forms of phosphorus measured. Surface runoff is a spasmodic rather that a continuous phenomenon, its composition at any location being highly heterogeneous and likely to change over short distances because the energy of the aqueous component, and therefore its ability to carry particulate material, varies with slope. The chapter explains the way the distribution of the phosphorus load between the solid and aqueous phases of surface runoff is measured. It also discusses the impact of phosphorus carried in streams on standing water.
Observation of entropic effect on conformation changes of complex systems under well-controlled temperature conditions.

We report direct observation of an entropic effect in determining the folding of a linear dicarboxylate dianion with a flexible aliphatic chain [-O2C−(CH2)6−CO2-] by photoelectron spectroscopy as a function of temperature (18−300 K) and degree of solvation from 1 to 18 water molecules. A folding transition is observed to occur at 16 solvent water molecules at room temperature and at 14 solvent molecules below 120 K due to the entropic effect. The -O2C−(CH2)6−CO2-(H2O)14 hydrated cluster exhibits interesting temperature-dependent behaviors, and its ratio of folded over linear conformations can be precisely controlled as a function of temperature, yielding the enthalpy and entropy differences between the two conformations. A folding barrier is observed at very low temperatures, resulting in kinetic trapping of the linear conformation. The current work provides a simple model system to study the dynamics and entropic effect in complex systems and may be important for understanding the hydration and conformat...
Exploring browser design trade-offs using a dynamical model of optimal information foraging

Designers and researchers of human-computer interaction need tools that permit the rapid exploration and management of hypotheses about complex interactions of designs, task conditions, and user strategies. Dynamic programming is introduced as a such a tool for the analysis of information foraging technologies. The technique is illustrated in the context of the Scatter/Gather text clustering browser. Hypothetical improvements in browser speed and text clustering are examined in the context of variations in task deadlines and the quality of the document repository. A complex and non-intuitive set of tradeoffs emerge from even this simple space of factors, illustrating the general utility of the approach.
Resistivity, carrier trapping, and polarization phenomenon in semiconductor radiation detection materials

In this paper, we report theoretical studies of native defects and dopants in a number of room-temperature semiconductor radiation detection materials, i.e., CdTe, TlBr, and Tl6SeI4. We address several important questions, such as what causes high resistivity in these materials, what explains good μτ product (carrier mobility-lifetime product) in soft-lattice ionic compounds that have high defect density, and how to obtain high resistivity and low carrier trapping simultaneously. Our main results are: (1) shallow donors rather than deep ones are responsible for high resistivity in high-quality detectorgrade CdTe; (2) large dielectric screening and the lack of deep levels from low-energy native defects may contribute to the good μτ products for both electrons and holes in TlBr; (3) the polarization phenomenon in Tl6SeI4 is expected to be much reduced compared to that in TlBr. © (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Magic angle spinning NMR-based metabolic profiling of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma tissues.

High-resolution magic-angle spinning (HR-MAS) proton NMR spectroscopy is used to explore the metabolic signatures of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) which included matched normal adjacent tissue (NAT) and tumor originating from tongue, lip, larynx and oral cavity, and associated lymph-node metastatic (LN-Met) tissues. A total of 43 tissues (18 NAT, 18 Tumor and 7 LN-Met) from 22 HNSCC patients were analyzed. Principal Component Analysis of NMR data showed a clear classification between NAT and tumor tissues, however, LN-Met tissues were classified among tumor. A partial least-squares discriminant analysis model generated from NMR metabolic profiles was used to differentiate normal from tumor samples (Q2 > 0.80, Receiver Operator Characteristic area under the curve >0.86, using 7-fold cross validation). HNSCC and LN-Met tissues showed elevated levels of lactate, amino acids including leucine, isoleucine, valine, alanine, glutamine, glutamate, aspartate, glycine, phenylalanine and tyrosine, ch...
Two exact solutions for a cylindrical inhomogeneity in a multi-aquifer system

Two new exact solutions are presented for steady-state, uniform flow through a cylindrical inhomogeneity in a multi-aquifer system. The solutions are valid for an arbitrary number of aquifers, and all aquifer properties may change from outside to inside the cylinder. The first problem concerns flow in a confined aquifer. The second problem is similar to the first problem, but now the cylinder is bounded on top by a lake with a semi-permeable bottom and a fixed water level; a constant amount of water may be extracted from the lake. The equations are derived in a radial coordinate system and make use of the known solution for uniform flow through a cylindrical inhomogeneity in a single aquifer, and the general theory for flow in leaky, multi-aquifer systems. Separate equations are presented for the head, flow, and leakage inside and outside the cylinder; a complete set of linear equations is presented to solve for the coefficients in the solutions. For each solution a specific example is presented for flow in a system with three aquifers. Rather complicated leakage patterns are obtained when inside the cylinder the transmissivity of the top aquifer is increased, the transimissivity of the middle aquifer is decreased, and the transmissivity of the bottom aquifer is kept constant.
Spin-Orbit Coupling and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in Superconducting Metals

In this work, the effect of spin-orbit coupling (through spin-reversing scattering) on the paramagnetic spin susceptibility of conduction electrons in a superconductor has been studied. This was accomplished by investigating the nuclear magnetic resonance of two groups of (type-I) superconducting samples. In the first group of samples, consisting of different-sized samples of pure lead, the residual NMR shift in the limit of zero temperature was found to vary with particle size, as is true for pure tin. The results are consistent with the existence of a larger spin-orbit interaction in lead. The second group of samples, containing various concentrations of In, Sb, Pb, and Bi impurities, exhibited residual NMR shifts which were consistent with the spin-orbit interactions characteristic of the respective impurities. Taken together, the NMR results are consistent with the microscopic theory of superconductivity, including the effects of spin-orbit interactions.
Stiction, adhesion energy, and the Casimir effect in micromechanical systems

We measure the adhesion energy of gold using a micromachined cantilever beam. Stress and stiffness of the beam are characterized by measuring the spectrum of mechanical vibrations and the deflection due to external force. We induce stiction between the beam and a nearby surface, employing capillary forces to determine the adhesion energy g. The obtained value g50.06 J/m 2 is a factor of 6 smaller than that predicted by idealized theory. This discrepancy may arise from surface roughness or an adsorbed layer intervening between the contacting surfaces in these mesoscopic structures.
Mechanically facilitated cell-cell electrofusion

Apparatus and methods were developed to enable mechanically facilitated cell-cell electrofusion to be performed. The apparatus and methods mechanically place cells in contact before fusion. The key component of this fusion system was a newly developed fusion chamber. The chamber was composed of two functionally identical electrodes that were housed in a multi-layer structure. The layers functioned as support for the electrodes. They also allowed adjustment of the distance between opposing electrode faces. The electrodes were constructed in a manner that allowed cells to be deposited, by vacuum, onto each face. Electrode faces were positioned at a predetermined distance from each other to mechanically force cell-cell contact between the deposited cells. Fusion was induced by delivering direct current pulses to the juxtaposed cells. Fusion products were detected and quantitated by flow cytometry. Details of the chamber design and a protocol for using the fusion chamber are given. Mechanically facilitated cell-cell electrofusion was demonstrated by using the chamber to produce fusion products from like fusion partners. The practical applicability of the chamber was demonstrated by fusing unlike cell types. Mechanically facilitated cell-cell electrofusion is not specific to the cells used in this study; the chamber can be adapted for use with other cell types.
The state of health economic evaluation research in Nigeria: a systematic review.

This study assessed the state of health economic evaluation (including pharmacoeconomic) research in Nigeria. A literature search was conducted to identify health economic articles pertaining to Nigeria. Two reviewers independently scored each article in the final sample using a data collection form designed for the study. A total of 44 studies investigating a wide variety of diseases were included in the review. These articles were published in 34 different journals, mostly based outside of Nigeria, between 1988 and 2009. On average, each article was written by four authors. Most first authors had medical/clinical affiliations and resided in Nigeria at the time of publication of the study. Based on a 1 to 10 scale, with 10 indicating the highest quality, the mean quality score for all studies was 7.29 (SD 1.21) and 59% of the articles were of fair quality (score 5–7); 5% were of even lower quality. The quality of articles was statistically significantly (p 0.05) related to the country of residence of the primary author (non-Nigeria = higher), country of the journal (non-Nigeria = higher), primary objective of the study (economic analysis = higher) and type of economic analysis conducted (economic evaluations higher than cost studies). The conduct of health economic (including pharmacoeconomic) research in Nigeria was limited and about two-thirds of published articles were of suboptimal quality. More and better quality health economic research in Nigeria is warranted.
Application of an environmentally sensitive fluorophore for rapid analysis of the binding and internalization efficiency of gene carriers.

Nonviral gene carriers must associate with and become internalized by cells in order to mediate efficient transfection. Methods to quantitatively measure and distinguish between cell association an...
CRYSTAL AND MOLECULAR STRUCTURE OF BIS(CIS-2-METHOXY-4,6-DIMETHYL-1,3,2-DIOXAPHOSPHORINANE)TETRA-CARBONYLMOLYBDENUM(0)-A COMPLEX CONTAINING A THERMODYNAMICALLY UNSTABLE LIGAND ISOMER

Abstract The crystal and molecular structure of the title complex determined by x-ray diffraction techniques demonstrates that the thermodynamically unstable form of the phosphorinane ligand (i.e., phosphorus lone pair axial) coordinates to the metal with retention of configuration at phosphorus. It is noted that the CH3O group of both ligands adopts a conformation such that the P(OC)3 moiety in each ligand possesses a spatial arrangement similar to that of the P(OCH3)3 ligand in complexes whose structures have been determined (Ref. 16).
Inhibition of rat brain microsomal (Na+ + K+)-ATPase and K+-p-nitrophenylphosphatase by periodic acid

The effects of mild periodate exposure on the kinetics of (Na+ + K+)-ATPase and K+-p-nitrophenylphosphatase were studied using rat cerebral microsome preparations. Fifty percent inhibition of both enzyme activities was attained near 3 microM periodate concentrations. This inhibition was biphasic with time. Mg2+-ATPase and Mg2+-p-nitrophenylphosphatase activities were much less inhibited by periodate. Periodate inhibition was partially reversed by dimercaprol and dithiothreitol but not by diffusion. The possible reaction products formic acid, formaldehyde, glyceraldehyde, and acetaldehyde had no inhibitory effects in similar concentrations. Periodate exposure produced no detectable changes in the activation of (Na+ + K+)-ATPase by Na+, K+, Mg2+, or ATP. Residues shared by both (Na+ + K+)-ATPase and K+-p-nitrophenylphosphatase are both critical to hydrolytic function and sensitive to mild oxidation by periodate.
Experimental toxoplasmosis in pigeons

Abstract Data are given on the parasitemia and antibody response in pigeons infected with 3 strains of Toxoplasma , of varying virulence. With the virulent RH strain, which killed about 45% of the birds infected with it, a high parasitemia was obtained regardless of the route of inoculation. The time of appearance or persistence of parasitemia was not markedly different in birds infected by different routes. The parasitemia remained high for about 2 weeks or until death; dilutions up to 1:10,000 of the blood of these birds were found infectious for mice. With the less virulent strains lower parasitemias were obtained; there appears to be a correlation between the pathogenicity of the parasite, in any host, and its spread via the blood stream. Parasitemia does not continue after the antibody titer becomes high. Antibody titer in pigeons as measured in the dye test, drops fairly rapidly and antibody may be undetectable less than a year and a half after infection. Persistence of parasites in the brain of infected birds for as long as 33 months has been demonstrated. Toxoplasmas may remain in brain pseudocysts for long periods without stimulating antibody production. The significance of this observation in relation to the value of serological tests in determining the possible toxoplasmic etiology of human chorioretinitis is briefly discussed.
Alcoholic hepatitis: pathogenesis and approaches to treatment.

Alcoholic hepatitis is a necrotizing, often inflammatory, process that is an important precursor to the development of cirrhosis. Acetaldehyde, which is derived from alcohol by the action of alcohol dehydrogenase, is apparently the most important factor leading to alcohol-induced liver injury. Other factors of importance in determining the appearance and rate of progression of liver diseases in patients who are chronic alcoholics include sex, nutritional status, and various immunologic reactions. In addition, there is an incompletely understood genetic predisposition to the development of alcoholic hepatitis. Several histologic features found in patients with alcoholic hepatitis have been evaluated in efforts to determine which are of prognostic value. The predominance of the alcohol-induced injury in zone III of the hepatic lobule; deposition of collagen, IgA, and fibronectin in the space of Disse; defenestration of endothelial cells; and transformation of lipocytes and myofibroblasts to fibroblasts have...
Ethnic identity and self-esteem: examining the role of social context.

This study explored ethnic identity and self-esteem among 1062 Mexican-origin adolescents who were attending one of three schools, which varied in their ethnic composition (i.e., predominately Latino, predominately non-Latino, and balanced Latino/non-Latino). Significant relationships emerged between ethnic identity and self-esteem among adolescents in all school settings. Furthermore, controlling for generation and maternal education, adolescents attending the predominately non-Latino school reported significantly higher levels of ethnic identity than adolescents in the other schools. Consistent with ecological theory, these findings challenge researchers to design future studies in ways such that multiple layers of context and their influence on development can be examined.
Delayed harvesting of sentinel lymph nodes after previous wide local excision of extremity melanoma.

Background:Harvesting the sentinel lymph node (SLN) is important in the management of patients with primary cutaneous melanoma. Selective sentinel lymphadenectomy (SSL) is generally performed at the time of wide local excision (WLE). The aim of our study was to determine whether delayed SSL is useful in detecting micrometastasis to the regional basin in patients with previous WLE of an extremity melanoma. Methods:Of 203 patients with a primary melanoma site located on the upper or lower extremity seen at the University of California, San Francisco/Mount Zion Melanoma Center from May 17, 1994, to March 23, 1999, 24 patients had a WLE of their extremity melanoma with adequate margins before referral. SSL was performed to assess micrometastasis in the regional lymph node basin after preoperative lymphoscintigraphy. Results:At least 1 SLN was identified in all 24 patients. At a median follow-up of 3 years, two patients showed micrometastasis in the SLNs. One of these two patients developed recurrence, and all remaining patients showed no evidence of disease. Conclusions:Although it is generally advised that WLE should be performed simultaneously with SSL, delayed SSL after WLE of an extremity melanoma can still provide valuable staging information, which is critical for management of the patient.
Production of actinide elements using secondary reactions induced by 19 GeV electrons

Abstract Cumulative yields of actinide elements produced by secondary reactions have been measured in a uranium target following 19 GeV electron irradiation. Identification of actinide isotopes, the heaviest being 248 Cf, was made by alpha spectroscopy of chemically separated fractions. These results are compared to previously measured yields for secondary reactions induced by high energy protons.
False-Negative Pulse Oximetry Screening for Critical Congenital Heart Disease: The Case for Parent Education

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently published evidence-based guidelines for a standardized approach to pulse oximetry as a screening tool for critical congenital heart disease (CCHD). The addition of CCHD screening to the standard newborn examination may lead to earlier detection of CCHD and subsequently decreased morbidity and mortality. We report a case of CCHD with excessive pulmonary blood flow that went undetected during routine newborn screening. Healthcare practitioners and families need to be aware of the limitations of CCHD screening.
Flow regimes and surface air entrainment in partially filled stirred vessels for different fill ratios

In many industrial applications, stirred vessels have a liquid height-to-tank diameter ratio (fill ratio), H/T, equal to, or larger than, 1. However, there are many instances when H/T<1, as when a vessel is emptied or filled. When the impeller submergence is reduced as a result of lowering the liquid level, the fluid dynamics of even a single-phase stirred liquid can become quite complex. The objective of this work was to study the hydrodynamic changes that occur when H/T is decreased, and to determine the conditions for which adequate mixing can still be achieved. A baffled vessel equipped with a disk turbine was used. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was used for the experimental determination of the velocity profiles, impeller pumping capacities and Pumping Numbers. A strain gage system was used to measure power dissipation. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used to predict velocity profiles, Power Numbers, and Pumping Numbers using a multiple reference frame (MRF) model coupled, when needed, with a Volume of Fluid (VOF) model. Results show that a critical impeller submergence ratio, Sbcr/D, exists below which: (1) the macroscopic flow pattern generated by the impeller changes substantially, transitioning from a “double-loop” recirculation flow to a "single-loop up-pumping" recirculation flow; (2) the Power Number and radial Pumping Number drop significantly; (3) vortex formation occurs, air entrainment is greatly facilitated, and impeller flooding typically results. The critical Sbcr/D ratio was not affected by agitation speed. Impeller flooding was observed only when the new regime was established and the vortex depth reached the impeller disk. This phenomenon was correlated to a critical value of the Froude Number, Frcr. These results show that stirred vessels can be effectively operated only within certain ranges of the operating variables without compromising their mixing effectiveness. This knowledge can help practitioners avoid operating their equipment in regions where the desired mixing effects are not achievable.
A quantitative immunochemical measure of the primary interaction between I BSA and antibody.

Most qualitative and quantitative antibody tests measure secondary effects of primary antigen-antibody interactions. Some of these secondary effects are observed in vivo, such as the Arthus phenomenon and anaphylaxis; whereas some are observed in vitro, such as complement fixation, precipitation, erythrocyte agglutination, and hemolysis. These tests measure the capacity of an antiserum to produce the secondary effect selected as the indicator, but they do not always reflect the total antibody content of the antiserum with respect to the test antigen, since antibody in a given antiserum is heterogeneous with respect to the biological or physical effects it produces.1 Examples of diversity of antibody in a single antiserum are numerous even when considering one
An alternate derivation of radiation in an inflationary universe

Abstract We derive the nontrivial nature of the quantum field vacuum state in the de Sitter phase of an inflationary universe by explicity calculating the vacuum expectation value of the energy-momentum tensor of a free massless scalar field. This yields an independent verification of the occurrence of Hawking radiation.
Analysis of large scale traceroute datasets in Internet routing overlays by parallel computation

The creation of a routing overlay network on the Internet requires the identification of shorter detour paths between end hosts in comparison to the default path available. These detour paths are typically the edges forming a Triangle Inequality Violation (TIV), an artifact of the Internet delay space where the sum of latencies across an intermediate hop is lesser than the direct latency between the pair of end hosts. These violations are caused mainly due to interdomain routing policies between Autonomous Systems (ASes) and AS peering through Internet eXchange Points (IXPs). Identifying detours for a global overlay network requires large amounts of computational capabilities due to the sheer number of possible paths linking source and destination ASes. In this work, we use parallel programming paradigms to exploit the massively parallel capabilities of analyzing the large network measurement datasets made available to the network research community by CAIDA. We study Internet routes traversing IXPs and measure potential TIVs created by these paths. Large scale analysis of the dataset is carried out by implementing an efficient parallel solution on the CPU and then the general purpose graphics processor unit (GPGPU) as well. Both multicore CPU and GPGPU implementations can be carried out with ease on desktop environments with readily available software. We find both parallel solutions yield high improvements in speedup (2-35x) in comparison to the serial methodologies thereby opening up the possibility of harnessing the power of parallel programming with readily available hardware. The large amount of data analyzed and studied helps draw various inferences for the networking research community in building future scalable Internet routing overlays with greater routing efficiencies.
Temporal evolution of the nanostructure of Al(Sc,Zr) alloys: Part I – Chemical compositions of Al3(Sc1−xZrx) precipitates

Abstract Atom-probe tomography (APT) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy are used to study the chemical composition and nanostructural temporal evolution of Al3(Sc1−xZrx) precipitates in an Al–0.09 Sc–0.047 Zr at.% alloy aged at 300 °C. Concentration profiles, via APT, reveal that Sc and Zr partition to Al3(Sc1−xZrx) precipitates and Zr segregates concomitantly to the α-Al/Al3(Sc1−xZrx) interface. The Zr concentration in the precipitates increases with increasing aging time, reaching a maximum value of 1.5 at.% at 576 h. The relative Gibbsian interfacial excess ( Γ Zr Al − Sc ) of Zr, with respect to Al and Sc, reaches a maximum value of 1.24 ± 0.62 atoms nm−2 after 2412 h. The temporal evolution of Al3(Sc1−xZrx) precipitates is determined by measuring the time dependence of the depletion of the matrix supersaturation of Sc and Zr. The time dependency of the supersaturation of Zr does not follow the asymptotic t−1/3 law while that of Sc does, indicating that a quasi-stationary state is not achieved for both Sc and Zr.
Adiabatic ab initio time-dependent density-functional theory employing optimized-effective-potential many-body perturbation theory potentials

A diagrammatic formalism for taking functional derivatives from the ab initio optimized effective potential, many-body perturbation theory (OEP-MBPT), exchange-correlation potentials is developed. Using this technique the frequency-independent (adiabatic approximation) kernel, corresponding to the second-order approximation OEP-MBPT(2) exchange-correlation potential is derived. The structure of the kernel is discussed and some initial numerical tests presented. The complexity of the computational procedure raises the question of what is warranted for a rigorous, ab initio approach that retains the one-particle structure of density functional theory compared to wave function approaches for excited states.
Flow distribution in selected branches of St. Clair and Detroit rivers

Abstract St. Clair and Detroit rivers, which are connecting channels between Lake Huron and Lake Erie in the Great Lakes basin, form part of the boundary between the state of Michigan and the province of Ontario. In 13 reaches, this flow divides locally around islands and dikes to form 31 branches. This study develops a set of simple linear regression equations for computing expected flow proportions in branches, generally as a function of the total flow within the reach. The equations are based on 533 acoustic Doppler current profiler measurements of flow obtained between 1996 and 2000. Root-mean-square errors of these regressions range from 0.00323 to 0.0895. In seven upstream reaches where flow is known because of flow specifications at the boundaries of the waterway and continuity constraints, the uncertainties of the flow proportions can be used to directly infer the uncertainties of the corresponding flows. In six downstream reaches, the uncertainties of flows are determined by both the uncertainties of the flow proportions and the uncertainties of the total flow in the reach. For these reaches, Monte Carlo simulations quantify the ratios of total uncertainty to flow proportion uncertainty, which range from 1.0026 to 13.984. To facilitate routine calculation, polynomial regression equations are developed to approximate these ratios as a function of flow. Results provide a mechanism for computing the magnitudes and uncertainties of steady-state flows within selected branches of the connecting channels by specifying inflows at the headwaters of St. Clair River, seven intervening tributaries, and Lake St. Clair.
Relationship of coal characteristics determined by pyrolysis/gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance to liquefaction reactivity and product composition

Five coals, ranging in rank from subbituminous to high-volatile A bituminous, were examined by 13 C NMR and flash pyrolysis gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). They were also subjected to liquefaction in batch microautoclave reactors at three sets of conditions: 360 °C for 1 h in pyrene; 425 °C similarly; and temperature-programmed liquefaction for 15 min at 200 °C and 30 min at 425 °C in 9,10-dihydrophenanthrene with a sulfided molybdenum catalyst. Four of the five coals showed good relationships between the structural fragments observed in Py-GC/MS and the dominant compound types in the hexane-soluble products from liquefaction at temperatures ≥400 °C. For example, DECS 12 Pittsburgh seam hvA bituminous coal showed a dominance of alkylnaphthalenes in the pyrogram, and this compound class was also dominant in the gas chromatogram of the hexane solubles. 13 C NMR showed a relationship of f a H to conversion of coal to liquids at 425 °C for 1 h. The combination of 13 C NMR and Py-GC/MS is useful for determining the probable light reaction products of direct liquefaction. The correlations indicate relationships between the compositions of the light fraction of the liquefaction products and coal structural information. The combined characterization approach described here could be used for screening of a wide suite of candidate feedstocks to winnow a few promising candidates for detailed testing.