cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Chapter 68 – Oncogenic Osteomalacia

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on oncogenic osteomalacia (tumor-induced osteomalcia), in which renal phosphate wasting, low serum 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D levels, and osteomalacia occur in association with a variety of benign or malignant neoplasms, disappearing upon removal or irradiation of the neoplasm. Patients with oncogenic osteomalacia have diffuse bone pain and complain of fatigue. The bone pain can be localized to the lower back, the pelvis, and/or the femurs. Occasionally the patients develop fractures of the fibs, pelvis, femoral neck, or tibia. These fractures may occur with minimal trauma or be pseudofractures, which occur more commonly in patients with osteomalacia. In addition to skeletal pain and fatigue, patients may have a proximal myopathy, making it difficult for them to climb steps or rise from a squatting position. Most tumors that cause oncogenic osteomalacia are of mesenchymal origin and are found in either bone or soft tissue. Patients with these tumors range in age from 17 to 88 years. Tumor locations include the lower limbs, nasopharynx, mandible, ethmoid sinus, skull, cervical spine, upper extremities, and the abdominal wall. Most tumors are skeletal with involvement of long bones; however, occasionally widespread osteolytic lesions are also found. The most important therapy for oncogenic osteomalacia is removal of the offending neoplasm. In cases where the neoplasm can not be resected, therapy with oral phosphate supplementation and 1,25(OH)2D3 ) can improve the serum phosphate and 1,25(OH)2D3 levels.
Surgeon cost feedback through a surgical receipt program reduces cost in sinonasal surgery.

BACKGROUND Operating room (OR) costs are a large portion of healthcare expenses. This study evaluates the impact of a surgeon-targeted surgical receipt cost feedback system on OR supply costs in sinonasal surgery and individual components contributing to procedural cost. METHODS Itemized weekly surgical receipts detailing individual case supply costs were analyzed before and after the implementation of a non-incentivized surgeon cost feedback system between January 2017 and June 2019. Supply cost data collected 15 months prior to intervention was compared to cost data 15 months after implementation of the weekly automated receipt dissemination to surgeons. Chi square test was used for categorical data and the Wilcoxon test was used to compare change in cost. Univariate and mediation analyses were performed to assess variables impacting cost. RESULTS Of 502 sinonasal procedures analyzed, 239 were before and 264 after cost feedback implementation. There were no significant differences in age/gender, or indication for surgery. The median OR supply cost decreased from $1229.64 to $1097.22 (p = 0.02) after receipt implementation. There were effects of procedure type (p = 0.02), circulating nurse specialization (p < 0.001), steroid eluting stent (p = 0.002), and sinus drill (p < 0.001) on cost. Mediation analysis confirmed full mediation by decreasing use of steroid-eluting stents. CONCLUSION Surgeon cost feedback in the form of individualized OR surgical receipts is an effective model to reduce supply cost per case in sinonasal surgery.
Adapting Standardized Academic Tests in Braille and Large Type

When a teacher or school system needs to have a commercially available test adapted into large type or braille, certain guidelines must be followed. This article describes the recent adaptation of ...
What Is the Impact of Surgical Approach in the Treatment of Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy in Patients With OPLL? A Propensity-Score Matched, Multi-Center Analysis on Inpatient and Post-Discharge 90-Day Outcomes.

Study Design:Retrospective cohort.Objective:Provide a comparison of surgical approach in the treatment of degenerative cervical myelopathy in patients with OPLL.Methods:A national database was quer...
RNA sequencing identifies global transcriptional changes in peripheral CD4+ cells during active oesophagitis and following epicutaneous immunotherapy in eosinophilic oesophagitis

Objective There are no disease-modifying therapies for the treatment of eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE), which is driven by non-IgE-mediated allergic inflammation. A recent clinical trial of milk epicutaneous immunotherapy (EPIT) has shown initial promise, with 47% of treated EoE patients tolerating milk without recurrence of disease. Mechanisms of EPIT in EoE have not been studied in humans. Here, we identify transcriptional changes in the peripheral CD4+ T-cell compartment during active EoE and following EPIT. Methods RNA isolation, sequencing and integrative data analysis were performed on peripheral CD4+ T cells isolated from 15 of 20 patients enrolled in a clinical trial of EPIT for EoE. Gene expression changes in peripheral CD4+ T cells were examined during diet therapy and following trial of milk antigen EPIT. Results We identify 244 differentially expressed genes in peripheral blood CD4+ cells of EoE patients consuming versus those eliminating milk, and 129 DEGs in CD4+ cells were isolated after EPIT versus after placebo (FDR ≤ 0.05). Gene set enrichment analysis identifies enrichment of hallmark interferon-α and interferon-γ response pathways in peripheral CD4+ T cells from EoE patients during active disease on a milk-containing diet. We demonstrate overlap of this gene signature with the altered gene expression signature seen in EoE patient biopsy tissue. EPIT therapy response is associated with significant enrichment in pathways related to T-cell receptor signalling (P = 1.16 × 10-14), antigen presentation and costimulation, and cytokine signalling (P = 1.11 × 10-16), as well as upregulation of genes associated with regulatory T-cell function. Conclusions EoE is associated with distinct global transcriptional changes in CD4+ T cells, one feature of which is an IFN response signature. Clinically favorable response to EPIT is likely multifactorial but is associated with a distinct transcriptional profile in peripheral CD4+ cells supporting the hypothesis that EPIT alters peripheral CD4+ responses in EoE patients.
Protecting White Interests: A Case Example of Interest Convergence in Policymaking

Although various policy analysis frameworks exist within the social work literature, fewspecifically address the racism inherent to policymaking processes. We propose interestconvergence as a conceptual lens for policy analysis to expose the racism inherent inpolicymaking. Transcripts from 19 public hearings of five bills sponsored during the 2017Nevada legislative session were included in the data analysis for this study. A thematic analysistook place at the latent level to identify underlying concepts, assumptions, and ideas within thedata (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Results indicate that the public testimony process and ultimateoutcomes of public policy making protect white interests which sustains structural racism. Inunderstanding the dynamics of interest convergence in policymaking, social work educators,policy advocates, and macro-practitioners would be better equipped to impact the policymakingprocesses focused on racial equity.
The Great Tradition -- Jerome Frank

How and when and where I first met Jerome Frank I can not now recall. The place was New Haven or New York or Washington; the time, the begin? ning of the thirties; the occasion, gone beyond my recollection. But such vagaries are of no importance; for his was the kind of personality which asserts itself before his presence is noted. In speech or in print his words have a per? vasive quality; his stream of ideas mingled with that of the hearer or reader and something emerged which initially neither had in mind. I can think of no one whose literate output has been more fungible. Jerome Frank was a person one seemed always to have known and one who, for me, could never disappear from the scene.
NHTSA’s Vehicle Compatibility Research Program

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is conducting a research program to investigate the crash compatibility of passenger cars, light trucks and vans (LTV’s) in vehicle-to-vehicle collisions. NHTSA has conducted a series of eight full-scale vehicle-to-vehicle crash tests to evaluate vehicle compatibility issues. Tests were conducted using four bullet vehicles representing different vehicle classes striking a mid-size sedan in both side and oblique frontal crash configurations. The test results show a good correlation between vehicle aggressivity metrics and injury parameters measured in the struck car for the frontal offset tests, but not for the side impact tests.
American Presidents and the Dissolution of the Union: Leadership Style from James K. Polk to Abraham Lincoln

The American Civil War took more lives than any other conflict, including World War I and II. Its outbreak has been appropriately characterized as the greatest failure of the political system in the nation’s history. This paper examines the political psychology of the six White House incumbents who served during the run-up to and conduct of the war, examining their leadership styles in terms of their strengths and weaknesses in public communication, organization of their presidencies, political skill, policy vision, cognitive style, and emotional intelligence. The highly variable ways in which chief executives performed their responsibilities during this critical period provide a lens for analyzing the qualities that make for effective leaders, as well as shedding light on perennial questions about the causes of the Civil War.
Reducing Rollbacks of Transactional Memory Using Ordered Shared Locks

Transactional Memory (TM) is a concurrency control mechanism that aims to simplify concurrent programming with reasonable scalability. Programmers can simply specify the code regions that access the shared data, and then a TM system executes them as transactions. However, programmers often need to modify the application logic to achieve high scalability on TM. If there is any variable that is frequently updated in many transactions, the program does not scale well on TM. We propose an approach that uses ordered shared locks in TM systems to improve the scalability of such programs. The ordered shared locks allow multiple transactions to update a shared variable concurrently without causing rollbacks or blocking until other transactions finish. Our approach improves the scalability of TM by applying the ordered shared locks to variables that are frequently updated in many transactions, while being accessed only once in each transaction. We implemented our approach on a software TM (STM) system for Java. In our experiments, it improved the performance of an hsqldb benchmark by 157% on 8 threads and by 45% on 16 threads compared to the original STM system.
Integrating behavioral health services in rural primary care settings.

(2004). Integrating Behavioral Health Services in Rural Primary Care Settings. Substance Abuse: Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 63-64.
Rare Variant Pathway Analysis Highlights the Importance of Lysosomal Pathways in Parkinson Disease (P1.049)

OBJECTIVE:To determine whether the combination of exome variants in pre-defined functional pathways provides evidence for association with Parkinson disease (PD) risk BACKGROUND:Previously, we reported association of several biological pathways (KEGG) with PD risk using GWAS data (based on common, often intergenic or intronic, genomic variants with low risk effects). In contrast, exome variants are enriched for ‘rare risk variants’; these are variants with a low frequency but possible higher risk effect on disease. On average, ~85% of exome variants have a frequency <5%, while ~73% are very rare DESIGN/METHODS:We performed whole exome sequencing in 315 PD patients and 252 controls. Association of sets of variants in pathways/gene groups with PD risk was assessed using the Cochran-Armitage sum/max tests implemented in the RVASSOC program and the Sequence Kernel Association test. Analyzed pathways included 13 top KEGG pathways identified in the previously reported pathway study as well as candidate gene groups ‘mitochondrial’ (MitoCarta) and ‘lysosomal’ genes (Human Lysosome Gene Database), bases on known PD genes functionality. Permutation tests (N=500) on random sets of same-size gene or variant groups were performed to address multiple testing. RESULTS:When including all identified exome variants, we observed no evidence for association for any of the two gene groups or the 13 tested KEGG pathways after permutation tests. However, in the analyses filtered on freuency we observed significant association in the ‘lysosomal’ gene group for both rare variant analyses (<5% and <1%; p<0.001) CONCLUSIONS:Our results indicate that common GWAS variants and rare exome variants tend to aggregate in different functional pathways. In addition, rare variants possibly obstructing normal lysosomal function are significantly contributing to PD. Additional analyses are ongoing to elucidate the observed lysosomal signal in this analysis. Study Supported by:NIND> Disclosure: Dr. Vance has received personal compensation for activities with Covance. Dr. Vance has received royalty payments from Athena Diagnostics. Dr. Vance has received research support from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Nuytemans has nothing to disclose. Dr. Beecham has nothing to disclose. Dr. Inchausti has nothing to disclose. Dr. Maldonado has nothing to disclose. Dr. Martin has nothing to disclose. Dr. Perry has nothing to disclose. Dr. Wang has nothing to disclose. Dr. Pericak-Vance has received personal compensation for activities with the University of Alaska. Dr. Scott has nothing to disclose.
Accounting students as surrogates for accounting professionals when studying ethical dilemmas: A cautionary note

A challenge in performing empirical research is determining appropriate research subjects. Laboratory experiments are noted for their use of student subjects. The issue of interest in this research is whether student subjects respond to a contextual ethical dilemma in the same manner as working professionals. An experiment was conducted with 110 students and 169 experienced accounting practitioners, who are CPAs, utilizing six different financial reporting dilemmas. Students were assigned to three different organizational categories in terms of tone at the top -ethical, not ethical and neutral. Experienced accounting practitioners provided information about the perceived tone at the top in their own organizations using a questionnaire. The t-tests disclose significant differences between CPAs and students for each of the six dilemmas at the p < 0.001 level.
Deformation stress state effects on the recrystallization kinetics of molybdenum

Studies of the recrystallization characteristics of cold worked pure molybdenum indicated a dependence upon the mode of deformation and a definite dependence on the manner used to describe the deformation. On the basis of a constant amount of deformation strain, molybdenum deformed in pure compression exhibited slower rates of recrystallization, higher activation energies and coarser grain sizes than that deformed in simple tension. Deformation by rolling produced recrystallization effects resembling those of compression, while straining by drawing resulted in rates similar to those of tension.
Is late‐onset schizophrenia a subtype of schizophrenia?

Vahia IV, Palmer BW, Depp C, Fellows I, Golshan S, Kraemer HC, Jeste DV. Is late-onset schizophrenia a subtype of schizophrenia? Objective: To determine whether late-onset schizophrenia (LOS, onset after age 40) should be considered a distinct subtype of schizophrenia. Method: Participants included 359 normal comparison subjects (NCs) and 854 schizophrenia out-patients age >40 (110 LOS, 744 early-onset schizophrenia or EOS). Assessments included standardized measures of psychopathology, neurocognition, and functioning. Results: Early-onset schizophrenia and LOS groups differed from NCs on all measures of psychopathology and functioning, and most cognitive tests. Early-onset schizophrenia and LOS groups had similar education, severity of depressive, negative, and deficit symptoms, crystallized knowledge, and auditory working memory, but LOS patients included more women and married individuals, had less severe positive symptoms and general psychopathology, and better processing speed, abstraction, verbal memory, and everyday functioning, and were on lower antipsychotic doses. Most EOS–LOS differences remained significant after adjusting for age, gender, severity of negative or deficit symptoms, and duration of illness. Conclusion: Late-onset schizophrenia should be considered a subtype of schizophrenia.
Más allá de una antropología de los derechos humanos: ¿los horizontes del diálogo intercultural y del reino de Shambhala?

La Antropologia del Derecho aborda los derechos humanos desde el universalismo y el relativismo, lo global y lo local, las teorias y las practicas. Numerosas investigaciones contemporaneas permiten su estudio de una manera mas pluralista y pragmatica, mediante su relativizacion contextual, lo que responde al enfoque mas abierto que caracteriza las epistemologias sobre la diversidad cultural. Sin embargo, aunque en cierta medida se asiste a una interculturalizacion de nuestras teorias cientificas y juridicas, nos detenemos poco sobre lo que, desde un enfoque intercultural, pone en juego una relativizacion radical de los derechos humanos. Plantea no solo la cuestion de la transferibilidad o no de los derechos humanos en diversos contextos culturales, y sus condiciones de posibilidad, sino que tambien procura dialogar con visiones distintas del mundo y los equivalentes funcionales de los derechos humanos. Por consiguiente, ya no se trata unicamente de trasladar los derechos humanos a otros universos culturales, sino de traducir dichos universos en el propio de los derechos humanos para poner de relieve como estos ultimos se presentan desde otra perspectiva. De ello depende un verdadero dialogo intercultural entre distintas tradiciones existentes que abogan por la paz. El articulo propone explorar este tipo de dialogo a partir de la vision budista del reino de Shambhala, la cual se puede considerar un equivalente funcional de los derechos humanos. Invita a interrogarse activamente sobre los objetos en juego planteados por la interculturalidad, y a repensar nuestros marcos epistemologicos contemporaneos, incluyendo la teoria juridica y la antropologia.
Less is More—Optimization of DNA Extraction from Canine Feces

Although most DNA crime laboratories may not encounter fecal samples often, they are a familiar sample type in non-human forensic laboratories due to their prevalence in the environment. Fecal matter can be challenging due to low numbers of nucleated cells and the presence of inhibitors that impede amplification success. Sampling location (internal vs. external), sampling quantity (10–200 mg), and various extraction protocols (silica matrix, bead beating, and clean-up column) were evaluated to maximize DNA yield. The greatest yield of intact DNA was obtained using a modified silica matrix extraction protocol (VGL-Fecal) on 30–50 mg of fecal matter collected from the external surface of a stool that had been dried for 24 h. This optimized sampling and extraction protocol was applied to a pilot study where DNA yield and genotyping success were evaluated. By optimizing our collection, sampling, and extraction procedures, a reliabl e method for maximizing the yield of canine fecal DNA was developed.
Movements in the Quality of British Cotton Textile Exports, 1815–1913

i'HE purpose of this article is to investigate trends in the quality X of British cotton textile exports during the period 1815-1913. "Quality" is defined as real value per yard of cloth and pound of yarn exported. Thus, a reduction in export quality does not mean that a specific type of cloth has deteriorated. Rather, it means that there has been a shift from more expensive to less expensive types of cloth. It may also mean that the same type of cloth is being exported in a different state-white instead of printed or gray instead of bleached. The results of this investigation are a quality index of British cotton cloth exports and a quality index of British cotton yarn exports for the period 1815-1913. These indexes have been constructed both for exports to all parts of the world together and separately for exports to various parts of the world.
Partitioning of four modern volatile general anesthetics into solvents that model buried amino acid side-chains.

Abstract Partitioning of four modern inhalational anesthetics (halothane, isoflurane, enflurane, and sevoflurane) between the gas phase and nine organic solvents that model different amino acid side-chains and lipid membrane domains was performed in an effort to define which microenvironments present in proteins and lipid bilayers might be favored. Compared to a purely aliphatic environment (hexane), the presence of an aromatic-, alcohol-, thiol- or sulfide group on the solvent improved anesthetic partitioning, by factors of 1.3–5.2 for halothane, 1.7–5.6 for isoflurane, 1.7–7.6 for enflurane, and 1.5–7.3 for sevoflurane. The most favorable solvent for halothane partitioning was ethyl methyl sulfide, a model for methionine. Enflurane and isoflurane partitioned most extensively into methanol, a model for serine, and sevoflurane into ethanol, a model for threonine. Isoflurane also partitioned favorably into ethyl methyl sulfide. The results suggest that volatile general anesthetics interact better with partly polar groups, which are present on amino acids frequently found buried in the hydrophobic core of proteins, compared to purely aliphatic side-chains. Furthermore, if an anesthetic molecule was located in a saturated region of a phospholipid bilayer membrane, there would be an energetically favorable driving force for it to move into several higher dielectric microenvironments present on membrane proteins. The results provide evidence that proteins rather than lipids are the likely targets of volatile general anesthetics in biological membranes.
Rehabilitation Following Thumb CMC, Radiocarpal, and DRUJ Arthroplasty

Hand therapy is essential after arthroplasty around the wrist. This article includes therapy guidelines and goals after surgical reconstruction of the thumb carpometacarpal joint, radiocarpal joint, and distal radioulnar joint. Typical concerns and treatment options are addressed. Tables and figures are included to guide the hand therapist in the process of returning this patient population to pain-free function.
FlexBulk: intelligently forming atomic blocks in blocked-execution multiprocessors to minimize squashes

Blocked-execution multiprocessor architectures continuously run atomic blocks of instructions --- also called Chunks. Such architectures can boost both performance and software productivity, and enable unique compiler optimization opportunities. Unfortunately, they are handicapped in that, if they use large chunks to minimize chunk-commit overhead and to enable more compiler optimization, inter-thread data conflicts may lead to frequent chunk squashes. In this paper, we present automatic techniques to form chunks in these architectures to minimize the cycles lost to squashes. We start by characterizing the operations that frequently cause squashes. We call them Squash Hazards. We then propose squash-removing algorithms tailored to these Squash Hazards. We also describe a software framework called FlexBulk that profiles the code and transforms it following these algorithms. We evaluate FlexBulk on 16-threaded PARSEC and SPLASH-2 codes running on a simulated machine. The results show that, with 17,000-instruction chunks, FlexBulk eliminates, on average, over 90% of the squash cycles in the applications. As a result, compared to a baseline execution with 2,000-instruction chunks as in previous work, the applications run on average 1.43x faster.
Adenosine triphosphate protection of chlordecone-amplified CCl4 hepatotoxicity and lethality.

Dietary exposure to a nontoxic level of chlordecone (10 ppm for 15 days) followed by a single exposure to a subtoxic dose of CCl 4 (100 μ l/kg, ip) is known to result in a 67-fold amplification of CCl 4 toxicity. The hypothesis that the underlying mechanism is due to incapacitation of hepatocytes leading to an ablation of the early-phase hormetic response of tissue repair as a consequence of precipitous decline in hepatic glycogen and ATP, received experimental support from Mehendale in 1990. The present study was designed to investigate if direct administration of ATP to rats maintained on the chlordecone diet would result in protection from the hepatotoxic and lethal effects of the chlordecone+CCl 4 combination. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (125–150 g) were maintained either on a diet containing no added contaminants (control) or on a diet containing 10 ppm chlordecone for 15 days, and were challenged with CCl 4 (100 μ l/kg, ip) on day 16. Without ATP administration all rats died within 72 h, while administration of ATP (100 mg/rat, sc) to chlordecone-pretreated rats at -1, +1, 3, 5, 12, 24 and 36 h of CCl 4 injection resulted in 100% survival. Injection of ATP, at -1, +1, 3 and 5 h of CCl 4 administration to chlordecone pretreated rats decreased plasma enzyme elevations (alanine and aspartate aminotransferase, sorbitol dehydrogenase) as well as substantially preventing elevation of plasma bilirubin levels at 6, 12 and 24 h. Hepatic ATP levels were also elevated at 6 and 12 h, but not at 24 h. Depletion of glycogen and severe hypoglycemia was prevented by ATP administration throughout the time-course of the toxicity of chlordecone+CCl 4 combination. To investigate the possibility of decreased metabolism of CCl 4 during ATP protection, the in vivo metabolism of CCl 4 was studied in rats undergoing chlordecone+CCl 4 toxicity with or without ATP intervention. Regardless of ATP intervention, approximately 75% of the administered 14 CCl 4 was expired as unmetabolized CCl 4 within 6 h in rats treated with the chlordecone+CCl 4 combination. However, the in vivo metabolism of 14 CCl 4 , as evidenced by 14 CO 2 expiration, was significantly increased in chlordecone+CCl 4 -treated rats receiving ATP. An increase in CCl 4 metabolism instead of the anticipated decrease, indicates that the ATP protection cannot be attributed to diminished bioactivation of CCl 4 . These findings suggest that ATP administration during the early phase of injury leads to restored normal liver function and tissue-healing mechanism, permitting restoration of hepatolobular structure and function and animal survival.
SU-E-J-189: The Kullback-Leiber Divergence for Quantifying Changes in Radiotherapy Treatment Response.

Purpose: Repeated imaging is an extremely powerful tool in current radiotherapy practice since it allows advanced tumordetection and personalized treatment assessment by quantify tumor response. Change detection algorithms have been developed for remote sensingimages to mathematically quantify relevant modifications occurring between datasets of the same subject acquired at different times. We propose usage of change detectors in radiotherapy for an automated quantification of clinical changes occurring in repeated imaging.Methods: We explore usage of the Kullback‐Leiber divergence as indicator of tumor change and quantification of treatment response. The Kullbach‐Leiber divergence uses the likelihood theory to measures the distance between two statistical distributions and thus does not assume consistency in imaging. By it's general nature, it can accommodate the presence of noise and variations in imaging acquisition parameters that usually hinder automated identification of clinically‐relevant features. Results: In a comparison of simple difference maps and the Kullbach‐Leiber divergence operator, the difference maps were affected by noise and did not consistently detect changes of low intensity. In contrast, the proposed operator discerned noise by considering regional statistics around each voxel, and marked both regions with low and high contrast changes. Conclusions: Statistical comparison through Kullback‐Leiber divergence provides a reliable means to automatically quantify changes in repeated radiotherapyimaging
Early perceptual selectivity in the swamp sparrow

The cardiac orienting response to species-specific songs was measured in young swamp sparrows and song sparrows. Swamp sparrows respond with significantly greater deceleration to conspecific songs than to songs of the sympatric song sparrow. This discriminatory ability is operating during the sensitive period for song learning and is evident upon initial exposures to conspecific song. These results are the 1st direct evidence for a sensory component in the process of selective vocal learning in birds.
NICHD: AAP workshop on neonatology research and training areas of research in neonatal gastroenterology

Future research in neonatal and developmental gastroenterology should include inquiry well beyond finding a cure or better preventative measures against necrotizing enterocolitis. The gastrointestinal (GI) tract acts not only as a digestive-absorptive organ; it also serves major endocrine and neural functions. It encompasses a vast surface area exposed to the external environment and plays a major role in both innate and adaptive immunity. Numerous short- and long-term health benefits could be derived from a better understanding of the developing GI tract.
Axonal endings terminating on dendrites of identified large trigeminospinal projection neurons in rat trigeminal nucleus oralis.

Abstract The retrograde horseradish peroxidase technique was used to: (1) identify and assess the overall morphology of large neurons in the ventrolateral portion (VL) of rat trigeminal nucleus oralis projecting to cervical, thoracic and lumbosacral levels of the spinal cord; and (2) characterize the synaptic endings terminating on their dendrites. The morphology of large VL neurons projecting to all spinal levels is similar. They have 25–50 μm pyramidal-shaped somata which emit 3–6 primary dendrites. These primary dendrites give rise to spherical to elliptical-shaped dendritic arbors measuring up to 700 μm in diameter. Labeled axons enter either a deep axon bundle or the medial portion of the spinal V tract. Dendrites of labeled neurons are contacted by axonal endings of 3 types. The most numerous endings are filled with clear, spherical synaptic vesicles and usually form a single asymmetrical contacts along the entire length of dendritic shafts. Synapsing less frequently on dendritic shafts are endings containing pleomorphic synaptic vesicles and forming single symmetrical synaptic contacts. The least frequently encountered synaptic terminal contains flattened synaptic vesicles and makes a single symmetrical synaptic contact with a dendritic shaft.
MnF2 and MnH2 molecules (S = 5/2): “extra” lines in their ESR spectra☆

Abstract Weak lines detected in the X-band ESR spectra of the high-spin MnF 2 and MnH 2 molecules trapped in solid argon at 4 K are accounted for by off-principal axis turning points in the angular dependence of the transitions. They confirm the previous assignment of | D | = 0.34 cm −1 for 6 Σ MnF 2 and yield | D | = 0.26 cm −1 for 6 A 1 MnH 2 , with an approximately isotropic g = g e for both molecules.
Effects of long-term calcium intake on body weight, body fat and bone in growing rats

Increased calcium intake may reduce body weight and fat in non-growing individuals. This study explored the long-term effects of high versus low calcium intake on body weight, body fat, BMC, BMD and bone size in growing male and female rats. Ninety male and 90 female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned either to a high calcium (1%) or low calcium (0.25%) diet from age 3 weeks until 40 weeks. Half of the animals were fed ad libitum, and half of the animals were on an adjusted feeding schedule (the food intake of the low calcium animals was reduced to maintain equal body weight with high calcium animals of the same gender). DXA and radiographic measurements (femur and skull length and width) were collected at the age of 4, 13 and 34 weeks. Growing male rats fed the low calcium diet ad libitum gained more weight and more fat than rats on a high calcium diet. When food intake was controlled, male rats on the low calcium diet still had a greater fat mass (despite their similar body weight) and smaller skeletal measurements than the high calcium animals. Growing female rats initially responded like the males: when fed ad libitum low calcium animals had an increased body weight and fat mass; when food intake was controlled the low calcium animals had a greater fat mass and smaller skeletal measurements. However, these differences were found at 13 weeks and not at 34 weeks, suggesting a transient effect with no long-term differences between high and low calcium intake in the growing female rats.
Verbal interaction analysis: viewing feedback through a different lens.

Background: Verbal interaction analysis, though seldom applied to the feedback-giving process, can be used to assess feedback dimensions not easily assessed by other means. Description: The purpose of this study was to explore verbal interaction analysis as a method to assess feedback interactions between senior medical students trained as teachers and their sophomore learners. We randomly selected 14 videotaped encounters of senior teachers giving feedback to sophomore learners and classified 417 utterances to address (a) verbal dominance, (b) feedback balance, and (c) cognitive level. Evaluation: Teachers did most of the talking (65.2%). Although some feedback was corrective (20.6%), teacher utterances were mostly positive (33.5%) or neutral (45.9%). Cognitively, the teacher utterances occurred largely at the factual (lowest) level (74.3%). Conclusions: Interaction analysis enabled us to describe 3 dimensions of teacher–learner feedback not easily assessed by other means: verbal dominance, positive-corr...
ATTITUDINAL ASPECTS OF SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING

A major difference between first and second language acquisition is in the degree of variation in the levels of proficiency attained by learners. Among the factors proposed to account for this variation are method, age, aptitude and attitude. In a typical language learning situation, there are a number of people whose attitude to each other can be significant: the learner, the teacher, the learner's peers and parents, and the speakers of the language. One of the most important attitudinal factors is the attitude of the learner to the language and to its speakers. Use of an instrument that compares a subject's attitude to speakers of his native language and to speakers of a foreign language made possible a consideration of the nature and influence of this attitude. The extent to which foreign students newly arrived at American universities showed a greater desire to be like speakers of English than like speakers of their own language was significantly correlated with their proficiency in English. It is clear that the social role of language cannot be overlooked in the development of a theory of second language acquisition.
Ion implantation and energy deposition profiles in the straight-ahead approximation with realistic potentials

Abstract The straight-ahead approximation to the Boltzmann equation is revisited and shown to be a viable and economical alternative to traditional, computationally demanding approaches for a class of ion transport problems. In conjunction with realistic potentials, and a fast and efficient numerical scheme, the model yields quite accurate profiles of implanted ions and of deposited energy for MeV P implantation in a Si substrate. Extensive results are presented for energetic heavy ion transport in multilayer media and mixtures. For 500 keV Bi ions incident on a Ge/Si bilayer implantation profiles are seen to be sensitive to the choice of interatomic potential. For a given potential, the effect of the disparate mass ratio on the energy spectrum is investigated as primary ions slow down across the interface from Ge into Si. Results are also presented for the partitioning of the primary ion (Bi and O) energy amongst the elements of the high- T c superconductor material YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 .
Augmentation of B-cell responsiveness by a tumor-activated T-cell factor☆

Abstract The growth of the P815 mastocytoma in syngeneic DBA/2 mice led to an activation of Ly1 + 2 − T cells. These T cells produced a soluble factor or factors in culture which, when added to normal spleen cells or B cells in the presence of syngeneic Ly1 cells, caused a genetically unrestricted augmentation of the plaque-forming response toward sheep red blood cells (SRBC). The culture supernatants of the activated T cells did not support the proliferation of an interleukin-2 (IL-2)-dependent cell, nor exhibit properties of late-acting TRF. Active supernatants appeared to affect directly B cells during the first 48 hr of culture with SRBC in such a way as to make them more responsive to antigen-specific Ly1-cell help.
Towards Freedom: Human Rights and Self-Determination in East Timor

Historical background to East Timor and its eventual occupation by Indonesia - human rights in East Timor during the early 1990s - the post-Suharto regime and the status of East Timor - calls by Ea...
Life course health and socioeconomic profiles of Americans aging with disability.

Background While cross-sectional data have been invaluable for describing national trends in disability over time, we know comparatively little, at a population level, about the long term experiences of persons living with a disability over the adult life course.
Variations in the utilization of endovascular aneurysm repair reflect population risk factors and disease prevalence.

Objective Highly variable utilization rates for a diverse group of surgical procedures are commonly ascribed to physician practice patterns rather than clinical considerations. A previous investigation by our group showed that variations in the rates of carotid endarterectomy (CEA) actually reflected regional risk factors for atherosclerosis, not physician density or other socio-economic drivers. In this study, we examine the use of endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) over six years to test our hypothesis that the utilization of innovative vascular procedures by vascular surgeons more closely reflects disease prevalence and consistent clinical judgment than non-medical factors. Methods The Nationwide Inpatient Samples and State Inpatient Databases (2001-2006) were accessed to document the number and type of aneurysm repairs (EVAR versus open). Multiple metrics pertaining to clinical risk factors, socioeconomic status, access to care, provider distribution, and local healthcare capacity were quantitated for each state. We performed bivariate analysis, Pearson (PC) or Spearman (SC) correlations, and multiple regression modeling. Results The total number of aneurysms repaired has not changed significantly (from 45,828 in 2001 to 45,111 in 2006). Over the same interval, the number of open AAA repair nationwide decreased by 48% while the number of AAA repaired endovascularly increased by 105%. In 2005, the utilization rate of EVAR among 29 states ranged widely from 39.3% to 69.9%. Use of EVAR was highest in states with higher incidences of aneurysms (PC = 0.43, P P P P P Conclusion While there was substantial regional variation in the use of EVAR, utilization of the less morbid procedure was well correlated with higher risk populations (number of diabetic patients and deaths secondary to heart disease). Contrary to other studies of regional discrepancies in the utilization of some surgical procedures, it appears that the utilization of EVAR was not associated with physician distribution, socioeconomics, or other non-medical factors.
Abstract 1088: Characterizing the effects of alcohol on the ER-alpha status of HER2 breast cancer

Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL Alcohol consumption is a major risk factor for breast cancer. Approximately 400,000 cases of cancer in 2002 were attributable to alcohol consumption worldwide. In women, breast cancer accounts for 60% of these alcohol-related cancers. Over 25% of all breast cancer cases are HER2 (ErbB2) positive and have poor prognosis. Unfortunately, the mechanism by which alcohol promotes breast cancer is unclear. Our research focuses on characterizing the effects of alcohol on HER2 positive breast cancer. More specifically, we determine if and how alcohol affects the ER-alpha status of ErbB2-expressing tumors in the presence and absence of ovarian hormones using the MMTV-neu mouse model of ErbB2-induced breast cancer. We show alcohol consumption increases tumor incidence as well as tumor proliferation as demonstrated by Ki67 immunohistochemical staining. We measure systemic estrogen levels and ER-alpha expression in the mammary tumors developed from alcohol and water consuming mice to determine if their levels are associated with the higher tumor incidence in alcohol consuming mice. We show that both systemic estrogen and ER-alpha expression levels are elevated in alcohol consuming mice. Our data suggest that alcohol increases tumor development in HER2 transgenic mice via the estrogen pathway. In fact, the effects of alcohol on tumor incidence were blocked with ovariectomy, suggesting that indeed the effects of alcohol on HER2 tumors are mediated via the estrogen pathway. Our results suggest that the effects of alcohol on HER2 positive breast cancers can be prevented by targeting or blocking the estrogen pathway. For this purpose, we will determine in future studies if the effects of alcohol can be prevented with tamoxifen, a selective ER modulator (SERM), and letrozole, an aromatase inhibitor, both of which blocks the estrogen pathway. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1088. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-1088
Static point-spread function correction dominating higher-order speckle terms at high adaptive correction

At high adaptive correction, the randomly shifting speckles familiar in conventional astronomical imaging become organized into patterns with distinct regularities that may permit partial suppression of the image noise they produce. Mathematically, the phase exponential in the Fourier-optical imaging expression may be expanded in a Taylor series in remnant phase phi, which is small at very high correction, leading to a perturbed point-spread function (PSF) that is a sum of algebraic terms, each of distinct spatial symmetry. At sufficiently high correction, one need deal with only a few of the lowest-order terms. A first-order expansion gives an ideal PSF plus two terms, linear and quadratic, describing the two brightest, physically most relevant kinds of speckle. A second-order expansion gives three new terms, the brightest of which is primarily a static correction to the PSF, with a much smaller true speckle component. When the correction is great enough to isolate individual speckle terms, the two terms from the first-order expansion alone determine the essential physics. A general observational strategy is outlined for reducing speckle noise in highly corrected companion searches, dominated by a few speckle terms of definite spatial symmetry.
In vitro release testing methods for vitamin E nanoemulsions.

Abstract This study reports the release properties of the poorly water-soluble active vitamin E acetate from oil/water nanoemulsions containing canola oil, CremophorRH40 ® and Span80 ® prepared using a low energy emulsification method (EPI process). Drug release was measured via dialysis sac and reverse dialysis sac methods as well as USP apparatus 4 fitted with dialysis sac adapters. Macro- and microscopic stability were evaluated and no instabilities were observed during the test period. In vitro release testing was adequately performed using the reverse dialysis sac and USP apparatus 4 methods. However, the dialysis method produced a slower release rate compared to the other methods and this was considered a result of violation of sink conditions within the dialysis sacs as well as inadequate mixing. Micellar solubilization was able to increase vitamin E transport from canola oil to buffer solution, but no model active concentration increase in the nanoemulsion external aqueous phase was observed despite the presence of micelles. Accordingly, it appeared that diffusion across the interfacial film was the rate-limiting step for in vitro release from these nanoemulsions. Sustained/prolonged release of vitamin E was observed and could be explained based on the high partition coefficient and on the nanoemulsion interfacial film proprieties.
Efficient BVH construction via approximate agglomerative clustering

We introduce Approximate Agglomerative Clustering (AAC), an efficient, easily parallelizable algorithm for generating high-quality bounding volume hierarchies using agglomerative clustering. The main idea of AAC is to compute an approximation to the true greedy agglomerative clustering solution by restricting the set of candidates inspected when identifying neighboring geometry in the scene. The result is a simple algorithm that often produces higher quality hierarchies (in terms of subsequent ray tracing cost) than a full sweep SAH build yet executes in less time than the widely used top-down, approximate SAH build algorithm based on binning.
Structure-based design of transcription factors

Computer modeling suggested that transcription factors with novel sequence specificities could be designed by combining known DNA binding domains. This structure-based strategy was tested by construction of a fusion protein, ZFHD1, that contained zinc fingers 1 and 2 from Zif268, a short polypeptide linker, and the homeodomain from Oct-1. The fusion protein bound optimally to a sequence containing adjacent homeodomain (TAATTA) and zinc finger (NGGGNG) subsites. When fused to an activation domain, ZFHD1 regulated promoter activity in vivo in a sequence-specific manner. Analysis of known protein-DNA complexes suggests that many other DNA binding proteins could be designed in a similar fashion.
Sulfide crystals in coal

Abstract Electron microscopy was applied to the determination of the crystal structure and the chemical composition of mineral compounds in an Illinois coal, chiefly the sulfides. Most of the sulfides exist as pyrite, but some pyrrhotite is also found to exist. The sulfides exist as polycrystalline inclusions in coal, in aggregates of single crystals and as isolated single crystals. The results presented in this paper illustrate the power of applying to these minerals the full range of techniques of scanning transmission microscopy, including bright and dark field imaging, diffraction and quantitative X-ray emission spectroscopy.
An experimental and theoretical study of alkali metal cation interactions with cysteine.

The interactions of alkali metal cations (M+ = Li+, Na+, K+, Rb+) with the amino acid cysteine (Cys) are examined in detail. Experimentally, bond energies are determined using threshold collision-i...
On the Use of Wind-Wave Spectral Formulas to Estimate Wave Energy

It is common practice by wave energy conversion technologists to estimate long-term wave energy potentials at both offshore and coastal sites by using established wind-wave spectral formulas. It is shown that the use of these formulas can lead to both incorrect wave energy resource estimates and improperly designed conversion systems. The formulas are shown to poorly predict modal and peak spectral periods for long-term seas.
Induction of hepatic tyrosine aminotransferase by physiological stress: Relation to endogenous glucocorticoid secretion and cytosol receptor depletion

Abstract Exposure of normal rats to a brief period of physical stress provokes a burst of corticosterone secretion which results in a rapid and transient depeletion of glucocorticoid receptor from liver cytosol and the subsequent induction of the hepatic enzyme tyrosine aminotransferase. Both receptor depletion and the rise in enzyme activity are shown to require the presence of intact adrenal glands. This is the first demonstration of an effect of a physiological change in glucocorticoid hormone secretion on cytosol receptor levels and a coupled physiological response.