cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Coregulatory Interactions among CD8α Dendritic Cells, the Latency-Associated Transcript, and Programmed Death 1 Contribute to Higher Levels of Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Latency

UNLABELLED The latency-associated transcript (LAT) of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1), CD8α(+) dendritic cells (DCs), and programmed death 1 (PD-1) have all been implicated in the HSV-1 latency-reactivation cycle. It is not known, however, whether an interaction between LAT and CD8α(+) DCs regulates latency and T-cell exhaustion. To address this question, we used LAT-expressing [LAT(+)] and LAT-negative [LAT(-)] viruses. Depletion of DCs in mice ocularly infected with LAT(+) virus resulted in a reduction in the number of T cells expressing PD-1 in the trigeminal ganglia (TG), whereas depletion of DCs in mice similarly infected with LAT(-) virus did not alter PD-1 expression. CD8α(+) DCs, but not CD4(+) DCs, infected with LAT(+) virus had higher levels of ICP0, ICP4, thymidine kinase (TK), and PD-1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) transcripts than those infected with LAT(-) virus. Coculture of infected bone marrow (BM)-derived DCs from wild-type (WT) mice, but not infected DCs from CD8α(-/-) mice, with WT naive T cells contributed to an increase in PD-1 expression. Transfer of bone marrow from WT mice but not CD8α(-/-) mice to recipient Rag1(-/-) mice increased the number of latent viral genomes in reconstituted mice infected with the LAT(+) virus. Collectively, these data indicated that a reduction in latency correlated with a decline in the levels of CD8α(+) DCs and PD-1 expression. In summary, our results demonstrate an interaction among LAT, PD-1, and CD11c CD8α(+) cells that regulates latency in the TG of HSV-1-infected mice. IMPORTANCE Very little is known regarding the interrelationship of LAT, PD-1, and CD8α(+) DCs and how such interactions might contribute to relative numbers of latent viral genomes. We show here that (i) in both in vivo and in vitro studies, deficiency of CD8α(+) DCs significantly reduced T-cell exhaustion in the presence of LAT(+) virus but not LAT(-) virus; (ii) HSV-1 infectivity was significantly lower in LAT(-)-infected DCs than in their LAT(+)-infected counterparts; and (iii) adoptive transfer of bone marrow (BM) from WT but not CD8α(-/-) mice to recipient Rag1(-/-) mice restored latency to the level in WT mice following infection with LAT(+) virus. These studies point to a key role for CD8α(+) DCs in T-cell exhaustion in the presence of LAT, which leads to larger numbers of latent viral genomes. Thus, altering this negative function of CD8α(+) DCs can potentially be used to generate a more effective vaccine against HSV infection.
Menopausal experiences and hormone replacement therapy use among women with physical impairments

This study describes the menopausal experiences of women with physical disabilities and their knowledge and use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). 166 women completed a mailed survey of demographic and disability characteristics, health history, menopausal information, and HRT knowledge. The typical respondent was a 52-year-old, Anglo, college-educated woman with a neuromuscular disorder. Half of the menopausal women were taking HRT, and 47% had a hysterectomy. HRT use was significantly associated with hysterectomy status, amount of HRT information received from providers, and regular gynecologic examinations. Effective interventions are needed to assist these women in making key health decisions during menopause.
Newly developed primers for complete ycf1 amplification in Pinus (Pinaceae) chloroplasts with possible family-wide utility

 Premise of the study: Primers were designed to amplify the highly variable locus ycf 1 from all 11 subsections of Pinus to facilitate plastome assemblies based on short sequence reads as well as future phylogenetic and population genetic analyses.  Methods and Results: Primer design was based on alignment of 33 Pinus and four Pinaceae plastomes with mostly incomplete ycf 1 sequences. Sanger sequencing of 12 Pinus accessions resulted in open reading frames ranging in size from 5.2 to 6.1 kbp. Highest sequence diversity was identifi ed in two regions totaling 5.5 kbp aligned length, which can be targeted in all pine subsections with three primer combinations. Preliminary results suggest the primers described also amplify homologous targets in the broader Pinaceae.  Conclusions: The successful design and implementation of PCR primers spanning the large, variable locus ycf 1 in Pinus represents the development of a valuable tool in pine genetic studies, and should facilitate studies throughout Pinaceae.
Adaptive executive control: Flexible multiple-task performance without pervasive immutable response-selection bottlenecks

Abstract A new theoretical framework, the EPIC (Executive-Process/Interactive-Control) architecture, provides the basis for accurate detailed computational models of human multiple-task performance. Contrary to the traditional response-selection bottleneck hypothesis, EPIC's cognitive processor can select responses and do other procedural operations simultaneously for multiple concurrent tasks. Using this capacity together with flexible executive control of peripheral perceptual-motor components, EPIC computational models account well for various patterns of mean reaction times, systematic individual differences in multiple-task performance, and influences of special training on people's task-coordination strategies. These diverse phenomena, and EPIC's success at modeling them, raise strong doubts about the existence of a pervasive immutable response-selection bottleneck in the human information-processing system. The present research therefore helps further characterize the nature of discrete versus continuous information processing.
Deep brain stimulation of the internal segment of the globus pallidus in delayed runaway dyskinesia.

Background Dyskinesias that occur during a period without medication after embryonic cell transplantation have been commonly reported in double-blind trials; however, to date, they have not been reported in the few patients who participated in open-label pilot studies. Design Single case observation with preoperative and postoperative data, and intraoperative single-cell physiology. Patient A patient who underwent embryonic cell transplantation in 1993 as part of the University of South Florida open-label study was referred for evaluation of intractable dyskinesia of the right arm. The dyskinesia was present during evaluation of the patient after a 12-hour period without medication and was clinically disabling. It was manifested as a severe groping movement of the hand. Intraoperative physiologic evaluation revealed decreased firing rates in the internal segment of the globus pallidus. Results Deep brain stimulation of the internal segment of the globus pallidus resulted in resolution of the dyskinesia. Conclusion This case highlights the delayed development of runaway dyskinesia after a period without medication as an important potential long-term adverse effect of embryonic cell transplantation in patients with Parkinson disease.
The effects of acute ischemia on the isovolumic index

The isovolumic index is the ratio of the duration of isovolumic contraction (IVC) and relaxation (IVR) divided by ejection time (ET), and has been proposed as a more sensitive descriptor of ventricular performance than the systolic time index, which ignores the period of isovolumic relaxation. To determine the effects of acute ischemia on these indices, IVC, IVR, and ET were measured in seven open-chest dogs instrumented with high-fidelity micromanometers and ultrasonic crystals and subjected to a 10-second period of coronary occlusion. Fractional shortening was significantly impaired (18.4 +/- 6.9% vs 1.9 +/- 7.3%, p less than 0.001) during coronary occlusion. ET was unaffected by the brief ischemia, whereas IVC time showed directional shortening that attained statistical significance (55 +/- 7 msec control vs 50 +/- 6 msec, p less than 0.01) at 8 to 10 seconds. IVR time was prolonged by occlusion, significantly so at 6 to 8 seconds (72 +/- 26 msec control vs 88 +/- 22 msec, p less than 0.01) and at 8 to 10 seconds (81 +/- 19 msec, p less than 0.05). The systolic time index showed no deterioration during ischemia, whereas the isovolumic index did not show directional prolongation. Assessment of IVC, IVR, and ET at the time of the maximal change in the isovolumic index revealed significant changes of IVC and IVR (each p less than 0.05 vs control), though ET and the systolic time index were unchanged. Through incorporation of IVR, the isovolumic index was more sensitive to acute brief ischemia than the systolic time index.
Speciesism and the Idea of Equality

Most of us believe that we are entitled to treat members of other species in ways which would be considered wrong if inflicted on members of our own species. We kill them for food, keep them confined, use them in painful experiments. The moral philosopher has to ask what relevant difference justifies this difference in treatment. A look at this question will lead us to re-examine the distinctions which we have assumed make a moral difference.
Two Phase Scheduling Algorithm for Maximizing the Number of Satisfied Users in Multi-Rate Wireless Systems

Opportunistic scheduling algorithms are effective in exploiting channel variations and maximizing system throughput in multi-rate wireless networks. However, most scheduling algorithms ignore the per-user quality of service (QoS) requirements and try to allocate resources (i.e., the time slots) among multiple users. This leads to a phenomenon commonly referred to as the exposure problem wherein the algorithms fail to satisfy the minimum slot requirements of the users due to substitutability and complementarity requirement of user slots. To eliminate this exposure problem, we propose a novel scheduling algorithm based on two phase combinatorial reverse auction with the primary objective to maximize the number of satisfied users in the system. We also consider maximizing the system throughput as a secondary objective. In the proposed scheme, multiple users bid to acquire the required number of time slots, and the allocations are done to satisfy the two objectives in a sequential manner. We provide an approximate solution to the proposed scheduling problem which is a NP-complete problem. We prove that our proposed algorithm is (1 + log m) times the optimal solution, where m is the number of slots in a schedule cycle. We also present an extension to this algorithm which can support more satisfied users at the cost of additional complexity. Numerical results are provided to compare the proposed scheduling algorithms with other competitive schemes.
Stripper foil temperatures and electron emission at the Los Alamos proton storage ring

We have modeled the heating process of the PSR stripper foil and compared our results to observations that depend on the foil temperature. The foil is heated by the energy deposited by injected H - ions and stored protons passing through the foil. Secondary emission of electrons due to these foil hits results in a measurable current that we can use to benchmark our model. At higher beam intensities, thermionic emission of electrons dominates the foil current. Due to the extreme temperature dependence of the thermionic current this is a very sensitive indicator of the foil temperature and will be used to safeguard against overheating the foil in extreme beam conditions. We will present our best estimates of the foil temperature for different beam intensities
Decay Kinetics of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Specific CD8+ T Cells in Peripheral Blood after Initiation of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy

We measured the longitudinal responses to 95 HLA class I-restricted human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epitopes and an immunodominant HLA A2-restricted cytomegalovirus (CMV) epitope in eight treatment-naive HIV-infected individuals, using intracellular cytokine staining. Patients were treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for a median of 78 weeks (range, 34 to 121 weeks). Seven of eight patients maintained an undetectable viral load for the duration of therapy. A rapid decline in HIV-specific CD8(+) T-cell response was observed at initiation of therapy. After an undetectable viral load was achieved, a slower decrease in HIV-specific CD8(+) T-cell response was observed that was well described by first-order kinetics. The median half-life for the rate of decay was 38.8 (20.3 to 68.0) weeks when data were expressed as percentage of peripheral CD8(+) T cells. In most cases, data were similar when expressed as the number of responding CD8(+) T cells per microliter of blood. In subjects who responded to more than one HIV epitope, rates of decline in response to the different epitopes were similar and varied by a factor of 2.2 or less. Discontinuation of treatment resulted in a rapid increase in HIV-specific CD8(+) T cells. Responses to CMV increased 1.6- and 2.8-fold within 16 weeks of initiation of HAART in two of three patients with a measurable CMV response. These data suggest that HAART quickly starts to restore CD8(+) T-cell responses to other chronic viral infections and leads to a slow decrease in HIV-specific CD8(+) T-cell response in HIV-infected patients. The slow decrease in the rate of CD8(+) T-cell response and rapid increase in response to recurrent viral replication suggest that the decrease in CD8(+) T-cell response observed represents a normal memory response to withdrawal of antigen.
Photoacoustic Molecular Imaging using Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes in Living Mice

Photoacoustic molecular imaging is an emerging technology offering non-invasive high resolution imaging of the molecular expressions of a disease using a photoacoustic imaging agent. Here we demonstrate for the first time the utility of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as targeted imaging agents in living mice bearing tumor xenografts. SWNTs were conjugated with polyethylene-glycol-5000 connected to Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) peptide to target the αvβ3 integrin that is associated with tumor angiogenesis. In-vitro, we characterized the photoacoustic spectra of the particles, their signal linearity and tested their uptake by αvβ3-expressing cells (U87MG). The photoacoustic signal of SWNTs was found not to be affected by the RGD conjugation to the SWNTs and was also found to be highly linear with concentration (R2 = 0.9997 for 25-400nM). The cell uptake studies showed that RGD-targeted SWNTs gave 75% higher photoacoustic signal than non-targeted SWNTs when incubated with U87MG cells. In-vivo, we measured the minimal detectable concentration of SWNTs in living mice by subcutaneously injecting SWNTs at increasing concentrations. The lowest detectable concentration of SWNTs in living mice was found to be 50nM. Finally, we administered RGDtargeted and non-targeted SWNTs via the tail-vein to U87MG tumor-bearing mice (n=4 for each group) and measured the signal from the tumor before and up to 4 hours post-injection. At 4 hours post-injection, tumors of mice injected with RGD-targeted SWNTs showed 8 times higher photoacoustic signal compared with mice injected with non-targeted SWNTs. These results were verified ex-vivo using a Raman microscope that is sensitive to the SWNTs Raman signal.
Region Monitoring for Local Phase Detection in Dynamic Optimization Systems

Dynamic optimization relies on phase detection for two important functions (1) To detect change in code working set and (2) To detect change in performance characteristics that can affect optimization strategy. Current prototype runtime optimization systems (J. Lu et al) compare aggregate metrics like CPI over fixed time intervals to detect a change in working set and a change in performance. While simple and cost-effective, these metrics are sensitive to sampling rate and interval size. A phase detection scheme that computes performance metrics by aggregating the performance of individually optimized regions can be misled by some regions impacting aggregate metrics adversely. In this paper, we investigate the benefits and limitations of using aggregate metrics for phase detection, which we call global phase detection (GPD). We present a new model to detect change in working set and propose that the scope of phase detection be limited to within the candidate regions for optimization. By associating phase detection to individual regions we can isolate the effects of regions that are inherently unstable. This approach, which we call local phase detection (LPD), shows improved performance on several benchmarks even when global phase detection is not able to detect stable phases.
Rapid Production of Gene Replacement Constructs and Generation of a Green Fluorescent Protein-Tagged Centromeric Marker in Aspergillus nidulans

A method to rapidly generate gene replacement constructs by fusion PCR is described for Aspergillus nidulans. The utility of the approach is demonstrated by green fluorescent protein (GFP) tagging of A. nidulans ndc80 to visualize centromeres through the cell cycle. The methodology makes possible large-scale GFP tagging, promoter swapping, and deletion analysis of A. nidulans.
Torsional oscillations of an elastic half space due to an annular disk

The problem of low frequency torsional oscillations of an elastic half space due to a rigid annular disk is solved when the difference between the outer and the inner radii is small. Formulae are presented for the stress distribution, the far field amplitude, and the torque requi red to maintain the oscillations. At the end some related problems in slow viscous flow and MDH are solved.
Prospective analysis of prevalence, distribution, and rate of recovery of left ventricular systolic dysfunction in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Object. Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) has been associated with cardiac injury and left ventricular (LV) dysfunction. The incidence and natural history of neurocardiogenic injury after SAH remains poorly understood. The objective of this study was to describe the incidence, time course, recovery rate, and segmental patterns of LV dysfunction after SAH. Methods. Echocardiography was performed three times over a 7-day period in 173 patients with SAH. The incidence of global (ejection fraction [EF] , 50%) and segmental (any regional wall-motion abnormality [RWMA]) LV dysfunction was measured. The time course of LV dysfunction was determined by comparing the prevalence of LVEF less than 50% and RWMA at 0 to 2, 3 to 5, and 6 to 8 days after SAH. The recovery rate was defined as the proportion of patients with partial or complete normalization of function. The distribution of RWMAs among 16 LV segments was also determined. An LVEF less than 50% was found in 15% of patients, and 13% had an RWMA with a normal LVEF. There was a trend toward increased dysfunction at 0 to 2 days after SAH, compared with 3 to 8 days after SAH. Recovery of LV function was observed in 66% of patients. The most frequently abnormal LV segments were the basal and middle ventricular portions of the anteroseptal and anterior walls. The apex was rarely affected. Conclusions. Left ventricular systolic dysfunction occurs frequently after SAH and usually improves over time. The observed segmental patterns of LV dysfunction often do not correlate with coronary artery distributions.
Yield/cost modeling for electronics wafer fabrication and evaluation of the impact of minimum acceptable die yield criteria on statistical wafer and die yields and costs

Summary form only given. In this paper, a yield/cost model has been derived to link upstream customer-defined specifications and design/technical criteria with electronics wafer fabrication process constraints/capabilities and downstream wafer and die yields and costs for simple electronics transducer wafer fabrication. Additionally, a statistical model has been developed, and when used in conjunction with the yield/cost model, it attempts to diffuse the conflict between engineering and manufacturing and maximize profits through better cost effective decisions by predetermining the impact of the minimum acceptance die yield (MADY) criteria on the statistical wafer and die yields and hence on the wafer and die costs.
Renal Disease Following Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Intense chemotherapy followed by hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is the only cure for certain oncologic diseases. HSCT-related kidney complications are the leading cause for significant morbidity and mortality in this population. The risk for kidney injury following HSCT varies with the type of conditioning regimen used, and the acute kidney injury (AKI) seen in the early phases of the transplant can persist as chronic kidney diseases (CKD). In this chapter, we review the risk factors and etiology for the kidney diseases following HSCT, as well as an overview of their management.
Regulation of Unfair Bank Fees in the United States and the European Union: Current Trends and a Proposal for Reform

Due to the legislative power of the banking industry, the U.S. federal government has been more reluctant to place limits on bank fees and charges than the European Union (E.U.). There was a trend in the courts of several American states in the 1980s and early 90s toward striking down excessive bank fees charged to consumers, such as overdraft charges and late fees, through the application of state "Little FTC Acts," such as California's Unfair Business Practices Act. But this trend stalled due to the Supreme Court's decision in Smiley v. Citibank (1996); the assertion by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) of federal preemption of state laws on the subject; and state legislative and constitutional amendments, particularly in California, narrowing standing and remedies under the Little FTC Acts. Meanwhile, the E.U. has been moving in the opposite direction. A casual reader of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive adopted by the E.U. in May 2005 might think it is directed only at the sale of goods, because the Directive frequently refers only to "products." However, due to its expansive definition of "product" as including services, the Directive covers fees for bank services. These fees are also governed by the Distance Marketing of Financial Services Directive of 1998 and the Unfair Contract Terms Directive of 1993, as well as national regulations pursuant to the 1993 Directive such as those adopted by the United Kingdom in 1994 and 1999. This article discusses these divergent trends, the factors that have contributed to them, and the rationales for and against bank fee regulation. It also sets forth a proposed solution to the problem of unfair bank fees through standardized regulation and review of consumer contract forms in the financial services industry.
Life cycle inherent toxicity: a novel LCA-based algorithm for evaluating chemical synthesis pathways

Green chemistry has long called for a life cycle approach in designing and assessing new syntheses. In evaluating hazardous chemical use, most green chemistry metrics only consider those chemicals directly associated with the synthesis and miss upstream hazards that can contribute to or even dominate overall impacts when evaluated using life cycle assessment (LCA). Conversely, LCA metrics are wholly dependent on emissions and do not capture potential risks posed by inherently hazardous chemicals. Life cycle inherent toxicity i* is a proposed novel metric that adapts the computational framework of LCA by attaching measures of inherent hazard to the intermediate chemical flows, rather than considering only emissions. Thus, it captures toxicity associated with the entire cradle-to-gate of a chemical, rather than just direct chemical inputs into a synthesis, and is a function of upstream use of hazardous chemicals, rather than only emissions. Values of i* are calculated for 181 organic chemicals from the ecoinvent LCI database. Statistical testing revealed no significant correlation between life cycle inherent toxicity and conventional toxicity, suggesting that the proposed metric provides novel information that can be used in conjunction with current green chemistry metrics. Outliers are investigated where the target chemical is much more toxic than its upstream building blocks (e.g., phosgene) and, conversely, where upstream chemical toxicity dominates (e.g., aniline). Values of i* are weakly correlated with values of conventional life cycle toxicity from the USEtox LCIA model, again suggesting that the new metric provides additional knowledge. A similar computational approach can be applied to examine other types of chemical hazards, such as corrosivity.
Effect of Zeranol on Performance of Steers Grazing High- and Low-Endophyte Tall Fescue Pastures1

Steers grazing high- and low-endophyte-infected tall fescue pastures were either not implanted or implanted with 36 or 72 mg of zeranol. Zeranol had a greater effect on improving gains of steers grazing high-endophyte tall fescue pastures than on those grazing low-endophyte pastures. Steers implanted with zeranol had lower (P<.05) rectal temperature than nonimplanted steers at d 32. Steers implanted with 72 mg of zeranol had lower serum prolactin (P<.05) levels at 32 d than either the control or steers implanted with 36 mg zeranol. These findings suggest that zeranol can reduce some of the detrimental effects of endophyte fungus on gains of steers grazing tall fescue pastures during the fall months.
Is lymphocyte adenosine a diagnostic marker of clinical malignant hyperthermia? A pilot study.

Objective: Malignant hyperthermia is a pharmacogenetic disorder typically triggered by potent inhalation anesthetics and/or the depolarizing muscle relaxant succinylcholine in malignant hyperthermia–susceptible individuals. Since lymphocytes express the same Ca2+ channel mutation found in malignant hyperthermia–susceptible muscle, we investigated agonist-induced adenosine formation in lymphocytes as an index of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-release-induced adenosine 5′-triphosphate turnover as a potential minimally invasive functional malignant hyperthermia assay. Design: Application of lymphocytes for malignant hyperthermia diagnosis. Setting: Hospitals and university laboratory. Subjects: Malignant hyperthermia–susceptible patients (n = 13) and normal subjects (n = 11). Interventions: Adenosine formation due to malignant hyperthermia–triggering agent halothane or the ryanodine receptor Ca2+ channels agonist 4-chloro-m-cresol was compared in blood lymphocytes from malignant hyperthermia–susceptible patients and normal subjects. Measurements and Main Results: Ca2+i and adenosine were measured in fresh or immortalized blood lymphocytes incubated with 0–10 mM 4-chloro-m-cresol or 0–10.7 mM halothane. Ca2+i levels were significantly higher in immortalized malignant hyperthermia–susceptible B cells treated with 0.75 mM 4-chloro-m-cresol relative to controls. Similarly, at 1 mM 4-chloro-m-cresol or 0.96 mM halothane, adenosine levels were significantly higher in malignant hyperthermia–susceptible lymphocytes or immortalized B cells relative to controls. Receiver-operating characteristic analyses showed areas under the 4-chloro-m-cresol receiver-operating characteristic curves near more than or equal to 0.96 (p ≈ 0.0001), suggesting that 4-chloro-m-cresol–induced adenosine could readily distinguish between malignant hyperthermia–susceptible and normal controls cells. Conclusions: Both 4-chloro-m-cresol and halothane caused adenosine accumulation in blood lymphocytes. Adenosine accumulation was markedly increased in malignant hyperthermia–susceptible lymphocytes compared with controls reflecting higher than normal adenosine 5′-triphosphate degradation in the malignant hyperthermia–susceptible cells. Although 4-chloro-m-cresol receiver-operating characteristic curves revealed that adenosine accumulation could readily distinguish between normal and malignant hyperthermia–susceptible lymphocytes, independent confirmation is required with a substantially larger number of enrolled subjects to correctly appreciate the clinical utility of the novel lymphocyte-adenosine protocol for malignant hyperthermia testing.
SAT0460 Patient self-report joint count, rheumatoid arthritis disease activity index (RADAI), on a multidimensional health assessment questionnaire (MDHAQ) is informative in patients with rheumatic diseases other than rheumatoid arthritis

Background A patient self-report joint count, rheumatoid arthritis disease activity index (RADAI),1 is correlated significantly with tender and swollen joint counts performed by a health professional in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients2. The RADAI is included on the multidimensional health assessment questionnaire (MDHAQ), which is completed in many rheumatology settings by all patients with all diagnoses, as the same questionnaire is (logistically) most feasible. Objectives To analyze RADAI painful joint count scores in patients with diagnoses other than RA in usual care setting. Methods Each patient seen at an academic rheumatology site completes an MDHAQ at each visit, while waiting to see the doctor in the infrastructure of clinical care. The RADAI on the MDHAQ includes 8 bilateral specific joint groups: fingers, wrist, elbow, shoulder, hip, knee, ankle and toes, each scored from 0 (“no pain”) to 3 (“severe pain”) (total 0-48). A random visit of 465 patients was analyzed including 75 with SLE, 50 with gout, 53 with PsA, 113 with OA, as well as 174 with RA. Mean RADAI and % of patients scoring each specific joint group as affected were computed for each diagnosis, and compared to the MDHAQ patient global estimate (PATGL) and physician global estimate (DOCGL) using Spearman correlations. Results Patients were primarily women (68%), age 51±16 years;SLE patients were youngest (39.5±13.8) and OA patients oldest (62.8±12.5). An abnormal RADAI score >0 was reported by 99% of patients with OA, 87% of patients with RA, 83% with PsA, 60% with gout, and 59% with SLE. The joints reported as most affected were knees (58%) and fingers (52%) in all patients; in RA, fingers (52%), wrists (58%), and knees (58%); in SLE, fingers (37%) and shoulders (32%); in gout, toes (24%) and knees (22%); in PsA, knees (43%) and fingers (40%), and in OA, knees (68%) and fingers (42%) (Table). RADAI scores were correlated significantly with PATGL (rho =0.50–0.75, p<0.001), and moderately, though significantly, with DOCGL in all diagnoses except SLE (rho =0.40–0.54, p<0.001). View this table: Table 1. RADAI self-report painful joint score mean and SD and percentage of patients scoring each joint area as affected Conclusions A RADAI self-report joint count on an MDHAQ can be informative in patients with OA, gout, psoriatic arthritis and SLE, in addition to RA, with no additional work by the doctor, to assess clinical status in usual care. 1. Stucki G, Liang MH, Stucki S, Bruhlmann P, Michel BA. Arthritis Rheum 1995;38:795-8. 2. Barton JL, Criswell LA, Kaiser R, Chen YH, Schillinger D. J Rheumatol 2009;36:2635-41. Disclosure of Interest None Declared
Plasmonic nanowires as left-handed media

We study optical properties of metal nanowires and show that electric and magnetic dipole responses of the coupled-wire system can be both opposite to the excitation irradiation. This opens up the possibility to develop left-handed materials based on metal nanowires with negative refraction in the near-infrared and optical spectral ranges.
Select clinical recommendations for military medical practitioners conducting humanitarian and civic assistance activities.

ABSTRACTTraining and planning for stability, security, transition, and reconstruction, to include humanitarian and civic assistance activities, has taken on new importance for today’s military forces. Deployed medical forces providing medical care to local populations are presented with the challenge of limited resources, complex public health needs, and complex cultural and linguistic barriers to care. In this article, we review some of the clinical situations commonly encountered during these operations and provide an evidence-based rationale for proposed courses of action. This report is timely given expanding operations in Afghanistan and the stand-up of the U.S. African Command (AFRICOM).
Diagnostic evaluation of erectile dysfunction in the era of oral therapy

Therapy for erectile dysfunction (ED) may be specific to the cause of ED or it may be nonspecific. There are only three causes of ED which have specific therapy: psychogenic, endocrine and certain types of reversible vasculogenic ED. In the era of oral therapy for ED, treatment is not cause-specific in the great majority of patients. For this great majority, only the basic evaluation of ED is needed. Only when there is a strong suspicion that the cause of a patient's ED is endocrine, psychogenic or reversible vascular disease are additional diagnostic tests indicated. In these three categories of patients, specific treatment of the cause of ED can produce a permanent and dramatic improvement in sexual function and satisfaction.
The Church of England and the Rye House Plot of 1683

The traditional institutions restored in 1660 in England experienced a far from tranquil existence from 1660 to 1678. Relations were often strained between Charles II and the Cavalier Parliament;1 and relations were strained as well between the Church of England and other religious persuasions in the years following the Restoration.2 But the years 1678 to 1683 were the years of severest trial for monarchy and the established church;3 those years witnessed an effort to modify the principle of hereditary succession to the throne, the creation of a> powerful political alliance between Whig-Country groups and nonconformity,4 real and imagined assassination attempts on the lives of Charles II and James, Duke of York, and on the lives of other lesser figures, and a remarkable profusion of ideological theory to advance the new and defend the old from Robert Filmer, John Locke, Henry Neville, Algernon Sidney, and a veritable host of lesser lights.5 At the end of this
Arsenic in private well water part 1 of 3: Impact of the New Jersey Private Well Testing Act on household testing and mitigation behavior

Regularly ingesting water with elevated arsenic increases adverse health risks. Since September 2002, the NJ Private Well Testing Act (PWTA) has required testing untreated well water for arsenic during real estate transactions in 12 counties. Its implementation provides an opportunity to investigate the effects of policy intervention on well testing and treatment behavior. Here we analyze results of a survey mailed to 1943 random addresses (37% response), including responses from 502 private well households who purchased their homes prior to PWTA commencement and 168 who purchased after. We find the PWTA has significantly increased arsenic testing rates in an area where 21% of wells contain arsenic above the 5μg/L NJ drinking water standard. The PWTA has allowed identification of more wells with arsenic (20% of post-PWTA vs. 4% of pre-PWTA households) and more treatment for arsenic (19% of post-PWTA vs. 3% of pre-PWTA households). Such an Act is a partial answer to significant socioeconomic disparities in testing observed among households for whom it is not required. Additionally residents purchasing homes since 2002 are younger and disproportionately more likely to have children in their household (60% vs. 32%), a priority group given their particular vulnerability to effects of arsenic. Despite more wells tested under the PWTA, post-PWTA well owners forget or misremember arsenic test results more often, are more likely to report not knowing what kind of treatment they are using, and are not reporting better maintenance or monitoring of their treatment systems than pre-PWTA households. This suggests serious challenges to reducing arsenic exposure remain even when testing is a requirement. Furthermore, only a fraction of wells have been tested under the PWTA due to the slow pace of housing turnover. We recommend more public resources be made available to support private well testing among socially and biologically vulnerable groups.
The program of the data processing in HL-2A

The paper describes that it is how to use the two program tools, C + + Builder and Matlab to realize the data processing,and the data comes fro m experiment on HL-2A tokamak. The software of data processing includes two pa rts: common processing software and advanced processing software.But each of the two tools has advantage and disadvantage separately; especially, it is very com plicated if advanced processing software is realized only on the C + + Buil der platform.While if Matlab engine is used to invoke any function in the Matlab tool box, that will save a large amount of system resource and make sure the ac curacy of the program. So it is mainly introduced in this paper how to realize t he data processing through invoke Matlab functions on the C + + Builder pla tform.
Ineffective Therapy and Delayed Transport

The administration of IV fluids to traumatized patients in the field at first seems like a motherhood issue: It can't do any harm and might do some good, so why not use it? This rationale has resulted in its inclusion in prehospital trauma care since the advent of paramedic systems in this country approximately 15 years ago; yet it remains unproven. There are no convincing data in the literature to support the efficacy for the administration of IV fluids in the prehospital setting.
Can dileptons be observed in heavy ion collisions at relativistic heavy ion collider energies

Both dilepton and charm production at RHIC are considered to be important signatures for quark-gluon plasma production. Recently it was argued by Gavin {ital et al.} that the background from semileptonic correlated charm decays is so large that it makes dilepton measurements virtually impossible. We show that this conclusion is in fact reversed if the energy loss due to a secondary interaction of charmed quarks is included. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}
Pumping liquid metal at high temperatures up to 1,673 kelvin

Heat is fundamental to power generation and many industrial processes, and is most useful at high temperatures because it can be converted more efficiently to other types of energy. However, efficient transportation, storage and conversion of heat at extreme temperatures (more than about 1,300 kelvin) is impractical for many applications. Liquid metals can be very effective media for transferring heat at high temperatures, but liquid-metal pumping has been limited by the corrosion of metal infrastructures. Here we demonstrate a ceramic, mechanical pump that can be used to continuously circulate liquid tin at temperatures of around 1,473-1,673 kelvin. Our approach to liquid-metal pumping is enabled by the use of ceramics for the mechanical and sealing components, but owing to the brittle nature of ceramics their use requires careful engineering. Our set-up enables effective heat transfer using a liquid at previously unattainable temperatures, and could be used for thermal storage and transport, electric power production, and chemical or materials processing.
Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics: The Application of MDA

Publisher Summary This chapter explains the mechanics of a product and the dynamics of use that determine the aesthetics of the product experience. The mechanics are the essence of any software product. Simply stated, the mechanics of a product are what it can do and what actions the user must perform to activate those functions and what goals are implied or promised by the product. Extending the concept of mechanics to software products is illustrative. The objects are often virtual objects—text, graphics, formulas, avatars, targeting reticles, mini-maps, etc. In addition, other things that the user interacts with, menus, dialog boxes, rulers, and the likes, are also objects. Some of these objects are primary (text, graphics, etc.); others are secondary (menus, dialog boxes, etc.). Creating or modifying primary objects is the reason for using the product.
Can Human Development be Measured with Satellite Imagery

In many developing country environments, it is difficult or impossible to obtain recent, reliable estimates of human development. Nationally representative household surveys, which are the standard instrument for determining development policy and priorities, are typically too expensive to collect with any regularity. Recently, however, researchers have shown the potential for remote sensing technologies to provide a possible solution to this data constraint. In particular, recent work indicates that satellite imagery can be processed with deep neural networks to accurately estimate the sub-regional distribution of wealth in sub-Saharan Africa.In this paper, we explore the extent to which the same approach--- of using convolutional neural networks to process satellite imagery--- can be used to measure a broader set of human development indicators, in a broader range of geographic contexts. Our analysis produces three main results: First, we successfully replicate prior work showing that satellite images can accurately infer a wealth-based index of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. Second, we show that this approach can generalize to predicting poverty in other countries and continents, but that the performance is sensitive to the hyperparameters used to tune the learning algorithm. Finally, we find that this approach does not trivially generalize to predicting other measures of development such as educational attainment, access to drinking water, and a variety of health-related indicators. We discuss in detail whether these findings represent a fundamental limitation of this approach, or could be fixed through more concerted adaptations of the machine learning environment.
Dynamic Logic: A Personal Perspective

We review a few of the developments of dynamic logic from the author’s perspective. As implied by the title the review is not intended as a survey of the field as a whole but rather as how the author’s outlook on imperative programs and their logics evolved during the four decades up to the start of this millennium.
Supreme Court Brief Amicus Curiae of Administrative Law Scholars in Support of Neither Party

This brief on behalf of 29 administrative law scholars takes no position on whether Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) are employees or inferior officers. It urges the Court to issue an opinion that respects the decision that Congress made unanimously in 1946 to enact numerous statutory safeguards that assure that ALJs have decisional independence from the agencies where they work while assuring that agencies retain control over the policy content and legal basis for any decision made in an adjudication in which an ALJ presides. The brief describes the fifteen years of study and deliberation that led to the unanimous decision of Congress to enact the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in 1946. It describes the particular attention that Congress devoted to the critical task of providing ALJs with the combination of statutory safeguards that minimize the risk that they will favor the agencies for whom they adjudicate cases while assuring that the agencies retain control of the policy content of any decision made in such an adjudication. It then describes the series of opinions the Supreme Court issued during the 1950s in which the Justices unanimously praised the provisions of the APA that assure that ALJs conduct adjudicatory hearings in an unbiased manner, explained the importance of those statutory provisions in protecting the values reflected in the Due Process Clause, and urged Congress to make those safeguards applicable to all agency adjudications. It concludes by urging the Court to issue an opinion that respects the decision that Congress made in 1946 to insulate ALJs from potential sources of pro-agency bias by including in the APA a combination of provisions that confer decisional independence on ALJs.
A role for tau in learning, memory and synaptic plasticity

Tau plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders: mutations in the gene encoding for tau (MAPT) are linked to Fronto-temporal Dementia (FTD) and hyper-phosphorylated aggregates of tau forming neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) that constitute a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer disease (AD) and FTD. Accordingly, tau is a favored therapeutic target for the treatment of these diseases. Given the criticality of tau to dementia's pathogenesis and therapy, it is important to understand the physiological function of tau in the central nervous system. Analysis of Mapt knock out (Mapt-/-) mice has yielded inconsistent results. Some studies have shown that tau deletion does not alter memory while others have described synaptic plasticity and memory alterations in Mapt-/- mice. To help clarifying these contrasting results, we analyzed a distinct Mapt-/- model on a B6129PF3/J genetic background. We found that tau deletion leads to aging-dependent short-term memory deficits, hyperactivity and synaptic plasticity defects. In contrast, Mapt+/- mice only showed a mild short memory deficit in the novel object recognition task. Thus, while tau is important for normal neuronal functions underlying learning and memory, partial reduction of tau expression may have fractional deleterious effects.
A salinity reactive transport and equilibrium chemistry model for regional-scale agricultural groundwater systems

Abstract A three-dimensional coupled groundwater reactive transport and equilibrium chemistry model is presented that simulates the fate and transport of major salt ions in agricultural groundwater systems that span broad regions. The UZF-RT3D/SEC model amends the base model UZF-RT3D by coupling it with a new Salinity Equilibrium Chemistry (SEC) module to simulate the movement and transformation of major salt ions (calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulfate, chloride, bicarbonate, and carbonate) due to advection, dispersion, source/sink mixing, sulfur cycling, redox reactions, precipitation-dissolution, aqueous complexation, and cation exchange. The coupling procedure and the considered reactions make the model applicable for simulating regional-scale agricultural aquifer systems with data efficiency and an acceptable processing time. The model receives flow information from the MODFLOW-UZF flow model, which simulates variably-saturated groundwater flow in an efficient manner over regional scales. For use in agricultural areas, the model also accounts for crop uptake, soil organic matter decomposition, and mineralization/immobilization of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur species. The model is applied to a salinity-impaired regional-scale (500 km2) agricultural area within the irrigated valley of the Arkansas River in southeastern Colorado. It is calibrated and tested against salt ion groundwater concentrations measured in monitoring wells, soil salinity measurements from throughout the region, and total salt loads discharging from the aquifer to the stream network of the Arkansas River. Results indicate that the model represents well the overall magnitude and spatiotemporal trends of soil salinity and groundwater salinity in the aquifer, along with salt loading to streams, and therefore can be used to investigate best management practices for salt remediation. This, along with findings indicating that the inclusion of equilibrium chemistry is vital for producing the correct magnitude of salt ion concentrations and mass loadings, render a tool useful for regional investigation of other highly-salinized aquifer systems.
Emerging molecular mechanisms of vascular dementia.

Purpose of reviewMicrovascular ischemic disease of the brain is a common cause of cognitive impairment and dementia, particularly in the context of preexisting cardiovascular risk factors and aging. This review summarizes our current understanding of the emerging molecular themes that underlie progr