cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Improving the Management of Environmental Engineering Projects through the Best Value Project Management Model for a State Agency

The State Agency is the regulatory agency responsible for ensuring quality of air, land, and water resources. Historically the State Agency has experienced difficulty in managing environmental professional services. To potentially address the issues, the State Agency tested a new approach to managing their projects, the Best Value Project Management Model (BV PMM), which focuses on using logic and natural laws instead of technical information and experience to improve project performance. This paper presents a case study on the State Agency’s implementation of the BV PMM on their indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) Water Quality contract that ran 60 individual projects. The main functions of the water quality unit program is to identify, assess and remediate sites that are contaminated with hazardous substances. This paper presents the BV PMM, its development, and documents the case study results after one year of implementation. Results include an improved PM utilization rate (22% increase), increase in vendor work performed (102%) in 33% less time, and increase in customer satisfaction (22%).
Computational costs versus benefits of control reasoning

We assess the computational costs and benefits of control reasoning in the PROTEAN system, which is built in the BB* environment. We experimentally manipulate PROTEAN's control knowledge and analyze differences in total problem-solving time as a function of several component times. Our results demonstrate and explain the utility of control reasoning. They also illustrate the importance of experimental investigation and the utility of the BB* environment for conducting such investigations.
Effect of treatment of rectal cancer metastasis with intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin) in patient with subretinal fluid and macular oedema: short-term follow-up

We describe the management of subretinal fluid and macular oedema due to colorectal cancer metastasis to the choroid using intravitreal bevacizumab. A patient with grade VI KRAS mutation rectal cancer with metastasis to the lung and cerebellum presented with left eye choroidal metastasis 1 week after being started on the experimental medication KTN3379. After intravitreal bevacizumab administration, the patient had improvement in macular subretinal fluid, but eventually progressed to severe cystoid macular oedema despite monthly intravitreal bevacizumab treatment.
Structured Doubly Stochastic Matrix for Graph Based Clustering: Structured Doubly Stochastic Matrix

As one of the most significant machine learning topics, clustering has been extensively employed in various kinds of area. Its prevalent application in scientific research as well as industrial practice has drawn high attention in this day and age. A multitude of clustering methods have been developed, among which the graph based clustering method using the affinity matrix has been laid great emphasis on. Recent research work used the doubly stochastic matrix to normalize the input affinity matrix and enhance the graph based clustering models. Although the doubly stochastic matrix can improve the clustering performance, the clustering structure in the doubly stochastic matrix is not clear as expected. Thus, post processing step is required to extract the final clustering results, which may not be optimal. To address this problem, in this paper, we propose a novel convex model to learn the structured doubly stochastic matrix by imposing low-rank constraint on the graph Laplacian matrix. Our new structured doubly stochastic matrix can explicitly uncover the clustering structure and encode the probabilities of pair-wise data points to be connected, such that the clustering results are enhanced. An efficient optimization algorithm is derived to solve our new objective. Also, we provide theoretical discussions that when the input differs, our method possesses interesting connections with K-means and spectral graph cut models respectively. We conduct experiments on both synthetic and benchmark datasets to validate the performance of our proposed method. The empirical results demonstrate that our model provides an approach to better solving the K-mean clustering problem. By using the cluster indicator provided by our model as initialization, K-means converges to a smaller objective function value with better clustering performance. Moreover, we compare the clustering performance of our model with spectral clustering and related double stochastic model. On all datasets, our method performs equally or better than the related methods.
Practical Experience with Transactional Lock Elision

Transactional Memory (TM) promises both to provide a scalable mechanism for synchronization in concurrent programs, and to offer ease-of-use benefits to programmers. The most straightforward use of TM in real-world programs is in the form of Transactional Lock Elision (TLE). In TLE, critical sections are attempted as transactions, with a fall-back to a lock if conflicts manifest. Thus TLE expects to improve scalability, but not ease of programming. Still, until TLE can deliver performance improvements, transactional styles of programming are unlikely to gain popularity.In this paper, we describe our experiences employing TLE in two real-world programs: the PBZip2 file compression tool, and the x265 video encoder/decoder. We discuss the obstacles we encountered, propose solutions to those obstacles, and introduce open challenges. In experiments using the GCC compiler's hardware and software support for TM, we observe that both are able to outperform the original lock-based code, potentially heralding the readiness of TM to be used more broadly for TLE, if not for truly transactional styles of programming.
Optimal Sample Formulations for DNP SENS: The Importance of Radical-Surface Interactions

Abstract The efficacy of dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) surface-enhanced NMR spectroscopy (SENS) is reviewed for alumina, silica, and ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) materials, with vastly different surface areas, as a function of the biradical concentration. Importantly, our studies show that the use of a “one-size-fits-all” biradical concentration should be avoided when performing DNP SENS experiments and instead an optimal concentration should be selected as appropriate for the type of material studied as well as its surface area. In general, materials with greater surface areas require higher radical concentrations for best possible DNP performance. This result is explained with the use of a thermodynamic model wherein radical-surface interactions are expected to lead to an increase in the local concentration of the polarizing agent at the surface. We also show, using plane-wave density functional theory calculations, that weak radical-surface interactions are the cause of the poor performance of DNP SENS for carbonaceous materials.
Comparison of Print Monograph Acquisitions Strategies Finds Circulation Advantage to Firm Orders

A Review of: Ke, I., Gao, W., & Bronicki, J. (2017). Does title-by-title selection make a difference? A usage title analysis on print monograph purchasing. Collection Management, 42(1), 34-47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2016.1249040 Abstract Objective – To compare usage of print monographs acquired through firm order to those acquired through approval plans. Design – Quantitative study. Setting – A public research university serving an annual enrollment of over 43,500 students and employing more than 2,600 faculty members in the South Central United States. Subjects – Circulation and call number data from 21,356 print books acquired through approval plans, and 23,920 print books acquired through firm orders. Methods – Item records for print materials purchased between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2014 were extracted from the catalog and separated by acquisitions strategy into firm order and approval plan lists. Items without call numbers and materials that had been placed on course reserves were removed from the lists. The authors examined accumulated circulation counts and conducted trend analyses to examine year-to-year usage. The authors also measured circulation performance in each Library of Congress call number class; they grouped these classes into science, social science, and humanities titles. Main Results – The authors found that 31% of approval plan books and 39% of firm order books had circulated at least once. The firm order books that had circulated were used an average of 1.87 times, compared to approval plan books which were used an average of 1.47 times. The year-to-year analysis showed that the initial circulation rate for approval plan books decreased from 42% in 2011 to 14% in 2014, and from 46% to 24% for firm order books. Subject area analysis showed that medicine and military science had the highest circulation rates at over 45%, and that agriculture and bibliography titles had the lowest circulation rates. Subject area groups showed the same pattern, with books in the social sciences and sciences experiencing more significant circulation benefits to firm order purchasing. Conclusion – Monographs acquired through firm orders circulated at a slightly higher rate than those acquired through approval plans.
Antibiotic Persistence as a Metabolic Adaptation: Stress, Metabolism, the Host, and New Directions

Persistence is a phenomenon during which a small fraction of a total bacterial population survives treatment with high concentrations of antibiotics for an extended period of time. In conjunction with biofilms, antibiotic persisters represent a major cause of recalcitrant and recurring infections, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. In this review, we discuss the clinical significance of persister cells and the central role of bacterial metabolism in their formation, specifically with respect to carbon catabolite repression, sugar metabolism, and growth regulation. Additionally, we will examine persister formation as an evolutionary strategy used to tolerate extended periods of stress and discuss some of the response mechanisms implicated in their formation. To date, the vast majority of the mechanistic research examining persistence has been conducted in artificial in vitro environments that are unlikely to be representative of host conditions. Throughout this review, we contextualize the existing body of literature by discussing how in vivo conditions may create ecological niches that facilitate the development of persistence. Lastly, we identify how the development of next-generation sequencing and other "big data" tools may enable researchers to examine persistence mechanisms within the host to expand our understanding of their clinical importance.
Adrenergic blocking agents and the kidney

The acute and chronic renal effects of the beta-adrenergic antagonists, alpha 1-adrenergic antagonists, central alpha 2-adrenergic agonists, and central and/or peripheral adrenergic-neuronal blocking agents are reviewed. In general, beta-adrenergic antagonists have little or no clinical effect on glomerular filtration rate (GFR), effective renal plasma flow or renal blood flow (ERPF/RBF), renal vascular resistance (RVR), urinary sodium or potassium excretion, free water clearance, or body fluid composition. The alpha 1-adrenergic antagonists (prazosin and indoramin) have little or no clinical effect on GFR and ERPF/RBF; however, RVR is reduced. Sodium excretion is also reduced, leading to salt and water retention. The central alpha 2-adrenergic agonists (alpha-methyldopa, clonidine, and guanabenz) have little or no clinical effect on GFR and ERPF/RBF; however, RVR is reduced. Urinary sodium and potassium excretion and body fluid composition are unchanged. Free water clearance may be increased. The central and peripheral adrenergic-neuronal blocking agent reserpine has little or no clinical effect on GFR and ERPF/RBF; however, RVR is reduced. Urinary sodium, potassium, and water excretion and body fluid composition are unchanged. Finally, the peripheral adrenergic-neuronal blocking agents (guanadrel and guanethidine) decrease GFR and ERPF/RBF; RVR is also reduced. The filtered load and fractional excretion of sodium is decreased, producing expansion of body fluid spaces and weight gain.
Academic Improvement Groups: An Innovative way to Help Students Build Better Study Habits

(1977). Academic Improvement Groups: An Innovative way to Help Students Build Better Study Habits. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Western College Reading Association: Vol. 10, Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Conference of the WCRA. Personalizing Learning Systems: Ecologies and Strategies, pp. 119-125.
Personalized gene and cell therapy for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Dystrophinopathies are diseases caused by mutations in the Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy gene (DMD) encoding the dystrophin protein. Depending on the type of mutation, patients develop either the severe DMD or the milder Becker Muscular Dystrophy. Although substantial effort was made, the pathophysiology and variation in disease severity are still poorly understood. During the last two decades, relentless efforts were made to develop therapeutic strategies. Among these, gene therapy and cell replacement therapy appear very promising. These approaches are based on the replacement and/or repair of the mutated DMD gene or transcript at the molecular level, or at the cellular level via replacement of the damaged muscle cells. While highly successful in animal models, these therapies showed only modest efficacy in human clinical trials. More importantly, variable effects were observed in patients carrying the same mutation, suggesting that several factors (e.g., genetic modifiers, environmental factors) can affect treatment outcomes. In this review, we will describe recent advancements and new approaches of gene and cell therapies for dystrophinopathies that pave the way for a medicine "a la carte".
Infundibular Epidermoid Cyst: Case Report and Systematic Review

Background Intracranial epidermoid cysts are benign, congenital, keratinizing, squamous epithelial−lined cysts filled with keratin. They are uncommon and often pose a surgical challenge owing to the adherence to surrounding structures. They are typically found at the cerebellopontine angle or in the parasellar region, where they are associated with abnormal development of the Rathke pouch; involvement of the pituitary stalk is rare. Case Description The patient's electronic health record was queried for relevant data. A systematic review of the literature using dedicated search terms for cases of infundibular epidermoid cysts was conducted. We present a unique case of a 55-year-old male who presented with vision changes and was found to have a parasellar epidermoid cyst confined to the pituitary stalk. The patient underwent endoscopic transsphenoidal resection, and gross total resection was achieved. The patient's postoperative course was significant for possible chemical meningitis and the development of panhypopituitarism. The patient's vision subjectively improved after surgery. Conclusions Although 3 other cases of epidermoid cysts involving the pituitary stalk were identified, our patient's tumor was unique in that it was confined to the stalk. Our patient's case highlights a surgical approach to parasellar epidermoid cysts and the possible complications associated therewith.
It Runs in the Family

In this chapter, we will explore a case involving an expectant couple with a family history of Huntington disease (HD). Family members disagree about whether genetic testing should be performed. By the conclusion of the case discussion, learners will be able to apply principles of confidentiality to complex situations and identify limitations to confidentiality, describe the risks and benefits of genetic testing for heritable diseases, and analyze ethical and health implications of diagnosing a family member with a disease that is known to be heritable.
Economics is whatever the comparative advantage of economists is: a comment on Leeson (2020)

Leeson (2020) objects to the conflation of economics with applied econometrics, and argues that economics instead should be thought of as the implications of the assumption that individuals maximize, i.e. rational choice theory. But, narrowly defining economics in terms of method demands that we ignore alternative theoretical frameworks which potentially hold explanatory power about topics thought of as economics, all for the sake of a definition. I suggest that applying rational choice theory and applying econometrics became the comparative advantage for economists relative to other social scientists by accidents of history. These comparative advantages largely persist. It is reasonable to call applications of both rational choice theory and econometrics to topics outside conventional economic topics ‘economics’ simply because these applications remain the comparative advantage of economists.
RADIOLOGIC FINDINGS SUGGESTIVE OF PORTAL HYPERTENSION MAY IDENTIFY PATIENTS AT RISK FOR FONTAN FAILURE

Portal hypertension (PorHTN) is a manifestation of Fontan-related venous congestion. We studied the prevalence of PorHTN and its association with Fontan hemodynamics and outcomes. We reviewed Fontan patients who underwent cross-sectional abdominal imaging between 2012 and 2019. PorHTN was defined
Medicare Reimbursement Trends for Facility Performed Otolaryngology Procedures: 2000-2019.

OBJECTIVE There is a paucity of data regarding financial trends for procedural reimbursements in otolaryngology. The purpose of this study was to evaluate monetary trends in Medicare reimbursement rates for the 20 most commonly billed otolaryngology procedures from 2000 to 2019. STUDY DESIGN Analysis of physician reimbursement. METHODS The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery database was queried to determine the 20 most performed otolaryngology procedures. Next, the Physician Fee Schedule Look-Up Tool from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was utilized to assess each of the top 20 most utilized Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes in otolaryngology, and reimbursement data was extracted. All monetary data was adjusted for inflation to 2019 U.S. dollars using changes to consumer price index. Average annual and total percentage change in reimbursement were calculated based on adjusted values for all included procedures. RESULTS After adjusting for inflation, the average reimbursement for the total 20 procedures decreased by 37.63% from 2000 to 2019. The greatest single mean decrease was seen in CPT code 61782 for stereotaxis procedures on the skull, meninges, and brain (-59.96%), whereas the smallest mean decrease was in CPT code 30520 for septoplasty (-1.50%). From 2000 to 2019, the adjusted reimbursement rate for the combined procedures decreased by an average of 2.33% each year. CONCLUSION Medicare reimbursement for included procedures has decreased from 2000 to 2019. Increased awareness and consideration of these trends will be important for policy makers, hospitals, and surgeons in order to assure continued access to meaningful otolaryngology care in the United States. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 4 Laryngoscope, 131:496-501, 2021.
The impact of social media on Sudan's uprising behaviour

Despite its growing and significant influence on behavioural change globally, there is limited research published on the role of social media on behavioural and political change. This research proposes an integrative framework that exemplifies the impact of social media on Sudanese constituents' efforts to seek civil government. Trust, word of mouth, relationship, value, and loyalty were key social media mediating variables for the Sudanese behavioural during the uprising. These variables facilitated constituents' positive attitude toward change and the youth movement towards democracy.
Clinical Validation of Single-Chamber Model-Based Algorithms Used to Estimate Respiratory Compliance.

Non-invasive estimation of respiratory physiology using computational algorithms promises to be a valuable technique for future clinicians to detect detrimental changes in patient pathophysiology. However, few clinical algorithms used to non-invasively analyze lung physiology have undergone rigorous validation in a clinical setting, and are often validated either using mechanical devices, or with small clinical validation datasets using 2-8 patients. This work aims to improve this situation by first, establishing an open, and clinically validated dataset comprising data from both mechanical lungs and nearly 40,000 breaths from 18 intubated patients. Next, we use this data to evaluate 15 different algorithms that use the "single chamber" model of estimating respiratory compliance. We evaluate these algorithms under varying clinical scenarios patients typically experience during hospitalization. In particular, we explore algorithm performance under four different types of patient ventilator asynchrony. We also analyze algorithms under varying ventilation modes to benchmark algorithm performance and to determine if ventilation mode has any impact on the algorithm. Our approach yields several advances by 1) showing which specific algorithms work best clinically under varying mode and asynchrony scenarios, 2) developing a simple mathematical method to reduce variance in algorithmic results, and 3) presenting additional insights about single-chamber model algorithms. We hope that our paper, approach, dataset, and software framework can thus be used by future researchers to improve their work and allow future integration of "single chamber" algorithms into clinical practice.
Ranking NIH Funding of Surgical Departments Based Upon a Modified Index

ABSTRACT Background The Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research (BRIMR) reports a ranking of surgical department NIH funding each fiscal year based on more than 41,000 individual investigators. This report is used to measure the research productivity of the faculty or department. However, this method includes institutional grants awarded to Cancer Centers or Centers for Research, which do not reflect individual or departmental research. To measure the research productivity of a surgical department more directly, we created a modified BRIMR index excluding grants to cancer or research centers. We evaluated how our modified index of surgical departments compared to the rankings by BRIMR. Methods Publicly available BRIMR data was filtered for all grants awarded to principal investigators in a surgical department within a medical school. All funding for Cancer Centers or Centers for Research was excluded. The remaining grants were totaled, producing a new ranking of surgical departments. Results After excluding $42,761,752 in grants to Cancer Centers and Centers for Research, there was individual movement of 33 surgical departments on the ranking list. However, only four departments moved either up or down one quartile. No surgical department moved 2 or more quartiles. Conclusions NIH funding for Cancer Centers and Centers for Research comprised 10% of all NIH funding for medical school-associated surgical departments. Exclusion of this funding resulted in no significant change within surgical department quartile rankings. This suggests the BRIMR measure of research productivity does not need modification.
Challenges in real-time-embedded IoT Command Recognition

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) is an effective means of communicating information for command and control of IoT based electronic devices. Voice enabled electronic devices offer the prospect of greater user control and increased system support for deployed platforms. The internet of things (IoT) is an internet-based architecture that allows for data transmission over wireless networks for control and monitoring. By combining previously stated architectures, we can perform many daily tasks remotely, eliminating the need for physical presence. Some challenges associated with command recognition include command word perplexity as well as noise levels/distortion in the environmental setting. In this study, system formulation consisted of (i) a Raspberry-pi low resource microprocessor with fixed computing capacity, and (ii) a ReSpeaker microphone system, which provided an integrated hardware setup for algorithm development to combine aspects of ASR and IoT, allowing users to dictate a variety of commands remotely. The platform eliminates the need for physical interaction with the device by simply listening to commands and performing actions to fulfill the command. The platform is suitable for several settings including residential and commercial spaces due to its low computational resource model. Trade-offs in machine learning based CNN network design and training are explored. Also, challenges and factors that affect speech-command recognition for IoT related applications are considered. A summary of phonetic and computational limiting factors for success in command recognition devices also discussed. The study highlights several ASR based neural net architectures which are integrated within a low-resource computing platform, along with benchmark performance evaluations.
Tissue-specific consequences of the anti-adenoviral immune response: implications for cardiac transplants.

The immune response to adenoviral vectors can induce inflammation and loss of transgene expression in transfected tissues. This would limit the use of adenovirus-mediated gene transfer in disease states in which long-term gene expression is required. While studying the effect of the anti-adenoviral immune response in transplantation, we found that transgene expression persisted in cardiac isografts transfected with an adenovirus encoding β-galactosidase. Transfected grafts remained free of inflammation, despite the presence of an immune response to the vector. Thus, adenovirus-mediated gene transfer may have therapeutic value in cardiac transplantation and heart diseases. Furthermore, immunological limitations of adenoviral vectors for gene therapy are not universal for all tissue types.
Fluid Dynamics Assessment of the VPCAR Water Recovery System in Partial and Microgravity

The Vapor Phase Catalytic Ammonia Removal (VPCAR) system is being developed to recycle water for future NASA Exploration Missions. Testing was recently conducted on NASA s C-9B Reduced Gravity Aircraft to determine the microgravity performance of a key component of the VPCAR water recovery system. Six flights were conducted to evaluate the fluid dynamics of the Wiped-Film Rotating Disk (WFRD) distillation component of the VPCAR system in microgravity, focusing on the water delivery method. The experiments utilized a simplified system to study the process of forming a thin film on a disk similar to that in the evaporator section of VPCAR. Fluid issues are present with the current configuration, and the initial alternative configurations were only partial successful in microgravity operation. The underlying causes of these issues are understood, and new alternatives are being designed to rectify the problems.
σDIS(νN), NLO Perturbative QCD and O(1 GeV) Mass Corrections

The deep-inelastic neutrino-nucleon cross section is one of the components of few GeV neutrino interactions. We present here our results for neutrino-isoscalar nucleon charged current scattering including perturbative next-to-leading order QCD corrections, target mass corrections, charm mass and lepton mass corrections.
Oregon Hydrologic Landscapes: A Classification Framework1

Wigington, Parker J., Jr., Scott G. Leibowitz, Randy L. Comeleo, and Joseph L. Ebersole, 2012. Oregon Hydrologic Landscapes: A Classification Framework. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 1-20. DOI: 10.1111/jawr.12009 Abstract: There is a growing need for hydrologic classification systems that can provide a basis for broad-scale assessments of the hydrologic functions of landscapes and watersheds and their responses to stressors such as climate change. We developed a hydrologic landscape (HL) classification approach that describes factors of climate-watershed systems that control the hydrologic characteristics of watersheds. Our assessment units are incremental watersheds (i.e., headwater watersheds or areas draining directly into stream reaches). Major components of the classification include indices of annual climate, climate seasonality, aquifer permeability, terrain, and soil permeability. To evaluate the usefulness of our approach, we identified 30 rivers with long-term streamflow-gauging records and without major diversions and impoundments. We used statistical clustering to group the streams based on the shapes of their annual hydrographs. Comparison of the streamflow clusters and HL distributions within river basin clusters shows that the Oregon HL approach has the ability to provide insights about the expected hydrologic behavior of HLs and larger river basins. The Oregon HL approach has potential to be a useful framework for comparing hydrologic attributes of streams and rivers in the Pacific Northwest.
Common Issues in International Sports Arbitration

I wanted to begin by letting everyone know that I am not a representative of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), nor am I with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). And, perhaps, I am the most happy to say that I am also in no way affiliated with the Landis decision. What I want to bring to this endeavor as a [Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)] arbitrator who has sat on probably ten to a dozen cases in the last year alone, and as a litigator who has litigated in CAS arbitrations about an equal number on behalf of all things athletes, is that it is very easy to take the extreme cases and not focus on what happens in the middle. That can cause us to miss what the range really looks like, and what is really going on in the cases that form the vast bulk of the docket of an arbitrator, and the docket of the athlete lawyers who get these cases. There are extreme examples out there about the length of time it has taken in the past to get some of these cases resolved. Some of those issues on time have been dealt with because some of the athlete lawyers have asked for additional time, some of them have taken exceptional time because the lawyers for USADA have asked for additional time, and sometimes both
Three photon-absorption autocorrelation in a GaAsP photodiode

Summary form only given. Most recently, two-photon-absorption (2PA) conductivity in semiconductors has become an attractive alternative to second-harmonic generation for the measurement of ultrashort pulses. The method is based on the generation and detection of a photocurrent proportional to the square of the intensity in a semiconductor whose bandgap exceeds the photon energy of the pulses. We report three-photon-absorption (3PA) conductivity in a GaAsP photodiode and its use to achieve optical autocorrelation of short pulses. The /spl sim/150 fs pulses are generated by an optical parametric oscillator tunable from 1.4 to 1.6 /spl mu/m. A standard Michelson-type setup with a speaker allows for real-time autocorrelation. The delayed optical pulses are focussed to a spot size of /spl sim/4 /spl mu/m on the photodiode.
Quantitative Adenomatous Polyposis Coli Promoter Methylation Analysis in Tumor Tissue, Serum, and Plasma DNA of Patients with Lung Cancer

The serum of cancer patients often harbors increased free DNA levels, which can potentially be used for cancer detection. Because genetic and epigenetic alterations of the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene are common events in gastrointestinal tumor development, we sought to investigate the frequency and level of aberrant APC promoter methylation in primary tumors and paired preoperative serum or plasma samples of lung cancer patients by semiquantitative methylation-specific fluorogenic real-time PCR. We detected methylation of APC in 95 of 99 (96%) primary lung cancer tissues. Forty-two of 89 (47%) available serum and/or plasma samples from these cases carried detectable amounts of methylated APC promoter DNA. In contrast, no methylated APC promoter DNA was detected in serum samples from 50 healthy controls. A highly elevated APC methylation level in lung cancer tissue was the only independent factor predicting inferior survival in this cohort (P = 0.015). APC methylation analysis appears to be promising as a prognostic factor in primary lung cancer and as a noninvasive tumor marker in plasma and/or serum DNA.
Comparing Linguistic Features for Modeling Learning in Computer Tutoring

We compare the relative utility of different automatically computable linguistic feature sets for modeling student learning in computer dialogue tutoring. We use the PARADISE framework (multiple linear regression) to build a learning model from each of 6 linguistic feature sets: 1) surface features, 2) semantic features, 3) pragmatic features, 4) discourse structure features, 5) local dialogue context features, and 6) all feature sets combined. We hypothesize that although more sophisticated linguistic features are harder to obtain, they will yield stronger learning models. We train and test our models on 3 different train/test dataset pairs derived from our 3 spoken dialogue tutoring system corpora. Our results show that more sophisticated linguistic features usually perform better than either a baseline model containing only pretest score or a model containing only surface features, and that semantic features generalize better than other linguistic feature sets.
DNA topoisomerase I-mediated DNA cleavage and cytotoxicity of camptothecin analogues

20(S)-Camptothecin, the 20(S)-camptothecin sodium salt, and 12 analogues with substituents on the A ring differ widely in their effectiveness in the treatment of murine L1210 lymphoblastic leukemia in vivo. The drugs were screened in the following systems: System 1, the cleavage of DNA in the presence of purified topoisomerase I; System 2, drug-induced trapping of topoisomerase I in a covalent complex with DNA; and System 3, the induction of protein-associated DNA breaks in drug-treated L1210 leukemia cells. 9-Amino-20(S), 10-amino-20(RS), and 10,11-methylenedioxy-20(RS), drugs effective against murine L1210 leukemia in vivo, stabilize topoisomerase I-DNA cleavable complexes in a purified system and in cultured L1210 cells. Other analogues, inactive against L1210 leukemia in vivo, were totally ineffective in topoisomerase I-directed screens. The rest of the analogues were intermediate in terms of their antitumor and topoisomerase I-directed activities. The study shows that the drug-induced accumulation of enzyme-DNA cleavable complexes is directly proportional to drug cytotoxicity and antitumor activity.
The Relationship Among Television Watching, Physical Activity, and Body Composition of Young Children

Purpose. Television watching has been reported to be associated with obesity, resting energy expenditure, and lower daily physical activity among both children and adolescents. However, most of these studies were based on self report or data collected in laboratory settings. This study examined the relationship among observed time of television watching, observed physical activity level and body composition among 3- or 4-year-old children. Methods. African-American (41.4%), Mexican-American (23%), and Anglo-American (35.6%) children (N = 191, males = 90) from the Texas site of the Studies of Child Activity and Nutrition program were observed from 6 to 12 hours per day up to 4 days over 1 year. Activity level each minute of the day was measured with the Children9s Activity Rating Scale (interobserver reliability = .84 ± .001). The interobserver reliability of time of television watching was .96 ± .08. Results. The median of the longest number of consecutive minutes of television watching was 15 (range = 1 to 79). The median percent of minutes of television watching of total observed minutes was 14.8% (0% to 58%) and the median percent of minutes of inside minutes was 17.9% (0% to 80.9%). There were no gender or ethnic differences in time watching television or physical activity during television watching. Physical activity during television watching was lowest during the longest bout of television watching (\l=x_\ = 1.48 ± .28) compared to outside minutes (\l=x_\ = 2.38 ± .21), inside non-television minutes (\l=x_\ = 1.96 ± .13) and inside television minutes (\l=x_\ = 1.65 ± .18). The level of physical activity during television-watching times was highest (P Conclusions. Television watching was weakly negatively correlated with physical activity levels, and physical activity was lower during television-watching than non-television-watching time in this sample of children. Television viewing behavior was not associated with body composition.
Reproduction and fetal development in rats exposed to nitrous oxide.

The effects of 24 hours of nitrous oxide exposure on reproductive indices and fetal development were examined in Sprague-Dawley rats. Four different experiments employing four concentrations of nitrous oxide--0.75%, 7.5%, 25% and 75%--established that the threshold of toxicity was greater than 25%. At 75% nitrous oxide there was a significant increase in early and late resorptions, and a consistent teratogenic effect (e.g., runts, ocular malformations, limb deformities). Neither the stress of shipping dams while pregnant nor the withholding of food during nitrous oxide exposure resulted in additional adverse effects. Exposure to 25% nitrous oxide was associated with increased deoxyuridine suppression values; however, adverse reproductive effects were not seen at this nitrous oxide concentration. The results of this and other studies which have examined the reproductive and teratogenic effects of nitrous oxide do not contraindicate its use in operating rooms nor, when necessary, as an anesthetic for pregnant surgical patients.
The relationship of cervical lymph node metastases to primary sites of carcinoma of the upper aerodigestive tract: a pathological study.

Background:Therapeutic and elective dissection of the neck is accepted management in the treatment of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the upper aerodigestive tract (UADT). Accurate histological assessment of the levels of involvement of cervical metastatic spread from different sites within the UADT has allowed the increasing use of less than radical procedures, with associated reduced morbidity. Methods: A total of 168 necks in 126 patients were examined pathologically. All levels were identified at surgery, marked and orientated by pinning the specimen to a cork board, and examined histologically. A total of 114 necks had a comprehensive neck dissection (CND) in which all levels were dissected. The number and level of involvement and the occult rate (114 necks) for each primary site was assessed. Of the total of 168 necks, 80 had pathologically involved nodes, and the number with greater than one node involved (N2b)was compared for each primary site. The number with extracapsular spread for each nodal staging was also examined. Results:The sites of primary SCC were the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, supraglottic and glottic larynx. In those patients with a primary in the oral cavity, no patient had level 5 involvement, but in two patients (7%) level 4 was involved. In the oropharynx, level 1 and 5 were involved in two patients (11%) each. In the hypopharynx, level 1 was not involved in any patient, however, level 5 contained metastasis in 7 (23%). In the supraglottic larynx, level 1 was involved in one (4%) patient and level 5 was involved in three (11%). In the glottis only one patient had bilateral multiple nodes which included level 5. In no case was level 5 involved without positive nodes in other levels. The occult rate for each primary site was 45%, 22%, 77%, 54% and 29%, respectively. The multiple node rate in the 80 necks with positive nodes was, respectively, 31%, 54%, 66%, 45% and 40%. All patients with a node larger than 3 cm had extracapsular spread of tumour. Conclusions: The level of nodal involvement and therefore the type of neck dissection should be determined by the site of the primary within the UADT and the presence or absence of nodes at surgery. There is a high number (39–66%) of pathologically involved necks which have multiple nodes and also nodes with extracapsular spread of tumour, which may influence the decision for postoperative radiotherapy.
The crystal structure of methyl 4,6-O-benzylidene-2,3-dideoxy-2-[2-(methoxycarbonyl)phenylamino]-3-nitro-β-d-mannopyranoside

Abstract The crystal structure of methyl 4,6-O-benzylidene-2,3-dideoxy-2-[2-(methoxycarbonyl)phenylamino]-3-nitro-β- d -mannopyranoside, C22H24N2O8, is monoclinic, P21, with cell dimensions a = 13.267(4), b = 9.633(4), c = 8.839(3) A, β = 106.26(2)°, Z = 2. The structure was solved by direct methods, and refined to R(Fobs) = 0.056 for 6959 independent reflections measured with MoKα radiation. The configuration of the molecule was confirmed. The pyranoid conformation is 4C1 with Q = 0.611 A, = 8.5°. The dioxolane conformation is close to the ideal chair. The orientation of the anthranilate ring is such that the amine hydrogen atom forms three intramolecular hydrogen-bonds: one major bond to the anthranilate carbonyl oxygen atom, and two minor bonds to the glycosidic oxygen atom and the ring-oxygen atom. The orientation of the anthranilate group is thus fixed such that the angle between the plane of the benzene ring and that of the nitro group is 116°, thereby permitting an intramolecular, CHO hydrogen-bond between the benzene ortho CH and the nitro oxygen atom. This bond is normal to the plane of the nitro group, and is believed to be the source of the color phenomenon that prompted this structure analysis.
Convergence of the conjugate gradient method when applied to matrix equations representing electromagnetic scattering problems

An iterative procedure based on the conjugate gradient method is used to solve a variety of matrix equations representing electromagnetic scattering problems, in an attempt to characterize the typical rate of convergence of that method. It is found that this rate depends on the cell density per wavelength used in the discretization, the presence of symmetries in the solution, and the degree to which mixed cell sizes are used in the models. Assuming cell densities used in the discretization are in the range of ten per linear wavelength, the iterative algorithm typically requires N/4 to N/2 steps to converge to necessary accuracy, where N is the order of the matrix under consideration.
Laser-induced migration and isotope separation of epi-thermal monomers and dimers in supercooled free jets

Explicit relations are developed to estimate the outflux of migrating isotopomers iQF6 to the outskirts of a supersonic supercooled free jet whose core is irradiated by a co-axial laser beam and intercepted by a skimmer that separates core gas from peripheral gases. The QF6 target gas is diluted in carrier gas G (G = He, N2, Ar, Xe, SF6, etc.) which determines the jet's supersonic characteristics and forms QF6:G dimers at low temperatures. Under isotope-selective laser excitation, excited iQF6* convert their vibrational energy V into kinetic energy T after forming transient iQF6*:G dimers that dissociate in sub-microseconds. Three migrating groups with different transport parameters are created in the jet: thermal monomers, faster-moving epithermal monomers, and slower-moving dimers. Jet-core-fleeing QF6 is enriched in iQF6 due to enhanced outwards migration of iQF6! epithermals and reduced escape of jQF6:G dimers in the jet. Isotope enrichments in the rim gases are highest for heavier carrier gases such as G = Xe or G = SF6.
The Role of Cardiac Ultrasound in Stem Cell Therapy

The role of cardiac ultrasound in evaluating and treating patients with stem cell therapy is reviewed. A number of ultrasound techniques can be used in the evaluation, therapy delivery, and follow-up of patients treated with stem cell therapy. These techniques include evaluation of myocardial systolic and diastolic function, perfusion, ischemia, viability, synchrony, and imaging targeted to specific cell types.
Cocaine administration decreases functional connectivity in human primary visual and motor cortex as detected by functional MRI

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was conducted to observe the effects of cocaine administration on the physiological fluctuations of fMRI signal in two brain regions. Seven long-term cocaine users with an average age of 32 years and 8 years of cocaine use history were recruited for the study. A T2*-weighted fast echo-planar imaging (EPI) pulse sequence was employed at 1.5 T to acquire three sets of brain images for each subject under three conditions (at rest, after saline injection, and after cocaine injection [0.57 mg/kg]). Cross-correlation maps were constructed using the synchronous, low frequency signal from voxel time courses after filtering respiratory, cardiac, and other physiological noise. A quantitative evaluation of the changes in functional connectivity was made using spatial correlation coefficient (SCC) analysis. A marked 50% reduction in SCC values in the region of primary visual cortex and 43% reduction in SCC values in the region of primary motor cortex were observed after cocaine administration. This significant reduction in SCC values in these cortical regions is a reflection of changes in neuronal activity. It is suggested that the observed changes in low frequency components after acute cocaine administration during a resting, no-task situation may be used as a baseline reference source when assessing the effects of cocaine on task-driven activation or on mesolimbic dopamine pathways.
Effects of Subject Position on Balance Platform Measurements

The high cost of commercially available force plates instrumented to quantify postural sway can be prohibitive to both research and clinical institutions. Therefore custom plate design and construction within the institutional environment is not uncommon. Some plate designs, however, may give erroneous measurements depending upon subject position. We report here on the existence of a kern boundary on the plate surface. Loads placed inside this boundary result in support compression, while those placed outside cause at least one support to experience tension. The findings indicate that the type of force transducer used for corner support (unidirectional or bidirectional), the type of connection between the plate and transducers, plate weight, subject weight, plate dimensions and transducer preloads are all critical to accurate measurements.
Behavior of metallic Ce compounds in the intermediate valence and Kondo regimes

Abstract The lattice constants, specific heat, susceptibility and resistivity of five metallic Ce compound systems are discussed. The resistivity of trivalent Kondo lattice systems is found to deviate strongly from conventional Kondo behavior.
N-Propargyloxycarbamate monosaccharides as metabolic chemical reporters of carbohydrate salvage pathways and protein glycosylation

Metabolic chemical reporters of glycosylation allow for the visualization and identification of a variety of glycoconjugates by taking advantage of the promiscuity of carbohydrate metabolism. Here we describe the synthesis and characterization of metabolic chemical reporters bearing an N-propargyloxycarbamate (Poc) group that creates discrimination between glycosylation pathways.
Reciprocity in Adolescent and Caregiver Violence

Over a 2-year period, with assessments every six months, the reciprocity in violent behaviors (verbal and physical) was investigated in a sample of 161 adolescents, who met the criteria for substance or alcohol abuse or dependence, and their caregivers, who participated in a clinical trial for family treatment for adolescent substance abuse. Using observed variables in a structural equation model with panel data, there was very little stability in violent behaviors across time from the perspectives of both the adolescents and caregivers. Evidence for violence reciprocity between adolescent and caregiver was demonstrated toward the end of the study period. The results are discussed in the context of previous literature about adolescent-to-parent violence.