cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Enhancement pattern mapping technique for improving contrast-to-noise ratios and detectability of hepatobiliary tumors on multiphase computed tomography

PURPOSE Currently, radiologists use tumor-to-normal tissue contrast across multiphase computed tomography (MPCT) for lesion detection. Here, we developed a novel voxel-based enhancement pattern mapping (EPM) technique and investigated its ability to improve contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs) in a phantom study and in patients with hepatobiliary cancers. METHODS The EPM algorithm is based on the root mean square deviation between each voxel and a normal liver enhancement model using patient-specific (EPM-PA) or population data (EPM-PO). We created a phantom consisting of liver tissue and tumors with distinct enhancement signals under varying tumor sizes, motion, and noise. We also retrospectively evaluated 89 patients with hepatobiliary cancers who underwent active breath-hold MPCT between 2016 and 2017. MPCT phases were registered using a three-dimensional deformable image registration algorithm. For the patient study, CNRs of tumor to adjacent tissue across MPCT phases, EPM-PA and EPM-PO were measured and compared. RESULTS EPM resulted in statistically significant CNR improvement (P < 0.05) for tumor sizes down to 3 mm, but the CNR improvement was significantly affected by tumor motion and image noise. Eighty-two of 89 hepatobiliary cases showed CNR improvement with EPM (PA or PO) over grayscale MPCT, by an average factor of 1.4, 1.6, and 1.5 for cholangiocarcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and colorectal liver metastasis, respectively (P < 0.05 for all). CONCLUSIONS EPM increases CNR compared with grayscale MPCT for primary and secondary hepatobiliary cancers. This new visualization method derived from MPCT datasets may have applications for early cancer detection, radiomic characterization, tumor treatment response, and segmentation. IMPLICATIONS FOR PATIENT CARE We developed a voxel-wise enhancement pattern mapping (EPM) technique to improve the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of multiphase CT. The improvement in CNR was observed in datasets of patients with cholangiocarcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and colorectal liver metastasis. EPM has the potential to be clinically useful for cancers with regard to early detection, radiomic characterization, response, and segmentation.
Experience with Combining Pediatric Procedures into a Single Anesthetic.

The combination of multiple procedures within a single anesthetic may provide many challenges for the perioperative team. Coordination of specialties, consideration for parental time burdens, and travel expenses as well as limiting multiple anesthetic exposures to the children are pertinent factors to consider when advocating the combination of surgical procedures. Methods The electronic medical record at Nationwide Children's Hospital was retrospectively queried to obtain information on patients having a single anesthetic encounter for 2 or more procedures involving 2 or more services over 1 year (July 2015-June 2016). Results One thousand one hundred twenty patients had 2 procedures during a single anesthetic encounter. The average anesthesia time was 127 ± 102 minutes, and average PACU time was 64 ± 37 minutes. The unanticipated admission rate was 85 of 1,120 cases (7.6%). Five (6%) of the unanticipated admission cases were ASA status 1, 33 (39%) were ASA status 2, and 47 (55%) were ASA status ≥3; compared with 87 (9%), 481 (50%), and 391 (41%) in the group not requiring unanticipated admission (P = 0.032) (see Fig. 1). Conclusions These data demonstrate the feasibility of combining several procedures during a single anesthetic encounter and may result in decreased healthcare costs as well as limitation of parental cost and time obligations.
Trends in Pediatricians’ Developmental Screening: 2002–2016

BACKGROUND: Current guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend screening children for developmental problems by using a standardized screening tool and referring at-risk patients to early intervention (EI) or subspecialists. Adoption of guidelines has been gradual, with research showing many children still not being screened and referred. METHODS: We analyzed American Academy of Pediatrics Periodic Survey data from 2002 (response rate = 58%; N = 562), 2009 (response rate = 57%; N = 532), and 2016 (response rate = 47%, N = 469). Surveys included items on pediatricians’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding screening and referring children for developmental problems. We used descriptive statistics and a multivariable logistic regression model to examine trends in screening and referral practices and attitudes. RESULTS: Pediatricians’ reported use of developmental screening tools increased from 21% in 2002 to 63% in 2016 (P CONCLUSIONS: Pediatricians’ reported use of a standardized developmental screening tool has tripled from 2002 to 2016, and more pediatricians are self-reporting making referrals for children with concerns in developmental screening. To sustain this progress, additional efforts are needed to enhance referral systems, improve EI programs, and provide better tracking of child outcomes.
Why Do People Living with HIV Adhere to Antiretroviral Therapy and Not Comorbid Cardiovascular Disease Medications? A Qualitative Inquiry.

Background After achieving viral suppression, it is critical for persons living with HIV (PLWH) to focus on prevention of non-AIDS comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) in order to enhance their quality of life and longevity of life. Despite PLWH elevated risk of developing CVD compared to individuals without HIV, PLWH do not often meet evidence-based treatment goals for CVD prevention; the reasons for PLWH not meeting guideline recommendations are poorly understood. The objective of this study was to identify the factors associated with adherence to CVD medications for PLWH who have achieved viral suppression. Methods Qualitative data were obtained from formative research conducted to inform the adaptation of a nurse-led intervention trial to improve cardiovascular health at three large academic medical centers in the United States. Transcripts were analyzed using content analysis guided by principles drawn from grounded theory. Results Fifty-one individuals who had achieved viral suppression (<200 copies/mL) participated: 37 in 6 focus groups and 14 in individual semi-structured interviews. Mean age was 57 years (SD: 7.8); most were African Americans (n=31) and majority were male (n=34). Three main themes were observed. First, participants reported discordance between their healthcare providers' recommendations and their own preferred strategies to reduce CVD risk. Second, participants intentionally modified frequency of CVD medication taking which appeared to be related to low CVD risk perception and perceived or experienced side effects with treatment. Finally, participants discussed the impact of long-term experience with HIV care on adherence to CVD medication and motivational factors that enhanced adherence to heart healthy behaviors. Conclusion Findings suggest that future research should focus on developing interventions to enhance patient-provider communication in order to elicit beliefs, concerns and preferences for CVD prevention strategies. Future research should seek to leverage and adapt established evidence-based practices in HIV care to support CVD medication adherence.
Research on flexible control technology of HVDC

Flexible control technology of HVDC realizes multiarea power transmission and improves operational flexibility of DC transmission. By configuration the connection mode of AC field in inverter station, Yong-Fu HVDC project can realize three kinds of operating scenarios: 1) all of the bipolar power is sent to Guangxi grid; 2) all of the power is sent to Yunnan grid; 3) power of the two DC poles is split and sent to Guangxi and Yunnan, respectively. This is the first HVDC project with the above flexibility implemented in China. In this paper, the realization method of the above flexible regulation is analyzed based on the typical AC field structure. Then a simplified equivalent model of the AC field at the Yong-Fu HVDC receiving end is proposed. With this model, power transmission mode conversion control logic is designed. Finally, a corresponding RTDS real-time simulation system of the HVDC is built and used to verify the power transmission mode conversion under different DC power transmission levels. The theoretical analysis and simulation results provide important reference value for the design and control of Yong-Fu HVDC and similar projects in the future.
Stakeholder Perceptions and Experiences of a College Live Mascot Program: a Study of Higher Education Ad Hoc Change.

Organizational change is a complex and critical issue in higher education today. Changes experienced across institutional systems have both short-term and long-term impact, making this phenomenon ripe for educational leadership research. Many universities and colleges have applied Kotter’s (1995) eight-step change model prescriptively to implement academic initiatives, curriculum revisions, and strategic vision. However, Kotter’s (1995) model has not previously explored ad hoc changes over time and has not been used to study a college live mascot program. Although a decreasing campus tradition, college live mascots have a relationship and impact on a student’s experience and college identification, as well as university engagement with alumni and the public. Therefore, understanding how change is identified and experienced by campus stakeholders of a college live mascot program describe the various complexities and issues that initiate a climate for institutional change. To explain the evolution of a college live mascot program, oral histories across twenty years of campus stakeholders, including student trainers, campus administrators, and external consultants were analyzed using Kotter’s (1995) model. The findings of this study affirmed that the steps associated with Kotter’s (1995) change model, with a specific focus on the first three steps, are relevant for ad hoc changes, and offer implications for higher education change.
VESPER: global and local cryo-EM map alignment using local density vectors

An increasing number of density maps of biological macromolecules have been determined by cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and stored in the public database, EMDB. To interpret the structural information contained in EM density maps, alignment of maps is an essential step for structure modeling, comparison of maps, and for database search. Here, we developed VESPER, which captures the similarity of underlying molecular structures embedded in density maps by taking local gradient directions into consideration. Compared to existing methods, VESPER achieved substantially more accurate global and local alignment of maps as well as database retrieval.
Portfolio choice in the model of expected utility with a safety-first component

The standard problem of portfolio choice between one risky and one riskless asset is analyzed in the model of expected utility with a safety-first component that is represented by the probability of final wealth exceeding a “safety” wealth level. It finds that a positive expected excess return remains sufficient for investing a positive amount in the risky asset except in the special situation where the safety wealth level coincides with the wealth obtained when the entire initial wealth is invested in the riskless asset. In this situation, the optimal amount invested in the risky asset is zero if the weight on the safety-first component is sufficiently large. Comparative statics analysis reveals that whether the optimal amount invested in the risky asset becomes smaller as the weight on the safety-first component increases depends on whether the safety wealth level is below the wealth obtained when the entire initial wealth is invested in the riskless asset. Further comparative statics analyses with respect to the safety wealth level and the degree of risk aversion in the expected utility component are also conducted.
Operation of the "Small" BioAMS Spectrometers at CAMS: Past and Future Prospects.

Abstract A summary of results from the solid samples run on our compact 1 MV AMS system over its 13.5 years of operation is presented. On average 7065 samples per year were measured with that average dropping to 3278 samples per year following the deployment of our liquid sample capability. Although the dynamic range of our spectrometer is 4.5 orders in magnitude, most of the measured graphitic samples had 14C/C concentrations between 0.1 and 1 modern. The measurements of our ANU sucrose standard followed a Gaussian distribution with an average of 1.5082 ± 0.0134 modern. The LLNL biomedical AMS program supported many different types of experiments, however, the large majority of samples measured were derived from animal model systems. We have transitioned all of our biomedical AMS measurements to the recently installed 250 kV SSAMS instrument with good agreement compared in measured 14C/C isotopic ratios between sample splits. Finally, we present results from replacement of argon stripping gas with helium in the SSAMS with a 22% improvement in ion transmission through the accelerator and high-energy analyzing magnet.
An update on the framework for a junior level design course

This paper presents a follow up look at a one semester, junior-level design course in electrical engineering at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. A summary of the class's objectives, content, system of systems-based projects and use in assessment are presented for the past three years. The course has evolved from that reported previously where it was centered on mobile robots, sensing and coordinated behavior to its current incarnation that focuses on the design of beacon-finding mobile robots. Beacon-finding robots are the result of the evolution of the course and desire to have students address projects with design and integration of multiple, independent systems. Students are tasked to build an autonomous mobile robot that can detect a Radio Frequency (RF) beacon, and ultimately use the robot's location and measurements from the beacon to determine the beacon's location without necessarily driving to it. The project blends several technical areas of electrical electrical engineering that include electromagnetics, RF, control theory, analog and digital electronics, signal processing, programming, and microcontrollers along with broader skills related to communication and design.
Effects of the Menstrual Cycle on the Acquisition of Peak Bone Mass

The menstrual cycle has huge implications on the building, maintenance, and break down of skeletal bone in women. Due to the fluctuating level of female hormones, the menstrual cycle plays a different role during various times of the month which in turn affects bone health. Estrogen is a crucial hormone for bone turnover/remodeling which, when released, provides a protective mechanism against the process of natural bone loss due to aging. Acquiring a high amount of peak bone mass during adolescence helps to protect the female athlete against rapid degradation of bone due to the decline of estrogen around menopause. Therefore, taking appropriate steps years before and after menopause is crucial in order to preserve bone mass in females.
MIE SCATTERING AND THE MARTIAN ATMOSPHERE

It has been suggested that the discrepancy between radio occultation determinations of the Martian atmospheric surface pressure (3.8 to 7 mb) and those deduced from optical polarization measurements and a simple Rayleigh atmosphere model (about 10 mb) are the results of sub-micron sized aerosols in the Martian atmosphere. Based on observed viewing angle dependence of the polarization of the Martian disk in the visual range, a Mie scattering analysis has been made utilizing the measured complex index of refraction of limonite and bulk solid CO2. The results of this study indicate that limonite aerosols alone are unsatisfactory to explain the viewing angle observations, whereas solid CO2 (and H2O ice) aerosol spheres, having a dominant particle radius range between 0.28 and 0.35 μ, could bring planetary and laboratory observations into compatibility. It is suggested, further, that solid CO2 aerosols could explain limb brightening in the blue spectral range. Various distributions of solid CO2 and H2O Mie particles with radii up to 0.35 μ show an opposition effect. However, the role of these aerosols in explaining the Mars opposition observations is very dependent on the optical properties of the underlying Mars surface material.
Conjugate direction waveform methods for transient two-dimensional simulation of MOS devices

A conjugate-direction based acceleration to the waveform relaxation (WR) algorithm is derived. Experimental results demonstrated the effectiveness of the acceleration when solving the large, sparsely connected algebraic and differential system generated by standard spatial discretization of the 2D time-dependent semiconductor device equations. The waveform conjugate-direction methods were up to 15 times faster than ordinary WR. >
Notch signaling regulates T follicular helper cell function and maintenance during allergic immunity (CCR3P.209)

Success of most current vaccines relies on the production of high-affinity antibodies. The generation of high-affinity antibody producing B cells occurs within the germinal center, and CD4+ T follicular helper cells (Tfh) play an indispensable role during the maturation of these B cells. A critical step in this process is the secretion of interleukin-4 (IL-4) by Tfh cells. IL-4 signaling in germinal center B cells is required for affinity maturation of IgG1. IL-4 production by Tfh cells appears to occur independently from the classical Th2 differentiation pathway. Currently, the mechanisms regulating IL-4 production by Tfh cells are unknown. One intriguing possibility for non-canonical IL-4 production in Tfh cells is the Notch pathway. Notch signaling is required for the differentiation of Tfh cells, and has been shown to modulate IL-4 production. Here, we provide mechanistic evidence for Notch signaling in the production of IL-4 by Tfh cells. Inhibition of Notch signaling after germinal center formation resulted in a significant decrease in the percentage and number of Tfh cells actively producing IL-4. Furthermore, inhibition of Notch signaling led to decreased expression of the chemokine receptor CXCR5 in IL-4 producing CD4+ T cells, which corresponded to a repositioning of IL-4-competent cells outside of the germinal center. These findings suggest a model in which Notch signaling is not only important in Tfh differentiation, but also in Tfh function and maintenance.
Food Stamps: Program Parameters and Standards of Living for Low-Income Households

The food stamp and other assistance programs for low-income households require continual adjustment if some form of equity across time is to be achieved. For this reason, cost-of-living adjustments and related mechanisms for reflecting changes in prices and the economic status of the target populations have been used in formulae for computing the food stamp bonus and other welfare transfers.
Public Sector Collective Bargaining, Majoritarianism, and Reform

This article explores the claim that collective bargaining for public employees subverts democracy, focusing in particular on public school teachers. Critics note that teacher collective bargaining agreements cover countless policy topics including the length of the school day, teacher personnel policies, class size, and more. Critics further argue that bargaining supplants the ordinary democratic processes for setting policy, excluding the public and allowing teachers unions to exert disproportionate control on these issues.I question the claim that collective bargaining allows unions to force their preferences on the public. For example, local legislatures must approve and fund all labor agreements, and state laws have long defined a broad class of topics as “permissive” for bargaining, meaning that the parties can bargain on the topics only if both consent. Although governments and unions often bargain over permissive topics, the permissive designation empowers governments to cease bargaining when mutually beneficial compromise appears unlikely, thereby shifting policy questions into the normal political process.Reformers could embrace the permissive designation. Instead, many have promoted rules that prohibit bargaining altogether on many topics. Legislators in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, and Idaho have recently adopted this approach. But these efforts badly miss the mark. The real issue for reformers is not how to limit unions’ involvement in policymaking but rather how to ensure that government officials use their power to advance the wishes of the public through bargaining.I offer several recommendations in light of this new assessment of public sector bargaining. I suggest broad use of the permissive distinction together with heightened involvement of local legislatures in bargaining. The proposal is more majoritarian — and more supportive of public employees’ labor rights — than the bargaining prohibitions currently in vogue.
Silicon carbide mirrors for high power applications

The advent of synchrotron radiation (SR) sources and high energy lasers (HEL) in recent years has brought about the need for optical materials that can withstand the harsh operating conditions in such devices. SR mirrors must be ultra-high vacuum compatible, must withstand intense x-ray irradiation without surface damage, must maintain surface figure under thermal loading and must be capable of being polished to an extremely smooth surface finish. Chemical vapor deposited (CVD) silicon carbide in combination with sintered substrate material meets these requirements and offers additional benefits as well. It is an extremely hard material and offers the possibility of being cleaned and recoated many times without degradation of the surface finish, thereby prolonging the lifetime of expensive optical components. It is an extremely strong material and offers the possibility of weight reduction over conventional mirror materials.
Summary of Apollo, a D-3He tokamak reactor design

The key features of Apollo, a conceptual D-3He tokamak reactor for commercial electricity production, are summarized. The 1000-MW(electric) design utilizes direct conversion of synchrotron radiatio...
Microcontact printing of P-selectin increases the rate of neutrophil recruitment under shear flow.

The local variation of P-selectin expression on inflamed endothelial layers affects leukocyte recruitment in vivo. As an initial study of the spatially heterogeneous presentation of P-selectin in vitro, the influence of microcontact printing (μCP) of P-selectin on a planar surface in neutrophil recruitment was investigated using a parallel-plate flow chamber. Microline patterned and nonpatterned P-selectin were prepared using PDMS, Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PMDS) stamps and isolated neutrophils perfused over the surface to quantify the level of neutrophil recruitment. We first found a significant increase in cell rolling flux and a decrease in cell rolling velocity on the microcontact printed P-selectin-surfaces compared with a randomly adsorbed P-selectin-surface. However, the increase in rolling adhesion under shear on the surfaces prepared by μCP was not proportional to the number of functional sites of P-selectin transferred using immunofluorescent labeling. Interestingly, the relative immunofluorescent intensities of the nonfunctional regions of microcontact printed P-selectin-surfaces were substantially lower than that that of randomly adsorbed P-selectin. Taken together, these data indicate that the μCP of selectin increases the transfer rate of the adhesion molecule on a surface in the functionally correct orientation and, consequently, improves the recruitment of leukocytes to the selectin surface under flow. It is concluded that μCP may be a more general technique to control protein orientation on a substrate.
Skeletal alterations in ovariectomized rats

Female Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to either bilateral ovariectomy or sham surgery. Tetracycline derivatives were administered to each rat on two separate occasions to label sites of bone formation. All rats were sacrificed at 5 weeks postovariectomy and their proximal tibiae were processed undecalcified for quantitative bone histomorphometry. A twofold decrease in trabecular bone volume was noted in the proximal tibial metaphysis of ovariectomized rats. This bone loss was associated with elevated histomorphometric indices of bone resorption and formation. Ovariectomy increased osteoclast surface and numbers as well as osteoblast surface and numbers. Elevations in calcification rate and fractional trabecular bone surface with double tetracycline labels also suggest that bone formation was stimulated in ovariectomized rats. In addition, ovariectomized rats exhibited a greater rate of longitudinal bone growth relative to sham-operated control rats. These histomorphometric data indicate that ovariectomy induces marked bone loss and accelerated skeletal metabolism in rats.
The more things change, the more things stay the same?

The articles included in this volume of Education and Urban Society inform the special issue theme that poses the question “Are We There Yet?” An examination of educational equity in the era of school reform and accountability. The research by Harris, Diamond, and Finnigan raises important issues regarding the role of teacher expectations, teacher capacity, and principal leadership play in improving the quality of teaching and learning in urban, low-performing schools. The article in this special issue give me deja vu because the highlighted themes, such as the expectations that teachers have for students as discussed by Harris (in this volume), reflect earlier work (see Rist, 1970; Sandholtz, Ogawa, & Scribner, 2004). However, the enduring issues highlighted here have been pressed on by the recent policy shifts. At the same time, despite two decades of dramatic shifts in educational reform and policy among states and local school districts pre– and post–No Child Left Behind (NCLB), we see that the more things have changed, the more things seem to have stayed the same. The very rich accounts from teachers in urban schools settings with low to average achievement illustrates that pedagogical practices have remained very much the same at the level of the classroom. As Diamond suggests (in this volume), content may have changed in classrooms but teacher practice has not necessarily evolved. Finnigan’s work (in this volume) shows the important role principals have on teacher motivation to improve student learning. These manuscripts highlight the fact that we operate in an educational system that is impoverished when it comes to working with the practice. A consistent
Effects of variable viscosity and viscous dissipation on the flow of a third grade fluid in a pipe

Abstract The flow of a fluid-solid mixture is very complicated and may depend on many variables, such as the physical properties of each phase and the size and shape of the solid particles. One approach to the study of these flows is to model the mixture as a non-Newtonian fluid. Much effort has been put into analyzing various transport processes in non-Newtonian fluids, such as coal slurries. Heat transfer plays an important role in the handling and processing of these fluids. In this paper, the fully developed flow of an incompressible, thermodynamically compatible fluid of grade three in a pipe is studied. The temperature of the pipe is assumed to be higher than the temperature of the fluid and the shear viscosity of the fluid is assumed to be a function of the temperature.
Electrical Performance from Bifacial Illumination International Space Station Photovoltaic Array

With the first U.S. photovoltaic array activated on the International Space Station in December 2000, on-orbit data can be compared to analytical predictions. Because of space station operational constraints, it is not always possible to point the front side of the arrays at the sun. Thus, in many cases, sunlight directly illuminates the backside of the array as well as albedo illumination on either the front or the back. During this time, appreciable power is produced because the solar cells are mounted on a thin, solar transparent substrate. It is important to present accurate predictions for both front and backside power generation for mission planning, certification of flight readiness, and on-orbit mission support. To provide a more detailed assessment of the power production capability, the authors developed a photovoltaic array electrical performance model applicable to generalized bifacial illumination conditions. We describe the space station photovoltaic array performance model and the methods used to reduce orbital performance data. Analyses were performed using SPACE, a NASA Glenn Research Center-developed computer code for the space station. Results showed an excellent comparison of on-orbit performance data and analytical results.
Numerical simulation of three-dimensional nonlinear water waves

We present an accurate and efficient numerical model for the simulation of fully nonlinear (non-breaking), three-dimensional surface water waves on infinite or finite depth. As an extension of the work of Craig and Sulem [19], the numerical method is based on the reduction of the problem to a lower-dimensional Hamiltonian system involving surface quantities alone. This is accomplished by introducing the Dirichlet-Neumann operator which is described in terms of its Taylor series expansion in homogeneous powers of the surface elevation. Each term in this Taylor series can be computed efficiently using the fast Fourier transform. An important contribution of this paper is the development and implementation of a symplectic implicit scheme for the time integration of the Hamiltonian equations of motion, as well as detailed numerical tests on the convergence of the Dirichlet-Neumann operator. The performance of the model is illustrated by simulating the long-time evolution of two-dimensional steadily progressing waves, as well as the development of three-dimensional (short-crested) nonlinear waves, both in deep and shallow water.
Optimal timing and indications for cholecystectomy in cardiac transplant patients.

Cardiac transplant is performed with increasing frequency as the treatment for end-stage cardiac disease. Although cholelithiasis is more frequent in both pretransplant and posttransplant patients, no standard management approach exists. Because many such patients are cared for outside the transplant center, it is important that general surgeons develop an appropriate strategy to manage this entity. We present our experience with 11 patients from our institution who underwent cholecystectomy before or after cardiac transplantation. In addition, we have reviewed the 76 reported cases of cholecystectomy performed in precardiac or postcardiac transplant patients from centers throughout the world. Any procedure in this patient group requires critical consideration in regard to the timing and type of procedure. Pretransplant patients are well recognized cardiac risks, and posttransplant immuno-suppressed patients are at considerable risk for septic complications. Six patients underwent cholecystectomy prior to heart transplant. Five were performed laparoscopically, one as an open procedure. We also report five laparoscopic cholecystectomies in patients after cardiac transplant. One patient in the pretransplant group died 7 days after surgery from an uncontrollable arrhythmia. There were no hemodynamic or septic complications in either group. Current summated experience (87 cases) indicates that the mortality rate for urgent cholecystectomy in the posttransplant group is at least 36%. Because the first presentation of gallstones in this population is often acute cholecystitis, asymptomatic calculi cannot be considered benign. Elective cholecystectomy, laparoscopic or open, is tolerated well both before and after transplant. Given these facts, it seems reasonable to recommend pretransplant screening and posttransplant surveillance for gallstones. Prophylactic pretransplant laparoscopic cholecystectomy should be undertaken in the stable patient to avoid the substantial mortality associated with postoperative acute cholecystitis.
Quantitative Formulation of Reliability in Stratigraphic Correlation

The probability that two stratigraphic events are in a particular order in a section in which they occur in sequence is p. Because of finite sampling, statistical techniques are used to calculate the parameters p9 and p l , which express the uncertainty of our knowledge of p; p9 is the measured value of the maximum likelihood estimator of p and p l is the lower end point of the confidence interval on which p must lie. The most reliable sequence for stratigraphic correlation is obtained by maximizing the parameter p9 (1-p l ) between pairs of events.
Exergy & economic analysis of biogas fueled solid oxide fuel cell systems

Abstract We present an exergy and an economic analysis of a power plant that uses biogas produced from a thermophilic anaerobic digester (AD) to fuel a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). We performed a 4-variable parametric analysis of the AD-SOFC system in order to determine the optimal design operation conditions, depending on the objective function of interest. We present results on the exergy efficiency (%), power normalized capital cost ($ kW−1), and the internal rate of return on investment, IRR, (% yr−1) as a function of the current density, the stack pressure, the fuel utilization, and the total air stoichiometric ratio. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first AD-SOFC paper to include the cost of the AD when conducting economic optimization of the AD-SOFC plant. Our calculations show that adding a new AD-SOFC system to an existing waste water treatment (WWT) plant could yield positives values of IRR at today's average electricity prices and could significantly out-compete other options for using biogas to generate electricity. AD-SOFC systems could likely convert WWT plants into net generators of electricity rather than net consumers of electricity while generating economically viable rates of return on investment if the costs of SOFC systems are within a factor of two of the DOE/SECA cost targets.
Level set based vertebra segmentation for the evaluation of Ankylosing Spondylitis

Ankylosing Spondylitis is a disease of the vertebra where abnormal bone structures (syndesmophytes) grow at intervertebral disk spaces. Because this growth is so slow as to be undetectable on plain radiographs taken over years, it is necessary to resort to computerized techniques to complement qualitative human judgment with precise quantitative measures on 3-D CT images. Very fine segmentation of the vertebral body is required to capture the small structures caused by the pathology. We propose a segmentation algorithm based on a cascade of three level set stages and requiring no training or prior knowledge. First, the noise inside the vertebral body that often blocks the proper evolution of level set surfaces is attenuated by a sigmoid function whose parameters are determined automatically. The 1st level set (geodesic active contour) is designed to roughly segment the interior of the vertebra despite often highly inhomogeneous and even discontinuous boundaries. The result is used as an initial contour for the 2nd level set (Laplacian level set) that closely captures the inner boundary of the cortical bone. The last level set (reversed Laplacian level set) segments the outer boundary of the cortical bone and also corrects small flaws of the previous stage. We carried out extensive tests on 30 vertebrae (5 from each of 6 patients). Two medical experts scored the results at intervertebral disk spaces focusing on end plates and syndesmophytes. Only two minor segmentation errors at vertebral end plates were reported and two syndesmophytes were considered slightly under-segmented.
Trust metrics in information fusion

ABSTRACT Trust is an important concept for machine intelligence and is not consistent across many applications. In this paper, we seek to understand trust from a variety of factors: humans, sensors, communications, intelligence processing algorithms and human-machine displays of information. In modeling the various aspects of trust, we provide an example from machine intelligence that supports the various attributes of measuring trust such as sensor accuracy, communication timeliness, machine processing confidence, and display throughput to convey the various attributes that support user acceptance of machine intelligence results. The example used is fusing video and text whereby an analyst needs trust information in the identified imagery track. We use the proportional conflict redistribution rule as an information fusion technique that handles conflicting data from trusted and mistrusted sources. The discussion of the many forms of trust explored in the paper seeks to provide a systems-level design perspective for information fusion trust quantification. Keywords: Trust, Metrics, High-Level Information Fusion, Situation Assessment, Situation Awareness.
Health-related quality of life in methadone maintenance patients with untreated hepatitis C virus infection.

Abstract Objective To assess health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) patients with untreated chronic HCV infection and to determine the clinical factors that predict HRQOL. Method HRQOL was measured in 100 MMT patients entering an HCV treatment trial. Subjects were mostly male (61%) and white (81%) with a mean age of 43 (±10). 57% had a current non-substance use psychiatric disorder. 55% had a current (past 12 months) substance use disorder, including 44% with current opioid or cocaine abuse/dependence. HRQOL in our sample was compared to published reports for the general population as well as for non-MMT HCV patients. To assess predictors of SF-36 HRQOL, hierarchical multiple regression techniques were used to assess model improvement with four blocks of baseline predictors: Demographics, Medical Severity, Addiction Severity, and Depression Severity. Results HRQOL scores were significantly lower than scores for the general population and were also lower than scores reported for untreated HCV patients not in MMT. Regression analysis demonstrated a consistent pattern whereby Depression Severity increased predictive accuracy for HRQOL measures over simpler models. Beck Depression Inventory scores significantly predicted quality of life across both the mental and physical composite scores and all eight sub-scales of the SF-36. Conclusions Untreated HCV patients in MMT had lower HRQOL than HCV patients not in MMT. Depression Severity was associated with significantly lower quality of life measures, suggesting that psychiatric evaluation and intervention prior to the start of HCV treatment may improve overall quality of life and could influence HCV treatment outcomes in MMT patients.
Surgical treatment of laryngomalacia

When evaluating an infant for stridor, laryngomalacia is the most commonly encountered diagnosis. In most cases, laryngomalacia is a benign, self-limited diagnosis, and treatment is expectant. In more severe cases, the child may have respiratory distress or feeding difficulties. Significant laryngomalacia may require medical and/or surgical therapy. Supraglottoplasty is indicated if airway or feeding symptoms persist after a careful preoperative evaluation and trial of medical therapy. A conservative surgical approach with division of aryepiglottic folds or unilateral mucosal ablation will avoid the serious complication of supraglottic stenosis. The success rate of supraglottoplasty for relieving symptoms of airway distress and feeding difficulties is excellent, and tracheotomy is rarely required for airway control.
Fault-tolerant sensor integration using multiresolution decomposition

Signal integration is an important aspect of many physical applications. It is often necessary to limit the effects of noise when data from several sensors are integrated to provide a consolidated estimate of some physical quantity being measured. This paper proposes a method of applying the idea of multiresolution to the problem of efficient integration of abstract sensor estimates when the number of sensors is very large and a large number of sensor faults are tame. The idea essentially consists of constructing a simple function from the outputs of the sensors in a cluster and resolving this function at various successively finer scales of resolution to isolate the region over which the correct sensors lie. We develop an optimal O(NlogN) algorithm, where N is the total number of sensors, that implements this idea efficiently. This proposed application will result in speeding up computations involved in reducing the measure of the integrated output estimate by giving rise to an alternative method of narrowing down the region containing the correct value of the parameters being measured by the sensors.
Anti-inflammatory action of exendin-4 in human islets is enhanced by phosphodiesterase inhibitors: potential therapeutic benefits in diabetic patients

Aims/hypothesis Exendin-4, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue, is reported to have modest anti-inflammatory effects in addition to that of improving beta cell survival. We therefore sought to determine whether exendin-4 decreases expression of the gene encoding chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand (CXCL)10, which plays a role in initiating insulitis in type 1 diabetes.
Hand abnormalities in the fetal hydantoin syndrome

The fetal hydantoin syndrome exhibits a multisystem pattern of abnormalities including distal phalangeal hypoplasia, craniofacial malformations, mental retardation, and other defects occurring in some newborn infants exposed in utero to the hydantoin group of anticonvulsive drugs. Hand abnormalities serve as a warning signal of more severe associated anomalies.
Measurement of nitric oxide and brain tissue oxygen tension in patients after severe subarachnoid hemorrhage.

OBJECTIVE: Nitric oxide (NO), one of the most powerful endogenous vasodilators, is thought to play a major role in the development of delayed vasospasm in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). However, the role of the production of cerebral NO in patients with SAH is not known. In other SAH studies, NO metabolites such as nitrite and nitrate have been demonstrated to be decreased in cerebrospinal fluid and in plasma. METHODS: In this study, a microdialysis probe was used, along with a multiparameter sensor, to measure NO metabolites, brain tissue oxygen tension, brain tissue carbon dioxide tension, and pH in the cortex of patients with severe SAH who were at risk for developing secondary brain damage and vasospasm. NO metabolites, glucose, and lactate were analyzed in the dialysates to determine the time course of NO metabolite changes and to test the interrelationship between the analytes and clinical variables. RESULTS: Brain tissue oxygen tension was strongly correlated to dialysate nitrate and nitrite (r2 = 0.326; P < 0.001); however, no correlation was noted between brain tissue oxygen tension and NO metabolites in cerebrospinal fluid (r2 = 0.018; P = 0.734). No significant correlation between NO production, brain tissue carbon dioxide tension, and dialysate glucose and lactate was observed. CONCLUSION: Cerebral ischemia and compromised substrate delivery are often responsible for high morbidity rates and poor outcomes after SAH. The relationship between brain tissue oxygen and cerebral NO metabolites that we demonstrate suggests that substrate delivery and NO are linked in the pathophysiology of vasospasm after SAH.
DECISIONS WITH ORDINAL PREFERENCES AND IMPORTANCES

This paper investigates the multi‐criteria decision function in which the information available is just ordinal information on preferences and importance. A procedure is developed to combine the individual objective orderings to form an overall ordering based upon importances of each of the objectives. The theory of fuzzy sets is used as a framework in this paper.
Abstract 5568: Constitutively activation of STAT3 is a prognostic factor in activated B-cell subtype of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL We have previously reported aberrant activation of the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) pathway promotes cell proliferation and survival in the activated B-cell-like (ABC) subtype, but not in the germinal center B-cell-like (GCB) subtype of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Herein, we investigated the effects of small molecular inhibitors of STAT3 in sensitizing DLBCL cell to chemotherapy drugs. ABC-DLBCL lines Ly3 and Pfeiffer were more resistant to vincristine-induced cell death than GCB-DLBCL cells Ly1 and Ly7 were. In ABC-DLBCL cells, constitutive activation of STAT3 provided survival signal and inhibited vincristine-induced apoptosis, while inhibition of STAT3 signaling abrogated IL-6 secretion and promoted cell apoptosis. STAT3 inhibitor and chemotherapy drugs synergistically induced cell apoptosis, with increased caspases 3/7 activity and PARP cleavage, in ABC-DLBCL cells but not in the GCB-DLBCL cells. The effect was correlated with reduced expression of MCL1 in these cells. To investigate the prognostic significance of STAT3 activation in DLBCL patients, we evaluated the levels of phospho-Tyr705-STAT3 (PY-STAT3) expression by immunohistochemistry in a cohort of 309 DLBCL patients treated with R-CHOP regimen. The ABC-DLBCL subgroup had significantly higher number of PY-STAT3 positive cases compared to the GCB subgroup (59.4% vs 36.2%; P = 0.003). Constitutive activation of STAT3 pathway has a significant impact on the overall-survival (OS) and event-free-survival (EFS) in the entire DLBCL cohort (OS, P = 0.010; EFS, P = 0.006) and in the ABC subgroup (OS, P = 0.062; EFS, P=0.016). Moreover, we constructed a subgroup of genes representing STAT3 activation from the gene expression profiling data of STAT3-siRNA treated ABC cell lines and primary DLBCL samples. Attributions of these genes include repression with the STAT3 knockdown in DLBCL cell lines, overexpression in the PY-STAT3-positive DLBCL tumors, and containing one or more STAT3 binding motif within their promoter regions. Eleven genes were obtained when trained this gene subgroup with patient survival through a semi-supervised algorithm. Averaged expression of the eleven genes predicted the OS (P < 0.001) and EFS (P < 0.001) in the entire DLBCL cohort, as well as in the ABC-DLBCL subgroup (OS, P = 0.029; EFS, P = 0.025). In conclusion, our study demonstrated that STAT3 activation is a significant prognostic factor in DLBCL and suggested that STAT3 may be a new therapeutic target in this aggressive malignancy. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5568. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-5568
Thermokinetics of unsaturated polyester and vinyl ester resins

An experimental study was carried out to investigate the isothermal and non-isothermal curing kinetics of unsaturated polyester and vinyl ester resins, using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Emphasis was put on investigating the effect of low-profile additives on the curing kinetics of the thermo-setting resins. For the study, a general-purpose polyester resin and a vinyl ester resin were used, together with polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) as low-profile additive, benzoyl peroxide as initiator, and N,N-dimethyl aniline as promoter. It has been found that (1) the addition of the low-profile thermoplastic-additive decreases the rate of cure and, also, the final degree of cure of the resins, (2) the total heat of cure generated by isothermal cure is lower than that generated by non-isothermal cure, and (3) the resin/initiator mixture with promoter exhibits two major exotherm peaks during non-isothermal cure, but only a single exotherm peak during isothermal cure.