cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Long-term effects on nursing alumni: Assessing a course in public and global health

The impact of a cultural awareness course among nursing students may affect the particular person for years to come. Cultural awareness can be taught via many methods, often requiring study abroad and/or extreme investment of time, money and effort. There is little research on sustained effects on nursing alumni from such a course. The purpose of this descriptive survey study was to determine the long term outcomes of a cultural awareness course and 2) compare the long term effects between alumni who went abroad and those who chose to complete the course locally. One hundred and twenty-one nursing alumni completed the International Education Survey (IES) (Zorn, 1996) with additional open-ended questions. Quantitative and qualitative results concluded: 1) nursing alumni were influenced long term by a course dedicated to public and global health and 2) all alumni had statistically significant IES scores but alumni who studied abroad had the greatest increase.
Against the TEF: For Quality Learning

In this piece, I argue for reclaiming concepts like teaching excellence and quality and developing an alternative discourse to that of the fatally flawed Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).
Facet joint injection did not relieve chronic low-back pain

Source Citation Carette S, Marcoux S, Truchon R, et al. A controlled trial of corticosteroid injections into facet joints for chronic low back pain. N Engl J Med. 1991 Oct 3;325:1002-7.
Do You Believe the Field of Psychological Science Is Headed in the Right Direction

The state of psychological science is considered in terms of current issues and suggestions for the future.
Stress Processes and the Costs of Coping

Increased public attention in the late 1960s and early 1970s to the importance of the physical environment in shaping our health and behavior stimulated a renewed interest in these issues on the part of social and health scientists. To a great extent, work during this period was stressor-specific. Independent groups of researchers studied noise, population density, temperature variations, and the like with little cross-stressor integration of theory or data. This work was also conducted in relative isolation from theoretical and empirical work on similar problems. For example, even though Lazarus (1966), Janis (1958), and others had described and empirically demonstrated the role of cognition in mediating the associations between stressor exposure and behavior and/or health, those studying environmental stressors tended to focus on stressor intensity alone with only a handful of researchers considering cognitive factors. Since the mid-1970s research on the impact of environmental stressors on behavior and health has become increasingly integrated into the larger field of psychological stress research. This book documents that integration and discusses its implications for the study of stress and coping processes. We develop a broad theoretical framework that emphasizes the commonalities between psychosocial stress and environmental stress as well as the commonalities between various environmental stressors. We focus on issues that we view as central to understanding the stress and coping process and present original data that exemplify and occasionally provide answers to the questions we raise. In order to place this discussion in context, we include critical reviews of the literatures on the impact of environmental stress on cognition, control, and health.
Retrieved-context models of memory search and the neural representation of time

Episodic memories are defined as taking place in a particular spatiotemporal context, that is, in a particular time and place. How the neural system constructs a representation of time is an open question. The perceptual characteristics of stimuli can be manipulated, allowing one to characterize corresponding changes in neural signal, but time is invisible, and cannot be manipulated directly. However, we can look at the structure and operation of computational models of memory to determine the predicted properties of a neural representation of temporal context. These predictions have been examined in a number of recent studies, reviewed here.
Evaluation of Two Matrices for Long-Term, Ambient Storage of Bacterial DNA

Background: Culture-independent molecular analyses allow researchers to identify diverse microorganisms. This approach requires microbiological DNA repositories. The standard for DNA storage is liquid nitrogen or ultralow freezers. These use large amounts of space, are costly to operate, and could fail. Room temperature DNA storage is a viable alternative. In this study, we investigated storage of bacterial DNA using two ambient storage matrices, Biomatrica DNAstable® Plus and GenTegra® DNA. Methods: We created crude and clean DNA extracts from five Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates. Extracts were stored at −30°C (our usual DNA storage temperature), 25°C (within the range of temperatures recommended for the products), and 50°C (to simulate longer storage time). Samples were stored at −30°C with no product and dried at 25°C and 50°C with no product, in Biomatrica DNAstable Plus or GenTegra DNA. We analyzed the samples after 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 weeks using the Nanodrop 1000 to determine the amount...
Chemopreventive Effects of Berries and Berry Components in the Rodent Esophagus

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the 7th leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Its etiology and late detection rate make it an important target for intensive studies in chemoprevention and treatment. The Fischer-344 rat model of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma has been used extensively to evaluate the ability of black raspberries (BRBs) and other berry types to inhibit esophageal tumorigenesis. In this model, tumors are induced by the nitrosamine carcinogen, N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine (NMBA). Dietary BRBs inhibit both the initiation and promotion/progression stages of esophageal tumorigenesis in the rat. They inhibit initiation events by influencing the metabolic activation and detoxification of NMBA, and promotion/progression events by reducing cell proliferation, inflammation, and angiogenesis and by stimulating apoptosis and differentiation. Genes associated with these cellular functions are positively modulated by BRBs. Biofractionation studies indicate that amongst the most active chemopreventive agents in BRBs are the anthocyanins. An anthocyanin-enriched fraction of BRBs was nearly as active as whole BRBs themselves in preventing esophageal tumorigenesis. However, the ellagitannins and other constituents in the fiber fraction of BRBs are also active and studies are underway to further identify these constituents. In a recent study, 7 different berry types, including the “exotic” berries (acai, noni and wolfberry [goji]), were compared for their ability to inhibit NMBA-tumorigenesis in the rat esophagus. All seven types were active, irrespective of their content of anthocyanins and ellagitannins. It appears that each berry type has unique constituents with cancer preventive potential.
Contraceptive Options for Women with Thrombophilia and Thromboembolic Disease

Thromboembolic diseases, including venous thromboembolism (VTE), are one of the leading causes of maternal mortality in the USA. However, for women at high risk of VTE due to thrombophilia or other risk factors, there is a large unmet need for appropriate contraceptive care. While combined hormonal contraception elevates VTE risk above that of nonusers, the highest risk periods are often during pregnancy and postpartum. Consequently, health care providers caring for women with VTE, or at high risk for VTE, should make every effort to address their contraceptive needs in an individualized and evidence-based fashion. This chapter explores current evidence on the safety of contraceptive use among women at high risk for thromboembolic disease and provides a framework for managing common contraceptive issues as they arise. Despite current research gaps, it is clear that most women under care for a current or a past VTE can safely use several effective contraceptive methods, including long-acting reversible contraception (LARC). Given the low typical-use failure rates of LARC methods, presenting such methods as first-line contraceptive agents should be routine in this population, as it should be for all women. Diligent attention to the contraceptive and preconception planning needs of women in this high-risk population will promote significant strides toward reducing unintended and mistimed pregnancy and its associated morbidity and mortality.
Comparative Investigation of Secondary Cell Wall Development in Cotton Fiber Near Isogenic Lines Using Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR FT-IR)

In this investigation, we applied previously proposed simple algorithms to analyze the attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR FT-IR) spectra of cotton fibers during secondary cell wall (SCW) biosynthesis. The infrared crystallinity ( CIIR) and maturity ( MIR) indices were compared from developmental fibers representing two pairs of upland cotton near isogenic lines (NILs). One pair of NILs consisted of Texas Marker-1 (TM-1) and an immature fiber ( im) mutant that differ in fiber maturity. The other pair of NILs included MD52ne and MD90ne that show variations in fiber strength. The observations revealed significant difference in the MIR values between developmental TM-1 and im NILs grown at a field in crop year 2015, and also a significant difference in the CIIR values between these NILs grown at the same field in crop year 2011. These different patterns of CIIR and MIR values during fiber development for the two different crop years indicated the impact of genetics and crop year on the development of fiber maturity and crystallinity of the TM-1 and im fibers. Furthermore, the tendency of linking CIIR with MIR values suggested that the im fibers have more CIIR development than the TM-1 fibers when the fibers have the similar MIR values. In contrast, the NIL pair having variations in fiber strength showed insignificant differences in the patterns of CIIR and MIR as well as the relationship between CIIR and MIR values. The results suggested that CIIR and MIR indices from ATR FT-IR measurement could be used to facilitate the understanding of how fiber genetics and crop year affect fiber maturity and crystallinity during SCW biosynthesis.
Retrosigmoid Approach for Vestibular Schwannoma Surgery

The retrosigmoid approach offers hearing preservation for small and medium-sized vestibular schwannomas while providing excellent exposure of the cerebellopontine angle and lateral cerebellomedullary cisterns that contain critical neurovascular structures. A 3 × 3 cm retrosigmoid craniotomy with exposure of the TSSJ and an approximately 1/4 of the medial border of the sigmoid sinus is sufficient enough in many cases of VS surgeries. With small and medium-sized tumors, the initial exposure of the tumor includes its lateral part of the tumor, the AICA and its subarcuate branch, the lower cranial nerves and the PICA in the inferior aspect of the tumor, as well as the petrosal vein in the rostral aspect. Good postoperative FN function can be achieved by, maintaining the blood supply of the FN, minimizing bipolar coagulation around the nerve, preserving the arachnoid plane between the tumor and the FN, and keeping the tumor capsule intact during internal decompression. Surgical precautions to achieve a better postoperative hearing outcome include; gentle manipulation of the CoN, obtaining meticulous hemostasis, providing a bloodless surgical field, protecting the labyrinthine artery, avoiding excessive retraction of the cerebellum and compression of the brainstem, preservation of veins, keeping the drilling field clean to avoid aseptic meningitis, and appropriate monitoring of the CoN during the surgery. Complications of the surgery may include; cranial nerve dysfunctions such as facial, cochlear, and lower cranial nerves, CSF leak and meningitis, headache, disequilibrium, tinnitus, and also tumor recurrence.
Validating the demographic, political, psychological, and experimental results obtained from a new source of online survey respondents:

Researchers have increasingly turned to online convenience samples as sources of survey responses that are easy and inexpensive to collect. As reliance on these sources has grown, so too have conce...
Stagnation layer development from two colliding Sn plasmas for an efficient EUV source

The collision of two laser-produced plasmas (LPP), individually generated from the opposing faces of a tin wedge, was studied experimentally and through the HEIGHTS computer simulation package to explore onset and development of the stagnation layer and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photoemission. The colliding Sn plasma offers promise for a powerful source of 13.5 nm light, the industry-identified wavelength being targeted for commercial EUV lithography light sources. A second laser pulse could efficiently couple with the material accumulated along the collision midplane to produce EUV with high power. Imaging of the LPP configuration is accomplished using an ICCD camera while electron temperature and density of the stagnation layer were determined using spectroscopic methods—both were verified using HEIGHTS which was also used to show the potential of an EUV source with 700 W power at the intermediate focus for efficient high-volume manufacturing.
With NCS, the Clinician May Get Stuck in the Past or Lost in the Present.

In his construction of the Narrative Coherence Standard (NCS), Dr. Goldberg (2020) strives to expand the standard of care for decisional capacity assessment beyond the legally derived MacArthur Cri...
Automated Aerosol Puffers Effectively Deliver 1‐Octen‐3‐Ol , An Oviposition Antagonist Useful Against Spotted‐Wing Drosophila

Background Automated aerosol puffers releasing behaviorally active volatile organic compounds can deter insect pests in crops. During 2016, we tested the efficacy of aerosol puffer arrays emitting 1-octen-3-ol at reducing Drosophila suzukii oviposition in fall-bearing raspberries in Western New York State. During 2017, we compared the performance of aerosol puffers with a passive diffusion release method (vial dispensers), as well as puffer timing and placement within the field. Results During 2016, we found that octenol application in the field via aerosol puffer systems resulted in a 20% decrease in D. suzukii oviposition compared to control plots. During 2017, we found that aerosol puffers releasing octenol were 42-55% more effective than vial dispensers at deterring oviposition. We also found that a discontinuous application of octenol during dawn and dusk was sufficient to deter D. suzukii oviposition equivalent to continuous applications throughout the day. Although we observed no differences in infestation depending on puffer placement, low fly populations at the time of the trial may have affected the data. Conclusions Our data indicate that automated aerosol puffer systems may reduce D. suzukii infestation to a greater extent than vial dispensers. If adopted, a discontinuous puffer release schedule may protect both economic and ecological interests by reducing the amount of material required to achieve efficacy. Further research on puffer placement is needed to determine whether perimeter applications are effective in larger scale field research and in combination with attractants as part of a push-pull management system.
Soaking of Autologous Tendon Grafts in Vancomycin Before Implantation Does Not Lead to Tenocyte Cytotoxicity.

Background:Surgical site infections (SSIs) after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction procedures are an unfortunate complication. Soaking grafts in vancomycin before implantation has bee...
Opioid Use in Robotic-Arm Assisted Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Comparison to Conventional Manual Total Knee Arthroplasty.

INTRODUCTION Opioids are frequently prescribed in the postoperative management of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) with multiple factors influencing postoperative opioid use. Robotic-arm-assisted TKA (raTKA) was developed with the goal of improving alignment and outcomes while decreasing soft tissue injury. The purpose of this study was to compare postoperative opioid consumption in raTKA and conventional manual TKA (mTKA) cohorts. MATERIALS AND METHODS A consecutive series of unilateral primary TKAs performed 1/1/16 to 12/31/17 were included. Patients with major procedures requiring opioids occurring within one year of TKA were excluded. A single-surgeon raTKA cohort of 127 patients (Group 1) was compared to a same-surgeon cohort of 119 mTKAs (Group 2) using the same cemented implant design and a two-surgeon cohort of 410 mTKA (Group 3). Groups were subdivided into opioid naive (ON) and opioid exposed (OE). Length of hospitalization and postoperative opioid utilization up to one year were compared between groups and collectively without separating raTKA and mTKA. Statistical analysis included Chi-square, Student's t-test, and Wilcoxon rank sum tests. RESULTS For both ON and OE patients, Group 1 demonstrated reduced inpatient mean daily oral morphine milligram equivalent (MME) compared to Group 3 (ON p=0.007; OE p=0.034), a shorter hospitalization compared to Group 2 (ON p=0.02; OE p=0.012), and fewer opioids prescribed at discharge compared to Group 2 (ON p=0.005; OE p=0.081) and Group 3 (ON p<0.001; OE p=0.036). No differences in opioid prescriptions were seen at three months or after. Regardless of surgical technique OE patients had higher inpatient opioid utilization (p<0.001) as well as cumulative outpatient prescription quantity (MME 1050 ON, 2660 OE) and duration (ON 0.5%; OE 28.3%) at one year (p<0.001). CONCLUSION Less opioids were prescribed at discharge and used during hospitalization in raTKA compared to mTKA though no differences in opioid use were seen at further time points. Preoperative opioid use remains a dominant factor in postoperative opioid utilization regardless of TKA surgical technique.
Investigation of Electrochemical Corrosion of SS316L in Different Electrolyte

Corrosion is defined as the destruction of metals and alloys by chemical or electrochemical reaction with its environment. The corrosion occurs because of the normal trend of metals to come back to their thermodynamically stable native state. Corrosion cannot be avoided, but it can be controlled and prevented by using suitable methods like cathodic protection, anodic protection, metallic coating, alloying and using inhibitors, etc. Of these, the application of inhibitors reduces the aggressiveness of the corrosive and unsafe aqueous surroundings and preventing the metal and alloy from corrosion by forming a protective layer over the metal surface. The corrosion behavior of stainless steel and other metals in seawater has been studied by many researchers [1-2]. Stainless steels (316L) have been used successfully in many applications in the marine environment. 316L is considered to be one of the most resistant of stainless steel under marine environments, and it has excellent mechanical properties at elevated temperatures and easy fabricability. It is an important structural material for many industrial units, especially the desalination plants. 316L is the most likely candidate for saline environment applications due to their excellent corrosion resistance.The present work was undertaken to study the corrosion behavior of SS 316L metal in different mediums such as Seawater and calcium chloride (Fig. 1) solution by polarization study. The effect of oxygen or air in the electrolyte solution will also be investigated. Corrosion parameters such as corrosion potential, corrosion current, linear polarization resistance, and corrosion rate will be compared and presented in the meeting.References[1] Baoping Cai et al., Corrosion Science 52 (2010) 3235–3242[2] Yong Cui et al., Water Research 88 (2016) 816-825Figure 1
Complex Organic Matter Synthesis on Siloxyl Radicals in the Presence of CO

Heterogeneous phase astrochemistry plays an important role in the synthesis of complex organic matter (COM) as found on comets and rocky body surfaces like asteroids, planetoids, moons and planets. The proposed catalytic model is based on two assumptions: a) siliceous rocks in both crystalline or amorphous states show surface-exposed defective centers such as siloxyl (Si-O•) radicals; b) the second phase is represented by gas phase CO molecules, an abundant C 1 building block found in space. By means of quantum chemistry; (DFT, PW6B95/def2- TZVPP); the surface of a siliceous rock in presence of CO is modeled by a simple POSS (polyhedral silsesquioxane) where a siloxyl (Si-O•) radical is present. Four CO molecules have been consecutively added to the Si-O• radical and to the nascent polymeric CO (pCO) chain. The first CO insertion shows no activation free energy with ∆G 200K =-21.7 kcal/mol forming the SiO-CO• radical. The second and third CO insertions show ∆G ‡ 200K ≤ +10.5 kcal/mol. Ring closure of the SiO-CO-CO• (oxalic anhydride) moiety as well as of the SiO-CO-CO-CO• system (di-cheto form of oxetane) are thermodynamically disfavored. The last CO insertion shows no free energy of activation resulting in the stable five member pCO ring, precursor to 1,4-epoxy-1,2,3- butanone. Hydrogenation reactions of the pCO have been considered on the SiO oxygen or on the carbons and oxygens of the pCO chains. The formation of the reactive aldehyde SiO-CHO on the siliceous surface, is possible. In principle, the complete hydrogenation of the (CO) 1−4 series results in the formation of methanol and polyols. Furthermore, all the SiO-pCO intermediates and the lactone 1,4-epoxy-1,2,3-butanone product in its radical form can be important building blocks in further polymerization reactions and/or open ring reactions with H (aldehydes, polyols) or CN (chetonitriles), resulting in highly reactive multi-functional compounds contributing to COM synthesis.
Image Analysis Pipeline for Renal Allograft Evaluation and Fibrosis Quantification.

Introduction Digital pathology improves the standardization and reproducibility of kidney biopsy specimen assessment. We developed a pipeline allowing the analysis of many images without requiring human preprocessing and illustrate its use with a simple algorithm for quantification of interstitial fibrosis on a large dataset of kidney allograft biopsy specimens. Methods Masson trichrome–stained images from kidney allograft biopsy specimens were used to train and validate a glomeruli detection algorithm using a VGG19 convolutional neural network and an automatic cortical region of interest (ROI) selection algorithm including cortical regions containing all predicted glomeruli. A positive-pixel count algorithm was used to quantify interstitial fibrosis on the ROIs and the association between automatic fibrosis and pathologist evaluation, estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and allograft survival was assessed. Results The glomeruli detection (F1 score of 0.87) and ROIs selection (F1 score 0.83 [SD 0.13]) algorithms displayed high accuracy. The correlation between the automatic fibrosis quantification on manually and automatically selected ROIs was high (r = 1.00 [0.99–1.00]). Automatic fibrosis quantification was only moderately correlated with pathologists’ assessment and was not significantly associated with eGFR or allograft survival. Conclusion This pipeline can automatically and accurately detect glomeruli and select cortical ROIs that can easily be used to develop, validate, and apply image analysis algorithms.
Narrative Inquiry: Articles on Slavery

In my research, which involves collecting individuals’ account and their lived experiences of becoming a slave. I am seeking to understand how racism affects the worldwide view in today’s society. In view of history, in relation to slavery, I was presented four summarized interviews from voices of participants who actually lived between 1936 and 1938, the slavery time frame. Three of the four participants were from Alabama and one from Kansas. The language usage of participants from Alabama was broken English which was challenging by means of interpretation. It appears the participant from Kansas spoke correct grammatically utilizing good grammar and word pronunciation. Furthermore, the writers led one to believe the participants from Alabama were not educated. In relation to the content of their lived experiences, while living in different areas, each participant brought to the forefront similarities related to working on a plantation with a white master, viewpoints surrounding education, and the importance of religious church meetings.
MinCNE: Identifying Conserved Noncoding Elements Using Min-Wise Hashing

Conserved noncoding elements (CNEs) are non-protein-coding genomic regions that exhibit an extreme degree of conservation. CNEs are mostly clustered around the genes and found to play important roles in regulating the transcription processes. Identification of CNEs is, therefore, important for studying their functional properties. Most of the existing CNE-finding methods are pairwise alignment based, and their scalability suffers when multiple sequences need to be processed simultaneously. We propose a new efficient alignment-free CNE-finding method, MinCNE. It finds CNEs among multiple sequences where k-mers derived from each sequence are clustered using minhash signatures and locality-sensitive hashing. The performance evaluation demonstrated MinCNE to be computationally efficient without compromising the accuracy. The MinCNE source codes are available at https://github.com/srbehera/MinCNE.
Commentary: Looking at the bicuspid aortic valve through the right angle

Abstract The search continues for methods to optimize planning for the repair of the bicuspid aortic valve. This study further enhances our knowledge of the anatomy of the bicuspid valve.
Pathogenesis of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage: a hypothesis with supporting data.

Publisher Summary Hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage is a unique pathological phenomenon, a comparable process occurring in no other organ system. Evidence indicates that this lesion results from a necrotizing arteriopathy in the cerebral vascular bed, the onset and progression of which precedes similar changes in the systemic vasculature. During a period of intensive study of the dynamics of cerebrovascular disease a hypothesis of the pathogenesis of this process has been constructed. A hypothesis is advanced explaining the vulnerability of the cerebral vasculature in hypertension and the pathogenesis of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage. This postulate is based upon two premises: It is not elevated blood pressure per se, but rather the tonic reaction of vessels to this stress, which causes the widespread vascular injury occurring in hypertension. Structural and functional properties of the cerebral vasculature place it at a disadvantage in withstanding an elevated pressure head, rendering it particularly susceptible to injury in hypertension. The striking superiority of extraneural over neural vascular beds in reactivity to a broad spectrum of vasoactive agents provides strong supporting evidence for the proposed hypothesis. Pertinent supporting evidence from the literature is also cited.
Can Anchoring and Loss Aversion Explain the Predictability in the Housing Market

Summary We offer an explanation of why changes in house prices are predictable. Extending the static model in Leung and Tsang (2010), we analyze the housing market with loss averse sellers and anchoring buyers in a dynamic setting. A buyer’s current offer price increases with the housing unit’s previous purchase price, and the seller has the tendency to delay the sale of a housing unit that has a loss. We show that when both cognitive biases are present, changes in house prices are predicted by price dispersion and trade volume. Using a sample of housing transactions in Hong Kong from 1992 to 2006, we find that price dispersion and transaction volume are indeed powerful predictors of housing return. For forecasting both in and out of sample, the two variables perform as well as conventional predictors like real interest rate and real stock return.
A novel AP-2 adaptor interaction motif initially identified in the long-splice isoform of synaptojanin 1, SJ170

Phosphoinositides play a fundamental role in clathrin-coat assembly at the cell surface. Several endocytic components and accessory factors contain independently folded phosphoinositide-binding modules that facilitate, in part, membrane placement at the bud site. As the clathrin-coat assembly process progresses toward deeply invaginated buds, focally synthesized phosphoinositides are dephosphorylated, principally through the action of the phosphoinositide polyphosphatase synaptojanin 1. Failure to catabolize polyphosphoinositides retards the fission process and endocytic activity. The long-splice isoform of synaptojanin 1, termed SJ170, contains a carboxyl-terminal extension that harbors interaction motifs for engaging several components of the endocytic machinery. Here, we demonstrate that in addition to DPF and FXDXF sequences, the SJ170 carboxyl terminus contains a novel AP-2 binding sequence, the WXXF motif. The WXXF sequence engages the independently folded α-subunit appendage that projects off the heterotetrameric AP-2 adaptor core. The endocytic protein kinases AAK1 and GAK also contain functional WXX(FW) motifs in addition to two DPF repeats, whereas stonin 2 harbors three tandem WXXF repeats. Each of the discrete SJ170 adaptor-interaction motifs bind to appendages relatively weakly but, as tandemly arrayed within the SJ170 extension, can cooperate to bind bivalent AP-2 with good apparent affinity. These interactions likely contribute to the appropriate targeting of certain endocytic components to clathrin bud sites assembling at the cell surface.
Comparison of treatment response classifications between unidimensional, bidimensional, and volumetric measurements of metastatic lung lesions on chest computed tomography.

Rationale and objectives To study the agreement in treatment response classifications between unidimensional (1D), bidimensional (2D), and volumetric (3D) methods of measuring metastatic lung nodules on chest computed tomography (CT). Materials and methods Chest CT scans of 15 patients undergoing treatment for metastatic colorectal, renal cell, or breast carcinoma to the lungs were analyzed. CT images were acquired with 3 mm collimation and contiguous reconstruction. Two or three lung lesions were selected for each patient. Lesions were analyzed at baseline and two follow-up intervals of 1–4 months. 1D and 2D measurements were made with electronic calipers, while nodule volume was measured using a semiautomated segmentation system. Following the World Health Organization and RECIST (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors) criteria, patients were categorized into four treatment response classifications. Volumetric criteria were used to classify response based on 3D measurements. Results Thirty-two lesions from 15 patients were analyzed. Because each patient had a baseline and two follow-up scans, this yielded 30 response classifications for each measurement technique. The 1D, 2D, and 3D measurements were concordant in 21 of 30 classifications. The 1D and 3D measurements were concordant in 29 of 30 classifications, while the 2D and 3D measurements were concordant in 23 of 30 classifications. Level of agreement among the three methods was measured using a kappa statistic (K). For 1D compared with 3D, K = 0.739 ± 0.345 (visits 1, 2) and 0.273 ± 0.323 (visits 2, 3). For 2D compared with 3D, K = 0.655 ± 0.325 (visits 1, 2) and 0.200 ± 0.208 (visits 2, 3). Agreement among the methods for round and ovoid nodules was also fair to poor. Conclusion The three methods of tumor measurement show fair to poor agreement in treatment response classification. These findings have negative implications for the accuracy in which patients are classified under the World Health Organization or RECIST criteria and managed under cancer treatment protocols.
Preservation of functional aerobic capacity with daily submaximal exercise during intravenous feeding in hospitalized normal man.

We evaluated the relationship between nutritional status and maximal aerobic capacity in hospitalized normal subjects receiving intravenous nutritional support. In addition, the impact of a daily submaximal exercise regimen on maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 Max) during weight-stable intravenous feeding (IVF) was quantified. Six normal male volunteers were studied serially in the post-absorptive state following 3 days of standard enteral feeding, after 10 days of starvation, and after 10 days of intravenous nutritional repletion (group A). Another group of 11 normal subjects were studied post-absorptively after 3 days of enteral feeding and again after 10 days of weight-stable IVF (group B). Five of the 11 subjects in group B were randomized to perform 1 hour of daily bicycle exercise at 75 watts during IVF whereas the remaining 6 subjects received IVF without daily exercise.
Effect of glucose--insulin--potassium solution on the exercise performance of patients with coronary artery disease.

Abstract Treadmill exercise testing was performed in double blind fashion on nine untrained nondiabetic subjects with angiographically proven coronary artery disease and stable exercise tolerance. They were exercised on three different days in randomized sequence as follows: With infusion of 30 per cent solution of glucose in water containing 50 units of regular insulin and 80 mM. of KCl per liter, 50 ml. bolus followed by 1 ml./Kg./hr. (GIK); with infusion of normal saline, (NSS), 50 ml. bolus followed by 1 ml./Kg./hr. and without infusion (control). There were no significant differences between control and saline experiments. A decrease in work capacity (9.9 ± 3.4 to 7.0 ± 2.1 METS p −1 , p In GIK, a decrease in serum FFA compared to resting level was noted at the end of exercise (197 ± 246 μEq/L.) and during exercise at 5 METS (272 ± 400 μEq/L.) as opposed to an increase (566 ± 853 μEq/L., p The data indicate that GIK diminishes the exercise performance and hastens the onset of angina in patients with coronary artery disease. It appears that increased availability of glucose and potassium does not have a beneficial effect in the presence of depressed FFA levels during exercise.
Interfacial fluxes at a grid-stirred diffusive interface

Abstract Results from a grid-mixing experiment in a diffusive thermohaline system are described. A model is proposed to separate the effects of interfacial flux and interfacial movement (entrainment) on property changes in the mixed layer and the present results for heat and salt fluxes are compared with previous studies in unstirred diffusive systems. Comparison of an eddy time-scale and a time-scale for development of instability in the interfacial boundary layers suggests a means of determining whether stirring or double-diffusive instability controls the interfacial transports. For the present conditions there was a negligible effect of diffusive stratification on entrainment rates, and interfacial fluxes were increased by the stirring. It is suggested that the ratio R F R ϱ , where R F is the interfacial flux ratio and R ϱ is the interfacial stability ratio, should be a function of the overall bulk Richardson number, Ri .
Teacher and Student Behaviors in the Contexts of Grade-Level and Instructional Grouping.

Teacher behaviors such as providing frequent opportunities to respond and feedback are known to promote student engagement. In addition, contextual variables such as grade-level and instructional grouping may affect engagement. However, less is known about teacher behavior in these instructional contexts. This study aimed to examine active instruction and engagement across elementary, middle, and high schools using a large database of direct classroom observations. Additional analyses were conducted to examine teacher and student variables within and between instructional groupings in elementary schools. Results revealed that whole-group instruction was the most frequently used format regardless of grade level, but individual opportunities to respond and active engagement were significantly higher during small-group lessons. Exploratory analyses of subsets of observations indicated that (a) group size affected frequency and duration of discrete teacher and student behaviors and (b) relationships among var...
Computation for crosstalk effects in p-on-n Hg1-xCdxTe heterojunction IRFPA radiated by using uniformly parallel light

In our work, a three-dimensional IRFPA model has been constructed to conduct device simulations for drift-diffusion based Hg1-xCdxTe devices. The model uses the finite element method and numerical errors are automatically eliminated during computation. Computational results can thus easily achieve accuracy. The computer model was constructed by using C++ language. We have successfully represented simulation results in three-dimensional graphics. In this paper, a model for analyzing infrared-illuminated p-on-n photodiodes is presented. The computational results were verified analytically and experimentally. Furthermore, an IRFPA device model was built for calculating crosstalk by using uniformly collimated infrared radiation. Devices used for the model were linear FPAs. Ohmic contacts with zero bias were applied on electrodes. Other physics phenomena such as recombinations were also considered in the analyses. This model and simulation approach can provide an efficient way to reduce crosstalk in designing advanced MCT IRFPA devices.© (2000) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Optimization of Mn doping in group-IV-based dilute magnetic semiconductors by electronic codopants

The percentage of substitutional doping of magnetic atoms (Mn) in group-IV-based dilute magnetic semiconductors can be increased by codoping with another conventional electronic dopant, as demonstrated from first-principles calculations recently [W. G. Zhu, Z. Y. Zhang, and E. Kaxiras, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 027205 (2008)]. Here, we report extensive theoretical investigations of the kinetic and thermodynamic characteristics of several codoped systems including bulk Si and Ge as hosts and various group-III and group-V dopants. The main findings are as follows. The $n\text{\ensuremath{-}}p$ pairing of $n$-type codopants with $p$-type substitutional Mn is energetically stable in bulk Ge and Si. Mn atoms move from interstitial sites to substitutional sites easier (with lower kinetic barriers) in the presence of a neighboring $n$-type codopant. Magnetic coupling between two Mn atoms in bulk Ge oscillates between positive (ferromagnetic) and negative (antiferromagnetic) values with increasing Mn-Mn distance, but in Mn/As codoped Ge the coupling parameter remains positive at all distances beyond nearest neighbors and this qualitative difference does not change with the doping level. For Mn-doped Si, all coupling values except for the nearest-neighbor one are positive and do not change much upon codoping. We find an unconventional magnetic anisotropy in the codoped system, that is, the dependence of magnetic coupling on the relative positions of the magnetic ions and their neighboring donors. We map the calculated magnetic coupling to a classical Heisenberg model and employ Monte Carlo simulations to estimate the Curie temperature $({T}_{c})$. We find that in Mn-doped Ge no ferromagnetic order exists for Mn concentrations ranging from 3.13% to 6%. Instead, a spin-glass phase transition occurs at $\ensuremath{\sim}5\text{ }\text{K}$ at 5% Mn doping. For Mn/As codoped Ge, ${T}_{c}$ increases nearly linearly with the Mn concentration and reaches 264 K at 5% Mn doping.
A new type of protein methylation activated by tyrphostin A25 and vanadate

It has been reported that S-adenosylmethionine-dependent protein methylation in rat kidney extracts can be greatly stimulated by tyrphostin A25, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. We have investigated the nature of this stimulation. We find that addition of tyrphostin A25, in combination with the protein phosphatase inhibitor vanadate, leads to the stimulation of methylation of polypeptides of 64, 42, 40, 36, 31, and 15 kDa in cytosolic extracts of mouse kidney. The effect of tyrphostin appears to be relatively specific for the A25 species. The enhanced methylation does not represent the activity of the families of protein histidine, lysine or arginine methyltransferases, nor that of the l-isoaspartyl/d-aspartyl methyltransferase, enzymes responsible for the bulk of protein methylation in most cell types. Chemical and enzymatic analyses of the methylated polypeptides suggest that the methyl group is in an ester linkage to the protein. In heart extracts, we find a similar situation but here the stimulation of methylation is not dependent upon vanadate and an additional 18 kDa methylated species is found. In contrast, little or no stimulation of methylation is found in brain or testis extracts. This work provides evidence for a novel type of protein carboxyl methylation reaction that may play a role in signaling reactions in certain mammalian tissues.
Is China Becoming Neoliberal

Contemporary China has recently been seen as in the throes of `neoliberal restructuring'. This claim is contested on theoretical and methodological grounds. During the period of economic liberaliza...
Keratohyalin protein in disorders of keratinization.

The epidermis of patients with several different types of ichthyosis has been analyzed for the presence of keratohyalin granules, a positive stain for protein-bound histidine, and the incorporation of labeled histidine into protein. It has been shown that when keratohyalin granules are absent there is no increased incorporation of histidine in the upper malpighian layer or increased staining for histidine as is observed in normal epidermis. In a variety of lower vertebrates, kerathohyalin granules are absent and there is no staining for histidine. The absence of keratohyalin granules appears to be associated with a failure to synthesize a histidine-rich protein.
Demographic and Social Characteristics and Spending at the End of Life

In the United States and abroad, the aging of the population and changes in its demographic and social composition raise important considerations for the future of health care and the systems that pay for care. Studies in the United States on end-of-life expenditures and utilization focus primarily on Medicare and have reported differences in formal end-of-life spending and types of services used by age, race, gender, and other personal characteristics, with most notable differences attributed to age at death. Although overall health care spending tends to be higher for people who are white and women, these patterns tend to either reverse themselves or narrow at the end of life. However, age at death continues to be associated with large spending differences at the end of life, with end-of-life spending declining at older ages. Although different data sources, analytic methods, and definitions of end-of-life care make comparisons of the absolute level of end-of-life spending in the United States to that of other countries difficult, a reading of the existing literature reveals some similarities in the distribution of spending across patient characteristics, even across different systems of health care and insurance. In particular, end-of-life spending tends to decline with age, indicating that treatment intensity likely declines with age in most countries to varying degrees. Future international collaborations may help to make data collection and analysis efforts more comparable, enabling identification of factors associated with high-quality end-of-life care and helping health care planners across countries to learn from the successes of others.
Surveillance of Injury Mortality

Injury surveillance data can be analyzed for a variety of purposes including: detecting injury trends, measuring the size of the problem, identifying high-risk populations, projecting resource needs, establishing priorities, developing prevention strategies, supporting prevention activities, and evaluating prevention efforts. Nonfatal injury contributes much to the burden of injury, as only a small proportion of injuries result in death. Nonfatal injuries differ from fatal injuries not only in their magnitude but also in their attributes. This chapter complements the chapter on surveillance of injury mortality and emphasizes issues relevant to the surveillance of nonfatal injuries using existing data systems. Several issues concerning injury morbidity surveillance are described and discussed including: data sources, classification, definitions, presentation and dissemination, evaluation and improvement, and future directions. Examples and issues described in the chapter, unless otherwise noted, focus on surveillance in the USA.
Interfacial resistance in gas absorption

A laminar jet method for contracting a liquid with a gas for contact times down to 1 msec. has been developed. A jet is formed with a very thin square-edged orifice to minimize boundary-layer effects, and the rate of absorption of carbon dioxide into water is found to depend only upon contact time, an indication that the method is self-consistent. The rate of absorption of carbon dioxide into pure water is 1 to 4% lower than the theoretical rate for absorption into a jet in rodlike flow the surface of which is instantaneously saturated. This indicates that, at most, interfacial resistance in this system is small and justifies the common assumption of interfacial equilibrium. Jets with thick boundary layers were formed with other types of orifices, and the absorption rates into these jets were lower than the theoretical value because of the decreased surface velocity. This effect can be easily mistaken for an interfacial resistance. The presence of a commercial surface-active agent causes an apparent interfacial resistance which is due at least partly to a hydrodynamic effect.
Anti-S-100 Serum blocks long-term potentiation in the hippocampal slice

S-100 is a calcium-binding, glial protein which has been shown to be involved in behavioral learning and memory tasks. Long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampus is a long-lasting enhancement of synaptic efficacy evoked by repetitive afferent stimulation. When anti-S-100 serum is applied by pressure ejection onto the stratum radiatum of area CA1 of the hippocampal slice, the amplitude of the extracellularly recorded population spike is not affected. However, repetitive stimulation of the afferents during S-100 application failed to produce LTP. At a distant site in the same slice, LTP occurs normally. Preimmune normal rabbit serum had no effect on the development of LTP. It appears that S-100 protein is involved in the establishment of LTP.
Turnover of ribosomal RNA in liver.

Abstract Labeling with [ 3 H]orotic acid or [ Me - 3 H]methionine it is found that the specific radioactivities of 28 S and 18 S ribosomal RNA decrease at similar rates in normal mouse liver, suggesting that they turn over simultaneously.