cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The nucleus interstitialis striae terminalis and the nucleus amygdaloideus medialis: prime targets for androgen in the rat forebrain.

The following autoradiographic study was done to examine the patterns of aromatization within the limbic system itself. It has been established that during the aromatization of testosterone (T) to estradiol the C-lβ and the C-2β hydrogens are lost, while those at C-lα and C-2α are retained. Thus, by comparing animals injected with testosterone labeled in either the lα,2α or the 1α,2beta; positions, one can determine whether aromatization has taken place in a given region of the limbic system. Twenty-four-day-old female rats, which had been ovariectomized and adrenalectomized 24 h before the experiment, were injected with either 1 μg/100 g BW [1β, 2β-3H(N)]T (40 Ci/mmol) or [lα, 2α-3H (N)] T (59 Ci/mmol). In addition, a few animals that received the β-labeled T were treated with 100 μg/100 g BW unlabeled T. The animals were killed 1.5 h later and the brains were removed, sliced, and mounted on tissue holders. The ounted tissue was then frozen in liquified propane and stored in liquid nitrogen until process...
Avoidant coping moderates the association between anxiety and patient-rated physical functioning in heart failure patients

Previous research has indicated that anxiety may be associated with adverse health outcomes in heart failure patients. Little research, however, has explored whether anxiety interacts with patients’ coping strategies in their associations with physical functioning. The present study examined whether coping strategies moderated the association between anxiety and self-rated physical functioning in 273 heart failure patients. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis, adjusting for demographic and medical covariates, indicated that both anxiety (b = 1.15, β = 0.46, P < 0.001) and avoidant coping (b = 0.43, β = 0.16, P < 0.01) were significantly associated with poorer physical functioning in separate models. Results also demonstrated a significant interaction between avoidant coping and anxiety (b = 0.56, β = 0.14, P < 0.01), such that the association between anxiety and poorer physical functioning was stronger for patients who frequently used avoidant coping strategies than for those who avoided less frequently. Approach coping, however, was not directly associated with physical functioning, nor did it moderate the association between anxiety and physical functioning. The findings suggest that anxious heart failure patients who engage in avoidant coping may be at particular risk for physical dysfunction.
ZrO2- and Li2ZrO3-stabilized spinel and layered electrodes for lithium batteries

Strategies for countering the solubility of LiMn{sub 2}O{sub 4} (spinel) electrodes at 500 {sup o}C and for suppressing the reactivity of layered LiMO{sub 2} (M = Co, Ni, Mn, Li) electrodes at high potentials are discussed. Surface treatment of LiMn{sub 2}O{sub 4} with colloidal zirconia (ZrO{sub 2}) dramatically improves the cycling stability of the spinel electrode at 50 {sup o}C in Li/LiMn{sub 2}O{sub 4} cells. ZrO{sub 2}-coated LiMn{sub 0.5}Ni{sub 0.5}O{sub 2} electrodes provide a superior capacity and cycling stability to uncoated electrodes when charged to a high potential (4.6 V vs Li{sup 0}). The use of Li{sub 2}ZrO{sub 3}, which is structurally more compatible with spinel and layered electrodes than ZrO{sub 2} and which can act as a Li{sup +}-ion conductor, has been evaluated in composite 0.03Li{sub 2}ZrO{sub 3} - 0.97LiMn{sub 0.5}Ni{sub 0.5}O{sub 2} electrodes; glassy Li{sub x}ZrO{sub 2 + x/2} (0<x{<=}2) products can be produced from colloidal ZrO{sub 2} for surface coatings.
Employers' Perceptions of Online Accounting Education.

The main focus of this research is on perceptions of accounting employers of those individuals obtaining their accounting education online. An online survey of accounting professionals was conducted, and the findings suggest that a candidate with a traditional education is more suitable for employment than a candidate with an online education. Also, the reputation of the candidate’s institution, as well as the candidate’s grade point average and work experience, all have an impact on an employer’s hiring decision. However, the perception of respondents is that online education is becoming more acceptable. Further, the online education experience of recruiters does not impact their hiring decisions.
The usefulness of nursing languages to communicate a clinical event

The purpose of this study was to explore nurses' perceptions of the strengths and limitations of standardized nursing languages in the electronic health record to communicate a clinical event. Limited examples of research exist exploring the effectiveness of the electronic health record with embedded standardized nursing languages as a communication system. Therefore, their effect of standardized nursing languages on nurse-to-nurse communication remains largely unknown. Data from a larger study were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Fifty-seven thematic units represented nurses' perceptions of the electronic health record with NANDA, NIC, and NOC for documenting and retrieving patient information associated with a clinical event. These thematic units were further analyzed, and three categories emerged: language comprehension, inexactness of the languages, and language usefulness. Standardized nursing languages were perceived to support planning care but also posed semantic challenges and fostered inaccuracies in patient information. Standardized nursing languages may constrain nurse-to-nurse communication related to a clinical event. For languages to support nurse-to-nurse communication and avoid potential safety issues, facilities must deal with inaccuracies and semantic misunderstandings to provide safe patient care.
Flying in the Plane You Service: Patient-Centered Radiology

If you were about to undergo a radiologic procedure, what 5 things would you want? The authors propose a construct for patient-centered radiology. Five wishes of a prospective radiology patient are described: 1) the information to choose, 2) the right examination, 3) a safe examination, 4) effective communication of correctly interpreted results, and 5) a fair price. The authors posit that the American practice of radiology would be considerably different if our profession practiced patient-centered radiology.
Current view of epidemiologic study designs for occupational and environmental lung diseases.

Epidemiologic studies long have played a role in the understanding of the effects of the general environment and various occupational exposures on the occurrence of acute and chronic diseases of th...
Crystallographic anisotropy of the resistivity size effect in single crystal tungsten nanowires

This work demonstrates an anisotropic increase in resistivity with decreasing width in single crystal tungsten (W) nanowires having a height of 21 nm. Nanowire-widths were in the range of 15–451 nm, with the anisotropy observed for widths below 50 nm. The longitudinal directions of the nanowires coincided with the , and orientations of the body centered cubic phase of W. The resistivity increase was observed to be minimized for the -oriented single crystal nanowires, exhibiting a factor of two lower increase in resistivity at a width of ~15 nm, relative to the thin film resistivity (i.e., an infinitely wide wire). The observed anisotropy is attributed to crystallographic anisotropy of the Fermi velocity and the resultant anisotropy of the electron mean free path in W, and underscores the critical role of crystallographic orientation in nanoscale metallic conduction.
Visually guided touching and manual tracking

Animate vision depends on an ability to choose a region of the visual environment for task-specific processing. This processing may involve extraction of image features for object classification or identification, or it may involve extraction of viewpoint parameters, such as position, scale, and orientation, for guiding movement. It is the role of selective attention to choose the region to be processed in a task-dependent way. This paper describes a real-time implementation of a vision-robotics system that uses the location information provided by the attention mechanism to guide eye movements and arm movements in touching and manual tracking behaviors. The approach makes use of a 3-D retinocentric coordinate frame for representing position information, and differential kinematics for relating the eye and arm motor systems to this retinocentric sensory frame.
Determination of cotinine in plasma by liquid chromatography after solid-phase extraction

A rapid method for the determination of cotinine concentration in plasma is described. Cotinine is extracted from plasma along with 2-phenylimidazole as an internal standard. Extraction is accomplished by solid phase extraction using BondElut C18 silica extraction columns. The extract is evaporated, reconstituted with mobile phase, and injected onto a reversed-phase C18 ion-pair column using an isocratic high performance liquid chromatograph. The mobile phase consists of acetonitrile and methanol in phosphate buffer (0.01M, pH 3.2) 7:13:80 (v/v/v) containing octanesulfonic acid (0.001 M). The flow rate was 1.5 mL/min. Absorbance was monitored at 260 nm. The detection limit is 5 μg/L for cotinine. The standard curve is linear from 0 to 1000 μg/L. The CVs at 40 μg/L and 100 μg/L are 7.4% and 4.8% respectively.
The speciation of water in silicate melts

Previous models of water solubility in silicate melts generally assume essentially complete reaction of water molecules to hydroxyl groups. In this paper a new model is proposed that is based on the hypothesis that the observed concentrations of molecular water and hydroxyl groups in hydrous silicate glasses reflect those of the melts from which they were quenched. The new model relates the proportions of molecular water and hydroxyl groups in melts via the following reaction describing the homogeneous equilibrium between melt species: H_2O_(molecular) (melt) + oxygen (melt) = 2OH (melt). An equilibrium constant has been formulated for this reaction and species are assumed to mix ideally. Given an equilibrium constant for this reaction of 0.1–0.3, the proposed model can account for variations in the concentrations of molecular water and hydroxyl groups in melts as functions of the total dissolved water content that are similar to those observed in glasses. The solubility of molecular water in melt is described by the following reaction: H_2O (vapor) = H_2O_(molecular) (melt). These reactions describing the homogeneous and heterogeneous equilibria of hydrous silicate melts can account for the following observations: the linearity between f_(H2O) and the square of the mole fraction of dissolved water at low total water contents and deviations from linearity at high total water contents; the difference between the partial molar volume of water in melts at low total water contents and at high total water contents; the similarity between water contents of vapor-saturated melts of significantly different compositions at high pressures versus the dependence on melt composition of water solubility in silicate melts at low pressures; and the variations of viscosity, electrical conductivity, the diffusivity of “water,” the diffusivity of cesium, and phase relationships with the total dissolved water contents of melts. This model is thus consistent with available observations on hydrous melt systems and available data on the species concentrations of hydrous glasses and is easily tested, since measurements of the concentrations of molecular water and hydroxyl groups in silicate glasses quenched from melts equilibrated over a range of conditions and total dissolved water contents are readily obtainable.
Relation of Days Open and Days Dry to Lactation Milk and Fat Yields

Summary The relationships between days open, days dry, and 90-day and 305-day production were studied, using 4,385 lactation records from nine North Carolina Institutional Holstein herds from June, 1950, through December, 1958. Relationships were studied separately for first, second or later, and all lactations to determine if adjustment of 305-day lactation records for days open and days dry are warranted in compiling sire summaries. The intra-herd-year-season phenotypic correlations between 90-day production and days open were not significant and ranged from 0.05 to 0.08, suggesting that level of production had very little influence on this meeasure of fertility. The heritability estimates for days open were also very low, ranging from 0.01 in first lactations to 0.09 for all records. Length of the previous dry period had very little influence on production, accounting for only 0.6 and 0.3% of the variation in 90-day and 305-day fat yield and less than 0.1% of the variation in the two measures of milk production. Number of days open during the lactation significantly influenced production and accounted for 6.5, 4.3, and 4.2% of the variation in 305-day milk yield for first, second or later, and all lactations, respectively. Factors for adjusting 305-day production for differences in days open are presented.
Single band amplitude envelope cues as an aid to speechreading.

Amplitude envelopes derived from speech have been shown to facilitate speech-reading to varying degrees, depending on how the envelope signals were extracted and presented and on the amount of trai...
Wireless, Ultra-Low-Power Implantable Sensor for Chronic Bladder Pressure Monitoring

The wireless implantable/intracavity micromanometer (WIMM) system was designed to fulfill the unmet need for a chronic bladder pressure sensing device in urological fields such as urodynamics for diagnosis and neuromodulation for bladder control. Neuromodulation in particular would benefit from a wireless bladder pressure sensor which could provide real-time pressure feedback to an implanted stimulator, resulting in greater bladder capacity while using less power. The WIMM uses custom integrated circuitry, a MEMS transducer, and a wireless antenna to transmit pressure telemetry at a rate of 10 Hz. Aggressive power management techniques yield an average current draw of 9 μA from a 3.6-Volt micro-battery, which minimizes the implant size. Automatic pressure offset cancellation circuits maximize the sensing dynamic range to account for drifting pressure offset due to environmental factors, and a custom telemetry protocol allows transmission with minimum overhead. Wireless operation of the WIMM has demonstrated that the external receiver can receive the telemetry packets, and the low power consumption allows for at least 24 hours of operation with a 4-hour wireless recharge session.
4 GHz and 13 GHz tuned amplifiers implemented in a 0.1 /spl mu/m CMOS technology on SOI and SOS substrates

CMOS is a viable contender for front-end receiver circuits in the frequency range between 0.9 and 2 GHz. As gate lengths decrease to 0.1 /spl mu/m and below, this frequency range will increase, potentially opening up applications such as wireless LANs in the 5-20 GHz range. These 4 GHz and 13 GHz CMOS tuned amplifiers are implemented with partially-depleted silicon on insulator (SOI) and silicon on sapphire (SOS) nMOS transistors with floating bodies. Measured forward gains (S21) for the 4 GHz SOS and SOI amplifiers are 12 and 11 dB, respectively, and 15 and 5.3 dB for the 13 GHz SOS and SOI amplifiers. The 13 GHz amplifiers are the first in a CMOS technology to have tuned frequencies greater than 10 GHz. The CMOS process uses 0.35 /spl mu/m design rules for all dimensions except for the 0.1 /spl mu/m gate length and 2.9 nm gate oxide thickness. The nMOS transistors have -100 GHz measured peak f/sub T/. Threshold voltages are 0.2 and 0.4 V for the SOS and SOI transistors, respectively.
Exploring the basins of attraction of tapping mode atomic force microscopy with capillary force interactions

We numerically explore the nonlinear dynamics of the oscillating cantilever tip in tapping mode atomic force microscopy. The cantilever dynamics are determined by complex force interactions between the sample surface and the oscillating cantilever tip which are dominated by attractive, adhesive, and repulsive contributions depending on the instantaneous position of the cantilever. We use a model proposed by Zitzler et al that includes a capillary force interaction due to the thin film of water that covers all surfaces as a result of ambient humidity. As the cantilever approaches the surface a meniscus is formed and as the cantilever retracts this water layer forms a neck and eventually breaks. This introduces hysteresis since the formation of the meniscus and the breaking of the water neck occur at different spatial locations during an oscillation of the cantilever. Using forward-time simulation with event handling techniques tailored for situations with rapid changes in force interactions we find three classes of steady-state dynamics: (i) a branch of solutions with periodic dynamics and large amplitude of oscillation; (ii) a branch of solutions with periodic dynamics and small amplitude of oscillation; (iii) windows of irregular aperiodic dynamics. We quantify the global basins of attraction for these solutions by performing a large set of numerical simulations over a wide range of initial conditions. Our findings provide a useful framework for further studies interested in controlling these dynamics.© 2007 ASME
Maternal morbidities and postpartum depression: an analysis using the 2007 and 2008 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System.

PURPOSE: Postpartum depression (PPD) is common and associated with significant health outcomes and other consequences. Identifying persons at risk may improve screening and detection of PPD. This exploratory study sought to identify the morbidities that associate with 1) PPD symptoms and 2) PPD diagnosis. METHODS: Data from the 2007 and 2008 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System were analyzed from 23 states and 1 city (n = 61,733 pregnancies); 13 antenatal morbidities were included. To determine whether antenatal morbidity predictors of PPD would differ based on PPD symptoms versus a diagnosis, each of the 13 antenatal morbidities were examined in separate logistic regression models with each PPD outcome. For each objective, two samples were examined: 1) Women from all states and 2) women from Alaska and Maine, the two states that included both PPD symptoms and PPD diagnosis measures in their questionnaires. Control variables included demographic and sociodemographic variables, pregnancy variables, antenatal and postpartum health behaviors, and birth outcomes. MAIN FINDINGS: Having vaginal bleeding (odds ratio [OR], 1.42; OR, 1.76), kidney/bladder infection (OR, 1.59; OR, 1.63), nausea (OR, 1.50; OR, 1.80), preterm labor (OR, 1.54; OR, 1.51), or being on bed rest (OR, 1.34; OR, 1.56) associated with both PPD symptoms and PPD diagnosis, respectively. Being in a car accident associated with PPD symptoms only (OR, 1.65), whereas having hypertension (OR, 1.94) or a blood transfusion (OR, 2.98) was associated with PPD diagnosis only. Among women from Alaska or Maine, having preterm labor (OR, 2.54, 2.11) or nausea (OR, 2.15, 1.60) was associated with both PPD symptoms and PPD diagnosis, respectively. Having vaginal bleeding (OR, 1.65), kidney/bladder infection (OR, 1.74), a blood transfusion (OR, 3.30), or being on bed rest (OR, 1.87) was associated with PPD symptoms only, whereas having diabetes before pregnancy (OR, 5.65) was associated with PPD diagnosis only. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this exploratory study revealed differences in the antenatal morbidities that were associated with PPD symptoms versus diagnosis in both samples, and can assist prenatal care providers in prioritizing and screening for these morbidities that are associated with PPD during pregnancy. Additional research is warranted to confirm the results of this study in other samples and populations. Developing strategies to 1) improve general awareness of PPD and the appropriate antenatal morbidity risk factors to focus on in clinical settings, and 2) increase screening for the antenatal morbidities determined to be predictors of PPD in this study are warranted in preventing PPD. Language: en
Protein kinase C depresses cardiac myocyte power output and attenuates myofilament responses induced by protein kinase A.

Following activation by G-protein-coupled receptor agonists, protein kinase C (PKC) modulates cardiac myocyte function by phosphorylation of intracellular targets including myofilament proteins cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and cardiac myosin binding protein C (cMyBP-C). Since PKC phosphorylation has been shown to decrease myofibril ATPase activity, we hypothesized that PKC phosphorylation of cTnI and cMyBP-C will lower myocyte power output and, in addition, attenuate the elevation in power in response to protein kinase A (PKA)-mediated phosphorylation. We compared isometric force and power generating capacity of rat skinned cardiac myocytes before and after treatment with the catalytic subunit of PKC. PKC increased phosphorylation levels of cMyBP-C and cTnI and decreased both maximal Ca2+ activated force and Ca2+ sensitivity of force. Moreover, during submaximal Ca2+ activations PKC decreased power output by 62 %, which arose from both the fall in force and slower loaded shortening velocities since depressed power persisted even when force levels were matched before and after PKC. In addition, PKC blunted the phosphorylation of cTnI by PKA, reduced PKA-induced spontaneous oscillatory contractions, and diminished PKA-mediated elevations in myocyte power. To test whether altered thin filament function plays an essential role in these contractile changes we investigated the effects of chronic cTnI pseudo-phosphorylation on myofilament function using myocyte preparations from transgenic animals in which either only PKA phosphorylation sites (Ser-23/Ser-24) (PP) or both PKA and PKC phosphorylation sites (Ser-23/Ser-24/Ser-43/Ser-45/T-144) (All-P) were replaced with aspartic acid. Cardiac myocytes from All-P transgenic mice exhibited reductions in maximal force, Ca2+ sensitivity of force, and power. Similarly diminished power generating capacity was observed in hearts from All-P mice as determined by in situ pressure–volume measurements. These results imply that PKC-mediated phosphorylation of cTnI plays a dominant role in depressing contractility, and, thus, increased PKC isozyme activity may contribute to maladaptive behavior exhibited during the progression to heart failure.
Retrofitting collaboration into UIs with aspects

Mission critical applications and legacy systems may be difficult to revise and rebuild, and yet it is sometimes desirable to retrofit their user interfaces with new collaborative features without modifying and recompiling the original code. We describe the use of Aspect-Oriented Programming as a lightweight technique to accomplish this, present an example of incorporating presence awareness deeply into an application's user interface, and discuss the implications of this technique for developing CSCW software.
Purifying the Impure: Sequencing Metagenomes and Metatranscriptomes from Complex Animal-associated Samples

The accessibility of high-throughput sequencing has revolutionized many fields of biology. In order to better understand host-associated viral and microbial communities, a comprehensive workflow for DNA and RNA extraction was developed. The workflow concurrently generates viral and microbial metagenomes, as well as metatranscriptomes, from a single sample for next-generation sequencing. The coupling of these approaches provides an overview of both the taxonomical characteristics and the community encoded functions. The presented methods use Cystic Fibrosis (CF) sputum, a problematic sample type, because it is exceptionally viscous and contains high amount of mucins, free neutrophil DNA, and other unknown contaminants. The protocols described here target these problems and successfully recover viral and microbial DNA with minimal human DNA contamination. To complement the metagenomics studies, a metatranscriptomics protocol was optimized to recover both microbial and host mRNA that contains relatively few ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequences. An overview of the data characteristics is presented to serve as a reference for assessing the success of the methods. Additional CF sputum samples were also collected to (i) evaluate the consistency of the microbiome profiles across seven consecutive days within a single patient, and (ii) compare the consistency of metagenomic approach to a 16S ribosomal RNA gene-based sequencing. The results showed that daily fluctuation of microbial profiles without antibiotic perturbation was minimal and the taxonomy profiles of the common CF-associated bacteria were highly similar between the 16S rDNA libraries and metagenomes generated from the hypotonic lysis (HL)-derived DNA. However, the differences between 16S rDNA taxonomical profiles generated from total DNA and HL-derived DNA suggest that hypotonic lysis and the washing steps benefit in not only removing the human-derived DNA, but also microbial-derived extracellular DNA that may misrepresent the actual microbial profiles.
On the use of a solid Fabry-Perot interferometer for coronal photography

Characteristics of a solid Fabry-Perot interferometer used as a monochromator at the Mees Solar Observatory are described, and a test exposure of the green (λ 5303) corona over a small active region is discussed.
Gifts with Strings Attached A Comment on Simon

Julian Simon attempts to model the homology between intertemporal and interpersonal allocations of resources, that is, saving and gift giving However, he sacrifices too much in his attempt to fit the relevant phenomena into his proposed analytic framework A more convincing model than Simon's would include two elements he explicitly avoids: auxiliary psychological phenomena (such as enjoyment of the act of pledging itself) and the analysis of strategic intentions (such as Adam Smith s understanding of the sources of sympathy).
Transient diffusion, desorption, and reaction studies of cyclopropane and propylene with NaX and Eu/NaX zeolites

The exchange of Eu3+ for Na+ cations into the sodalite cages of X zeolite (Eu25Na11X) leads selectively to the isomerization reaction of cyclopropane to propylene. The latter reaction is catalyzed by Bronsted acid sites with an apparent activation energy of 10.6 kcal/mol. Sorption measurements of cyclopropane and propylene with Eu/NaX and NaX zeolites at 40°C support the view that Na+ cations might be considered as sites for sorption of these molecules. Force fields created by Eu4O10+ present in Eu/NaX zeolite may affect sorption. On the other hand, Bronsted acid sites in Eu/NaX enhance sorption of cyclopropane and propylene at 40°C. Chemisorption of propylene on the Bronsted acid sites of Eu/NaX is reversible and may occur via a propylene carbenium cation intermediate. Small amounts of hexene are formed during this sorption. The amount of Bronsted acid sites in the present Eu/NaX is at least 0.6 mmol/g cat
Intrasire Regression of Daughter on Herdmate Performance: Nature of Estimators and Trend of Estimates

Abstract A conventional computing formula was a consistent estimator of the intrasire regression of daughter on herdmate performance measured by adjusted herdmate average without infinite herd size. The estimator leads to another consistent estimator of the additive genetic portion of total variation among herds but subject to independence of herd environment and herd genetic structure. Nearly 900,000 milk records for all lactations of New York artificially inseminated Holstein cows from 1956 to 1968 were analyzed under the mature equivalent and the new age-month adjustment systems. Age-month adjusted records appear to have slightly lower yearly means and approximately 7.3% less variance. Mean and variance both increased with time. No significant time trends were observed for intrasire regressions, for which .9 seems suitable for all practical purposes regardless of adjustment systems and time trends. A linear regression for relative genetic variation among herds on years weighted by inverses of variances within years suggested that, with zero co-variance between herd genetic and non-genetic variates, the additive genetic variation relative to the total variation among herds has been decreasing .6% a year since 1959 for the Holstein artificial insemination population in northeastern United States.
Acetaminophen and myocardial stunning after transient ischemia in rabbit hearts.

Background: Myocardial stunning is a lingering contractile dysfunction that occurs after brief ischemia, even in the absence of necrosis. Recent studies have shown that acetaminophen may have some benefit on the return ofleft ventricular function after brief global ischemia in an in vitro model. This study was conducted to determine whether treatment with acetaminophen results in enhanced myocardial tolerance to transient ischemia-reperfusion by improving left ventricular function and decreasing stunning in an in vivo model. Methods: Anesthetized, open-chest rabbits were randomized to receive acetaminophen (37 mg/kg, n = 13) or saline (n = 11) 15 minutes before a series of transient coronary artery occlusions followed by reperfusion (three 10-minute periods of ischemia with 5 minutes reperfusion between). Hemodynamics and maximal and minimal values of developed pressure velocity (dP/dt) were measured at baseline, during ischemia, and throughout 2 hours of reperfusion. To assess myocardial stunning, echocardiography was used to determine regional systolic wall thickening fractions and global indices of function such as LV cavity dimensions and ejection fraction. Results: Hemodynamic variables, including left ventricular systolic pressure and positive and negative dP/dt, were similar in both groups throughout the study. Left ventricular end-diastolic pressure was significantly lower in the acetaminophen group during occlusion and early reperfusion. The repeated short periods of ischemia in the free wall of the heart caused myocardial stunning in both groups. During ischemia, contractile function in the free wall was severely reduced, and although it improved during reperfusion, dysfunction persisted in the postischemic free wall after 2 hours of reflow, recovering to less than 52% of preischemic values (P <.01). The degree of dysfunction was similar in both groups. During ischemia, the end-diastolic left ventricular cavity area increased from 1.14 ′ 0.05 cm 2 at baseline to 1.33 ′ 0.08 cm 2 (P <.05) in controls, but had recovered after 2 hours of reflow. The end-diastolic area in acetaminophen-treated hearts increased from 1.13 ′ 0.08 cm 2 at baseline to 1.35 ′ 0.08 cm 2 during ischemia and also recovered 2 hours later. No significant differences in LV cavity areas were noted between the groups. Acetaminophen had no effect on changes in ejection fraction, which decreased similarly in both groups during ischemia to approximately 75% of baseline values. Although ejection fraction improved, it remained depressed at the end of reflow in both groups. Conclusion: Data from this study show that in a rabbit model of myocardial stunning, acetaminophen has a neutral effect on hemodynamics, recovery of fractional thickening, and on indices of global recovery such as left ventricular cavity dimensions or ejection fraction. Thus in the setting of experimental myocardial stunning, treatment with acetaminophen was safe but not cardioprotective.
Predator richness has no effect in a diverse marine food web

1. In many ecosystems, predator abundance, composition and diversity vary naturally among seasons and habitats. In addition, predator assemblages are changing due to overharvesting, habitat destruction and species invasions. 2. Predator species composition and richness can influence prey community structure and these effects can cascade to influence plant abundance and composition. 3. To test the effects of predator presence, composition and species richness on prey abundance, species richness and composition, we conducted three experiments in a subtidal marine food web. Experimental food webs were drawn from species pools of 5-7 predator species, 19-52 prey species, benthic micro-algae and 5 macro-algae. 4. Predators reduced prey abundance in the mesocosm experiment, but this effect was diminished or absent in field experiments. Predator species differed in their effects on prey, but we found no effect of predator richness (via complementarity or selection) on any aspect of prey community structure. 5. The absence of a predator richness effect could be due to several factors including potentially opposing effects of individual predator species, intraguild predation, or greater importance of colonization relative to competition in structuring prey assemblages. Although predators can have strong top-down effects in this system, selection or resource-use complementarity among predators do not affect prey community structure.
Dynamic trace-based analysis of vectorization potential of applications

Recent hardware trends with GPUs and the increasing vector lengths of SSE-like ISA extensions for multicore CPUs imply that effective exploitation of SIMD parallelism is critical for achieving high performance on emerging and future architectures. A vast majority of existing applications were developed without any attention by their developers towards effective vectorizability of the codes. While developers of production compilers such as GNU gcc, Intel icc, PGI pgcc, and IBM xlc have invested considerable effort and made significant advances in enhancing automatic vectorization capabilities, these compilers still cannot effectively vectorize many existing scientific and engineering codes. It is therefore of considerable interest to analyze existing applications to assess the inherent latent potential for SIMD parallelism, exploitable through further compiler advances and/or via manual code changes.In this paper we develop an approach to infer a program's SIMD parallelization potential by analyzing the dynamic data-dependence graph derived from a sequential execution trace. By considering only the observed run-time data dependences for the trace, and by relaxing the execution order of operations to allow any dependence-preserving reordering, we can detect potential SIMD parallelism that may otherwise be missed by more conservative compile-time analyses. We show that for several benchmarks our tool discovers regions of code within computationally-intensive loops that exhibit high potential for SIMD parallelism but are not vectorized by state-of-the-art compilers. We present several case studies of the use of the tool, both in identifying opportunities to enhance the transformation capabilities of vectorizing compilers, as well as in pointing to code regions to manually modify in order to enable auto-vectorization and performance improvement by existing compilers.
‘I'm glad I'm not a Saudi woman’: the First Gulf War and US encounters with Saudi gender relations

On 6 November 1990, nearly 50 Saudi women staged a protest against the ban on women operating motor vehicles in Saudi Arabia. Occurring in the midst of the First Gulf War, the women's protest was a political statement about the harsh restrictions placed on women in the Middle Eastern country which both reflected and influenced Saudi society’s encounter with their American allies during the war. When United States (US) military personnel flooded into Saudi Arabia during the war, they were shocked at the way American servicewomen were treated by their Saudi allies and the second-class status of Saudi women throughout the country. This article explores Americans' reactions to their encounter with Saudi gender relations during the war and argues that the poor treatment of women in Saudi Arabia—which Americans dubbed ‘gender apartheid’—caused many Americans to question the longstanding US alliance with the conservative Muslim country. In doing so, US journalists, military personnel, scholars and the general pu...
HYPERTRIIODOTHYRONINÆMIA AS A PREMONITORY MANIFESTATION OF THYROTOXICOSIS

Abstract Triiodothyronine (T 3 ) levels were raised in four patients from 5 weeks to 9 months before the development of overt hyperthyroidism and before raised serum-thyroxine (T 4 ) levels were found. These observations suggest that hyperthyroid patients may pass through a stage of T 3 toxicosis before developing the usual form of thyrotoxicosis, and that serum-T 3 measurements may be helpful in the early diagnosis of the disease.
Nonfocusing Instabilities in Coupled, Integrable Nonlinear Schrödinger pdes

instabilities that exist independently of the well-known modulational instability of the focusing NLS equation. The focusing versus defocusing behavior of scalar NLS fields is a well-known model for the corresponding behavior of pulse transmission in optical fibers in the anomalous (focusing) versus normal (defocusing) dispersion regime [19], [20]. For fibers with birefringence (induced by an asymmetry in the cross section), the scalar NLS fields for two orthogonal polarization modes couple nonlinearly [26]. Experiments by Rothenberg [32], [33] have demonstrated a new type of modulational instability in a birefringent normal dispersion fiber, and he proposes this cross-phase coupling instability as a mechanism for the generation of ultrafast, terahertz optical oscillations. In this paper the nonfocusing plane wave instability in an integrable coupled nonlinear Schrodinger (CNLS) partial differential equation system is contrasted with the focusing instability from two perspectives: traditional linearized stability analysis and integrable methods based on periodic inverse spectral theory. The latter approach is a crucial first step toward a nonlinear , nonlocal understanding of this new optical instability analogous to that developed for the focusing modulational instability of the sine-Gordon equations by Ercolani, Forest, and McLaughlin [13], [14], [15], [17] and the scalar NLS equation by Tracy, Chen, and Lee [36], [37], Forest and Lee [18], and McLaughlin, Li, and Overman [23], [24].
Reconstitution of the rat olfactory epithelium after methyl bromide‐induced lesion

The olfactory epithelium and its neuronal population are known to have a substantial capacity to recover after either direct injury or damage to the olfactory nerve. However, the mechanisms underlying that capacity for recovery, and indeed the limits on the recovery process, are not well understood. The aim of this study is to describe in detail the way in which the olfactory epithelium reconstitutes after direct injury. Adult male rats were exposed to 330 ppm methyl bromide (MeBr) gas for a single 6-hour period. The exposure destroys all of the neurons and sustentacular cells in over 95% of the olfactory epithelium of food-restricted rats and in over 90% of the epithelium in ad-libitum-fed rats of the same weight, yet substantial recovery of the olfactory epithelium occurs. In response to the lesion, cellular proliferation increases markedly beginning between 24 and 48 hours, peaks at 1 week, and persists at levels higher than the control level for more than 4 weeks after MeBr exposure. Even though proliferation accelerates promptly, the beginning of neuronal reconstitution is delayed; only a few immature neurons are observed 3 days after the lesion, yet they reappear in large numbers by the end of the first week. The first mature neurons emerge between 7 and 14 days after lesion and increase to near normal numbers by 4-6 weeks. In association with the restoration of the neuronal population, basal cell proliferation returns to control levels between 4 and 6 weeks after damage. Likewise, sustentacular cells, identifiable by anticytokeratin 18 labeling, reappear rapidly and reform a distinct lamina in the superficial aspect of the epithelium. They closely resemble their counterparts in control epithelium with regard to disposition and shape by 3 weeks after lesion and with regard to expression of olfactory-specific cytochrome P450s by 8 weeks. Thus, most areas of the epithelium are restored to a near normal appearance and cellular composition by the end of 8 weeks, suggesting that the MeBr paradigm for lesioning the epithelium offers significant advantages over techniques such as Triton X-100 or ZnSO4 irrigation. However, not all measures of epithelial status are normal even at 8 weeks. Immature neurons remain slightly more numerous than normal at this time. Furthermore, some areas of the olfactory epithelium do not recover after MeBr lesion and are replaced by respiratory epithelium.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Nucleofection Mediates High-Efficiency Stable Gene Knockdown and Transgene Expression in Human Embryonic Stem Cells

High-efficiency genetic modification of human embryonic stem (hES) cells would enable manipulation of gene activity, routine gene targeting, and development of new human disease models and treatments. Chemical transfection, nucleofection, and electroporation of hES cells result in low transfection efficiencies. Viral transduction is efficient but has significant drawbacks. Here we describe techniques to transiently and stably express transgenes in hES cells with high efficiency using a widely available vector system. The technique combines nucleofection of single hES cells with improved methods to select hES cells at clonal density. As validation, we reduced Oct4 and Nanog expression using siRNAs and shRNA vectors in hES cells. Furthermore, we derived many hES cell clones with either stably reduced alkaline phosphatase activity or stably overexpressed green fluorescent protein. These clones retained stem cell characteristics (normal karyotype, stem cell marker expression, self-renewal, and pluripotency). These studies will accelerate efforts to interrogate gene function and define the parameters that control growth and differentiation of hES cells. Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.
Monoclonal antibodies and toxins--a perspective on function and isotype.

Antibody therapy remains the only effective treatment for toxin-mediated diseases. The development of hybridoma technology has allowed the isolation of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) with high specificity and defined properties, and numerous mAbs have been purified and characterized for their protective efficacy against different toxins. This review summarizes the mAb studies for 6 toxins—Shiga toxin, pertussis toxin, anthrax toxin, ricin toxin, botulinum toxin, and Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB)—and analyzes the prevalence of mAb functions and their isotypes. Here we show that most toxin-binding mAbs resulted from immunization are non-protective and that mAbs with potential therapeutic use are preferably characterized. Various common practices and caveats of protection studies are discussed, with the goal of providing insights for the design of future research on antibody-toxin interactions.
Economic analysis of no tillage and minimum tillage cotton-corn rotations in the Mississippi Delta.

Abstract Crop rotations have been shown to have agronomic benefits. An increasingly common crop rotation in the Mid-South is cotton rotated with corn. Many previous studies have focused on tillage systems or crop rotations. Few have evaluated a combination of the two (crop rotations and tillage) especially from an economics perspective. Field studies were conducted at Stoneville, MS for the period 2001–2006. Treatments included no till continuous cotton, minimum till continuous cotton, one year corn followed by two years cotton no till, one year corn followed by two years cotton minimum till, one year corn-one year cotton no till and one year corn-one year cotton minimum till. Results revealed that cotton yields were increased in all four systems rotated with corn. Lower risk was associated with minimum till cotton. Gross returns were higher in a monoculture minimum till cotton system. Net returns were larger in a system that included minimum tillage and a corn rotation. The highest net returns and lowest risk were obtained from a minimum till system of cotton rotated with corn every other year. For those producers required to use a no till system, a one year corn-two year cotton rotation provided the highest net returns and least risk.
Impact tolerance and response of the human thorax II

Previous studies of human thoracic injury tolerance and mechanical response to blunt, midsternal, anteroposterior impact loading were reported by the authors at the 1970 SAE International Automobile Safety Conference and at the Fifteenth Stapp Car Crash Conference. The present paper documents additional studies from this continuing research program and provides an expansion and refinement of the data base established by the earlier work. Twenty-three additional unembalmed cadavers were tested using basically the same equipment and procedures reported previously, but for which new combinations of impactor mass and velocity were used in addition to supplementing other data already presented. Specifically, the 43 lb/11 mph (19.5 kg/4.9m/s) and 51 lb/16 mph (23.1 kg/7.2 m/s) conditions were intercrossed and data obtain at 43 lb/14 mph (19.5 kg/7.2 m/s) and 51 lb/11 mph (23.1 kg/4.9 m/s). Several additional tests were run at 22 mph (9.8 m/s) and confirm a strong velocity sensitivity of the force response throughout the velocity range investigated. Also included are several tests in which the cadaver subjects were rigidly supported midsagittally along the spine to preclude whole body motion. Finally, the kinematics of thoracic compression under blunt, A-P impact have been demonstrated by high-speed cinematography of a thorax unilaterally denuded of skin and superficial tissues to enable visualization of the rib surfaces and intercostal musculature during loading. Response in terms of force-time histories and force versus deflection crossplots, and tolerance in terms of associated necropsy findings and AIS ratings, are presented for all tests. Correlations of the AIS rating with both maximum force and normalized chest deflection, several composite summary plots, and a general data tabulation are also included. /Author/
The Public Management Strategy of Agent Ascendancy in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

AbstractAgent ascendancy increases agent employment to conduct work previously conducted by government. This article examines the extent and nature of agent ascendancy in the activities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Examining patterns of budget appropriation categories finds evidence of a strategic direction to employ agents rather than direct government operators when governmental responsibilities increase. This pattern was present over a 20-year period and across expenditure categories. This strategic direction requires a substantial redirection in the skill mix of public employees as they shift from direct delivery to contract management of technical services. Exporting technical analysis to external agents can shift the skill base as well as the ability to retain policy control over public decisions. Consequently, technical management decision can have profound policy implications for political stakeholders.
A rational correlation of combustion noise results from open turbulent premixed flames

The results are presented of 103 tests on the noise generation capability of bunsen burner type premixed hydrocarbon-air turbulent flames. The fuels used have been propane, propylene, acetylene and ethylene, all burning at 1 atmosphere in an anechoic chamber.The results for sound power output, reacting volume and spectral content are correlated with the burner diameter, flow velocity, fuel mass fraction and laminar flame speed; these variables are sufficient to produce correlations with respect to the Reynolds number, Mach number, fuel mass fraction and the first Damkohler similarity group. Introducing a new simplified version of the theory of combustion noise, known turbulent flame speed correlations, and the theory of isotropic turbulence decay downstream of the burner lip, it is shown that the correlations for frequency content and radiated sound power have a rational basis.