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Background: Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have been associated with iron deficiency. Among several markers, serum ferritin and serum iron have been used frequently to identify iron deficiency; however, the results are inconclusive. Aims: To compare soluble transferrin receptor levels (sTfR), sTfR/log ferritin index (SFI), and conventional markers of iron deficiency among drug naïve children with ADHD and healthy controls. Methods: We conducted this study in a tertiary care setting with a case-control study design. Thirty-five children with ADHD compared with age-matched 35 controls. Children were assessed on clinical aspects, hematology profile, iron biomarkers, inflammatory markers, sTfR, and SFI. Results: We found significantly reduced mean levels of serum iron and percentage transferrin saturation and an increase in the median levels of Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) in children with ADHD compared to healthy children. However, in a clinically meaningful categorical analysis, we found that socioeconomic strata, ESR, percentage transferrin saturation, and SFI were significantly different between the groups. Finally, we found that Children with SFI ≥1.5 were approximately four times more likely to be associated with ADHD as compared to the control group. However, the percentage transferrin saturation was not associated with ADHD, after controlling for socioeconomic strata and ESR Conclusions: SFI is a new marker, which is feasible and a better marker than serum ferritin in the identification of latent iron deficiency in children with ADHD. Serum iron and percentage transferrin saturation were also found to indicate an iron deficiency in children with ADHD. These findings must be explored in large community samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychiatry is not considered important by most medical students. But knowledge of psychiatry is essential for all doctors as psychiatric problems are prevalent in the population either as part of other physical illnesses or independently. All medical practitioners need skills in communication and forming empathy and the ability to counsel that are learnt in psychiatry. Nearly all medical students feel psychiatry is not scientific enough and psychiatrists are peculiar. We need to make psychiatry interesting, and impart skills and techniques to practice psychiatry at the primary care level and in the process change the misconceptions students have of psychiatry. We present a model to accomplish this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Cardiomelic or heart–hand syndromes include congenital defects affecting both the forelimb and heart, suggesting a hypothesis where similar signals may coordinate their development. In support of this hypothesis, we have recently defined a mechanism by which retinoic acid (RA) signaling acts on the forelimb progenitors to indirectly restrict cardiac cell number. However, we still do not have a complete understanding of the mechanisms downstream of RA signaling that allow for the coordinated development of these structures. Here, we test the hypothesis that appropriate Fgf signaling in the cardiac progenitor field downstream of RA signaling is required for the coordinated development of the heart and forelimb. Consistent with this hypothesis, we find that increasing Fgf signaling can autonomously increase cardiac cell number and non-autonomously inhibit forelimb formation over the same time period that embryos are sensitive to loss of RA signaling. Furthermore, we find that Fgf8a, which is expressed in the cardiac progenitors, is expanded into the posterior in RA signaling-deficient zebrafish embryos. Reducing Fgf8a function in RA signaling-deficient embryos is able to rescue both heart and forelimb development. Together, these results are the first to directly support the hypothesis that RA signaling is required shortly after gastrulation in the forelimb field to temper Fgf8a signaling in the cardiac field, thus coordinating the development of the heart and forelimb. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

AbstractObjective:There has been recent interest in the use of cognitive enhancing drugs, such as cholinesterase inhibitors, as a possible treatment for executive functioning (EF) deficits in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The goal of this study was to assess the tolerability, safety, and efficacy of donepezil on EF in a sample of children and adolescents with ASD.Method:Thirty-four children and adolescents with ASD (age range 8–17 years; IQ >75) were enrolled in a 10-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of donepezil (doses of 5 and 10 mg), followed by a 10-week open label trial for placebo nonresponders.Results:The effect of donepezil treatment on EF was examined. Despite improvement on a number of EF measures, no statistically significant between-group differences were found (with gains observed for both the placebo and donepezil groups).Conclusions:The results suggest that short-term treatment with donepezil may have limited impact on cognitive functioning in ASD. Future controlled trials may need to consider a longer treatment period to detect significant gains on EF measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open-shell singlet diradicals are difficult to model accurately within conventional Kohn−Sham (KS) density-functional theory (DFT). These methods are hampered by spin contamination because the KS determinant wave function is neither a pure spin state nor an eigenfunction of the S2operator. Here we present a theoretical foray for using single-reference closed-shell ground states to describe diradicals by fractional-spin DFT (FS-DFT). This approach allows direct, self-consistent calculation of electronic properties using the electron density corresponding to the proper spin eigenfunction. The resulting FS-DFT approach is benchmarked against diradical singlet−triplet gaps for atoms and small molecules. We have also applied FS-DFT to the singlet−triplet gaps of hydrocarbon polyacenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuromodulators modify network output by altering neuronal firing properties and synaptic strength at multiple sites; however, the functional importance of each site is often unclear. We determined the importance of monoamine modulation of a single synapse for regulation of network cycle frequency in the oscillatory pyloric network of the lobster. The pacemaker kernel of the pyloric network receives only one chemical synaptic feedback, an inhibitory synapse from the lateral pyloric (LP) neuron to the pyloric dilator (PD) neurons, which can limit cycle frequency. We measured the effects of dopamine (DA), octopamine (Oct), and serotonin (5HT) on the strength of the LP→PD synapse and the ability of the modified synapse to regulate pyloric cycle frequency. DA and Oct strengthened, whereas 5HT weakened, LP→PD inhibition. Surprisingly, the DA-strengthened LP→PD synapse lost its ability to slow the pyloric oscillations, whereas the 5HT-weakened LP→PD synapse gained a greater influence on the oscillations. These results are explained by monoamine modulation of factors that determine the firing phase of the LP neuron in each cycle. DA acts via multiple mechanisms to phase-advance the LP neuron into the pacemaker's refractory period, where the strengthened synapse has little effect. In contrast, 5HT phase-delays LP activity into a region of greater pacemaker sensitivity to LP synaptic input. Only Oct enhanced LP regulation of cycle period simply by enhancing LP→PD synaptic strength. These results show that modulation of the strength and timing of a synaptic input can differentially affect the synapse's efficacy in the network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractAcute lung injury (ALI) remains a significant source of morbidity and mortality in the critically ill patient population. Defined by a constellation of clinical criteria (acute onset of bilateral pulmonary infiltrates with hypoxemia without evidence of hydrostatic pulmonary edema), ALI has a high incidence (200,000 per year in the US) and overall mortality remains high. Pathogenesis of ALI is explained by injury to both the vascular endothelium and alveolar epithelium. Recent advances in the understanding of pathophysiology have identified several biologic markers that are associated with worse clinical outcomes. Phase III clinical trials by the NHLBI ARDS Network have resulted in improvement in survival and a reduction in the duration of mechanical ventilation with a lung-protective ventilation strategy and fluid conservative protocol. Potential areas of future treatments include nutritional strategies, statin therapy, and mesenchymal stem cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Family History of Alcoholism and earlier Age of Onset are found to predict Severity of alcoholism. Previous Indian studies in this regard have methodological issues related to the definition of alcoholism and reliability of information obtained. Aims: To study the relationship between the Age of onset/Family History and Severity of alcoholism. Settings and Design: Consecutively admitted, 20 to 50 year old men, with alcohol-related problems at an urban teaching hospital, were recruited. Materials and Methods: After detoxification, alcohol use detection inventory test, severity of alcohol dependence questionnaire, schedule for clinical assessment in neuropsychiatry, and family interview for genetic studies were administered. Family history density was computed. Statistics: Pearson's correlations, linear regression, and ANOVA tests were used. Results: Family history density and severity of alcoholism were positively correlated. Age of onset of initiation had a significant negative correlation with severity. The effect of family history on the rapidity of development of Problemdrinking did not reach statistical significance among those with early age of onset. The variance explained by the 'family history status' and 'age of onset' for the severity of alcoholism was similar to that reported in earlier western studies. Conclusion: This study, with enhanced methodology, using a general hospital sample of problem drinkers concludes that the age of onset of initiation is a better predictor of severity of alcoholism, than family history of alcoholism alone. Postponing the use of alcohol till the age of 25 years could be explored as a primary prevention strategy in genetically vulnerable adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Evolution of toxicity testing is predicated upon using in vitro cell based systems to rapidly screen and predict how a chemical might cause toxicity to an organ in vivo. However, the degree to which we can extend in vitro results to in vivo activity and possible mechanisms of action remains to be fully addressed. Results: Here we use the nitroaromatic 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) as a model chemical to compare and determine how we might extrapolate from in vitro data to in vivo effects. We found 341 transcripts differentially expressed in common among in vitro and in vivo assays in response to TNT. The major functional term corresponding to these transcripts was cell cycle. Similarly modulated common pathways were identified between in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, we uncovered the conserved common transcriptional gene regulatory networks between in vitro and in vivo cellular liver systems that responded to TNT exposure, which mainly contain 2 subnetwork modules: PTTG1 and PIR centered networks. Interestingly, all 7 genes in the PTTG1 module were involved in cell cycle and downregulated by TNT both in vitro and in vivo. Conclusions: The results of our investigation of TNT effects on gene expression in liver suggest that gene regulatory networks obtained from an in vitro system can predict in vivo function and mechanisms. Inhibiting PTTG1 and its targeted cell cyle related genes could be key machanism for TNT induced liver toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) with biological molecules provides a route to novel nanoscale materials with many promising applications in nanotechnology and nanomedicine. Recent experiments show that CNTs covalently functionalized with the coxsackie-adenovirus receptor (CAR) serve as biosensors capable of specifically recognizing Knob proteins from the adenovirus capsid. These experiments suggest that CAR retains its biologically active form when bound to CNT, but a detailed understanding of the structural changes that occur within CAR after CNT attachment is lacking. To address this, we have performed all-atom classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of CAR and the CAR-Knob complex in aqueous solution alone and also when covalently linked to CNT. The MD results show that the CNT damps structural fluctuations in CAR and reduces the internal mobility of the protein. However, CNT induces very little structural deformation and does not affect CAR’s ability to specifically bind Knob. This MD study verifies that CAR retains its biological functionality when attached to CNT and provides a computational approach to rationalize nanobiosensing devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACTObjectives:To define the variability of menstrual cycle length and contribution of follicular and luteal phases to overall cycle variability, and to examine the rise in urinary hCG in early pregnancy.Methods:Menstrual cycle study. Urine samples from 101 women (recruited from two south-east counties in the UK) were assayed to determine day of luteinising hormone (LH) surge, lengths of follicular and luteal phases and correlations with total menstrual cycle length. HCG study. Daily urine samples collected from 86 women prior to conception until 43 days post-conception were assayed for hCG and examined versus time since LH surge, determined using fertility test kits.Results:Mean menstrual cycle length was 27.7 ± 3.4 days, mean follicular phase length was 14.5 ± 3.4 days and mean luteal phase length was 13.2 ± 1.9 days. Total cycle lengths varied between and within women. There was a significant correlation (r2  0.70) between follicular phase length and total cycle length; luteal phase length was less variable and showed no association with total cycle length. Concentrations of hCG were significantly similar between women when referenced against the day since LH surge. Three thresholds were determined to indicate time since conception as 1–2 weeks, 2–3 weeks and 3 weeks.Conclusions:Total cycle length variation is mainly determined by follicular phase variation and predicting menses onset to estimate time of pregnancy testing is unreliable. Evaluating concentrations of hCG relative to LH surge results in consistent increases between women up to 21 days after conception. Therefore, urinary hCG concentration can be used to accurately estimate time since conception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SNAREs (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein-attachment protein receptors) are widely accepted to drive all intracellular membrane fusion events. SM (Sec1/Munc18-like) proteins bind to SNAREs and this interaction may underlie their ubiquitous requirement for efficient membrane fusion. SM proteins bind to SNAREs in at least three modes: (i) to a closed conformation of syntaxin; (ii) to the syntaxin N-terminus; and (iii) to the assembled SNARE complex. Munc18-1 exhibits all three binding modes and recent in vitro reconstitution assays suggest that its interaction with the syntaxin N-terminus is essential for neuronal SNARE complex binding and efficient membrane fusion. To investigate the physiological relevance of these binding modes, we studied the UNC-18/UNC-64 SM/SNARE pair, which is essential for neuronal exocytosis in Caenorhabditis elegans. Mutations in the N-terminus of UNC-64 strongly inhibited binding to UNC-18, as did mutations targeting closed conformation binding. Complementary mutations in UNC-18 designed to selectively impair binding to either closed syntaxin or its N-terminus produced a similarly strong inhibition of UNC-64 binding. Therefore high-affinity UNC18/UNC-64 interaction in vitro involves both binding modes. To determine the physiological relevance of each mode, unc-18-null mutant worms were transformed with wild-type or mutant unc-18 constructs. The UNC-18(R39C) construct, that is defective in closed syntaxin binding, fully rescued the locomotion defects of the unc-18 mutant. In contrast, the UNC-18(F113R) construct, that is defective in binding to the N-terminus of UNC-64, provided no rescue. These results suggest that binding of UNC-18 to closed syntaxin is dispensable for membrane fusion, whereas interaction with the syntaxin N-terminus is essential for neuronal exocytosis in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The DNA−carbon nanotube hybrid (DNA-CN) consists of a single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCN) coated with a self-assembled monolayer of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). Recent experiments have demonstrated that this nanomaterial is ideal for numerous nanotechnological applications. Despite this importance, the structure of this material remains poorly understood. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have provided information about the self-assembly mechanisms and ssDNA conformations that characterize DNA-CN. However, MD simulations of biopolymers at low temperatures (T∼ 300 K) result in kinetic trapping that limits conformational sampling. Here, we present results of a large-scale replica exchange molecular dynamics (REMD) simulation that provides extensive sampling of the entire ensemble of oligonucleotide conformations in a (GT)7-SWCN hybrid. We calculate the free energy landscape and find minima corresponding to six distinct conformations, with a nonhelical loop structure as the global minimum. The hybrid contains significant structural disorder, with desorbed bases as an important structural feature. These results expand our understanding of DNA-CN and indicate the relevance of REMD for explorations of the physical properties of organic−inorganic multifunctional nanomaterials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biological patterns are often constructed via a combination of mechanisms including self-organization, templates and recipes. Our understanding of self-organization is becoming increasingly clear, yet how multiple mechanisms work together and what selective advantage they confer over simpler mechanisms is poorly understood. Honeybee (Apis mellifera) combs exhibit a pattern of brood at the bottom, pollen in a band next to it and honey at the top. This study constructs an agent-based model, derived from experimental studies, to determine both how self-organization interacts with two templates and to elucidate a selective basis for the use of multiple mechanisms. The vertical pattern of honey and brood is shown to be dependent on a gravity-based template, while the pollen band is shown to form via the interaction of a queen-based template and self-organization. The study suggests that the selective basis for this complex mechanism may be that colonies have higher growth rates when multiple mechanisms are used as opposed to self-organization alone. As self-organization is used in many contexts in which the addition of supplemental mechanisms could be advantageous, this result may be of general significance to many biological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents design, fabrication, and testing of a microscale ceramic reactor for the pyrolysis of organic compounds. One application for this pyrolysis reactor is to convert the oxygen and hydrogen atoms in organic compounds to CO and H 2for isotope ratio measurements in a continuous flow mode. Existing commercial pyrolyzers use high carrier gas flow rates (typically 80−100 mL/min) such that >95% of the CO and H 2produced from a given sample is vented before introduction into the mass spectrometer. We describe here the fabrication and testing of a microscale pyrolysis reactor designed to be compatible with existing isotope ratio mass spectrometers. The microreactor uses carrier gas flow rates of 3−5 mL/min, decreasing the proportion of the CO and H 2lost in venting and permitting analysis of samples 20−50 times smaller than can be analyzed with conventional pyrolysis reactors. Results have shown that organic compounds, such as 1-butanol, ethanol, and ethanolamine, can be fully decomposed to desired products CO and H 2, at a temperature of 1200 °C, which is 200 °C lower than conventionally reported. Furthermore, we are able to eliminate undesired products such as methane and CO 2in the pyrolysis process. The proof-of-concept experimental results clearly demonstrate that the micropyrolyzer quantitatively converts organic compounds to gases suitable for isotope ratio analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amphiphilicity and cationicity are properties shared between antimicrobial peptides and proteins that catalyze biomineralization reactions. Merging these two functionalities, we demonstrate a reaction where a cationic antimicrobial peptide catalyzes self-biomineralization within inorganic matrices. The resultant antimicrobial peptide nanoparticles retain biocidal activity, protect the peptide from proteolytic degradation, and facilitate a continuous release of the antibiotic over time. Taken together, these properties demonstrate the therapeutic potential of self-synthesizing biomaterials that retain the biocidal properties of antimicrobial peptides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DNA−carbon nanotube hybrids (DNA−CN) are novel nanoscale materials that consist of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCN) coated with a self-assembled monolayer of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). Recent experiments on DNA−CN have shown that this material offers a remarkable set of technologically useful properties such as facilitation of SWCN sorting, chemical sensing, and detection of DNA hybridization. Despite the importance of DNA−CN, a detailed understanding of its microscopic structure and physical properties is lacking. To address this, we have performed classical all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations exploring the self-assembly mechanisms, structure, and energetic properties of this nanomaterial. MD reveals that SWCN induces ssDNA to undergo a spontaneous conformational change that enables the hybrid to self-assemble via the − stacking interaction between ssDNA bases and SWCN sidewall. ssDNA is observed to spontaneously wrap about SWCN into compact right- or left-handed helices within a few nanoseconds. Helical wrapping is driven by electrostatic and torsional interactions within the sugar−phosphate backbone that result in ssDNA wrapping from the 3‘ end to the 5‘ end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently identified GPCRs, GPR109a and GPR109b, the high and low affinity receptors for niacin, may represent good targets for the development of HDL elevating drugs for the treatment of atherosclerosis. Acifran, an agonist of both receptors, has been tested in human subjects, yet until recently very few analogs had been reported. We describe a series of acifran analogs prepared using newly developed synthetic pathways and evaluated as agonists for GPR109a and GPR109b, resulting in identification of compounds with improved activity at these receptors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Factors structuring zooplankton communities in areas with 24 h of sunlight are not well understood. In stratified temperate lakes with fish, zooplankton generally undergo a diel vertical migration (DVM) to avoid predation. Zooplankton abundance may also be linked to the quality and quantity of food. To explore factors that determine vertical structure of zooplankton where DVM does not occur, we obtained time-series data on the vertical distribution of the two dominate copepods, Cyclops scutifer and Diaptomus pribilofensis, in Toolik Lake, Alaska, a site within the Arctic Long Term Ecological Research area. These two species compose ∼80–90% of pelagic mesozooplankton community density. Temperature plays a large role in the vertical distribution of these two species. During the summers of 2002 and 2003, C. scutifer underwent a seasonal vertical migration from the epilimnion to the hypolimnion as water temperatures increased. Diaptomus pribilofensis exhibited a strong preference for warmer water and were not present in the water column until epilimnetic temperatures reached ∼9°C. During both years of this study, C. scutifer and D. pribilofensis segregated vertically in the water column along thermal gradients when the two species overlapped temporally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper explores the performance of a family of algorithms for computing the Walsh–Hadamard transform, a useful computation in signal and image processing. Recent empirical work has shown that the family of algorithms exhibit a wide range of performance and that it is non-trivial to determine which algorithm is optimal on a given computer. This paper provides a theoretical basis for the performance distribution. Performance is modeled by a family of recurrence relations that determine the number of instructions required to execute a given algorithm, and the recurrence relations can be used to explore the performance of the space of algorithms. The recurrence relations are related to standard divide and conquer recurrences, however, there are a variable number of recursive parts which can grow to infinity as the input size increases. Thus standard approaches to solving such recurrences cannot be used and new techniques must be developed. In this paper, the minimum, maximum, expected values, and variances are calculated and the limiting distribution is obtained. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The development of a telemedicine system should not only take advantage of technologicaladvances but also pay close attention to users and the human issues involved. In this paperwe examine the utility of heuristic evaluation in improving the usability of a digital emergencymedical services (EMS) system equipped on an ambulance. The digital EMS systemused advanced communication technologies to help remotely located trauma specialists gainaccess to patient data in real-time and direct life-saving measures in a timely fashion. To improveits usability, three experts inspected prototypes of the system according to 14 softwareusability heuristics. The analyses revealed information on the prevalence, severity, and natureof heuristic violations in the user interface design. The results were subsequently utilizedto guide the iterative software design process. A comparison between two consecutiveprototypes showed that the second design had only half as many usability violations as thefirst prototype and had considerable improvement in a number of usability heuristic categories.The validity of heuristic evaluation was examined in an ethnographic study of paramedicsusing a prototype of the system in their work environment. Users' task performancespartially verified heuristic evaluation results. However, they also revealed problems that werenot identified in heuristic evaluation but only became prominent during field observation.In conclusion, we argue that usability should be given high priority in the development of atelemedicine system, and that heuristic evaluation can be an effective and efficient way toidentify usability problems in the early stage of software development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phasing of neuronal activity in a rhythmic motor network is determined by a neuron's intrinsic firing properties and synaptic inputs; these could vary in their relative importance under different modulatory conditions. In the lobster pyloric network, the firing of eight follower pyloric (PY) neurons is shaped by their intrinsic rebound after pacemaker inhibition and by synaptic input from the lateral pyloric (LP) neuron, which inhibits all PY neurons and is electrically coupled to a subset of them. Under control conditions, LP inhibition is weak and has little influence on PY firing. We examined modulation that could theoretically enhance the LP's synaptic contribution to PY firing. We measured the effects of dopamine (DA) on LP-->PY synapses, driving the LP neuron with trains of realistic waveforms constructed from prerecorded control and DA LP oscillations, which differed in shape and duration. Under control conditions, chemical inhibition underwent severe depression and disappeared; in the mixed synapses, electrical coupling dominated. Switching between control and DA LP waveforms (with or without DA present) caused only subtle changes in synaptic transmission. DA markedly enhanced synaptic inhibition, reduced synaptic depression and weakened electrical coupling, reversing the sign of the mixed synapses. Despite this, removal of the LP from the intact network still had only weak effects on PY firing. DA also enhances PY intrinsic rebound properties, which still control the onset of PY firing. Thus in a rhythmic network, the functional importance of synaptic modulation can only be understood in the context of parallel modulation of intrinsic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes the Corkscrew (csw) gene mutations in Drosophila. Function during mesoderm development; Effect of tissue-specific expression of a gain-of-function csw construct; Performance of genetic function experiments.

This paper is concerned with some physical layer issues for HIPERLAN. First, the noise performance required of each class of receivers in HIPERLAN is determined. Secondly, the effect of frequency offset on the performance of equalisers is investigated and various techniques for joint equalisation and frequency offset compensation are studied. It is shown that by employing a decision feedback equaliser incorporating a second order phase locked loop, the effect of both the intersymbol interference and frequency offset can be significantly reduced. Using such a technique, the packet error ratio (PER) of a HIPERLAN radio link in a multipath channel is found by simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines how police officers in the United States define rape. Reformation of rape laws in the United States; How this reformation has affected police officers and their definition of rape; Analysis of definitions of rape that were given by police officers.

This article presents three experiments that examine the relation between order effects and frequency learning, with the following results. First, when frequencies of occurrence are presented as sequences of real events, base rates can be learned and used with a high degree of accuracy. However, conditional probabilities for multiple sequentially presented evidence items cannot be completely learned, due to the distortion of a recency order effect for actual decisions. Second, there is also a recency order effect for belief evaluations, which cannot be eliminated even if base rates are used correctly. Third, base rates learned in one environment can be transferred to another environment, but the transfer soon diminishes due to learning in the new environment. However, belief evaluations are not transferred from one environment to another The existing models of frequency learning cannot explain the order effect for actual decisions because they do not consider sequential information. The existing models of belief updating can explain both types of order effects, but they do not have any mechanisms for frequency learning. To account for the complete spectrum of frequency learning and order effects, we outline our initial effort in developing a unified model that integrates frequency learning and order effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusess case studies of 53, 60, and -year-old male with bipolar affective disorder on sodium valproate, and 20-year-old male with seizure disorder on Valproate. There was an elevated level of plasma ammonia in cases during the delirious state and which decreased when valproate was discontinued. Serum valproate levels, liver function tests, electroencephalogram, and imaging studies were normal.

Magnetic fields play vital roles in intracluster media (ICMs), but estimating their strengths and distributions from observations is a major challenge. Faraday rotation measures (RMs) are widely applied to this task, so it is critical to understand inherent uncertainties in RM analysis. In this paper, we seek to characterize those uncertainties given the types of information available today, independent of the specific technique used. We conduct synthetic RM observations through the ICM of a galaxy cluster drawn from a magnetohydrodynamic cosmological simulation in which the magnetic field is known. We analyze the synthetic RM observations using an analytical formalism based on commonly used model assumptions, allowing us to relate model physical variables to outcome uncertainties. Despite the simplicity of some assumptions, and unknown physical parameters, we are able to extract an approximate magnitude of the central magnetic field within an apparently irreducible uncertain factor of ≈3. Principal, largely irreducible, uncertainties come from the unknown depth along the line of sight of embedded polarized sources, the lack of robust coherence lengths from area-constrained polarization sampling, and the unknown scaling between ICM electron density and magnetic field strength. The RM-estimated central magnetic field strengths span more than an order of magnitude including the full range of synthetic experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anomalous microwave emission (AME) is a category of Galactic signals that cannot be explained by synchrotron, thermal dust, or optically thin free–free radiation. Spinning dust is one variety of AME that could be partially polarized and is therefore relevant for cosmic microwave background polarization studies. The Planck satellite mission identified candidate AME regions in approximately 1° patches that were found to have spectra generally consistent with spinning dust grain models. The spectra for one of these regions, G107.2+5.2, was also consistent with optically thick free–free emission because of a lack of measurements between 2 and 20 GHz. Follow-up observations were needed. Therefore, we used the C-band receiver and the Versatile Green Bank Telescope (GBT) Astronomical Spectrometer at the GBT to constrain the AME mechanism. For the study described in this paper, we produced three band-averaged maps at 4.575, 5.625, and 6.125 GHz and used aperture photometry to measure the spectral flux density in the region relative to the background. We found that if the spinning dust description is correct, then the spinning dust signal peaks at 30.9 ± 1.4 GHz, and it explains the excess emission. The morphology and spectrum together suggest the spinning dust grains are concentrated near S140, which is a star-forming region inside our chosen photometry aperture. If the AME is sourced by optically thick free–free radiation, then the region would have to contain H ii with an emission measure of and a physical extent of pc. This result suggests the H ii would have to be ultra- or hyper-compact to remain an AME candidate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The causal parameters and response lag times of the solar cycle dynamics are investigated with transfer entropy, which can determine the amount of information transfer from one variable to another. The causal dependency of the solar cycle parameters is bidirectional. The transfer of information from the solar polar field to the sunspot number (SSN) peaks at lag time (τ) ∼ 30–40 months, but thereafter it remains at a persistently low level for at least 400 months (∼3 solar cycles) for the period 1906–2014. The latter may lend support to the idea that the polar fields from the last three or more solar cycles can affect the production of the SSN of the subsequent cycle. There is also a similarly long-term information transfer from the SSN to the polar field. Both the meridional flow speed and flux emergence (proxied by the SSN) transfer information to the polar field, but one transfers more information than the other, depending on the lag times. The meridional flow speed transfers more information than the SSN to the polar field at τ ∼ 28–30 months and at τ ∼ 90–110 months, which may be consistent with some flux transfer dynamo models and some surface flux transport models. However, the flux emergence transfers more information than the meridional flow to the polar field at τ ∼ 60–80 months, which may be consistent with a recently developed surface flux transport model. The transfer of information from the meridional flow to the SSN peaks at τ ∼ 110–120 months (∼1 solar cycle). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Typical quantum gate tomography protocols struggle with a self-consistency problem: the gate operation cannot be reconstructed without knowledge of the initial state and final measurement, but such knowledge cannot be obtained without well-characterized gates. A recently proposed technique, known as randomized benchmarking tomography (RBT), sidesteps this self-consistency problem by designing experiments to be insensitive to preparation and measurement imperfections. We implement this proposal in a superconducting qubit system, using a number of experimental improvements including implementing each of the elements of the Clifford group in single ‘atomic’ pulses and custom control hardware to enable large overhead protocols. We show a robust reconstruction of several single-qubit quantum gates, including a unitary outside the Clifford group. We demonstrate that RBT yields physical gate reconstructions that are consistent with fidelities obtained by RB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A response from the authors of the article "Enhanced Care by Community Health Workers in Improving Treatment Adherence to Antidepressant Medication in Rural Women With Major Depression" in the 2014 issue is presented.

The article offers information on the databases by the libraries of the University of New Mexico Main Campus (UNM Libraries). Topics discussed include uses of the database by university students, staff, faculty, and independent research community users; types of databases such as title exclusive to the UNM Libraries, titles shared across UNM's branch campus, and free databases; and WorldShare Management System (WMS) with collection manager module store and maintain electronic resources.

Objectives. We evaluated the quality of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of therapy for juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) using an individual component approach and assessed temporal changes. Methods. A systematic review of the literature was performed to identify all RCTs involving exclusively JIA patients. Two investigators independently assessed the identified articles for six quality indicators: generation of allocation sequence, allocation concealment, masking, intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis, dropout rates and clearly stated primary outcome. Results. Fifty-two RCTs involving JIA patients were assessed. Generation of allocation sequence was unclear in 79% of the studies. Reporting of allocation concealment was adequate in only one-third of the studies. Masking was adequate in 73%, inadequate in 19% and unclear in 8% of the reports. ITT analysis was employed in 37% of the reports. Per-protocol analysis was used in 40% and in 23% the method was unclear. Most of the reports (67%) had dropout rates ≤20%. About half of the reports (n = 25) failed to show a significant effect of the experimental treatment. No significant associations were found between the study results and quality indicators. With the exception of adequate masking and dropout rate, all quality indicators showed a trend of improvement over the decades. Conclusions. The quality of RCTs in JIA based on the selected indicators was poor. Although there were some positive changes over time, the reporting and methodological quality of trials should be improved. New, more powerful and acceptable RCT designs should be developed in this patient population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the article "The Sound of Goodbye, Life's Final Journey," by D. Crocker and R. Johnson is presented.

An abstract of the article "Wisdom Wagon: Empowering Nurses to Become Involved in the Most Current Bedside Practices!," by Y. Clarkson, R. Johnson and L. Aishman is presented.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to quantify the three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound characteristics of ovaries in Caucasian women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and to examine if these values differed between different phenotypic forms. METHODS 3D pelvic ultrasound was performed in 40 women with PCOS and in 40 controls. Total ovarian volume, stromal volume and echogenicity and antral follicle count (AFC) were measured and ovarian blood flow was quantified using both 3D power Doppler and two-dimensional pulsed-wave Doppler. RESULTS Women with PCOS had a higher AFC (median 16.3 versus 5.5 per ovary, P P P P P P P P CONCLUSIONS Based on 3D ultrasound, women with PCOS have an increased stromal volume and vascularity. Stromal vascularity is significantly higher in women with PCOS who are hirsute and of normal weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]