A Markovian Extension of Valiant′s Learning Model

An "Occam algorithm" learning model maintains a tentative hypothesis consistent with past observations and, when a new observation is inconsistent with the current hypothesis, updates to the next-simplest hypothesis consistent with all observations. In previous work, observations were assumed to be stochastically independent. This paper initiates study of such models under weaker Markovian assumptions on the observations, In the special case where the sequence of hypotheses satisfies a monotonicity condition, it is shown that the number of mistakes in classifying the first t observations is O(√t log 1/π_i), where π_i is the stationary probability of the initial state, i, of the Markov chain.     

Absorption and metabolism of lanatoside C. II. Fate after oral administration

The absorption, metabolism, and excretion of lanatoside C were studied in hospitalized subjects following oral administration of the tritiated drug. Previous reports of an unusual double peak in plasma levels of radioactivity were confirmed. Fifty plasma samples taken from 31 patients showed that an average of 74% of the radioactive material was digoxin and its metabolites. There was little or no lanatoside C in 36 of the 50 samples of plasma. Similar results were obtained for urine radioactivity. The results confirm that lanatoside C is converted to "digoxin" in the gut prior to absorption as previously proposed by us. "Digoxin" refers to digoxin and its breakdown products, namely, digoxigenin and its mono- and didigitoxosides. According to these proposals, the conversion to "digoxin" takes place partly as a result of acid hydrolysis in the gut and partly by the action of bacteria in the intestine. The effects of concurrent administration of antacid therapy, anticholinergic therapy, and food on the fate of oral lanatoside C were separately studied. There were no significant differences between groups with respect to the amount of radioactive material absorbed or excreted, but there were marked qualitative differences in the plasma profiles. There was a statistically significant increase in the time to the first peak in plasma radioactivity in patients concurrently receiving either food or anticholinergic therapy and there was a significant decrease in the relative height of the first peak in patients treated concurrently with antacid.     

Thermal conductivity measurement of liquids in a microfluidic device

A new microfluidic-based approach to measuring liquid thermal conductivity is developed to address the requirement in many practical applications for measurements using small (microlitre) sample size and integration into a compact device. The approach also gives the possibility of high-throughput testing. A resistance heater and temperature sensor are incorporated into a glass microfluidic chip to allow transmission and detection of a planar thermal wave crossing a thin layer of the sample. The device is designed so that heat transfer is locally one-dimensional during a short initial time period. This allows the detected temperature transient to be separated into two distinct components: a short-time, purely one-dimensional part from which sample thermal conductivity can be determined and a remaining long-time part containing the effects of three-dimensionality and of the finite size of surrounding thermal reservoirs. Identification of the one-dimensional component yields a steady temperature difference from which sample thermal conductivity can be determined. Calibration is required to give correct representation of changing heater resistance, system layer thicknesses and solid material thermal conductivities with temperature. In this preliminary study, methanol/water mixtures are measured at atmospheric pressure over the temperature range 30–50°C. The results show that the device has produced a measurement accuracy of within 2.5% over the range of thermal conductivity and temperature of the tests. A relation between measurement uncertainty and the geometric and thermal properties of the system is derived and this is used to identify ways that error could be further reduced.     

Use of newborn screening program blood spots for exposure assessment: declining levels of perluorinated compounds in New York State infants

Temporal biomonitoring studies can assess changes in population exposures to contaminants, but collection of biological specimens with adequate representation and sufficient temporal resolution can be resource-intensive. Newborn Screening Programs (NSPs) collect blood as dried spots on filter paper from nearly all infants born in the United States (U.S.). In this study, we investigated the use of NSP blood spots for temporal biomonitoring by analyzing perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctane sulfonamide (PFOSA), perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) in 110 New York State (NYS) NSP blood spot composite specimens collected between 1997 and 2007, representing a total of 2640 infants. All analytes were detected in > or =90% of the specimens. Concentrations of PFOS, PFOSA, PFHxS, and PFOA exhibited significant exponential declines after the year 2000, coinciding with the phase-out in PFOS production in the U.S. Calculated disappearance half-lives for PFOS, PFHxS, and PFOA (4.4, 8.2, and 4.1 years, respectively) were similar to biological half-lives reported for retired fluorochemical workers. Our results suggest sharp decreases in perinatal exposure of NYS infants to PFOS, PFOSA, PFHxS, and PFOA and demonstrate, for the first time, the utility of NSP blood spots for assessment of temporal trends in exposure.     

In vitro evaluation of sun protection factors of sunscreen agents using a novel UV spectrophotometric technique

A method for the in vitro determination of low- and high-value sun protection factors (SPF) of sunscreens using artificial substrates and a novel pseudo double beam (PDB) mode of operation of a standard double beam UV spectrophotometer is described. The method allows transmittance to be calculated from detector responses of reference and sample beams measured at different gain levels and facilitates the accurate quantification of low levels of electromagnetic radiation transmitted through highly absorbing samples. The spectrophotometer was modified to hold quartz diffusing plates on which a substrate [Transpore™ adhesive tape or human stratum corneum obtained from a skin surface biopsy (SSB)] and the sunscreens to be tested were applied. The PDB mode of operation increased the effective linear range of the detector response of the spectrophotometer by a factor of approximately 20000-fold, enabling the in vitro SPF determination technique to be applied to both high and low SPF value sunscreens. Eight commercial sunscreens with known SPF values ranging from 4 to 77, previously determined by in vivo methods, were tested in vitro using both test substrates and correlations between the in vivo and in vitro values were determined. SPF values determined using the in vitro method correlated well with the known in vivo results (Transpore™ tape, R ² = 0.611; SSB, R ² = 0.7928). The in vitro SPF obtained for one of the tested products differed substantially from the cited in vivo SPF value. Independent in vitro and in vivo re-evaluation of the SPF of this product matched the value predicted by the present method much more closely than the originally cited in vivo value. All determined SPFs were ordered correctly in comparison to in vivo ranking and the technique appeared to correctly identify a sunscreen that had a labelled SPF value that was significantly higher than its true SPF.     

Office laboratory procedures, office economics, patient and parent education, and urinary tract infection

This review updates our readers on four important areas of office practice: office laboratory procedures, office economics, patient and parent education, and urinary tract infection. Michael Aldous reviews the recent literature on office laboratory procedures, which includes a report on the ongoing heated discussion of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, an update of recent studies on new and better rapid streptococcal tests, and improved methods for urinalysis. Rickey Williams provides a report on office economics that includes a discussion of the effects of capitation, how preventive care can be cost effective, and the future prospects for greatly expanded office computerization. Burris Duncan discusses patient and parent education with an in-depth review of the potential economic value of a full implementation of the American Academy of Pediatrics' The Injury Prevention Program, and in addition he chronicles the rapid growth and development of school-based health centers. John Ey reviews the recent literature on urinary tract infections in children, including how we can make the diagnosis, methods for preventing recurrent urinary tract infections, the most effective studies for evaluating the urinary system, and what follow-up is necessary. We hope this review will provide the pediatrician with important information to help in the care of their patients.     

Scaling and universality in continuous length combinatorial optimization

We consider combinatorial optimization problems defined over random ensembles and study how solution cost increases when the optimal solution undergoes a small perturbation delta. For the minimum spanning tree, the increase in cost scales as delta2. For the minimum matching and traveling salesman problems in dimension d >/= 2, the increase scales as delta3; this is observed in Monte Carlo simulations in d = 2, 3, 4 and in theoretical analysis of a mean-field model. We speculate that the scaling exponent could serve to classify combinatorial optimization problems of this general kind into a small number of distinct categories, similar to universality classes in statistical physics.     

The hydraulic behaviour of rhombohedral alite

A number of rhombohedral alites have been prepared using impurities of the type likely to be found in the alites of commercial cements. These alites when ground to 330 m²/kg developed between 25 and 90% more compressive strength at 28 days than monoclinic or triclinic alites. X-ray diffraction of alite pastes, in which hydration was arrested, indicates that rhombohedral alites yield higher strengths not only because they react more vigorously with water but, for the same degree of hydration the hydrates from rhombohedral alites contribute significantly more to strength. A mixture of rhombohedral alite with C₃A and $\text{CaSO}{}_4\text{.}\text{1}\text{2}\text{H}{}_2\text{O}$. developed much higher strengths at a given age than a similar mixture with triclinic alite.