bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
In‐plant activation of root‐specific expression of a cytotoxic gene disrupts the development of the root‐knot nematode, Meloidogyne javanica
Authors: Philip Susan Mary , Fosu‐Nyarko John , Iqbal Sadia , Wang Zhaohui , Jones Michael G. K.
Published: October 2021

Plant hosts can be engineered to disrupt the development of sedentary plant‐parasitic nematodes or proper functioning of the feeding sites the nematodes induce. The use of constitutive promoters to express dsRNAs or nematode inhibitor proteins may be unreliable because of possible silencing or yield penalty from continuous expression in a plant host. This ill‐effect can be avoided if a root‐specific, nematode‐responsive promoter (NRP) is used to drive the target nematode‐inhibitory message. This study used the In Plant Activation (INPACT) system to express a barstar‐controlled barnase in galls of Meloidogyne javanica and assessed how the engineered tobacco lines affected the growth and development of the nematodes. Of the 11 combinations of four NRPs and the CaMV 35S promoter assessed, the AtCel1 and TobRB7 combinations activated specific expression of split β‐glucuronidase (GUS) and barnase genes in and around giant cells. The same NRP combination directed expression of the barnase gene in tobacco roots also constitutively expressing the barstar gene (SPBB transgenic lines). On roots of six T1 SPBB lines, there was up to 94% reduction in the number of galls with significantly smaller adult females compared to those on wild‐type plants. Some of the females on lines SPBB4‐1 and SPBB‐4‐2, for example, were not associated with galls. The results indicated the engineered plants disrupted M. javanica development and demonstrate the potential for controlled and localized expression of peptides, such as those that could block specific effectors, to disrupt initiation, formation, establishment, or proper functioning of feeding cells induced by damaging sedentary nematodes.
Loss‐of‐function of ARABIDOPSIS F‐BOX PROTEIN HYPERSENSITIVE TO ABA 1 enhances drought tolerance and delays germination
Authors: Kim Hani , Song Eunyoung , Kim Yeojin , Choi Eunsil , Hwang Jihwan , Lee Jae‐Hoon
Published: October 2021

ABA is a phytohormone involved in diverse plant events such as seed germination and drought response. An F‐box protein functions as a substrate receptor of the SCF complex and is responsible for ubiquitination of target proteins, triggering their subsequent degradation mediated by ubiquitin proteasome system. Here, we have isolated a gene named ARABIDOPSIS F‐BOX PROTEIN HYPERSENSITIVE TO ABA 1 (AFA1) that was upregulated by ABA. AFA1 interacted with adaptor proteins of the SCF complex, implying its role as a substrate receptor of the complex. Its loss of function mutants, afa1 seedlings, exhibited ABA‐hypersensitivity, including delayed germination in the presence of ABA. Moreover, loss of AFA1 led to increased drought tolerance in adult plants. Microarray data with ABA treatments indicated that 129 and 219 genes were upregulated or downregulated, respectively, by more than three times in afa1 relative to the wild type. Among the upregulated genes in afa1, the expression of 28.7% was induced by more than three times in the presence of ABA, while only 9.3% was repressed to the same extent. These data indicate that AFA1 is involved in the downregulation of many ABA‐inducible genes, in accordance with the ABA‐hypersensitive phenotype of afa1. Epistasis analysis showed that AFA1 could play a role upstream of ABI4 and ABI5 in the ABA signaling for germination inhibition. Collectively, our findings suggest that AFA1 is a novel F‐box protein that negatively regulates ABA signaling.
Effects of Differential Infantile Handling upon Weight Gain and Mortality in the Rat and Mouse
Authors: Denenberg Victor H. , Karas George G.
Published: October 2021

Animals were handled during ages 1 to 10, 11 to 20, or 1 to 20 days, or were nonhandled controls. Animals handled for 20 days weighed the most in adulthood, while the controls weighed the least. Animals handled on days 1 to 10 survived food and water deprivation the longest of any group. Mice handled for 20 days died earlier than controls, while the reverse was true for the rat.
Arrangement of DNA in Living Sperm: A Biophysical Analysis
Authors: Inoué Shinya , Sato Hidemi
Published: October 2021

The submicroscopic arrangement of DNA molecules in living sperm is analyzed by new, highly sensitive polarization optical techniques. It is concluded that the molecules are arranged as a coil of a coil in sperm chromosomes, which in turn appear to be arranged in single file with a definite sequence.
Ytterbium: Effect of Pressure and Temperature on Resistance
Authors: Stager R. A. , Drickamer H. G.
Published: October 2021

The electrical resistance of ytterbium, measured as a function of pressure, shows a sharp maximum at 38 kb, both at 300°K and 77°K. At low pressures ytterbium is a metal because of overlap between filled and empty bands. From about 20 kb to the resistance maximum it is a semiconductor, indicating that the overlap disappears. At the maximum there is a phase transition, and beyond this pressure ytterbium is again metallic.
Indium Antimonide: Superconductivity of the Metallic Form
Authors: Bömmel H. E. , Darnell A. J. , Libby W. F. , Tittmann B. R.
Published: October 2021

The transition of metallic indium antimonide into the superconducting state begins at 2.1°K and is complete at about 1.6°K. These data are close to those for white tin.
Petrology of Venus: Further Deductions
Authors: Walter Louis S.
Published: October 2021

The carbon dioxide pressure of the atmosphere of Venus may be controlled by one or more of several decarbonation reactions. One of these is the formation of carbonate-rich liquids. The pressure-temperature equilibrium conditions of these reactions are in the range of those proposed for the surface of Venus.
Xenic Acid: Reduction at the Dropping-Mercury Electrode
Authors: Jaselskis Bruno
Published: October 2021

Xenic acid is reduced at the dropping-mercury electrode in a single step to xenon. The half-wave potential for the reduction of xenic acid changes from approximately -0.10 to -0.360 volt against a saturated Hg
2
SO
4
-Hg reference electrode in the
p
H range 4.60 to 8.00. The diffusion current varies linearly with concentration of xenic acid.
Hydrogen Energy Levels: Perturbation Caused by Proton Structure
Authors: Porter William S.
Published: October 2021

The shifts in the lowest electronic energy levels of the hydrogen atom caused by the extended charge distribution of the proton have been calculated and found to be of the order of the unexplained portion of the Lamb shift for these levels.
Endrin Resistance in the Pine Mouse
Authors: Webb Ryland E. , Horsfall Frank
Published: October 2021

Wild pine mice with a history of treatment with endrin exhibited a 12-fold greater tolerance to the pesticide than did mice having no history of endrin treatment. A genetic basis for the resistance would be expected, in view of the fact that the resistant mice had been exposed to endrin for 11 years. However, sublethal dosages conferred a degree of resistance on both mouse populations; this indicates the possibility of an inducible resistance.
Radioactive Wastes from Fusion Reactors
Authors: Parkfr Frank L.
Published: October 2021

Calculation of the amount of tritium released from a hypothetical fusion reactor shows that it is 2 × 10
4
the amount released by generation of an equivalent amount of electricity by a fission reactor. Release of the tritium generated by a power economy, if the nuclear power were all fusion, would result in unacceptable worldwide dosages by the year 2000.
Density of the Lunar Surface
Authors: Campbell Malcolm J. , Ulrichs Juris , Gold T.
Published: October 2021

The evidence that the lunar soil is basaltic permits a closer estimate of its density from the radiothermal and radar data. The mean density at the surface is 0.6 ± 0.2 gram per cubic centimeter, increasing to 1.0 gram per cubic centimeter at a depth of a few centimeters; still higher densities at depths of up to meters are implied by the radar observations.
Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectrum of Polywater
Authors: Petsko Gregory A.
Published: October 2021

With the aid of a time-average computer, the proton magnetic resonance spectrum of anomalous water (polywater) is obtained. The spectrum consists of a single broad resonance shifted approximately 300 hertz downfield from the resonance of ordinary water.
Mathematical Groups
Authors: Hammond Allen L.
Published: October 2021

One of the simplest and most useful algebraic structures is the group, study of which dates back to 1830. The concept is not only of mathematical interest, but has found application in fields ranging from quantum mechanics to crystallography. Despite their long history and many uses, groups remain a remote concept to many. Since the accompanying two articles concern advances in group theory and its applications, this short summary of the basic axioms and properties of groups is offered as a convenient primer.
HIP-70: a protein induced by estrogen in the brain and LH-RH in the pituitary
Authors: Mobbs CV , Fink G , Pfaff DW
Published: October 2021

Estrogen and luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) interact to influence both behavior and gonadotropin release. However, little is known about the biochemical mechanisms that mediate the effects of these hormones or their interactions. The most prominent protein induced by estrogen in the ventromedial hypothalamus has the same amino-terminal sequence as the most prominent protein induced by LH-RH in the pituitary in vitro and in vivo; these proteins comigrate on two-dimensional gels. Furthermore, the hormonal induction may be caused by modification of a constitutive protein with the same molecular weight (70,000) but a slightly more acidic isoelectric point, whose level is inversely related to the level of the induced form after estrogen treatment. Thus estrogen and LH-RH may interact by additively or synergistically inducing this protein, which is called HIP-70.
Correction: Omitted Author
Authors: Fathman C. Garrison
Published: October 2021

Through an inadvertent error on my part, I neglected to include the name of one author—Giovina Ruberti—of the report "Requirement for CD8
+
cells in T cell receptor peptide-induced clonal unresponsiveness" (1 Jan., p. 91). The correct order of the authors is as follows: Amitabh Gaur, Giovina Ruberti, Richard Haspel, John P. Mayer, and myself.
House Weighs New Science Institute
Authors: Lawler Andrew
Published: October 2021

House Republicans have been talking about dismantling the Commerce Department, but they have been split on what to do with its various components. Last week, they finally agreed to lump Commerce's science and technology agencies into a new National Institute for Science and Technology. The plan still faces many hurdles, however, including Senate indifference and a presidential veto.
Laser Takes the Twinkle Out of a Star
Authors: Weisman Jonathan
Published: October 2021

In the first full test of a novel “adaptive optics” system, astronomers at California's Lick Observatory used a laser to create a point of light 100 kilometers above Earth's surface, then brought it into focus with a computer-guided flexible mirror. The arrangement corrects for atmospheric distortions and allowed the astronomers to collect data from young stars that could not normally be seen from the ground.
New Budget Gives 7% Boost to R&D
Authors: Normile Dennis
Published: October 2021

Tokyo—The Japanese government gave researchers a Christmas present last week, with a healthy boost in R&D spending for the fiscal year that begins in April as part of a budget that skimps on many other sectors of public spending.
Ozone-Destroying Chlorine Tops Out
Authors: Kerr Richard A.
Published: October 2021

The 1987 Montreal Protocol to restrict the use of ozone-destroying chemicals has scored a clear success: Chlorine levels have peaked and are on the way down. But continuing emissions of bromine, another ozone-destroyer, may slow the recovery of the stratospheric ozone layer.
Russian Deal Bolsters the Space Station—At a Price
Authors: Lawler Andrew
Published: October 2021

The space station scored a political victory last week, as the United States agreed to provide assistance to the cash-strapped Russian space program in return for extended access to the Mir space station and Russian assurances of on-time delivery of key components. The deal could put more pressure on the space station's already stressed budget.
NASA Keeps the Pressure On
Authors: Lawler Andrew
Published: October 2021

The industrial team building the U.S. component of the international space station has amassed more than $100 million in cost overruns in the past 2 years. But NASA officials have adopted a get-tough policy to keep overruns to a minimum.
Patent Office Faces 90-Year Backlog
Authors: Marshall Eliot
Published: October 2021

While some academic researchers have been signing a pledge not to patent raw DNA sequences, companies that specialize in sequencing DNA—chiefly Incyte Pharmaceuticals of Palo Alto, California, and Human Genome Sciences of Rockville, Maryland—have been channeling data from their automated sequencers into the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) at a torrential rate. Applications covering more than 400,000 sequences have been filed, and the PTO is seeking help in dealing with the flood
Patent Law Closes Drug Loophole
Authors: Csillag Cláudio
Published: October 2021

São Paulo—Brazil has finally adopted a new patent law that extends intellectual property protection to foods and pharmaceuticals, and hopes to end the widespread practice in which Brazilian laboratories copy patented drugs and sell them freely in Brazil—the world's sixth largest market for pharmaceuticals. Supporters say the new law should stimulate outside investment as well as build up a homegrown drug industry. But critics contend that it is likely in the short run to have the opposite effect—to drive commercially useful research offshore or into the hands of multinational companies because of the absence of local capacity.
Space Scientists' New Workhorse
Authors: Hellemans Alexander
Published: October 2021

Brussels—When the European Space Agency (ESA) was founded 21 years ago, one of the key objectives was to provide Europe with independent access to space. The enormously successful Ariane program is the result of that principle: Ariane launchers now account for more than 50% of the world's commercial satellite launches. That success is based on a keep-it-simple strategy, in contrast to the very high-tech approach adopted for NASA's space shuttles. Designers are continuing with the strategy for Ariane 5, the latest in the Ariane series, which is due to make its debut next week carrying a major European science mission.
Hubble Successor Gathers Support
Authors: Watson Andrew
Published: October 2021

NASA scientists have unfurled a blueprint for an ambitious new project: a $500 million successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that will peer in the infrared back to the early stages of galaxy formation. The NASA team has proposed an 8-meter reflector made of eight thin segments, which unfold like petals of a flower once in space. The proposal is being enthusiastically endorsed by astronomers, but it has many hurdles to clear before it flies.
Black Spots Blot German Coastal Flats
Authors: Koenig Robert
Published: October 2021

Berlin—Since last May, German naturalists have become increasingly concerned about an outbreak of foul-smelling “black spots” of dead organic matter on the sandy tidal flats along Germany's North Sea coast, now covering more than 25 square kilometers—about one-tenth of the sand flats' surface area between Wilhelmshaven and the Dutch border. Last month, German scientists met with their Dutch and Danish counterparts to determine the causes of the outbreak. Although extensive blooms of phytoplankton, fed by nutrients from polluted rivers, and last winter's harsh weather have been fingered as suspects, the researchers identified no easy solutions to the problem.
UC Objects to Research Restrictions
Authors: Barinaga Marcia
Published: October 2021

Berkeley, California—The California legislature this week approved a budget bill that would release $60.4 million for tobacco-related research to the University of California (UC). The funds, from a 25-cent-a-pack tax on cigarettes, had been held up in a legal dispute over how the tax should be distributed. But the legislature put two restrictions on the money: a requirement that the state Department of Finance approve plans to spend the money, and a ban on the funding of “research or other activities of a partisan political nature.” UC faculty members have objected, and the university itself says that it will interpret the restrictions in a way that will not infringe academic freedom. Skirmishing on this issue seems far from over.
Silver Thread Boosts Current Capacity
Authors: Service Robert F.
Published: October 2021

Adding a thread of silver to the interior of a wire made of a high-temperature superconductor boosted the amount of current it could carry without resistance more than threefold over the best commercially available HTS wire, researchers have found. An increase of that magnitude could lead to smaller and cheaper HTS magnets and generators. Manufacturing the new wire in useful lengths should require only simple changes in the most common wiremaking technique.
Promega Wins Round in Fight Over Taq
Authors: Barinaga Marcia
Published: October 2021

Berkeley, California—A high-stakes battle over patent rights to Taq polymerase—the enzyme used in molecular biology labs around the world for the popular technique known as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)—took a new turn in a San Francisco courtroom last week. A judge handed down a pretrial ruling that appears to strengthen the hand of Promega, a Madison, Wisconsin, biotech company that is trying to invalidate a patent on Taq held by the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Hoffmann-La Roche. The judge concluded that Cetus Corp., from which Roche bought the PCR patents in 1991, did not adequately specify the purity of the enzyme in its patent application and withheld information from the U.S. patent office. Both findings could strengthen Promega's argument that earlier publications anticipated Cetus's 1990 patent.
More Monkey Business Alleged at NYU
Authors: Stone Richard
Published: October 2021

A year after being ousted as director of New York University's (NYU's) Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates, geneticist Jan Moor-Jankowski is suing the university and a U.S. government agency for at least $17 million. The researcher alleges he's being victimized for blowing the whistle on the university's failure to meet federal guidelines for primate care. In his suit, filed on 8 August, Moor-Jankowski also charges that the U.S. Department of Agriculture—which regulates primate research—denied him due process by failing to investigate his charges adequately. The university and the agency declined to comment on the suit, although the school has previously said its course of conduct was independent of Moor-Jankowski's actions.
DOE Gives $47 Million for Core Research
Authors: Kaiser Jocelyn
Published: October 2021

The Department of Energy (DOE) last week took what it hopes will amount to a giant step toward solving its massive nuclear waste cleanup problem by funding the first round of 139 grants for basic research at universities and DOE labs. The $47 million Environmental Management Science Program, created last year by Congress, has been embraced by DOE as a fresh approach to a mind-boggling problem—3700 sites in 34 states that could take $230 billion and 75 years to clean up. The 3-year awards, from $200,000 to $2.9 million, cover projects ranging from the dynamics of plume flow and the cleansing characteristics of sound waves to the genetics of waste-eating microbes and metal-absorbing plants. DOE expects to give out $112 million over the 3 years.
NASA Scales Back Science on Station
Authors: Lawler Andrew
Published: October 2021

NASA is quietly reducing the amount of science that will be conducted aboard the international space station in its early years and has asked Japan and Europe to consider building an expensive centrifuge that will form the cornerstone of biological research on the station. The moves have upset U.S. researchers already unhappy with a recent decision to divert money from science to construction, which comes as NASA continues to tout the station as an orbiting laboratory with an extensive and exciting research agenda.
Furor Over Minnesota Tenure Proposals
Authors: Holden Constance
Published: October 2021

The University of Minnesota has been in turmoil for the last 2 weeks over a proposal by the Board of Regents to revise the university's tenure code. Faculty members, includingthe university's president, have argued that the proposal will effectively destroy the tenure system, and they have even taken the first steps toward forming a union—a move thathas temporarily headed off a regents' vote on the proposal, scheduled for 10 October.
DNA Enters Dust Up Over Bones
Authors: Gibbons Ann
Published: October 2021

A 9300-year-old skeleton uncovered on the banks of the Columbia River in Washington State is a treasure trove of information for anthropologists, with a projectile point in its pelvis and possible Caucasoid features. But American Indians are claiming the skeleton as an ancestor and plan to rebury it. However, a sliver of bone taken for age-testing may soon yield DNA, which may reveal whether the skeleton was ancestral to modern American Indians.
Global Review Faults U.S. Curricula
Authors: Vogel Gretchen
Published: October 2021

A new international study of elementary- and secondary-school curricula suggests having a syllabus that's “a mile wide and an inch deep” could be one reason why U.S. students do relatively poorly on international achievement tests. The analysis from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study compares curricula in 50 countries
Clinton Pushes Internet Initiative
Authors: Lawler Andrew
Published: October 2021

Lawler, Andrew President Bill Clinton last week pledged a sharp increase in funding for a fledgling high-speed computer network that will allow researchers to bypass the overcrowded Internet. He promised to request $100 million in his 1998 budget for a project called the very high speed Backbone Network Service--if he is reelected
Cancer Charity's Rehabilitation Set Back
Authors: Balter Michael
Published: October 2021

Paris —The Association for Cancer Research, once the largest single funding source for research on cancer in France, is planning a fall campaign to restore its credibility after it was almost sunk by a financial scandal. But just as the campaign was about to start, the daily Le Monde published yet more details about those alleged improprieties
Unraveling Immune-Cell Mysteries
Authors: Gura Trisha
Published: October 2021

Two immunologists who came together by chance in the same Australian lab are honored for the unique insight they brought to understanding how the immune system's killer cells recognize their targets. For more information on this prize, see the
Nobel Foundation Web site
a
A Captivating Carbon Form
Authors: Service Robert F.
Published: October 2021

Three researchers who discovered “buckyballs” and launched a new field of materials chemistry are awarded this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry. For more information on this prize, see the
Nobel Foundation Web site
Database Access Fight Heats Up
Authors: Lawler Andrew
Published: October 2021

Science officials in Washington are stepping up their efforts to head off what they see as a threat to scientists' ready access to databases. They are trying to persuade U.S. trade negotiators to press for clear exemptions for scientific research in proposed new international rules protecting private databases from piracy (also see
Science
, 25 October, p.
494
).
Global Interest High, Knowledge Low
Authors: Normile Dennis
Published: October 2021

Tokyo--Public understanding of science and technology lags well behind public interest in these fields throughout the major industrial countries, according to a pair of new studies released here last week.
Dust Grains Bring Long-Lost Stars Into the Laboratory
Authors: Glanz James
Published: October 2021

St. Louis--Bits of grit that formed billions of years ago around old, bloated stars and supernovas, then wafted through space and fell to Earth in meteorites, are giving researchers a new window on the cosmos. At a recent conference here, stellar grain specialists described what these grains are revealing about the turbulent atmospheres of stars, the churning of stellar interiors, and the age of the universe
Homing In On a Prostate Cancer Gene
Authors: Pennisi Elizabeth
Published: October 2021

In work reported on
p. 1371
, a multi-institutional research team has found that a small region of chromosome 1 contains a gene that greatly increases the risk of prostate cancer.
Illusion Reveals Pain Locus in Brain
Authors: Vogel Gretchen
Published: October 2021

Washington, D.C.—A century-old illusion, in which alternating warm and cool bars on a grill produce a sensation of burning cold, has helped scientists pinpoint the part of the brain that responds to pain from extreme temperatures. The findings, presented at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting here and in this week's issue of
Nature
, also help scientists understand the phantom pain endured by many stroke and spinal cord injury victims.
Slow Leak Seen in Saturn's Rings
Authors: Kerr Richard A.
Published: October 2021

Tucson, Arizona—Saturn's rings are slowly losing their lifeblood, and the Hubble Space Telescope has spotted the trail: water in Saturn's stratosphere, just where icy particles should be falling from the rings. The erosion implies that the rings are a short-lived marvel.
NSF Poised to Continue Novel Program
Authors: Mervis Jeffrey
Published: October 2021

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is poised to make its $60 million science and technology centers program a regular part of its research portfolio following a series of reviews that give high marks to the once-controversial idea.
Political Sails Are Up for Revamping DOE
Authors: Lawler Andrew
Published: October 2021

After spending the past 2 years brusquely rejecting demands to eliminate the Department of Energy (DOE), the White House last week signaled its willingness to discuss a radical overhaul of the $16 billion a year agency. The talks, if successful, could mean big changes in DOE's sprawling network of laboratories and in disciplines ranging from high-energy physics to genetics research.
Lab Privatization Program in Tatters
Authors: Williams Nigel
Published: October 2021

London—The British government's efforts to shift many public laboratories into the private sector appears to be in disarray after it has backed down from one privatization and put another on hold in little more than a week. With a general election looming and privatization proving expensive, the political and economic costs of going ahead are apparently proving too great. The confusion is prompting both anger and relief among researchers.
Could Stellar Ash Revise Cosmic Ages?
Authors: Glanz James
Published: October 2021

The helium and other elements made by nuclear burning in red giant stars were thought to stay bottled up deep inside the stars, but observers have noticed that some of this ash leaks to the stellar surface. A new set of calculations now shows that the ash makes the giants brighter than expected, which in turn casts doubt on a whole set of assumptions that had pegged the age of the oldest stars at 15 billion years—substantially older thanother benchmarks of cosmic age.
On Ice's Surface, a Dance of Molecules
Authors: Seife Charles
Published: October 2021

A new analysis of the surface of ice hints that, even at very low temperatures, its outermost molecules behave like a liquid. This mobile layer could help explain mysteries from atmospheric chemistry to why it is more fun to skate on ice than on concrete.
The Meteorological Conference at Paris
Authors: Rotch A. Lawrence
Published: October 2021

On page 17 the last sentence of the first paragraph of my report should read as follows: "No one came from either Spain or Brazil, as was not the case at Munich, but Italy, Belgium, Canada and Mexico each sent a delegate to Paris, the two latter countries participating for the first time in an international meeting." I desired to state briefly the principal countries which were represented at Munich and not at Paris, and
vice versâ
, but I might add that, although representatives from both Austria and Russia came to Paris, yet there was much regret at the absence of Prof. Hann, the eminent director of the Austrian Meteorological Bureau, and of Prof. Wild, late director of the Physical Central Observatory at St. Petersburg, both of whom had taken an active part in these international meetings since the first conference at Leipzig in 1872.
Observations on Heating Hay in the Flooded Regions of Northern Vermont
Authors: James Lawrence H. , Price David J.
Published: October 2021

The waters of the recent floods in Vermont and Massachusetts reached the haymows of hundreds of barns. Excessive heating set in almost immediately after the flood waters receded, endangering the farm buildings. Observations were made at 13 different farms in the valleys of the Winooski, Lamoille and Mississquoi Rivers. These observations are summarized in the following statements:

1. From half a foot to seventeen feet of the piles were under water.

2. In every pile of wet hay observed some "heating" had taken place, frequently to the point of being considered dangerous.

3. Heat was generated in the bottom layers of the piles and, escaping up through the hay, led to the production of draughts of hot gases or "flues" rising to the surface.

4. The large quantity of moisture carried with the hot gases from the lower layers was condensed on the upper, cooler hay, or in the air above. Many hay piles had been soaked throughout by the falling condensed moisture.

5. While the hot hay was being removed from the barns only one farmer had observed any charred materials.

6. The maximum temperature found (besides one case of fire) was 74 °C., though temperatures above 70° were recorded in other places.

7. The most marked evidence of excessive heating was observed (by the farmers) on the second and third days after the recession of the flood waters.

8. One authentic case of "spontaneous" combustion of hay caused by the flood was reported. The outstanding features were:

a. The lower two feet of the pile consisted of old hay from the preceding season (1926).

b. Covering this lower 2-foot section of old hay was a 6-inch layer of first cutting alfalfa.

c. Two feet beneath the top surface of the 42-foot pile was another 6-inch layer of alfalfa (second cutting).

d. This hay pile which fired "spontaneously" was the only one containing even a small quantity of alfalfa.

The urgent need for extensive research upon the problem of the "spontaneous" heating of farm products was emphasized by the lack of scientific knowledge with which to meet the situation.
A Correction
Authors: Johnson Douglas
Published: October 2021

IN a recently published volume on "The Origin of Submarine Canyons" the writer inadvertently credited to A. C. Veatch an excerpt from a submarine chart actually contoured by P. A. Smith, of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. The chart in question is Chart IVB of Special Paper No. 7 of the Geological Society of America entitled "Atlantic Submarine Valleys of the United States and the Congo Submarine Valley, by A. C. Veatch and P. A. Smith," and the excerpt appears as Plate III of the volume first cited above. In view of the heavy labor involved in contouring the charts accompanying the paper by Veatch and Smith and the beauty of the finished product, it would be unfair to Mr. Smith to permit the error to go uncorrected. Excerpts from two other charts are correctly ascribed to Dr. Veatch.
Adequacy of the Essential Amino Acids for Growth of the Rat
Authors: Kinsey V. Everett , Grant W. Morton
Published: October 2021

Growth was obtained in rats on synthetic diets in which the ten essential amino acids were the sole source of amino acid nitrogen. The growth rate was dependent upon the quantity of amino acids fed and appeared to compare favorably with that obtained when a similar quantity of nitrogen was fed in the form of casein. No increase in growth was observed when nitrogen in addition to that given in the form of the essential amino acids was supplied as glycine. Our experiments would not support the contention that the unnatural forms of the amino acids are toxic.

We wish to acknowledge and thank Phyllis Robison for technical assistance, and Dr. D. Mark Hegsted for helpful suggestions.
High-Performance and Energy-Efficient 3D Manycore GPU Architecture for Accelerating Graph Analytics
Authors: Choudhury Dwaipayan , Rajam Aravind Sukumaran , Kalyanaraman Ananth , Pande Partha Pratim
Published: October 2021

Recent advances in GPU-based manycore accelerators provide the opportunity to efficiently process large-scale graphs on chip. However, real world graphs have a diverse range of topology and connectivity patterns (e.g., degree distributions) that make the design of input-agnostic hardware architectures a challenge.
Network-on-Chip (NoC)-
based architectures provide a way to overcome this challenge as the architectural topology can be used to approximately model the expected traffic patterns that emerge from graph application workloads. In this paper, we first study the mix of long- and short-range traffic patterns generated on-chip using graph workloads, and subsequently use the findings to adapt the design of an optimal NoC-based architecture. In particular, by leveraging emerging
three-dimensional (3D)
integration technology, we propose design of a
small-world NoC (SWNoC)-
enabled manycore GPU architecture, where the placement of the links connecting the
streaming multiprocessors (SM)
and the
memory controllers (MC)
follow a power-law distribution. The proposed 3D manycore GPU architecture outperforms the traditional planar (2D) counterparts in both performance and energy consumption. Moreover, by adopting a joint performance-thermal optimization strategy, we address the thermal concerns in a 3D design without noticeably compromising the achievable performance. The 3D integration technology is also leveraged to incorporate
Near Data Processing (NDP)
to complement the performance benefits introduced by the SWNoC architecture. As graph applications are inherently memory intensive, off-chip data movement gives rise to latency and energy overheads in the presence of external DRAM. In conventional GPU architectures, as the main memory layer is not integrated with the logic, off-chip data movement negatively impacts overall performance and energy consumption. We demonstrate that NDP significantly reduces the overheads associated with such frequent and irregular memory accesses in graph-based applications. The proposed SWNoC-enabled NDP framework that integrates 3D memory (like Micron's HMC) with a massive number of GPU cores achieves 29.5% performance improvement and 30.03% less energy consumption on average compared to a conventional planar Mesh-based design with external DRAM.
Comprehensive Analysis of the Expression of TGF-β Signaling Regulators and Prognosis in Human Esophageal Cancer
Authors: Song Wei , Dai Wei-Jie , Zhang Meng-hui , Wang Han , Yang Xiao-Zhong
Published: October 2021

More and more evidences show that TGF-β has a crucial role in tumor initiation and development. However, the mechanism of the TGF-β signal regulator in esophageal cancer (EC) is still unclear. Here, we use a variety of bioinformatics methods to analyze the expression and survival data of TGF-β signal regulators in patients with EC. We extracted the expression of the S-TGF-β signal regulator from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The cBioPortal database was used to assess the frequency of genetic variation. The TGF-β signal regulator is expressed in EC and normal tissues. The objective is to use the Kaplan-Meier plotter database to investigate the prognostic value of TGF-β signal regulators in cancer patients. The DAVID and clusterProfiler software package were used for functional enrichment analysis. We found that patients with TGF-β signaling mutations have shorter overall survival, disease-free survival, disease-specific survival, platinum overall survival, and platinum-free progression survival. We found that compared with the noncancerous tissues of patients with EC, ZFYVE9, BMPR1B, TGFB3, TGFBRAP1, ACVRL1, TGFBR2, SMAD4, SMAD7, ACVR2A, BMPR1, and SMAD9 were significantly downregulated in tumor tissues, while ACVR1 and Smad1 were significantly upregulated in tumor samples. Univariate survival analysis showed that ACVR1, TGFBR3, TGFBRAP1, BMPR1A, SMAD4, and TGFBR2 were positively correlated with overall survival (OS) prolongation. In addition, TGF-β signal transduction regulators could be divided into two classes. Subclass 1 was involved in regulating cell adhesion, PI3K-Akt signaling, and Rap1 signaling. Subclass 2 was related to regulating angiogenesis and PI3K signaling. In short, all members of TGF-β signal regulators can be used as biomarkers to predict the prognosis of patients with EC.
Complexity and involvement as implementation challenges: results from a process analysis
Authors: Emond Yvette , Wolff André , Bloo Gerrit , Damen Johan , Westert Gert , Wollersheim Hub , Calsbeek Hiske
Published: October 2021

Background

The study objective was to analyse the implementation challenges experienced in carrying out the IMPROVE programme. This programme was designed to implement checklist-related improvement initiatives based on the national perioperative guidelines using a stepped-wedge trial design. A process analysis was carried out to investigate the involvement in the implementation activities.

Methods

An involvement rating measure was developed to express the extent to which the implementation programme was carried out in the hospitals. This measure reflects the number of IMPROVE-implementation activities executed and the estimated participation in these activities in all nine participating hospitals. These data were compared with prospectively collected field notes.

Results

Considerable variation between the hospitals was found with involvement ratings ranging from 0 to 6 (mean per measurement = 1.83 on a scale of 0–11). Major implementation challenges were respectively the study design (fixed design, time planning, long duration, repeated measurements, and data availability); the selection process of hospitals, departments and key contact person(s) (inadequately covering the entire perioperative team and stand-alone surgeons); the implementation programme (programme size and scope, tailoring, multicentre, lack of mandate, co-interventions by the Inspectorate, local intervention initiatives, intervention fatigue); and competitive events such as hospital mergers or the introduction of new IT systems, all reducing involvement.

Conclusions

The process analysis approach helped to explain the limited and delayed execution of the IMPROVE-implementation programme. This turned out to be very heterogeneous between hospitals, with variation in the number and content of implementation activities carried out. The identified implementation challenges reflect a high complexity with regard to the implementation programme, study design and setting. The involvement of the target professionals was put under pressure by many factors. We mostly encountered challenges, but at the same time we provide solutions for addressing them. A less complex implementation programme, a less fixed study design, a better thought-out selection of contact persons, as well as more commitment of the hospital management and surgeons would likely have contributed to better implementation results.

Trial registration

Dutch Trial Registry: NTR3568, retrospectively registered on 2 August 2012.
Statistical analysis plan for the Early Youth Engagement in first episode psychosis (EYE-2) study: a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial of implementation, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a team-based motivational engagement intervention to improve engagement
Authors: Jones Christopher Iain , Bremner Stephen , Hooper Richard , Gu Jenny , Bartl Gergely , Greenwood Kathryn
Published: October 2021

Background

Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) services improve health outcomes for young people with psychosis in the medium-long term, but 25% of young people disengage in the first 12 months with costs to their mental health, families, society and health services. This study will evaluate the effectiveness of a team-based motivational engagement intervention, the Early Youth Engagement (EYE-2) intervention.

Methods and design

The EYE-2 trial is a cluster randomised controlled trial comparing the EYE-2 intervention plus standardised EIP service to standardised EIP service alone, with randomisation at the clinical team (cluster) level. The study aimed to enrol 950 young people (aged 14–35 years) with first episode psychosis in 10 teams per arm.

Results

The primary outcome is time to disengagement: days from the date of allocation to care coordinator to date of the last contact following either refusal to engage with an EIP team or lack of response to EIP contact for 3 consecutive months which will be analysed using a shared frailty model. Secondary outcomes are Health of the Nation Outcome Scale (HoNOS), Process of Recovery Questionnaire (QPR), DIALOG (a service user-reported measure of quality of life and treatment satisfaction) and service use outcomes which will be analysed using mixed effects regression models.

Discussion

This paper is the detailed statistical analysis plan for the EYE-2 trial. Any changes to, or deviations from, this plan will be described and justified in the final trial report.

Trial registration

ISRCTN 51629746. Prospectively registered on 7 May 2019. Date assigned 10 May 2019.
The INITIATE trial protocol: a randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of a “quit card” intervention on long-term abstinence among tobacco smokers presenting to the emergency department
Authors: Mullen Kerri A. , Garg Aditi , Gagnon Frederick , Wells George , Kapur Atul , Hawken Steven , Pipe Andrew L. , Walker Kathryn , Thiruganasambandamoorthy Venkatesh , Klepaczek Marta , Reid Robert D.
Published: October 2021

Background

Smoking cessation interventions implemented in emergency department (ED) settings have resulted in limited success, owing to factors such as lack of time, motivation, and incentives. A dynamic yet simple and effective approach that addresses the fast-paced nature of acute-care ED settings is needed. This study proposes a multi-center randomized controlled trial (RCT) to compare the effectiveness of an easy to deliver proactive, multi-component tobacco treatment intervention to usual care in the ED setting.

Methods

This will be a prospective four-site, single-blind, blinded-endpoint (PROBE) RCT. Participants will be recruited directly in the ED and will be approached strictly in order of arrival time. Those randomized to the Quit Card Intervention (QCI) group will receive a “quit kit” which will include: a “Quit Card” worth $300 that can be used at any Canadian pharmacy to purchase any form of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT); a self-help booklet; and proactive enrolment in 6 months of telephone follow-up counseling. The usual care (UC) group will receive a “quit kit” which will include a brochure for a local smoking cessation program. Quit kits for both groups will be delivered in opaque, sealed envelopes, and identical in size and weight so to conceal group allocation from the blinded research coordinator. Randomization will be stratified by site and by the Canadian Triage Acuity Scale (CTAS), a value assigned to each ED patient based on the severity of the condition. An equal number of quit kits will be prepared for each CTAS level. The primary outcome will be bio-chemically verified smoking abstinence at 26 weeks. Secondary outcomes include smoking behavior at weeks 4, 52, and 104 as well as mortality and health care utilization outcomes. Investigators, outcome assessors, and data analysts will be blinded to group allocation until after primary analyses are completed. It is hypothesized that the QCI group will have higher a abstinence rate, improved health outcomes, and decreased healthcare utilization.

Discussion

There are few examples of hospital EDs in Canada that systematically initiate tobacco cessation interventions for patients who smoke. Given the high smoking prevalence among ED patients and the relation of tobacco smoking to the majority of ambulatory care sensitive conditions, EDs are a missed opportunity in the initiation of tobacco treatment interventions. We have designed and will test an evidence-based tobacco treatment intervention that is simple and highly scalable.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.govNCT04163081. Registered on November 14, 2019
Cedar Hill: Frederick Douglass’s Literary Landscape and the Racial Construction of Nature
Authors: Hess Scott
Published: October 2021

This essay explores the overlooked significance of Cedar Hill, the landscape estate Frederick Douglass bought in 1877 near Washington, DC, both as a literary landscape and as a form of participation in the nineteenth-century elite culture of nature. Literary landscapes, associated with specific authors and their genius, emerged during the nineteenth century as important sites of memory and focal points for new practices of literary interpretation, tourism, and pilgrimage. The essay demonstrates Douglass’s self-conscious cultivation of Cedar Hill as a literary landscape that supported his claims for elite cultural status and full democratic citizenship. Cedar Hill allowed Douglass to claim both legal and symbolic possession over the landscape, establishing his connection with nature in ways that rivalled southern agrarian plantations and responded to his and other African Americans’ dispossession from the land through slavery. Cedar Hill was memorialized after Douglass’s death as a powerful site of African American identity, but its racial associations disqualified it as nature in the dominant white cultural imagination. Exploring Cedar Hill’s lost legacy as a literary landscape sheds new light both on Douglass’s identity and on the wider intersection of race, landscape, and nature in nineteenth-century and contemporary America.
Enumeration of some matrices and free linear codes over commutative finite local rings
Authors: Sirisuk Siripong
Published: October 2021

Let R be a commutative finite local ring. Two enumeration problems over R are presented. We enumerate the matrices over R with a given McCoy rank and a given number of rows of single unit, and the free linear codes over R which have a given rank and a given number of vectors of single unit.