cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Measurement of early literacy skills among monolingual English-speaking and Spanish-speaking language-minority children: A differential item functioning analysis

Abstract A critical issue in psychological and educational testing is whether assessments provide reliable and valid estimates of ability for different populations of individuals. This issue may be particularly relevant for populations who are not native speakers of the language in which the assessment is written. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of a norm-referenced assessment of English early literacy skills for Spanish-speaking language-minority (LM) children. Participants for this study (1221 preschool children, 751 of whom were identified as Spanish-speaking LM children) completed the Phonological Awareness, Print Knowledge, and Definitional Vocabulary subtests of the Test of Preschool Early Literacy (TOPEL). Item response theory analysis was conducted to examine student performance on each subtest, and performance of monolingual English-speaking and Spanish-speaking LM children was compared using differential item functioning (DIF) analysis. Results indicated that there was minimal DIF for the Phonological Awareness and Print Knowledge subtests. Substantially more DIF was evident on the Definitional Vocabulary subtest, although presence of DIF was not consistently in favor of monolingual English-speaking or Spanish-speaking LM children. Moreover, effect size estimates of DIF indicated that, across most test items, the magnitude of DIF was small to moderate. Taken together, these findings indicate that the TOPEL can be used to obtain valid and reliable estimates of Spanish-speaking LM preschoolers’ English early literacy skills.
Library orientation and instruction — 1973: An annotated review of the literature

Following is an annotated bibliography of materials published in 1973 on orienting library users to the library and instructing them in the use of library resources. Though information on instruction and orientation in all types of libraries is included, most materials deal with academic library users.
Improving Nuclei Classification Performance in H&E Stained Tissue Images Using Fully Convolutional Regression Network and Convolutional Neural Network

Detection and classification of nuclei in histopathology images is an important step in the research of understanding tumor microenvironment and evaluating cancer progression and prognosis. The task is challenging due to imaging factors such as varying cell morphologies, batch-to-batch variations in staining, and sample preparation. We present a two-stage deep learning pipeline that combines a Fully Convolutional Regression Network (FCRN) that performs nuclei localization with a Convolution Neural Network (CNN) that performs nuclei classification. Instead of using hand-crafted features, the system learns the visual features needed for detection and classification of nuclei making the process robust to the aforementioned variations. The performance of the proposed system has been quantitatively evaluated on images of hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained colon cancer tissues and compared to the previous studies using the same data set. The proposed deep learning system produces promising results for detection and classification of nuclei in histopathology images.
Hybrid Microgenetic Analysis: Using Activity Codebooks to Identify and Characterize Creative Process

Tacit knowledge is a type of knowledge often existing in one's subconscious or embodied in muscle memory. Such knowledge is pervasive in creative practices yet remains difficult to observe or codify. To better understand tacit knowledge, we introduce a design method that leverages time-series data (interaction logs, physical sensor, and biosignal data) to isolate unique actions and behaviors between groups of users. This method is enacted in Eluent, a tool that distills hundreds of hours of dense activity data using an activity segmentation algorithm into a codebook - a set of distinct, characteristic sequences that comprise an activity. The results are made visually parsable in a representation we term process chromatograms that aid with 1) highlighting distinct periods of activity in creative sessions, 2) identifying distinct groups of users, and 3) characterizing periods of activity. We demonstrate the value of our method through a study of tacit process within computational notebooks and discuss ways process chromatograms can act as a knowledge mining technique, an evaluation metric, and a design-informing visualization.
Decision-Making in Local Context: Expertise, Experience, and the Importance of Neighbours in Farmers’ Insect Pest Management

Drawing on data from four focus groups with alfalfa farmers conducted in Spring 2014 and 2015 in four counties in Wyoming, USA, we analyse how farmers make decisions about insect pest management. Our generative focus group data allow us to examine how farmers frame and value different sources of information and why and when they rely on them. Our results reveal that in order to be useful, expert information needed to be local and to consider the complex realities of farming. Neighbours, especially those with deep roots in the community, were seen as valuable and trusted sources of information. Chemical companies and co‐op representatives, on the other hand, received more mixed treatment. We describe the dimensions by which growers categorise information: relevancy, accuracy, locality, and diagnostic/prognostic. Our results underscore the reflexive nature and motivation for farmers’ evaluation of information and advice about insect pests.
Epstein-Barr virus-associated acute pancreatitis

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is mostly subclinical and resolves spontaneously without complications. Gastroenterology involvement usually manifests as asymptomatic liver enzymes elevation. We report a new case of acute pancreatitis complicating EBV infection and review the literature. EBV-associated acute pancreatitis is rare, usually develops in the setting of clinically clear EBV infection, occurs mostly in children and young adults, has mild-to-moderate severity, and has excellent prognosis with conservative management. It should be suspected when patients with an EBV infection picture develop unexplained abdominal pain.
Psychotherapy and Society

The critical analysis of psychotherapy, the core intervention of the American social clinic, indicts each link in the chain of American social welfare policy making: the inability of the social clinic itself to achieve the remission or prevention of mental and emotional disorders; the community of scholars that fails to offer scientifically credible tests of its outcomes; and the American culture that endorses the affirming myths of the social clinic thus encouraging the distortions of its research community and the fecklessness of its interventions. Psychotherapy rather than care and the failure of critical psychology: Mental and emotional problems remain embedded in society and not amenable to isolation for clinical treatment.
Antiretroviral Therapy Concentrations Differ in Gut vs. Lymph Node Tissues and Are Associated With HIV Viral Transcription by a Novel RT-ddPCR Assay.

Background Most HIV-infected cells during antiretroviral therapy (ART) persist in lymphoid tissues. Studies disagree on whether suboptimal tissue ART concentrations contribute to ongoing HIV replication during viral suppression. Methods We performed a cross-sectional study in virally-suppressed HIV+ participants measuring lymphoid tissue ART [darunavir (DRV), atazanavir (ATV), and raltegravir (RAL)] concentrations by LC-MS/MS assay. Tissue and plasma ART concentrations were used to estimate TPRs and drug-specific tissue:inhibitory concentration ratios (TICs). HIV DNA and sequentially produced HIV RNA transcripts were quantified from rectal biopsies using droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) assays. Results Tissue samples were collected in duplicate from 19 participants: 38 rectal, 8 ileal (4 RAL, 2 DRV, 2 ATV), and 6 lymph node (4 RAL, 2 DRV) samples. Overall, median TICs were higher for RAL than DRV or ATV (both P = 0.006). Median TICs were lower in lymph nodes vs. ileum (0.49 vs. 143, P = 0.028) or rectum (33, P = 0.019), and all ART levels were below target concentrations. Higher rectal TICs were associated with lower HIV RNA transcripts (read-through, long LTR, and Nef, P all Conclusions We observed higher tissue ART concentrations in ileum and rectum compared with lymph nodes. We observed higher HIV transcription in participants with lower rectal ART concentrations. These findings add to the limited data supporting the idea that viral transcription may be influenced by ART concentrations in lymphoid tissues. Further exploration of tissue pharmacokinetics is needed in future HIV eradication strategies.
Application of highly stable biochar catalysts for efficient pyrolysis of plastics: a readily accessible potential solution to a global waste crisis

Biochar catalysts derived from corn stover and Douglas fir were employed for the catalytic pyrolysis of model low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and real waste plastics. The corn stover derived biochar resulted in a liquid yield of about 40 wt% without wax formation. The liquid product comprised about 60% of C8–C16 aliphatic, 20% of mono-aromatic, and 20% of C17–C23 aliphatic hydrocarbons. The gas yield was about 60 wt% with 60–80 vol% of H2. The corn stover derived biochar tended to generate more H2 gas, and by contrast, CH4 formation was favored when employing the Douglas fir derived biochar catalyst. As for the properties of reused biochars, the biochar catalyst derived from corn stover showed much better activity and longer lifetime than Douglas fir derived biochar, which might arise from the different contents of inherent minerals in biochar catalysts. After 20 times of experimental reuses and recycles, the corn stover derived biochar still possessed high activity in degrading LDPE without wax formation. And after 10 cycles of reuse of Douglas fir derived biochar, the catalyst was still active but its activity level sharply declined with the production of amounts of wax. Additionally, real packaging plastic wastes respectively consisting of LDPE, high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) also could be effectively converted into valuable hydrocarbons and gases through using biochar catalysts, which implied that biochar catalysts could be applied to the conversion of these common waste plastics. The current study demonstrated a new and efficient conversion of various waste plastics to jet fuels and H2 by using a powerfully simple, and long-life biochar catalyst.
Continued Gap in Seizure Frequency Documentation

Proper documentation during neurology clinic visits is essential. Medical providers that document precise and standardized findings aid other providers, nurses, and research personnel. The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) created standardized quality measures in order to improve delivery of care for patients with epilepsy, providers, and systems. We reviewed a total of 777 charts in order to find documentation on seizure frequency from the most recent clinical visit. Data was collected from electronic healthcare records. During initial chart review, the following information was noted: age, gender, seizure type(s), etiology type(s), provider (neurologist or epileptologist), whether seizure frequency was noted, and the reason for no documentation. The data review represented a sample of the epilepsy population seen at our institution. Of the 734 individuals, 475 patients had seizure frequency documented (65%). Two hundred and fifty-nine (259) people (35%) were missing seizure frequency data. For those individuals, we determined the reasoning behind why this data was not present in the chart note. Of those 259 charts, there were 65 (25%) charts missing seizure frequency, 161 (62%) charts that were vague, and 33 (13%) charts where seizure frequency could not be determined. Based on our findings, the documentation of seizure frequency is a gap in care.
Addressing Environmental Smoke Exposure During Pediatric Hospitalization: Attitudes and Practices of Pediatric Nurses Versus Respiratory Therapists.

BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoke exposure leads to numerous adverse health effects in children. Providing cessation interventions to caregivers who smoke during pediatric hospitalizations can help protect children from such exposure. Both pediatric registered nurses (RNs) and pediatric respiratory therapists (RTs) are well positioned to provide these interventions. Little is known about their rates of participation in cessation efforts. Our objective was to compare the attitudes and practice of pediatric RNs versus pediatric RTs to evaluate their relative cessation-intervention practices in the in-patient pediatric setting. METHODS: An online survey was sent to pediatric RNs and RTs at 4 tertiary pediatric hospitals in California. The survey assessed individual demographics, work environment, experience, beliefs, and practices related to smoking cessation activities. Questions used 3-point and 5-point Likert scales and were compared with the chi-square test. Institutions with a response rate RESULTS: A total of 401 respondents were included in the final analysis (292 RNs, 109 RTs). RTs versus RNs were older (42.0 y vs 35.4 y, respectively, P CONCLUSIONS: Compared to in-patient pediatric RNs, RTs reported higher rates of confidence in providing cessation interventions, screening for smoke exposure, and counseling on reducing smoke exposure, suggesting that they may be better positioned for intervening. These results can inform the design of an in-patient cessation intervention for caregivers of hospitalized children.
FilCorr: Filtered and Lagged Correlation on Streaming Time Series

An essential task on streaming time series data is to compute pairwise correlation across disparate signal sources to identify significant events. In many monitoring applications, such as geospatial monitoring, motion monitoring and critical infrastructure monitoring, correlation is observed at various frequency bands and temporal lags. In this paper, we consider computing filtered and lagged correlation on streaming time series data, which is challenging because the computation must be “in-sync” with the incoming stream for any detected events to be useful. We propose a technique to compute filtered and lagged correlation on streaming data efficiently by merging two individual operations: filtering and cross-correlations. We achieve an order of magnitude speed-up by maintaining frequency transforms over sliding windows. Our method is exact, devoid of sensitive parameters, and easily parallelizable. We demonstrate our technique in a seismic signal monitoring application.
Post-operative imaging surveillance of breast cancer patients status post lumpectomy with BioZorb implant placement.

The evolving nature of newer surgical techniques and devices adds to the challenge of interpreting breast imaging in the post lumpectomy setting. The BioZorb surgical marker placed at lumpectomy sites for post-operative radiation targeting has its own distinct imaging appearance on each modality. Determining the expected follow-up imaging findings unique to this relatively new device is an ongoing endeavor with literature currently lacking on this topic. The following series of cases of post BioZorb breast surveillance are the first reported in the literature to provide examples of developing asymmetries and new or enlarging masses adjacent to the BioZorb site along with the final pathologic diagnosis for each case. Pathology findings range from fat necrosis and foreign body reaction to recurrent disease.
The influence of paralytics on the safety and efficacy of prone positioning in COVID19 ARDS

Rationale: Prone positioning has proven benefit but is generally underutilized in moderate to severe Acute Respiratory Disease Syndrome (ARDS). Common practice includes administering neuromuscular blockade [paralytic medication] when proning this population, despite equivocal data regarding benefits of routine paralysis in ARDS. During the COVID19 pandemic, drug shortages and other factors have driven clinicians to prone patients without therapeutic paralysis. Recent publications also suggest prone positioning may be beneficial for non-intubated (non-paralyzed patients). We hypothesized that intubated patients with COVID19-related ARDS can be safely proned without therapeutic paralysis and would experience similar improvement in gas exchange (as evidenced by improved PF [Pa02/Fi02] and SF [Sp02/Fi02] ratios). Methods: Observational data on ICU patients were collected at a large tertiary university hospital from March to September 2020. Clinical teams directed use of sedatives, paralytics, mechanical ventilation settings, and timing of prone vs. supine positioning and blood draws. Comparison of demographics, gas exchange in supine and prone positions (within the same subjects), as well as oxygen requirements, ventilator settings, adverse events and hemodynamic parameters were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Among our cohort of 156 patients, a total of 15 patients were identified that changed from supine to prone position with and without the use of paralytics while in the ICU. All 15 patients had moderate to severe ARDS per the Berlin Criteria, secondary to COVID19. PF and SF ratios were compared in the same patient before and after proning with and without paralytics (within subject comparisons). All groups had an improvement in both average PF ratio (34.7% with and 24.0% without paralysis, p=0.52) and average SF ratio (5.2% with and 6.1% without paralysis, p=0.92) after proning (Figure 1). There were no serious adverse events associated with prone positioning with or without paralytics. Conclusions: When proning patients with COVID19 ARDS, we found no statistically significant difference to support routine use of paralytics when proning. Safety and efficacy were similar when COVID19 patients were being proned with or without neuromuscular blockade. Use of paralytic medication should be an individualized decision rather than given routinely. Larger randomized controlled trials comparing proning with or without paralysis are needed to identify the optimal approach in this population.
Quaternion orders: second meeting

In this chapter, we continue our tour of quaternion orders with some more advanced species.
Low-Dose Ketamine Infusion for Perioperative Pain Management in Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial.

Introduction. Obesity is a common comorbidity seen in the perioperative setting and is associated with many diseases including cardiovascular disease and obstructive sleep apnea. Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is the gold standard surgical treatment for patients whose weight is refractory to diet and exercise. Caring for these patients perioperatively presents unique challenges to anesthesiologists and is associated with an increased risk of adverse respiratory events. In our study, we hypothesize that a low-dose perioperative ketamine infusion will reduce opioid consumption and improve analgesia when compared to standard therapy. Methods. This is a single-center, prospective randomized controlled study enrolling 35 patients in total. Patients were randomized equally into the ketamine and control group. Preop, intraop, and postop management regimens were standardized. The ketamine group received a 0.3 mg/kg ideal body weight ketamine bolus after induction followed by a 0.2 mg/kg/hr ketamine infusion continued into the postop setting for up to 24 hours. Data collected included total perioperative opioids used converted to oral morphine equivalents (ME), pain scores, side effects, hospital length of stay, and patient satisfaction captured via postoperative questionnaires. Results. The use of perioperative opioid consumption was significantly lower in the ketamine group when compared with the control group (179.9 ME versus 248.7 ME, ). There was no statistically significant difference in pain scores or hospital length of stay postoperatively between the two groups. There were also no reported adverse respiratory events, prolonged sedation, agitation, or other side effects reported in either group. The patient satisfaction questionnaires showed a significant difference with the ketamine group reporting lower maximum pain scores, a decrease in how pain limited activities of daily living once discharged, and increased hospital pain management satisfaction scores. Conclusions. Perioperative low-dose ketamine infusions significantly reduced opioid consumption in morbidly obese patients undergoing laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery.
The alt-right digital migration: A heterogeneous engineering approach to social media platform branding:

In recent years, social media platforms such as Twitter have removed users that espouse alt-right narratives of White nationalism and xenophobia from their platforms. This mass removal has caused a...
The Role of Permission, Supervision, and Precipitating Events in Childhood Pool/Spa Submersion Incidents, United States, 2000-2017.

Drowning is a leading cause of fatality among children in the United States, and pool/spa aquatic structures represent common locations of submersion incidents. This study employed narrative case review to understand characteristics related to permission, supervision, and precipitating events in childhood submersion incidents. Retroactive analysis of 1537 fatal and non-fatal submersion incidents among children age 13 years old and younger was conducted using the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission In-Depth Investigations dataset from 2000–2017. Narrative descriptions were coded according to the themes of permission, supervision, and precipitating events. In most (86%) incidents, the child did not have permitted water access, and 80% of narratives indicated the child was alone at time of incident. These attributes were significantly associated with a fatal outcome (No permission: OR 11.98, 95% CI 7.97–18.06; Alone: OR 34.93, 95% CI 19.69–61.96). The average length of inactive supervision time was 15.6 min; this duration significantly differed by non-fatal (3.2 min) and fatal (16.1 min) outcomes (p < 0.001). More than half of cases occurred under the supervision type of a parent (56%), followed by grandparents (14%) and childcare provider (10%). Submersion incidents with a non-parent supervisor were two times more likely to result in a fatal outcome (OR 1.87, 95% CI 1.07–3.64). The most frequently occurring precipitating events included outdoor play (46%), a social gathering (36%), and previous water play (15%). Narrative excerpts further illustrate how tragic submersion events can unfold quickly and unpredictably. Education campaigns should target all adults that supervise children and reiterate key findings in that many submersion incidents occur (1) without permitted pool use, (2) without active supervision, and (3) when a caregiver is distracted. Multiple strategies should be utilized to add layers of projection against submersion injury.
Stable and Reversible Functionalization and Super-Resolution Microscopy of Live Cell Membranes

Live cell surface functionalization has been increasingly explored in recent years because of its emerging bio- medical and therapeutic applications. Known methods to functionalize live-cell surface includes time-consuming metabolic docking of non-natural functional groups on cell surfaces that are hard to use. Here, we report an easy and direct functionalization method for cell surface and cell-cell conjugation utilizing native phosphate groups on cell membranes. We used three-dimensional single-molecule localization microscopy to confirm that the chemical conjugate binds preferentially on the cell surface. We show an application of this method for live-cell imaging and enhancement of cell-cell interaction leading to increased T cell proliferation. Our simple and reversible cell-conjugation strategy would be widely useful to explore and optimize cell-cell contact-based proliferation for any cell-based therapeutic applications.
Power/Knowledge/Geography: Speculation at the End of History

Power refers to control, by a person or an institution, over the minds, thoughts, beliefs, and livelihoods of others. With the term “geography of power,” I am referring to the concentration of power in a few spaces that control a world of distant others. My research on global economic policy-making identifies three main kinds of power: ideological power exercised by experts, economic power exercised increasingly by financial institutions, and political power exercised by government and governance institutions. Three power positions have also been identified: hegemony, sub-hegemony, and counter-hegemony. The geometry of power complexes can be known, with some degree of exactitude, through institutional or discourse analysis in the tradition of Antonio Gramsci and Michel Foucault. But events in the period from 2007 to 2010, marking a profound crisis in the structure of global capitalism, force a reconsideration of institutional and discourse analysis and a movement “back” toward structural analysis in the tradition of Karl Marx. That is, we need to consider the following questions: How do knowledgeable, skillful agents competitively produce economic systems that escape collective control, or even collective understanding? How does specialized expertise become generalized chaos? This chapter contrasts institutional with structural analyses of power and space in an explanation of financial crisis under capitalism.
Voegelin as Philosopher and Realist: The Western Crisis and World Politics

This paper examines how the langugage of world politics have been shaped by Eric Voegelin's analysis of the intellectual and spiritual crisis of the West. Particular attention is paid to developments since the French Revolution as well as the two world wars of the twentieth century.
A quantitative method to measure human platelet chemotaxis using indium- 111-oxine-labeled gel-filtered platelets

Human blood platelets have been shown to migrate directionally and specifically toward collagen in plasma in vitro. We have developed a new system to monitor this behavior using a linear 7-compartment chamber with 111In-oxine-labeled gel-filtered platelets. The compartments are separated by various Nuclepore and Millipore filter membranes. Radiolabeled platelets suspended in plasma are placed in the central compartment and the other compartments are filled with platelet- free plasma. When collagen is added to an end compartment, platelets migrate toward that end. The degree of this directed movement or chemotaxis can be measured by counting the radioactivity of the contents of each compartment and then comparing the counts from radiolabeled platelets that have moved to the end that holds the chemotactic inducer with those that have randomly migrated to the opposite end, containing only plasma. This assay system allows quantitative comparisons between the chemotaxis-inducing abilities of different substances and permits the study of soluble materials. Experiments to determine the optimal conditions for the procedure are reported, and the advantages of this new method for the investigation of platelet chemotaxis and the identification of chemotaxins are discussed.
A 0.15-μm CMOS baseband LSI employing sleep mode with clock-offset compensation for M2M wireless sensor networks

This paper describes a wireless baseband large-scale integration (LSI) that contains a sleep management circuit. The sleep manager performs the sleep-clock offset compensation and enables a wireless terminal (WT) with a typical crystal oscillator (XO) to remain in sleep mode for a long period while maintaining synchronization with the access point. Lab experiments show that the sleep period reaches 512 s and that, with intermittent operation, the WT maintains synchronization with the access point for 10 days. The LSI's average current consumption is as low as 11 μA for a 128-s sleep period. A wakeup detection circuit is also implemented in the LSI. This circuit performs paging control instead of a microprocessor unit (MPU) and this helps to reduce current consumption in the MPU and the flash read only memory (ROM). The single-chip baseband LSI is fabricated using 0.15-μm CMOS technology. It is 4.6 mm × 4.2 mm in area and consumes 4.0 μA for sleep operation. © 2015 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Endotoxemia of metabolic syndrome: a pivotal mediator of meta-inflammation.

Abstract Endotoxemia, which is now emerging as a feature of metabolic syndrome, is believed to contribute to the chronic low-grade inflammatory status and insulin resistance of the syndrome. Lipopolysaccharides (LPS), or endotoxins, bind to LPS-binding protein and activate pattern recognition receptors, classically Toll-like receptor-4, mediating inflammation. Increased gut permeability and changes in composition and diversity of gut microbiome have been proposed as possible mechanisms to explain increased circulating endotoxins in metabolic syndrome. Endotoxins are also believed to be delivered into the circulation by chylomicrons. Weight loss and probiotic and prebiotic therapeutic strategies can reduce endotoxemia, inflammation, and insulin resistance in metabolic syndrome.
Improving energy efficiency for multicasting in wireless ad-hoc networks with adaptive antennas

We consider the performance of various algorithms to maximize the lifetime of a given multicast connection in wireless networks that use directional antennas and have limited energy resources. Based on the IMILP (mixed integer linear programming) formulation [S. Guo et al, 2005], which provides a globally optimal solution to this problem for a small or medium network, we can evaluate the realistic performance of different heuristic algorithms. Experimental results show that minimum total power consumption does not guarantee maximum lifetime for either broadcasting or multicasting, and the algorithms S-DPMT and D-DPMT [S. Guo et al, 2004] outperform other energy-aware multicast algorithms significantly in terms of multicast lifetime.
Acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of α-ketoglutaramic acid: A proposed mechanism involving decarboxylation and amide hydrolysis of the γ-lactam, 2-pyrrolidone-5-hydroxy-5-carboxylic acid

Abstract The rates of the acid-catalyzed decarboxylation and amide hydrolysis of α-ketoglutaramic acid, the keto analog of glutamine, were investigated and the products of the reactions were characterized. In strong acid at 100°C, amide hydrolysis and decarboxylation occur with about equal facility, yielding α-ketoglutaric acid and 5-hydroxy-2-pyrrolidone, respectively. 5-Hydroxy-2-pyrrolidone undergoes further amide hydrolysis so that the products of complete acid hydrolysis of α-ketoglutaramic acid are ammonia (100%), carbon dioxide (50%), and approximately equal yields (50%) of α-ketoglutaric acid and succinic semialdehyde (β-formylpropionic acid). At increasing pH values, the relative rate of decarboxylation to amide hydrolysis of α-ketoglutaramic acid increases, such that, at pH values of 2 or greater, decarboxylation occurs almost exclusively. The decarboxylation product 5-hydroxy-2-pyrrolidone, was characterized chromatographically and by its infrared and pmr spectra; the compound may be regarded as the cyclized form of succinamic semialdehyde. A mechanism for the competing amide hydrolysis and decarboxylation reactions is proposed, and the potential biological significance of the decarboxylation pathway is discussed.
Does Alzheimer's Disease Result from Attempts at Repair or Protection After Transient Stress?

This review explores the data indicating that the initial production of amyloid-beta precursor protein and phosphorylated tau are associated with physiological mechanisms for repair or protection of neurons exposed to significant disturbances in homeostasis. Stimuli as diverse as head injury, inhaled anesthetic agents, stimulant drugs, and both physiological (restraint) and psychological stress (social isolation) have been shown to increase brain expression of amyloid-beta and hyperphosphorylated tau without accompanying neurodegeneration. This review aims to encompass these responses as indicators of normal physiological processes that, in the case of Alzheimer's disease, are either unable to successfully repair or protect vulnerable neuronal populations from eventual neurodegeneration, but that are necessary components of an integrated nervous system that would be more susceptible to pathology if such processes were blocked in an attempt to minimize or prevent future damage.
Penile rehabilitation after radical prostatectomy

Erectile dysfunction remains a common complication after radical prostatectomy. Natural recovery of erectogenic stimulus may take years after nerve-sparing surgery, during which time the penis undergoes physiological and structural changes that are harmful to erectile function. The goals of penile rehabilitation are to prevent these changes and thereby produce a faster and better return of erections and sexual function. In this article, the authors discuss current approaches to penile rehabilitation after prostatectomy. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons
Effectiveness of computer-generated appointment reminders.

Previous studies of appointment reminders among general pediatric patients have been done exclusively among low socioeconomic populations in clinics with low continuity of care and using block scheduling methods. This study of mailed computer-generated appointment reminders took place in a setting with patient demographics and practice techniques similar to those of many private pediatric practices. During a 6-month period, 901 appointments that were made more than 7 days prior to the scheduled date were randomly assigned to receive reminder postcards or to serve as controls. The overall broken appointment (no-show) rate was reduced from 19% in the control group to 10% in the reminder group, representing a 48% reduction (P = .0002). The magnitude of reduction of no-shows was similar for appointments scheduled more than 14 days prior to the appointment time (39%) as well as those scheduled more recently (58%). Equivalent results were seen with well-child appointments (47%) as with other visits (50%). Both lower and higher socioeconomic groups demonstrated similar results. The mailed postcards cost $0.20 each and were highly cost effective, generating an estimated $7.50 for each $1 spent during the study. With reductions similar to those found in this study, computer-generated appointment reminders are likely to be cost effective in other practices if current no-show rates are greater than 2% to 4%.
Reactions of Iron Minerals in Sodium Aluminate Solutions

Settling properties of bauxite residue are affected by the form of iron mineral present in the system. The two forms of iron minerals generally found in bauxites are aluminous goethite, α-(Fe,Al)OOH and hematite, α-Fe2O3. Model systems comprising of synthetic goethite and hematite in pure sodium aluminate solutions were used to study reactions representative of those occurring in the Bayer Process. Hematite exhibits considerably faster settling rates as compared to those of goethite, owing to the surface properties unique to each mineral. Transformation of α-FeOOH → α-Fe2O3 at high temperatures leads to improved settling. The kinetics and mechanism of this transformation reaction have been established. The transformation proceeds via a dissolution, reprecipitation mechanism. Factors that affect each step in the mechanism influence the overall reaction and, hence, clarification. These factors include: temperature, liquor composition, and presence of hematite seed. Also reported is the effect of temperature and liquor composition on the dissolution of goethite.
Formation and Evolution of the Solar Nebula

The protostellar phase of stellar evolution is of considerable importance in determining whether a solar nebula forms from the collapse of an interstellar cloud, what the physical properties of the nebula are at the onset of its evolution, what the dominant mechanisms for angular momentum transport will be during the subsequent evolution, and whether conditions are favorable for the formation of planets. The initial mass distribution and angular momentum distribution in the core of a molecular cloud determine whether a binary system or a single star is formed. A relatively slowly rotating and centrally condensed cloud is likely to collapse to a disk-like structure out of which planets can form. The above parameters then determine the temperature and density structure of the disk and the characteristics of the resulting planetary system.
Gonadal steroid sulfates and sulfatase: V. Human testicular steroid sulfatase: Partial characterization and possible regulation by free steroids

Abstract To elucidate the role of steroid sulfates as precursors of biologically active hormone in the human testis, cleavage of pregnenolone sulfate, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and androstenediol-3-sulfate by microsomal preparations was studied. The respective apparent K m values were 0.73 μM, 3.85 μM and 3.13 μM. Evidence is presented that the three steroid sulfates are cleaved by the same enzyme. A number of free steroids were found to inhibit the steroid sulfatase activity. Among 14 C 21 steroids investigated, 5-pregnen-3β,21-diol-20-one and 5-pregnene-3β-20α-diol were the most potent inhibitors. The inhibitory effect of C 21 steroids was decreased by structural alterations, e.g. a Δ 4 -3-keto for a Δ 5 -3β-hydroxy configuration, 5α-reduction of the A ring, substitution of a 20β for a 20α-hydroxyl group, or a 3α- for a 3β-hydroxyl group. Among 9 C 19 steroids investigated, 5α-androstane-3α,-17β-diol was the most potent inhibitor. 5α reduction of ring A of C 19 steroids either increased or did not change their inhibitory effect. The kinetics of inhibition of the testicular steroid sulfatase by free steroids is consistent with partial competitive inhibition, and suggests that modulation of this sulfatase activity by free steroids may regulate release of essential free steroid precursors of testosterone.
Inhibition of apolipoprotein E degradation in a post-Golgi compartment by a cysteine protease inhibitor.

Abstract In our prior studies on lipoprotein stimulation of apolipoprotein E (apoE) secretion in HepG2 cells, it became clear that a proportion of the newly synthesized apoE was degraded intracellularly (Ye, S. Q., Olson, L. M., Reardon, C. A., and Getz, G. S. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 21961-21966). The present study was designed to determine the nature of the proteases and the intracellular sites involved in newly synthesized apoE degradation. The effect of seven protease inhibitors on total apoE levels was examined. Only N-acetyl-leucyl-leucyl-norleucinal (ALLN), a cysteine protease inhibitor, significantly blocked apoE degradation in HepG2 cells. The amount of total apoE from cells chased with ALLN for 4 h was increased by 1.58 +/- 0.05-fold relative to the controls (n = 11, p < 0.01). ALLN extended the half-life of apoE from 2.61 h to 4.38 h (p < 0.01). This effect occurs in a post-Golgi compartment since in the presence of brefeldin A, ALLN had no effect on intracellular apoE levels. Chloroquine and NH4Cl significantly reduced apoE degradation; however, ALLN plus either of these reagents appear to have an additive effect. The amount of apoE in cells chased in Ca(2+)-free medium was significantly higher than that in cells chased in Ca(2+)-containing medium (1.70 +/- 0.07-fold, n = 6, p < 0.01). ALLN plus Ca(2+)-free medium had no additive effect. ALLN had no significant influence on the degradation of albumin but had a similar effect on transfected apoE in Chinese hamster ovary cells. Overall, these data suggest that apoE may be degraded in a post-Golgi compartment of HepG2 and Chinese hamster ovary cells by lysosomal enzymes and cytosolic Ca(2+)-dependent cysteine proteases. ALLN inhibits the latter.
" Arnie P." - A Robot Golfing System Using Binocular And A Heuristic Feedback Mechanism.*

This paper describes a robot vision golfing system. The Automated Robotic Navigational unit with Intelligent Eye and Putter (ARNIE P) τ project was initiated to investigate the problems and develop software solutions for robotic tasks that require good hand-eye coordination and an intelligent sensor feedback mechanism. This system has only one frame buffer and no specialized hardware, so quasi-real time 3D tracking is accomplished in software using the Unix Spline facility. The single frame buffer and digitizer, stores and retains the location of the ball from two separate cameras during the time interval between the golf ball initially crossing a trigger scan line and the ball coming to a complete stop. The most novel aspect of this study is that by attempting to build or model a difficult perceptory task such as golf, which requires integrating many complicated computational pieces (binocular stereo vision, robot arm motion, heuristic feedback, learning), it appears to be a good plarform to experiment with artificial intelligence techniques and robotics.
Genetic drift rescues cancer from evolutionary suicide

Malignant tumors are thought to comprise phenotypically diverse clonal lineages in competition for nutrients, space and other resources. Genomic instability produces clonal diversity that natural selection acts upon to promote survival of lineages that acquire "cancer hallmark" phenotypes. Among these hallmarks, the angiogenic switch (uncontrolled production of new blood vessels from pre-existing vasculature) is among the most difficult to explain with an evolutionary narrative. Angiogenesis is a public good. As predicted by modeling studies in public-goods games in economics and evolutionary biology, "cheating" clones that free-ride on vasculature organized by cooperative clones can act as a tumor-on-a-tumor, or "hypertumor," ultimately yielding evolutionary suicide. The significance of this prediction in real tumors remains an open question. Here we show that clonal selection favoring angiogenic free-riders typically exists but is nearly always overwhelmed by stochastic mutational history ( i.e. genetic drift). Angiogenic potential is maintained in many, perhaps most, tumors by pressure from genetic drift and pleiotropic interactions among deranged angiogenic and proliferative pathways in cancer cells. These conclusions follow from stochastic simulations of selection acting on both angiogenic and proliferative potential. In a significant fraction of simulations, tumors were rescued from evolutionary suicide when earlier, dormant lineages restored the angiogenic signal after "cheating" lineages became necrotic. However, if cheating lineages arose early and grew rapidly enough, they often drove the tumor to evolutionary suicide. We suggest that this mechanism may explain why early ductal carcinoma in situ frequently regresses spontaneously. At any rate, these results stress the importance of genetic drift in the disease's clinical behavior in individual patients.
Late Neogene history of deepwater ventilation in the Southern Ocean

We compiled carbon isotope records from the North Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Pacific oceans to estimate changes in vertical and interbasinal δ13C gradients for the last 9 Myr. Benthic δ13C values of deep water in the South Atlantic decreased in a series of steps at ∼7, 2.75, and 1.55 Ma away from the North Atlantic and toward the Pacific. The benthic δ13C of intermediate water in the South Atlantic evolved differently from deep waters, resulting in an increase in the intermediate-to-deep δ13C gradient (Δ13CID). The Δ13CID increased in steps at ∼2.75 and 1.55 Ma, marking the development and intensification of a chemical divide in the Atlantic Ocean between well-ventilated intermediate water and poorly ventilated deep water. We suggest these changes in interbasinal and vertical gradients resulted from decreasing Northern Component Water and reduced ventilation of Southern Component Water (SCW). The latter was caused by several interrelated processes in Antarctic sources areas, including increased sea ice cover, enhanced surface water stratification, decreased Ekman-induced upwelling, and reduced vertical mixing across the thermocline. Because Antarctic surface water processes and deepwater ventilation rates ultimately influence atmospheric CO2 concentration, these processes may have acted as a positive feedback that contributed to the major cooling steps in late Neogene climate.
Effect of maternal ethanol ingestion on neonatal rat brain and heart ornithine decarboxylase

Abstract Perinatal exposure of developing rats to ethanol caused an alteration in the developmental pattern of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity in heart and brain which was different for the two tissues. In brain, an initial decrease in ODC activity was followed by normal or Supranormal levels before declining again, whereas heart ODC activity initially was increased but then declined to the low levels of activity characteristic of adult heart tissue. Withdrawal from ethanol at birth or at 3 and 5 days postnatally produced alterations in brain and heart ODC activity that were different from those seen in pups exposed to ethanol continuously throughout development, indicating that the biochemical changes are dependent on the duration of exposure as well as the time at which withdrawal is initiated. The altered ODC developmental patterns in the brain and heart are consistent with the hypothesis that maternal ethanol administration exerts significant effect on fetal polyamine metabolism and ultimately upon the growth and development of these tissues.
Practical solutions for nonlinear accelerator lattice with stable nearly regular motion

The use of nonlinear lattices with the large betatron tune spreads can increase instability and space charge thresholds by orders of magnitude compared to typical linear accelerator lattices. Unfortunately, strong nonlinear fields create, in general, strong resonances and chaotic motion. This shrinks the dynamic aperture to impractical values, thus erasing all benefits from their use. Previously known examples of stable and regular accelerator motion with special nonlinear lenses were related to one-dimensional motion or round beams. However, no solution has been realized with real 2D transverse magnetic fields to produce stable, close to regular 2D motion with the large dynamic aperture and betatron tune spread comparable to the betatron tune itself. This paper presents possible solutions for such 2D lattices. They consist of straight sections with short linear and nonlinear lenses with transverse magnetic fields.
Role of the I‐domain in collagen binding specificity and activation of the integrins α1β1 and α2β1

Adhesion to collagens by most cell types is mediated by the integrins alpha1beta1 and alpha2beta1. Both integrin alpha subunits belong to a group which is characterized by the presence of an I domain in the N-terminal half of the molecule, and this domain has been implicated in the ligand recognition. Since purified alpha1beta1 and alpha2beta1 differ in their binding to collagens I and IV and recognize different sites within the major cell binding domain of collagen IV, we investigated the potential role of the alpha1 and alpha2 I domains in specific collagen adhesion. We find that introducing the alpha2 I domain into alpha1 results in surface expression of a functional collagen receptor. The adhesion mediated by this chimeric receptor (alpha1-2-1beta1) is similar to the adhesion profile conferred by alpha2beta1, not alpha1beta1. The presence of alpha2 or alpha1-2-1 results in preferential binding to collagen I, whereas alpha1 expressing cells bind better to collagen IV. In addition, alpha1 containing cells bind to low amounts of a tryptic fragment of collagen IV, whereas alpha2 or alpha1-2-1 bearing cells adhere only to high concentrations of this substrate. We also find that collagen adhesion of NIH-3T3 mediated by alpha2beta1 or alpha1-2-1beta1, but not by alpha1, requires the presence of Mn2+ ions. This ion requirement was not found in CHO cells, implicating the I domain in cell type-specific activation of integrins.