cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Driving Immune Responses in the Ovarian Tumor Microenvironment

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death among gynecological neoplasms, with an estimated 14,000 deaths in 2019. First-line treatment options center around a taxane and platinum-based chemotherapy regimen. However, many patients often have recurrence due to late stage diagnoses and acquired chemo-resistance. Recent approvals for bevacizumab and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors have improved treatment options but effective treatments are still limited in the recurrent setting. Immunotherapy has seen significant success in hematological and solid malignancies. However, effectiveness has been limited in ovarian cancer. This may be due to a highly immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and a lack of tumor-specific antigens. Certain immune cell subsets, such as regulatory T cells and tumor-associated macrophages, have been implicated in ovarian cancer. Consequently, therapies augmenting the immune response, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors and dendritic cell vaccines, may be unable to properly enact their effector functions. A better understanding of the various interactions among immune cell subsets in the peritoneal microenvironment is necessary to develop efficacious therapies. This review will discuss various cell subsets in the ovarian tumor microenvironment, current immunotherapy modalities to target or augment these immune subsets, and treatment challenges.
Proof-of-Concept Prototype of Wideband VHF-based Video Streaming for e-Health Interventions in Remote Rural Areas

In this paper, we propose a 2-meter VHF radio system as an overlay over the 140~148 MHz frequency band for cost effective, long-range, high-data-rate wireless communication in remote rural areas. Referred to herein as the wideband VHF (W-VHF) system, the 140~148 MHz VHF band operation is attractive from the deployment cost standpoint due to the compact size of needed radios and antennas, while effectively facilitating long range communication. The 8 MHz bandwidth is desired to achieve high-data-rate transmission suitable for real-time video streaming desired for telehealth/telemedicine services. We also describe a proof-of-concept prototype of the W-VHF system tested in a lab setting. Our test results indicate that the quality of streaming video and embedded voice at the final destination is not much different than the quality of video and voice played at the source, and the proposed W-VHF system could effectively address the challenges in delivering telehealth/ telemedicine in remote rural areas around the world.
In memoriam: Albert Somit, PhD.

Dr. Albert Somit recently died at 100 years of age. He was a major figure in the development of biopolitics. This essay reflects on his career and his role in helping others in advancing the study of politics and the life sciences.
The political economy of health insurance enrolment in Ethiopia: Party, state and the quest for universal health coverage

Many developing countries are considering insurance as a means of pursuing universal health coverage. A key challenge to confront is how to achieve high levels of health insurance enrolment. For voluntary schemes, this entails mass awareness raising and promotional activity, though as schemes move to compulsory enrolment, monitoring and enforcement is required. This paper focuses on Ethiopia, which is has made state health insurance for the informal sector a central pillar of its universal health coverage strategy. The paper shows that high enrolment requires particular forms of state capacity, captured here by Michael Mann’s concept of state ‘infrastructural power’. The paper draws on detailed case studies of health insurance implementation in the Tigray and Oromiya regions of Ethiopia to illustrate variation in state infrastructural power and the implications for the promotion of health insurance. The findings suggest that the potential of state health insurance as a means of promoting health access for a broad section of the population may be limited to the minority of countries or regions within countries exhibiting high levels of infrastructural power.
Lysophosphatidic acid opens a Ca++ channel in human erythrocytes

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a lipid-derived second messenger that mobilizes many cells of the circulatory and vascular systems to assist in thrombus development and wound healing. LPA, however, has not been tested on human erythrocytes, largely because erythrocytes are considered to be both biologically inert and inactive in intercellular communication. To test this presumption, we have examined the impact of LPA on signaling reactions within the human red blood cell (RBC). Using both 45Ca++ and a Ca++-sensitive fluorescent probe (Fluo-3), we demonstrated that LPA, but not phosphatidic acid or the closely related sphingosine-1–phosphate, stimulates the influx of micromolar quantities of extracellular Ca++ into fresh RBCs. This Ca++ influx was shown to be channel mediated rather than leak promoted because the influx was observed at LPA concentrations too low to perturb membrane integrity, it was inhibited by P-type but not L-type Ca++ channel blockers, it was inhibited by broad-specificity protein kinase inhibitors, and it was not induced by inactive analogues of LPA. Further characterization reveals that only approximately 25% of the RBCs participate in LPA-induced Ca++ entry and that within this active population, Ca++ gating occurs in an all-or-nothing manner. Because the stimulation of Ca++ uptake occurs at LPA concentrations (1-5 μmol/L) known to occur near a developing thrombus and because the internalized Ca++can potentially promote prothrombic properties in the stimulated RBCs, we conclude that RBCs are not insensitive to signals released from other cells.
An Approach to Intelligent Machining

Machining has traditionally been one of the major operations within most manufacturing systems and therefore, has been intensively investigated from many points of view over the past several decades. Many of the machining control techniques developed have not been successful, due primarily to inadequate sensor information and machining process models which do not sufficiently reflect the complexity of the process. In this paper, machining control is treated as a decision-making problem, using an approach similar to the way in which a human would make "wise" decisions. This approach can be concisely expressed in a decision-matrix format where the elements of the matrix represent the evaluation of alternatives with respect to appropriate criteria. The elements of the matrix are generated by several independent sensor-based models. Although the process models may not be individually accurate, in combination they may provide sufficient information to make intelligent decisions. A force-based model suitable for this approach has been developed. The model determines independent force components due to changes in the feed rate and due to tool wear.
Microsporogenesis and Formation of the Male Gametophyte

The life cycle of flowering plants is characterized by an alternation between a dominant sporophytic generation and a highly reduced gametophytic generation. The seedling plant born of germination of the seed and the adult plant evolved from the seedling, constituting parts of the sporophytic generation, were topics of discussion in the previous chapters. The sporophyte eventually produces flowers. As the name implies, the function of the sporophyte is to generate spores, and it does so by meiosis of the spore mother cells; spores germinate or divide by simple mitotic divisions to produce the gamete-producing generation called the gametophyte. Production of spores and formation of gametes are important events in the sexual reproductive cycle that take place in the flower. Flowering plants have two morphologically different kinds of gametophytes, one that gives rise to male gametes or sperm cells and another that produces female ga-metes or egg cells. The floral organ concerned with male sexual reproduction is the stamen, and the part of the stamen where events of male sexual reproduction occur is the anther. A number of morphological and cellular changes accompany the overall growth of the anther from its primordial stage to the point when sperm cells are produced.
Studies on the rate of reduction of hepatic microsomal cytochrome P-450 by reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate: effect of drug substrates.

Optimum conditions are described for the assay of cytochrome P-450 reduction by NADPH in rat liver microsomes. The addition in vitro of chemical compounds which produce type I spectral changes markedly accelerated the initial rate of NADPH-linked cytochrome P-450 reduction, while the addition of compounds which elicit type II spectral changes significantly decelerated the rate. These changes occurred in the absence of appreciable changes in the absorbance of the cytochrome P-450—CO complex, suggesting that they are not due simply to differences in the extinction coefficients of the complexes. The acceleration produced by ethylmorphine, a type I compound, was much greater in hepatic microsomes from male rats than in microsomes from female rats; this differential enhancement may play a role in determining sex differences in drug metabolism. None of the type I compounds significantly influenced microsomal cytochrome c reductase activity at concentrations that produced maximal enhancement of cytochrome P-450 reduction. NADPH oxidation, measured in the absence of exogenous electron acceptors, was significantly increased by type I substances. Addition of type II compounds to microsomal suspensions either did not affect or decreased cytochrome c reductase and NADPH oxidase activities. The data suggest that the complexes formed between cytochrome P-450 and type I compounds are more readily reduced by NADPH than is the endogenous hemoprotein. Possible mechanisms by which type II compounds inhibit the reduction of cytochrome P-450 are discussed.
Generation of XML records across multiple metadata standards

This poster describes the processes and products related to the ENC development of crosswalks between metadata based on three different standards and the generation of a variety of XML records.
Transforming the information technology infrastructure of IBM

The structure, strategy, and business operation of IBM have experienced a significant transformation over the last several years. This transformation has been accompanied by an equally important transformation of the internal services and technologies that support the company. Key among such activities has been the renovation of company information technology (IT) and the infrastructure it is built on. This paper describes the transformation of the internal IT infrastructure of IBM and some of the key initiatives that contributed to a smarter, optimized capability. We describe the activities, best practices, and lessons learned in server virtualization work, cloud computing incubation and evolution, workload location and data-center consolidation, and the transformation of the internal communications network of IBM. Realizing that transformation is an on-going process, we conclude the paper with an exploration of our plans to use analytics to enable the expansion and delivery of a real-time collaboration experience, another key IT service area.
Home Environmental Hazards and the Risk of Fall Injury Events Among Community-Dwelling Older Persons

OBJECTIVE: To determine if home environmental hazards increase the risk of fall injury events among community-dwelling older persons. DESIGN: Population-based case-control study. SETTING: South Miami Beach, Florida. PARTICIPANTS: 270 persons aged 65 years and older who sought treatment at six area hospitals for injuries resulting from falls within the dwelling unit and 691 controls, frequency matched for sex and age, selected randomly from Health Care Financing Administration (Medicare) files. MAIN INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: The home environment of each person, assessed directly by interviewers using a standardized instrument. RESULTS: Environmental hazards were present in nearly all dwelling units. After adjusting for important confounding factors, most of these hazards were not associated with an increased risk of fall injury events among most older persons. Increasing numbers of tripping hazards, or total hazards in the dwelling unit, did not increase the risk of fall injury events, nor was there an increasing trend in risk. CONCLUSIONS: Current fall-prevention strategies of finding and changing all environmental hazards in all community-dwelling older persons' homes may have less potential effect than previously thought. The usefulness of grab bars, however, appears to warrant further evaluation.
Clearing and Collateral Mandates: A New Liquidity Trap?

All too often, legislative solutions to some financial crisis have serious consequences that are both unwanted and unintended. The author of this article foresees several possible negative consequences arising from Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act, which mandates that eligible derivatives be cleared through central counterparties (CCPs) that require initial and variation margin. The new legislation also requires that the remaining non-cleared derivatives that are traded by some market participants be more heavily collateralized. The Act's authors have argued that derivatives pose uniquely dangerous systemic risks because of the leverage and counterparty risk associated with them. Increased collateralization, their thinking goes, would reduce derivatives-related leverage and the systemic risk to the financial system associated with such leverage. The author argues that these hopes are unduly optimistic because they fail to recognize how market participants can substitute other forms of leverage, such as bank lines of credit or collateral transformation trades, for the leverage derivatives provided previously. The author also believes that the larger collateral mandates and frequent marking-to-market will make the financial system more vulnerable since margin requirements tend to be “pro-cyclical.” And more rigid collateralization mechanisms can restrict the supply of funding liquidity, and lead to spikes in funding liquidity demand that can reduce the liquidity of traded instruments and generate destabilizing feedback loops. The fragmentation of CCPs across jurisdictions and products will lead to greater demand for CCP-eligible collateral to maintain the same level of hedging transactions. This demand will likely be met by using riskier assets as collateral and encourage the shadow banking system to create new assets that can be posted as collateral (for example, via collateral transformation services). In sum, although the Dodd-Frank rules are intended to reduce systemic risk, their expected impact on liquidity makes it a very open question as to whether they will achieve this goal. Although they may reduce some risks, they will simply shift others while possibly creating new ones.
Abstract 2675: CXCL12 (SDF-1) and its truncation products in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) receiving ON 01910.Na (Rigosertib) in phase I trials

Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL CXCL12 (stromal cell-derived factor, SDF-1), is an 8 kDa peptide chemokine. The interaction between CXCL12 and its receptor, CXCR4, plays a pivotal role in the trafficking of hematopoietic stem cells between bone marrow and peripheral blood. The CXCL12/CXCR4 axis may play a role in the pathogenesis of myeloid neoplasms. We developed a technique for the determination of intact (full length) CXCL12 and its protease(s)-induced truncation products in plasma from patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (Cancer Res., 70, 3402, 2010). In the present work, we are extending our observations to the myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). CXCL12 concentrations in normal subjects were 16.6 ± 9.4 ng/mL (n=10). In primary myelofibrosis (PMF), the concentrations were 5.8 ± 4.0 ng/mL (n=15), and in polycythemia vera (PV) 7.9 ± 3.6 ng/mL (n=21). Now we report that in MDS/AML, the concentrations are 2.2 ± 2.1 ng/mL (n=8). In normal subjects, truncation products, due to proteolysis, were not detectable (≥ 1.0 ng/mL). The loss of 2, 3, 4, and 5 amino acids (aa) from CXCL12 were confirmed by molecular masses measured using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Quantification was completed with synthetic standards. In MDS/AML patients the concentration of the truncation product corresponding to −2 aa (KP removed),-3 aa (KPV removed), −4 aa (KPVS removed) and −5 aa (KPVSL removed) were 2.7 ± 3.2 ng/mL, 2.4 ± 2.1 ng/mL, 3.8 ± 3.0 ng/mL, and 2.5 ± 2.4 ng/mL, respectively. The total concentration of all truncation products was 11.3 ± 5.8 ng/mL. For comparison, the concentration of total truncation products was 28.7 ± 19.9 for PMF, and 31.1 ± 7.8 for PV. Patients with these myeloid malignancies have lower CXCL12 concentrations compared to normal controls and high concentrations of proteolytic truncation products which are absent in normal plasma. Of the 8 patients with MDS (n=3) and AML (n=5), treated with continuous infusion of ON 01910.Na (rigosertib), 650 - 1,700 mg/m2, in a Phase I dose escalation study, 4 patients attained a partial or complete bone marrow remission according to International Working Group criteria. The concentration of intact CXCL12 rose at 72 h in responding patients, whereas those who failed to respond had a decrease. These data suggest that monitoring intact CXCL12 and its truncation products may provide a marker of response to treatment with ON 01910.Na, as well as insight into the role of the CXCL12/CXCR4 axis in the pathobiology of these bone marrow diseases. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2675. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-2675
Victimization, Psychological Distress and Subsequent Offending Among Youth.

Abstract The current study examined the relationship between the victimization of youth, psychological distress and subsequent offending. It examined whether direct and vicarious victimization by exposure to violence in the family, among peers, and in the neighborhood, significantly predicted psychological distress among study participants and whether psychological distress significantly predicted subsequent offending over time. In addition, it examined the extent (if any) to which psychological distress mediated the relationship between victimization and subsequent offending. Method: study data are from wave 1 and wave 2 of the Buffalo Longitudinal Study of Young Men (BLSYM), a population based sample (n = 625) of young men, ages 16–19 years old in a metropolitan area of Buffalo, New York. A path analytic approach was used for the main analyses. Findings: personal, vicarious victimization by exposure to violence among peers, and perception of neighborhood safety were significant predictors of offending at wave 1. Personal and property victimization was significant predictors of psychological distress. Psychological distress did not have a significant relationship with offending at wave 1 yet, it did at wave 2. Vicarious victimization by exposure to violence among peers and offending at wave 1 were all significant predictors of offending at wave 2. The results highlight the need to respond to both direct and vicarious victimization among young males to reduce psychological distress and subsequent offending.
Debonding of FRP-plated reinforced concrete beam, a bond-slip analysis. I. Theoretical formulation

External bonding of FRP plates or sheets has emerged as a popular method for strengthening reinforced concrete. Debonding along the FRP–concrete interface can lead to premature failure of the structure. In this study, a bond-slip model is established to study the interface debonding induced by a flexural crack in a FRP-plated concrete beam. The reinforced concrete beam and FRP plate are modeled as two linearly elastic Euler–Bernoulli beams bonded together through a thin layer of FRP–concrete interface. The interface layer is essentially modeled as a large fracture processing zone of which the stress–deformation relationship is described by a nonlinear bond-slip model. Three different bond-slip models (bi-linear, triangular and linear-damaging) are used. By dividing the debonding process into several stages, governing equations of interfacial shear and normal stresses are obtained. Closed-form solutions are then obtained for the interfacial shear and normal stresses and the deflection of the beam in each stage of debonding. In such a way, the proposed model unifies the whole debonding process, including elastic deformation, debonding initiation and growth, into one model. With such a superior feature, the proposed model provides an efficient and effective analytical tool to study FRP–concrete interface debonding.
Optical Clocks for Precision Timing Using Solid State Lasers

Revolutionary advances in the performance of atomic clocks results from some new ideas, precision spectroscopy of ultra-cold atoms, and maturing technologies of stable lasers. Frequency stabilized solid-state lasers are playing an increasingly important roles.
Heart rate and heart rate variability recorded in vivo in agoraphobics and nonphobics

Recent advances in technology have made it possible to monitor changes in physiological responses of phobics and other clinical subjects as they encounter real-life, emotion-inducing, situations. In order to assess the characteristics of heart rate as a measure of anxiety in agoraphobia, 10 agoraphobics and 10 matched yoked controls were each given seven repeated in vivo behavioral assessments during which heart rate was monitored. The behavioral test consisted of walking a specified course away from the clinic toward a downtown area. Agoraphobic subjects were given three repeated assessments from 1 to 9 days apart both immediately before and after receiving 12 weeks of exposure-based behavioral treatment for a total of 6 assessments. An additional assessment was administered at the midpoint of therapy. Yoked controls were assessed at identical times but, of course, did not receive treatment. Resting and walking baselines were also administered both before and after the behavioral test. Agoraphobics as a group had significantly higher heart rates than nonphobics both during the test as well as during baselines. In addition, agoraphobics displayed greater lability in heart rate during the walk. However, heart rate in both the treated group and the control group decreased significantly over sessions and there was no significant Group × Session interaction. There were no differences in test-retest reliability in heart rate between groups. For both groups, reliability was quite low. These data illustrate basic differences in physiological responding between agoraphobics and nonphobics but raise questions about the usefulness of physiological assessment as a measure of clinical change in the anxiety disorders.
Comparison of the clinical practice of a geriatric nurse practitioner and two internists.

The need to provide effective and cost-efficient health care for the nation's elderly has resulted in the use of geriatric nurse practitioners (GNP) in a variety of settings. To evaluate the effectiveness of quality of the care provided by these clinicians and two internist geriatricians; a retrospective review of 800 patients followed over 6 to 24 months at a geriatric ambulatory care center was undertaken. Marked similarities were noted for both groups of patients. Both had a median age of 75 years, the majority were female and widowed. The most common diagnosis for both groups was dementia. In spite of their many problems, a large majority of all patients remained in the community at the end of 6 to 24 months of follow-up care. This study suggests that with physician back-up, GNPs can provide the elderly with high-quality and cost-efficient health care comparable to that of internist geriatricians.
Calcium mass transfer with dialysate containing 1.25 and 1.75 mmol/L calcium in peritoneal dialysis patients.

Abstract Studies with 1.75 mmol/L calcium dialysate have shown that patients gain calcium from dialysate. Thus, hypercalcemia, especially when calcium compounds are used for phosphate control, is a commonly seen complication. Dialysate with 1.25 mmol/L calcium has been available since 1989. Little is known about calcium mass transfer (CMT) with dialysate of this calcium concentration. CMT was measured in 20 stable adult peritoneal dialysis patients. Each CMT study consisted of a 2-L continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) exchange with a dwell time of 4 hours. CMT studies were performed using 1.25 and 1.75 mmol/L calcium dialysate with 1.5, 2.5, and 4.25 g/dL dextrose concentrations. CMT with 1.25 mmol/L calcium dialysate was compared to that with 1.75 mmol/L for each dextrose concentration. With a dextrose concentration of 1.5 g/dL, the mean CMT for 1.25 mmol/L calcium dialysate was —0.1 ± 0.3 mmol versus 0.6 ± 0.3 mmol for 1.75 mmol/L calcium dialysate (P
Statistical origin of classical mechanics and quantum mechanics.

The classical action for interacting strings, obtained by generalizing the time-symmetric electrodynamics of Wheeler and Feynman, is exactly additive. The additivity of the string action suggests a connection between the area of the string world sheets and entropy. We find that the action principle of classical mechanics is the condition that the total entropy of the strings be at an extremum, and the path-integral representation of the quantum density matrix element is an approximation to the partition function of the string theory.
Compliance with CPAP in elderly patients with OSA.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is common in the general population and especially in the geriatric age group. Nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is a highly effective treatment but can be difficult for some patients to use.Objective: We investigated the question if older patients were less compliant with CPAP therapy than younger patients and may not realize its benefits.Methods: We conducted a prospective, non-randomized study comparing use of CPAP in patients over age 65 with patients under age 65. One hundred and seven consecutive patients with a new diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea were started on therapy with nasal CPAP. We obtained follow-up data on all 107 patients. Compliance with CPAP was assessed by patients subjective report of use and, in a subset of 21 patients, by objective measurement using a microchip installed in the CPAP unit that measures actual hours of use at therapeutic pressure.Results: The percentage of patients using CPAP regularly was not different in the two groups: 70% of patients in the over age 65 group used CPAP regularly vs. 72% of patients under age 65. The over 65 group used CPAP 6.5 nights per week, an average of 6.5 h of use per night. The under 65 group was not significantly different, using CPAP 6.8 nights per week, a mean of 6.7 h of use per night.Conclusion: Patients over age 65 are able to tolerate CPAP as well as patients under age 65.
Effect of G. breve toxin on calcium uptake and ATPase activity of sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles.

Abstract The major toxin derived from the red-tide dinoflagellate, Gymnodinium breve, inhibited Ca2+ uptake by sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles obtained from skeletal muscles of the rabbit. G. breve toxin concentrations > 4 μg/ml or exposure longer than 5 min produced ∼ 25–40% inhibition of Ca2+ uptake, independent of external Ca2+ concentration or the presence of oxalate. The efflux of Ca2+, however, was stimulated by G. breve toxin only in the absence of oxalate ions. The Ca2+-Mg2+ dependent ATPase activity was enhanced by G. breve toxin by ∼ 20–40% depending on the toxin concentration and duration of exposure. It is suggested that G. breve toxin affects the stability of the sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane at Ca2+-binding sites.
The Unicellular Ancestry of Animal Development

The transition to multicellularity that launched the evolution of animals from protozoa marks one of the most pivotal, and poorly understood, events in life's history. Advances in phylogenetics and comparative genomics, and particularly the study of choanoflagellates, are yielding new insights into the biology of the unicellular progenitors of animals. Signaling and adhesion gene families critical for animal development (including receptor tyrosine kinases and cadherins) evolved in protozoa before the origin of animals. Innovations in transcriptional regulation and expansions of certain gene families may have allowed the integration of cell behavior during the earliest experiments with multicellularity. The protozoan perspective on animal origins promises to provide a valuable window into the distant past and into the cellular bases of animal development.
Sequence of sensory recovery: A retrospective study

Abstract In our clinical experience, the sequence of early sensory recovery following repair of peripheral nerve lesions has varied significantly from that reported in the literature. Twenty nerve-injured cases were selected for retrospective chart review. All nerves were completely divided, with 9 median, 3 ulnar, and 8 combined median/ulnar nerve injuries. Upon reviewing the initial sensibility examinations, it was found that 11 of the 20 cases had return of 30 cps vibration prior to pain, whereas 9 patients had return of pain prior to 30 cps. No patients demonstrated return of temperature or touch pressure modalities prior to pain or 30 cps vibration. Statistically valid conclusions would require a considerably larger series of patients and, in addition, a more precisely controlled evaluation climate. However, the orderly sequence of return as noted by Dellon may vary from one individual to another, and the clinical methods for evaluating vibration may not be precise enough to prevent error.
Incorporation of methionine into prodigiosin.

Abstract Addition of proline to suspensions of nonpigmented, nonproliferating cells of Serratia marcescens induced biosynthesis of the pigment, prodigiosin. If methionine was included with proline, 4 times as much prodigiosin was formed, although the amount synthesized in the presence of methionine alone was nil. Uniformly 14 C-labelled proline and methionine were incorporated into prodigiosin to about 30% the extent of their incorporation into cellular protein. Experiments with [ carboxy - 14 C]-, and [ Me - 14 C] methionine established that isotope from the methyl group was utilized preferentially for biosynthesis of prodigiosin.
Nonverbal communication in clinical social work practice

The value of nonverbal cues in treating clients in reasserted, citing first the need for baseline data as well as an understanding of the context in which behavior occurs. The use of the various sensory channels to observe cues is introduced informally, followed by the three formal approaches to nonverbal data: proxemics, the study of distance and body orientation; kinesics, the study of body motion, posture, ect.; and paralinguistics, the study of the acoustical accompaniment of words. Skill in using nonverbal cues can enhance the therapeutic relationship, e.g., “holding” can be represented symbolically. A case illustration is presented where crying and weeping are explored in their multiple meanings; a family that used crying as a resistance in the initial stage of treatment was able to continue to cry, but in the service of mourning. It is concluded that the use of nonverbal analysis to break the code of communication with individual clients as well as larger groups is a necessary component of the therapist's approach.
Immunologic effector mechanisms in animal models of occupational asthma.

Occupational asthma is a form of immunotoxicity resulting from an exaggerated immune response to substances encountered in the workplace. Symptoms include reversible airway obstruction, airway hyperresponsiveness, airway remodeling, mucus production and cellular infiltration into the lung, particularly eosinophilia. The asthmatic response is divided into the induction phase, occurring after initial exposure to allergen, followed by the effector phase where a subsequent exposure to the allergen results in the respiratory symptoms. Animal models have been used to investigate the asthmatic response and this review will focus on mechanistic studies of the effector phase. Variables that may impact the effector phase include strain and species of animal, dose of allergen, route of exposure, and developmental stage of the animal. Both trimellitic anhydride (TMA) and ovalbumin are known causes of occupational asthma. Ovalbumin is also a reference protein allergen in immunology, and TMA is used as a prototype of a...
Comparisons of observed northern hemisphere surface air temperature records

Comparisons are made between three climatic data sets consisting of Northern Hemispheric annual surface air temperature departures over the past 100 years. It is shown that despite the large values of linear cross-correlation between the data records, the long-term trends are significantly different according to the bootstrapping procedure. The confidence of relying on any particular data set for assessing global climate change statistics is thus questioned.
Effect of Frequency, Environment, and Temperature on Fatigue Behavior of E319 Cast-Aluminum Alloy: Small-Crack Propagation

The influence of test frequency on fatigue-crack propagation behavior of small cracks in E319 cast-aluminum alloy was studied using ultrasonic and conventional test techniques. It was observed that fatigue cracks grow faster at 30 Hz than at 20 kHz in air at both 20 °C and 250 °C. The effect of frequency on the fatigue-crack growth rates was attributed to an environmental effect. For E319 cast-aluminum alloy, fatigue-crack growth rate increases with increasing water exposure (characterized by the ratio of water partial pressure over test frequency, P/f), and this behavior can be estimated using a modified superposition model. The effect of temperature on fatigue-crack growth behavior was primarily attributed to the effect of temperature on Young’s modulus and yield strength. The environmental contribution to fatigue-crack growth rates modestly decreases with increasing temperature.
Theory of light scattering from hollow spheres.

Abstract Light-scattering from a dilute, fluid disperson of rigid, hollow spheres is treated in the Rayleigh—Debye approximation. The hollow spheres are composed of cylindrically symmetric, radially oriented scattering elements. Analytic expressions for all form factors are derived. The time correlation function of the scattered intensity depends only on the translational diffusion coefficient of the sphere.
A parameterization of aerosol activation 3. Sectional representation

[1] A parameterization of the activation of a lognormal size distribution of aerosols to form cloud droplets is extended to a sectional representation of the aerosol size distribution. For each section, number concentration and chemical composition are uniform functions of particle radius. The parameterization is applied by calculating an effective critical supersaturation of all sections from which the maximum supersaturation of the air parcel is calculated using the previously derived parameterization. The Kohler theory is used to relate the aerosol size distribution and composition to the number activated for each section as a function of maximum supersaturation. For most cases, parametric results are within 10% of those obtained by detailed numerical computations for both idealized and measured aerosol size distributions. The parameterization thus provides an accurate method of treating the activation process for models that use a sectional representation of the aerosol size distribution.
A mechanism-based whole-cell screening assay to identify inhibitors of protein export in Escherichia coli by the sec pathway

More than 20% of bacterial proteins are noncytoplasmic, and most of these pass through the SecYEG channel en route to the periplasm, cell membrane, or surrounding environment. The Sec pathway, enco...
Omalizumab: overview of pharmacology and efficacy in asthma.

Background: Omalizumab is a monoclonal, humanized antibody specific for the region of IgE that binds to the high affinity IgE receptor on basophils and mast cells. Subcutaneous administration of omalizumab reduces the serum IgE concentration within hours and reduces the number of high affinity IgE receptors expressed on basophils and mast cells over 8 – 12. weeks Methods: A literature search of PubMed was performed using terms omalizumab or monoclonal and asthma. Results/conclusion: Asthma exacerbations are reduced by 19 – 75% with omalizumab therapy added to inhaled corticosteroid therapy, with or without long acting beta agonists and leukotriene modifiers. Approximately 60% of treated subjects show a response and 12 – 16 weeks are generally needed to evaluate response. Omalizumab is cost-effective if high-risk responders are treated. Side effects include 0.2% frequency of systemic reactions to the injections and 2% of subjects with local injection reactions, which do not usually require treatment.
Kernel-based constrained energy minimization (K-CEM)

Kernel-based approaches have recently drawn considerable interests in hyperspectral image analysis due to its ability in expanding features to a higher dimensional space via a nonlinear mapping function. Many well-known detection and classification techniques such as Orthogonal Subspace Projection (OSP), RX algorithm, linear discriminant analysis, Principal Components Analysis (PCA), Independent Component Analysis (ICA), have been extended to the corresponding kernel versions. Interestingly, a target detection method, called Constrained Energy Minimization (CEM) which has been also widely used in hyperspectral target detection has not been extended to its kernel version. This paper investigates a kernel-based CEM, called Kernel CEM (K-CEM) which employs various kernels to expand the original data space to a higher dimensional feature space that CEM can be operated on. Experiments are conducted to perform a comparative analysis and study between CEM and K-CEM. The results do not show K-CEM provided significant improvement over CEM in detecting hyperspectral targets but does show significant improvement in detecting targets in multispectral imagery which provides limited spectral information for the CEM to work well.
Changes in Dietary Guidance: Implications for Food and Nutrient Databases

Abstract Two types of dietary guidance for Americans have recently been released, and both have important implications for the way data are organized on food and nutrient databases. New dietary reference intakes (DRIs) have been set for 17 nutrients, and in several cases the units for these recommendations do not match those traditionally carried on nutrient databases. Furthermore, some of the tolerable upper intake levels (ULs) are specified only for supplemental and fortification forms of nutrients, which necessitates calculating separate intake values for nutrients from foods and nutrients that are added to foods or taken as supplements. The year 2000 revision of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans also suggest new ways to evaluate dietary intakes: there is an increased emphasis on obtaining an appropriate number of servings from food groups such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lowfat dairy products. To allow users of nutrient databases to provide relevant evaluations of dietary data, developers will need to consider carrying a much larger array of variables in order to calculate intakes of folate in folate equivalents, vitamin E as alpha-tocopherol (not as alpha-tocopherol equivalents), nutrients occurring in foods versus added or supplemental nutrients, and the number of servings from a variety of food groups. • For more information on the DRIs, see:. • For more information on the year 2000 Dietary Guidelines, see:
Second sound from cavitation in superfluid 4 He

Cavitation in superfluid ${}^{4}\mathrm{He}$ is accompanied by the production of second sound. The second sound signal is readily detected and can be used to determine the cavitation threshold pressure, ${P}_{c}.$ At $T=2.01\mathrm{K}$ we find ${P}_{c}=\ensuremath{-}7.8\mathrm{bar}.$
Gesture–speech unity: Phylogenesis, ontogenesis, and microgenesis

This paper outlines an argument for how development in child speech and gesture could shed light on language evolution: child acquisition can be thought of as two types of acquisition, one of which goes extinct (gesture-first, Acquisition 1) and is replaced by another (gesture–speech unity, Acquisition 2). For ontogenesis, this implies that children acquire two languages, one of which is extinct, and which again goes extinct in ontogenesis (it continues as “gestures of silence” rather than as gestures of speech). There is no way to get from Acquisition 1 to Acquisition 2. They are on different tracks. Even when they converge in the same sentence, as they sometimes do, they alternate and do not combine. I propose that the 3~4 year timing of Acquisition 2 relates to the natural selection of a kind of gestural self–response I call “Mead’s Loop”, which took place in a certain psychological milieu at the origin of language. This milieu emerges now in ontogenesis at 3~4 years and with it Mead’s Loop. It is self-aware agency, on which a self-response depends. Other developments, such as theory of mind and shared intentionality, likewise depend on it and also emerge around the same time. The prefrontal cortex, anchoring a ring of language centers in the brain, matures at that point as well, another factor influencing the late timing. On the other hand, a third acquisition, speech evoking adult attachment, begins at (or even before) birth, as shown by a number of studies, and provides continuity through the two acquisitions and extinction.
Multiple sessions of systolic blood pressure biofeedback: Its effects on ability to control systolic pressure during training, after training, and its effects on pulse rate

Abstract Seventy-one normotensive subjects participated in four training sessions in which they were either (a) instructed to increase their blood pressure, (b) instructed to decrease their blood pressure, or (c) not instructed to change their blood pressure. The subjects either (a) were provided with biofeedback concerning systolic blood pressure or (b) were not provided with biofeedback concerning systolic blood pressure. After the last training session, subjects participated in a transfer session in which they were again instructed concerning changes in pressure but were not provided with biofeedback. Analyses conducted on data from the training and transfer sessions indicated that subjects who were instructed to increase pressure and given biofeedback to aid them showed higher pressure than subjects in other conditions and that there were no differences among those other conditions; that is, biofeedback was effective for teaching subjects to increase pressure but was not effective for teaching subjects to decrease pressure. Additional training sessions did not add to the effect achieved in the first training session. During training sessions, subjects who were instructed to increase pressure showed higher heart rates than subjects in other conditions. The results raise questions concerning the interpretation of earlier experiments that did not include no-treatment, instructions-only, and attention control conditions.
Nonuniform concentration - A mechanism for drag reduction.

A large reduction in drag coefficient has been observed in certain external flows of aqueous solutions with high molecular weight polymer additives. A change in the near wake configuration is phenomenologically responsible for the drag reduction, but the underlying mechanism is presently unknown. An analogy to known phenomena in particulate suspensions is drawn which suggests nonuniform concentration of the polymer additive as an explanation. An analysis of the boundary layer on a sphere with varying viscosity was made to investigate the effect. The results indicate early transition to turbulence for concentration variations whose length scale is small compared with the momentum boundary layer thickness. Stabilization and delayed transition are indicated for thicker concentration layers. Observations are suggested for the thin concentration layers.
Characterization of immobilized poly(L-cysteine) for cadmium chelation and preconcentration

Poly(l-cysteine) (PLC) was successfully immobilized on controlled-pore glass (CPG) and used in a flow injection system incorporating a microcolumn for separation of Cd from synthetic solutions. On-line breakthrough curves were used to study the effect of pH, concentration, and influent flow rate on Cd adsorption. The Cd breakthrough experiments revealed a significant strong-site capacity as well as weaker binding sites that showed a dependence on influent concentration. In addition, increased capacity was observed at more alkaline pH values. The flow rate studies showed nonequilibrium conditions existed for Cd binding at flow rates of 0.55−3.75 mL/min, with decreased capacity for faster flow rates. Elemental analysis of immobilized PLC for sulfur estimated 6.8 × 10-6 mol of PLC/g of CPG and the calculated mole ratio of Cd to PLC was 6.2:1 at pH 9. Stability constants governing the Cd adsorption by PLC were obtained by a nonlinear least-squares analysis of the Cd binding data and revealed at least four cla...
Aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase inducibility in lung cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy.

Aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) inducibility was studied in cultured lymphocytes from 21 healthy control subjects and from 15 lung cancer patients selected for radiation therapy. AHH inducibility of the patients was measured prior to, during and at the end of radiation therapy. Four of 15 patients had high AHH inducibility. The remaining 11 patients had values comparable to the healthy controls. Cellular DNA and protein measurements of cultured lymphocytes were the same for patients and healthy controls. There was no significant difference in the percentage of lymphoblast formation and percentage of cell survival between the two groups. Radiation therapy reduces the number of lymphocytes in vivo and the amount of lymphoblast formation in vitro. AHH inducibility is significantly lowered by radiation in the patients who had very high inducibility at pre-treatment level. DNA and protein contents of cultured lymphocytes did not change during radiation therapy.