cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Case for Diaspora: A Temporal Approach to the Chinese Experience

This article revisits the criticisms of “diaspora” by Wang Gungwu, Ien Ang, and Shu-mei Shih, and urges a return to the concept with an attention to temporality. Focusing on the story of Lim Boon Keng (1869–1957)—an Edinburgh-educated baba Chinese who led a Confucian revival in Singapore in the 1890s, clashed with May Fourth writer Lu Xun in China in the 1920s, and has been celebrated since the 1990s—this article argues that diaspora is less a collection of communities than a series of moments in which reconnections with a putative homeland take place. By considering how “diaspora moments” emerge and create actors, scholars may ask why and for whom essential ties become useful, and how the history of mass emigration foregrounds a contingent Chinese identity. Temporally inflected, diaspora is a process to reckon with a world in flux, hence a useful paradigm for analysis.
Genetic Models of PGC-1 and Glucose Metabolism and Homeostasis

Type II diabetes and its complications are a tremendous health burden throughout the world. Our understanding of the changes that lead to glucose imbalance and insulin resistance and ultimately diabetes remain incompletely understood. Many signaling and transcriptional pathways have been identified as being important to maintain normal glucose balance, including that of the peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma coactivator (PGC-1) family. This family of transcriptional coactivators strongly regulates mitochondrial and metabolic biology in numerous organs. The use of genetic models of PGC-1s, including both tissue-specific overexpression and knock-out models, has helped to reveal the specific roles that these coactivators play in each tissue. This review will thus focus on the PGC-1s and recently developed genetic rodent models that have highlighted the importance of these molecules in maintaining normal glucose homeostasis.
1728 SEROTONIN (5HT) PULMONARY VASCULAR RESPONSES IN THE NEWBORN PIG: VASOCONSTRICTION AND REFLEX VASODILATION ARE INDEPENDENT PROCESSES

We have previously reported two-receptor mediation of 5HT pulmonary vasoconstriction and differences in the dose–response curves of acutely instrumented animals versus awoke chronic preparations. To further characterize 5HT pulmonary vascular responses, we investigated 5HT action in 0–5 day old pigs (n=12). In each experiment, animals underwent instrumentation for measurement of aortic pressure (peripheral cannula), pulmonary artery (PA) pressure and PA flow (via thoracotomy). For dose–response curves, 5HT was infused as a series of rapid bolus doses, ranging from 1–100 mcg/kg. Pharmacologic mediation of the response was investigated by repeating 5HT infusions after treatment with ketanserin (a 5HT–2 blocker) or lidocaine (an endothelial uptake blocker). The PA pressure response to 5HT was qualitatively consistent, but its magnitude exhibited a wide range of variation. The PA tracing was always biphasic, consisting of a rapid increase (2–10 torr) in PA pressure over 30–40 seconds, followed by reflex vasodilation (1–4 torr below baseline), which was slower in onset (1–2 min) and in time to recovery (4–6 min). The active dose range and peak vasoconstriction response were inversely related to baseline pressure (partly a function of age). Ketanserin blocked vasoconstriction completely at doses of 0.03–0.30 mg/kg, but the “reflex” vasodilation was unaffected. Lidocaine produced no blockade of vasoconstriction, but ablated the vasodilation phase. We speculate that 5HT pulmonary vasoconstriction is a direct effect on vascular smooth muscle, while the accompanying reflex vasodilation represents release of a second mediator in response to endothelial 5HT uptake.
ENFLURANE HAS NO EFFECT ON HAEMOPOIESIS IN MICE

SUMMARY Male and female Swiss/ICR mice were exposed to 0.3% enflurane in air, 4 h per day, 5 days per week for 52 weeks. A control group was exposed to air alone. After 52 weeks, all animals were sacrificed and peripheral blood and bone marrow samples were examined for alterations in haemopoiesis. In general, there was no difference between treated and control groups.
Analytical computation of Markov chain using Pade´ approximations

Abstract The transient analysis of finite-state, continuous-time Markov chains is determined using Pade approximations in the complex plane. Many applications are required to provide interruption-free service for long missions. For these systems, the probability that a system operates without failure during some interval is of interest. We will consider the general problem of finding the state probability vector of a discrete-state, continuous-time Markov chain. We employ Pade approximation as our analytical tool to determine the state probabilities.
Smoking molecular damage in bronchial epithelium

Our understanding of the molecular pathology of lung cancer is advancing rapidly with several specific genes and chromosomal regions being identified. Lung cancer appears to require many mutations in both dominant and recessive oncogenes to possess malignant phenotypes. Several genetic and epigenetic changes are common to all lung cancer histologic types, while others appear to be cell type specific. However, specific roles of the genes undergoing mutations and the order of cumulative molecular changes that lead to the development of each lung tumor histologic type remain to be fully elucidated. Recent findings of molecular abnormalities in normal appearing and preneoplastic bronchial epithelium from patients with lung cancer and chronic smokers suggest that genetic changes may serve as biomarkers for early diagnosis, risk assessment and monitoring response to chemoprevention.
Use of Osteoporosis Medications in Older Nursing Facility Residents

Introduction Epidemiologic studies demonstrated that 70% to 85% of nursing home residents have osteoporosis. Few studies report comprehensive information about treatment of osteoporosis in nursing facilities. Objective To determine the prevalence of osteoporosis treatment and identify resident characteristics associated with the use of antiresorptive medications or supplements indicated to treat osteoporosis in nursing homes. Methods The study design was cross-sectional. The Systematic Assessment of Geriatric Drug Use via Epidemiology database provided the data. From this database, 186,221 residents were identified as newly admitted to nursing facilities in Kansas, Maine, Missouri, Ohio, and South Dakota between 1998 and 2000. The outcome measure was the use of antiresorptive medications (alendronate, risedronate, calcitonin, estrogen, raloxifene) or supplements (calcium with vitamin D) indicated for treatment of osteoporosis. The independent variables included demographic, health status, and fracture risk factors. Results Of the overall sample, 9.1% received antiresorptive medications and/or supplements indicated for osteoporosis treatment. The most commonly used treatment was the combination of calcium and vitamin D (5.0%). Calcitonin (2.5%) use exceeded that of any other antiresorptive. Multivariable logistic regression analyses revealed that a diagnosis of osteoporosis and female gender were strongly associated with being more likely to receive an osteoporosis treatment (OR 6.34 with 95% CI 6.11–6.64 and OR 2.67 with 95% CI 2.53–2.83 respectively). The number of medications residents received was also strongly associated with receiving osteoporosis treatment. Being black and having 4 or more active diagnoses were strongly associated with lower odds of receiving treatment (OR 0.63 with 95% CI 0.57–0.68 and OR 0.71 with 95% CI 0.68–0.74 for 4 to 6 diagnoses). Discussion Newly admitted nursing facility residents infrequently received an indicated osteoporosis treatment, including calcium with vitamin D, despite the expected high prevalence of osteoporosis in this setting. Few demographic, health status, and fracture risk factors were strongly associated with receiving indicated treatment.
Glean: using syntactic information in document filtering

In this paper, we describe a system called Glean, which is based on the idea that coherent text contains significant latent information, such as syntactic structure and patterns of language use, which can be used to enhance the performance of information retrieval systems. We propose an approach to increase the precision of information retrieval that makes use of syntactic information obtained using a supertagger. In this approach, patterns based on local syntactic context are induced from training material. These patterns are used to refine the set of documents retrieved by a standard Web search engine or an information retrieval system, by selecting relevant information and filtering out irrelevant items. We show that syntactic information does improve the effectiveness of filtering irrelevant documents, and that supertagging is more effective than part of speech tagging in filtering documents. Further, we also show how the extent of syntactic context affects filtering performance. We discuss the relationship between Glean and other attempts at improving information retrieval performance.
Zinc-65 in foods and people.

Disposal of trace amounts of Zn65 is made in the Columbia River via Hanford reactor effluent water. The subsequent utilization of river water for irrigation permits the concentration of this radioisotope in farm produce and its eventual deposition in man. The Zn65 in irrigation water, in farm produce, and in individuals utilizing these materials has been measured.
Competitive scheduling in wireless collision channels with correlated channel state

We consider a wireless collision channel, shared by a finite number of mobile users who transmit to a common base station. Each user wishes to optimize its individual network utility that incorporates a natural tradeoff between throughput and power. The channel quality of every user is affected by global and time-varying conditions at the base station, which are manifested to all users in the form of a common channel state. Assuming that all users employ stationary, state-dependent transmission strategies, we investigate the properties of the Nash equilibrium of the resulting game between users. While the equilibrium performance can be arbitrarily bad (in terms of aggregate utility), we bound the efficiency loss at the best equilibrium as a function of a technology-related parameter. Under further assumptions, we show that sequential best-response dynamics converge to an equilibrium point in finite time, and discuss how to exploit this property for better network usage.
Purely irrotational theories of the effect of the viscosity on the decay of free gravity waves

A purely irrotational theory of the effect of viscosity on the decay of free gravity waves is derived and shown to be in excellent agreement with Lamb’s (1932) exact solution. The agreement is achieved for all waves numbers k excluding a small interval around a critical k=kc where progressive waves change to monotonic decay. Very detailed comparisons are made between the purely irrotational and exact theory. 1. Introduction Lamb (1932, §348, §349) performed an analysis of the effect of viscosity on free gravity waves. He computed the decay rate by a dissipation method using the irrotational flow only. He also constructed an exact solution for this problem, which satisfies both the normal and shear stress conditions at the interface. Joseph and Wang (2004) studied Lamb’s problem using the theory of viscous potential flow (VPF) and obtained a dispersion relation which gives rise to both the decay rate and wave-velocity. They also computed a viscous correction for the irrotational pressure and used this pressure correction in the normal stress balance to obtain another dispersion relation. This method is called a viscous correction of the viscous potential flow (VCVPF). Since VCVPF is an irrotational theory the shear stress cannot be made to vanish. However, the corrected pressure eliminates this uncompensated shear stress from the power of traction integral arising in an energy analysis of the irrotational flow. Here we find that the viscous pressure correction of the irrotational motion gives rise to a higher order irrotational correction to the irrotational velocity which is proportional to the viscosity and does not have a boundary layer structure. The corrected velocity depends strongly on viscosity and is not related to vorticity; the whole package is purely irrotational. The corrected irrotational flow gives rise to a dispersion relation which is in splendid agreement with Lamb’s exact solution, which has no explicit viscous pressure. The agreement with the exact solution holds for fluids even 10 4 times more viscous than water and for small and large wave numbers where the cutoff wave number kc marks the place where progressive waves give rise to monotonic decay. We find that VCVPF gives rise to the same decay rate as in Lamb’s exact solution and in his dissipation calculation when k kc. The effects of vorticity are sensible only in a small interval centered on the cutoff wave number. We will do a comprehensive comparison for the decay rate and wave-velocity given by Lamb’s exact solution and Joseph and Wang’s VPF and VCVPF theories. 2. Irrotational viscous corrections for the potential flow solution The gravity wave problem is governed by the continuity equation 0 u ,
Quantum-state reconstruction of atoms in optical lattices

Summary form only given. The preparation of the quantum state of physical systems and its diagnostics by quantum-state reconstruction has been a subject of large progress in recent years. Various experiments have successfully demonstrated the feasibility of reconstructing the quantum state of optical fields, molecular vibrations, trapped ions, and matter waves. The impressive success in laser cooling of neutral atoms opens new possibilities for preparing quantum states of ensembles of atoms in optical lattices and also quantum computing. In this context, the diagnostics of the quantum state, would provide a very useful tool for studying the accuracy of prepared quantum states or exploring decoherence mechanisms. However, to our knowledge, a reconstruction method for optical lattices that accounts for typical features of optical lattice potentials such as anharmonicity and band structure, is not yet available. We propose such a method, that we think is relatively simple to implement, since only phase shifts of the lattice laser beams and measurements of the band populations in the lattice potential are needed. These techniques are feasible by use of electro/acousto-optical modulators and by measuring the momentum distribution of the atoms after adiabatically turning off the lattice lasers.
Principles of safe Policy Routing Dynamics

We introduce the Dynamic Policy Routing (DPR) model that captures the propagation of route updates under arbitrary changes in topology or path preferences. DPR introduces the notion of causation chains where the route flap at one node causes a flap at the next node along the chain.
On the Filter Problem of the Power-Spectrum Analyzer

The function of a power-spectrum analyzer is to predict from a single finite length of wave record, which has the statistical properties of filtered random noise (e.g. ocean wave, turbulence etc.), the average power per unit bandwidth of an ensemble of such records at various frequencies. The signal derived from repeating the record is heterodyned with another signal whose frequency is scanned at a uniform rate across the entire spectrum and the resultant wave is passed through a narrow filter and then detected by a square-law detector. Two problems arise: 1. Due to its finite bandwidth, the filter performs a necessary weighted average on the power spectrum. What is the best filter response to minimize the intrinsic error associated with the prediction of an average characteristic of an ensemble from a single record? What practical filter is closest to the ideally best? 2. How fast can the frequency be scanned without appreciably deviating the filter response? Definite solutions are given to the above problems. Eqs. (26) and (27) together with Table I give the lowest probable error for filters with various shapes of response curve. Eq. (32) defines the ideal fliter which minimizes this error. The ideal filter can be very closely approximated by cascading a single resonant circuit to a pair of critically coupled resonant circuits with a Q-value ?2 times that of the former.
Kinetics and mechanisms of high-temperature creep in polycrystalline aluminum nitride

The operative and controlling mechanisms of steady-state creep in hot-pressed AlN have been determined both from kinetic data within the temperature and constant compressive stress ranges of 1470 and 1670 K and 100 to 370 MPa, respectively, and from the microstructural results of TEM. No secondary phases were detected in the bulk or at the grain boundaries using Raman spectroscopy and HREM. The stress exponent was [approx]1.0 at all temperatures. The activation energies ranged between 558 and 611 kJ/mol. The most prominent microstructural features of the crept samples were elongated grains, strain whorls, and triple-point folds. Dislocations were generated only at the strain whorls in order to relieve the localized stress caused by intraboundary mechanical interaction among the grains. They contributed little to the observed deformation. The controlling mechanism for creep was diffusion-accommodated grain-boundary sliding. This mechanism was accompanied in parallel by relatively small amounts of unaccommodated grain-boundary sliding. Cavitation was not observed.
A Knowledge-Based GIS Approach to the Evaluation of Design Consistency of Horizontal Alignments:

Design consistency is an important safety feature in the field of highway design. The driver will anticipate the alignment of a highway based on the highway section that he or she has already traveled, and unfamiliar elements that are introduced could cause serious safety problems. Much research has been performed and many different mathematical and empirical models have been formulated to predict and evaluate roadway design consistency. A knowledge-based expert system is combined with a Geographic Information System (GIS) to evaluate horizontal alignment design consistency on U.S. highways. The GIS was chosen because of its vast information storage and manipulation capabilities; it can store human expertise on a subject and suggest solutions to a problem. By evaluating the changes in the degree of curve for each consecutive element of the roadway, the program is able to successfully evaluate the consistency of horizontal alignment. The program shows a high success rate when tested on hypothetical roadway...
Development and Characterization of a Green Fluorescent Protein-Based Bacterial Biosensor for Bioavailable Toluene and Related Compounds

A green fluorescent protein-based Pseudomonas fluorescens strain A506 biosensor was constructed and characterized for its potential to measure benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and related compounds in aqueous solutions. The biosensor is based on a plasmid carrying the toluene-benzene utilization (tbu) pathway transcriptional activator TbuT from Ralstonia pickettii PKO1 and a transcriptional fusion of its promoter PtbuA1 with a promoterless gfp gene on a broad-host-range promoter probe vector. TbuT was not limiting, since it was constitutively expressed by being fused to the neomycin phosphotransferase (nptII) promoter. The biosensor cells were readily induced, and fluorescence emission after induction periods of 3 h correlated well with toluene, benzene, ethylbenzene, and trichloroethylene concentrations. Our experiments using flow cytometry show that intermediate levels of gfp expression in response to toluene reflect uniform induction of cells. As the toluene concentration increases, the level of gfp expression per cell increases until saturation kinetics of the TbuT-PtbuA1 system are observed. Each inducer had a unique minimum concentration that was necessary for induction, with Kapp values that ranged from 3.3 ± 1.8 μM for toluene to 35.6 ± 16.6 μM for trichloroethylene (means ± standard errors of the means), and maximal fluorescence response. The fluorescence response was specific for alkyl-substituted benzene derivatives and branched alkenes (di- and trichloroethylene, 2-methyl-2-butene). The biosensor responded in an additive fashion to the presence of multiple inducers and was unaffected by the presence of compounds that were not inducers, such as those present in gasoline. Flow cytometry revealed that, in response to toxic concentrations of gasoline, there was a small uninduced population and another larger fully induced population whose levels of fluorescence corresponded to the amount of effectors present in the sample. These results demonstrate the potential for green fluorescent protein-based bacterial biosensors to measure environmental contaminants.
Living and Working with the New Medical Technologies

Living and Working with the New Medical Technologies. Margaret Lock, Alan Young, and Alberto, Cambrosio, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 295 pp.
Cell Culture Studies

Cultured cells can mirror and preserve the enzyme defect or defects that cause the individual to be afflicted. An enzyme present in multiple tissues of the body is readily accessible for study via peripheral blood and/or in biopsy of the skin or other tissues of the living individual. Enzymatic activity with diverse in vivo tissue distribution is, as a rule, found in the usual type of human cell culture—the diploid fibroblast. In addition to providing definitive diagnosis of the full-blown metabolic defect, cell culture can be used for diagnosis of the heterozygote state when enzyme function may be found to be intermediate between normal homozygote individuals and homozygote defectives. Maintenance of enzyme markers in culture also provide experimental models for the study of enzyme controls and effects at the cellular level in that cells derived from the affected human can be used rather than those from a more remote type of a cell system. That a single enzyme can exist in several, i.e., multimolecular, forms suggests that isoenzymes can cause different clinical diseases, or a spectrum of involvement within one disease group, or that the same clinical signs of an enzyme deficiency could result from multiple types of molecular defects. Thus, the patient’s own defective enzyme frequently needs to be studied both qualitatively and quantitatively in order to understand and treat his disease effectively. The diagnosis of an enzymatic defect rests upon demonstration of defective enzymatic activity. This demonstration id often only possible in cultured cells from the affected individual.
Impulse Encoding Mechanisms of Ganglion Cells in the Tiger Salamander Retina

Fohlmeister, J. F. and R. F. Miller. Impulse encoding mechanisms of ganglion cells in the tiger salamander retina. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 1935–1947, 1997. A study of nerve impulse generation in gangl...
Antihistamine-sensitive active vasodilatation in the perfused hindquarters of the rat.

The innervated, constant flow perfused hindquarters of the rat have been used to evaluate post-stimulation vasodilatation, which is a model of active reflex vasodilatation in this species. The vasodilatation resulting from lumbar sympathetic stimulation was dependent on stimulation frequency and duration. Maximal vasodilatation (16 +/- 2%) was at 8 Hz for 15 s, while markedly reduced vasodilatation was seen after stimulation for longer than 30 s at all frequencies tested. The vasodilatation was transient. Atropine (2.0 mg kg-1 i.v.) failed to attenuate post-stimulation vasodilatation at a time when hindquarter vasodilatation to i.a. acetylcholine had been abolished. The H1 antihistamine, tripelennamine (2.5 mg kg-1 i.v.) significantly reduced (77%) post-stimulation vasodilatation relative to controls at a time when hindquarter vasodilatation due to i.a. histamine was essentially abolished. Reactive hyperaemia is an unlikely cause of vasodilatation since it is not blocked by H1 antihistamines; 60 s post-occlusion hyperaemia also, was not demonstrable. These data suggest that there is an active component of baroreceptor-mediated vasodilatation in the rat and that histamine, rather than acetylcholine, could be a mediator of this vasodilatation.
REVERSAL BY LIGHT OF THE ACTION OF N-METHYL N-DESACETYL COLCHICINE ON MITOSIS

Colchicine, in low concentrations, inhibits cell division in a wide variety of cell types through an effect which results in dissolution of the spindle (1, p . 62 et seq .) This is especially clearly shown in the work of Inoue (2) . When exposed to sunlight, colchicine undergoes a photochemical rearrangement to give a, s, and y lumicolchicines (3, 4) (Fig . 1) . There is also evidence that exposure to sunlight and air reduces the biological activity of colchicine (1, p. 374) . This suggests the possibility of photochemically reversing colchicine effects in living cells . The N-methyl derivative of N-desacetyl colchicine (Ciba's trade name is Colcemid) was used in this study in preference to colchicine because of its effectiveness at lower external concentrations and because of fewer irreversible effects .
The rat prolactin gene family locus: species-specific gene family expansion

In the rat there is a large family of paralogous genes related to prolactin (PRL). Members of the PRL family are expressed in cell- and temporalspecific patterns in the anterior pituitary, uterus, and placenta. An overriding feature of the PRL family is its association with pregnancy. In this investigation, we used information derived from the public rat genome database as a tool for identifying new members of the rat PRL family. The entire rat PRL gene family locus spans approximately 1.7 megabases (Mb) on Chromosome 17. Genes possessed either 5- or 6-exon organization patterns. We provide information on three newly identified genes orthologous to previously identified members of the mouse PRL gene family [placental lactogen-Ia (PL-Ia), PL-Ib, and proliferin (PLF)] and a new member of the PRL family, termed PRL-like protein-P (PLP-P). Information is also presented on the existence of multiple PLP-M transcripts, which are generated by alternative splicing. Expansion of the PRL family has occurred independently in rodents versus the cow and does not exist in the human and dog. Elucidation of the rat PRL gene family locus provides tools for studying the genetics and biology of the rat PRL family and new insights into species-specific gene family expansion.
NAVIGATING LOW ALTITUDE SATELLITES USING THE CURRENT FOUR NAVSTAR/GPS SATELLITES

A greater degree of survivability is a significant requirement of future space systems. Toward this end, an important aspect is an autonomous navigation capability. For many space systems, an obvious choice is the use of the Navstar/Global Positioning System (GPS). With the operational 18-satellite GPS constellation (plus three active spares), low altitude user satellites will have continuous tracking data available for navigation. On the other hand, with the current constellation of four satellites, there is less available data and, consequently, the accuracy of navigation varies a great deal throughout the user satellite orbit. This paper discusses the navigational performance that can be achieved with this constellation. Last summer, the Ladsat 4 satellite was placed into a near circular, sun synchronous, orbit at an altitude of 705 km, and at an inclination angle of 98.3 deg. This satellite contains a Navstar GPS receiver (called GPSPAC), and is the first user satellite to employ GPS. Using this satellite as an example, an error analysis was performed of the navigation accuracy that can be obtained for a low altitude satellite. During the course of a Landsat 4 orbit, it will be able to observe from none to four Navstar/GPS satellites. When four satellites are available, the three-dimensional accuracy can be expected to be about 11 m. Since Landstat 4 is sun synchronous, i.e., its orbit plane rotates in longitude with the sun, there will be times during the year when this satellite and the GPS satellites simultaneously come together over the continental United States. This is where Landsat 4 is primarily used, and is the ideal geometric relationship between Landsat 4, the GPS satellites, and the earth. This favorable condition occurred last November. This paper discusses the use of Navstar/GPS to navigate Landsat 4 under this ideal geometric situation, as well as at other times during the year. The paper presents the results of a theoretical accuracy analysis. The actual on-orbit experience with Landsat 4 is not covered here.
Cell-to-cell variability analysis dissects the plasticity of signaling of common γ chain cytokines in T cells.

Natural variability in the abundance of signaling regulators can lead to divergence in cell fate, even within genetically identical cells that share a common differentiation state. We introduce cell-to-cell variability analysis (CCVA), an experimental and computational methodology that quantifies the correlation between variability in signaling regulator abundance and variation in the sensitivity of cells to stimuli. With CCVA, we investigated the unexpected effects of the interleukin 2 (IL-2) receptor a chain (IL-2Ra) on the sensitivity of primary mouse T lymphocytes to cytokines that signal through receptors that have the common g chain (gc). Our work showed that increased IL-2Ra abundance decreased the concentration of IL-2 required for a half-maximal activation (EC50) of the downstream effector signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5), but reduced the responsiveness to IL-7 or IL-15, without affecting the EC50 values of other gc cytokines. To investigate the mechanism of the effect of IL-2Ra on gc cytokine signaling, we introduced a Bayesian-inference computational framework that models the formation of receptor signaling complexes with data from previous biophysical measurements. With this framework, we found that a model in which IL-2Ra drives gc depletion through the assembly of functional IL-2R complexes was consistent with both the CCVA data and experimental measurements. The combination of CCVA and computational modeling produced quantitative understanding of the crosstalk between gc cytokine receptor signaling in T lymphocytes.
Land use regression modeling of intra-urban residential variability in multiple traffic-related air pollutants

There is a growing body of literature linking GIS-based measures of traffic density to asthma and other respiratory outcomes. However, no consensus exists on which traffic indicators best capture variability in different pollutants or within different settings. As part of a study on childhood asthma etiology, we examined variability in outdoor concentrations of multiple traffic-related air pollutants within urban communities, using a range of GIS-based predictors and land use regression techniques. We measured fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and elemental carbon (EC) outside 44 homes representing a range of traffic densities and neighborhoods across Boston, Massachusetts and nearby communities. Multiple three to four-day average samples were collected at each home during winters and summers from 2003 to 2005. Traffic indicators were derived using Massachusetts Highway Department data and direct traffic counts. Multivariate regression analyses were performed separately for each pollutant, using traffic indicators, land use, meteorology, site characteristics, and central site concentrations. PM2.5 was strongly associated with the central site monitor (R2 = 0.68). Additional variability was explained by total roadway length within 100 m of the home, smoking or grilling near the monitor, and block-group population density (R2 = 0.76). EC showed greater spatial variability, especially during winter months, and was predicted by roadway length within 200 m of the home. The influence of traffic was greater under low wind speed conditions, and concentrations were lower during summer (R2 = 0.52). NO2 showed significant spatial variability, predicted by population density and roadway length within 50 m of the home, modified by site characteristics (obstruction), and with higher concentrations during summer (R2 = 0.56). Each pollutant examined displayed somewhat different spatial patterns within urban neighborhoods, and were differently related to local traffic and meteorology. Our results indicate a need for multi-pollutant exposure modeling to disentangle causal agents in epidemiological studies, and further investigation of site-specific and meteorological modification of the traffic-concentration relationship in urban neighborhoods.
Comparison of biological activity of injected and orally administered L-thyroxine, L-triiodothyronine and thyroprotein in fowls.

SummaryMale and female fowls of the New Hampshire strain, about 4 years old, were subjected to diurnal and seasonal variation in temperature. The thyroxine secretion rate (TSR) was first determined using L-thyroxine (L-T4), followed by L-triiodo-thyronine (L-T3) and thyroprotein (containing 1% L-T4) injected subcutaneously.In the male birds, if the mean TSR of L-T4 is considered 100%, L-T3 was observed to be 2.2 times as active biologically, whereas thyroprotein was only 1.1 times as active. In the females, L-T3 was 1.5 times as active as L-T4, and thyroprotein was 1.3 times as active (based on 1% L-T4 content) as L-T4.In a comparison of subcutaneous and oral administration of these hormones in the male and using the subcutaneous administration as 100%, in two trials, L-T4 orally was 96.2 and 88.8% as active. L-T3 was 67.5% as active and thyroprotein, 58.2%. In the females, in two trials, L-T4 was 40.7 and 68.7% as effective orally; L-T3 was 55.9% as effective orally; and thyroprotein was 62.1% as effecti...
Use of Antisense Oligonucleotides: Advantages, Controls, and Cardiovascular Tissue

Antisense oligonucleotides are short pieces of synthetic, chemically modified DNA or RNA that are designed to interact by Watson-Crick base pairing with mRNA encoding a targeted protein. During the past 20 years the technology associated with the development of antisense has improved dramatically, and emerging chemistries have made antisense oligonucleotides into powerful and versatile tools to study the function of proteins in living cells. The dramatic increase in novel genomic sequence information that has recently become available has generated enormous opportunities for the development of antisense oligonucleotides capable of altering the expression level of virtually any gene. With this will come a nearly equal opportunity to determine the role of individual proteins in a vast array of cardiovascular disease. The great specificity that these compounds exhibit in vitro suggests that they may also have an exciting future for development into therapeutics useful for the treatment of human disease. This review highlights some of the advances made in the field of antisense research, placing an emphasis on uses and proper controls.
SPONTANEOUS HEALING INHERENT IN TRANSPLANTED BONE

1. There is sufficient energy stored in the osteoblastic cells of a live bone transplant, placed in a muscle and removed from all osseous contact, to form a union between two fragments of a fracture produced in such a transplant. 2. Because of this very active, independent, regenerative and reparative property innate in the live bone transplant it is advisable to utilize living bone, whenever possible, for any purpose where a transplant is indicated.
Assessment of Airway Hyperresponsiveness in Murine Tracheal Rings

Isolated tracheal rings have often been used to directly measure the contractile output of airway smooth muscle (ASM). Here, we describe the method for excising murine tracheas, mounting tracheal rings in organ baths, and measuring the isometric forces generated by the ASM when stimulated by drug additions or electric field stimulation. The apparatus for the setup and the pathways responsible for stimulation are detailed. Examples of the responses and analyses of two types of ASM stimulation are illustrated: (1) the carbachol concentration-response curve and (2) the frequency-response curve elicited by electric field stimulation.
Edith Stein and “ Secretum meum mihi ”: Are Religious Conversions Necessarily Private?

When asked for an explanation of her conversion Edith Stein remarked to a good friend, secretum meum mihi, “my secret is mine.” In some philosophers like St. Augustine there is a trajectory that has a philosophical logic. Augustine recounts his move from skepticism to Platonism as a kind of logical move. Following Platonism leads to Christianity as a kind of reasonable next step. Although some trajectories can be detected in Stein’s development, they are not discursively neat when compared to someone like Augustine. Stein’s own niece claims to be baffled no small amount despite Edith recording that she explained herself to her. This paper begins with similar puzzlement. It looks at Stein’s writings and life to determine the nature of her conversion and what is revealed publically and what is not and perhaps cannot be publically revealed. The paper also explores the prior use of the secretum formula as a possible explanation about the limits and dangers of describing human and divine interaction. Finally, it will close with a consideration of Stein’s Science and the Cross in an effort to show that Stein’s explanation of the life and thought of St. John of the Cross in many ways mirrors both the potential for publicly speaking about an interior life and the necessary limitations that accompany such an attempt.
‘Passing a Law is Harder than Organic Chemistry’: Measuring What Was Learned in a Congressional Simulation

What do students learn in a classroom political simulation? This question has vexed many instructors who have been left to rely on anecdotal or indirect indicators of learning, or have struggled to correlate underwhelming effects on test scores with their own personal perceptions of student progress and engagement. Here I propose a three-pronged approach that can be used in conjunction with any simulation to better capture the depth of student learning with both quantitative and qualitative evidence. Using the three approaches, I review the results from a congressional legislative simulation that produced improved student ability to express complex concepts, allowed students to draw lessons beyond the instructors’ core objectives, and demonstrated the capacity to reach lower-performing students.
Relationship of Two Vertical Jumping Tests to Sprint and Change of Direction Speed among Male and Female Collegiate Soccer Players.

In collegiate level soccer acceleration, maximal velocity and agility are essential for successful performance. Power production is believed to provide a foundation for these speed qualities. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of change of direction speed, acceleration, and maximal velocity to both the counter movement jump (CMJ) and squat jump (SJ) in collegiate soccer players. Thirty-six NCAA Division II soccer players (20 males and 16 females) were tested for speed over 10 and 30 m, CODS (T-test, pro agility) and power (CMJ, SJ). Independent t-tests (p ≤ 0.05) were used to derive gender differences, and Pearson’s correlations (p ≤ 0.05) calculated relationships between the different power and speed tests. Female subjects displayed moderate-to-strong correlations between 30 m, pro agility and T-test with the CMJ (r = −0.502 to −0.751), and SJ (r = −0.502 to −0.681). Moderate correlations between 10 and 30 m with CMJ (r = −0.476 and −0.570) and SJ (r = −0.443 and −0.553, respectively) were observed for males. Moderate to strong relationships exist between speed and power attributes in both male and female collegiate soccer players, especially between CMJ and maximal velocity. Improving stretch shortening cycle (SSC) utilization may contribute to enhanced sport-specific speed.
Five Things I Have Learned From My Travel Adventures That Have Made Me A Better Employee

There have been many studies done supporting the importance of work-life balance. There are many benefits to taking time off from work, not the least of which are reducing stress and improving mental health. Taking time off from work will also make you a better employee. I love to travel and I love technology. The five things that I have learned from my travel adventures that have made me a better employee are organization skills, problem solving, multicultural sensitivity, communication, and how to breach my comfort zone.
Speech enhancement

There has been considerable recent interest on the problem of enhancing degraded speech. This interest is motivated by several factors including a broad set of important applications and the apparent lack of robustness in recent speech compression and recognition systems. One objective of this paper is to provide an overview of various techniques that have been proposed for enhancement of speech. Another objective is to suggest some directions for future research in the speech enhancement problem.
Concentration-Dependent Hydrogen Diffusivity in a-Si:H

We present experimental evidence for an enhancement in hydrogen diffusivity in a-Si:H with hydrogen concentration. The concentration dependence is attributed to the saturation of the density of hydrogen traps consisting of Si-H bonds with increasing hydrogen concentration. As a consequence, hydrogen lifetime in mobile interstitial and/or bond-center sites is enhanced. The saturation occurs when the rate of trap filling by hydrogen injection from the plasma exceeds the rate of trap creation.
Optimizing 340B purchasing practices.

Since 1992, Section 340B of the Public Health Service Act has granted eligible entities the opportunity to substantially reduce medication costs through participation in the 340B Drug Pricing Program,[1][1] which is administered by the Office of Pharmacy Affairs of the Health Resources and Services
Investigations of Nonequilibrium Phonons Using Defect-Induced One-Phonon Absorption

Monochromatic phonons are generated in LiYF4:Pr3+ using defect induced one phonon absorption (DIOPA) of far infrared radiation. Phonons are detected in a time resolved, frequency selective manner using an absorption vibronic sideband spectrometer. The combination of these techniques enable us to investigate the complete spectral and temporal evolution of the decay products of the monochromatically generated nonequilibrium phonon distributions.
Infections in Genitourinary Prostheses

During the past two decades, the use of implantable prostheses has experienced exponential growth. In urology, penile prostheses have been especially popular. Although many mechanical problems have been reported, the most disastrous complication is infection, which usually mandates prosthesis removal and often leads to severe disability or loss of function of the organ in which the prosthesis was implanted. The author reviews the pathogenesis, microbiology, diagnosis, and treatment of genitourinary prosthesis infections.
Satellite provides guidance on middle atmosphere structure

The outermost region of the Earth's atmosphere, at heights of 100 kilometres or more, has long been know to suffer violent disturbances, such as auroral displays and geomagnetic storms, as a result of solar activity. The lower atmosphere (below about 15 km), however, is affected only in subtle and little-understood ways by the Sun. Indeed the study of Sun-weather and Sun-climate relationships is a controversial area.
Alternative Model Theories

The analysis of conditionals presented so far is far from unique. In fact, many authors have suggested some sort of ‘possible worlds’ analysis of conditionals. These include Chellas (1975), Hansson and Gardenfors (1973), Lewis (1973), Pollock (1976), and Stalnaker (1968). We can view such analyses as involving two distinct but related parts: the formal semantics or model theory itself and the informal account or intended interpretation which undergirds the model theory. Ultimately, I want to examine the informal or philosophical foundations of the analyses of a number of authors, comparing these attempts with my own, but this task will be made easier if we first summarize the formal part of each author’s work. In this chapter I will define several possible worlds model theories for conditional logics and explore the formal, mathematical relationships between them. Some of these model theories will have actually been offered as part of an analysis of ordinary language conditionals, while others are primarily of technical interest only. For the moment, we will not be concerned with the philosophical merits of these theories, but only with their formal properties. In the next chapter we will consider the adequacy of some of these theories as representations of the conceptual structure lying behind our use of conditionals. Some readers may wish to omit this chapter, referring back to it as necessary in reading later chapters.
Student pharmacists’ perceptions on their preparedness and comfort level in counseling on HIV transmission risk factors and over-the-counter HIV tests

Abstract Objectives To assess student pharmacists' preparedness and comfort level to provide information about the over-the-counter human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) test and HIV transmission risk factors. Methods A survey consisting of questions assessing student perceptions about the over-the-counter (OTC) HIV test, as well as preparedness to counsel patients on test results and HIV transmission risk factors, was developed using a 5-point Likert-type scale. Data were analyzed using independent t -tests and analysis of variance. Results A total of 212 of 277 student pharmacists provided complete data for the study (response rate=76.5%). Of the fourth-year students, 40.6% reported that they were not familiar with the OTC HIV test and only 33.1% feel comfortable counseling patients on its use. Moreover, 51.5% feel that the coursework has not adequately prepared them to counsel patients on OTC HIV tests. However, students who had received specific counseling and training on OTC HIV testing outside their required coursework were more likely to feel prepared to counsel patients on HIV transmission risk factors and OTC HIV tests. Conclusions This study identifies potential shortcomings in Doctor of Pharmacy programs as it relates to training student pharmacists on HIV testing and counseling and HIV transmission risk factors. Findings from this study provide a basis for pharmacy schools to consider implementing techniques in the curricula to increase the preparedness and comfort level of student pharmacists when counseling patients on the OTC HIV test available in pharmacies today.
The pharmacotherapy of cirrhosis: concerns and proposed investigations and solutions

SummaryWhat is known and objective The presence of cirrhosis has a multifaceted impact on hepatic drug metabolism. An area of concern and uncertainty in the care of patients with cirrhosis is the safe use of both prescription and over-the-counter medications. Comment Retrospective studies indicate a high incidence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) among patients with cirrhosis related to use of certain medication classes including angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Conversely, use of appropriate medications, such as statins, may be decreased in this population due to fear of precipitating hepatotoxicity. What is new and conclusion Pharmacotherapy in cirrhosis is an area of uncertainty and heterogeneity in clinical practice. Prescribing and dosing guidelines are needed to decrease the risk of serious ADRs in this high-risk patient population.