cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A TRANSFORMATION APPROACH TO ESTIMATING USUAL INTAKE DISTRIBUTIONS

Current concerns over links between diet and health, the safety of food, and developing effective nutrition education and food assistance programs have placed increasing demands on federal data collection and methods of monitoring the food supply. Design of effective food and nutrition policies, efficient allocation of resources, and more precise targeting of programs require good estimates of the percentage of the population with deficient, or excess, nutrient or other food component intake. An individual's mean daily intake of the dietary component is a good estimate of the individual's dietary status. However, to evaluate dietary adequacy of a population it is necessary to obtain an estimate of the distribution of usual intakes. Often, the distribution of usual intakes is estimated from the distribution of mean daily intakes. Further, it is usually assumed that usual intakes of nutrients are normally distributed. Two problems arise. First, distributions of usual intakes for most nutrients are skewed. Second, the variance of the distribution of mean daily intakes is larger than the variance of the true usual intake distribution, due to within-individual variability of daily intakes. Some proposed adjustments produce the correct mean and variance in the estimated distribution, but fail to correct the skewness, unless the true distribution of usual intakes is normal. We describe a method for estimating usual intake distributions which does not assume normality, and which takes into account the within-individual variation in daily intake. The method consists in transforming the dietary data from the original space into normal space, and predicting the usual daily intakes in normal space. Inferences about the dietary status of the population can then be made in normal space. Alternatively, predicted normal usual intakes can be transformed back to obtain a set of pseudo usual intakes in the original scale. A TRANSFORMATION APPROACH TO ESTIMATING USUAL INTAKE DISTRIBUTIONS.
Coding and Computing Join Forces

Researchers who develop theories of computation are using their insights to create improved error correction codes.
NSLS upgrade concept

To address the growing needs of the NSLS user community we are aggressively pursuing R&D towards a facility upgrade. The present goals are a 3 GeV ultra-low emittance storage ring, tailored to the 5-20 keV photon energy range, that will triple the present NSLS ID capacity, and provide three orders of magnitude increase in brightness over the present brightest NSLS beamlines. To achieve these goals we propose a 24 period TBA lattice, with extensive use of super-conducting small gap undulators. This paper reviews our preliminary design and the key accelerator physics issues.
The Xist RNA-PRC2 complex at 20-nm resolution reveals a low Xist stoichiometry and suggests a hit-and-run mechanism in mouse cells

X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) is initiated by the long noncoding RNA Xist, which coats the inactive X (Xi) and targets Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) in cis. Epigenomic analyses have provided significant insight into Xist binding patterns and chromatin organization of the Xi. However, such epigenomic analyses are limited by averaging of population-wide dynamics and do not inform behavior of single cells. Here we view Xist RNA and the Xi at 20-nm resolution using STochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM) in mouse cells. We observe dynamics at the single-cell level not predicted by epigenomic analysis. Only ∼50 hubs of Xist RNA occur on the Xi in the maintenance phase, corresponding to 50–100 Xist molecules per Xi and contrasting with the chromosome-wide “coat” observed by deep sequencing and conventional microscopy. Likewise, only ∼50 hubs PRC2 are observed. PRC2 and Xist foci are not randomly distributed but showed statistically significant spatial association. Knock-off experiments enable visualization of the dynamics of dissociation and relocalization onto the Xi and support a functional tethering of Xist and PRC2. Our analysis reveals that Xist-PRC2 complexes are less numerous than expected and suggests methylation of nucleosomes in a hit-and-run model.
The Electronic Health Record—The Time Is Now

Health care is changing because of the need to effectively manage both acute and chronic illness in the delivery of quality patient-centered care. This will force a change from the physician-centric model to one that uses a care team approach in both the hospital and ambulatory settings. The electronic health record promotes communication among team members, knowledge management, and the need to more rapidly translate evidence-based guidelines and performance criteria to the bedside and office. Electronic health records with embedded clinical decision support systems hold great promise. Multiple parties are pushing this agenda forward, which will lead to more comprehensive, efficient quality care. Use of the quality improvement tool as described shows how effective these methods are in managing coronary artery disease. Physicians and all members of the care team need to embrace this evolution.
Temperature Dependence of the Energetics of Oligonucleotide-Directed Triple-Helix Formation at a Single DNA Site

The influence of temperature on the energetics of oligonucleotide-directed triple-helix formation has been investigated in mixed valence salt solutions at pH 7.0. Equilibrium constants for formation of the local pyrimidine.purine.pyrimidine structure afforded by binding of the oligonucleotide 5'-d(T*TTTTCTCTCTCTCT)-3' to a single 15-bp site within a 339-bp plasmid fragment were measured using quantitative affinity cleavage titrations between 8 and 37 °C. In three different solutions buffered by 10 mM Bis-Tris at pH 7.0, BTNS 100 mM NaCl and 1 mM spermine tetrahydrochloride (SpmCl_4)], BTP1 (10 mM NaCl, 140 mM KCl, 1 mM MgCl_2, and 1 mM SpmCl_4), and BTP4 (10 mM NaCl, 140 mM KCl, 1 mM MgCl_2, and 4 mM SpmCl_4), the equilibrium association constants decreased at least 100-fold (from > 10^7 M^(-1) to ca. 10^5 M^(-1)) as the temperature was increased from 8 to 37 °C. Least squares analysis of van't Hoff plots (In K versus 1/T) of the data revealed that in each solution the tripler is enthalpically stabilized by ca. 2 kcal per mol of base triplets. This average value for single-site tripler formation on large DNA at pH 7.0 in mixed valence salt solutions, which reflects contributions from both T•AT and C+GC base triplets, is consistent with those reported previously for a number of oligonucleotide triplexes in solutions containing single cationic species and in excellent agreement with the calorimetrically determined enthalpy for binding of this 15mer to a 21-bp oligonucleotide DNA duplex.
Homework Compliance Counts in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Background: Prior research has demonstrated that there is some association between treatment engagement and treatment outcome in behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders. However, many of these investigations have been limited by weak measurement of treatment engagement variables, failure to control for potentially important baseline variables, and failure to consider various treatment engagement variables simultaneously. The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationship between two treatment engagement variables (treatment expectancy and homework compliance) and the extent to which they predict improvement from cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety disorders. Methods: 84 adults with a DSM-IV-defined principal anxiety disorder took part in up to 12 sessions of CBT or acceptance and commitment therapy. Pre- and post-treatment disorder severity was assessed using clinical severity ratings from a semi-structured diagnostic interview. Participants made ratings of treatment expectancy af...
Conservation and Development Projects in the Brazilian Amazon: Lessons from the Community Initiative Program in Rondônia

Community-based conservation and development has become the prevailing programmatic paradigm of conservation organizations and development donors over the last 20 years, spawning a myriad of integrated conservation and development projects (ICDP) around the world. Appealing for its ambitious aspiration to harmonize sustainable economic development at the local level with the conservation of legally established protected areas (e.g., parks and reserves), the ICDP approach recently has drawn criticism from conservation biologists for failing to ensure adequate protection of biodiversity. Development planners and economists have also raised questions about the financial sustainability of ICDPs in practice and the replicability of the model from highly local contexts to larger regional scales. This paper briefly reviews the central elements of the concept of integrated conservation and development and the emerging debate over its effectiveness. A description of the Community Initiative Program (CIP), a pilot program of the Rondonia Natural Resources Management project (PLANAFLORO) in the western Brazilian Amazon state of Rondonia, follows. The CIP is a significant experiment because it boldly attempted to apply the principles of ICDP to the regional scale involving numerous different communities in one program simultaneously. Based on the author's mid-term review of the CIP in 1999, the development and conservation impacts of the program are considered. While the CIP has not significantly curbed the degradation of protected areas in Rondonia as intended, the evidence suggests lower rates of deforestation in municipios (i.e. counties) with the highest concentrations of CIP projects. Although the economic development impacts are mixed, approximately 50% of the projects delivered tangible benefits to local communities. Lessons learned from the CIP are presented in the final section. Among the lessons learned from the CIP, detailed in the final section, are several that will be familiar to other ICDP evaluators: the importance of thematic coherence in initial project design, the need for explicit attention on environmental conservation objectives, deficient institutional capacity of implementing organizations, inadequate attention to women's concerns and roles in community projects, and lack of technical criteria for measuring project sustainability.
Ethical Relativism: Is There a Defensible Version?

Spirited accusations and counteraccusations of romanticism, ethnocentrism, and banality have long been conventionalized features of debate in anthropological forums. While the spirit of the debate is not always understood or appreciated outside the discipline, those stylized allegations do give natural expression to a problematic inherent in anthropological interpretation: the tension, both creative and destructive, between relativism, developmentalism, and universalism in the representation of the native, the primitive, the alien, or the "other." The problematic arises in the first place because of the apparent strangeness of many of the ideas and practices of the "other." Confronted by the apparent strangeness of such ideas and practices as witchctaft, pollution and original sin, menstrual seclusion, infanticide, and ritualized homosexuality, anthropologists have reacted interpretively and imaginatively in one of three ways. Some, the universalists, have tried to look through what is alien in search of deeper similarities, as though the strangeness was an illusion.
Black Migrants, White Queers and the Archive of Inclusion in Postwar London

This essay examines the historical concurrence of massive West Indian migration to Britain and the explosion of discourses around British homosexuality in the mid-twentieth century. Examining unpublished archives, including an oral history by a queer Jamaican dancer who migrated to London in 1948, and juxtaposing materials from the era that are often kept separate, I work to account for, and fill in, the archival lack around black queer life in Britain during the 1950s and 1960s, when the nation was aflutter with noise about putatively ‘new’ and more visible homosexual cultures. But my research also raises questions about the stakes of archival inclusion. Reading sociologies and texts from archives of the Institute of Race Relations, the Hall Carpenter Gay and Lesbian Oral History Project at the British Library, and the papers of Edith Ramsay collected at the Lambeth Library, I argue that the legal inclusion of the male homosexual into the national body politic through the decriminalization of ‘buggery’ p...
Steered agile beams support for Army requirements

Steered Agile Beam (STAB) technology is a revolutionary concept for the development and employed of laser devices that perform in a manner similar to phased array radar. In effect, a STAB device, like the phased array radar, will be able to transmit multiple beams simultaneously. This will permit STAB to acquire and track multiple objects simultaneously; a STAB device will be able to direct its laser beams in different directions without having to move the device. Consequently, STAB will be able to acquire, track, and communicate with multiple objects within its field-of-regard. There are several battlefield applications that would benefit significantly from STAB technology. Some of the tactical areas that may use STAB technology include communications, target designation, optical countermeasures, target acquisition and tracking, identification friend or foe, and battle damage assessment. The DARPA is sponsoring the STAB development program, and during the next few years will be evaluating the work of several contractors in bringing the technology to the user.
Testing the Relationship Between Government Spending and Revenue: Evidence from GCC Countries

The paper examines the direction of causality between total government expenditure and revenue in oil-dependent GCC countries by utilizing a cointegration and error-correction modeling framework, and by calculating a variance decomposition analysis. In addition, it presents impulse responses to shed light on the dynamic relation of expenditure to a revenue shock. The results confirm expectations that government spending follows oil revenue, suggesting a pro-cyclical expenditure policy to variations in oil revenue. To make budget expenditure less driven by revenue availability, the authorities could resort to a medium-term expenditure framework, so that expenditures can be planned and insulated from volatile short-term revenue availability.
Nmd3p Is a Crm1p-Dependent Adapter Protein for Nuclear Export of the Large Ribosomal Subunit

In eukaryotic cells, nuclear export of nascent ribosomal subunits through the nuclear pore complex depends on the small GTPase Ran. However, neither the nuclear export signals (NESs) for the ribosomal subunits nor the receptor proteins, which recognize the NESs and mediate export of the subunits, have been identified. We showed previously that Nmd3p is an essential protein from yeast that is required for a late step in biogenesis of the large (60S) ribosomal subunit. Here, we show that Nmd3p shuttles and that deletion of the NES from Nmd3p leads to nuclear accumulation of the mutant protein, inhibition of the 60S subunit biogenesis, and inhibition of the nuclear export of 60S subunits. Moreover, the 60S subunits that accumulate in the nucleus can be coimmunoprecipitated with the NES-deficient Nmd3p. 60S subunit biogenesis and export of truncated Nmd3p were restored by the addition of an exogenous NES. To identify the export receptor for Nmd3p we show that Nmd3p shuttling and 60S export is blocked by the Crm1p-specific inhibitor leptomycin B. These results identify Crm1p as the receptor for Nmd3p export. Thus, export of the 60S subunit is mediated by the adapter protein Nmd3p in a Crm1p-dependent pathway.
Magnetic fields in watt-hour meters

The growing use of electrical equipment which causes distortion in the supply voltage and current has caused increased concern regarding the performance of watt-hour meters used to meter the energy required by such equipment. The watt-hour meter is designed and adjusted, in practice, to operate on practically distortionless current and voltage.
Correlates of Co-Sourcing/Outsourcing of Internal Audit Activities

SUMMARY: I use responses from 1,059 chief audit executives (CAEs) of organizations located in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the U.K./Ireland, and the U.S. to investigate several correlates of co-sourcing and/or outsourcing (hereafter, simply “outsourcing”) of internal audit activities. An important finding of the study is that audit committee involvement is positively and significantly associated with outsourcing of internal audit activities. Interactions of audit committee involvement with organization size and location generally indicate that medium and large international/multinational organizations with audit committee involvement outsource more than medium and large local/national organizations with no audit committee involvement. Analysis of control variables produces significance for an inverse relationship between outsourcing and value-added activities of the internal audit function, and for positive relationships between outsourcing and missing skill set and audit staff vacancies....
Predicting clinical outcome in the elderly renal transplant recipient

Predicting clinical outcome in the elderly renal transplant recipient. Background The purpose of this study was to evaluate graft and patient survival in first-time kidney transplant recipients 60 years old or older, and to identify pretransplant risk factors that predict clinical outcome. Methods We reviewed the clinical course of 206 recipients, 60 years old or older, of first kidney transplants at the University of Minnesota. Patient and graft survival were compared with 1640 patients aged 18 to 59 transplanted during the same time period. Regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors that predicted a poor outcome. Results In patients 60 years old or older, graft survival at one and five years was 86 and 60%, and patient survival at one and five years was 90 and 68%, respectively. Graft and patient survival were decreased compared with recipients aged 18 to 59, but were similar when censored for patient death as a cause of graft loss. A pretransplant history of nonskin malignancy and vascular disease and a current smoking history were risk factors for decreased graft and patient survival. To determine the potential impact of screening for low-risk patients, we evaluated graft and patient survival in patients age ≥60 without these risk factors versus those with one or more risk factors. In the absence of risk factors, both graft and patient survival were significantly improved compared with patients with these risk factors and were equivalent to that of patients aged 18 to 59. Conclusions Renal transplantation is a safe and effective therapy for the older renal failure patient. In the absence of identified risk factors, graft survival is equivalent to that seen in younger patients.
Reducing the cost of diagnosis of breast carcinoma: impact of ultrasound and imaging-guided biopsies on a clinical breast practice.

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to determine whether the use of ultrasound and percutaneous breast biopsies in patients with screen-detected nonpalpable abnormalities can reduce benign open surgical biopsies of the breast without increasing cost or sacrificing detection of potentially curable breast carcinomas. METHOD Using a computerized mammography database and consecutive logs of needle localization procedures and fine- and large core needle biopsies of a single university-based breast imaging practice, the authors determined the breast carcinoma yield and cost of diagnosis over a 14-year period and the changes that occurred over time with the sequential introduction of ultrasound, ultrasound-guided biopsies, and stereotactic biopsies. RESULTS The overall breast carcinoma yield for needle localization biopsies of nonpalpable lesions increased from 21% in 1984 to 68% in 1998 (P < 0.0001). The yield for nonpalpable masses increased from 21% to 87% (P < 0.0001) over the same period. The selective use of ultrasound alone and percutaneous fine- and large core needle biopsy resulted in a substantial reduction in benign open surgical biopsies. A cost analysis showed a 50% reduction in the average expense of discovering breast carcinoma. The breast carcinomas detected after introduction of these methods were prognostically favorable with 88% measuring 1.5 cm or less in size and 66% measuring less than 1 cm. CONCLUSIONS Selective use of ultrasound and imaging-guided percutaneous biopsies can significantly reduce the number of benign open surgical biopsies generated by mammographic screening. This can result in substantial cost savings without decreasing the sensitivity for detecting small potentially curable lesions. Cancer 2001;91:324–32. © 2001 American Cancer Society.
Motion in a Constant Magnetic Field

The motion of a charged particle in a constant magnetic field is treated in both relativistic and non-relativistic quantum theory. Operators representing the center of the orbit, which obey the commutation law for conjugate variables, are introduced and their connections with energy, angular momentum, and magnetic moment studied. Energy eigenfunctions in an operator form are obtained by factorization. Previously derived eigenfunctions in coordinate space are obtained and are shown to be eigenfunctions for the operators for the center of the orbit as well as for the energy. Corresponding relativistic eigenfunctions are derived by a simple device which enables one to construct solutions of the Dirac equation from solutions of the Schr\"odinger equation.
Simulation as a DSS modelling technique

Abstract Technological advances of the 1980s have changed the ways managers are using information to make decisions. Advances in management science and improvements in information technology are allowing decision makers to use techniques that were previously unavailable and/or limited to mainframes. This paper discusses the use of one such technique, simulation , to model the non-steady (transient) behavior exhibited by many business applications. The paper also develops a model-centered DSS that uses a simulation technique to model the task environment. This model-centered DSS is then used to develop a scheduling system for the credit department of a retail store.
Executive deficits and regional brain metabolism in Alzheimer's disease

Objective Executive deficits are common in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), contribute prominently to clinical disability, and may be associated with frontal lobe pathology. This study examined regional brain hypometabolism associated with executive dysfunction in patients with AD. Methods Forty-one patients with probable AD underwent [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) imaging at rest. Neuropsychological measures of executive control included the Conceptualization (Conc) and Initiation/Perseveration (I/P) subscales of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (DRS), the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) Similarities subtest, the Tower test, and the Ruff Figural Fluency test (Ruff). Voxel-based analyses were conducted using statistical parametric mapping (SPM2) to measure the correlation between regional cerebral metabolism and executive measures. Correlations independent of global cognitive impairment were identified by including Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score as a covariate in the model. Results Executive deficits, as measured by poor performances on the DRS I/P and Conc subscales, were associated with hypometabolism in the bilateral mid-dorsolateral frontal region. Activity in posterior cortical regions also contributed uniquely to some aspects of executive functioning, as lower resting metabolism in parietal or temporal cortex was correlated with poor performance on four of the five executive measures. After controlling for global cognitive score, there were significant extra-frontal correlations with hypometabolism in insula, occipital lobe, and temporal cortex. Conclusions Some but not all executive deficits in AD are associated with neural activity in the dorsolateral frontal cortex. Activities in distributed neural systems that include parietal and temporal cortex also contribute to some executive abilities. The pathophysiology of executive dysfunction is complex and includes abnormalities not limited to a single region. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Settling time of underdamped linear lumped parameter systems

Abstract An expression for the “exact” settling time of a multiple-degree-of-freedom system is derived for the underdamped case. This expression is a generalization of the settling time expression commonly used for underdamped single-degree-of-freedom systems. A settling time bound is then derived from the “exact” multiple-degree-of-freedom settling time. This settling time bound, written in terms of the system parameters, also reduces to the usual single-degree-of-freedom settling time. Additional settling time expressions are computed from previously published response-norm bounds. It is shown that the settling time bound is preferable over any of the “response-norm” settling time expressions as a bound on the “exact” settling time. An example illustrates how the settling time bound is used in design.
Bowel surveillance patterns after a diagnosis of colorectal cancer in Medicare beneficiaries.

Abstract Background: Postoperative colon surveillance has been recommended for patients with a diagnosis of local/regional colorectal cancer. The extent to which these recommendations are followed in practice is poorly characterized. Patterns of surveillance after surgery for colorectal cancer were determined by using a large population-based database. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study with cancer registry data linked to Medicare claims. Identified were 52,283 patients treated for local/regional colorectal cancer between 1986 and 1996, and surveillance patterns through 1998 were determined. Surveillance patterns were analyzed by using survival analysis and by computing the proportion of surviving patients who underwent procedures during 4 time periods after treatment: 2 to 14 months, 15 to 50 months, 51 to 86 months and more than 87 months. Results: Median times to first through fifth surveillance events were 20, 14, 15, 15, and 15 months, respectively. For 17% of the cohort there was no surveillance event. Younger patients were more likely to undergo surveillance. Surveillance patterns were not affected by stage. The proportions of the cohort that underwent no surveillance during the 4 respective time periods were 54%, 52%, 60%, and 69%. The percentages of patients who underwent surveillance annually or more frequently in the latter 3 time periods, respectively, were 19%, 10%, and 5%, or 11% overall, treating the data for the 3 events as a whole. Over the period from 1986 to 1998, the proportion of patients who had no surveillance procedures gradually decreased, whereas the proportion of those who underwent procedures annually or more frequently remained relatively constant. Conclusions: During the period from 1986 to 1998 there was low utilization of postdiagnosis colon surveillance in a substantial proportion of elderly patients with a diagnosis of local/regional colorectal cancer. Over time there was a trend toward increasing receipt of any surveillance procedures. The percentages of patients undergoing surveillance annually or more frequently did not change between earlier and later periods. (Gastrointest Endosc 2001;54:563-71.)
An Examination of the Stability of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development with High-Risk Infants.

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the test-retest reliability of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID) (Bayley, 1969) with infants in a high-risk follow-up clinic. Eighty at-risk infants participated in this investigation. These infants were given the Mental and Motor Scales of the BSID at 6 and 12 months of age. Test-retest reliability scores of. 71 on the Mental Scale and. 69 on the Motor Scale were obtained.
Fluorogenic transformations based on formation of C-C bonds catalyzed by palladium: An efficient approach for high throughput optimizations and kinetic studies

We have developed novel fluorogenic transformations based on formation of CC bonds catalyzed by palladium using iodocoumarin 1 as a model aryl iodide, where fluorescence is quenched completely due to effects of the heavy, polarizable iodine atom. Substitution of the iodine atom for the carbon using Sonogashira, Suzuki-Miyaura and Heck couplings results in a dramatic fluorescence en- hancement. This approach has been used successfully for the optimization of reaction conditions and kinet- ic studies in high throughput format.
Do private conservation activities match science-based conservation priorities?

Background Private land conservation is an essential strategy for biodiversity protection in the USA, where half of the federally listed species have at least 80% of their habitat on private lands. We investigated the alignment between private land protection conducted by the world's largest land trust (The Nature Conservancy) and the science driven identification of priority areas for conservation. This represents the first quantitative assessment of the influence of defining priority areas on the land acquisitions of a conservation non-governmental organization (NGO). Methodology/Principal Findings The lands acquired by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) were analyzed using GIS to determine to what extent they were in areas defined as priorities for conservation. The spatial analysis of TNC lands was broken up into land known to be acquired in the last five years, five to ten years ago, prior to ten years ago, and anytime during the last sixty years (including previous sets of data plus acquisitions lacking a date). For the entire history of TNC the proportion of TNC lands within the priority areas was 74%. Prior to 10 years ago it was 80%, 5–10 years ago it was 76%, and in the last five years it was 81%. Conservation easements were found to have lower alignment with priority areas (64%) than outright fee simple acquisitions (86%). Conclusions/Significance Overall the location of lands acquired was found to be well aligned with the priority areas. Since there was comparable alignment in lands acquired before and after formalized conservation planning had been implemented as a standard operating procedure, this analysis did not find evidence that defining priority areas has influenced land acquisition decisions.
Anomalous Rigid-Layer Modes in Layered Compounds

Abstract Layered compounds, such as graphite, consist of stacked layers of atoms with strong coupling within a layer but much weaker interactions between layers. It is shown that the presence of weak random impurities in such crystals results in an anomalous term in the Green's function for the rigid-layer phonon modes. This term, which is a consequence of the fact that an individual layer behaves as a two dimensional solid to lowest order, results in a peak in the spectral function centered around zero frequency ω and decaying as ωα, where the exponent a is a decreasing function of the temperature, having a value of one at zero temperature.
Concurrent generation of effector and central memory CD8 T cells during vaccinia virus infection.

It is generally thought that during the contraction phase of an acute anti-viral T cell reponse, the effector T cells that escape activation-induced cell death eventually differentiate into central memory T cells over the next several weeks. Here we report that antigen-specific CD8T cells with the phenotype and function of central memory cells develop concomitantly with effector T cells during vaccinia virus (vv) infection. As soon as 5 days after an intraperitoneal infection with vv, we could identify a subset of CD44hi and CD62L+ vv-specific CD8 T cells in the peritoneal exudate lymphocytes. This population constituted approximately 10% of all antigen-specific T cells and like central memory T cells, they also expressed high levels of CCR7 and IL-7R but expressed little granzyme B. Importantly, upon adoptive transfer into naive congenic hosts, CD62L+, but not CD62L− CD8 T cells were able to expand and mediate a rapid recall response to a new vv challenge initiated 6 weeks after transfer, confirming that the CD62L+ vv-specific CD8 T cells are bonafide memory cells. Our results are thus consistent with the branched differentiation model, where effector and memory cells develop simultaneously. These results are likely to have implications in the context of vaccine design, particularly those based on vaccinia virus recombinants.
Glucose uptake increases relative to oxygen consumption during short-term hibernation.

Background: Although glucose uptake is increased in chronically hyperfused, viable myocardium, the dynamic changes in glucose uptake relative to oxygen consumption in “short-term” models of hibernation have not been fully explored. Methods: 14 anesthetized swine were instrumented with an hydraulic occluder and flow probe on the proximal LAD artery. Blood flow was reduced ∼30% for 1 hour. Myocardial blood flow and uptake of oxygen, free fatty acids, glucose and lactate were determined in the LAD region at baseline and at 10, 30 and 60 minutes of ischemia. Transmural biopsies for ATP and creatine phosphate (CP) were obtained in the LAD region prior to and at 15 and 45 minutes of ischemia. In 5 animals, glycogen was assayed at baseline and at the end of 60 minutes of ischemia. Results: In the LAD region, myocardial oxygen consumption was reduced from 2.06 ± 0.16 μmol/min/gram to 1.46 ± 0.13 μmol/min/gram (P < 0.05). By 15 minutes of ischemia, transmural creatine phosphate fell from 7.48 ± 0.76 μmol/g-wet weight at baseline to 6.19 ± 0.32 μmol/g-wet weight (P < 0.05) but normalized by 45 minutes of ischemia (7.39 ± 0.56 μmol/g-wet weight; NS). Between 10 and 60 minutes of constant flow reduction, glucose uptake as a percentage of MVO2 increased from 3 ± 2% to 10 ± 2% (P < 0.05) while lactate uptake increased from −9± 9% to −1± 2% (P < 0.05). Glycogen decreased from 27.8 ± 3.7 at baseline to 16.9 ± 1.2 μmol/g-wet weight at end-ischemia. Conclusions: In this model of short-term hibernation, glucose and lactate uptake increase relative to oxygen consumption during sustained ischemia, and temporally coinicide with the recovery of bioenergetics. The findings are consistent with the notion that glycolytically derived ATP is important for the maintainance of energy supply during sustained ischemia.
Signaling through the ghrelin receptor modulates hippocampal function and meal anticipation in mice

The ability to predict a particular meal is achieved in part by learned associations with stimuli that predict nutrient availability. Ghrelin is an orexigenic peptide produced by both the gut and brain that rises before anticipated meals and it has been suggested that pre-prandial ghrelin increases may act as a signal to predict meal delivery. Here, we used wild type and ghrelin receptor deficient mice to test the hypothesis that ghrelin signaling is necessary for the processing of emotionally relevant stimuli, spatial learning and habituated feeding responses. We tested spatial and fear-related memory with the Morris water maze and step through passive avoidance tests, respectively and utilized food anticipatory activity to monitor habituated feeding responses following two weeks of a meal feeding paradigm. Our results indicate that ghrelin signaling modulates spatial memory performance and is necessary for the development of food anticipatory activity. Collectively, these results suggest that ghrelin receptor signaling is necessary for adaptations in the anticipatory responses that accompany restricted feeding.
Rare tracheal chondroid hamartoma masquerading as asthma in a 14-year-old girl.

Background Tracheal hamartomas are rare in all age groups and have not been previously described in adolescence. Objective To report the first case of a tracheal chondroid hamartoma presenting as exercise intolerance and wheezing and previously misdiagnosed and treated as asthma. Methods Symptoms, pulmonary function tests, chest x-ray examination, chest computed tomography, and histologic examination of the specimen were performed. Results The pulmonary function tests obtained throughout several years revealed progressive decreases (approximately 30% of predicted) in peak expiratory flow and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (approximately 50% of predicted). The inspiratory and expiratory flow-volume curve suggested a fixed central airway obstruction. Both the chest x-ray examination and computed tomography revealed an intraluminal tracheal tumor that was surgically excised. Histologic examination revealed a chondroid hamartoma. Conclusions Rare benign primary tracheal tumors, including chondroid hamartoma, can present in adolescence with asthma-like symptoms for years and should be considered in the differential diagnosis, especially in the setting of appropriately abnormal spirometry or when asthma is very difficult to control.
The structure of ibuprofen bound to cyclooxygenase-2

The cyclooxygenases (COX-1 and COX-2) catalyze the rate-limiting step in the biosynthesis of prostaglandins, and are the pharmacological targets of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and COX-2 selective inhibitors (coxibs). Ibuprofen (IBP) is one of the most commonly available over-the-counter pharmaceuticals in the world. The anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of IBP are thought to arise from inhibition of COX-2 rather than COX-1. While an X-ray crystal structure of IBP bound to COX-1 has been solved, no such structure exists for the cognate isoform COX-2. We have determined the crystal structure of muCOX-2 with a racemic mixture of (R/S)-IBP. Our structure reveals that only the S-isomer of IBP was bound, indicating that the S-isomer possesses higher affinity for COX-2 than the R-isomer. Mutational analysis of Arg-120 and Tyr-355 at the entrance of the cyclooxygenase channel confirmed their role in binding and inhibition of COX-2 by IBP. Our results provide the first atomic level detail of the interaction between IBP and COX-2.
Invasive Fire Ants Reduce Reproductive Success and Alter the Reproductive Strategies of a Native Vertebrate Insectivore

Background Introduced organisms can alter ecosystems by disrupting natural ecological relationships. For example, red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) have disrupted native arthropod communities throughout much of their introduced range. By competing for many of the same food resources as insectivorous vertebrates, fire ants also have the potential to disrupt vertebrate communities. Methodology/Principal Findings To explore the effects of fire ants on a native insectivorous vertebrate, we compared the reproductive success and strategies of eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis) inhabiting territories with different abundances of fire ants. We also created experimental dyads of adjacent territories comprised of one territory with artificially reduced fire ant abundance (treated) and one territory that was unmanipulated (control). We found that more bluebird young fledged from treated territories than from adjacent control territories. Fire ant abundance also explained significant variation in two measures of reproductive success across the study population: number of fledglings and hatching success of second clutches. Furthermore, the likelihood of bluebird parents re-nesting in the same territory was negatively influenced by the abundance of foraging fire ants, and parents nesting in territories with experimentally reduced abundances of fire ants produced male-biased broods relative to pairs in adjacent control territories. Conclusions/Significance Introduced fire ants altered both the reproductive success (number of fledglings, hatching success) and strategies (decision to renest, offspring sex-ratio) of eastern bluebirds. These results illustrate the negative effects that invasive species can have on native biota, including species from taxonomically distant groups.
Characterization of frontotemporal dementia and/or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis associated with the GGGGCC repeat expansion in C9ORF72

Numerous kindreds with familial frontotemporal dementia and/or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis have been linked to chromosome 9, and an expansion of the GGGGCC hexanucleotide repeat in the non-coding region of chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 has recently been identified as the pathogenic mechanism. We describe the key characteristics in the probands and their affected relatives who have been evaluated at Mayo Clinic Rochester or Mayo Clinic Florida in whom the hexanucleotide repeat expansion were found. Forty-three probands and 10 of their affected relatives with DNA available (total 53 subjects) were shown to carry the hexanucleotide repeat expansion. Thirty-six (84%) of the 43 probands had a familial disorder, whereas seven (16%) appeared to be sporadic. Among examined subjects from the 43 families (n = 63), the age of onset ranged from 33 to 72 years (median 52 years) and survival ranged from 1 to 17 years, with the age of onset 60 in 19 (30%). Clinical diagnoses among examined subjects included behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia with or without parkinsonism (n = 30), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (n = 18), frontotemporal dementia/amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with or without parkinsonism (n = 12), and other various syndromes (n = 3). Parkinsonism was present in 35% of examined subjects, all of whom had behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia or frontotemporal dementia/amyotrophic lateral sclerosis as the dominant clinical phenotype. No subject with a diagnosis of primary progressive aphasia was identified with this mutation. Incomplete penetrance was suggested in two kindreds, and the youngest generation had significantly earlier age of onset (>10 years) compared with the next oldest generation in 11 kindreds. Neuropsychological testing showed a profile of slowed processing speed, complex attention/executive dysfunction, and impairment in rapid word retrieval. Neuroimaging studies showed bilateral frontal abnormalities most consistently, with more variable degrees of parietal with or without temporal changes; no case had strikingly focal or asymmetric findings. Neuropathological examination of 14 patients revealed a range of transactive response DNA binding protein molecular weight 43 pathology (10 type A and four type B), as well as ubiquitin-positive cerebellar granular neuron inclusions in all but one case. Motor neuron degeneration was detected in nine patients, including five patients without ante-mortem signs of motor neuron disease. While variability exists, most cases with this mutation have a characteristic spectrum of demographic, clinical, neuropsychological, neuroimaging and especially neuropathological findings.
Genetic Map of 12 Polymorphic Loci on Rat Chromosome 1

Twelve polymorphic markers identified by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis or simple sequence repeat (SSR) polymorphism analysis were assigned to rat chromosome 1 by linkage analysis of F2 intercross progeny of F344/N and LEW/N inbred rat strains. One linkage group, covering 46.3 cM, consisted of eight markers including five genes, TNT (fast skeletal troponin T), IGF2 (insulin-like growth factor 2), MYL2 (MLC2 gene for muscle myosin light chain 2), ALDOA (aldolase A), and HBB (hemoglobin beta-chain); one anonymous locus, D1N64; one marker related to the carboxypeptidase B gene, CARB07-related sequence; and one marker related to the parathyroid hormone gene, PTH-related sequence. A second linkage group, covering 45.0 cM, consisted of three markers including two anonymous loci, 2B1 and D1N40, and one gene, TCP1 (T-complex 1). INS1 (insulin 1), which has been previously assigned to rat chromosome 1, was not linked to these markers. The SSR markers were highly polymorphic in 13 inbred rat strains (SHR/N, WKY/N, MNR/N, MR/N, LOU/MN, BN/SsN, BUF/N, WBB1/N, WBB2/N, ACl/N, LER/N, F344/N, and LEW/N). These markers, located on chromosome 1, will be useful in genetic studies in rats.
An experimental study of uniaxial creep, cyclic creep and relaxation of aisi type 304 stainless steel at room temperature

Abstract Following previous work ( Krempl , 1979), a servocontrolled testing machine and strain measurement at the gage length were used to study the uniaxial rate(time)-dependent behavior of AISI Type 304 stainless steel at room temperature. The test results show that the creep strain accumulated in a given period of time depends strongly on the stress-rate preceding the creep test. In constant stress-rate zero-to-tension loading the creep strain accumulated in a fixed time-period at a given stress level is always higher during loading than during unloading. Continued cycling causes an exhaustion of creep ratchetting which depends on the stress-rate. Periods of creep and relaxation introduced during completely reversed plastic cycling show that the curved portions of the hysteresis loop exhibit most of the inelasticity. In the straight portions, creep and relaxation are small and there exists a region commencing after unloading where the behavior is similar to that at the origin for virgin materials. This region does not extend to zero stress. The results are at variance with creep theory and with viscoplasticity theories which assume that the yield surface expands with the stress. They support the theory of viscoplasticity based on total strain and overstress.
Intranuclear inclusion bodies in epithelial cells of human vas deferens.

Four different types of inclusion bodies were seen within the nucleus of the principal cells in segments of vas deferens from 40 fertile males: (1) electron-dense homogeneous bodies of various sizes (0.1-1.8 m) and shapes, (2) granular bodies approximately 0.06-0.12 μ (3) lipid inclusion bodies, and (4) less electron-dense, filamentous bodies. They were either membrane-bound or free within the nucleoplasm. Some membranous material was scattered within the nucleoplasm. The internal structure of nuclei containing these bodies differed from cell to cell. The nucleoplasm was composed either of dense granular elements or fine filamentous components. The aggregation and density of the ground nuclear material increased with increasing numbers of inclusion bodies. Very dense nuclei were in cells with typical features of degeneration. Frequently, extruded parts of cells or entire cells were seen within the lumen of the vas deferens.
Is Infrapopliteal Bypass Compromised by Distal Origin of the Proximal Anastomosis

Distal origination of the proximal anastomosis (DOPA) of an infrapopliteal bypass beyond the adductor hiatus minimizes the length of graft required and optimizes use of scarce autogenous conduit. Sixty-two DOPA infrapopliteal revascularizations using autogenous vein performed for limb salvage over a 7-year period were reviewed and compared with 203 concurrent infrapopliteal bypasses originating more proximally (POPA). Life-table analysis revealed no difference at 54 months between DOPA and POPA bypass with regard to primary patency (57% vs. 50%, respectively) or secondary patency (67% vs. 65%, respectively). Differences in limb salvage at 54 months between DOPA and POPA bypasses did not reach statistical significance (53% vs. 66%,p=0.12), although DOPA fared worse. Inferior limb salvage results in all infrapopliteal bypasses were correlated with the presence of tissue necrosis (52% vs. 70%,p<0.001), which was more prevalent in patients undergoing DOPA bypass (71% vs. 49%,p<0.01). The long-term patency of infrapopliteal bypass appears only marginally affected by DOPA. However, the prognosis for limb salvage in this setting is compromised as a result of the virulent behavior of the atherosclerotic disease that spares the superficial femoral artery while predominantly involving the popliteal and tibial vessels.