cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Myxosoma pendula n. sp. (Protozoa, Myxosporida) from the creek chub Semotilus atromaculatus.

SYNOPSIS. A new species, Myxosoma pendula, was found surrounded by tissue fluid with granulocytes in pedunculated cysts formed from the mucous membrane of the gill arches of Semotilus atromaculatus collected in the Kewaunee River in Wisconsin. This species has a spherical vegetative stage with 2-layered ectoplasm composed of an outer homogeneous layer and an inner layer with canaliculi, and avoid spores that differentiate in the central area of the endoplasm.
A scheme for transformation of tolerance specifications to generalized deviation space for use in tolerance synthesis and analysis

Traditionally tolerances for manufactured parts are specified using symbolic schemes as per ASME or ISO standards. To use these tolerance specifications in computerized tolerance synthesis and analysis, we need information models to represent the tolerances. Tolerance specifications could be modeled as a class with its attributes and methods [ROY01]. Tolerances impose restrictions on the possible deviation of features from its nominal size/shape. These variations of shape/size of a feature could be modeled as deviation of a set of generalized coordinates defined at some convenient point on the feature [BAL98]. In this paper, we present a method for converting tolerance specifications as per MMC (Maximum Material Condition) / LMC (Least Material Condition) / RFS (Regardless of Feature Size) material conditions for standard mating features (planar, cylindrical, and spherical) into a set of inequalities in a deviation space for representation of deviation of a feature from it’s nominal shape. We have used the virtual condition boundaries (VCB) as well as tolerance zones (as the case may be) for these mappings. For the planar feature, these relations are linear and the bounded space is diamond shaped. For the other cases, the mapping is a set of nonlinear inequalities. The mapping transforms the tolerance specifications into a generalized coordinate frame as a set of inequalities. These are useful in tolerance synthesis, and analysis as well as in assemblability analysis in the generalized coordinate system (deviation space). In this paper, we also illustrate the mapping procedures with an example.Copyright © 2002 by ASME
Morphometric changes in the lungs of rats following adrenalectomy supplemented by desiccated thyroid.

Studies were conducted to assess the effects of thyrotoxicosis on the lung of the adult adrenalectomized rat. The animals were divided into four groups of seven animals each: Adrenalectomized animals receiving desiccated thyroid in their food for 8 weeks, adrenalectomized animals, and sham-operated animals receiving regular laboratory chow. Unoperated animals were used as controls. There were no differences in the pressure-volume curves or morphometric parameters between unoperated-control and sham-operated animals; therefore they will be collectively reported as control animals. Lung volume in the thyroid-treated animals showed an increase of 19% in pressure-volume studies when compared with the other groups. Lung volume determined morphometrically demonstrated a 19% increase in volume when adrenalectomized thyroid-treated rats were compared with control amimals, and a 29% increase compared with adrenalectomized animals. The thyroid-treated animals also showed an alveolar surface density (Sva) increase of 58% over control and 28% over adrenalectomized animals. In addition, alveolar surface area (Sa) of the treated animals was 89% greater than control and 65% greater than adrenalectomized animals. The marked difference in the surface-to-volume ratio indicates that alveoli were smaller and more numerous in the lungs from the thyroid-treated animals. These results are readily apparent in examination of light microscopic sections of the lung specimens from the four groups of animals. These findings indicate that chronic thyroid administration results in a significant increase in lung volume, which we attribute to increased alveolar partitioning.
The photoreceptor sensory code for perceived duration during visual masking

In a study of the perceived duration of visually displayed letters that were either unmasked or masked by visual noise or homogeneous flashes, Haber and Standing (1970) found that the stimulus onset asynchrony limited the perceived duration of noise-masked letters presented in light adaptation but not of letters masked with homogeneous flashes in dark adaptation. Letters presented alone, as single flashes, exhibited adaptation-dependent visual persistence. The present psychobiological study replicated the stimulus conditions used by Haber and Standing while microelectrode recordings of sensory signals were taken from single Limulus photoreceptors. The data indicate that the sensory code for perceived duration at the photoreceptor level is the time that the sensory signal is above a criterion potential. When adaptation is taken into account, this photoreceptor code replicates the complex functional relations found in the behavioral studies of Haber and Standing. The data suggest that neural integration causes an aftercoming mask to interrupt the sensory signal itself, not its processing, although processing may end when there is no signal left to be processed.
Chemical characteristics of precipitation at metropolitan Newark in the US East Coast.

Abstract To investigate the chemical characteristics of precipitation in the polluted coastal atmosphere, a total of 46 event-based precipitation samples were collected using a wet-only automatic precipitation collector from September 2006 to October 2007 at metropolitan Newark, New Jersey in the US East Coast. Samples were analyzed by ion chromatography for the concentrations of major inorganic ions (Cl − , NO 3 − , SO 4 2− , F − , NH 4 + , Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Na + , K + ) and organic acid species (CH 3 COO − , HCOO − , CH 2 (COO) 2 2− , C 2 O 4 2− ). Selected trace metals (Sb, Pb, Al, V, Fe, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd) in samples were determined by ICPMS. Mass concentration results show that SO 4 2− was the most dominant anion accounting for 51% of the total anions, controlling the acidity of the precipitation. NH 4 + accounted for 48.6% of the total cations, dominating the precipitation neutralization. CH 3 COO − and HCOO − were the two dominant water-soluble organic acid species, accounting for 42% and 40% of the total organic acids analyzed, respectively. Al, Zn and Fe were the three major trace metals in precipitation, accounting for 34%, 27%, and 25% of the total mass of metals analyzed. The pH values in precipitation ranged from 4.4 to 4.9, indicating an acidic nature. Enrichment Factor (EF) Analysis showed that Na + , Cl − , Mg 2+ and K + in the precipitation were primarily of marine origin, while most of the Fe, Co and Al were from crust sources. Pb, V, Cr, Ni were moderately enriched with EFs ranging 43–410, while Zn, Sb, Cu, Cd and F − were highly enriched with EFs > 700, indicating significant anthropogenic influences. Factor analysis suggests 6 major sources contributing to the observed composition of precipitation at this location: (1) nitrogen-enriched soil, (2) secondary pollution processes, (3) marine sources, (4) incinerations, (5) oil combustions, and (6) malonate–vanadium enriched sources. To further explore the source–precipitation event relationships and seasonality, cluster analysis was performed for all precipitation events. Results show that about half of the precipitation events were characterized by mixed sources. Significant influences of nitrogen-enriched soil and marine sources were associated with precipitation events in spring and autumn, while secondary pollution processes, incineration and oil combustion contributed greatly in summer.
Roles of Water, Acidity, and Surface Morphology in Surface-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization of Amino Acids

The roles of adsorbed water, acidity, terminal OH groups, and surface morphology in surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization (SALDI) of amino acids from porous graphite and silicon substrates are examined. The SALDI yields and relative intensity ratios of protonated arginine, tryptophan, histidine, methionine, glutamine, and glycine are found to be very similar using porous graphite and porous silicon, despite the large differences in substrate electronic structure and surface chemistry. SALDI does not occur using initially pristine boron-doped Si(100) substrates. However, adsorption of water at 130 K to Si(100) containing adsorbed amino acids produces a SALDI signal similar to that observed from porous graphite and porous silicon surfaces containing aqueous amino acid solutions adsorbed at 300 K. The SALDI yields from all substrates are greatly reduced after removal of physisorbed and chemisorbed water and are completely quenched from Si(100) and porous Si once the surface terminal hydroxyls are remo...
What's Our Position? A Critical Media Literacy Study of Popular Culture Websites With Eighth-Grade Special Education Students

This article reports on an action research project with 9 eighth-grade special education students in a self-contained classroom in an urban public school. The 1st author, in collaboration with the classroom teacher (3rd author), taught the students a critical media literacy framework to explore popular culture websites. Students learned to analyze these sites for issues of authorship; design; intended audience; ideology; and political, social, and profit motive agendas. Based in theories from new literacies, multiliteracies, multimodal literacy, and critical media literacy, the article addresses the following questions: What understandings as critical readers of popular culture websites did the students exhibit? How did these understandings contribute to their development as 21st-century literate people? Through the use of screen capture software and think-aloud protocol, we were able to recreate each student's reading process. Students then created alternative media productions using Glogster. We analyze...
High‐pressure ion trap mass spectrometry

The effects of buffer gas pressure on ion trap stability, mass resolution/calibration, and choice of mass scanning are described. Pressure effects were treated phenomenologically by adding a drag term to the ion equations of motion. The resulting collisional damping enlarges the mass-dependent stability region but reduces the region in which mass-selective resonance ejection can be performed. The pressure effects can be reduced by increasing the frequency of the alternating quadrupole field.
Chaos in the Gulf

The magnitude of the oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon disaster has been estimated at more than 4.4 million barrels ( 1 ). The subsequent environmental impact will rely both on monitoring and on the ability to accurately model the dispersal of the oil. On page 486 of this issue, Mezic et al. ( 2 ) present a modeling study that describes how the oil dispersed and attempts to predict how the spill will evolve. The mechanism of dispersal is complex, a question of transport and mixing, along with a dose of evaporation and chemistry. Mixing forms an entire branch of study, one that is closely linked to dynamical systems—the mathematical study of time-evolving solutions of differential equations. In the context of fluid mechanics, this link was first recognized by Arnold ( 3 ), Henon ( 4 ), and later by Aref ( 5 ), and it essentially boils down to chaos.
A Definition of Depletion of Fish Stocks

Abstract Attention was focused on the need of a common and better understanding of the term depletion as applied to the fisheries in order to eliminate if possible the existing inexactness of thought on the subject. Depletion has been confused at various times with at least ten different ideas associated with it but which, as has been pointed out, are not synonymous at all. In defining depletion we must recognize that the term represents a condition and must not be confounded with the cause (overfishing) that leads to this condition or with the symptoms that identify it. Depletion was defined as a reduction, through overfishing, in the level of abundance of the exploitable segment of a stock that prevents the realization of the maximum productive capacity.
Gene therapy for tissue regeneration

Tissue repair and regeneration are the normal biological responses of many different tissues in the body to injury. During the healing process, profound changes occur in cell composition and extracellular matrix (ECM) formation. Fibroblasts and equivalent reparative cells migrate to the wounded area and subsequently proliferate. These cells and reparative cells from the surrounding tissue are responsible for the rapid repair which results in tissue regeneration. Growth factors, one of which is transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), stimulate fibroblasts and smooth muscle cells to proliferate and synthesize ECM proteins. This process of early repair provides a rapid way to restore new tissue and mechanical integrity. This early tissue repair process is normally followed by involution, which requires the production and activation of proteases, tissue maturation and remodeling, reorganization and finally regeneration. Alternately, failure to replace the critical components of the ECM, including elastin and basement membrane, results in abnormal regeneration of the epithelial cell layer. Although remodeling should occur during healing, provisional repair may be followed by excessive synthesis and deposition of collagen, which results in irreversible fibrosis and scarring. This excessive fibrosis which occurs in aberrant healing is at least in part mediated by persistent TGF-beta. Because of the central role of collagen in the wound healing process, the pharmacological control of collagen synthesis has been of paramount importance as a possible way to abrogate aberrant healing and prevent irreversible fibrosis. Fibrosis is an abnormal response to tissue injury.
Transcellular ion transport and bioelectric potential.

SummaryThe transient effect of temperature on the electrical potential of transcellularly transporting epithelial cells of frog skin and toad bladder has been studied. The Q10 of the transepithelial potential difference is 1.51. This temperature effect is much larger than what can be expected if this bioelectric potential had been strictly due to passive diffusion of ions across permselective membranes. In the study of the transient effects on ion fluxes it has been observed that the effect of temperature is more pronounced on the inward flux of Na ion than on its outward flux. Na-influx increases with temperature, as does the short-circuit current. Both of these parameters increase instantly with the elevated tissue temperature. The inward and outward fluxes of K+ are not significantly affected by temperature. Thus, it is concluded that the passively diffusing K ions are only slightly affected by temperature. On the other hand, the active transcellular transport of Na ions is very sensitive to temperatur...
Broadband (UV-VIS-NIR) Mueller matrix polarimeter

A dual rotating retarder Mueller matrix polarimeter is described that operates in the UV-VIS-NIR region. The components were selected to allow the instrument to seamlessly span the 300-1100 nm region with a resolution of 2 nm or higher. Complete Mueller matrix polarimetric characterizations of a host of optical components have been performed and a select few will be presented. This instrumentation is expected to enable exploratory research into novel methods for point and standoff detection of chemical and biological threats in the atmosphere. To this end, surrogates of hazardous materials as well as background aerosols must be characterized and differentiating features in the polarization properties correlated to specific morphologies. Investigations specific to this application is underway.
Comparative dissolution of commercuially available hydroxyzine hydrochloride tablets

AbstractA comparative dissolution study was conducted on commercially available hydroxyzine hydrochloride tablets using USP Apparatus 2 (Paddle Method) at 50 rpm and two dissolution media: Water and Simulated Intestinal Fluid (SIF) and the USP recommended method employing the disintegration apparatus. The dissolution characteristics of 22 samples of hydroxyzine hydrochloride tablets representing four dosage levels and seven manufacturers were profiled.The study illustrated that the Modified Disintegration apparatus is not able to distinguish slow dissolving formulations from fast dissolving formulation and, consequently, does not provide assurance of bioequivalence and does not perform as an adequate manufacturing control to insure lot to lot uniformity.
STED Nanoscopy in Living Cells Using Fluorogen Activating Proteins

We demonstrate the effectiveness of a genetically encoded Malachite Green (MG) binding fluorogen activating protein (FAP) for live cell stimulated emission depletion nanoscopy (STED). Both extracellular and intracellular FAPs were tested in living cells using fluorogens with either membrane expressed FAP or as an intracellular FAP-actin fusion. Structures with FWHM of 110-122nm were observed. Depletion data however suggests a resolution of 70nm with the given instrument.
Computer-aided analysis of structures in interlisp environment

Abstract LISP appears to be the language of choice among the developers of knowledge-based expert systems. Analysis of structures in INTERLISP environment is discussed in this paper. An interactive INTERLISP program is presented for analysis of frames which can be used as part of an expert system for computer-aided design of structures. Some of the concepts and characteristics of INTERLISP language are explained by referring to the INTERLISP program.
Effects of Compressed Carbon Dioxide on the Phase Equilibrium and Molecular Order of a Lyotropic Polyamide Solution

The effects of compressed carbon dioxide at slightly subcritical temperatures on solutions of a chloro-substituted, para-linked aromatic polyamide (PPTA-Cl) in dimethylacetamide were investigated by depolarized light spectroscopy. Pressurization of isotropic solutions resulted in polymer precipitation at a sharply defined pressure. Pressurization of nematic solutions resulted in an increase in the intensity of scattered light with no evidence of precipitation. A plausible interpretation of this observation is the occurrence of liquid−liquid phase separation into polymer-rich (anisotropic) and polymer-lean (isotropic) phases induced by the compressed carbon dioxide. The results suggest that compressed, near-critical antisolvents can be used to control the degree of anisotropy in liquid-crystalline polymeric systems.
Assignment of the gene for dipeptidase 2 to Mus musculus chromosome 18 by somatic cell hybridization.

Evidence is presented for the assignment of the gene for dipeptidase 2 to Mus musculus chromosome 18 by synteny testing and karyotypic analysis of Chinese hamster × mouse somatic cell hybrid clones. DIP-2 and chromosome 18 were expressed concordantly in 24/24 clones examined (ten primary clones and 14 secondary clones). Synteny testing indicated that DIP-2 was not expressed concordantly with the expression of any marker enzymes.
Torsion of a filament wound anisotropic elliptic cylinder with variable moduli of elasticity

Abstract The problem of torsion of rods produced by filament winding on an elliptical mandrel and possessing variable moduli of elasticity through the thickness (for example, because of a varying layup angle) is formulated. The material possesses curvilinear anisotropy, referred to the coordinate system that is inherent to the geometry of the filament wound body. It is further assumed that there are planes of elastic symmetry perpendicular to the shaft axis. Results on the stress and displacement distribution are provided and discussed. Moreover, a study of the influence of a compound bar construction, i.e. a composite bar with an external or internal reinforcement on the maximum interlaminar shear stress, is performed.
Issues and Challenges in Studying Parental Control: Toward a New Conceptualization

Abstract— Although investigators have long considered parents’ exertion of control over children as a central part of the socialization process, the study of control has been marked by conceptual and empirical confusion. This article outlines some of the history of the construct of control in the context of parenting, delineating the development of the contemporary approach that distinguishes among multiple forms of control. It proposes a refinement of this approach such that only parenting characterized by pressure, intrusion, and domination should be considered control, whereas parenting frequently labeled control but characterized mainly by guidance should be considered structure. This article highlights the benefits of distinguishing between these two dimensions of parenting rather than multiple forms of control.
Median sternotomy for pneumonectomy in patients with pulmonary complications of tuberculosis.

Abstract Background Traditionally, a thoractomy incision is used for pulmonary complications of tuberculosis. An attractive alternative is being presented by the use of midline sternotomy in such patients, which is the aim of this study. Methods Five patients (four male, one female) with pulmonary complications of tuberculosis requiring surgical therapy in 1993 and 1994 were treated through a median sternotomy. The median patient age at time of surgery was 40.2 years and the median patient follow-up was 4.0 years (range 1.0 to 5.0 years) in this retrospective review. Results All patients had uncomplicated operative courses and were discharged from the hospital. One patient's in-hospital postoperative course was complicated by prolonged ventilator dependency requiring temporary tracheostomy; he died 1 year postoperatively after hospital discharge due to recurrent multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Sternal wound infections and bronchopleural fistulas were not observed in any patients. Conclusions Surgical treatment of pulmonary complications of tuberculosis was traditionally performed through a thoracotomy approach. Many patients with tuberculous lungs have pulmonary adhesions or intrathoracic scarring from previous surgery, which would require extrapleural resection. Bleeding was a frequent complication of this procedure. Sternotomy offers excellent exposure of the intrapericardial vessels, and reduced postoperative disability compared to the standard thoracotomy, which may be an advantage given that the majority of patients in this population have poor pulmonary function. We recommend median sternotomy as an alternative operative approach in selected patients with pulmonary complications of tuberculosis.
Precipitation observed over the South China Sea by the Nimbus-7 Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer during Winter Monex

Mesoscale cloud clusters near the northwestern coast of Borneo were observed by the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) on three occasions during the Winter Monsoon Experiment in December 1978. A nondimensional form of the SMMR 37 GHz polarization difference is introduced and used to identify regions of precipitation, and these are compared with visible and infrared imagery from the GMS-1 geostationary satellite. For two of the three cloud cluster cases, quantitative comparisons are made between nearly simultaneous SMMR observations and reflectivity observations made by the MIT WR-73 digital weather radar at Bintulu. Though limited in scope, these represent the first known direct comparisons between digital radar-derived rain parameters and satellite passive microwave observations of near-equatorial precipitation. SMMR 37 GHz observations are found to be much better indicators of fractional coverage of each SMMR footprint by rain than of average rain rate within the footprint. Total area coverage by precipitation is estimated for all three clusters using this result.
Dense fluid theory of mixtures

Previous studies have indicated that most of the existing theories of mixtures tend to fail for solutions containing species with large molecular size and intermolecular energy differences. In this work a dense fluid mixture theory, which is similar to the mixture theory of imperfect gases, is introduced. This theory is applicable for mixtures of molecules with large size and energy differences. The new theory is shown to be successful in predicting properties of Lennard‐Jones fluid mixtures at, both, finite concentrations and infinite dilution.
Forced Cytochrome B gene mutation expression induces mitochondrial proliferation and prevents apoptosis in human uroepithelial SV-HUC-1 cells

Mitochondria encoded Cytochrome B (CYTB) gene mutations were reported in tumors of different anatomic origin but the functional significance of these mutations are not well studied. Earlier, we found a 7-amino acid deletion mutation in the CYTB gene in a primary bladder cancer patient. In the present study, we overexpressed this 7-amino acid deletion mutation of CYTB gene in SV-40 transformed human uroepithelial HUC-1 cells. The nuclear transcribed mitochondrial CYTB (mtCYTB) was targeted into the mitochondria and generated increased copies of mitochondria and mitochondrial COX-I protein in the transfected HUC-1 cells. The proapoptotic protein Bax largely remained confined to the cytoplasm of the mtCYTB transfected HUC-1 cells without release of Cytochrome C. The downstream apoptotic proteins PARP also remained uncleaved along with increased Lamin B1 in the mtCYTB transfected cells. Our results demonstrate that forced overexpression of mtCYTB in transformed human uroepithelial HUC-1 cells triggered mitochondrial proliferation and induction of an antiapoptotic signaling cascade favoring sustained cellular growth. Coding mitochondrial DNA mutations appear to have significant functional contribution in tumor progression.
Motion Limitations In Acoustic Holography Using An Electronic Reference

It is well known that during the recording of an optical hologram the relative distances among object, holographic plate and light source must remain constant to within half a wavelength, otherwise the interference fringe will be completely blurred and not recorded. This blurring is due to the time integration of the received wavefront which takes place in the photographic emulsion. In acoustical holography, on the other hand, the situation is different, because the output of the piezoelectric transducers which are normally used as detectors follows the acoustic input without any integration. As a result, object motions cause a distortion of the fringes and frequently a shift of the holdgraphic pattern takes place. It should be pointed out, however, that in practice there could always be a small amount of time integration in the processing electronics which will cause a small amount of blurring of the holographic fringes.
Facing the Danger Zone: The Use of Ultrasound to Distinguish Cellulitis from Abscess in Facial Infections

Physical exam alone is often insufficient to determine whether or not cellulitis is accompanied by an abscess. Bedside ultrasound can be a valuable tool in ruling out suspected abscess by allowing direct visualization of a fluid collection. The proximity of the infection to adjacent structures can also be determined, thus aiding clinical decision making. Patients with cellulitis near the eye and nose are of particular concern due to the adjacent facial structures and the anatomy of the venous drainage. Accurately determining the presence or absence of an associated abscess in these patients is a crucial step in treatment planning. The purpose of this report is to (1) emphasize the benefits of bedside ultrasound when used in conjunction with the physical exam to rule out abscess; (2) demonstrate the utility of bedside ultrasound in planning a treatment strategy for soft tissue infection; (3) depict an instance where ultrasound detected an abscess when computed tomography (CT) scan did not.
Elastography in Clinical Practice

Elastography is a new technique that evaluates tissue stiffness. There are two elastography methods, strain and shear wave elastography. Both techniques are being used to evaluate a wide range of applications in medical imaging. Elastography of breast masses and prostates have been shown to have high accuracy for characterizing masses and can significantly decrease the need for biopsies. Shear wave elastography has been shown to be able to detect and grade liver fibrosis and may decrease the need for liver biopsy. Evaluation of other organs is still preliminary. This article reviews the principles of elastography and its potential clinical applications.
U3 small nucleolar RNA is essential for cleavage at sites 1, 2 and 3 in pre-rRNA and determines which rRNA processing pathway is taken in Xenopus oocytes

Abstract A molecular dissection of U3 small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) was performed in vivo inXenopus oocytes and the effects on rRNA processing were analyzed. Oocyte injection of antisense oligonucleotides against parts of U3 snoRNA resulted in specific fragmentation of U3 by endogenous RNase H. Fragmentation of U3 domain II correlated with a decrease in 20 S pre-rRNA and a concomitant increase in 36 S pre-rRNA, indicating reduced cleavage at site 3. Conversely, fragmentation of U3 domain I completely blocked 18 S rRNA formation, increased the 20 S rRNA precursor, and decreased 36 S pre-rRNA, indicating inhibition of cleavage at sites 1+2. rRNA processing defects at sites 1+2 or 3 after destruction of intact endogenous U3 snoRNA were rescued by injection of in vitro transcripts of U3 snoRNA or certain U3 fragments. Thus, cleavage at sites 1+2 and 3 is U3 snoRNA dependent. Moreover, U3 snoRNA has two functional modules: domain I for sites 1+2 cleavage and domain II for site 3 cleavage. The data suggest that whichever of these U3 domains acts first determines which rRNA processing pathway will be taken: cleavage first at site 3 of pre-rRNA leads to pathway A, whereas cleavage first at sites 1+2 leads to pathway B for rRNA processing. Predictions of this model were validated by rescue of site 3 cleavage by injection of just domain II after U3 depletion. Rescue of sites 1+2 cleavage required covalent continuity of domain I with the hinge region and non-covalent association with domain II. We could experimentally shift which rRNA processing pathway was taken by injecting fragments of U3 to compete with endogenous U3 snoRNA.
Frequency-dependent rupture process of the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku Earthquake: Comparison of short-period P wave backprojection images and broadband seismic rupture models

The frequency-dependent rupture process of the 11 March 2011 Mw 9.0 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake is examined using backprojection (BP) imaging with teleseismic short-period (~1 s) P waves, and finite faulting models (FFMs) of the seismic moment and slip distributions inverted from broadband (>3 s) teleseismic P waves, Rayleigh waves and regional continuous GPS ground motions. Robust features of the BPs are initial down-dip propagation of the short-period energy source with a slow rupture speed (~1 km/s), followed by faster (2–3 km/s) rupture that progresses southwestward beneath the Honshu coastline. The FFMs indicate initial slow down-dip expansion of the rupture followed by concentrated long-period radiation up-dip of the hypocenter, then southwestward expansion of the rupture. We explore whether these differences correspond to real variations in energy release over the fault plane or represent uncertainties in the respective approaches. Tests of the BP results involve (1) comparisons with backprojection of synthetic P waves generated for the FFMs, and (2) comparisons of backprojection locations for aftershocks with corresponding NEIC and JMA locations. The data indicate that the down-dip environment radiates higher relative levels of short-period radiation than the up-dip regime for this great earthquake, consistent with large-scale segmentation of the frictional properties of the megathrust.
DevStaR: High-Throughput Quantification of C. elegans Developmental Stages

We present DevStaR, an automated computer vision and machine learning system that provides rapid, accurate, and quantitative measurements of C. elegans embryonic viability in high-throughput (HTP) applications. A leading genetic model organism for the study of animal development and behavior, C. elegans is particularly amenable to HTP functional genomic analysis due to its small size and ease of cultivation, but the lack of efficient and quantitative methods to score phenotypes has become a major bottleneck. DevStaR addresses this challenge using a novel hierarchical object recognition machine that rapidly segments, classifies, and counts animals at each developmental stage in images of mixed-stage populations of C. elegans. Here, we describe the algorithmic design of the DevStaR system and demonstrate its performance in scoring image data acquired in HTP screens.
Pulsed-field electrophoresis in microlithographic arrays

Transverse pulsed-field electrophoresis of DNA has been conducted in a silicon array engineered by optical lithography and the motion of individual molecules observed by fluorescence microscopy. In strong fields, the molecules can be maintained in highly stretched, linear conformations. When the field is switched through an obtuse angle, they head off in the new direction led by what was formerly their tail end. This backtracking gives rise to fractionation that is linear with molecular weight. A simple prescription exists for choosing the field parameters to obtain a particular range of separation. Since the molecular motions are much more uniform than those that occur in a gel, it is anticipated that the arrays will permit more efficient fractionation than traditional pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Arrays suitably scaled down in size may be useful for pulsed-field sequencing.
Cost-Utility Analysis of Treatment Algorithms for Moderate Grade Vesicoureteral Reflux Using Markov Models

Purpose: The optimal treatment algorithm for vesicoureteral reflux remains controversial. Previous decision analyses have attempted to determine the best approach solely from the cost or cure perspective but have not combined the goals of minimizing treatment and disease burden. We incorporated these considerations into a contemporary, comprehensive analysis of treatment for vesicoureteral reflux.Materials and Methods: We examined costs from the perspective of the medical institution, and utility from the perspective of parents of children with grades II and III vesicoureteral reflux. Cost-utility analysis using Markov modeling was performed to ascertain which of 5 treatment algorithms best minimized morbidity and cost. A higher utility value was based on minimizing treatment and disease burden. Measures of treatment and disease burden included duration of suppressive antibiotics, number of invasive studies, pyelonephritis episodes, endoscopic treatments and open operations. All variables were varied span...
Sex-specific effects of yolk-androgens on growth of nestling American kestrels

Maternally derived androgen hormones concentrate in avian egg yolks as the yolks grow on the female’s ovary, possibly forming a basis for important maternal effects in birds. In the American kestrel (Falco sparverius), experimental elevation of yolk androgens in the first-laid egg of a clutch (a-egg) to the concentrations found naturally in a clutch’s later-laid eggs reduces the growth rate of a-egg nestlings compared to controls. These findings, together with discoveries from other species that the effects of yolk androgens on growth of female nestlings may differ from their effects on growth of male nestlings, raise the hypothesis that natural changes in yolk-androgen concentrations with laying order are ultimately due to a difference between the sexes in their yolk-androgen sensitivity and between early- and late-laid eggs in their sex ratio. By re-analyzing previously published data and adding to the analysis data from previously unanalyzed blood samples used for sex determination, we investigated possible sex-specific effects of yolk-androgens in the context of a potential sex-biased laying order in free-living American kestrels. We used a multi-level, mixed model with a Gompertz function to analyze growth of nestlings hatching from a-eggs that were control-treated or in which we experimentally elevated yolk-androgen concentrations shortly after laying to the higher concentrations naturally found in later-laid eggs. We discovered that male nestlings were more susceptible than female nestlings to growth inhibition by yolk-androgen elevation but did not find a bias in sex ratio with respect to laying order. Together, these findings do not support the above hypothesis. However, they are consistent with the hypothesis that sex differences in yolk-androgen sensitivity enable mothers to economically tune reproductive effort to an individual offspring’s reproductive value, which can vary more for one sex than the other.
Cyclic AMP Elevation Is Sufficient to Promote the Survival of Spinal Motor Neurons In Vitro

The short-term survival of highly purified embryonic spinal motor neurons (SMNs) in culture can be promoted by many peptide trophic factors, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), fibroblast growth factor (FGF), glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). We have asked whether these peptides are sufficient to promote the long-term survival of purified E15 SMNs. Contrary to previous reports, we find that when SMNs are cultured in serum-free medium containing a single peptide trophic factor only approximately one-third of the cells survive for 3 d in culture. When multiple factors are combined, additive effects on survival are observed transiently, but by 7 d of culture the majority of SMNs has died. Surprisingly, when cAMP levels are elevated, the majority of SMNs extend processes and survive for 1 week in culture in the absence of peptide trophic factors, even in low-density cultures. A combination of five peptide trophic factors, together with cAMP elevation, promotes the long-term survival of most of the SMNs in serum-free culture for 3 weeks. These findings provide useful culture conditions for studying the properties of SMNs and have implications for the treatment of motor neuron diseases.
Inverse Flux Analysis for Reduction of Acetate Excretion in Escherichia coli

The determination of intracellular fluxes from the measurement of extracellular rates, a technique known as flux analysis, has been used successfully on several systems important to biotechnology. However, calculation of intracellular fluxes does not directly suggest ways to improve the performance of the cell. Here, we introduce a variation of this analysis, termed inverse flux analysis, which allows the prediction of the flux distribution as a function of manipulable internal fluxes. This approach is applied to analyze the acetate excretion problem commonly observed in aerobic Escherichia coli cultures. The effect of manipulating each flux is quantified by a flux distribution sensitivity coefficient, which is dependent on the stoichiometry. For the acetate excretion problem, our results suggest that the anaplerotic pathways, including the reactions catalyzed by phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and the glyoxylate bypass are the best choices for manipulating acetate excretion in E. coli. Increasing the anaplerotic flux will decrease acetate production while increasing the growth yield.
Harmonic oscillator tensors in contact transformation theory

The application of contact transformation theory to the perturbed harmonic oscillator is reexamined in the light of the harmonic oscillator tensors previously presented. It is found that the recasting of the formalism of this problem in terms of harmonic oscillator tensors results in great simplifications, most of which stem from the introduction of the additional algebraic quantum numbers (l, m). The order of magnitude of each fragment of the Hamiltonian is easily recognizable, and the diagonal and nondiagonal parts contained therein are readily identifiable. The determination of the contact transformation operator is reduced to a simple formula. First, an analysis is made for a single mode of vibration, and it is subsequently extended to a multimode case. The perturbed diatomic vibrator is presented as an example.
Analysis for co-occurring sequence features identifies link between common synonymous variant and an early-terminated NPC1 isoform

Direct assessment of allelic phase for DNA and RNA features of diploid genomes has been challenging for Sanger sequencing, due to its allele-conflating base-calling signal. Massively parallel sequencing technologies are based on the generation of a continuous copy of a single strand sequence segments, thus preserving the allelic relation between the features of the original molecules. We have performed a transcriptome-wide search for co-occurrence of variant nucleotides and exon-intron boundaries positioned within the length of a single sequencing read. Analysis of 75 human transcriptomes from retinal pigment epithelia (RPE), glioblastoma, low-grade brain tumor, breast cancer and colon cancer, have identified an association between the synonymous variant rs1140458 and an early-terminated NPC1 isoform lacking exons 19–25. Higher proportion of molecules bearing the variant nucleotide (versus the reference) incorporates the intron (P <0.0001), which turns the last codon of exon 18 into a stop codon. The significance is highest in RPE cells (P = 3.88 × 10−12). NPC1 protein is involved in the control of the cholesterol trafficking. NPC1 mutations lead, in an autosomal recessive manner, to the neurological disorder Niemann-Pick syndrome type C (NP-C), and, ablation of NPC1 causes age-progressive retinal degeneration in mice and drosophila. The vast majority of the NP-C causative variants consist of missense/nonsense substitutions, small indels, and, intronic splice variants. Rs1140458 is a common exonic synonymous substitution that has never been linked to alternative splicing or pathogenicity. Our analysis suggests that rs1140458 may affect the levels of the functional NPC1 protein, and to contribute to some of the cholesterol-implicated cellular phenotype.
Mass Spectral Characterization of p-Nonylphenol Isomers Using High-Resolution Capillary GC—MS

High-resolution gas chromatographic (GC) analyses of p-nonylphenol at selected oven temperatures have achieved resolution of 22 para-isomers. Separation is accomplished through the use of a 100-m capillary GC column exhibiting over 400,000 theoretical plates. Coupling this GC analysis to a mass spectrometer has resulted in discrete mass spectra that more accurately characterize this important group of isomers. Analysis of the spectra indicates the presence of five distinct groups of isomers. Group designations are presented based on the substitution of the alpha-carbon on the alkyl chain. This data, in conjunction with model mass spectra, elucidate the structures of p-nonylphenol isomers. Quantitative analysis using high-resolution GC with a flame-ionization detector is also presented. Fourier transform infrared analysis confirms ortho- and para-phenolic substitution. Examination of the infrared fingerprint region provides an unequivocal confirmation of phenolic substitution.
A fourth generation analog incircuit program generator

A fourth-generation analog in-circuit program generator (APG) is described. A custom hybrid behavioral/nodal simulator using Monte Carlo statistical analysis is shown to provide high-quality tests that require a minimum of debug and long-term maintenance while maximizing test portability. After over a year of use, this APG has shown, on many occasions, to give analog turn-on rates of 98% to 100%. This is a significant improvement over previous generations. This high turn-on has reduced the amount of debug and maintenance time significantly. The validity of the model was demonstrated when its results were major input in setting the tester specifications. Those results were confirmed by extensive environmental and performance verification. The need for accurate test limits for analog in-circuit tests is shown. >
On learning asymmetric dissimilarity measures

Many practical applications require that distance measures to be asymmetric and context-sensitive. We introduce context-sensitive learnable asymmetric dissimilarity (CLAD) measures, which are defined to be a weighted sum of a fixed number of dissimilarity measures where the associated weights depend on the point from which the dissimilarity is measured. The parameters used in defining the measure capture the global relationships among the features. We provide an algorithm to learn the dissimilarity measure automatically from a set of user specified comparisons in the form "x is closer to y than to z" and study its performance. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms other approaches due to the context sensitive nature of the CLAD measures.
The lack of RCTs on dysarthria intervention does not necessarily indicate there is no evidence to guide practice1

Is there any evidence from randomized, controlled trials on the efficacy of speech and language therapy interventions for adults with dysarthria following non-progressive acquired brain injury? 1 A...
Bereavement among African American and White older adults.

Purpose: The authors examined epidemiology and sociodemographic predictors of spousal, nonspousal family, and friendship bereavement among African American and White community-dwelling older adults...
Building global surface models by purposive and qualitative viewpoint adjustment

We present an approach for recovering a global surface model of an object from the deformation of the occluding contour using an active (i.e., mobile) observer able to control its motion. In particular, we consider two problems: (1) How can the observer's viewpoint be controlled in order to generate a dense sequence of images that allows incremental reconstruction of an unknown surface? And (2) how can we construct a global surface model from the generated image sequence? We achieve the first goal by purposefully and qualitatively controlling the observer's instantaneous direction of motion in order to control the motion of the visible rim over the surface. We achieve the second goal by using a stationary calibrated trinocular camera rig and a mechanism for controlling the relative position and orientation of the viewed surface with respect to the trinocular rig. Unlike previous shape-from-motion approaches which derive quantitative shape information from an arbitrarily generated sequence of images, we develop a collection of simple and efficient viewing strategies that allow the observer to achieve the global reconstruction goal by maintaining specific geometric relationships with the viewed surface. These relationships depend only on tangent computations on the occluding contour. To demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of our approach we apply the developed algorithms to synthetic and real scenes.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Cross-country comparisons of racial/ethnic inequalities in health

Siddiqi and Nguyen ( see page 28 ) take advantage of a unique data set, the Joint Canada–United States Survey of Health (JCUSH), which allows for the examination of cross-national racial inequalities.1 Their article reports on a provocative set of analyses, which have important implications for understanding the causes and solutions to health inequalities. By examining the nature of health inequalities across two countries with many cultural and historical similarities, they seek to determine whether racial inequalities are unique to the USA or whether they also exist in Canada. The answer? Race inequalities are not found in Canada after accounting for socioeconomic status. Their findings place doubt on the highly questionable, yet widely reported, claim that differences in health status across racial/ethnic groups are mainly the result of innate biological or genetic differences. Rather, their analyses direct …