cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The effect of chloroquine administration on two experimental models of acute pancreatitis

Abstract Background: Recent experimental findings have suggested that activation of trypsinogen by cathepsin B within acidic pancreatic acinar cell cytoplasmic vacuoles may be a critical early event in both secretagogue and diet-induced pancreatitis. The weak base chloroquine accumulates within acidic intracellular compartments, raises their pH, and can inhibit proteolysis as well as cathepsin B. Methods: We have investigated the effect of in vivo chloroquine administration on both secretagogue and diet-induced experimental pancreatitis to determine if raising the pH of cytoplasmic vacuoles in these models of pancreatitis would have a protective effect. Results: Infusion of chloroquine (5 mg · kg −1 · h −1 ) resulted in the uptake and concentration of chloroquine in the pancreas, an increase in the pH of acinar cell acidic compartments, and interference with the pH-dependent sorting of lysosomal hydrolases from digestive enzyme zymogens. However, chloroquine administration did not have a protective effect against the hyperamylasemia, the pancreatic edema, the morphological changes or the mortality that is associated with these models of pancreatitis. Conclusions: These observations lead us to conclude that raising the pH of acinar cell acidic compartments by in vivo administration of chloroquine does not prevent either secretagogue or diet-induced pancreatitis.
CAN AUTOMATIC DATA EDITING BE JUSTIFIED? ONE PERSON'S OPINION

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses automatic data editing and its justification. Automatic data editing is the process whereby multivariate data records are checked for consistency and, if found to be inconsistent, are analyzed to determine the most likely combination of variables responsible for the inconsistency. Values are then attributed to those suspect variables to render the resultant record consistent. This procedure is done automatically on a computer according to a pre-established code, and, most commonly, the data so analyzed are collected in response to a survey. Three primary issues arise in the application of automatic data editing: (1) whether the procedure is based on sound theoretical principles, (2) whether the procedure is practical to implement, (3) whether the procedure has been justified in applications.
Extraction of Resonant Modes from Scattered Noisy Data

This paper presents a technique that combines Prony’s original approach together with the high resolution eigenstructure based methods to estimate resonant modes from scattered noisy data. The problem is equivalent to obtaining best rational approximations that fit the actual measurements in a least square sense.
Randomizing smartphone malware profiles against statistical mining techniques

The growing use of smartphones opens up new opportunities for malware activities such as eavesdropping on phone calls, reading e-mail and call-logs, and tracking callers' locations. Statistical data mining techniques have been shown to be applicable to detect smartphone malware. In this paper, we demonstrate that statistical mining techniques are prone to attacks that lead to random smartphone malware behavior. We show that with randomized profiles, statistical mining techniques can be easily foiled. Six in-house proof-of-concept malware programs are developed on the Android platform for this study. The malware programs are designed to perform privacy intrusion, information theft, and denial of service attacks. By simulating and tuning the frequency and interval of attacks, we aim to answer the following questions: 1) Can statistical mining algorithms detect smartphone malware by monitoring the statistics of smartphone usage? 2) Are data mining algorithms robust against malware with random profiles? 3) Can simple consolidation of random profiles over a fixed time frame prepare a higher quality data source for existing algorithms?
Phase Behavior of SDS/AOT/Water Systems

The behavior of the surfactants sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) and sodium di(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate (Aerosol OT or AOT) with and without water was investigated with polarizing microscopy, H NMR, ultracentrifugation, and x-ray diffractometry. One structure of solid SDS at 25°C consists of hexagonally packed bilayers with an apparent repeat distance of 39 A. When equilibrated with liquid aqueous SDS solution, this structure remains solid and changes little, if at all; the AOT solution takes up SDS, however. When equilibrated with aqueous AOT solution, the SDS crystal takes up little, if any, AOT or water and remains.solid. The lamellar liquid crystalline phase at AOT/water solubilizes significant amounts of SDS, to a weight ratio of AOT to SDS up to 2:1. Because of mixed micelle formation, aqueous SDS solubilizes substantial amounts of the liquid crystalline aqueous AOT, to a weight ratio of SDS to AOT up to 1:1. A substantial portion of the ternary equilibrium phase diagram has been delineated.
Melanocyte Distribution and Function in Human Skin

Catalytic entities involved in melanin synthesis (including tyrosinase [TYR], tyrosinase-related protein 1 [TYRP1], and dopachrome tautomerase [DCT]) and structural proteins important to the integrity of melanosomes (including GP100/Pmel17) play active roles in the maintenance of the function and structure of those organelles produced by melanocytes. Constitutive skin pigmentation is regulated by a number of distinct factors (including melanocyte dendricity, transport of melanosomes to dendrites, and transfer of melanosomes to keratinocytes and their subsequent distribution) and can be affected by paracrine factors (from neighboring keratinocytes and fibroblasts) and the environment, including ultraviolet (UV) radiation, that regulate melanocyte proliferation and function. Because UV is inherently associated with photocarcinogenesis in the skin, including melanoma, we discuss melanocyte density and function, melanin content and distribution, DNA damage (measured by 6,4-phytoproducts [64PP] and cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers [CPD]) and apoptosis (measured by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling [TUNEL] staining) in response to UV in three different types of skin. In sum, UV-induced DNA damage in the lower epidermis is not effectively prevented in light/fair skin and UV-induced apoptosis is not seen in light skin after low doses of UV. These observations suggest that the combination of decreased DNA damage and more efficient removal of UV-damaged cells plays an important role in the decreased photocarcinogenesis seen in darker skin.
Compact Representation of Uncertainty in Clustering

For many classic structured prediction problems, probability distributions over the dependent variables can be efficiently computed using widely-known algorithms and data structures (such as forward-backward, and its corresponding trellis for exact probability distributions in Markov models). However, we know of no previous work studying efficient representations of exact distributions over clusterings. This paper presents definitions and proofs for a dynamic-programming inference procedure that computes the partition function, the marginal probability of a cluster, and the MAP clustering---all exactly. Rather than the Nth Bell number, these exact solutions take time and space proportional to the substantially smaller powerset of N. Indeed, we improve upon the time complexity of the algorithm introduced by Kohonen and Corander (2016) for this problem by a factor of N. While still large, this previously unknown result is intellectually interesting in its own right, makes feasible exact inference for important real-world small data applications (such as medicine), and provides a natural stepping stone towards sparse-trellis approximations that enable further scalability (which we also explore). In experiments, we demonstrate the superiority of our approach over approximate methods in analyzing real-world gene expression data used in cancer treatment.
Epigenetic regulation of carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 (Cpt1a) by high fat diet

Abstract Carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 (Cpt1a) is a rate-limiting enzyme that mediates the transport of fatty acids into the mitochondria for subsequent beta-oxidation. The objective of this study was to uncover how diet mediates the transcriptional regulation of Cpt1a. Pregnant Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to either a high-fat (HF) or low-fat control diet during gestation and lactation. At weaning, male offspring received either a HF or control diet, creating 4 groups: lifelong control diet (C/C; n = 12), perinatal HF diet (HF/C; n = 9), post-weaning HF diet (C/HF; n = 10), and lifelong HF diet (HF/HF; n = 10). Only HF/HF animals had higher hepatic Cpt1a mRNA expression than C/C. Epigenetic analysis revealed reduced DNA methylation (DNAMe) and increased histone 3 lysine 4 dimethylation (H3K4Me2) upstream and within the promoter of Cpt1a in the HF/HF group. This was accompanied by increased peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha (PPARα) and CCAAT/enhancer binding protein beta (C/EBPβ) binding directly downstream of the Cpt1a transcription start site within the first intron. Findings were confirmed in rat hepatoma H4IIEC3 cells treated with non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA). After 12 h of NEFA treatment, there was an enrichment of SWI/SNF related matrix associated actin dependent regulator of chromatin subfamily D member 1 (BAF60a or SMARCD1) in the first intron of Cpt1a. We conclude that dietary fat elevates hepatic Cpt1a expression via a highly coordinated transcriptional mechanism involving increased H3K4Me2, reduced DNAMe, and recruitment of C/EBPβ, PPARα, PGC1α, and BAF60a to the gene.
Understanding the Orthodox Jewish family during childbirth.

Purpose This educational intervention uses the generalized empirical method (GEM) of Bernard Lonergan for nursing students to gain an understanding of the Orthodox Jewish family during childbirth. Setting and population this activity occurred at a baccalaureate, nursing program in the Northeast United States. It consisted of two semesters of 32 undergraduate junior nursing students enrolled in a maternal-newborn nursing course. Findings Five themes emerged from students' reflective journaling related to the Orthodox Jewish Laws and traditions included: Laws of Modesty, Laws of Niddah, Laws of Sabbath and Holidays, Laws of Kosher, and Laws of Naming the child and circumcision. Conclusions The GEM facilitated students' understanding and knowledge of cultural traditions of the Orthodox Jewish childbirth experience. Lonergan's GEM provided insights and reflection so students could become culturally competent in providing nursing care.
Debussy's Cakewalk. Race, Modernism and Music in Early Twentieth-Century Paris

Between November, 1902 and January, 1903, Paris experienced its first tastes of the danced cakewalk through the performances of two American touring ensembles: “Les Elks” and their troupe of black and white dancers appeared in the revue Les joyeux negres at the Nouveau Cirque, while the “Florida Creole Girls”—seven African-American women—performed the cakewalk at the Casino de Paris. Within a matter of weeks the dance became the latest sensation of the capital, as reported in Paris qui chante of January, 1903, although not without serious dissension. It was upon this field of social and cultural contestation that Debussy entered into the world of syncopated Americanism with Golliwogg’s Cake-Walk from the Children’s Corner (1908). This was followed by The Little Nigar (1909), the theme of which he reused in Le boite a joujoux (1913); Minstrels from the first book of Preludes (1910), which more subtly draws upon cakewalk rhythms; and “General Lavine”-Eccentric from the second book (1910-1913), for which he uses the tempo designation “Dans le style et le mouvement d’un cake-walk.” While the literature about Debussy and fin-de-siecle music does reference this music and his indebtedness to the cakewalk and ragtime, it has largely failed to position him within the prevailing discourse surrounding the dance, which includes the film Le cake-walk infernal by Georges Melies (1903). This paper proposes to explore the four aforementioned works by Debussy from the perspective of the contemporary debate over the cakewalk in French culture and society. Rather than attributing to the composer a particular subject position regarding blacks and their culture through his appropriation of the cakewalk, we will explore what it meant for Debussy to align himself with those elements of Parisian society that embraced the dance form and its music. However, as we shall see in the case of Debussy and his Parisian milieu, the modernist adoption of the cakewalk was fraught with problematic constructions of race, which cannot be ignored.
Uncertainty of Heat Transfer Measurements in an Engulfing Pool Fire

A series of experiments were performed to measure heat transfer to a cylindrical steel calorimeter engulfed in a 30-minute pool fire. The calorimeter inner surface temperature history was measured at 46 locations. A one-dimensional inverse heat conduction technique was used to determine the net heat flux to the calorimeter as a function of time and location. The uncertainty in heat flux caused by three-dimensional effects is estimated using finite element computer simulations. A Monte Carlo uncertainty simulation is used to estimate the uncertainty in heat flux from propagated uncertainties in dimensions, temperature measurements, and material properties. The estimated uncertainty in the measured heat flux over the 30-minute fire test and the entire calorimeter was found to be ±18 kW/m2, or 27% of the average heat flux of 66.6 kW/m2. The uncertainties for the early times of the fire test are less than those at later times in the test due to the instability of the inverse conduction calculations caused by the Curie effect of the carbon steel calorimeter material.
The Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor; Studies in Cultured Hepatocytes and During Liver Regeneration

Epidermal growth factor is a mitogen for a broad range of cell types [1]. Infusion of EGF in intact rats induces hepatic DNA synthesis [2]; similar results are seen when EGF is incubated with primary cultures of rat hepatcoytes [3]. To determine whether EGF plays a role in the physiologic regulation of growth we have begun a series of studies of EGF-EGF receptor interaction during the course of liver regeneration and in primary cultures of hepatocytes. EGF transduces its signal by binding to a 170,000 molecular weight transmembrane glycoprotein. The binding of EGF leads to receptor clustering and internalization [4, 5]. The EGF receptor contains a ligand stimulated protein kinase activity located on the cytoplasmic side. This intrinsic kinase phosphorylates tyrosine residues, an enzymatic activity analogous to other growth factor receptors and oncogene products [6]. The binding of EGF activates the tyrosine kinase activity in vitro [6, 7]. However, the nature and localization of the critical substrates is unknown.
Optimizing the Timing of Allogeneic Blood or Marrow Transplantation (BMT) in a Prospective Cohort of Relapsed or Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)

Abstract 3096 Relapsed or refractory AML is difficult to treat even with allogeneic BMT. In an attempt to reduce leukemia burden and limit toxicities from multiple re-induction attempts, we initiated a treatment strategy to offer allogeneic BMT prior to count recovery, within 3 to 4 weeks after re-induction. Among 156 consecutive AML patients referred to our BMT program between 01/2003 and 03/2008, 84 (54%) patients did not receive an allogeneic BMT due to: death (n=25, 30%), patient refusal (n=13, 16%), disease progression (n=13, 16%), autologous BMT (n=11, 13%) and other (n= 22, 26%). Seventy-two (46%) patients received an allogeneic BMT: 21 (29%) patients were prospectively identified with very high risk features (primary induction failure (PIF) or refractory relapse (RR)) and received re-induction with the intent-to-induce hypoplasia and transplant prior to count recovery. The remaining 51 patients received re-induction with the goal of inducing complete remission (CR) prior to BMT (the intent-to-induce remission group). Patient and BMT-related characteristics, as well as BMT outcomes are summarized in Table 1. Patients were prospectively accrued to myeloablative or reduced intensity BMT protocols depending on their age, KPS, co-morbidities, disease risk and the degree of HLA match. The intent-to-induce hypoplasia group had a lower 2-year PFS and OS (reflecting their very high risk disease characteristics). In subgroup analysis in patients with PIF or RR, there was no difference in 2-year PFS (15% vs. 22%, p=0.39) or 2-year OS (20% vs. 33%, p=0.32) between the intent-to-induce hypoplasia and the intent-to-induce remission groups. The overall and day 100 TRM was similar in both groups of patients with PIF or RR. Using this prospective strategy of identifying patients with very high risk disease with the intent to transplant them during hypoplasia after re-induction therapy, 46% of all the referred AML patients were able to undergo allogeneic BMT. This is higher than other published series where Disclosures: Hahn: Novartis: stock.
Comparison of clinical outcome between pyeloperfused versus non-pyeloperfused microwave ablation of renal cell carcinoma.

Purpose We present the outcomes of microwave ablation (MWA) of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with and without pyeloperfusion. Material and methods A retrospective review of patients' records was undertaken to identify patients with RCC, who were treated with MWA with and without adjunctive pyeloperfusion. The distance between the tumour and ureter as well as the tumour size were measured on axial imaging. Pyeloperfusion was performed in nine patients in this series after placement of a ureteral stent and instilment of diluted contrast into the ureter. MWAs of the tumours were performed under computed tomography (CT) guidance. Hydrodissection was performed to displace at-risk organs. Creatinine was measured as renal function index after and before the procedure. A CT scan was performed at the end of the procedure and also after one, three, and six months, to identify the presence of residual disease and complications. Results Eighteen biopsies of proven RCC were treated with 20 sessions of MWA. The average follow-up time for this study was 180 days. The average distance between the ureter and the tumour in axial CT view was 20.8 (± 2.9) mm. Primary efficacy was achieved in 88% of pyeloperfused patients and in 100% of the non-pyeloperfused patients. Two pyeloperfused patients required secondary procedure, and full secondary efficacy was achieved for both. There was only one grade 2 urological complication, which occurred in a patient who underwent pyeloperfusion. Creatinine was not significantly different after the procedure in this study (p-value 0.4). Conclusion In this study MWAs of RCCs were successfully performed using pyeloperfusion as a protective measure against thermal injury to the ureter.
Dietary macronutrient intake and molecular-bacterial vaginosis: Role of fiber.

Summary Background & aims Women with bacterial vaginosis (BV) have increased risk of sexually transmitted infections and other adverse health outcomes. Based on the composition of their vaginal microbiota, women can broadly be classified into low-Lactobacillus (termed molecular-BV) and Lactobacillus-dominated profiles. Our objective was to determine the association between dietary macronutrient intake and molecular-BV. Methods In a cross-sectional study of 104 reproductive-age women, dietary intake data were obtained using the Block Brief 2000 food frequency questionnaire. Vaginal microbiota composition was characterized by sequencing amplicons of the 16S rRNA gene V3–V4 regions and clustering into community state types (CST). Logistic regression was used to determine the association of macronutrient intake with molecular-BV (low-Lactobacillus vs. Lactobacillus-dominated CSTs combined). Results Participants had a median age of 25.9 (interquartile range: 21.9–29.6), 58% were white (30% black), 51% overweight/obese and 52% on hormonal contraception. In multivariable models, diets richer in fiber were inversely associated with molecular-BV (adjusted odds ratio: 0.49 per standard deviation increase in energy-adjusted fiber intake, 95% confidence interval: 0.24–0.99; p = 0.049). Conclusions Our results indicate that diets richer in fiber were associated with lower odds of molecular-BV. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and to test whether increasing fiber intake can modulate the microbiota towards a more optimal Lactobacillus-dominant profile.
Intraoperative intravenous ibuprofen use is not associated with increased post-tonsillectomy bleeding.

Abstract Objectives Intravenous (IV) ibuprofen was approved by the FDA for use in pediatric patients in November 2015. The objective of this study was to compare bleeding rates in pediatric tonsillectomy patients who received intraoperative intravenous ibuprofen versus those who did not. Secondary objectives included analyzing factors that correlated with return to the Emergency Department (ED) for pain or dehydration. Methods Charts were reviewed for all patients 0–18 years of age who underwent a tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy at a tertiary care children's hospital from 1/1/2017 through 5/21/2018. Demographic information and perioperative medications including the use of intraoperative intravenous ibuprofen were recorded. ED visits and operating room (OR) returns for bleeding were tracked for up to 30 days after surgery. Results 1085 charts were analyzed. Intraoperative IV ibuprofen was used in 132 cases (12.2%). Primary bleeds, defined as bleeding within 24 h of surgery, occurred in 1 (0.76%) of 132 patients who received IV ibuprofen, and 1 (0.10%) of 953 patients who did not receive IV ibuprofen. Secondary bleeds, defined as bleeds after 24 h from surgery occurred in 2 (1.52%) of 132 patients who received IV ibuprofen and 38 (3.99%) of 953 patients who did not receive IV ibuprofen. No statistical difference was found between the two groups in rates of overall (primary plus secondary) bleeding requiring return to ED (p = 0.759) or return to OR (p = 0.710). Conclusion The observed bleeding rate after pediatric tonsillectomy was not statistically different in patients who received intraoperative IV ibuprofen versus those who did not receive this medication. Level of evidence III.
An Extremal Problem Motivated by Triangle-Free Strongly Regular Graphs

We introduce the following combinatorial problem. Let $G$ be a triangle-free regular graph with edge density $\rho$. What is the minimum value $a(\rho)$ for which there always exist two non-adjacent vertices such that the density of their common neighborhood is $\leq a(\rho)$? We prove a variety of upper bounds on the function $a(\rho)$ that are tight for the values $\rho=2/5,\ 5/16,\ 3/10,\ 11/50$, with $C_5$, Clebsch, Petersen and Higman-Sims being respective extremal configurations. Our proofs are entirely combinatorial and are largely based on counting densities in the style of flag algebras. For small values of $\rho$, our bound attaches a combinatorial meaning to Krein conditions that might be interesting in its own right. We also prove that for any $\epsilon>0$ there are only finitely many values of $\rho$ with $a(\rho)\geq\epsilon$ but this finiteness result is somewhat purely existential (the bound is double exponential in $1/\epsilon$).
Calling, caring, and connecting: burnout in Christian ministry

This article explores burnout, and constructs related to burnout, in relation to pastors. Burnout has been found to exist in a multitude of occupations that are service-, or people, oriented. As a ...
Network reconfiguration and distributed energy resource scheduling for improved distribution system resilience

Abstract Electric utility companies work to restore as much load as possible after power outages caused by extreme weather events. In this paper, an outage management strategy is proposed to enhance distribution system resilience through network reconfiguration and distributed energy resources (DERs) scheduling. After a line fault, the proposed algorithm can identify radial network topology based on the rank of the incidence matrix. The reconfiguration is implemented by switching tie lines and sectionalizing lines. With the new network topology, an optimal DER scheduling problem is solved to minimize the accumulative cost for dispatchable DER operation and load reduction. Finally, the optimal topology that minimizes the accumulative cost is selected from all radial topologies. The computational workload is relatively low because only linear programming needs to be solved. Using the case studies of the IEEE 69-bus and IEEE 123-bus systems, we consider the worst-case scenarios in which faults occur in the upstream feeder. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed strategy allows for a relatively high percentage of the load to remain in service after line faults. Furthermore, compared with microgrid-formation approaches, the proposed strategy has advantages when applied to the distribution systems with several normally-open tie lines and low DER penetration.
Semi-mechanistic modelling of ammonia absorption in an acid spray wet scrubber based on mass balance

A model to describe reactive absorption of ammonia (NH3) in an acid spray scrubber was developed as a function of the combined overall mass transfer coefficient Kyav. An experimental study of NH3 absorption using 1% dilute sulphuric acid was carried out under different operating conditions. An empirical correlation for Kyav with respect to droplet Sauter mean diameter, liquid flow rate, and inlet NH3 concentration was developed with an R2 = 97.12%. Air velocity positively correlated with Kyav at 30 ppmv, but did not exhibit an effect at higher concentrations (165–300 ppmv), while liquid flow rate showed the greatest effect on Kyav. The Kyav correlation was incorporated in the performance model to construct a semi-mechanistic model with high prediction accuracy (R2 = 97.60%, MSE = 0, RMSE = 0.03, MAPE = 5.24%). This generalised performance model can be used to predict NH3 removal efficiencies of our optimised acid spray scrubber under various operating conditions at animal facilities.
Phase I Dose Escalation Clinical Trial of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) for Limited Locoregional Recurrences of Ovarian Cancer

Purpose/objective(s) Radiation therapy is infrequently used in the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer due to the propensity for peritoneal spread and the dose limitations of large field techniques. However, for patients with limited sites of recurrence, advanced radiation techniques such as Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) may offer an effective treatment option. There are many clinical trials supporting the safety and efficacy of SBRT for lung and liver tumors, but the role for abdominopelvic targets adjacent to gastrointestinal mucosa remains largely investigational, especially in this often heavily pretreated patient population. Materials/methods A single institution Phase I dose escalation study was conducted to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of SBRT for patients with limited (≤ 3 sites) abdominopelvic recurrences of ovarian cancer. We utilized a 3+3 design with 3 dose levels: 8 Gy x 3 fractions (DL1), 9 Gy x 3 fractions (DL2), and 10 Gy x 3 fractions (DL3). Dose limiting toxicity (DLT) was defined as treatment-related grade 3 or higher adverse events and the DLT monitoring period was 12 weeks after completion of SBRT prior to escalating to the next dose level. Secondary endpoints included toxicity, one-year local control (LC), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and quality of life (QOL) utilizing the EORTC QLQ-C30 assessment tool. Patients underwent tumor perfusion imaging as an exploratory endpoint. The median of each perfusion metric in the gross tumor volume (GTV) was computed at baseline, immediately following fraction one, and six weeks after completion of SBRT, and compared with a paired t-test. Results Sixteen patients were enrolled; 9 in the initial dose escalation and 7 in an expansion cohort. The initial dose escalation cohort has completed 12-month follow-up. Patients were enrolled according to the 3+3 design, with a safety break between levels, and the dose was safely escalated to DL3 with no DLT. There were no serious adverse events or any Grade 2 or higher SBRT-related toxicities, including bowel complications or bowel surgery. One-year LC, PFS, and OS were 92%, 44%, and 100%, respectively. The majority of patients received SBRT on study in lieu of systemic therapy (67%), and one-half of these patients remained off systemic therapy at one-year follow-up. At one year after completion of SBRT, global health status/QOL patient reported outcomes were maintained from baseline values. In perfusion imaging, we observed increases in GTV median permeability (P Conclusion This Phase I clinical trial offers preliminary evidence that SBRT can be delivered safely and can be effective in controlling limited locoregional recurrences of ovarian cancer, while maintaining quality of life. SBRT offers another potential tool in the armamentarium of treatments for gynecologic cancers with limited site recurrences.
GAUGE: Grid Automation and Generative Environment: Research Articles

The Grid has proven to be a successful paradigm for distributed computing. However, constructing applications that exploit all the benefits that the Grid offers is still not optimal for both inexperienced and experienced users. Recent approaches to solving this problem employ a high-level abstract layer to ease the construction of applications for different Grid environments. These approaches help facilitate construction of Grid applications, but they are still tied to specific programming languages or platforms. A new approach is presented in this paper that uses concepts of domain-specific modeling (DSM) to build a high-level abstract layer. With this DSM-based abstract layer, the users are able to create Grid applications without knowledge of specific programming languages or being bound to specific Grid platforms. An additional benefit of DSM provides the capability to generate software artifacts for various Grid environments. This paper presents the Grid Automation and Generative Environment (GAUGE). The goal of GAUGE is to automate the generation of Grid applications to allow inexperienced users to exploit the Grid fully. At the same time, GAUGE provides an open framework in which experienced users can build upon and extend to tailor their applications to particular Grid environments or specific platforms. GAUGE employs domain-specific modeling techniques to accomplish this challenging task. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Development of Lymphocyte Responses to Herpes Simplex Virus Following Neonatal Infection

Children with congenital cytomegalovirus infection continue to shed the virus in their urine for several years, and survivors of neonatal herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection have recurrent crops of skin vesicles caused by HSV in infancy. Both observations suggest that immune responses to these viruses are limited following congenital or neonatal infection. Affected children have few T cells in their blood, which proliferate in response to the infecting virus (Hayward et al. 1984a). However, the presence of first IgM and later IgG antibodies to HSV in their serum indicates that they have developed specific immunity and suggests that they have T cells capable of providing help to B cells (Hayward et al. 1984b).
Acylation of keratinocyte transglutaminase by palmitic and myristic acids in the membrane anchorage region

The membrane-bound form of keratinocyte transglutaminase was found to be labeled by addition of [3H] acetic, [3H]myristic, or [3H]palmitic acids to the culture medium of human epidermal cells. Acid methanolysis and high performance liquid chromatography analysis of palmitate-labeled transglutaminase yielded only methyl palmitate. In contrast, analysis of the myristate-labeled protein yielded approximately 40% methyl myristate and 60% methyl palmitate. Incorporation of neither label was significantly affected by cycloheximide inhibition of protein synthesis. The importance of the fatty acid moiety for membrane anchorage was demonstrated in three ways. First, the enzyme was solubilized from the particulate fraction of cell extracts by treatment with neutral 1 M hydroxylamine, which was sufficient to release the fatty acid label. Second, solubilization of active enzyme from the particulate fraction upon mild trypsin treatment resulted in a reduction in size by approximately 10 kDa and removal of the fatty acid radiolabels. Third, the small fraction of soluble transglutaminase in cell extracts was found almost completely to lack fatty acid labeling. Keratinocyte transglutaminase translated from poly(A+) RNA in a reticulocyte cell-free system was indistinguishable in size from the native enzyme, suggesting anchorage requires only minor post-translational processing. Thus, the data are highly compatible with membrane anchorage by means of fatty acid acylation within 10 kDa of the NH2 or COOH terminus.
Effect of Fas+ and Fas- target cells on the ability of NK cells to repeatedly fragment DNA and trigger lysis via the Fas lytic pathway.

We and others have recently shown that human NK cells express the Fas ligand (FasL) constitutively and that they can trigger the lysis of Fas positive (Fas+) target cells (TC) by apoptosis. We have also previously demonstrated that NK cells exposed to sensitive TC temporarily lose their ability to lyse sensitive TC via the granule-mediated pathway and that this loss is recovered when inactivated NK cells (NKi) are incubated in medium supplemented with IL-2, IL-12 or IL-15. In this study, we investigated the fate of the Fas-lytic pathway in NK cells exposed to either Fas+ or Fas− TC. To this end, we exposed NK cells to Jurkat (Fas−) or Jurkat (Fas+) TC for up to 6 h, separated NK cells from the TC and assessed the residual lytic activity against K562, a traditional human NK cell target, Jurkat Fas+ and Jurkat Fas− TC. Fas lytic activity was determined in calcium free medium, in the presence or absence of two distinct Fas-blocking monoclonal antibodies and a Fas.Fc fusion protein. In parallel experiments, the extent of DNA fragmentation in the three TCs was also assayed by the JAM test. Our results indicate that: (i) NK cells exposed to susceptible Fas+ TC temporarily lose most of their lytic potential due to the granule-mediated pathway, while only partially losing the Fas-lytic pathway. They also partially lose their ability to fragment DNA. (ii) NK cells exposed to Fas+ TC completely recover the Fas lytic pathway and the ability to fragment DNA via the Fas/Fas ligand when incubated in medium supplemented with IL-2 for 18 h.
Programming for Children and Teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder by Barbara Klipper

Autism is a developmental disorder that has afflicted millions of Americans. It is a spectrum disorder and as such can range in severity from mild to extreme. Data collected from the Centers for Di...
ON THE UTILITY OF SYSTEMATICITY: UNDERSTANDING TRADEOFFS BETWEEN REDUNDANCY AND COMMITMENT IN PARTIAL-ORDERING PLANNING

Although the idea of generating plans through nonlinear or partially ordered partially instantiated (POPI) planningI has been around for almost twenty years, it is only recently that the search space characteristics of POPI planners have received particular attention. A big thrust in this work has been on reducing the redundancy in the search space of POPI planners. This was largely motivated by the belief that redundancy reduction will lead to improvements in planning efficiency[10, 8]. One approach towards redundancy elimination, that turned out to be particularly influential (as evidencedby several closely related extensions [8, 18, 16, 2, 17]), was that of McAllester’s [8]. McAllester showed that it is possible to design a POPI planner that is systematic in the strong sense that it never visits two equivalent plans or plans having overlapping linearizations. Such systematic planners were claimed to be more efficient than planners that admit redundancy in their search space. While search space redundancy is an important factor affecting the efficiency of a P O PI planner, another (perhaps) equally important one is the level of commitment in the planner. After all, avoiding premature commitment was one of the primary motivations for POPI planning. There is a tradeoff between the redundancy elimination and least commitment, in that often the redundancy is eliminated at the expense of increased commitment in the planner. For example, McAllester’s planner achieves systematicity by keeping track of the causal structures of the plans generated during search, and ensuring that each branch of the search space commits to and protects mutually exclusive causal structures for the partial plans. We will see that such protection amounts to a strong form of premature commitment, which increases the amount of backtracking as well as the solution depth, and can have an adverse effect on the performance of the planner. In this paper we shall argue that the performance of a POPI planner depends more closely on the way it deals with the tradeoff between redundancy and commitment, than with the systematicity of its search. We will start with a rational reconstruction of the motivations behind systematicity in POPI planning and show that systematicity is just one extreme solution for the tradeoff between redundancy and commitment. We will show that there are a spectrum of solutions to this tradeoff, and identify the dimensions along which they vary. We will explore the relative utility of the different solutions through a comparative study of seven planners that fall at different points on the spectrum. Our studies show that
NONCULTURE METHODS FOR DIAGNOSIS OF DISSEMINATED CANDIDIASIS

Two of the nonculture approaches to the diagnosis of DC, enzymatic-fluorometric determination of serum D-arabinitol and detection of marker antigens in antigenemia (enolase and CWMP), have been commercialized and have shown promise in limited clinical trials. These approaches are not new but are the culmination of efforts made over 10 or more years. Clearly, further fine-tuning of both metabolite and antigen detection is needed to simplify the methods and to improve their sensitivity and specificity so that they will be valuable in guiding clinical treatment decisions. An alternative approach, detection of DC by DNA amplification methods such as PCR, is a special case of a compelling technology and one that is capable of standardization across microbial genera. The availability of simplified PCR diagnostic methods for DC remains a tantalizing prospect. Nevertheless, the development of methods to release DNA from very small numbers of Candida organisms in the blood in a form that is sufficiently free of inhibitors of PCR will require further intensive effort. The maturation of these converging laboratory approaches to nonculture diagnosis of DC leads to more optimism about the eventual use of these methods in clinical laboratories.
Identifying Regrettable Messages from Tweets

Inappropriate tweets may cause severe damages on the authors' reputation or privacy. However, many users do not realize the potential damages when publishing such tweets. Published tweets have lasting effects that may not be completely eliminated by simple deletion, because other users may have read them or third-party tweet analysis platforms have cached them. In this paper, we study the problem of identifying regrettable tweets from normal individual users, with the ultimate goal of reducing the occurrences of regrettable tweets. We explore the contents of a set of tweets deleted by sample normal users to understand the regrettable tweets. With a set of features describing the identifiable reasons, we can develop classifiers to effectively distinguish such regrettable tweets from normal tweets.
Boundary layer flow of a micropolar fluid near an axisymmetric stagnation point on a moving cylinder

Abstract An analysis is presented for the boundary layer flow of a micropolar fluid in the vicinity of an axisymmetric stagnation flow on a moving cylinder. The governing boundary layer equations are solved numerically. The development of the velocity and angular velocity distributions has been illustrated. A discussion is provided for the effect of the boundary condition of the microrotation on the flow characteristics.
Renewable energy microgrid control with energy storage integration

The goal of this paper1 is to present the design of feedback controllers for the integration of renewable energy into a DC bus microgrid. These feedback controllers are divided into two types. The first type is based on a feedback guidance command that implements the boost converter duty cycle. The second type is based on Hamiltonian Surface Shaping and Power Flow Control (HSSPFC) [1], [2], [3], [4] that implements the energy storage systems. The duty cycle controller is fully coupled while the HSSPFC is completely decoupled due to the skew-symmetric form that is analogous to spacecraft attitude and robot manipulator controllers. A DC bus with two boost converters and an equivalent load is used as an example. Numerical simulation results show the effects of 0% energy storage with renewable energy supplies to 100% energy storage with fossil energy supplies.
Circadian periodicity of blood amino-acids in adult men.

THE term circadian was introduced by Halberg1 to describe a recurring sequence of events with a cycle of approximately 24 h, and the present knowledge of human circadian rhythms has been reviewed recently by Mills2. The circadian periodicity of a large number of constituents of blood, plasma, and urine has been described. Although a diurnal periodicity of whole blood amino-acids in man, in which concentrations at 2000 h were consistently greater than those at 0800 h on the same day, has been noted in this laboratory3, there were insufficient sampling times to establish a circadian pattern. A circadian periodicity of serum amino-acids in growing chickens4 and whole blood tryptophan in mice5 has been reported. We report here a circadian periodicity of whole blood and serum amino-acids in healthy adults.
2-D Fluid Transport Simulations of Gaseous/Radiative Divertors

The features of the fully implicit 2-D fluid code UEDGE are described. The utility of the code is demonstrated by showing bifurcations or multiple solutions of the tokamak edge plasma for both deuterium and impurity injection in the divertor.
Annotating the structure and components of a nanoparticle formulation using computable string expressions

Nanoparticle formulations that are being developed and tested for various medical applications are typically multi-component systems that vary in their structure, chemical composition, and function. It is difficult to compare and understand the differences between the structural and chemical descriptions of hundreds and thousands of nanoparticle formulations found in text documents. We have developed a string nomenclature to create computable string expressions that identify and enumerate the different high-level types of material parts of a nanoparticle formulation and represent the spatial order of their connectivity to each other. The string expressions are intended to be used as IDs, along with terms that describe a nanoparticle formulation and its material parts, in data sharing documents and nanomaterial research databases. The strings can be parsed and represented as a directed acyclic graph. The nodes of the graph can be used to display the string ID, name and other text descriptions of the nanoparticle formulation or its material part, while the edges represent the connectivity between the material parts with respect to the whole nanoparticle formulation. The different patterns in the string expressions can be searched for and used to compare the structure and chemical components of different nanoparticle formulations. The proposed string nomenclature is extensible and can be applied along with ontology terms to annotate the complete description of nanoparticles formulations.
Behavioral effects of caffeine, (-)N-((R)-1-methyl-2-phenylethyl)-adenosine (PIA), and their combination in the mouse.

The effects of caffeine (1–100 mg/kg, IP), (-)N-((R)-1-methyl-2-phenylethyl)-adenosine (PIA) (0.01–1 mg/kg, IP), and of the two drugs in combination were studied in mice responding under a mult FR30 FI600 s schedule of food presentation. The lowest dose of caffeine, 1 mg/kg, had no effect on responding under either component of the mult schedule. Intermediate doses of caffeine (3 and 10 mg/kg) slightly increased responding under the FI component, while higher doses decreased responding. Caffeine only decreased responding, at doses above 30 mg/kg, under the FR component. PIA decreased responding under both components of the mult schedule in a dose-dependent, and similar, manner. In most cases, the rate-increasing effect of caffeine on FI responding was diminished when combined with a rate-decreasing dose of PIA. However, when 0.01 mg/kg PIA, a dose that had no effect alone, was combined with 3 mg/kg caffeine, the increase in rate exceeded that of caffeine alone. Rate-deceasing effects of PIA were antagonized by caffeine; with larger doses of PIA, larger doses of caffeine were required for antagonism. Thus, while the rate-increasing effects of caffeine can be either enhanced or diminished, when combined with different doses of PIA, the rate-decreasing effects of PIA are clearly antagonized by caffeine in a dose-dependent manner.
Single-Molecule Protein Unfolding and Translocation by the AAA+ Protease, ClpXP

All cells employ ATP-fueled AAA+ proteases for protein-quality control and regulation. In the ClpXP protease, the ring-shaped AAA+ molecular motor ClpX first recognizes and mechanically unfolds specific protein substrates, then translocates the denatured polypeptide through a central axial pore into the barrel-shaped peptidase ClpP for degradation. Although the mechanisms of ATP utilization and substrate degradation have been extensively studied in solution and recently at the single-molecule level[1, 2], the molecular details underlying mechanical substrate unfolding and stepping along the polypeptide track remain unexamined.Using a dual-laser optical trap, we probed how ClpXP unfolds and translocates a multi-domain protein substrate at the single-molecule level. In our assay, a ClpXP-substrate complex is tethered between two trapped polystyrene beads held in a dumbbell configuration [2]. Motility records of ClpXP along the polypeptide track show unique, fingerprint-like, substrate unfolding and translocation events. Following rapid and cooperative unfolding of individual domains, we find that ClpX translocates the polypeptide into ClpP, taking small steps of 5-8 amino acids. The nature of the polypeptide track affects ClpXP mechanochemical activity. ClpX step size does not depend on ClpP, though we observe substantial substrate refolding and slippage events when only ClpX is examined. Our results support a power-stroke model of denaturation in which successful unfolding requires mechanical pulling by the enzyme to coincide with transient stochastic protein destabilization.[1] Shin, Y., Davis, J.H., Brau, R.R., Martin, A., Kenniston, J.A., Baker T.A., Sauer, R.T., Lang, M.J. Single-molecule denaturation and degradation of proteins by the AAA+ ClpXP protease. PNAS, 106, 19340 (2009)[2] Aubin-Tam, M. E., Olivares, A. O., Sauer, R. T., Baker, T. A., Lang, M. J. Single-molecule protein unfolding and translocation by an ATP-fueled proteolytic machine. Cell, 145, 257-67 (2011)