cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A New Overall-Subgroup Simultaneous Test for Optimal Inference in Biomarker-Targeted Confirmatory Trials

We propose a joint hypothesis test for simultaneous confirmatory inference in the overall population and a pre-defined marker-positive subgroup under the assumption that the treatment effect in the marker-positive subgroup is larger than that in the overall population. The proposed confirmatory overall-subgroup simultaneous test (COSST) is based on partitioning the sample space of the test statistics in the marker-positive and marker-negative subgroups. We define two rejection regions in the joint sample space of the two test statistics: (1) efficacy in the marker-positive subgroup only; (2) efficacy in the overall population. COSST achieves higher statistical power to detect the overall and subgroup efficacy than most sequential procedures while controlling the family-wise type I error rate. COSST also takes into account the potentially harmful effect in the subgroups in the decision. The optimal rejection regions depend on the specific alternative hypothesis and the sample size. COSST can be useful for Phase III clinical trials with tailoring objectives.
Effects of EGF and indomethacin on rabbit corneal endothelial wound closure in excised corneas.

Corneal endothelial cells of rabbit corneas stored in M-K medium at 37 °C were wounded by touching them lightly with a micropipet under video specular microscope observation. Three groups were studied: control, with EGF, and with EGF + indomethacin. The wound closure process (initial wound area about 8500 Mm 2 ) was observed and recorded with time-lapse videography for 6 hr. The recorded video images were digitized and computer assisted morphometric analysis was performed. (1) Addition of either EGF (10 ng/ml) + indomethacin (1 /iM), or EGF (10 ng/ml) alone to the M-K medium statistically significantly shortened the wound closure time as compared with the control group. (2) Both EGF + indomethacin and EGF alone resulted in a greater average percent relative change of the shape factor, more than three times greater with EGF + indomethacin and more than two times greater with EGF alone, than in the control group 150 min after wounding. (3) The maximum cell shape change occured at about 150 min after wounding in the groups EGF + indomethacin and EGF alone, and at about 200 min in the control group. After this time in all three groups the cells began to approach a normal shape. (4) The cells near the wound boundary moved faster in the EGF + indomethacin and the EGF groups as compared with the control group. These results suggest that EGF and indomethacin may be of therapeutic value in promoting closure of traumatized human corneal endothelium. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 30:1991-1996,1989 The effects of epidermal growth factor (EGF) on corneal tissues have recently attracted considerable attention by ophthalmologists, because of the possibility that EGF may stimulate regeneration of injured or diseased tissue in vivo. EGF is an acidic, low-molecular-weight protein purified from mouse submaxillary gland 1 which was initially identified because of its ectodermal effects on newborn mice to cause premature eyelid opening and incisor eruption. 2 EGF is a 53-residue polypeptide of 6045 Daltons, with three cysteine-cysteine linkages. Three amino acids are completely absent from its structure: lysine, alanine and phenylalanine. EGF has been shown to stimulate the proliferation of chick and rabbit corneal epithelium in organ culture and in vivo. 3 EGF has also been found to be biologically active in human and primate tissue, stimulating corneal epithelial growth in culture. 4 ' 5 Several
Protective Misperception? Prospective Study of Weight Self-Perception and Blood Pressure in Adolescents With Overweight and Obesity

Abstract Purpose Underestimating one's weight is often seen as a barrier to weight loss. However, recent research has shown that weight underperception may be beneficial, with lower future weight gain and fewer depressive symptoms. Here, we examine the relationship between adolescent weight underperception and future blood pressure. Methods Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we obtained a nationally representative sample of 2,463 adolescents with overweight and obesity (students in grades 8–12 in 1996). We used multivariable linear regression to prospectively examine the relationship between weight self-perception in adolescence and blood pressure in adulthood (year 2008; follow-up rate 80.3%), controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, smoking, alcohol consumption, education level, household income, and body mass index. Additional analyses were stratified by gender and race/ethnicity. Results Youth with overweight/obesity who underperceived their weight had lower blood pressure in adulthood than those who perceived themselves to be overweight. The decrease in systolic blood pressure was −2.5 mm Hg (95% confidence interval: −4.3, −0.7; p = .006). Although the interaction by gender was statistically insignificant ( p = .289), important differences appeared upon stratification by gender. Young men showed no significant difference in adult blood pressure related to weight self-perception. Conversely, in young women, weight underperception was associated with an average decrease in systolic blood pressure of −4.3 mm Hg (95% confidence interval: −7.0, −1.7; p = .002). Conclusions Contrary to conventional wisdom, weight underperception is associated with improved health markers in young women. The observed differences in blood pressure are clinically relevant in magnitude, and interventions to correct weight underperception should be re-examined for unintended consequences.
HISTORY OF FINANCIAL REPORTING MODELS FOR AMERICAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES: 1910 TO THE PRESENT

This paper contrasts current and proposed higher-education financial reporting models with financial reporting models developed earlier in this century. The historical review in this paper has current value since the FASB and the GASB are considering major changes in the way that private and public colleges and universities report financial information. The results of the historical review reveal that, through the years, report modelers varied in their concern for user needs and report uniformity. Interestingly, the first higher-education reporting model developed in 1910 and the proposed model developed in 1992 by the FASB both focused on user needs while the primary objective for the reporting model currently in use and most other intervening models was only uniformity.
Conditions leading to the unprecedented low Antarctic sea ice extent during the 2016 austral spring season

The 2016 austral spring was characterized by the lowest anomalous Southern Hemisphere (SH) sea ice extent seen in the observational record (1979-present) and coincided with anomalously warm surface waters surrounding most of Antarctica. Two distinct processes contributed to this event: Firstly, the extreme El Nino event peaking in December-February (DJF) 2015/16 contributed to pronounced extra-tropical SH sea-surface temperature and sea ice extent anomalies in the eastern Ross, Amundsen, and Bellingshausen Seas that persisted in part until the following 2016 austral spring. Secondly, internal unforced atmospheric variability of the Southern Annular Mode promoted the exceptional low sea ice extent in November-December 2016. These results suggest that a combination of tropically-forced and internal SH atmospheric variability contributed to the unprecedented sea ice decline during the 2016 austral spring, on top of the slow background changes expected from greenhouse gas and ozone forcing.
Comparative genetics of invasive populations of walnut aphid, Chromaphis juglandicola , and its introduced parasitoid, Trioxys pallidus , in California.

Author(s): Andersen, Jeremy C; Mills, Nicholas J | Abstract: Coevolution may be an important component of the sustainability of importation biological control, but how frequently introduced natural enemies coevolve with their target pests is unclear. Here we explore whether comparative population genetics of the invasive walnut aphid, Chromaphis juglandicola, and its introduced parasitoid, Trioxys pallidus, provide insights into the localized breakdown of biological control services in walnut orchards in California. We found that sampled populations of C. juglandicola exhibited higher estimates of genetic differentiation (F ST) than co-occurring populations of T. pallidus. In contrast, estimates of both the inbreeding coefficient (G IS) and contemporary gene flow were higher for T. pallidus than for C. juglandicola. We also found evidence of reciprocal outlier loci in some locations, but none showed significant signatures of selection. Synthesis and applications. Understanding the importance of coevolutionary interactions for the sustainability of biological control remains an important and understudied component of biological control research. Given the observed differences in gene flow and genetic differentiation among populations of T. pallidus and C. juglandicola, we suspect that temporary local disruption of biological control services may occur more frequently than expected while remaining stable at broader regional scales. Further research that combines genomewide single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping with measurements of phenotypic traits is needed to provide more conclusive evidence of whether the occurrence of outlier loci that display significant signatures of selection can be interpreted as evidence of the presence of a geographic mosaic of coevolution in this system.
Selective Copper Plating in Silicon Dioxide Trenches with Metal Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation

Selective deposition of copper in SiO2 trenches has been carried out using plasma immersion ion implantation and electroless Cu plating. To form the seed layer for electroless Cu plating on SiO2, sputtered Pd and Si atoms were partially ionized by the Ar plasma and then deposited at bottoms of SiO2 trenches; Ar ions also assisted the ion beam mixing of the deposited Pd/Si films with the SiO2 substrate. We found a threshold Pd dose of 2−3×1014/cm2 is required to initiate the electroless plating of Cu. By controlling the Pd dose and the tapering angle of the SiO2 trench sidewalls, 1 µm wide Cu filled lines with flat surfaces suitable for planarized multilevel metallization were successfully fabricated.
Genetic or Spontaneous Hypertension in Animals

Studies of human essential hypertension have shown that there is a strong genetic component to this disease, as reviewed in a previous chapter. Children whose parents have essential hypertension have a much greater than normal chance of having essential hypertension themselves as they reach adulthood. But, this statistical connection does not show us what gene or genes are involved or how the genetic information is conveyed to the physiological processes that ultimately influence blood pressure.
TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC WASTEWATER BY THREE PLANT SPECIES IN CONSTRUCTED WETLANDS

Three common Appalachian plant species (Juncus effusus L., Scirpus validus L., and Typha latifolia L.) were planted into small-scale constructed wetlands receiving primary treated wastewater. The experimental design included two wetland gravel depths (45 and 60 cm) and five planting treatments (each species in monoculture, an equal mixture of the three species, and controls without vegetation), with two replicates per depth planting combination. Inflow rates (19 L day 1 ) and frequency (3 times day 1 ) were designed to simulate full-scale constructed wetlands as currently used for domestic wastewater treatment in West Virginia. Influent wastewater and the effluent from each wetland were sampled monthly for ten physical, chemical and biological parameters, and plant demographic measurements were made. After passing through these trough wetlands, the average of all treatments showed a 70% reduction in total suspended solids (TSS) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), 50 to 60% reduction in nitrogen (TKN), ammonia and phosphate, and a reduction of fecal coliforms by three orders of magnitude. Depth of gravel (45 or 60 cm) had little effect on wetland treatment ability, but did influence Typha and Scirpus growth patterns. Gravel alone provided significant wastewater treatment, but vegetation further improved many treatment efficiencies. Typha significantly out-performed Juncus and Scirpus both in growth and in effluent quality improvement. There was also some evidence that the species mixture out-performed species monocultures. Typha was the superior competitor in mixtures, but a decline in Typha growth with distance from the influent pipe suggested that nutrients became limiting or toxicities may have developed.
Ground State Energy and Landau Parameters of Spin-Polarized Deuterium Using Green’s Function Methods

The Galitskii-Feynman-Hartree-Fock (GFHF) theory is outlined and applied to a system of fully polarized deuterium atoms. The effective interaction in this theory is the GFHF T-matrix. We give a calculation of the single particle energies, ɛ(\( \in (\vec k)\)), and the ground state energy as a function of density. The calculation of ɛ(\( \in (\vec k)\)) uses a new evaluation of the self energy which includes the effects of two hole intermediate states in the effective interaction. We also calculate the Landau parameters both from the T-matrix and from an induced interaction which uses the T-matrix as input. The good agreement of our ground state with the Monte Carlo calculations of Panoff and Clark and the internal consistency of our Landau parameters indicate that the T-matrix gives a good account of the effective interaction in this system.
Effects of Time Pressure and Experience Level on Worker Perceived Workload: Implications for Procedural Designs in High-Risk Industrial Tasks:

One of the leading causes of incidents in high-risk industrial facilities, including offshore oil and gas rigs, is poor compliance with written procedures. For this study, 25 male participants perf...
Mindless feeding: Is maternal distraction during bottle-feeding associated with overfeeding?

Abstract Mindless eating, or eating while distracted by surrounding stimuli, leads to overeating. The present study explored whether “mindless feeding,” or maternal distraction during bottle-feeding, is associated with greater infant formula/milk intakes and lower maternal sensitivity to infant cues. Mothers and their ≤24-week-old bottle-feeding infants (N = 28) visited our laboratory for a video-recorded feeding observation. Infant intake was assessed by weighing bottles before and after the feedings. Maternal sensitivity to infant cues was objectively assessed by behavioral coding of video-records using the Nursing Child Assessment Feeding Scale. Maternal distraction was defined as looking away from the infant >75% of the feeding; using a mobile device; conversing with another adult; or sleeping. Twenty-nine percent (n = 8) of mothers were distracted. While differences in intakes for infants of distracted vs. not distracted mothers did not reach significance (p = 0.24), the association between distraction and infant intake was modified by two dimensions of temperament: orienting/regulation capacity (p = 0.03) and surgency/extraversion (p = 0.04). For infants with low orienting/regulation capacity, infants of distracted mothers consumed more (177.1 ± 33.8 ml) than those of not distracted mothers (92.4 ± 13.8 ml). Similar findings were noted for infants with low surgency/extraversion (distracted: 140.6 ± 22.5 ml; not distracted: 78.4 ± 14.3 ml). No association between distraction and intake was seen for infants with high orienting/regulation capacity or surgency/extraversion. A significantly greater proportion of distracted mothers showed low sensitivity to infant cues compared to not distracted mothers (p = 0.04). In sum, mindless feeding may interact with infant characteristics to influence feeding outcomes; further experimental and longitudinal studies are needed.
Coagulopathy implications using a multiscale model of traumatic bleeding matching macro- and microcirculation

We developed a multiscale model that couples a lumped, global hemodynamic model of a patient to resolved, single-vessel wounds ranging from the small artery to capillary scale. The model is able to...
Pd(0) catalyzed intramolecular alkylation: stereoselective synthesis of furan and isoxazoline-2-oxide analogs

New optically pure isoxazoline-2-oxide and furan analogs have been synthesized using Pd(0) catalyzed intramolecular cyclizations. Starting from a meso-diol, optically pure compounds were prepared without utilizing chiral ligands at any stage of the synthesis. The stereochemical outcome of the product (>99% ee) was influenced by desymmetrization catalyzed by Pseudomonas cepacia lipase and the stereoselective nature of the palladium catalyzed transformations.
From structuralism to Marxism (and Back?): Jan Mukařovský 1945–1963

The paper covers the last phase of Jan Mukařovský’s career between 1945 and 1964 during which his scholarly outlook underwent several steep flections. It treats his conversion from structuralism to Marxism as a story with a distinctive composition, generic characteristics, and buildup. It articulates it into three stages and argues that each accommodates the relationship between these two scholarly paradigms in a different manner. If the initial one (1945–1948/49) strove toward a harmonious merge of structuralism with Marxism, the second one (1949–1958) triggered a sharp renunciation of the former and the total acceptance of the latter, while the last one (1958–1964) brought about a rather diffident return to some initial premises of structuralism.
Colpocleisis for Advanced Pelvic Organ Prolapse

The purpose of this review is to consolidate and present the most recent literature on colpocleisis in the treatment of pelvic organ prolapse. Since its origin in the 1800s, the techniques for colpocleisis have remain largely unchanged. We will review the peri-operative considerations for a patient undergoing an obliterative procedure, specifically focusing on the potential concern for uterine pathology. There are no universally accepted guidelines for endometrial evaluation in the asymptomatic post-menopausal patient, yet the majority of providers prefer to perform some type of pre-operative endometrial evaluation. Colpocleisis can be performed with hysterectomy as a part of the procedure, as a uterine-sparing procedure, or in a patient who has already had a hysterectomy. Performing a hysterectomy at the time of colpocleisis is associated with longer operating times and higher estimated blood loss, but removal of the uterus negates the concern for future uterine pathology. Anti-incontinence procedures are commonly performed concomitantly. Complications following colpocleisis are not common. As the life expectancy in the USA and medical comorbidities increase, future studies are needed to evaluate long-term outcomes. Colpocleisis is a minimally invasive and safe procedure which demonstrates consistently high rates of patient satisfaction. Female pelvic reconstructive surgeons should be comfortable with offering obliterative procedures as an option for patients desiring definitive treatment.
Average Consensus-Based Data Fusion in Networked Sensor Systems for Target Tracking

Decentralized and distributed autonomous sensing over networked sensor systems has many applications in surveillance, Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous cars, and UAV swarms tactics. In this study, we develop an average consensus-based decentralized data fusion approach for a target tracking application. Specifically, we extend the standard average consensus algorithm to merge the local state estimate information with that of the neighbors. We test the performance of our consensus based data fusion approach for various network configurations. We also perform numerical studies to compare the performance of our approach against the standard Bayesian data fusion approach.
The Anxiogenic Effects of Caffeine Do Not Potentiate Nicotine Withdrawal in an Elevated Plus Maze Model of Anxiety

Background: Negative effect during withdrawal is associated with tobacco relapse, yet little is known about factors that increase the aversive symptoms of withdrawal. This study explored how caffei...
028 Use of systemic immunosuppressive treatment is not related to COVID-19 infection in a retrospective review of patients in Massachusetts

Importance: It is unclear if systemic immunosuppression for chronic conditions modifies patients’ risk of contracting COVID-19, leading to uncertainty among patients and dermatologists treating immune-mediated skin conditions during the pandemic Methods: We partnered with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to identify COVID-19 positivity and mortality for patients treated at the Mass General Brigham who were prescribed a systemic immunosuppressant from 07/01/19-02/29/20 We excluded biologics, steroids, and antirheumatic drugs from the analysis Patients were compared with exact matched controls using a multivariable logistic regression for infection and multivariable Poisson regression for mortality, adjusting for demographics, comorbidity score, and local infection rate Results: The most common medications identified were Methotrexate (23 5%), Mesalamine (19 2%), Paclitaxel (8 3%), Mycophenolate (7 8%), Hydroxyurea (6 0%), and Tacrolimus (5 3%) 218 of 14,865 (1 5%) patients prescribed systemic immunosuppressants and 1,368 of 80,318 (1 7%) controls were identified as COVID-19 positive Of these, 26 (0 2%) patients prescribed immunosuppressants and 162 (0 2%) controls died after diagnosis Patients prescribed immunosuppressants were not more likely to have a COVID-19 diagnosis (OR 0 91, 95% CI 0 79-1 05, p=0 22) or die after diagnosis (OR 0 95, 95% CI 0 62-1 44, p=0 80) after adjusting for demographics, comorbidity score, and local infection rate Conclusions and Relevance: We found no evidence that systemic immunosuppression preceding the COVID-19 pandemic increased risk of contracting COVID-19 or risk of mortality among COVID-19 positive patients
Forecasting wind waves in the US Atlantic Coast using an artificial neural network model: Towards an AI-based storm forecast system

Abstract This study presents an artificial intelligence (AI) model to forecast time-series wind waves in the US Atlantic Coast. The fundamental technique in the proposed model is the Long Short-term Memory model, which is able to learn patterns from data sequence. The model is trained using historical wind data, wave data, temperature data, and atmospheric pressure data. Then the model is used to forecast significant wave height, average wave period, and mean wave direction. A 2-year meteorological data measured at four NOAA buoy stations in the US Atlantic Coast are used to train and evaluate the model’s forecast skills. The results show the artificial neural network model converges fast and does not have over-fitting nor under-fitting issues. Furthermore, a short-term forecast (e.g., 1 to 6 h) achieves higher accuracy than a long-term forecast (e.g., 24 to 48 h). This study shows that sufficient forecast accuracy can be obtained by using the input hours equal to the forecast lead time. Comparison using rose plots confirms that the artificial neural network model reproduces wave height and wave period statistics very well. The artificial neural network model is used to forecast storm waves induced by Hurricanes Isaias and Eta in the US South Atlantic region, and two winter storms in the US North Atlantic region. The model forecast is compared with NOAA measurement. The results show that the artificial neural network model is able to accurately forecast both significant wave height and average wave period associated with storm events when the forecast lead time is relatively short (e.g., 1 to 6 h). The proposed artificial neural network model can serve as an alternative tool to traditional coastal models for wave prediction and storm forecast.
Comparative assessment of the fate and toxicity of chemically and biologically synthesized silver nanoparticles to juvenile clams.

Abstract Nanoparticles (NPs) can be produced via physical, chemical, or biological approaches. Yet, the impact of the synthesis approaches on the environmental fate and effects of NPs is poorly understood. Here, we synthesized AgNPs through chemical and biological approaches (cit-AgNPs and bio-AgNPs), characterized their properties, and toxicities relative to commercially available Ag nanopowder (np-AgNPs) to the clam Mercenaria mercenaria. The chemical synthesis is based on the reduction of ionic silver using sodium borohydride as a reducing agent and trisodium citrate as a capping agent. The biological synthesis is based on the reduction of ionic silver using biomolecules extracted from an atoxigenic strain of a filamentous fungus Aspergillus parasiticus. The properties of AgNPs were determined using UV-vis, dynamic light scattering, laser Doppler electrophoresis, (single particle)-inductively coupled plasma-atomic mass spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and asymmetric flow-field flow fractionation. Both chemical and biological synthesis approaches generated spherical AgNPs. The chemical synthesis produced AgNPs with narrower size distributions than those generated through biological synthesis. The polydispersity of bio-AgNPs decreased with increases in cell free extract (CFE):Ag ratios. The magnitude of the zeta potential of the cit-AgNPs was higher than those of bio-AgNPs. All AgNPs formed aggregates in the test media i.e., natural seawater. Based on the same total Ag concentrations, all AgNPs were less toxic than AgNO3. The toxicity of AgNPs toward the juvenile clam, Mercenaria mercenaria, decreased following the order np-AgNPs > cit-AgNPs > bio-AgNPs. Expressed as a function of dissolved Ag concentrations, the toxicity of Ag decreased following the order cit-AgNPs > bio-AgNPs > AgNO3 ~ np-AgNPs. Therefore, the toxicity of AgNP suspensions can be attributed to a combined effect of dissolved and particulate Ag forms. These results indicate AgNP synthesis methods determine their environmental and biological behaviors and should be considered for a more comprehensive environmental risk assessment of AgNPs.
Topology optimization for the design of porous electrodes

Porous electrodes are an integral part of many electrochemical devices since they have high porosity to maximize electrochemical transport and high surface area to maximize activity. Traditional porous electrode materials are typically homogeneous, stochastic collections of small scale particles and offer few opportunities to engineer higher performance. Fortunately, recent breakthroughs in advanced and additive manufacturing are yielding new methods to structure and pattern porous electrodes across length scales. These architected electrodes are emerging as a promising new technology to continue to drive improvement; however, it is still unclear which structures to employ and few tools are available to guide their design. In this work we address this gap by applying topology optimization to the design of porous electrodes. We demonstrate our framework on two applications: a porous electrode driving a steady Faradaic reaction and a transiently operated electrode in a supercapacitor. We present computationally designed electrodes that minimize energy losses in a half-cell. For low conductivity materials, the optimization algorithm creates electrode designs with a hierarchy of length scales. Further, the designed electrodes are found to outperform undesigned, homogeneous electrodes. Finally, we present three-dimensional porous electrode designs. We thus establish a topology optimization framework for designing porous electrodes.
Integrating Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners Into Psychiatric Practice Settings.

Introduction by the column editors: This column is based on the use of an electronic mailing list (e-list) to generate a collaborative problem-solving process. For this column, Dr. Theccanat put together responses from himself and other e-list alumni of the Columbia University Public Psychiatry Fellowship to questions posed by Vanessa Bobb, M.D., who works at a free-standing licensed mental health clinic and for the first time wanted to hire a part-time psychiatric nurse practitioner to see adult clients. Dr. Bobb wanted to know what the typical salaries are for psychiatric nurse practitioners and the typical number of medication visits that they schedule per day. She also sought advice on places to advertise and to post announcements. Readers are invited to submit suggestions for e-list discussions of management problems to column editor Jules Ranz, M.D. (e-mail:
Statistical image reconstruction for lesion detection

Detecting cancerous lesions is one major application in emission tomography. In this paper, we study statistical image reconstruction for this important clinical task. Compared to analytical reconstruction methods, statistical approaches can improve the image quality by accurately modeling the photon detection process and data noise. To explore the full potential of statistical reconstruction for lesion detection, we derived simplified theoretical expressions that allow fast evaluation of the detectability of a random lesion. The theoretical results are used to design the regularization parameters for the maximum lesion detectability. Results are validated using Monte Carlo simulations.
Immunobiology of Dendritic Cells in Cancer

Dendritic cells (DCs) play a crucial role in initiating immune responses against both foreign pathogens as well as tumors. DCs also control the type, potency, and extent of T-cell responses, contribute to natural killer (NK) and natural killer T-cell (NKT cell) antitumoral activity, as well as to B-cell-mediated immunity. However, antitumor immune responses are often deficient or suboptimal since tumor cells are able to exploit the functional roles of DCs for tumor progression. Suppression, dysfunction, and repolarization of DC function in cancer patients all contribute to the failure of antitumor immune responses and consequent disease progression. Subversion of tumor immunity by altering the tumor immunoenvironment and DC subset distribution and function is mediated by various malignant cell-derived and tumor stroma-derived factors, many of which remain to be identified. Molecular mechanisms of tumor-mediated dysfunction and repolarization of the DC system are under investigation, and several signaling pathways responsible for DC malfunction in cancer have been already described. Here, we summarize findings in the field of DC biology in cancer and discuss the importance of these data for designing novel DC-based vaccination strategies, as well as their applicability for combinatorial therapeutic approaches.
CELLULAR AGING IS A CRITICAL DETERMINANT OF PRIMARY CELL RESISTANCE TO V-SRC TRANSFORMATION

Primary cell cultures are in general resistant to the transforming effect of a single oncogene, a finding considered consistent with the multistage theory of carcinogenesis. In the present studies, we examined whether cellular age, differentiation stage, and/or tissue origin of primary cells plays a role in determining their response to v-src transformation. To study the role of cellular age, rat mammary fibroblasts were isolated from a 50-day-old female rat and infected with a recombinant retrovirus carrying a v-src gene after 2, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days of continuous growth. To determine whether cellular differentiation is important, fibroblasts were isolated from embryos at 12 and 16 days of gestation, from newborns, and from a 30-day-old rat and similarly infected. Finally, the role of primary-cell histogenesis was assessed by infecting primary cultures of fibroblasts isolated from the mammary gland, dermis, and lungs of a mature rat. When compared to 3Y1 cells, all preparations of primary cultures exhibited considerable resistance to v-src transformation. However, whereas primary cells isolated from different tissues responded similarly to the transforming effect of the oncogene, major differences were observed when cells were transduced at different stages of their in vitro life span. v-src was capable of inducing formation of foci and growth in soft agar in early-passage cells but failed to do so in primary cultures infected after 14 days of continuous passaging. Similarly, both the number of foci and the number of colonies in soft agar decreased with tissue donor age. The differential response of young and senescing cells could not be explained by mutations in v-src provirus, by differences in functional v-src expression, or by growth stimulation or suppression via paracrine mechanisms. Furthermore, v-src cooperated with an immortalizing gene, like simian virus 40 large T, polyomavirus large T, E6 and E7 of human papillomavirus, or an activated p53 mutant, to induce anchorage-independent growth of primary cultures but failed to do so with cytoplasmic transforming genes, like v-abl, v-ras, or v-raf, which did not confer indefinite division potential. These studies indicate that cellular aging is a critical determinant of primary-cell resistance to v-src transformation. It is suggested that v-src requires a nuclear auxiliary function for transformation which is present in early-passage cells, particularly when these cells are derived from embryonic tissue, but is lost as cells approach replicative senescence. This auxiliary function is provided by nuclear oncogenes but not cytoplasmic transforming genes.
Retrieval of HELP Information for Novice Users of Interactive Computer Systems

Appropriate design of HELP is important, particularly for novice users of software systems. Three methods of controlling HELP displays were evaluated in a text-editing task. The three methods were the initiation of HELP (i.e., user versus computer), the selection of a particular HELP sequence (i.e., user versus computer), and the type of format (i.e., on-line versus hard copy). These three variables were crossed in a between-subjects design along with a control condition of no HELP available to produce a total of nine separate test conditions. All of the various HELP configurations improved time to edit and reduced both the quantity of errors and the number of editing commands when compared with the no-HELP control condition. Additionally, there were differential effects among the various HELP configurations. It was concluded that for novice users, the optimum HELP system configuration was one in which the user controls the initiation and selection of HELP displays, and the information is stored in a hard...
Application of OMEMS technology in trapped ion quantum computing

Scalability is one of the main challenges of trapped ion based quantum computation, partly limited by the ability to manipulate the increasing number of quantum bits (qubits). For individual addressing of qubits, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology allows one to design movable micromirrors to focus laser beams on individual ions and steer the focal point in two dimensions. This system is able to scale to multiple beams, has switching speeds comparable to typical single qubit gate times, and has negligible crosstalk on neighboring ions.
Clan Politics and Regime Transition in Central Asia: Transition from Above or Below? (1990–1991)

We wanted democracy and freedom. We read Jefferson and Madison. We knew more about democracy than Americans. We knew your history better than you. Yes, all that was forbidden, we read. And then we followed Sakharov, who led the way. An Uzbek intellectual and former political activist, Tashkent, 1997 The year 1991 meant different things to different people and groups in Central Asia. To some, like this Uzbek activist, it meant a chance for democracy. To others, it meant freedom from Soviet colonization, Russian dominance, or scientific atheism, and to many others it primarily meant an end to subsidies. Indeed, Central Asia experienced a far more complicated transition than states that had undergone this process in earlier waves of regime change in other regions of the world. Chapter 4 demonstrated that the nature and timing of the political pacts in the Central Asian cases were only the first element marking these cases as different from transitions in Latin America, Southern Europe, or even in Poland and Hungary, their former communist neighbors. The multilayered and multiphased nature of the Central Asian transitions, like those of the Eastern European and other post-Soviet cases, involved several almost simultaneous political processes – not only political liberalization, but also independence, decolonization, and nation and state building. At the same time, the Central Asian transitions were far less driven by mass ideological movements for democracy or nationalism than those in the Eastern European states or in the other former Soviet republics.
RTZen: highly predictable, real-time java middleware for distributed and embedded systems

Distributed real-time and embedded (DRE) applications possess stringent quality of service (QoS) requirements, such as predictability, latency, and throughput constraints. Real-Time CORBA, an open middleware standard, allows DRE applications to allocate, schedule, and control resources to ensure predictable end-to-end QoS. The Real-Time Specification for Java (RTSJ) has been developed to provide extensions to Java so that it can be used for real-time systems, in order to bring Java's advantages, such as portability and ease of use, to real-time applications. In this paper, we describe RTZen, an implementation of a Real-Time CORBA Object Request Broker (ORB), designed to comply with the restrictions imposed by RTSJ. RTZen is designed to eliminate the unpredictability caused by garbage collection and improper support for thread scheduling through the use of appropriate data structures, threading models, and memory scopes. RTZen's architecture is also designed to hide the complexities of RTSJ related to distributed programming from the application developer. Empirical results show that RTZen is highly predictable and has acceptable performance. RTZen therefore demonstrates that Real-Time CORBA middleware implemented in real-time Java can meet stringent QoS requirements of DRE applications, while supporting safer, easier, cheaper, and faster development in real-time Java.
From the Greedy to the Needy

In some instances when the taxpayer makes a charitable donation, the loss of revenue to the government, and the corresponding gain to the taxpayer, far exceeds the benefit to the charity. Some of these losses may be generated by government sanctioned complex transactions and even government created devices. This article proposes a new way to examine "quid pro quo" charitable gifts that reflects the rationale for the charitable deduction.The article analyzes various charitable donations in terms of the dollars gained by the taxpayer, the dollars lost by the government, and the dollars received by the charity. After considering a sliding scale of benefits to the charities in light of the revenue losses to the government and taxpayer gains, the article makes some normative conclusions about whether the good a donor does justifies his currently available tax benefits and then proposes some solutions.
Inadequate Dietary Protein Increases Hunger and Desire to Eat in Younger and Older Men

Many older people experience changes in appetite and consume marginal or inadequate dietary protein. This study was designed to examine the appetitive responses to habitual protein intakes that span the range of adequacy in younger and older men. Twenty-two men (12 younger, aged 21-43 y and 10 older, aged 63-79 y) completed, in random order, three 18-d trials that involved consumption of individualized, isoenergetic menus providing 1.00, 0.75, and 0.50 g protein . kg BW(-1). d(-1), which were 125% (trial P125), 94% (trial P94), and 63% (trial P63) of the Recommended Dietary Allowance for protein. Near the end of each trial, the subjects recorded appetitive sensations hourly throughout one day using a visual analogue scale. Independent of age, ratings of hunger were lower for P125 (1.3 +/- 0.5 cm) than P94 (1.8 +/- 0.8 cm) and P63 (1.8 +/- 0.6 cm) (P = 0.037), and desire to eat was lower during the P125 trial (1.4 +/- 0.5 cm), compared with the P63 trial (2.1 +/- 0.7 cm) (P = 0.003), and P94 (1.8 +/- 0.7 cm) was not different when compared with P63 and P125. Protein intake did not influence fullness. These results show that younger and older men who consume inadequate protein experience appetite changes that may promote increased food intake.
Towards a universal model for hot carrier degradation in DMOS transistors

In this paper, it is for the first time shown that integrated DMOS transistors exhibit a “universal” on-state degradation characteristic, which is physically explained by the Si-O Bond-Dispersion model. The model is verified on a lateral DMOS transistor integrated in a 0.7 µm smart power technology.
Imaging the brachial plexus and peripheral nerves in infants and children

Imaging of the brachial plexus and peripheral nerves is challenging in the pediatric patient. Magnetic resonance imaging is the modality of choice as it is not invasive and demonstrates proximal and distal lesions. This may be used to detect nerve root avulsions, nerve ruptures, pseudo-meningoceles, brachial plexus scarring, posttraumatic neuromas, brachial plexus edema, spinal cord damage, abnormalities of the shoulder joint, trauma, neoplasms, and infection. Imaging allows diagnosis and careful preoperative evaluation of children suffering from brachial plexus injuries and peripheral nerve disorders.
An efficient method for the partial synthesis of mixed-chain phosphatidylethanolamines

Abstract A high-yielding procedure for the semisynthesis of mixed-chain phosphatidylethanolamines is described. The key finding is that the reacylation of an N-tBOC-lysophosphatidylethanolamine methyl ester with a carboxylic acid can be achieved in high yield with DCC and DMAP. Deprotection of the phosphate and amino functionalities with sodium iodide and trifluoroacetic acid, respectively, provides the title compounds. The versatility of this procedure is illustrated with the synthesis of several mixed-chain phosphatidylethanolamines.
Stroud's Camap

understands Carnap to be applying the verification criterion of meaningfulness in order to refute Cartesian skepticism. I suggest that Stroud misrepresents both Carnap's aim and method. Carnap was responding to critics who suggested that his willingness to quantify over abstract entities in his work in semantics violated his commitment to empiricism. He rejected that criticism as presupposing a super-scientific standpoint from which constraints on the admissible domain of entities of science could be delivered. Carnap wanted to insulate science from the imposition of first-philosophical metaphysical prejudice, not to defuse scepticism by appeal to verificatonism. I. The Received View According to the "received view" of Rudolf Carnap's philosophy, he attempted (and failed) to establish phenomenalistic foundations for science and wielded the verificationist criterion of cognitive significance against traditional metaphysics, religion and values. This characterization of Carnap's philosophy has come to us primarily through A. J. Ayer's introduction of positivism to the English-speaking world in his Language, Truth and Logic' and the preliminary sketches of positivistic doctrine with which many of W. V. Quine's essays begin (and go on, inevitably, to repudiate).2 It is now largely taken for granted that the various objections leveled at verificationism-that none of its many reformulations draws the intended line between meaningful science and meaningless metaphysics and that it is meaningless
The C-terminal Domain of the Xenopus Cyclin-dependent Kinase Inhibitor, p27Xic1, Is Both Necessary and Sufficient for Phosphorylation-independent Proteolysis

Abstract Cell cycle progression is regulated by cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), cyclins, and CDK inhibitors. In the frog, Xenopus laevis, the CDK inhibitor p27Xic1 (Xic1) inhibits DNA synthesis by negatively regulating CDK2-cyclin E. Using the frog egg extract as a model system for the study of Xic1, studies have demonstrated that Xic1 protein levels are regulated by nuclear ubiquitination and proteolysis. To characterize the molecular mechanism that regulates Xic1 turnover, we have identified the minimal sequences of Xic1 that are necessary and sufficient for its nuclear ubiquitination and degradation. Using deletion mutagenesis, our studies indicated that the C-terminal 50 amino acids of Xic1 are critical for its proteolysis beyond a role in nuclear transport. Replacement of the Xic1 C terminus with the SV40 nuclear localization sequence resulted in the nuclear localization of Xic1 but not its ubiquitination or degradation. Our deletion studies also indicated that the CDK2-cyclin binding domain of Xic1 is important for its efficient retention in the nucleus. Further deletion analyses identified at least 3 lysine residues within the Xic1 C terminus that are targeted for specific ubiquitination. Importantly, our studies demonstrated that the Xic1 C-terminal 50 amino acids can serve as a nuclear degradation signal when fused to a stable heterologous nuclear protein. Moreover, a 30-amino-acid region within the C terminus of Xic1 can serve as a nuclear ubiquitination signal. To address the role of phosphorylation on Xic1 turnover, all the potential phosphorylation sites within the C-terminal 50 amino acids of Xic1 were mutated to alanine to prevent possible phosphorylation. This resulted in a Xic1 protein that was nevertheless degraded in a manner similar to wild-type Xic1, suggesting that phosphorylation of Xic1 is not critical for its nuclear ubiquitination or proteolysis.
Contribution of Tropomyosin to Fish Muscle Gel Characteristics

To determine the contribution of tropomyosin to fish muscle gel characteristics, the gel properties of the tropomyosin-desensitized actomyosin system and of the tropomyosin-myosin system were investigated. For both systems, the indices of gel properties decreased considerably on increasing the tropomyosin content. Even when the two-step heating was carried out, the indices of gel properties decreased considerably on increasing the tropomyosin content. Tropomyosin negatively affected the gel formation of fish muscle and reduced the gel strength and elasticity of the fish muscle gels.
Programming with cluster openMP

This full-day tutorial will teach the attendees about Cluster OpenMP and the tools that are available to assist the programmer in debugging and tuning. Cluster OpenMP is an Intel® programming system that allows the user to run an OpenMP program on a cluster of computers without a common hardware shared memory. The tutorial will consist of a short tutorial on OpenMP, a longer description of Cluster OpenMP, its concepts, mechanisms and tools, a set of short hands-on porting exercises for the participants, and a set of exercises with the Cluster OpenMP debugging and tuning tools.