cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Regulation of S-Like Ribonuclease Levels in Arabidopsis. Antisense Inhibition of RNS1 or RNS2 Elevates Anthocyanin Accumulation

The S-like ribonucleases (RNases) RNS1 and RNS2 of Arabidopsis are members of the widespread T2 ribonuclease family, whose members also include the S-RNases, involved in gametophytic self-incompatibility in plants. Both RNS1 and RNS2 mRNAs have been shown previously to be induced by inorganic phosphate (Pi) starvation. In our study we examined this regulation at the protein level and determined the effects of diminishing RNS1 and RNS2 expression using antisense techniques. The Pi-starvation control of RNS1 and RNS2 was confirmed using antibodies specific for each protein. These specific antibodies also demonstrated that RNS1 is secreted, whereas RNS2 is intracellular. By introducing antisense constructs, mRNA accumulation was inhibited by up to 90% for RNS1 and up to 65% for RNS2. These plants contained abnormally high levels of anthocyanins, the production of which is often associated with several forms of stress, including Pi starvation. This effect demonstrates that diminishing the amounts of either RNS1 or RNS2 leads to effects that cannot be compensated for by the actions of other RNases, even though Arabidopsis contains a large number of different RNase activities. These results, together with the differential localization of the proteins, imply that RNS1 and RNS2 have distinct functions in the plant.
The emergence of multisensory systems through perceptual narrowing

According to conventional wisdom, multisensory development is a progressive process that results in the growth and proliferation of perceptual skills. We review new findings indicating that a regressive process - perceptual narrowing - also contributes in critical ways to perceptual development. These new data reveal that young infants are able to integrate non-native faces and vocalizations, that this broad multisensory perceptual tuning is present at birth, and that this tuning narrows by the end of the first year of life, leaving infants with the ability to integrate only socio-ecologically-relevant multisensory signals. This narrowing process forces us to reconsider the traditional progressive theories of multisensory development and opens up several new evolutionary questions as well.
High-performance photonic analog-to-digital converters

The advantages of photonics combined with advances in electronics has led to recent progress toward the realization of photonic analog-to-digital converters with wide-bandwidth and high-resolution. Applications, advantages, issues and recent results will be presented.
Does Ca2+/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase δc Activate or Inhibit the Cardiac Ryanodine Receptor Ion Channel?

See related article, pages 399–407 The multifunctional Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IIδ (CaMKIIδ) modulates cardiac muscle function by regulating Ca2+ transport proteins and nuclear signaling molecules. Aberrant activity of CaMKIIδ is implicated in heart disease. In this issue, Yang et al1 report that acute overexpression of constitutively active splice variant CaMKIIδC phosphorylates the cardiac ryanodine receptor ion channel (RyR2) to decrease the rate of occurrence of local Ca2+ release events (Ca2+ sparks) and Ca2+ waves in cultured rat cardiomyocytes. A dominant negative form of CaMKIIδC was shown to have opposite effects. The cardiac ryanodine receptors are cation selective channels that release Ca2+ from an intracellular Ca2+ storing compartment, the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), during a cardiac muscle action potential, in a process known as excitation-contraction coupling.2 Released Ca2+ cause cardiac muscle to contract. Sequestration of released Ca2+ by the SR Ca2+-transporting ATPase and extrusion by the Na+-Ca2+ exchanger restore the myofibrillar Ca2+ concentration from 10−6 - 10−5 to ≈10−7 M, causing muscle to relax. The RyR2s are regulated by a variety of effectors.3 During a cardiac action potential, closely apposed dihydropyridine-sensitive L-type Ca2+ channels in the surface membrane and T-tubule mediate influx of Ca2+, which triggers massive release of Ca2+ from SR by opening RyR2s. In addition to Ca2+, endogenous effectors such as Mg2+, ATP, reactive oxygen and nitrogen …
Bilirubin Metabolism in the Newborn: Its Mechanisms and Relationship to Kernicterus

Although jaundice as a sign of disease was known to both Galen and Hippocrates, the earliest record of its mention in relationship to the newborn is in Bartholomeus Metlinger’s1 book Ein Regiment der Jungen Kinder, published in 1473. In 1708 Michael Ettmuller2, in his treatise De Infantum Morbis, mentioned jaundice which appeared shortly after birth. He recommended feeding the affected infant saffron with breast milk several times daily. In 1751 John Burton’s3 An Essay Towards a Complete New System of Midwifry, Theoretical and Practical contained the following description and therapeutic annotation: “The want of Respiration to squeeze forward the Bile, and the Resistance made to its Entry into the Guts of Foetuses by the tough Slime which lines the Intestinal tube make the Effusion of their Bile very slow, and therefore their Gallbladder is generally full of green Bile. Hence at birth or soon after, Children are often observed to have the Jaundice, the thick Slime produces the same Effect in them, as if Stones or the Gravel obstructed the Neck of the Gallbladder. The Jaundice generally yields to any gentle Purgative, and very often is carried away by any Medicine that increases the Contraction of the Gut, which is no more than might be expected from understanding the cause of the disease.”
An Enhancement to the Linear Dynamic System Model for Air Traffic Forecasting

Air traffic forecast is among the most important functionalities of air traffic controls. The Linear Dynamic System Model that predicts the traffic demand within the Air Route Traffic Control Centers serves well for this purpose. This model formulates inflows and outflows between Centers’ boundaries by assuming that the boundary crossings between Centers are in conformance with Poisson distribution and that the traffic patterns do not change too much over multiple days. As a result, the traffic in the near future can be predicted based on knowledge of historical traffic patterns and anticipated departures. As a predictive model, its prediction accuracy relies heavily on parameter estimation. In the earlier implementations of this model, the traffic patterns are obtained by averaging estimations of multiple days. However, given the uncertainties in the traffic system and the deficiencies inherent in the radar track data, using observed traffic data of a few days to train the parameters is likely to result in bias due to limited samples. A large training set on the other hand contains a lot of noise, to which the mean is susceptible. This paper introduces the Kernel Density Estimation into the Linear Dynamic System Model. This non-parametric method serves as an enhancement to the model in that it is able to capture the major transition patterns from a large data set in the presence of outliers and data deficiencies regardless of the actual distribution of data. Therefore, this statistical approach is useful in extracting normal traffic patterns that are representative of major behavior of the traffic flows. An one-month traffic simulation shows that, by incorporating with the Kernel Density Estimation, the Linear Dynamic System Model reduces the estimation errors by 20% on average.
Failure to Find Sodium Pregnanediol Glucuronidate in Bull's Urine

SummaryNo sodium pregnanediol glucuronidate was found in urine obtained from the bladders of slaughtered bulls and steers by the method of Venning.3 The volumes of urine were judged sufficient for demonstration of this substance if it were present in the amount suggested by Marker's results for pregnanediol 3a, 20a from hydrolyzed bull's urine.
Treating NAFLD in OLETF Rats with Vigorous-Intensity Interval Exercise Training

ABSTRACTBackgroundThere is increasing use of high-intensity interval-type exercise training in the management of many lifestyle-related diseases.PurposeThis study aimed to test the hypothesis that vigorous-intensity interval exercise is as effective as traditional moderate-intensity aerobic exercise
MEDICAL PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH PITUITARY SURGERY.

The main medical problems associated with pituitary lesions or pituitary surgery are hypopituitarism and diabetes insipidus. Hypopituitarism is manifested by hypogonadism, hypothyroidism and, in some cases, hypoadrenocorticism. Replacement therapy is necessary to correct the hormonal deficiencies arising from dysfunction of the three target glands. Management of diabetes insipidus consists primarily of administration of antidiuretic hormone.
Preparation and Mechanical Properties of Al_2O_3-TiCN/Co-Ni Composite Ceramics

The Al2O3-Ti C0.5N0.5/Co-Ni composite ceramic material was prepared by a powder metallurgy vacuum hot-pressing sintering method. The influence of the sintering parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties was investigated by scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectrometer, electronic universal tester and Vickers hardness tester, respectively. The results show that the maximum relative density, the maximum flexural strength(σmax), the fracture toughness(KICmax) and the Vickers hardness(HV) of the material prepared at the sintering temperature of 1 650 ℃, the pressure of 25 MPa and the heat treatment time of 30 min are 99.6%, 1 100 MPa, 10.5 MPa·m1/2 and 23.7 GPa, respectively, and the fracture characteristic of the material is the mixed crystal fracture characteristic.
Study on Metal Sheath Protection of 35 kV Single-core Linking Polyethylene Cables

Combined with the engineering examples of the large section and long length 35 kV single-core linking polyethylene cables line in Shanghai distribution network,and based on the theoretical calculation,the on-line detection,data analysis and the state diagnosis of the metal sheath induced voltage and circulation were discussed.Four sets of rationalizations restraining schemes for reducing the cables line induced voltage and induced circulation were provided.
A monolithic RMS-DC converter using planar diaphragm structures

A monolithic RMS-DC converter for measuring wideband RMS signals is presented. Two identical thermoelements for thermal RMS-DC conversion are formed using planar diaphragm structures and micromachined dielectric windows. Each thermoelement consists of two polysilicon heaters and a thin-film temperature sensor located on a window and operated at constant temperature using on-chip control feedback circuitry. The thermoelements achieve a thermal efficiency greater than 7 degrees C/mW with thermal time constant less than 5 ms. The on-chip control circuitry is realized using a standard 3- mu m p-well CMOS process with minor modifications for process compatibility with the dielectric window formation. This converter measures RMS signals over a full scale range of 1 V RMS, handles crest factors in excess of five, exhibits a typical nonlinearity of less than 1%, and achieves a 3-dB bandwidth greater than 20 MHz. >
The allostatic impact of chronic ethanol on gene expression: A genetic analysis of chronic intermittent ethanol treatment in the BXD cohort

The transition from acute to chronic ethanol exposure leads to lasting behavioral and physiological changes such as increased consumption, dependence, and withdrawal. Changes in brain gene expression are hypothesized to underlie these adaptive responses to ethanol. Previous studies on acute ethanol identified genetic variation in brain gene expression networks and behavioral responses to ethanol across the BXD panel of recombinant inbred mice. In this work, we have performed the first joint genetic and genomic analysis of transcriptome shifts in response to chronic intermittent ethanol (CIE) by vapor chamber exposure in a BXD cohort. CIE treatment is known to produce significant and sustained changes in ethanol consumption with repeated cycles of ethanol vapor. Using Affymetrix microarray analysis of prefrontal cortex (PFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAC) RNA, we compared CIE expression responses to those seen following acute ethanol treatment, and to voluntary ethanol consumption. Gene expression changes in PFC and NAC after CIE overlapped significantly across brain regions and with previously published expression following acute ethanol. Genes highly modulated by CIE were enriched for specific biological processes including synaptic transmission, neuron ensheathment, intracellular signaling, and neuronal projection development. Expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analyses identified genomic loci associated with ethanol-induced transcriptional changes with largely distinct loci identified between brain regions. Correlating CIE-regulated genes to ethanol consumption data identified specific genes highly associated with variation in the increase in drinking seen with repeated cycles of CIE. In particular, multiple myelin-related genes were identified. Furthermore, genetic variance in or near dynamin3 (Dnm3) on Chr1 at ∼164 Mb may have a major regulatory role in CIE-responsive gene expression. Dnm3 expression correlates significantly with ethanol consumption, is contained in a highly ranked functional group of CIE-regulated genes in the NAC, and has a cis-eQTL within a genomic region linked with multiple CIE-responsive genes.
Long-Term Outcome of Cyclosporin A Therapy for T-Cell Large Granular Lymphocyte Leukemia.

T-cell large granular lymphocyte (T-LGL) leukemia is a rare indolent lymphoproliferative disorder diagnosed by presence of >2,000/μL peripheral CD3+CD8+CD16+/−CD56 +/−CD57+ LGL and/or evidence of T-LGL clonality by T-cell receptor (TCR) gene rearrangement, accompanied by neutropenia and/or other cytopenias. We reported the efficacy of cyclosporin A (CsA) in the treatment of LGL-associated neutropenia [Blood1998;91:3372–8] and we report here long-term follow-up of our larger patient (pt) cohort. Between 1982 and 2006, 18 pts were diagnosed with T-LGL leukemia with the above strict criteria (M:F 11:7; median age, 67; range, 48–84 years). Mean follow-up from diagnosis is 59 (range, 2–303) months. Autoimmune phenomena were present in 6 (33%), including pure red cell aplasia in two, lymphocytic colitis and ascites in one, and erosive osteoarthritis and pulmonary granulomatous vasculitis in one other. Splenomegaly was present in 6 (33%). Median (range) hemoglobin (Hb), absolute neutrophil count (ANC) and platelet count were 10.4 (3.6–15.5) g/dL, 1,100 (0–5,900)/μL and 152,000 (69,000–583,000)/μL. Anemia, neutropenia (ANC
An Introduction to Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

In this chapter we present an introduction to the principles and advances made in the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology including inventions, discoveries, and design and study of molecular building blocks (MBBs) studied through nanoscience and applied in nanotechnology. Nanoscience is the study of systems in nanoscale and nanotechnology is the ability to systematically organize and manipulate properties and behavior of matter in the atomic and molecular levels. Through nanoscience and nanotechnology it has become possible to study and create very useful functional devices, materials, and systems on the 1–100 nm (one billionth of a meter) length scale.
An Examination of the Differences Between Forensic Examiners and Forensic Therapists

ABSTRACTThis study examined the trajectory of forensic psychologists’ careers, as well as personality characteristic differences, between those forensic mental health professionals who choose to work primarily as therapists (treating forensic patients) versus evaluators (performing evaluations of persons in criminal and civil proceedings). The study surveyed graduate students and professionals (N = 151) who indicated that their work primarily involves forensic psychology. Results revealed that current graduate students differed from professionals regarding the trajectory of their study. Personality differences emerged between forensic therapists and evaluators. In particular, the results from this survey suggest that forensic evaluators prefer rigidity while forensic therapists are more comfortable in ambivalent situations. Research should build upon the current study by identifying forensic psychologists who might be best suited for either conducting evaluations or therapy.
Nonlinear Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Quadrotor Altitude and Attitude Tracking With Multiple Actuator Faults

This brief presents the design, analysis, and implementation of a nonlinear robust adaptive fault-tolerant altitude and attitude tracking method for accommodating actuator faults in quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles without the need of a fault diagnosis mechanism. Actuator faults are modeled as a constant loss of effectiveness in the thrust generated by the rotors. The fault-tolerant control (FTC) algorithm guarantees asymptotic convergence of the altitude and attitude tracking error even in the presence of possible multiple actuator faults and modeling uncertainties. The FTC method is implemented using a real-time indoor quadrotor test environment. Experimental results are shown to illustrate the effectiveness of the algorithm.
Introducing Trainees to Medical Education Activities and Opportunities for Educational Scholarship.

Introduction The growth of medical schools, faculty attrition, and reports of student disinterest in academia all stress the need to cultivate the next generation of academic physicians. Because me...
On the Characteristic, Weyr Sequences, the Kronecker Invariants and Canonical Form of a Singular Pencil

Abstract For a general matrix pencil sF-G with Ф(F,G) root range, the set Ω(F,G)={Cr (F,G); Cl(F,G); J r α ; α∊Ф(F,G)} of characteristic sequences is defined and it is shown to be a complete set of invariants for matrix pencils under strict equivalence. The Piecewise Arithmetic Progression Sequence (PAPS) property of Cr (F,G), Cl(F,G) is extended to the case of J r α sequences. The column, row minimal indices (cmi) (rmi) have been shown to be the singular sets of Cr (F,G), Cl(F,G); similarly, the α-Segre characteristics are snown to be defined as the singular sets of J r α sequences. For the computation of cmi, rmi and elementary divisors (ed) of sF-G two methods are suggested the singular points analysis of PAPS and the Ferrer’s type diagrams. The results provide a unifying number theoretic characterisation of pencil invariants and a computational procedure based on rank tests of Toeplitz type matrices.
Chapter 9 – Anti-Gal-Mediated Amplification of Viral Vaccine Efficacy

The natural anti-Gal antibody may be harnessed for increasing the efficacy of viral vaccines as well as other vaccines, if the vaccine is engineered to carry the α-gal epitope. The binding of anti-Gal, present in large amounts in humans, to the α-gal epitopes on the vaccinating virus or on the glycoprotein vaccines results in formation of immune complexes. These immune complexes activate the complement system and generate complement cleavage chemotactic factors that recruit macrophages and dendritic cells to the immunization site. These antigen-presenting cells (APC) bind via their Fc receptors, the Fc portion of anti-Gal immunocomplexed with the vaccine and are induced to effectively internalize the vaccine, transport it to the regional lymph nodes, process, and present the immunogenic peptides for effective activation of cytotoxic T cells and helper T cells. Studies on immunization of anti-Gal producing α1,3galactosyltransferase knockout mice (GT-KO) with inactivated influenza virus presenting α-gal epitopes and with gp120 of HIV carrying α-gal epitopes indicated that anti-Gal-mediated targeting of vaccines to APC results in amplification of the antibody response by 30- to 200-fold and the cellular immune response by 10- to 30-fold. Synthesis of α-gal epitopes on carbohydrate chains of enveloped virus glycoproteins or on recombinant virus glycoproteins is feasible by using rα1,3GT and uridine diphosphate galactose (UDP-Gal). If the carbohydrate chains are capped with sialic acid, addition of neuraminidase removes the sialic acid and exposes the penultimate LacNAc (Galβ1-4GlcNAc-R), which is the acceptor for synthesis of α-gal epitopes by α1,3GT. Increased immunogenicity of vaccinating proteins lacking carbohydrate chains (e.g., core and matrix viral proteins) can be achieved by producing fusion proteins with glycoproteins carrying multiple α-gal epitopes, such as gp120 of HIV or hemagglutinin of influenza virus.
A Review: Atomic Geography: A Personal History of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and Nuclear Reactions: Documenting American Encounters with Nuclear Energy

An incomplete nuclear reactor project shut down after more than nine years of work and nine billion dollars invested. A war of words between Korean President Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump and the threat of nuclear war. These two seemingly disconnected events are linked by a common denominator—the ongoing fascination with the power of the atom. Two recently published books can help those not familiar with the history of commercial or military nuclear power in the USA make better sense of these current events as they explore the highs and lows of the nuclear industry. Atomic Geography: A Personal History of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation by Melvin R. Adams captures personal insights into the waning years at Hanford, when plutonium production for the US weapons stockpile was giving way to environmental clean-up. James W. Feldman’s Nuclear Reactions: Documenting American Encounters with Nuclear Energy provides excerpts of 70 years of published documents to describe the ongoing hope in what nuclear energy might provide for society and intense fear of a nuclear melt down or all-out nuclear war. Together, the two books provide an interesting picture of nuclear industry in the USA.
ASC 606: Challenges in understanding and applying revenue recognition

Abstract Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, introduces what the FASB refers to as a comprehensive, cohesive, and converged revenue standard to replace practices based on broad concepts and industry specific guidance or transaction-based guidance. Some challenges in understanding and applying a control-based revenue recognition model that new professionals are likely to encounter are discussed.
Rooking the state

Abstract Throughout history, governments have engaged in exchange with private actors. Recent work has documented the prevalence of opportunism in a number of government bounty schemes, exploring how private entrepreneurs may rook the state and hence undermine the stated aims of these programs. We draw on transaction cost economics to provide a theory that explains the variation in the extent of opportunism in public-private exchange. The nature and extent of opportunism depends on the ability of the public authority to observe the production process of the good being claimed and the incentives to deny false claims. Where transaction costs limit observation, alternative (i.e., opportunistic) production processes will be prevalent. Where institutional features incentivize lax enforcement, opportunistic production processes will be prevalent. We illustrate our theory with two cases: navigational prizes in Great Britain and wolf bounties in North America. The cases provide evidence consistent with our theory.
The Napa County Agricultural Preserve: Fifty Years as a Foundation of America’s Premier Wine Region:

In 1968, Napa County, California, created an agricultural preserve of 23,000 acres zoned for agriculture, wineries, and houses with a large minimum lot size of twenty acres. Over time, the agricult...
Trade-Finance Contracts for Small-Business Suppliers and the Effect of Third-Party Financing

We consider a capital constrained small-business supplier doing business with a retailer on a consignment basis. The supplier has no source of financing. Therefore, the retailer may consider offering either a direct financing contract or a commitment contract. In the former, the retailer offers a loan to the supplier at a selected interest rate, and in the latter, the retailer guarantees that the supplier will earn a certain amount of revenue from sales. The retailer’s financial offer may signal credit worthiness to banks, who then may offer bank financing to the supplier. As expected, trade finance improves both the supplier’s and the retailer’s profits relative to no-financing scenario. However, neither can coordinate the supply chain. We show that bank financing works as a substitute to direct financing, causing the retailer’s profit to decrease and the supplier’s profit to increase. In contrast, bank financing works as a complement to the commitment contract, benefiting the retailer but possibly lowering the supplier’s profit. Surprisingly, direct with bank financing may coordinate the supply chain, but commitment with bank financing cannot do so. Moreover, both may lower total supply-chain profit for some parameter values.
Accounting for Just Wages: A Proposal

Few firms provide corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports and even fewer reports on issues relating to the duty to pay a “just wage” as this duty is understood by the tradition of Christian Social Thought (see the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, Chap. 6 “Human Work,” V. “The Rights of Workers,” §302 “The Right to Fair Remuneration and Income Distribution”). In this chapter I address the question of how a firm might implement a system to fulfill a commitment to pay just wages, and make a concrete proposal for reporting standards concerning just wages.
Cancer. Complicated supercomplexes.

Molecular details of how proteins interact to repair DNA breaks reveal complexities that underlie their tumor-suppressive effects in different cancers.
Electrodermal Mechanisms: A Critique of the Two-Effector Hypothesis and a Proposed Replacement

Although response amplitude and response rate have served as the primary electrodermal measures in behavioral research, several lines of evidence have given hope that in addition to these quantitative indicators, electrodermal activity might provide qualitative indices as well. When one examines the behavioral correlates of the electrodermal reflex, it becomes evident that EDA may be associated with very different adaptations, e.g. tactual exploration, grasping, thermoregulation, or ambulation (Darrow, 1927; Edelberg, 1973a; Fowles, 1986; Boucsein, 1988), as well as the abstracted representation of such actions, for example information intake. The reviews elsewhere in this volume by Roy et al and by Sequeira-Martinho and Roy, covering the neurophysiological systems underlying these adaptations, reveal the existence in the CNS of at least two relatively independent descending pathways that control electrodermal activity (EDA), one of reticular origin under cortical and sensory influences (Bloch, 1965), the other a direct corticospinal system, suggesting that different cutaneous adjustments may follow activation of these respective areas. If true, a two-effector system may be an effective means of accomplishing such adjustments.
Van der Waals Molecules as a Vehicle for the Study of Unimolecular Reactions

The general aspects of the dynamics of thermal unimolecular reactions were elucidated in the 1920’ by the introduction of three key ideas. First, the Lindemann hypothesis1 provided an explanation, using the phenomenological formulation of reaction kinetics, of how collisional excitation of the molecules can be consistent with first order reaction kinetics in the high pressure regime while being, of course, second order in the pressure in the low pressure regime. Although qualitatively satisfactory, the application of the Lindemann hypothesis in its simplest form predicts that the transition in the reaction kinetics as a function of pressure from first order to second order occurs at a much higher presure than is observed.2 Second, the Hinshelwood theory3 introduced the notion that the rate constant for the energization process can be much greater for a complex molecule than for a simple molecule because the energy of a complex molecule can be distributed over a larger number of degrees of freedom. The Hinshelwood analysis removes the above mentioned problem with respect to the pressure dependence of the unimolecular reaction rate. Third, the Rice-Kassel-Ramsberger (RKR) theory4
THE DETERMINATION OF THE INTERLAYER SPACINGS IN CARBONS AT HIGH TEMPERATURE

The X-ray diffraction method has been used for the accurate determination of the interlayer spacing of carbon at high temperature. A regular Debye camera with a carbon sample heated by passing an electric current was used. The true interlayer spacing and its dependence on temperature were obtained for three different types of carbon. The meaning of the results is discussed.
Perception of Cry Characteristics in 1-Month-Old Infants Later Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder

This study investigates parental perceptions of cries of 1-month-old infants later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and non-ASD controls. Parents of children with and without ASD listened to cry recordings of infants later diagnosed with ASD and comparison infants and rated them on cry perception scales. Parents completed the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ) to assess the potential relations between traits associated with autism and cry perception. Across parents, ASD infant cries were rated as more distressed, less typical, and reflecting greater pain, with no significant differences between parent groups. Parents of children with ASD scored higher on the BAPQ compared to parents of children without ASD. Follow up analyses explored the relations between BAPQ score and cry ratings.
Synergistic Effects of Cold Atmospheric Plasma and Electric Pulses on Jurkat Cells

Both cold atmospheric pressure plasmas (CAPPs) 1 and electric pulses (EPs) 2 have demonstrated potential for wound treatment, cancer therapy, and sterilization or sanitization of food and medical equipment. However, few studies have explored the potential synergies of combining EPs and CAPPs. One study assessed the impact of plasma exposure duration, EP field intensity, and order of EP and CAPP exposure for an argon plasma jet and nanosecond duration pulses on microorganisms 3. A more detailed parametric study, particularly exploring the potential impact of assessing a different plasma gas, treating mammalian cells, reducing the time between EP and CAPP treatments to deliver CAPP induced radicals while the membrane pore fractional area is larger, or assessing the impact of longer duration EPs to increase pore size and lifetime to facilitate radical species delivery into the cells, has not been performed. The current study serves as a first step for this parametric study to elucidate the potential synergies between CAPPs and EPs. We expose Jurkat cells, an immortalized human leukemia cell line, to EPs with durations from nanoseconds to microseconds at constant pulse energy with various helium plasma jet 4 exposure times and time delays between EP and CAPP exposure ranging from 15 s to 1 min. We report cell death and membrane permeabilization by propidium iodide and YO-PRO1 to assess the impact of system design on cell death and pore size, and lifetime as a function of the various system parameters. Potential implications for designing a system capable of delivering this combined treatment modality will be discussed.
The Impact of Next-Generation Sequencing on Cancer Genomics: From Discovery to Clinic

The application of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology to the study of cancer genomes has been transformational. Not only has this technology revealed the genetic and epigenetic underpinnings of disease onset and progression, but also has redefined our clinical diagnosis and treatment paradigms. This rapid translation from discovery to clinical platform has occurred in the context of new pharmaceutical paradigms, enabling the use of NGS for the diagnosis and definition of therapeutic vulnerabilities of cancer. This review explores this transformation and identifies cutting-edge applications of NGS that will result in its additional utility in cancer care.
Frequency of Sale and Reasons for Purchase of Over-the-Counter Insulin in the United States.

This survey study evaluates the frequency of sales of over-the-counter insulin at US pharmacies.
A comprehensive time-course metabolite profiling of the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 under diurnal light:dark cycles.

Cyanobacteria are a model photoautotroph and a chassis for the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals. Knowledge of photoautotrophic metabolism in the natural environment of day/night cycles is lacking, yet has implications for improved yield from plants, algae and cyanobacteria. Here, a thorough approach to characterizing diverse metabolites-including carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids, pigments, cofactors, nucleic acids and polysaccharides-in the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 (S. 6803) under sinusoidal diurnal light:dark cycles was developed and applied. A custom photobioreactor and multi-platform mass spectrometry workflow enabled metabolite profiling every 30-120 min across a 24-h diurnal sinusoidal LD ('sinLD') cycle peaking at 1600 μmol photons m-2 sec-1 . We report widespread oscillations across the sinLD cycle with 90%, 94% and 40% of the identified polar/semi-polar, non-polar and polymeric metabolites displaying statistically significant oscillations, respectively. Microbial growth displayed distinct lag, biomass accumulation and cell division phases of growth. During the lag phase, amino acids and nucleic acids accumulated to high levels per cell followed by decreased levels during the biomass accumulation phase, presumably due to protein and DNA synthesis. Insoluble carbohydrates displayed sharp oscillations per cell at the day-to-night transition. Potential bottlenecks in central carbon metabolism are highlighted. Together, this report provides a comprehensive view of photosynthetic metabolite behavior with high temporal resolution, offering insight into the impact of growth synchronization to light cycles via circadian rhythms. Incorporation into computational modeling and metabolic engineering efforts promises to improve industrially relevant strain design.
An early phase of instructive plasticity in visual cortex before the typical onset of sensory experience

Abstract While early experience with moving stimuli is necessary for the development of direction selectivity in visual cortex of carnivores, it is unclear whether experience exerts a permissive or instructive influence. To test if the specific parameters of the experienced stimuli could instructively sculpt the emergent responses, visually naive ferrets were exposed to several hours of experience with unusual spatiotemporal patterns. In the most immature ferrets, cortical neurons developed selectivity to these patterns, indicating an instructive influence. In animals that were 1-7 days more mature, exposure to the same patterns led to a developmentally-typical increase in direction selectivity. We conclude that visual development progresses via an early phase of instructive plasticity, when the specific patterns of neural activity shapes the specific parameters of the emerging response properties, followed by a late phase of permissive maturation, when sensory-driven activity merely serves to enhance the response properties already seeded in cortical circuits.
Spectral clustering in regression-based biological networks

Biological networks often have complex structure consisting of meaningful clusters of nodes that are integral to understanding biological function. Community detection algorithms to identify the clustering, or community structure, of a network have been well established. These algorithms assume that data used in network construction is observed without error. However, oftentimes intermediary analyses such as regression are performed before constructing biological networks and the associated error is not propagated in community detection. In expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) networks, one must first map eQTLs via linear regression in order to specify the matrix representation of the network. We study the effects of using estimates from regression models when applying the spectral clustering approach to community detection. We demonstrate the impacts on the affinity matrix and consider adjusted estimates of the affinity matrix for use in spectral clustering. We further provide a recommendation for selection of the tuning parameter in spectral clustering. We evaluate the proposed adjusted method for performing spectral clustering to detect gene clusters in eQTL data from the GTEx project and to assess the stability of communities in biological data.
Rate-based approach for controlling the mechanical properties of ‘thiol–ene’ hydrogels formed with visible light

The mechanical properties of synthetic hydrogels traditionally have been controlled with the concentration, molecular weight, or stoichiometry of the macromolecular building blocks used for hydrogel formation. Recently, the rate of formation has been recognized as an important and effective handle for controlling the mechanical properties of these water-swollen polymer networks, owing to differences in network heterogeneity (e.g., defects) that arise based on the rate of gelation. Building upon this, in this work, we investigate a rate-based approach for controlling mechanical properties of hydrogels both initially and temporally with light. Specifically, synthetic hydrogels are formed with visible light-initiated thiol–ene ‘click’ chemistry (PEG-8-norbornene, dithiol linker, LAP photoinitiator with LED lamp centered at 455 nm), using irradiation conditions to control the rate of formation and the mechanical properties of the resulting hydrogels. Further, defects within these hydrogels were subsequently exploited for temporal modulation of mechanical properties with a secondary cure using low doses of long wavelength UV light (365 nm). The elasticity of the hydrogel, as measured with Young's and shear moduli, was observed to increase with increasing light intensity and concentration of photoinitiator used for hydrogel formation. In situ measurements of end group conversion during hydrogel formation with magic angle spinning (MAS 1H NMR) correlated with these mechanical properties measurements, suggesting that both dangling end groups and looping contribute to the observed mechanical properties. Dangling end groups provide reactive handles for temporal stiffening of hydrogels with a secondary UV-initiated thiol–ene polymerization, where an increase in Young's modulus by a factor of ∼2.5× was observed. These studies demonstrate how the rate of photopolymerization can be tuned with irradiation wavelength, intensity, and time to control the properties of synthetic hydrogels, which may prove useful in a variety of applications from coatings to biomaterials for controlled cell culture and regenerative medicine.
Monitoring Dust Storms in Iraq Using Satellite Data

Dust storms can suspend large quantities of sand and cause haze in the boundary layer over local and regional scales. Iraq is one of the countries that is often impacted to a large degree by the occurrences of dust storms. The time between June 29 to July 8, 2009 is considered one of the worst dust storm periods of all times and many Iraqis suffered medical problems as a result. We used data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). MODIS Surface Reflectance Daily L2G Global 1km and 500m data were utilized to calculate the Normalized Difference Dust Index (NDDI). The MYD09GA V006 product was used to monitor, map, and assess the development and spread of dust storms over the arid and semi-arid territories of Iraq. We set thresholds for NDDI to distinguish between water and/or ice cloud and ground features and dust storms. In addition; brightness temperature data (TB) from the Aqua /MODIS thermal band 31 were analyzed to distinguish sand on the land surface from atmospheric dust. We used the MODIS level 2 MYD04 deep blue 550nm Aerosol Option Depth (AOD) data that maintains accuracy even over bright desert surfaces. We found NDDI values lower than 0.05 represent clouds and water bodies, while NDDI greater than 0.18 correspond to dust storm regions. The threshold of TB of 310.5 K was used to distinguish aerosols from the sand on the ground. Approximately 75% of the territory was covered by a dust storm in July 5th 2009 due to strong and dry northwesterly winds.
A Computational Role for Top–Down Modulation from Frontal Cortex in Infancy

Recent findings have shown that full-term infants engage in top–down sensory prediction, and these predictions are impaired as a result of premature birth. Here, we use an associative learning mode...
Foundational biogeography: Vegetation of the Great Smoky Mountains (Ecological Monographs, 26: 1–80, 1956), by Robert H. Whittaker:

A seminal paper in biogeography is reviewed. Whittaker’s 1956 paper in Ecological Monographs introduced gradient analysis as a conceptual framework. This approach replaced community classification ...
Analytical Modeling and Design of Gallium Oxide Schottky Barrier Diodes Beyond Unipolar Figure of Merit Using High-k Dielectric Superjunction Structures.

This work presents the design of beta-Ga2O3 schottky barrier diode using high-k dielectric superjunction to significantly enhance the breakdown voltage vs on-resistance trade-off beyond its already high unipolar figure of merit. The device parameters are optimized using both TCAD simulations and analytical modeling using conformal mapping technique. The dielectric superjunction structure is found to be highly sensitive to the device dimensions and the dielectric constant of the insulator. The aspect ratio, which is the ratio of the length to the width of the drift region, is found to be the most important parameter in designing the structure and the proposed approach only works for aspect ratio much greater than one. The width of the dielectric layer and the dielectric constant also plays a crucial role in improving the device properties and are optimized to achieve maximum figure of merit. Using the optimized structure with an aspect ratio of 10 and a dielectric constant of 300, the structure is predicted to surpass the b-Ga2O3 unipolar figure of merit by four times indicating the promise of such structures for exceptional FOM vertical power electronics.
Beyond pointwise submodularity: Non-monotone adaptive submodular maximization in linear time

Abstract In this paper, we study the non-monotone adaptive submodular maximization problem subject to a cardinality constraint. We first revisit the adaptive random greedy algorithm proposed in [13] , where they show that this algorithm achieves a 1 / e approximation ratio if the objective function is adaptive submodular and pointwise submodular. It is not clear whether the same guarantee holds under adaptive submodularity (without resorting to pointwise submodularity) or not. Our first contribution is to show that the adaptive random greedy algorithm achieves a 1 / e approximation ratio under adaptive submodularity. One limitation of the adaptive random greedy algorithm is that it requires O ( n × k ) value oracle queries, where n is the size of the ground set and k is the cardinality constraint. Our second contribution is to develop the first linear-time algorithm for the non-monotone adaptive submodular maximization problem. Our algorithm achieves a 1 / e − ϵ approximation ratio (this bound is improved to 1 − 1 / e − ϵ for monotone case), using only O ( n ϵ − 2 log ⁡ ϵ − 1 ) value oracle queries. Notably, O ( n ϵ − 2 log ⁡ ϵ − 1 ) is independent of the cardinality constraint. For the monotone case, we propose a faster algorithm that achieves a 1 − 1 / e − ϵ approximation ratio in expectation with O ( n log ⁡ 1 ϵ ) value oracle queries. We also generalize our study by considering a partition matroid constraint, and develop a linear-time algorithm for monotone and fully adaptive submodular functions.
End-to-end modeling for predicting and estimating radiomics: application to gray level co-occurrence matrices in CT

While radiomics models are finding increased use in computer-aided diagnostics and as imaging biomarkers for inference and discovery, their utility in computed tomography (CT) is limited by variability of the image properties produced by different CT scanners, imaging protocols, patient anatomy, and an increasingly diverse range of reconstruction and post-processing software. While these effects can be mitigated with careful data curation and standardization of protocols, this is impractical for diverse sources of image data. In this work, we propose to generalize traditional end-to-end imaging system models to include radiomics calculation as an explicit stage. Such a model permits both prediction of the undesirable variability of radiomics, but also forms a basis for inverting the process to estimate the true underlying radiomics. This framework has the potential to provide for standardization of radiomics across imaging conditions permitting more widespread application of radiomics models; larger, more diverse image databases; and improved diagnoses and inferences based on those standardized metrics. We apply this framework to a large class of popular radiomics based on the Gray Level Co-occurrence matrix under conditions of imaging system that are well describe by traditional linear systems approaches as well as nonlinear systems for which traditional analytic models do not apply.
The Peter Humphrey/Yu Yingzeng Case and Business Intelligence in China

The case of Peter Humphrey and Yu Yingzeng, convicted in China on August 2014 on charges of unlawful acquisition of citizens’ personal information, raises important issues about Chinese law. A narrow but important issue is how Chinese law draws the line between lawful and unlawful acquisition of information, a practice routinely carried out by businesses and individuals. This article examines the trial transcript and judgment in the Humphrey/Yu case and finds that it sheds regrettably little light on what remains a murky question. A broader issue is whether the Chinese legal system can be counted on to operate in a fair and impartial manner. This article presents the results of a study of all reported cases in Shanghai (ninety-two cases) involving the same provision of the Criminal Law that was the basis of the Humphrey/Yu conviction. It finds that the Humphrey/Yu sentences are outliers relative to other cases with comparable facts. In particular, Humphrey’s sentence of 30 months’ imprisonment was by far the heaviest sentence ever meted out by Shanghai courts, even though the circumstances seem conspicuously less serious than those of many other cases where lesser sentences were imposed.