cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Chemical interrogation of the neuronal kinome using a primary cell-based screening assay

A fundamental impediment to functional recovery from spinal cord injury (SCI) and traumatic brain injury is the lack of sufficient axonal regeneration in the adult central nervous system. There is thus a need to develop agents that can stimulate axon growth to re-establish severed connections. Given the critical role played by protein kinases in regulating axon growth and the potential for pharmacological intervention, small molecule protein kinase inhibitors present a promising therapeutic strategy. Here, we report a robust cell-based phenotypic assay, utilizing primary rat hippocampal neurons, for identifying small molecule kinase inhibitors that promote neurite growth. The assay is highly reliable and suitable for medium-throughput screening, as indicated by its Z′-factor of 0.73. A focused structurally diverse library of protein kinase inhibitors was screened, revealing several compound groups with the ability to strongly and consistently promote neurite growth. The best performing bioassay hit robust...
Metagenomics of plant and fungal viruses reveals an abundance of persistent lifestyles

Most studies of plant viruses have focused on the acute viruses that cause disease in crop and ornamental plants. These viruses are transmitted horizontally, often by insect vectors, and are occasionally transmitted vertically. Although known for at least four decades, the persistent viruses of plants are very poorly studied. These viruses were previously called “cryptic” because they did not appear to illicit any symptoms in infected plants (Boccardo et al., 1987). Persistent plant viruses are not known to be transmitted horizontally, although phylogenetic evidence suggests some level of transmission (Roossinck, 2010). They are vertically transmitted at nearly 100% levels through both ova and pollen (Valverde and Gutierrez, 2007). They have been identified in metagenomic studies by their similarity to known persistent viruses, and because they lack any movement protein, a feature of all known acute viruses that must move through the plant plasmodesmata to establish a systemic infection. Persistent viruses do not move between plant cells, but rather infect every cell and move by cell division. Most plant persistent viruses have double-stranded (ds) RNA genomes, and encode only an RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and a coat protein. Of the well-characterized persistent plant viruses, those in the Endornaviridae are the exception. These viruses have a single-stranded (ss) RNA genome, based on their RdRp, and encode a large polyprotein that does not have any apparent coat protein, but encodes a number of additional domains that appear to be derived from diverse sources (Roossinck et al., 2011). They are usually found as dsRNA replicative intermediates. Viruses of fungi have very similar lifestyles to plant persistent viruses, and several virus families are shared between plants and fungi. Phylogenetic evidence indicates that virus transmission has occurred within and between the two kingdoms (Roossinck, 2010; Roossinck et al., 2011). Fungal viruses are even less well-studied than plant viruses, and the diversity of these viruses remains mostly unknown. A majority of known fungal viruses have dsRNA genomes, some have ssRNA genomes, and a few examples of DNA viruses are known (Yu et al., 2010). Recently a negative sense ssRNA virus was characterized from a fungus (Liu et al., 2014). Similar to plant viruses, most fungal viruses have been studied in the context of pathogenic fungi. The discovery of the hypovirulence phenotype of Cryphonectria hypovirus 1 that suppresses the disease phenotype of the chestnut blight fungus led to a search for other examples that could be exploited to mitigate the effects of plant pathogenic fungi [reviewed in Dawe and Nuss (2013)].
An alternative approach to ergodic systems in thermal equilibrium with a reservoir

Abstract We propose to use BRST as a powerful approach to ergodic systems in thermal equilibrium with a reservoir at fixed temperature as a generalization to Nose's molecular dynamics.
Change in plasma clearance rate and red cell uptake of radioactive iron in patients following total body x-radiation.

Abstract Data are presented on changes in plasma clearance half-time and red cell uptake of iron-59 in 12 patients irradiated with X-rays at a nominal air dose of 200 r, corresponding to an average dose of 130 rads. These data show a maximum change occuring at 3–4 days after irradiation which lengthens the plasma clearance half-time to double or treble its previous value. A slight but definite depression, of the order of 10 per cent, on the average, is demonstrated in the red cell uptake.
Chloroplast ribosomes in the proplastids of Euglena gracilis.

Abstract 1. 1. Density gradient centrifugation in zonal rotors yielded small quantities of chloroplast-like ribosomal subunits in dark-grown Euglena gracilis . Like the chloroplast particles from photoheterotrophically grown Euglena, these subunits were of the 30- and 50-S type and contained a chloroplast-specific rRNA component of 0.60 (± 0.02) · 10 6 daltons and a specific break-down product of 0.78 (± 0.03) · 10 6 daltons. 2. 2. The 30- and 50-S subunits isolated from dark-grown cells were enriched in crude preparations of proplastids, but could not be detected either in an aplastidic mutant or from mitochondrial preparations. 3. 3. From these observations we infer that Euglena gracilis contains small amounts of fully formed chloroplast ribosomal subunits probably localized in the proplastid.
The Doppler effect in a warm uniaxial plasma.

Radiation of radiator moving through warm plasma, discussing plasma effect in determining Doppler shift
Preparation and czochralski crystal growth of the iron titanates, FeTiO3, Fe2TiO4, and Fe2TiO5☆

The various titanates M/sub x/Ti/sub y/O/sub z/, where M is an alkaline earth or transition metal, have received considerable attention recently as possible photoanodes for the electrolysis of water. Large, high-quality single crystals of FeTiO/sub 3/, Fe/sub 2/TiO/sub 4/, and Fe/sub 2/TiO/sub 4/ were grown by the Czochralski method. Also reported is a convenient preparative procedure for making any variable composition Fe/sub x/Ti/sub y/O/sub z/ in large quantities. 2 figures, 1 table.
A Distributed Autonomous Intrusion Detection Framework

In this paper, we present a highly-configurable distributed autonomous intrusion detection framework. It supports a hybrid, integrated and flexible intrusion detection model which consists of a family of intrusion detection agents. Agents can dynamically download and install appropriate modules, signatures and policy files from the central server based on operational requirements. A group key management system is used to provide secure and scalable group communication and group management in A2D2. Flexible intrusion response mechanisms are designed. A data fusion and event analysis engine (mEngine) and an object-based intrusion modeling language (mLanguage) are also designed. Both mEngine and mLanguage are domain-independent.
Far-Infrared Absorption in Ultrafine Al Particles

The first far-infrared measurements on metallic particles with diameters 10 nm are reported. The absorptivity is well approximated by ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{\mathrm{exp}}\ensuremath{\approx}{C}_{\mathrm{exp}}{\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{\ensuremath{\nu}}}^{2}$, where $3\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{\ensuremath{\nu}}150$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. The results are compared with the Gor'kov-Eliashberg (GE) theory of particles with quantized electronic levels as well as with the classical Drude theory. When a size distribution is included, ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{\mathrm{GE}}={C}_{\mathrm{GE}}{\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{\ensuremath{\nu}}}^{2}$ irrespective of level statistics. However, ${C}_{\mathrm{exp}}\ensuremath{\gg}{C}_{\mathrm{GE}}$ and the observed dependence on the diameter is directly contrary to predictions of the GE theory. Neither can the data be reconciled with the classical theory.
La sociedad colonial en Guatemala: estudios regionales y locales

La sociedad colonial en Guatemala: estudios regionales. locales. Stephen Webre. editor. Antigua: Centro de Investigaciones Regionales de Mesoamerica, and South Woodstock, VT: Plumsock Mesoamerican Studies, 1989. xiii. 272 pp. $16.50 (paper). ISBN 0-910443-07-6.
A hybrid quantum system of atoms trapped on ultrathin optical fibers coupled to superconductors

Hybrid quantum systems can be formed that combine the strengths of multiple platforms while avoiding the weaknesses. Here we report on progress toward a hybrid quantum system of neutral atom spins coupled to superconducting qubits. We trap laser-cooled rubidium atoms in the evanescent field of an ultrathin optical fiber, which will be suspended a few microns above a superconducting circuit that resonates at the hyperfine frequency of the Rb atoms, allowing magnetic coupling between the atoms and superconductor. As this will be done in a dilution refrigerator environment, the technical demands on the optical fiber is severe. We have developed and optimized a tapered fiber fabrication system, achieving optical transmission in excess of 99.95% , and fibers that can sustain 400 mW of optical power in a UHV environment. We have also optimized tapered fibers that can support higher order optical modes with high transmission (> 97%), which may be useful for different optical potential geometries. We have developed an in-situ tunable high-Q superconducting microwave resonator that can be tuned to within the resonator linewidth of the 6.8 GHz frequency of the Rb hyperfine transition.
Transverse-pumped Cs vapor laser

Scaling of alkali lasers to higher powers requires combining beams of multiple diode laser pump sources. For longitudinal pumping this can be very complicated if more than four beams are to be combined. In this paper we report a first demonstration of a transversely pumped Cs laser with fifteen laser diode arrays. The LDA pump beams were individually collimated with a beam size of about 1 x 4 cm as measured at a 1 m distance from the diodes. All these beams were incident on a cylindrical lens to be focused and coupled through the side slit of a hollow, cylindrical diffuse reflector which contained the Cs vapor cell. We measured the output power and efficiency of the Cs laser for pump powers up to 200 W at different cell temperatures. Although the values of output power and slope efficiency obtained for this laser system were less than those for a longitudinally pumped alkali laser, these recent results can be significantly improved by using a more optimal laser cavity design. The demonstrated operation of Cs laser with transverse pumping opens new possibilities in power scaling of alkali lasers.
Dopamine attenuates the effects of GABA on single unit activity in the Globus pallidus

Studies were conducted to assess whether stimulation of dopamine receptors located in the globus pallidus might play a role in mediating the enhanced pallidal activity seen after systemic administration of dopamine agonists or D-amphetamine. Dopamine, applied iontophoretically, had modest effects on the activity of pallidal neurons; the baseline firing rates of 32% of cells recorded increased by an average of 23 +/- 2%, 18% decreased in rate and the remaining cells showed no significant rate change. More significantly, dopamine consistently attenuated the inhibitory actions of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the globus pallidus. When dopamine was simultaneously iontophoresed with GABA, GABA's effectiveness at inhibiting pallidal activity was reduced by an average of 50%. Norepinephrine or acetylcholine, applied iontophoretically at equimolar concentrations and ejected at the same current as dopamine, caused no consistent attenuation of pallidal responses to GABA's rate effects. To determine whether the attenuation of GABA's inhibitory action by iontophoresed dopamine could be mimicked by systemic drug administration, apomorphine, 80 micrograms/kg, or D-amphetamine, 0.8 mg/kg, was given i.v. while GABA was iontophoresed. Apomorphine markedly decreased pallidal responses to the inhibitory effects of GABA in 75% of the cells by an average of 50%; haloperidol reversed this effect. Modulatory interactions between GABA and D-amphetamine were also observed in 5 of the 11 pallidal cells tested; GABA's inhibitory effect on pallidal cell activity was reduced by an average of 66% on these neurons. These results suggest that one way in which dopamine and dopamine agonists may affect basal ganglia function is by modulating GABAergic transmission in the globus pallidus.
Design parameters of solar concentrating systems for CO2-mitigating algal photobioreactors

The strategy of exploiting photosynthesizing microalgal cultures to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from flue gases through fixation has potential in effectively diminishing the release of CO2 to the atmosphere, helping alleviate the trend toward global warming. The use of fiberoptic-based solar concentrating systems for microalgal photobiorectors has the potential to meet the two essential criteria in the design of a lighting system for algal photobioreactors: (1) electrical energy efficiency; and (2) lighting distribution efficiency. The overall efficiencies of solar concentrating systems have significantly improved in recent years, exceeding 45%. Meanwhile, achieving uniform lighting distribution within photobioreactors constitutes probably the greatest challenge in using fiberoptic-based solar concentrators as a lighting system for photobioreactors. The light-emitting fibers appeared to be a most promising candidate in achieving such uniform light distribution in photobioreactors. Also, when a hybrid-solar-and-electric-lighting scheme is adopted to augment solar lighting whenever needed, the hybrid lighting distribution needs to be designed accordingly.
A Threshold Self-Powered Gamma Detector for Use as a Nuclear Reactor Power Monitor

A study of a threshold self-powered gamma detector for use as a nuclear reactor power monitor was conducted. Measurements were performed to ascertain whether certain detector material arrangements could be used to obtain significant discrimination against low energy gammas. Results indicating agreement between detector response and reactor power output are presented. Evidence of rejection of low energy gammas by the detector is presented. The simplicity of construction and ruggedness of the detector are also discussed.
Stable Size Distribution of Amyloid Plaques Over the Course of Alzheimer Disease

Amyloid β plaques are a key pathologic feature of Alzheimer disease (AD), but whether plaque sizes increase or stabilize over the course of AD is unknown. We measured the size distribution of total immunoreactive (10D5-positive) and dense-core (Thioflavin S-positive) plaques in the temporal neocortex of a large group of subjects with AD and age-matched plaque-bearing subjects without dementia to test the hypothesis that amyloid plaques continue to grow along with the progression of the disease. The size of amyloid β (10D5)-positive plaques did not differ between groups, whereas dense-core plaques from the group with AD were slightly larger than those from the group without dementia (∼25%-30%, p = 0.01). Within the group with AD, dense-core plaque size did not independently correlate with duration of clinical disease (from 4 to 21 years, p = 0.68), whereas 10D5-positive plaque size correlated negatively with disease duration (p = 0.01). By contrast, an earlier age of symptom onset strongly predicted a larger postmortem plaque size; this effect was independent of disease duration and the presence of the APOE[Latin Small Letter Open E]4 allele (p = 0.0001). We conclude that plaques vary in size among patients, with larger size distributions correlating with an earlier age of onset, but plaques do not substantially increase in size over the clinical course of the disease.
Spatial analysis in epidemiology: Nascent science or a failure of GIS?

This paper summarizes contributions of GIS in epidemiology, and identifies needs required to support spatial epidemiology as science. The objective of spatial epidemiology is to identify disease causes and correlates by relating spatial disease patterns to geographic variation in health risks. GIS supports disease mapping, location analysis, the characterization of populations, and spatial statistics and modeling. Although laudable, these accomplishments are not sufficient to fully identify disease causes and correlates. One reason is the failure of present-day GIS to provide tools appropriate for epidemiology. Two needs are most pressing. First, we must reject the static view: meaningful inference about the causes of disease is impossible without both spatial and temporal information. Second, we need models that translate space-time data on health outcomes and putative exposures into epidemiologically meaningful measures. The first need will be met by the design and implementation of space-time information systems for epidemiology; the second by process-based disease models.
Ultrastructural alterations of the mitochondrial ATPase in the calcium paradox as revealed by negative staining.

We have used a simple negative staining technique to study the structural alterations of mitochondria from biopsies of hearts subjected to the calcium paradox and treatment with diltiazem, a calcium channel blocker. A significant (P<0.05) decrease in the number of spheres on the mitochondrial membranes occurs during the calcium paradox (58.0 ±4. I/μm vs. control 80.5±6.5). Treatment with diltiazem prevented the loss of spheres from mitochondrial membranes during the calcium paradox (75.5 ±5.0 gmm). We found that this negative staining technique can be used for quick assessment of the condition of mitochondria in biopsies from normal and pathological organs.
Perception of abrupt temperature decrease by restrained skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis

Abstract 1. 1.|Decreasing temperature stimuli produced responses and threshold similar to those produced by increasing temperature stimuli in a previous study with skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis . 2. 2.|Restrained skipjack tuna signaled by deceleration of heart rate that they could perceive abrupt temperature decreases (0·5°C/sec) as small as 1–2°C. 3. 3.|Temperature stimulation of the oral-branchial cavity was more effective in eliciting responses than stimulation of the dorsal, anterior quadrant of the body surface.
Global deletion of lipocalin 2 does not reverse high-fat diet-induced obesity resistance in stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 skin-specific knockout mice

Over the past century, obesity has developed into a paramount health issue that affects millions of people worldwide. Obese individuals have an increased risk to develop other metabolic disorders, such as insulin resistance and atherosclerosis, among others. Previously we determined that mice lacking stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 (SCD1) enzyme specifically in the skin (SKO) were lean and protected from high-fat diet induced adiposity. Additionally, lipocalin 2 (Lcn2) mRNA was found to be 27-fold higher in the skin of SKO mice compared to control mice. Given reports suggesting that Lcn2 plays a role in protection against diet-induced weight gain, adiposity and insulin resistance, we hypothesized that deletion of Lcn2 alongside the skin-specific SCD1 deficiency would diminish the obesity resistance observed in SKO mice. To test this, we developed mice lacking SCD1 expression in the skin and also lacking Lcn2 expression globally and surprisingly, these mice did not gain significantly more weight than the SKO mice under high-fat diet conditions. Therefore, we conclude that Lcn2 does not mediate the protection against high-fat diet-induced adiposity observed in SKO mice.
Ion implantation and thermal annealing of single crystals of the type YBa2Cu3Ox

Abstract Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) has been used to examine the effects of oxygen implantation and thermal annealing on the near-surface composition of single crystals of high- T c superconducting oxides of the type YBa 2 Cu 3 O x . This study has shown that the structural disorder induced by oxygen implantation at 77 K can result in significant changes in the near-surface composition of the material during subsequent thermal annealing in a variety of atmospheres (O 2 ,O 2 + H 2 O, Ar). These compositional changes are observed for annealing temperatures (500° C) and times (4 h) that are usually employed in the processing of YBa 2 Cu 3 O x type materials to increase the oxygen content. Such annealing conditions do not result in decomposition of the nearsurface region of unimplanted YBa 2 Cu 3 O x crystals. The annealing behavior of oxygen-implanted crystals as a function of implant dose and annealing atmosphere is discussed.
Detecting authorship deception: a supervised machine learning approach using author writeprints

We describe a new supervised machine learning approach for detecting author- ship deception, a specific type of authorship attribution task particularly relevant for cybercrime forensic investigations, and demonstrate its validity on two case studies drawn from realistic online data sets. The core of our approach involves identifying uncharacteristic behavior for an author, based on a writeprint ex- tracted from unstructured text samples of the author's writing. The writeprints used here involve stylometric features and content features derived from topic models, an unsupervised approach for identifying relevant keywords that relate to the content areas of a document. One innovation of our approach is to trans- form the writeprint feature values into a representation that individually balances characteristic and uncharacteristic traits of an author, and we subsequently apply a Sparse Multinomial Logistic Regression classifier to this novel representation. Our method yields high accuracy for authorship deception detection on the two case studies, confirming its utility.
Continuous path planning for a data harvesting mobile server

We consider a queueing system composed of queues distributed at fixed locations in a continuous environment and a mobile server serving the jobs in the queues with spatially varying rates. For a fluid model of this system, we provide a necessary and sufficient stabilizability condition. Then we briefly investigate the question of server trajectory optimization for the problem of draining the initial fluid in two queues when no further arrivals occur.
Characterization of stretch-activated ion channels in Xenopus oocytes.

1. The gating and permeation properties of endogenous stretch-activated (SA) ion channels in Xenopus oocytes have been studied using the patch-clamp single channel recording technique. 2. As estimated from the probability of being open (Po), SA channels were equally sensitive to suction or pressure. The Po was also weakly sensitive to voltage, increasing with depolarization. Channel activation did not require Ca2+. 3. Kinetic analysis of single-channel records indicated that there are three closed states and one open state. Among three closed-time distributions, the longest was the most sensitive to both pipette pressure and membrane voltage. The open time was independent of both pressure and voltage under a wide variety of ionic conditions, but was sensitive to the species of extracellular ion as follows: Na+ greater than Cs+ greater than K+ greater than Rb+ greater than Li+. The open time had a monotonic mole fraction relationship in mixtures of Li+ and K+. 4. The SA channels were cation-selective inward rectifiers. The selectivity for permeation, based on slope conductance, was: K+ greater than NH4+ greater than Cs+ greater than Rb+ greater than Na+ greater than Li+ greater than Ca2+. 5. Tetraethylammonium (TEA+) was impermeable but was not a channel blocker. 6.Open-channel current amplitude saturated with increasing extracellular K+, and was a monotonic function of the mole fraction of Li+ and K+ in mixtures of the two ions. 7. The channel has at least two separate ion binding sites: an intra-channel site suggested by the permeation data, and an allosteric site suggested by the voltage-independent effects of permeant ions on open time. A symmetric two-barrier, one-site model can quantitatively describe the permeation data. A kinetic model is proposed to quantify the gating kinetics and the effect of ion binding at the allosteric site.
Profiling of cellular and viral microRNAs in Kaposi sarcoma and viral-associated lymphoma

MicroRNAs are regulated by gene alteration at the DNA level, transcriptional regulation, and mature miRNA processing via Dicer. Thus far, few studies have simultaneously assessed all three levels of regulation. Using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (QPCR)-based arrays, changes in gene copy number, pre-miRNA and mature miRNA levels for a large set of primary effusion lymphomas (PELs) and primary Kaposi Sarcoma biopsies (KS) has been determined; this includes miRNA gene alterations and concordant changes in pre-miRNA and mature miRNA expression levels. The real-time QPCR based approach confirmed many of the KSHV viral and cellular miRNAs previously cloned from PEL. However, array-based profiling also uncovered many novel PEL-specific miRNAs, since cloning-based approaches are not always saturating. The miRNA expression pattern for neither viral nor cellular miRNAs has hitherto been determined for KS. Furthermore, comprehensive SNP analysis of the viral miRNAs has been profiled to further examine the effects of sequence and processing. This defines the miRNA signature of PEL, KS, KSHV-infected cancers and experimental models. It shows that the transcriptional regulation of pre-miRNA as well as mature miRNA levels contribute non-redundant information that can be used in the classification of human tumors.
Competitive Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay Based on a Rhoptry-Associated Protein 1 Epitope Specifically Identifies Babesia bovis-Infected Cattle

The competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) format has proven to be an accurate, reliable, easily standardized, and high-throughput method for detecting hemoparasite infections. In the present study, a species-specific, broadly conserved, and tandemly repeated B-cell epitope within the C terminus of the rhoptry-associated protein 1 of the hemoparasite Babesia bovis was cloned and expressed as a histidine-tagged thioredoxin fusion peptide and used as antigen in a cELISA. The assay was optimized with defined negative and positive bovine sera, where positive sera inhibited the binding of the epitope-specific monoclonal antibody BABB75A4. The cELISA accurately differentiated animals with B. bovis-specific antibodies from uninfected animals and from animals with antibodies against other tick-borne hemoparasites (98.7% specificity). In addition, B. bovis-specific sera from Australia, Argentina, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, and Morocco inhibited the binding of BABB75A4, confirming conservation of the epitope. The assay first detected experimentally infected animals between 13 and 17 days postinfection, and with sera from naturally infected carrier cattle, was comparable to indirect immunofluorescence (98.3% concordance). The assay appears to have the characteristics necessary for an epidemiologic and disease surveillance tool.
A hybrid control method to maximize efficiency for active mode efficiency regulation

The impact on the environment, in regards to power supply energy efficiency, has attracted growing attention in the international community. This paper proposes a hybrid control method that combines the conventional hard-switched PWM operation and variable frequency quasi-resonant operation. The proposed approach reduces the switching loss at medium and light load effectively without increasing the conduction loss. The proposed scheme was implemented and tested with a 90~265 Vac/5 V, 30 W off-line flyback converter.
Face Detection Based on Facial Features

Human face detection plays an important role in many applications such as video surveillance, human-computer interface, face recognition, and face image database management. This paper presents a face detection algorithm for color images. The method detects skin regions over the entire image, and then generates face candidates based on the adaptive threshold and chroma chart that shows probability of skin colors. The algorithm constructs eye and mouth maps for verifying each face candidate. Experimental results demonstrate successful face detection over a wide range of facial variations in color images
High dietary fat induces NADPH oxidase-associated oxidative stress and inflammation in rat cerebral cortex.

Abstract Epidemiological and experimental studies have suggested that high dietary intake of fats is associated with cognitive decline and a significantly increased risk of dementia. Since oxidative stress and inflammation have been speculated to be critical mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases, we hypothesized that a high fat (HF) diet might induce cerebral oxidative stress or neural inflammation and subsequently contribute to the high risk of dementia. To test this hypothesis, male rats were placed on either a HF diet or a low fat (LF) diet starting at 1 month of age and lasting for 5 months. Intracellular reactive oxidative species (ROS) generation in the cerebral cortex was measured by the oxidant-sensitive dye 5-(6)-chloromethyl-2′,7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (CM-H2DCFDA). Cortical tissue concentration of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) was determined using an enzymatic immunoassay. Expression of NADPH oxidase subunits, cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), nuclear transcription factor NFkappa-B (NF-κB) p65 subunit, Ikappa B(IκB), and phospho-Ikappa B(phospho-IκB) was evaluated by Western blot analysis. The HF diet significantly increased ROS generation and expression of gp91phox, p22phox, p47phox, and p67phox NADPH oxidase subunits in cerebral cortex. Elevated PGE2 levels and markedly increased COX-2 expression suggested a neural inflammatory response in response to excessive fat intake. These findings were further supported by significantly increased phospho-IκB and nuclear NF-κB expression that suggested a role of IκB phosphorylation in HF diet-induced NF-κB translocation. The present study revealed that HF diet induced neural oxidative stress, inflammation, and NF-κB activation in rat cerebral cortex, and provided novel evidence regarding the link between high dietary fat and increased risk of dementia.
Intercrosses and the U.S. Endangered Species Act: Should Hybridized Populations be Included as Westslope Cutthroat Trout?

There are currently no policy guidelines for treating hybrids under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). We considered the scientific basis for determining whether hybridized populations should be included as part of the westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi) unit considered for listing under the ESA. Westslope cutthroat trout are threatened by genomic extinction because of widespread introgressive hybridiza- tion with introduced rainbow trout (O. mykiss) and Yellowstone cutthroat trout (O. c. bouvieri). Experimental results suggest that first-generation hybrids between westslope cutthroat trout and rainbow trout have reduced fitness. However, hybridization may spread even when hybrids have severely reduced fitness because the pro- duction of hybrids is unidirectional—that is, all the progeny of a hybrid will be hybrids. In addition, heterosis resulting from the sheltering of deleterious recessive alleles in early-generation hybrids may increase the ef- fective rate of introgression. However, such short-term increases in fitness may disrupt important long-term adaptations of native populations. The loss of these adaptations will be difficult to detect because some local adaptations might only be apparent during periodic episodes of extreme environmental conditions, such as winter storms, drought, or fire. Thus, rapid spread of hybridization could result in the loss of local adapta- tions in native populations of westslope cutthroat trout and decrease their probability of long-term persistence. Protection of populations with some admixture would protect sources of spreading hybridization. Treatment of hybrids in conservation planning depends primarily on the amount of evolutionary divergence between the hybridizing taxa and the geographical extent of introgression. We recommend that only nonhybridized populations be included as westslope cutthroat trout in the unit to be considered for listing. Populations of unknown status should be protected until more information about these populations becomes available.
Rapid drinking is associated with increases in driving-related risk-taking.

OBJECTIVE: The rate of alcohol drinking has been shown to predict impairment on cognitive and behavioral tasks. The current study assessed the influence of speed of alcohol consumption within a laboratory-administered binge on self-reported attitudes toward driving and simulated driving ability. METHOD: Forty moderate drinkers (20 female, 20 male) were recruited from the local community via advertisements for individuals who drank alcohol at least once per month. The equivalent of four standard alcohol drinks was consumed at the participant's desired pace within 2-h session. RESULTS: Correlation analyses revealed that, after alcohol drinking, mean simulated driving speed, time in excess of speed limit, collisions, and reported confidence in driving were all associated with rapid alcohol drinking. CONCLUSION: Fast drinking may coincide with increased driving confidence because of the extended latency between the conclusion of drinking and the commencement of driving. However, this latency did not reduce alcohol-related driving impairment, as fast drinking was also associated with risky driving. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Language: en
ATPG-based logic synthesis: an overview

The ultimate goal of logic synthesis is to explore implementation flexibility toward meeting design targets, such as area, power, and delay. Traditionally, such flexibility is expressed using "don't cares" and we seek the best implementation that does not violate them. However, the calculation and storing of don't care information is CPU and memory-intensive. In this paper, we give an overview of logic synthesis approaches based on techniques developed for Automatic Test Pattern Generation (ATPG). Instead of calculating and storing don't cares explicitly, ATPG-based logic synthesis techniques calculate the flexibility implicitly. Low CPU and memory usage make those techniques applicable for practical industrial circuits. Also, the basic ATPG-based logic level operations create predictable, small layout perturbations, making an ideal foundation for efficient physical synthesis. Theoretical results show that an efficient, yet simple add-a-wire-and-remove-a-wire operation covers all possible complex logic transformations.
Free Triangle Orders

We deflne a new class of ordered sets, called free triangle orders. These are ordered sets represented by a left-to-right ordering on geometric objects con- tained in a horizontal strip in the plane. The objects are called \free triangles," and have one vertex on each of the two boundaries of the strip and one vertex in its interior. These ordered sets generalize the classes of trapezoid and triangle orders studied in (Bogart et al., 1998; Ryan, 1998; Ryan, 1999), represented by trapezoids and triangles respectively, contained within a strip in the plane, and are a special case of the orders of tube dimension 2 introduced by (Habib et al., 1992), which are represented by any set of convex bodies contained within a strip in the plane. Our main result is that the class of free triangle orders strictly contains the class of trapezoid orders.
Cathode erosion rate in high-pressure arcs: influence of swirling gas flow

Cathode erosion in a 400-A arc burning in oxygen at 4-atm pressure was measured at different gas dynamic conditions near the cathode. The flow pattern near the cathode was changed by varying the swirl of the gas entering the discharge chamber. Experiments showed that the erosion rate depends on the swirl in a very strong way. Model calculations of velocity distribution showed that the gas velocity near the cathode increases as the swirl intensifies. According to our model, it leads to an increase of the net evaporation rate (evaporation rate minus rate of previously evaporated particles returning back to the cathode).
An eigenstructure assignment algorithm for the design of fault detection filters

In this paper, we present an algorithm for the construction of detection spaces in a fault detection filter by direct eigenstructure assignment. The algorithm permits great flexibility and simplifies the process of designing fault detection filters. >
Health Economists' Views of Health Policy

This article reports the views of a national survey of U.S. health economists on a series of questions ranging from mergers among health care providers to the profits of pharmaceutical manufacturers to fundamental health care reform. We find a high degree of agreement on issues of fact but considerable disagreement on issues that depend on values. Additional research may help to resolve some remaining disagreement about issues of fact but may do little to resolve disagreement over values. Results from this fall 2005 survey are compared with those from surveys conducted in 1989 and 1995.
Generalized Least Squares

This chapter considers a more general variance covariance matrix for the disturbances. In other words, u ~ (0, s2In) is relaxed so that u ~ (0, σ2Ω) where Ω is a positive definite matrix of dimension (n×n). First Ω is assumed known and the BLUE for β is derived. This estimator turns out to be different from \(\hat{\beta}_{OLS}\), and is denoted by \(\hat{\beta}_{GLS}\), the Generalized Least Squares estimator of β. Next, we study the properties of \(\hat{\beta}_{OLS}\) under this nonspherical form of the disturbances. It turns out that the OLS estimates are still unbiased and consistent, but their standard errors as computed by standard regression packages are biased and inconsistent and lead to misleading inference. Section 9.3 studies some special forms of Ω and derive the corresponding BLUE for β. It turns out that heteroskedasticity and serial correlation studied in Chapter 5 are special cases of Ω. Section 9.4 introduces normality and derives the maximum likelihood estimator. Sections 9.5 and 9.6 study the way in which test of hypotheses and prediction get affected by this general variance-covariance assumption on the disturbances. Section 9.7 studies the properties of this BLUE for Ω when Ω is unknown, and is replaced by a consistent estimator. Section 9.8 studies what happens to the W, LR and LM statistics when u ~ N(0, σ2Ω). Section 9.9 gives another application of GLS to spatial autocorrelation.
Preliminary investigations on the influence of temperature on food assimilation by rainbow trout Salmo gairdneri Richardson

Juvenile rainbow trout demonstrated recognizable differences in their ability to assimilate useable energy from food organisms at three different water temperatures. This paper describes the technique and computations used to document these differences and discusses possible reasons for such differences.
Survey of Predators and Sampling Method Comparison in Sweet Corn

Natural predation is an important component of integrated pest management that is often overlooked because it is difficult to quantify and perceived to be unreliable. To begin incorporating natural predation into sweet corn, Zea mays L., pest management, a predator survey was conducted and then three sampling methods were compared for their ability to accurately monitor the most abundant predators. A predator survey on sweet corn foliage in New York between 1999 and 2001 identified 13 species. Orius insidiosus (Say), Coleomegilla maculata (De Geer), and Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) were the most numerous predators in all years. To determine the best method for sampling adult and immature stages of these predators, comparisons were made among nondestructive field counts, destructive counts, and yellow sticky cards. Field counts were correlated with destructive counts for all populations, but field counts of small insects were biased. Sticky cards underrepresented immature populations. Yellow sticky cards were more attractive to C. maculata adults than H. axyridis adults, especially before pollen shed, making coccinellid population estimates based on sticky cards unreliable. Field counts were the most precise method for monitoring adult and immature stages of the three major predators. Future research on predicting predation of pests in sweet corn should be based on field counts of predators because these counts are accurate, have no associated supply costs, and can be made quickly.
Nursing Home Litigation: 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'

Nursing home residents, their spouses, family members, and advocates who are dissatisfied with the quality of care provided by a facility have several options. they may complain to the nursing homes, threatening to or actually moving out of the nursing home, file a complaint with the state nursing home ombudsman or, most dramatically, sue the nursing home. As residents and their families increasingly conclude that the best option is to sue nursing homes, the effect of that litigation will help determine the manner in which nursing homes operate, their financial well-being and , quite possibly, even their very existence.Every time a resident successfully sues a nursing home, the standard of what is acceptable care is modestly redefined. Because the common law is the recorded expression of what courts have found in prior cases, each new case is akin to adding yet another brick to the wall of the common law of nursing homes (Madden, 1996). The interpretation of statutes and regulations is also fleshed out in the context of the individual facts and circumstances of each reported case. . . .It is the hope of improving the quality of care for other residents that energizes some residents to sue for negligence and to endure the stress and delay of litigation. For these litigants, the lawsuit serves to bring some measure of value to what they have endured. Yes, they have suffered, but by suing they help save other nursing home residents from negligent care. Out of the despair of their pain and suffering comes hope for others. The hope for reform supports litigation.
Aberrant Hippocampal Connectivity in Unmedicated Patients With Schizophrenia and Effects of Antipsychotic Medication: A Longitudinal Resting State Functional MRI Study

To better characterize hippocampal pathophysiology in schizophrenia, we conducted a longitudinal study evaluating hippocampal functional connectivity during resting state, using seeds prescribed in its anterior and posterior regions. We enrolled 34 unmedicated patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (SZ) and 34 matched healthy controls. SZ were scanned while off medication, then were treated with risperidone for 6 weeks and re-scanned (n = 22). Group differences in connectivity, as well as changes in connectivity over time, were assessed on the group's participant level functional connectivity maps. We found significant dysconnectivity with anterior and posterior hippocampal seeds in unmedicated SZ. Baseline connectivity between the hippocampus and anterior cingulate cortex, caudate nucleus, auditory cortex and calcarine sulcus in SZ predicted subsequent response to antipsychotic medications. These same regions demonstrated changes over the 6-week treatment trial that were correlated with symptomatic improvement. Our findings implicate several neural networks relevant to clinical improvement with antipsychotic medications.
Twelfth-Century Italian Prices: Food and Clothing in Pisa and Venice

Seventy-three years ago pioneer American medievalist Dana Carlton Munro (1911: 504) delivered a paper in Philadelphia to the American Philosophical Society entitled “The Cost of Living in the Twelfth Century.” He threw down the gauntlet by concluding that in this paper an attempt has been made to set forth only a few of the facts, merely to indicate the nature and importance of the problem. Every one of the subjects here discussed is susceptible of elaboration, and needs to be worked out in detail for each country of Western Europe and each period in the twelfth century. The material is voluminous…. This field, as a whole, offers a good opportunity for many monographs, and such work is essential before we can understand the economic history of the century which was most important in the advance of western Europe. This article takes up this challenge with new material on the cost of living in Italy in the twelfth century.
Complex lipids: a review

Animal complex lipids contain both hydrophobic and hydrophilic moieties and may be broadly sub-divided into phospholipid and sphingolipid classes and together with protein are localized in membranes. Phospholipids are derivatives of diacylglycerophosphate: the acyl groups have 14–22 carbon atoms and 0–6 double bonds. The phosphate group is almost invariably linked to a hydrophilic residue, e.g. choline, serine. Sphingolipids are derivatives of ceramide—an acylated long chain β-aminoalcohol. Similar to the phospholipids, the acyl groups may have 14–26 carbon atoms but usually no more than one double bond. The alcohol grouping may be linked to phosphorylchohne to form the ubiquitous sphingomyelin, or linked either to one or a chain of carbohydrate moieties to form neutral glycosphingolipids. Further addition of one or more polar sialic acid residues form gangliosides. The sialo- and asialogly-cosphingolipids display haptenic properties and may be involved in cellular interactions.