cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Conjugated linoleic acid exhibits stimulatory and inhibitory effects on prostanoid production in human endothelial cells and platelets

In addition to their reported antitumorigenic properties, various conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) isomers have also been shown to decrease prostanoid synthesis as a result of inhibiting the cyclooxygenase (COX) enzyme. We have previously reported that several CLA isomers inhibited both platelet aggregation and formation of thromboxane A(2) (TXA(2)), a proaggregatory and vasoconstrictive agent. Since the interaction between platelets and vascular endothelial cells is essential to maintaining vascular homeostasis, we decided to investigate the effects of various CLA isomers on the production of endothelial prostacyclin (PGI(2)), a potent vasodilator and inhibitor of platelet function. Using interleukin 1-beta (IL1-beta)-stimulated human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), we initially established that HUVECs of passage #2 should be used since these cells were most responsive to thrombin-induced conversion of endogenous arachidonic acid to PGI(2), as monitored by the formation of its stable, inactive metabolite, 6-ketoPGF(1alpha). In the first part of the study, the effects of CLA isomers in the free fatty acid form were tested. The 10(E), 12(Z)- and 9(Z), 11(E)-CLA isomers inhibited thrombin-induced 6-ketoPGF(1alpha) formation with I(50)'s of 2.6 and 5.5 microM, whereas the 9(Z), 11(Z)- and 9(E), 11(E)-CLA were ineffective at concentrations up to 60 microM. The inhibitory effect of the 10(E), 12(Z)-CLA was irreversible. Next, the effects of CLA incorporation into HUVECs on PGI(2) generation was determined. An average 8-fold stimulation of 6-ketoPGF(1alpha) formation was obtained with quiescent IL1-beta-exposed HUVECs pretreated for 18 h with 25 microM 9(Z), 11(Z)-CLA, whereas cells preincubated with the 10(E), 12(Z) isomer enhanced this eicosanoid 3-fold. Such IL1-beta-treated HUVECs prelabeled with 25 microM 9(Z), 11(Z)-CLA became refractory to thrombin stimulation, as measured by 6-ketoPGF(1alpha) production, whereas a small, statistically insignificant, inhibition was observed upon thrombin treatment of HUVECs prelabeled with the 10(E), 12(Z) isomer. Qualitative similar results were obtained with resting or thrombin-stimulated platelets containing these esterified CLA isomers indicating that these effects occur with cells that contain either the COX-1 or COX-2 isozymes. The results of this in vitro study indicate that the effects of CLA on cellular prostanoid formation in endothelial cells and platelets can be either inhibitory or stimulatory, and this seems to depend not only on the specific CLA isomer and whether or not the CLA is in the free fatty acid form or esterified into cellular lipids, but also whether cells are in the resting or stimulated state. These findings suggest that in vivo, CLA might have multiple, complex effects on vascular homeostasis.
Antineoplastic Agents. 592. Highly Effective Cancer Cell Growth Inhibitory Structural Modifications of Dolastatin 10

The dolastatin series of unique peptides, origi-nally discovered as constituents of the sea hare Dolabella auricularia, is of increasing importance in providing biological leads, especially to new and useful anticancer drugs. Dolastatin 10 and three analogues, minor structural modifications designated auristatins, are currently in human cancer clinical trials. The present study was undertaken to explore delivery to the cancer sites by way of phosphate or quinoline modifications. The initial objectives, auristatin TP as sodium phosphate 3b (GI50 10−2−10−4 μg/mL), auristatin 2-AQ (4, GI50 10−2−10−3 μg/mL), and auristatin 6-AQ (5, GI50 10−4 μg/mL), exhibited superior cancer cell growth inhibitory properties.
CONTACT DEGREE AND THE INDEX OF FOURIER INTEGRAL OPERATORS

An elliptic Fourier integral operator of order 0; associated to a homogeneous canonical dieomorphism, on a compact manifold is Fredholm on L2: The index may be expressed as the sum of a term, which we call the contact degree, associated to the canonical dieomorphism and a term, computable by the Atiyah-Singer theorem, associated to the symbol. The contact degree is shown to be dened for any oriented-contact dieomorphism of a contact manifold and is then reduced to the index of a Dirac operator on the mapping torus, also computable by the theorem of Atiyah and Singer. In this case, of an operator on a xed manifold, these results answer a question of Weinstein in a manner consistent with a more general conjecture of Atiyah.
Loss of functional GABA(A) receptors in the Alzheimer diseased brain.

Abstract The cholinergic and glutamatergic neurotransmission systems are known to be severely disrupted in Alzheimer's disease (AD). GABAergic neurotransmission, in contrast, is generally thought to be well preserved. Evidence from animal models and human postmortem tissue suggest GABAergic remodeling in the AD brain. Nevertheless, there is no information on changes, if any, in the electrophysiological properties of human native GABA receptors as a consequence of AD. To gain such information, we have microtransplanted cell membranes, isolated from temporal cortices of control and AD brains, into Xenopus oocytes, and recorded the electrophysiological activity of the transplanted GABA receptors. We found an age-dependent reduction of GABA currents in the AD brain. This reduction was larger when the AD membranes were obtained from younger subjects. We also found that GABA currents from AD brains have a faster rate of desensitization than those from non-AD brains. Furthermore, GABA receptors from AD brains were slightly, but significantly, less sensitive to GABA than receptors from non-AD brains. The reduction of GABA currents in AD was associated with reductions of mRNA and protein of the principal GABA receptor subunits normally present in the temporal cortex. Pairwise analysis of the transcripts within control and AD groups and analyses of the proportion of GABA receptor subunits revealed down-regulation of α1 and γ2 subunits in AD. In contrast, the proportions of α2, β1, and γ1 transcripts were up-regulated in the AD brains. Our data support a functional remodeling of GABAergic neurotransmission in the human AD brain.
Portable Intermodal Preferential Looking (IPL): Investigating Language Comprehension in Typically Developing Toddlers and Young Children with Autism

One of the defining characteristics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is difficulty with language and communication.(1) Children with ASD's onset of speaking is usually delayed, and many children with ASD consistently produce language less frequently and of lower lexical and grammatical complexity than their typically developing (TD) peers.(6,8,12,23) However, children with ASD also exhibit a significant social deficit, and researchers and clinicians continue to debate the extent to which the deficits in social interaction account for or contribute to the deficits in language production.(5,14,19,25) Standardized assessments of language in children with ASD usually do include a comprehension component; however, many such comprehension tasks assess just one aspect of language (e.g., vocabulary),(5) or include a significant motor component (e.g., pointing, act-out), and/or require children to deliberately choose between a number of alternatives. These last two behaviors are known to also be challenging to children with ASD.(7,12,13,16) We present a method which can assess the language comprehension of young typically developing children (9-36 months) and children with autism.(2,4,9,11,22) This method, Portable Intermodal Preferential Looking (P-IPL), projects side-by-side video images from a laptop onto a portable screen. The video images are paired first with a 'baseline' (nondirecting) audio, and then presented again paired with a 'test' linguistic audio that matches only one of the video images. Children's eye movements while watching the video are filmed and later coded. Children who understand the linguistic audio will look more quickly to, and longer at, the video that matches the linguistic audio.(2,4,11,18,22,26) This paradigm includes a number of components that have recently been miniaturized (projector, camcorder, digitizer) to enable portability and easy setup in children's homes. This is a crucial point for assessing young children with ASD, who are frequently uncomfortable in new (e.g., laboratory) settings. Videos can be created to assess a wide range of specific components of linguistic knowledge, such as Subject-Verb-Object word order, wh-questions, and tense/aspect suffixes on verbs; videos can also assess principles of word learning such as a noun bias, a shape bias, and syntactic bootstrapping.(10,14,17,21,24) Videos include characters and speech that are visually and acoustically salient and well tolerated by children with ASD.
A data base describing low-gravity fluids and materials processing experiments

A data base documenting information on approximately 600 fluids and materials processing experiments performed in a low-gravity environment has been prepared at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The compilation was designed to document all such experimental efforts performed: (1) on U.S. manned space vehicles; (2) on payloads deployed from U.S. manned space vehicles; and (3) on all domestic and international sounding rocket programs (excluding those of the U.S.S.R. and China). Identification of major (reported) sources of significant anomalies during 100 of the experiments is reported and discussed. Further, a preliminary summary of the number of these 100 investigations which experienced an anomaly affecting a certain percentage of the experimental results/objectives is presented.
Using Quotas to Enhance Competition in Asymmetric Auctions: AC omparison of Theoretical and Experimental Outcomes

We study multiple-unit asymmetric procurement auctions wherein sellers from two classes draw costs from different distributions. When sellers are asymmetric, a cost-minimizing buyer discriminates among classes of sellers to enhance competition [1]. Establishing a quota—a limit on the number of offers that can be accepted from any one class—discriminates simply and effectively. The quota increases demand scarcity from the perspective of lowcost sellers, which causes them to lower their offers. To solve for approximate equilibrium strategies of asymmetric auctions with and without a quota, we develop a new method that is similar but distinctly different from the constrained strategic equilibrium (CSE) approach [2]. The new method finds the constrained strategies that minimize the expected gain from a randomly chosen seller unilaterally deviating from the constrained strategy. We find quota can enhance competition and lower total procurement cost. We subject the same auctions to laboratory testing and find savings from quota in excess of that predicted by the approximate equilibrium strategies. This study is first to combine theory and experimental evidence of auctions with quotas, though similar mechanisms are widely used in practice. Because the mechanism is widely used to promote social goals and can also lead to better outcomes for the buyer, our findings have both positive and normative implications. One potentially interesting application of quota auctions would be for large-scale procurement of ecosystem services like carbon sequestration.
Hydroxyapatite scaffold pore architecture effects in large bone defects in vivo

To examine the effect of scaffold pore size on bone regeneration within hydroxyapatite scaffolds in large segmental defects, this study evaluated two porous interconnected architectures having similar porosity and strut thickness but different pore sizes. Using a 10 mm segmental rabbit radius defect model, a bilayer scaffold architecture mimicking the cortical-cancellous organization of bone (pore size 200mm outer layer, 450mm inner layer) was compared to a purely trabecular-like architecture (pore size 340mm) and an untreated defect. Bone regeneration was measured using micro- computed tomography and histology after four and eight weeks of in vivo implantation, and the mechanical strength of the defect site after eight weeks' implantation was assessed using flexural testing. Although both bilayer and trabecular architectures promoted bone growth, the trabecular scaffolds were observed to have more uniform new bone distri- bution within the scaffold interior at four weeks and greater bone regeneration overall after eight weeks' implantation (149 � 9m m 3 compared to 121 � 8m m 3 in the bilayer and 66 � 14 mm 3 in the defect). Additionally, the trabecular scaffolds were observed to exhibit significantly greater flexural strength (124% increase) and toughness (388% increase) when compared to the empty defects after eight weeks' implantation. It was concluded from this study that a larger uniform pore size led to greater functional bone regeneration over a longer implantation period for large segmental defects.
Short‐term synaptic plasticity, simulation of nerve terminal dynamics, and the effects of protein kinase C activation in rat hippocampus

Phorbol esters are hypothesised to produce a protein kinase C (PKC)-dependent increase in the probability of transmitter release via two mechanisms: facilitation of vesicle fusion or increases in synaptic vesicle number and replenishment. We used a combination of electrophysiology and computer simulation to distinguish these possibilities. We constructed a stochastic model of the presynaptic contacts between a pair of hippocampal pyramidal cells that used biologically realistic processes and was constrained by electrophysiological data. The model reproduced faithfully several forms of short-term synaptic plasticity, including short-term synaptic depression (STD), and allowed us to manipulate several experimentally inaccessible processes. Simulation of an increase in the size of the readily releasable vesicle pool and the time of vesicle replenishment decreased STD, whereas simulation of a facilitation of vesicle fusion downstream of Ca2+ influx enhanced STD. Because activation of protein kinase C with phorbol ester enhanced STD of EPSCs in rat hippocampal slice cultures, we conclude that an increase in the sensitivity of the release process for Ca2+ underlies the potentiation of neurotransmitter release by PKC.
Using Sensor Inputs to Affect Virtual and Real Environments

This article discusses several networked media projects that use sensor technology to transmit data from real-world environments to virtual environments. The Eolus One project uses an experimental virtual control room to run building systems and provide a better communication network among its users. A 3D application design group called green phosphor creates code for translating n-dimensional information into 3D interactive formats for real-time effects. The Parsec voice controller system uses sonic inputs to control 3D graphical objects on the second life virtual platform. This article focuses on the design principles applied by the three projects at this experimental stage of x-reality design.
"Nutritional and chemopreventive anti-cancer agents up-regulate expression of p27Kip1, a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, in mouse JB6 epidermal and human MCF7, MDA-MB-321 and AU565 breast cancer cells".

Background p27(Kip1) is a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor. When up-regulated, p27 inhibits G1-to-S phase transition of the cell cycle. This report addresses the question of whether various nutritional and chemopreventive anti-cancer agents up-regulate the expression of p27 in preneoplastic and neoplastic cells.
Association of radiographic features of osteoarthritis of the knee with knee pain: data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.

Objective. To examine the association between selfreported knee pain and radiographic features of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Methods. A sample of participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (452 Caucasian males and 223 Caucasian females) completed questionnaires and underwent a standing radiograph of both knees at the same biennial visit between 1984 and 1989. Radiographs were interpreted using both the Kellgren-Lawrence and individual features scales. Odds ratios were calculated for the association of radiographic features with knee pain after adjustment for age, sex, and body mass index. Results. Overall, 156 (23%) persons reported ever having knee pain, and 104 (15%) reported current knee pain (within the previous year). Both ever knee pain and current knee pain were significantly associated with the presence of definite knee OA (Kellgren-Lawrence grade ≥2) and with the presence of all individual features. There was a direct relationship between all measures of severity of radiographic OA and knee pain. Conclusion. These data demonstrate that radiographic features of knee OA are significantly associated with knee pain. The data also support the continued use of the Kellgren-Lawrence grading scale for defining knee OA in population studies.
Cultivation of the murine SK strain of poliomyelitis virus in developing eggs.

SummaryThe murine SK strain of poliomyelitis virus was carried through 14 passages on developing eggs without evident diminution of virus content. Its multiplication was associated with a high incidence of deaths in the embryos. The incidence of deaths was influenced by the temperature at which the eggs were incubated after inoculation.†
Butterworth dip filters

Dip filters enable a geophysicist to discriminate between various seismic events on the basis of apparent dip. The frequency‐wavenumber (ω, k) domain seems an attractive domain to perform dip filtering because it permits the application of an arbitrary transfer function of dip. Seismic applications of dip filtering, however, seldom require the flexibility offered by the (ω, k) domain; one may often be willing to sacrifice this flexibility to obtain features not possible with (ω, k) domain filters, but readily available with timespace (t, x) domain filters. Examples are (1) time and space variability, (2) flexible treatment of computational grid boundaries, and (3) an efficient, recursive implementation. We describe a (t, x) domain dip filtering method with these features. In the derivation of a (t, x) domain filter, we first discuss (t, k) and (ω, x) domain dip filters. While not fully possessing the advantages of a (t, x) domain filter, these filters are an attractive combination of two very efficient an...
Microwave analog-to-digital converters for broadband communications

Summary form only given. Microwave A/D and D/A converters enable digital RF systems where virtually all information is processed or generated by direct digital means. A complete receiver link can consist of a sensor (e.g. antenna or photodetector), an N-bit A/D converter, and a digital signal processor. A complete transmitter can be built using the appropriate actuator (antenna or laser), an N-bit D/A converter and a digital waveform synthesizer. Future radar, electronic warfare, and communication systems will exploit this all-digital approach to increase the performance and flexibility while lowering the cost. We describe how quantum switching devices can be used to build A/D converters with ultimate sampling rates well above 100 GHz. Resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) are integrated with heterojunction field effect or bipolar transistors to sample, quantize, encode, demodulate, and filter broadband analog signals. Single-ended and differential circuits are discussed and compared for power consumption, area, and speed. Comparisons are made between RTD/FET and FET-only A/D functions. Results are shown for A/D quantizers that have sub-millivolt threshold sensitivity at 10 GHz sampling rates.
Test of QED and Photoproduction of Vector Mesons

Writing down the high order QED matrix element for Delbruck scattering was the first request in my diploma exam in 1963. It followed a discussion of the g-2 experimental and theoretical values, all from the point of view of how accurately the theory of QED described nature.
Disease Ontology: a backbone for disease semantic integration

The Disease Ontology (DO) database (http://disease-ontology.org) represents a comprehensive knowledge base of 8043 inherited, developmental and acquired human diseases (DO version 3, revision 2510). The DO web browser has been designed for speed, efficiency and robustness through the use of a graph database. Full-text contextual searching functionality using Lucene allows the querying of name, synonym, definition, DOID and cross-reference (xrefs) with complex Boolean search strings. The DO semantically integrates disease and medical vocabularies through extensive cross mapping and integration of MeSH, ICD, NCI's thesaurus, SNOMED CT and OMIM disease-specific terms and identifiers. The DO is utilized for disease annotation by major biomedical databases (e.g. Array Express, NIF, IEDB), as a standard representation of human disease in biomedical ontologies (e.g. IDO, Cell line ontology, NIFSTD ontology, Experimental Factor Ontology, Influenza Ontology), and as an ontological cross mappings resource between DO, MeSH and OMIM (e.g. GeneWiki). The DO project (http://diseaseontology.sf.net) has been incorporated into open source tools (e.g. Gene Answers, FunDO) to connect gene and disease biomedical data through the lens of human disease. The next iteration of the DO web browser will integrate DO's extended relations and logical definition representation along with these biomedical resource cross-mappings.
Use Cases to Process Specifications in Business Process Modeling Notation

Use cases are a key technique to elicit software requirements from the point of view of the user of a system. Their prevalence is noticeable ever since the onset of agile programming techniques. Within SOA projects however, business process models are used for capability analysis and gap detection. Business process models present a global view of the system and hence are more suited for gap detection. Therefore, in practice both these forms of requirements continue to be useful and coexist. Often in big software projects and in distributed development environment such coexisting requirement specifications can grow out of synch. We present here a technique to semi-automatically transform use cases into business processes and to create mapping between them. By preserving the mapping between these forms one can enforce consistency between the two forms of requirements.
Limit laws for the averages of exponential random variables

Etude de la validite de la loi du logarithme itere dans le cas ou f n'est pas necessairement une fonction indicatrice
Bone marrow‐derived dendritic cells pulsed with a tumor‐specific peptide elicit effective anti‐tumor immunity against intracranial neoplasms

Although the central nervous system (CNS) is often regarded as an immunologically privileged site, it is well established that specific CNS immunoreactivity can be generated through peripheral vaccination with CNS antigens. Dendritic cells (DC) are potent antigen presenting cells of hematopoietic origin that have emerged as a promising tool for cancer immunotherapy capable of evoking significant anti-tumor immunity when pulsed with tumor-associated peptides. To explore a role for DC-based immunization strategies for the treatment of CNS tumors, we developed a brain tumor model using the C3 sarcoma cell line which expresses the tumor-specific, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I-restricted peptide epitope E7(49-57). Syngeneic C57Bl/6 mice receiving intravenous (i.v.) injections of bone marrow-derived DCs pulsed with E7 peptide were effectively protected against a subsequent intracerebral challenge with C3 tumor cells. More importantly, this systemic immunization strategy was effective in a therapy model as 67% of animals (10 of 15) with established (day 7) intracerebral C3 tumors treated with 3 weekly injections of E7 peptide-pulsed DCs achieved a long-term survival (>90 days) while no control animals survived beyond day 41. In vivo depletion of CD8+ cells, but not CD4+ or asialo-GM1+ cells, abrogated the efficacy of E7 peptide-pulsed DC therapy of established tumors, indicating a pivotal role of specific CD8+ T-cell responses in mediating the anti-tumor effect. Our findings support the hypothesis that effective CNS anti-tumor immunoreactivity can be generated with DC-based tumor vaccines.
Empirical Polarization Distribution Models for CLARREO-Imager Intercalibration

AbstractPolarization effects bias the performance of various existing passive spaceborne instruments, such as MODIS and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), as well as geostationary imagers. It is essential to evaluate and correct for these effects in order to achieve the required accuracy of the total reflectance at the top of the atmosphere.In addition to performing highly accurate decadal climate change observations, one of the objectives of the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) mission recommended by the National Research Council for launch by NASA is to provide the on-orbit intercalibration with the imagers over a range of parameters, including polarization. Whenever the on-orbit coincident measurements are not possible, CLARREO will provide the polarization distributions constructed using the adding–doubling radiative transfer model (ADRTM), which will cover the entire reflected solar spectrum. These ADRTM results need to be validated using real data....
The Effect of Base Slant on the Flow Pattern and Drag of Three-Dimensional Bodies with Blunt Ends

The paper describes an experimental investigation concerning the effects of slanting the blunt base of three-dimensional bodies having either an axisymmetric or a rectangular cross section. It was found that base slant can have a very dramatic effect on body drag, particularly in a relatively narrow range of slant angles where the drag coefficient exhibits a large local maximum (overshoot).
Looking Up: How Green Roofs and Cool Roofs Can Reduce Energy Use, Address Climate Change, and Protect Water Resources in Southern California

The Emmett Center partners with NRDC on a new study analyzing the benefits of smart roofing options for Southern California. Looking Up concludes that green roofs and cool roofs would save energy and money, reduce global warming pollution, and relieve stress on California’s limited fresh water supply. Coauthored by Cara Horowitz, the study quantifies these benefits and makes policy recommendations for promoting smart roofs.
Gist and Verbatim in Narrative Memory.

A major concern regarding the study of narratives regards how they are indexed and retrieved. This is a question which touches on the structure of human memory in general. Indeed, if narratives capture the substance of human thought, then data that we have already collected regarding human memory is of central importance to the computational study of narrative. Fuzzy Trace Theory assumes that memory for narrative is simultaneously stored at multiple levels of abstraction and, whenever possible, decision-makers interpret a stimulus qualitatively and therefore operate on a simple - typically categorical - "gist" representation. Here, we present a computational model of Fuzzy Trace Theory applied to explain the impact of changes in a narrative upon risky-choice framing effects. Overall, our theory predicts the outcome of 20 experimental effects using only three basic assumptions: 1) preference for lowest level of gist, that is, categorical processing; 2) decision options that fall within the same categorical description are then interpreted using finer-grained (ordinal or verbatim) distinctions; and 3) once the options are mentally represented, decision preferences are generated on the basis of simple positive vs. negative valences stored in long-term memory (e.g., positive value for human lives). A fourth assumption - that negatively-valenced decision options are preferentially converted to positive decision options - is used when categories are not otherwise comparable.
Potassium-Binding Agents to Facilitate Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System Inhibitor Therapy

Objective: To evaluate safety and efficacy data for potassium-binding resins in renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS)-associated hyperkalemia. Data Sources: A search of MEDLINE (EBSCOhost; 1946 to February 2016) was conducted using the terms hyperkalemia, rennin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, angiotensin receptor blocker, aldosterone antagonists, resin, and binder. Results were limited to human trials in English language journals. References of identified articles were reviewed to identify other relevant articles. Study Selection and Data Extraction: Concurrent potassium-binding agents and RAAS inhibitor use literature were reviewed. Inclusion criteria a 2-week minimum therapy duration with hyperkalemia or high-risk patients receiving concurrent RAAS-inhibiting agents. Seven articles met inclusion criteria: 1 retrospective case series for sodium polystyrene sulfonate (SPS), 1 noncontrolled study using patiromer, and 5 randomized, placebo-controlled trials us...
Effect of corticosteroids on amino acid incorporation into protein by rat liver ribonucleoprotein particles.

SummaryThe influence of corticosteroids on the incorporation of L-leucine-C14 into protein by ribonucleoprotein (RNP) particles from rat liver was studied. When RNP-particles from livers of adrenalectomized animals are used, the C14 amino acid incorporated is more than twice that with RNP-particles from normal rats. The increased incorporation is eliminated by administration of corticosterone to the adrenalectomized animals but not by direct addition of this hormone to the incubation system. In the incubation system used, RNP-particles from livers of normal and adrenalectomized rats incorporated C14-labeled amino acid at a rate proportional to the time of incubation. Preliminary electrophoretic separation of the labeled protein resulted in two protein peaks, the first representing 14% and the other 86% of the total protein, with the radioactivity associated entirely with the first protein peak.
Review of the current status of jet noise predictions using large-eddy simulation (invited)

A survey of the current applications of large-eddy simulation in the prediction of noise from turbulent jets is given. After summarizing the numerical techniques used the data predicted by the simulations are given at conditions of subsonic, heated jets to supersonic, unheated jets. Mach numbers between 0.3 and 2.0 are considered. Following the data presentation an analysis of the trends exhibited by the data is given, with special attention paid to relationship between numerical and/or modeling choices and the prediction accuracy. The data supports the conclusion that the most limiting factor in current large-eddy simulations is the thickness of the initial shear layer, which is roughly one order-of-magnitude thicker than what is found experimentally. The influence of inflow forcing is also discussed in depth. A listing of some of the open questions and future directions concerning jet noise predictions using large-eddy simulation concludes the survey.
Posterior fossa syndrome in children following tumor resection: Knowledge update.

Cerebellar mutism syndrome (CMS) refers to constellation of symptoms noted most commonly following surgery for posterior fossa tumors in the pediatric population. Mutism is a prominent, though not exclusive, characteristic of the syndrome and was first described in 1985 by Rekate et al.[27] In their paper, the authors described six children ranging from 1 to 6 years of age who developed complete absence of speech following resection of posterior fossa masses. Loss of speech was transient in all patients in this series, though many subsequent descriptions has been long lasting.[15,31,32] The term “syndrome” refers to a set of signs and symptoms observed to have correlation, but without clear understanding of underlying common pathogenesis. Although hundreds of articles now have been published describing what we commonly refer to as “posterior fossa syndrome,” its unclear pathophysiology and pervasive consequences warrant further investigation.
Percutaneous Nephrostomy with Immediate Dilation

Percutaneous nephrostomy may serve as an alternative to an open operation for urinary diversion. Difficulties with poor drainage and premature catheter dislodgement have prompted the development of a technique for dilation of the needle tract and placement of a large, self-retaining catheter at the time of the initial puncture.
Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Cardiology

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for more deaths globally than any other single disease. There are on average 1.5 million episodes of myocardial infarction (heart attack) each year in the United States alone with roughly one-third resulting in death. There is therefore a major need for developing new and effective strategies to promote cardiac repair. Intramyocardial transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has emerged as a leading contender in the pursuit of clinical intervention and therapy. MSCs are potent mediators of cardiac repair and are therefore an attractive tool in the development of preclinical and clinical trials. MSCs are capable of secreting a large array of soluble factors, which have had demonstrated effects on pathogenic cardiac remolding, fibrosis, immune activation, and cardiac stem cell proliferation within the damaged heart. MSCs are also capable of differentiation into cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, and vascular smooth muscle cells, although the relative contribution of trilineage differentiation and paracrine effectors on cardiac repair remains the subject of active investigation.
Posterior Urethral Valves Causing Urinary Retention in an Infant with Duplication of the Urethra

We report the early management of an infant with partial urethral duplication and posterior urethral valves who presented in urinary retention.
Neural Representation of Concurrent Vowels in Macaque Primary Auditory Cortex

Abstract Successful speech perception in real-world environments requires that the auditory system segregate competing voices that overlap in frequency and time into separate streams. Vowels are major constituents of speech and are comprised of frequencies (harmonics) that are integer multiples of a common fundamental frequency (F0). The pitch and identity of a vowel are determined by its F0 and spectral envelope (formant structure), respectively. When two spectrally overlapping vowels differing in F0 are presented concurrently, they can be readily perceived as two separate “auditory objects” with pitches at their respective F0s. A difference in pitch between two simultaneous vowels provides a powerful cue for their segregation, which in turn, facilitates their individual identification. The neural mechanisms underlying the segregation of concurrent vowels based on pitch differences are poorly understood. Here, we examine neural population responses in macaque primary auditory cortex (A1) to single and double concurrent vowels (/a/ and /i/) that differ in F0 such that they are heard as two separate auditory objects with distinct pitches. We find that neural population responses in A1 can resolve, via a rate-place code, lower harmonics of both single and double concurrent vowels. Furthermore, we show that the formant structures, and hence the identities, of single vowels can be reliably recovered from the neural representation of double concurrent vowels. We conclude that A1 contains sufficient spectral information to enable concurrent vowel segregation and identification by downstream cortical areas.
Alcohol Consumption and Cardiac Biomarkers: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study

BACKGROUND The role of alcohol in the development of subclinical cardiovascular disease is unclear. We examined the association between alcohol consumption and markers of subclinical cardiac damage and wall stress. METHODS We studied the cross-sectional and prospective associations of alcohol consumption with high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) and N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) measured at 2 time points, 6 years apart (baseline, 1990-1992; follow-up, 1996-1998), in over 11000 participants of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study with no history of cardiovascular disease. Alcohol consumption was categorized as follows: never, former, current: ≤1, 2-7, 8-14, and ≥15 drinks/week. RESULTS Compared to never drinkers, persons who consumed 2-7 drinks per week were less likely to have increased hs-cTnT (≥14 ng/L) at baseline (odds ratio = 0.67, 95% CI, 0.46-0.96), and had a lower risk of incident increases in hs-cTnT at follow-up (relative risk = 0.70, 95% CI, 0.49-1.00). Conversely, there was a positive association between alcohol intake and NT-proBNP concentrations at baseline. Consumption of ≥15 drinks/week was positively associated with incident increases in NT-proBNP (≥300 pg/mL) at the 6-year follow-up visit (relative risk = 2.38, 95% CI, 1.43-3.96). CONCLUSIONS In this community-based study of middle-aged adults without a history of cardiovascular disease, moderate drinking was associated with lower concentrations of hs-cTnT, a marker of chronic subclinical myocardial damage, and positively associated with NT-proBNP, a biomarker of cardiac wall stress. Our results suggest that the cardiac effects of alcohol are complex. Cardiac biomarkers may help improve our understanding of the full cardiovascular effects of alcohol consumption.
Democracy: Equality and Inequality

Political ethnographer Adam Ashforth has reached a startling conclusion concerning democratization in South Africa: witchcraft is threatening the country's hard-won democracy. From 1990 to the recent past, Ashforth has spent much of his time sharing the public and private lives of Soweto (South West Township), a huge black suburb of Johannesburg. His Soweto sojourn has therefore taken him through what most observers hail as South Africa's transition from authoritarianism to democracy. Before he started working in Soweto, Ashforth wrote an impressive historical analysis of the legal process by which apartheid took shape (Ashforth 1990). But preparation for a book on witchcraft, violence, and democracy plunged him shoulder-deep into ethnography. Through firsthand observation, personal intervention, and incessant interrogation of his acquaintances, Ashforth built up a powerful picture of coping, strife, and hope amid vicious violence. Ashforth's ethnographic involvement forced him to abandon many a preconceived category and explanation of struggle during and after apartheid. Ashforth argues persuasively that witchcraft is hobbling South African democratization. Sowetans and South Africans at large commonly believe that evil persons can call up occult forces to harm others they envy or dislike; that calling up such occult forces constitutes witchcraft; that some individuals inherit or learn the skills of witchcraft, thus becoming witches; and that only counter-use of occult forces can overcome witchcraft's damaging effects. Witchcraft can kill, cause personal suffering, and destroy careers. Fear of witchcraft, counteraction of witchcraft, and initiation of witchcraft pervade daily life.
Abdominal and Thoracic Trauma

Of all the types of injuries resulting from child abuse, abdominal, and thoracic injuries are the most dangerous. They rank as the second most lethal type of inflicted injuries in children after head injuries. Victims of child abuse with significant abdominal and thoracic injuries often succumb to their injuries before diagnosis and treatment. They are young and defenseless and unable to brace themselves against the very violent forces that cause these types of injuries. Blunt force caused by kicking or punching is a common mechanism. Several factors such as inaccurate and incomplete history offered by the accompanying adult, the lack of external markers, and the lack of immediately evident specific signs and symptoms often lead to a delayed presentation and diagnosis. Victims presenting late with cardiovascular instability may be assumed to have a medical cause and receive standard cardio-pulmonary resuscitation instead of management based on trauma protocols.
Flow of viscoelastic fluids around a sharp microfluidic bend: Role of wormlike micellar structure

Flow transitions for wormlike micelle solutions and solutions of linear polymers flowing around a microfluidic 90\ifmmode \mathring{}\else \r{}\fi{} bend are compared. The first transition in all fluids is at similar Weissenberg number, but the form of secondary flow and higher transitions depend on the wormlike micellar structure.
Asphyxiating Thoracic Dystrophy (Jeune’s Syndrome): Congenital and Acquired

Familial asphyxiating thoracic dystrophy (ATD) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder originally described by Jeune and is typically associated with early-onset respiratory impairment due to chest wall restriction. An acquired variant of this disorder may result from surgical procedures designed to correct pectus excavatum and pectus carinatum. Evaluation of these children usually requires input from multiple medical and surgical subspecialists and extensive preoperative testing and imaging. Surgical approaches are varied and complex and may involve sternotomy, rib transections, and/or the implantation of devices to permanently expand the chest cavity. Objective improvement in pulmonary status following surgery has been difficult to document.
David Oliver: Leaving medicine—is the grass always greener?

Across training grades in hospital specialties we have fewer doctors entering core training after foundation years,1 and fewer progress from core training to higher specialty training.2 It’s too early to say how many doctors who have stepped out of a training programme will give up their medical registration for good, re-enter training grades, or return from working overseas. It’s each doctor’s prerogative to decide when to have a break, a clean break, a change of pace, or a change of career. And we should offer adequate mentorship and support to those who are struggling, uncertain, or contemplating a …
Submicrometer Emitter ESI Tips for Native Mass Spectrometry of Membrane Proteins in Ionic and Nonionic Detergents.

Native mass spectrometry (native-MS) of membrane proteins typically requires a detergent screening protocol, protein solubilization in the preferred detergent, followed by protein liberation from the micelle by collisional activation. Here, submicrometer nano-ESI emitter tips are used for native-MS of membrane proteins solubilized in both nonionic and ionic detergent solutions. With the submicrometer nano-ESI emitter tips, resolved charge-state distributions of membrane protein ions are obtained from a 150 mM NaCl, 25 mM Tris-HCl with 1.1% octyl glucoside solution. The relative abundances of NaCl and detergent cluster ions at high m /z are significantly reduced with the submicrometer emitters compared with larger nano-ESI emitters that are commonly used. This technique is beneficial for significantly decreasing the abundances (by two to three orders of magnitude compared with the larger tip size: 1.6 μm) of detergent cluster ions formed from aqueous ammonium acetate solutions containing detergents that can overlap with the membrane protein ion signal. Resolved charge-state distributions of membrane protein ions from aqueous ammonium acetate solutions containing ionic detergents were obtained with the submicrometer nano-ESI emitters; this is the first report of native-MS of membrane proteins solubilized by ionic detergents.
Seasonality in Transition Scale from Balanced to Unbalanced Motions in the World Ocean

AbstractThe transition scale Lt from balanced geostrophic motions to unbalanced wave motions, including near-inertial flows, internal tides, and inertia–gravity wave continuum, is explored using the output from a global 1/48° horizontal resolution Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model (MITgcm) simulation. Defined as the wavelength with equal balanced and unbalanced motion kinetic energy (KE) spectral density, Lt is detected to be geographically highly inhomogeneous: it falls below 40 km in the western boundary current and Antarctic Circumpolar Current regions, increases to 40–100 km in the interior subtropical and subpolar gyres, and exceeds, in general, 200 km in the tropical oceans. With the exception of the Pacific and Indian sectors of the Southern Ocean, the seasonal KE fluctuations of the surface balanced and unbalanced motions are out of phase because of the occurrence of mixed layer instability in winter and trapping of unbalanced motion KE in shallow mixed layer in summe...
Ita Ford and the Spirit of Social Change

The life of Maryknoll Sister Ita Ford, one of four U.S. churchwomen murdered by the El Salvadoran military in December 1980, underscores the complicated relationship between religion and left politics. Although largely overlooked in the historical scholarship on postwar American social movements, Catholic sisters such as Ford played important roles as participants in, and catalysts for, social justice efforts, whether in the 1960s U.S. civil rights movement or as practitioners of liberation theology in the 1970s and beyond. In Chile and El Salvador, Ford put her faith into action through the work of accompaniment: she advocated for human rights, engaged in grassroots community organizing, and aided refugees. Her life and work highlight how secular and sacred forces intertwined within postwar struggles for social and political change.
Component Therapy in Obstetric Hemorrhage

Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) remains one of the leading causes of maternal mortality worldwide. Epidemiologic studies have shown a worldwide increase in PPH, extending to developed countries including the United States (US). Although the overall prevalence is low, the rate of PPH in the US has increased from 1.5% in 1999 to 4.1% in 2009 [1]. Numerous national and international societies have invested a great deal of effort in designing Patient Blood Management (PBM) guidelines in an effort to reduce the overall mortality rate associated with PPH. To date, there is no definitive consensus between the various societies’ PBM recommendations. This chapter will highlight a case of life-threatening PPH, detailing blood component therapy in the setting of massive obstetric bleeding. The discussion will include antepartum risk factors for PPH, severity of bleeding assessment, massive transfusion protocols (MTP), lab-directed product replacement, and the use of antifibrinolytic agents. This case and its accompanying information are intended to support the development of an institutional protocol to aggressively manage PPH to reduce the likelihood of hemorrhage-related morbidity and mortality.
Designing 3D Landscapes

Humans naturally tend to visualise physical landscapes in profile based on our grounded lives on the Earth’s surface, rather than as flat maps. For example, when thinking of a landscape like the Alps, an image of craggy peaks silhouetted against the sky invariably comes to mind instead of a 2D map, which is viewed from a theoretical vantage point above the Earth’s surface. An obliquely viewed 3D landscape is a type of map that shows topography in partial profile. Thus, it is probably more understandable to users, especially those with limited map reading skills, and offers visualization advantages not available in traditional 2D mapping. Presenting maps in 3D allows thematic data with a height component to be presented in a format that more closely resembles natural conditions. Geologic stratigraphy, meteorological phenomena, and bathymetry, all can be more easily visualized in three dimensions.
EFFECTS OF LIQUID AND VAPOR CESIUM ON STRUCTURAL MATERIALS.

Literature survey on corrosive effects of liquid and vapor cesium on structural materials, and compatibility of cesium as working fluid for Rankine cycle space power plant