cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
TiO2 Nanoparticles and Commensal Bacteria Alter Mucus Layer Thickness and Composition in a Gastrointestinal Tract Model

Nanoparticles (NPs) are used in food packaging and processing and have become an integral part of many commonly ingested products. There are few studies that have focused on the interaction between ingested NPs, gut function, the mucus layer, and the gut microbiota. In this work, an in vitro model of gastrointestinal (GI) tract is used to determine whether, and how, the mucus layer is affected by the presence of Gram-positive, commensal Lactobacillus rhamnosus; Gram-negative, opportunistic Escherichia coli; and/or exposure to physiologically relevant doses of pristine or digested TiO2 NPs. Caco-2/HT29-MTX-E12 cell monolayers are exposed to physiological concentrations of bacteria (expressing fluorescent proteins) and/or TiO2 nanoparticles for a period of 4 h. To determine mucus thickness and composition, cell monolayers are stained with alcian blue, periodic acid schiff, or an Alexa Fluor 488 conjugate of wheat germ agglutinin. It is found that the presence of both bacteria and nanoparticles alter the thickness and composition of the mucus layer. Changes in the distribution or pattern of mucins can be indicative of pathological conditions, and this model provides a platform for understanding how bacteria and/or NPs may interact with and alter the mucus layer.
Answering the Call for a Bachelors-Prepared Nursing Workforce: An Innovative Model for Academic Progression

Forces that have produced national reform of a fragmented, inefficient, and expensive health care services sector have also set the stage for reform of a fragmented, inefficient, and expensive system for nursing education. Changes in health care, health policy, education policy, and funding for public higher education have led to the development of new nursing education models designed to increase the number of baccalaureate-prepared nurses entering the workforce. This article describes the development and implementation of one such model that features a common concept-based curriculum and university-community college partnerships at its core. This plan increases access for nursing students across the state to earn a prelicensure bachelor of science in nursing degree and preserves the integrity and accessibility of associate degree nursing education.
Abstract 12910: Use of Optimal Medical Therapy in Patients With Cardiovascular Disease Undergoing Cardiac Rehabilitation

Introduction: Optimal Medical Therapy (OMT) in patients with Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) or Heart Failure (HF) is underused despite known benefits. The rate of OMT use among patients enrolled in ...
Commutation relations for Schramm-Loewner evolutions

Schramm-Loewner evolutions (SLEs) describe a one-parameter family of growth processes in the plane that have particular conformal invariance properties. For instance, SLE can define simple random curves in a simply connected domain. In this paper we are interested in questions pertaining to the definition of several SLEs in a domain (i.e., several random curves). In particular, we derive infinitesimal commutation conditions, discuss some elementary solutions, study integrability conditions following from commutation, and show how to lift these infinitesimal relations to global relations in simple cases. The situation in multiply connected domains is also discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Emergence and Development of a University Curriculum for Corporate Environmental Responsibility

American firms are increasingly under demands, made by government and the public, to be more socially responsible with respect to environmental issues. As environmental and safety concerns have increased, a greater need for individuals with training in environmental responsibility has emerged. This need must be filled by educational institutions. The report concludes with a discussion of issues faced by business school curricula, in particular international business and marketing courses, to foster environmental concern among future graduates.
Stenting in High-Grade Internal Carotid Artery Stenosis: 2-Dimensional Operative Video

Carotid artery stenosis is implicated in up to 40% of all ischemic strokes. Accordingly, symptomatic, high-grade carotid artery stenosis portends an especially high risk of future stroke. Intervention via open or endovascular approaches drastically reduces this risk. Under the appropriate conditions, carotid artery stenting serves as a safe and effective alternative to carotid endarterectomy. We present the case of a 57-yr-old male with symptomatic, high-grade stenosis of his right internal carotid artery, for whom a history of radiation to the head and neck represented a relative contraindication to carotid endarterectomy, and thus endovascular treatment with angioplasty and stenting was performed. Informed consent was obtained prior to the procedure. Intraprocedurally, stent delivery past the area of stenosis proved somewhat challenging. However, by employing several nuanced maneuvers, we utilized our guiding catheter in a nonconventional manner in order to successfully perform the procedure. As the field of neuroendovascular surgery evolves, each case provides us unique lessons, which in turn expands our interventional capabilities and adds to the armamentarium of neuroendovascular techniques. We present this surgical video both as a means to provide a general overview of carotid artery stenting, and to share a lesson learned through the implementation of an interesting technical nuance.
Measuring Ilocano’s catholic youth’s attitude toward the catholic church and their behavioural intention to help the social action of the catholic church in the Philippines context

The study wanted to determine the correlation between the cognitive and affective attitude of the Catholic youth toward the Catholic Church and their behavioral intention to help the Social action of the Church in the future. To support the study, related literature and studies were reviewed. The study used a descriptive correlational research design. 400 youth were taken as respondents of the study. To gather the data, validated questionnaires were used, and the data were interpreted and analyzed using statistical tools such as Pearson r and Weighted mean. The study found that Catholic youth have a very high positive cognitive and affective attitude toward the Catholic Church and their behavioral intention to help the Church is also very high. Further, there is a correlation between the Catholic Youth’s cognitive and affective attitude and the behavioral intention to help the social action of the Catholic Church in the future.
Achromatic Broadband Visible Imaging with a 10cm Flat Lens

We demonstrate 10 cm achromatic flat multilevel diffractive lens with a focal length and thickness of 200mm and 2.4 µm, respectively operating across the entire visible band, which is the largest flat lens ever reported till date.
From Rights To Representation: Challenging Citizenship From The Margins Post 2011

This study asks whether we are the same citizens as we were before the civil awakening that spilled over from tyrannical Arab states to core cities of the global economy and beyond. To address this question it offers an historical account of the role of New Social Movements, civil society, and deliberative and radical democracy as the three epistemic frameworks that have shaped the figure of the rights-bearing citizen, and which have conceived the neoliberal citizen as a choice driven individual. Taking the neoliberal shift in Israel of the 1980s as its point of departure, it then places the 2011 Tents’ Protest in the broader context of acts of resistance to the entrenchment of neoliberalism. This is followed by a thorough exploration of two post-2011 Israeli activist groups in Jewish and Arab-Palestinian societies respectively, allowing voices and new conceptions of citizenship that had arisen from the margins of the 2011 protest to come to the fore. In the final analysis, this exploration traces how the shift away from the conception of the citizen as a rights-bearing individual challenges neoliberal governmentality. It thus enables us to configure the image of a post-neoliberal citizen, one whose political subjectivity is grounded not in the discourse of rights, but rather in a new discourse of representation.
3 Convention, resemblance and isomorphism: understanding scientific visual representations

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the role of convention in visual representation, which is essential not only in determining which objects are representations, but also in determining which visible properties of a symbol are correlated with properties of the referent. The chapter highlights the relevance of relations between symbol form and content, including resemblance. In this context, all visual representations stand in an isomorphic relation to the content they convey. Goodman's analysis of symbol systems identifies the differences between visual symbol systems, and shows what some visual symbols have in common with linguistic representations. Some visual representations in science have the syntactic character of text. Other figures have the syntactic and semantic features of pictorial representations. These results conflict with a tacit assumption that influence many of those trying to account for the difference between pictorial representations and text: the assumption that symbol types can be defined in terms of exclusive sets of properties. Isomorphic relations between symbol form and content determine the referents of individual symbols of a visual system. Such a relation holds between the form of the symbol and the features represented. In addition, Goodman's analysis might lead to a radical conclusion: in spite of the dramatic difference in how pictures look compared to text or diagrams, pictorial representations simply refer to very complicated properties..
Building intercontinental learning bridges in natural resources education for diverse cultures

Natural resources education for a culturally diverse audience is central to the mission of the Global Environmental Management Education Center (GEM) in the College of Natural Resources at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. GEM’s purpose is to pioneer and apply practical learning methods and technology to solve natural resource problems by linking faculty, students and citizens worldwide. Building on mutual interests and joint collaboration, GEM and its international partners exchange ideas, personnel, and curricula, develop models for community involvement in sustainable development, and conduct applied research and outreach education in a variety of natural resource-based fields of endeavor. This paper describes how GEM and its partners overseas are operationalizing United Nations Millennium Development Goals on the ground in culturally adapted and locally accepted demonstration projects. Examples of such natural resources education for diverse cultures include an international field-based seminar in Wisconsin on watershed management for watershed managers from around the world; a demonstration project of watershed catchment monitoring and water allocation in South Africa; a project on dietetics and small garden systems to support medical treatment and food security for families impacted by HIV/AIDS in Kenya; a community based ecotourism, land use planning and watershed management project in Mexico; a rural leadership and community development twinning study on water resources between Wisconsin and the Peoples Republic of China; an international student exchange and internship program between several U.S. and European universities on sustainable forestry; a conservation and environmental sciences educational curriculum project and teacher exchange between Wisconsin and Puerto Rico; and a GEM Student Ambassador Program for international learning.
Merging Gaussian Distributions for Object Localization in Multi-robot Systems

We present a method for representing, communicating, and fusing distributed, noisy, and uncertain observations of an object by multiple robots. The approach relies on re-parameterization the two-dimensional Gaussian distribution to correspond more naturally to a robots’ observation space. The approach enables two or more observers to achieve greater effective sensor coverage of the environment and improved accuracy in object position estimation. We demonstrate empirically that, using our approach, more observers achieve more accurate object position estimates. The method is tested in three application areas: object location, object tracking, and ball position estimation for robot soccer. We provide quantitative evaluation of the technique on mobile robots.
Belated Recognition for Work Flow Entrepreneurs: A Case of Selective Perception and Amnesia in Management Thought:

Recent trends, such as reengineering, require work flow entrepreneurship. Important principles about these practices were recognized in post-World War II field research, but by the 1970s this work ...
Biphasic acute myeloid leukemia with near-tetraploidy and immunophenotypic transformation.

Abstract This report describes a case of acute myeloid leukemia (subtype M1) with biphasic morphology. The bone marrow biopsy showed 2 distinct regions of blasts, one containing large cells and the other small cells. Morphometric and DNA ploidy analysis showed that the mean nuclear area and mean DNA index for the large cell region were 2-fold higher than those for the small cell region. Cytogenetic analysis showed an abnormal near-tetraploid clone. The tumor relapsed following aggressive therapy. The cells from the relapse specimen were similar to the original small cell region with respect to nuclear area and DNA index; however, there was immunophenotypic transformation with gain of CD7 and gain of CD56. Cytogenetically, the relapse specimen showed no evidence of the near-tetraploid clone, but instead had a previously unidentified abnormal clone containing 46 chromosomes and structural abnormalities of 2q and 7q. Biphasic morphology in acute myeloid leukemia may be predictive of a near-tetraploid subclon...
Noise Suppression in Cellular Telephony

Some of the methods that are used for noise suppression in cellular telephony are discussed. Noise suppression methods are divided into two groups according to the number of microphones used in the noise suppression system. The first group of methods utilizes a single-microphone and the second group utilizes a number of microphones. Most of the techniques proposed in the single-microphone noise suppression category function in the frequency-domain and use the short-time analysis-synthesis technique. These techniques apply a frequency-dependent gain function to the spectral components of the noisy speech to attenuate the components with greater noise content. The second group of techniques utilize a number of microphones that have the ability to utilize spatial dimension in addition to temporal dimension to suppress the background noise (BGN) effectively.
The NDBC IOOS® Data Assembly Center

The National Data Buoy Center, located along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, began operations in 1967 as a program under the U.S. Coast Guard. In 1970, NOAA was formed and NDBC was transferred to that agency. The first buoys operated and managed by NDBC were large, 12-meter discus buoys that were constructed of steel and deployed in deep waters off the U.S. East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. By 1979, NDBC maintained 26 stations: 16 in the Pacific Ocean, 7 in the Atlantic Ocean and 3 in the Gulf of Mexico. NDBC deployed 8 more stations in the Great Lakes during the 1980s. Today, NDBC operates 115 moored weather/ocean platforms, 52 coastal marine stations, 39 deep-ocean tsunameters and 55 tropical atmosphere ocean moored platforms in the equatorial Pacific. In response to the growing number of stations, NDBC established a data quality assurance group that quality controls data from all NDBC platforms, on a daily basis. The real-time observations are released through the NWS Telecommunications Gateway in Silver Spring, Maryland and sent to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Information System telecommunication services. Automated quality control is applied before the observations are released (checking for parity errors, range checks for spurious points, time continuity checks and zero wave heights). In addition, the observations are evaluated after 45 days, edited and sent to U.S. archive data centers for permanent storage. In 2001, NDBC began receiving, processing, quality controlling and disseminating observations from 10 stations deployed by the Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System. Weather Forecast Offices, mariners, transportation officials and the public wanted to ensure that the observations received NDBC's "stamp of approval" before they were used in daily operations. In July 2006, with funding from the NOAA Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS®) Program, NDBC started the IOOS® Data Assembly Center — operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week in response to increasing marine platforms, real-time observations and the need to support buoy recovery and deployment operations in the far reaches of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Rayuela e Historia de la locura: una aproximación

This paper handles the relationship between Foucault.s History of Insanity and Cortazar's Hopscotch in order to ascertain the manner in which the dialogue between reason and nonreason, in the latter work, takes place. This attempt leads us to emphasize the analysis of key chapters, thus demonstrating Horacio Oliveira.s approach to invalidate the conjectured oppositions between sanity and insanity. This way we conect the poetic fashion that insanity assumes for the characters in Hopscotch with the complex perception Foucault develps about it.
Characterization and evaluation of tissue-mimicking gelatin phantoms for use with MRgFUS

A tissue-mimicking phantom that accurately represents human-tissue properties is important for safety testing and for validating new imaging techniques. To achieve a variety of desired human-tissue properties, we have fabricated and tested several variations of gelatin phantoms. These phantoms are simple to manufacture and have properties in the same order of magnitude as those of soft tissues. This is important for quality-assurance verification as well as validation of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) treatment techniques. The phantoms presented in this work were constructed from gelatin powders with three different bloom values (125, 175, and 250), each one allowing for a different mechanical stiffness of the phantom. Evaporated milk was used to replace half of the water in the recipe for the gelatin phantoms in order to achieve attenuation and speed of sound values in soft tissue ranges. These acoustic properties, along with MR (T1 and T2*), mechanical (density and Young’s modulus), and thermal properties (thermal diffusivity and specific heat capacity), were obtained through independent measurements for all three bloom types to characterize the gelatin phantoms. Thermal repeatability of the phantoms was also assessed using MRgFUS and MR thermometry. All the measured values fell within the literature-reported ranges of soft tissues. In heating tests using low-power (6.6 W) sonications, interleaved with high-power (up to 22.0 W) sonications, each of the three different bloom phantoms demonstrated repeatable temperature increases (10.4 ± 0.3 °C for 125-bloom, 10.2 ± 0.3 °C for 175-bloom, and 10.8 ± 0.2 °C for 250-bloom for all 6.6-W sonications) for heating durations of 18.1 s. These evaporated milk-modified gelatin phantoms should serve as reliable, general soft tissue-mimicking MRgFUS phantoms.
Electric Potentials near a Superconducting-Normal Boundary

Measurements have been made within a few micrometers of a current-carrying superconducting-normal boundary, which indicate that an electric potential exists in the superconductor in this region. Near the transition temperature the experimental results are consistent in magnitude and temperature dependence with a theory recently proposed by Rieger, Scalapino, and Mercereau.
Medium caliber cannon lethality study for future and current infantry fighting vehicles

According to the Army Chief of Staff, the Army's infantry fighting vehicle, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, will be in service until 2032. The Bradley fighting vehicle needs an improved medium caliber cannon to defeat the growing threats from improved light armored vehicles and hand held rocket propelled grenades. The Army can continue to keep the Bradley fighting vehicle in service by increasing the lethality of its weapon systems. We examine six medium caliber cannons and their impact on the battlefield. We also examine the use of new medium caliber air burst munitions. Combat modeling and simulation using the joint conflict and tactical simulation (JCATS) is used to predict the contributions of these new technologies to the infantry soldier. Multiple mission scenarios in different environments to include Baghdad urban combat are examined. The medium caliber cannon selected will be the final lethality enhancement for the Bradley.
What motivates OCB? Insights from the volunteerism literature

This paper argues that taking a functionalist perspective can contribute to a more complete understanding of why employees engage in organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Informed by the volunteerism literature, a number of other-oriented and self-oriented functions are identified as predictors of OCB including value-expression, social, and career-related motives. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The influence of laser intensity on the rotational distribution of CN(X2Σ+) produced via IR multiple-photon dissociation

Abstract The rotational distribution of CN(X 2 Σ + ) produced via laser-induced IR multiple-photon dissociation, has been measured while varying intensity by a factor of ⩾ 6 at constant fluence. The higher-intensity pulses produced a “hotter” Boltzmann distribution than those at lower intensity (780 = 20 versus 570 = 15 K respectively).
Between Gadamer and Ricoeur: Preserving Dialogue in the Hermeneutical Arc for the Sake of a God Who Speaks and Listens

Wolterstorff defends the claim not only that ‘God speaks’ through the Bible but also that the reader gains ever new insights upon subsequent readings of it. I qualify this project with the philosophical hermeneutics he rejects—namely that of Gadamer and Ricoeur. Wolterstorff thinks what he calls ‘authorial discourse interpretation’ provides warrant for religious communities believing that ‘God speaks’ to them through a text. In developing this hermeneutic, he dismisses the viability of Gadamer and Ricoeur's approach because, Wolterstorff asserts, their form of interpretation is merely an operation performed on an artifact. While a cursory study of Gadamer and Ricoeur might support such dismissal, particularly Ricoeur's emphasis on writing's obliteration of dialogue, a closer study guided by the hermeneutic priority of questioning complicates Wolterstorff's caricature. If writing obliterates dialogue, what happens to questions and responses? My thesis is that dialogue with another is preserved through the hermeneutical arc. I demonstrate this through specifying distinct logics of question and answer that occur in the reading process, and I delimit these logics by way of appeal to contemporary literacy pedagogy and its taxonomies of questions. A voice does speak with and listen to a reader in the event of reading, in this case a God who is not behind but before the text. Isolating this other who speaks and listens provides reinforcement for constructive theological work aligned with Gadamer and Ricoeur's hermeneutics, and answers for the experience of hearing ‘God speak’ differently through sacred texts.
The concerted action upon a common substrate of steroid hydroxylases from the adrenal cortex and the testis.

Abstract Neither the adrenal cortex nor the testis of the albino rat possesses the enzymic systems requisite for the conversion of progesterone to cortisol. However, merged homogenates of these two tissues can effect this conversion; steroid hydroxylases from the two tissues are able to act in concert upon a common substrate. This finding possibly lends additional significance to the vicinal embryonic origins of the steroid-forming tissues, and serves also to delineate further the many steroidogenic processes shared in common by these tissues.
Acute impact of intermittent pneumatic leg compression frequency on limb hemodynamics, vascular function, and skeletal muscle gene expression in humans

The mechanisms by which intermittent pneumatic leg compression (IPC) treatment effectively treats symptoms associated with peripheral artery disease remain speculative. With the aim of gaining mechanistic insight into IPC treatment, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of IPC frequency on limb hemodynamics, vascular function, and skeletal muscle gene expression. In this two study investigation, healthy male subjects underwent an hour of either high-frequency (HF; 2-s inflation/3-s deflation) or low-frequency (LF; 4-s inflation/16-s deflation) IPC treatment of the foot and calf. In study 1 (n = 11; 23.5 ± 4.7 yr), subjects underwent both HF and LF treatment on separate days. Doppler/ultrasonography was used to measure popliteal artery diameter and blood velocity at baseline and during IPC treatment. Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and peak reactive hyperemia blood flow (RHBF) were determined before and after IPC treatment. In study 2 (n = 19; 22.0 ± 4.6 yr), skeletal muscle biopsies were taken from the lateral gastrocnemius of the treated and control limb at baseline and at 30- and 150-min posttreatment. Quantitative PCR was used to assess mRNA concentrations of genes associated with inflammation and vascular remodeling. No treatment effect on vascular function was observed. Cuff deflation resulted in increased blood flow (BF) and shear rate (SR) in both treatments at the onset of treatment compared with baseline (P < 0.01). BF and SR significantly diminished by 45 min of HF treatment only (P < 0.01). Both treatments reduced BF and SR and elevated oscillatory shear index compared with baseline (P < 0.01) during cuff inflation. IPC decreased the mRNA expression of cysteine-rich protein 61 from baseline and controls (P <0 .01) and connective tissue growth factor from baseline (P < 0.05) in a frequency-dependent manner. In conclusion, a single session of IPC acutely impacts limb hemodynamics and skeletal muscle gene expression in a frequency-dependent manner but does not impact vascular function.
The relationship between TLV-TWA compliance and TLV-STEL compliance.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists' (ACGIH®) time-weighted average (TLV-TWA) and short-term exposure limit (TLV-STEL) Threshold Limit Values (TLVs®). It is of value to determine if one or the other of these exposure limits is inherently more stringent so that exposure monitoring strategies may be devised which efficiently use available resources and effectively control exposures to meet both exposure limits. The ACGIH short-term exposure limit (TLV-STEL) imposes three conditions on short-term (15-minute) exposures. These conditions involve exceeding the TLV-TWA and TLV-STEL levels and the time-separation of those short-term exposures that exceed the TLV-TWA level. These conditions were analyzed to produce eight unique component probabilities for TLV-STEL non-compliance. The sum of these eight components is the total probability of TLV-STEL non-compliance. Mathematical expressions for the eight probability comp...
Structural, magnetic, and electronic characterization of double perovskites BixLa2−xMnMO6 (M = Ni, Co; x = 0.25, 0.50)

Abstract A newly substituted series of perovskites, Bi x La 2− x Mn M O 6 with M = Ni, Co and x = 0.25, 0.50, were synthesized using a citrate sol–gel technique. The crystal structure, established from neutron diffraction, is a distorted double perovskite with partial transition metal B -site ordering. These perovskites crystallize in the centrosymmetric space group, P 2 1 / n , with structures that are similar to the x = 0 end members. All samples are prone to non-stoichiometry involving substitution of Mn onto the Ni/Co sites, in addition to varying degrees of antisite disorder. The neutron powder diffraction and magnetization measurements reveal ferromagnetism in all samples with ordering temperatures between 220 K and 280 K. The M = Co samples have lower Curie temperatures, but higher coercivities. There is a clear link between the degree of transition metal site disorder and the saturation magnetization values. Electrical measurements demonstrate the presence of mixed ionic and electronic conductivity.
Mono- and diacylglycerol lipases in spinal cord of lean and obese zucker rats

Abstract 1. 1. Genetically obese Zucker rats (fa/fa) contain 2–3 times higher activities of mono- and diacylglycerol lipases in their spinal cords than their lean littermates. 2. 2. When rats were exercised (1 hr daily, 5 days/week) on a treadmill for 6 months, there was a decrease of about 30% ( P 3. 3. High activities of lipases in Zucker obese rats may be related to the elevated levels of β-endorphin present in these animals. 4. 4. The activities of arylsulfatase, β - N -acetylhexosaminidase and alkaline phosphatase, tested to check the stability of spinal cord extracts, were similar in lean and obese rat spinal cords.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Characterization of Pelvic Masses

Female pelvic masses most commonly arise from the reproductive tract, although masses may arise from other structures in the pelvis, such as the gastrointestinal or urinary tracts. The evaluation of a pelvic mass often begins with the physical exam and proceeds to ultrasound, computed tomography, or magnetic resonance imaging. Each of these modalities has a role in the work-up of pelvic masses and each modality has inherent advantages and disadvantages. The focus of this article is to demonstrate the imaging features and role of MRI, in contrast to CT, for detecting, characterizing, and staging pelvic masses. The differential diagnosis for pelvic masses is extremely broad. Clinical history, precise anatomical localization, and MR imaging characterization can significantly narrow the differential diagnosis. With recent advances in therapeutic strategies, a non-invasive, preoperative diagnosis is highly desirable to suggest prognosis and to tailor the treatment approach.
Lake Ontario Sediment - Mirex Relationships

Abstract Sediment samples collected from within the eastern basin of Lake Ontario, the Oswego River and harbor indicate that mirex, a persistent, chlorinated hydrocarbon continues to accumulate in harbor and offshore lake sediments. A high statistical relationship exists between mirex and organic carbon concentrations in deep water lake sediments. Mirex-contaminated sediments are accumulating in the deeper waters (>100m) of the lake at rates ranging from about 2.2–7.0 mm/yr. Nearshore bottom sediments are subject to redistribution, providing a continuing source of mirex to lake organisms.
Bis(Pentafluorophenyl) (2-perfluorobiphenylyl)borane. A new perfluoroarylborane cocatalyst for single-site olefin polymerization

Bis(pentafluorophenyl)(2-perfluorobiphenylyl)borane, (C6F5)2B(C12F9) (BPB), has been synthesized and characterized to serve as a new strong organo-Lewis acid cocatalyst for single-site olefin polymerization. BPB efficiently activates a variety of group 4 dimethyl complexes to form highly active homogeneous Ziegler−Natta olefin polymerization catalysts. Reaction of BPB with Cp2ZrMe2, rac-Me2Si(Ind)2ZrMe2, and (CGC)MMe2 (M = Zr, Ti; CGC = Me2Si(η5-Me4C5)(tBuN)) (1:1 molar ratio) rapidly and cleanly produces the base-free cationic complexes Cp2ZrMe+[MeB(C12F9)(C6F5)2]- (1), rac-Me2Si(Ind)2ZrMe+[MeB(C12F9)(C6F5)2]- (2), and (CGC)MMe+[MeB(C12F9)(C6F5)2]- (M = Zr, 3; M = Ti, 4), respectively. These complexes have been characterized by NMR and elemental analysis and are shown to be competent for ethylene and propylene polymerization. In general, BPB-derived catalysts exhibit polymerization activities comparable to or higher than those of the B(C6F5)3-derived analogues, with the products exhibiting higher molecul...
Single crystal growth and characterization of zinc ferrites, (Fe3O4)1-x(Fe2ZnO4)x

Procedures are described for single crystal growth of (Fe3O4)1−x·(Fe3ZnO4)x by the skull melter technique. Monocrystals with dimensions up to 2 cm on an edge can be grown. Forx ⪖ 0.7, optical microscopy reveals the presence of a second phase. EDAX and microprobe techniques show that the zinc distribution within a given single crystal forx < 0.4 is uniform within experimental error. Procedures are described for achieving the ideal oxygen stoichiometry in zinc ferrites of variable composition.
7-Dehydrocholesterol-derived oxysterols and retinal degeneration in a rat model of Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome.

Abstract Smith–Lemli–Opitz syndrome (SLOS) is a recessive disease characterized by markedly elevated levels of 7-dehydrocholesterol (7-DHC) and reduced levels of cholesterol in tissues and fluids of affected individuals, due to defective 3β-hydroxysterol-Δ7-reductase (Dhcr7). Treatment of Sprague Dawley rats with AY9944 (an inhibitor of Dhcr7) leads to similar biochemical features as observed in SLOS. Eighteen oxysterols previously have been identified as oxidation products of 7-DHC (most of them distinct from cholesterol (Chol)-derived oxysterols) in solution, in cells, and in brains obtained from Dhcr7-KO mice and AY9944-treated rats, formed either via free radical oxidation (peroxidation) or P450-catalyzed enzymatic oxidation. We report here the identification of five 7-DHC-derived oxysterols, including 3β,5α-dihydroxycholest-7-en-6-one (DHCEO), 4α- and 4β-hydroxy-7-DHC, 24-hydroxy-7-DHC and 7-ketocholesterol (7-kChol, an oxysterol that is normally derived from Chol), in the retinas of AY9944-treated rats by comparing the retention times and mass spectrometric characteristics with corresponding synthetic standards in HPLC-MS analysis. Levels of 4α- and 4β-hydroxy-7-DHC, DHCEO, and 7-kChol were quantified using d7-DHCEO as an internal standard. Among the five oxysterols identified, only 7-kChol was observed in retinas of control rats, but the levels of 7-kChol in retinas of AY9944-rats were 30-fold higher. Intravitreal injection of 7-kChol (0.25 μmol) into a normal rat eye induced panretinal degeneration within one week; by comparison, contralateral (control) eyes injected with vehicle alone exhibited normal histology. These findings are discussed in the context of the potential involvement of 7-DHC-derived oxysterols in the retinal degeneration associated with the SLOS rat model and in SLOS patients.
Optimal file management in a hybrid storage system

Abstract In this paper, we analyze a hybrid storage system for data management which combines conventional magnetic disks (MD) and write-once, read-many (OD) optical disks which offer high-density low-cost storage capability. Updates of the files stored on the ODs are temporarily stored in differential files on magnetic disks. Periodically, the differential file corresponding to each OD file is copied into free space on the OD to ‘refresh’ that file. After a time interval, the OD files and the most recent differential files are copied onto new optical media; this process is known as file reorganization. Using measures of data file volatility, file sizes, device costs, and costs for refreshing and reorganizing files, we show how this problem is similar to deterministic inventory problems and, using this analogy, develop a model which indicates how often files should be refreshed and reorganized.
Invited review article: The uncertainty in the realization and dissemination of the SI second from a systems point of view.

The uncertainty (accuracy) in the realization and dissemination of the SI second is determined by the characteristics of three major components: (1) primary frequency standards, (2) time scale flywheels that provide a continuously present frequency reference, and (3) frequency transfer systems. Currently these three systems contribute at approximately equal levels in the mid 10−16 range over 20 to 30 days of averaging time to the practical delivery of the SI second to the most demanding users. Any significant improvement in one system requires similar improvements in the other two systems in order for most users to see the full benefits.
Cosmogenic 36Cl dating of a young basaltic eruption complex, Lathrop Wells, Nevada

It has been proposed that the Lathrop Wells volcanic center, a late Quaternary basaltic complex in southern Nevada, has erupted more than once. In common with most Quaternary basalts, this volcanic center has proved difficult to date by K/Ar and other commonly employed methods. We have measured the accumulation of 36 Cl in 11 samples from lava flows and volcanic bombs and obtained a combined average age of 81 ± 7.9 ka, with no systematic differences between sample subsets collected from different volcanic features. The 36 Cl dates do not support a history of multiple eruptions, but neither do they completely preclude the possibility.
Field effect and thermoelectric power on boron doped amorphous silicon

Field effect and thermoelectric power measurements have been made as a function of temperature on a series of B doped amorphous silicon samples prepared by glow discharge decomposition of silane. The investigation complements an earlier one on As doped amorphous silicon prepared by the same method. Incorporation of boron leads to an increase in the density of localized states lying 0.42 eV above the valance edge. The density of surface states is less than or equal to 1.5×1011 cm−2 eV.−1 Electrical transport is interpreted in a two channel model, involving transport both in extended valence states and in a band of localized states associated with the B acceptors. The effect of hydrogen evolution due to thermal annealing on the localized state densities and transport processes is also investigated.
The role and assessment of ventricular peptides in heart failure.

Although heart failure may be diagnosed readily in its advanced stages, it may be difficult to diagnose clinically in its early stages. Thus, there is a critical need for an inexpensive, simple, rapid, and objective test for heart failure. This article discusses the role and assessment of ventricular natriuretic peptides and related peptides in heart failure.
Gene sets enrichment analysis of miRNA expression profile

Alteration in expression levels of genes as well as their regulatory components, such as those levels of miRNAs in cancer cells will likely reflect in the enrichment of unique cellular functions and biological processes in their corresponding cell systems. By employing systems biology approaches, and instead of examining individual gene, we will directly and unambiguously identify the regulatory pathways and biological processes that are distinctive to specific disease states or responses to therapeutic treatment. In this study, we employ gene set enrichment analysis inspired method to explore the functional regulation of miRNAs. The analysis integrated a mathematic model that associates miRNAs to gene sets through miRNA target genes with a statistic test of enrichment to study the regulation change at a specific pathway. Different from conventional individual miRNA processing procedures, our method enables researchers to construct regulation hypothesis at pathway and functional levels.
Is the reduction of dimensionality to a small number of features always necessary in constructing predictive models for analysis of complex diseases or behaviours

Gene expression and genome wide association data have provided researchers the opportunity to study many complex traits and diseases. When designing prognostic and predictive models capable of phenotypic classification in this area, significant reduction of dimensionality through stringent filtering and/or feature selection is often deemed imperative. Here, this work challenges this presumption through both theoretical and empirical analysis. This work demonstrates that by a proper compromise between structure of the selected model and the number of features, one is able to achieve better performance even in large dimensionality. The inclusion of many genes/variants in the classification rules can help shed new light on the analysis of complex traitstraits that are typically determined by many causal variants with small effect size.
A novel mutation in the MITF gene causes Waardenburg Syndrome Type 2

Mutations in the MITF gene on human chromosome 3 have been reported in families with Waardenburg Syndrome Type 2 (WS2), an autosomal dominant disorder responsible for a large proportion of congenital hearing loss. We examined 16 families with WS2 for mutations in the MITF gene. In one four-generation family, we found a novel two-base deletion in exon 6 of the MITF gene at nucleotide position 699. This mutation introduces a frame-shift and stop codon which leads to a truncation of the protein. This mutation is predicted to have phenotypic consequences not withstanding evidence of reduced penetrance and heterogeneity within the family studied.
Experimental and theoretical studies of the single- and double-CO loss photoproducts of [CpCo(CO)]2(μ-CH2)

Abstract The photochemistry of [CpCo(CO)] 2 (μ-CH 2 ) has been investigated in low-temperature matrices using IR spectroscopy as the principal diagnostic probe. The compound undergoes clean photochemical CO loss to form [CpCo] 2 (μ-CO)(μ-CH 2 ), which thermally back-reacts to form the starting material. Continued irradiation of the matrix leads to consumption of [CpCo] 2 (μ-CO)(μ-CH 2 ) and the production of free CO. These observations suggest the formation of the double-CO loss product [CpCo] 2 (μ-CH 2 ), which also thermally back-reacts with CO to reform the starting material. Density functional calculations have been used to calculate the geometries of these molecules. The double-CO loss product is predicted to have a C 2 v structure with a symmetrically bridging CH 2 ligand. The calculated CoCo bond length in these compounds decreases as the number of CO ligands decreases, which correlates nicely with the formal increase in CoCo bond order from 1 to 2 to 3.
The making of a synapse: target-derived signals and presynaptic differentiation.

It is now possible to imagine a sequence of basic molecular events that underlies the induction of presynaptic differentiation. Signaling via a secreted signaling molecule such as WNT7a initiates the process of synapse formation at a distance, potentially initiating the cytoskeletal rearrangments necessary for the transition from a growth cone to a stable synapse. Target recognition and signaling via an asymmetric neuroligin-neurexin junction may then nucleate the rapid assembly of the presynaptic release machinery. Together, these data represent a glimpse at hitherto elusive signals that drive presynaptic differentiation.A tremendous wealth of questions remains. Evidence to date indicates that neuroligins are expressed at excitatory synapses but not inhibitory synapses (Song et al. 1999xSong, J.Y, Ichtchenko, K, Sudhof, T.C, and Brose, N. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 1999; 96: 1100–1105Crossref | PubMed | Scopus (403)See all ReferencesSong et al. 1999). Will synaptogenesis rely on a similar program at inhibitory synapses? The neuroligins are predicted to generate remarkable diversity through alternative splicing. Will these splice variants ultimately generate molecular diversity utilized for target recognition purposes? The WNTs and neuroligins are demonstrated to function as retrograde signaling molecules during synapse formation. Might WNTs and neuroligin-neurexin signaling be retooled for use during activity-dependent synaptic plasticity?*E-mail: gdavis@biochem.ucsf.edu
Tritium/PPO gel fluorographic efficiency is reduced by Coomassie Blue staining

When [3H]-labeled proteins are analyzed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, the sensitivity of fluorograhic detection following gel impregnation with PPO (2,5-diphenyloxazole) in DMSO (dimethylsulfoxide) is significantly reduced if the gel has been stained with Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250. Since the reduction in fluorographic efficiency depends on the concentration of stain, which in turn depends upon protein concentration, substantial errors may enter into quantitative measurements of fluorograms depending on sample composition. Another reduction in fluorographic efficiency results from reduced penetrability of the gels to PPO when a build-up of methanol in DMSO and DMSO/PPO solutions is allowed. This loss of fluorographic sensitivity should be sample independent, however.
Brain cytochrome oxidase subunit complementary DNAs: isolation, subcloning, sequencing, light and electron microscopic in situ hybridization of transcripts, and regulation by neuronal activity

Abstract The goal of the present study was to isolate, for the first time, cytochrome oxidase subunit genes from murine brain complementary DNA library and to characterize the expression of these genes from mitochondrial and nuclear sources at both light and electron microscopic levels. Brain subunit III (mitochondrial) shared 100% identity with that of murine L cells. Subunit VIa (nuclear) was known to have tissue-specific isoforms in other species: the ubiquitous liver isoform and the heart/muscle isoform. Our brain subunit VIa shared 93% homology with that of the rat liver and 100% identity with the recently reported murine liver isoform, which is only 62% identical to that of the rat heart isoform. In situ hybridization with riboprobes revealed messenger RNA labelling that was similar, though not identical, to that of cytochrome oxidase histochemistry. Monocular enucleation in adult mice induced a significant down-regulation of both subunit messages in the contralateral lateral geniculate nucleus. However, the decrease in subunit III messenger RNAs surpassed that of subunit VIa at all time periods examined, suggesting that mitochondrial gene expression is more tightly regulated by neuronal activity than that of nuclear ones. At the electron microscopic level, subunit III messenger RNA was localized to the mitochondrial compartment in both cell bodies and processes, while that of nuclear-encoded subunit VIa was present exclusively in the extramitochondrial compartment of somata and not of dendrites or axons. Surprisingly, the message was primarily associated with the rough endoplasmic reticulum, suggesting a novel pathway for its synthesis and trafficking. Our results indicate that the unique properties of neurons impose special requirements for subunits of a single mitochondrial enzyme with dual genomic origins. At sites of high energy demands (such as postsynaptic dendrites and some axon terminals), mitochondrial-encoded cytochrome oxidase subunits can be locally transcribed and translated, and they provide the framework for the subsequent importation and incorporation of nuclear-encoded subunits, which are strictly synthesized in the cell bodies. Dynamic local energy needs are met when subunits from the two genomic sources are assembled to form functional holoenzymes.