cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Rex1 (Zfp42) Null Mice Show Impaired Testicular Function, Abnormal Testis Morphology, and Aberrant Gene Expression

Abstract Rex1 (Zfp42), GeneID 132625, is a gene whose expression is closely associated with pluripotency/multipotency in both mouse and human embryonic stem cells. To study the function of the murine Rex1 gene in vivo, we have used cre/lox technology to create Rex1(floxed) mice and mice deficient in Rex1 gene function. Rex1−/−males are characterized by an age-associated decrease in sperm counts, abnormal sperm morphology, and mild testicular atrophy. We characterized global patterns of gene expression in primary germ cells by microarray and identified the growth hormone responsive gene, GRTP1, as a transcript present at a 4.5 fold higher level in wild type (WT) compared to Rex1−/− mice. We analyzed immature germ cell (Dazl), proliferating (PCNA), and Sertoli cell populations, and quantitated levels of apoptosis in Rex1−/− as compared to WT testes. We evaluated the expression of proteins previously reported to correlate with Rex1 expression, such as STAT3, phospho-STAT3, p38, and phospho-p38 in the testis. We report a distinct cellular localization of total STAT3 protein in Rex1−/− affected testes. Our data suggest that loss of Rex1 leads to impaired testicular function.
Experimental evidence for the cost of polygyny in the red-winged blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus

I examined the effect of harem size on female reproductive success in the red - winged blackbird ( Agelaius phoeniceus ) in Ontario while controlling for the confounding effects of territory and male quality. Male territories were matched by their quality and harem sizes were manipulated by selective removal of females. The removals created monogamous and bigamous harems. Bigamous females fledged significantly fewer young than monogamous females, mainly due to higher predation on their nests. Young of the bigamous females were fed less frequently than young of the monogamous females (mainly due to reduced male assistance), but the difference was not significant. There was a positive relationship between parental provisioning rate and nestling body size. Young of the bigamous females fledged at smaller body size than young of the monogamous females. Because fledgling body size is related to post - fledgling survival, young of the bigamous females presumably experienced lower survival than young of the monogamous females. The lower number of fledglings, combined with their lower survival, suggests that the bigamous females produced fewer descendants than the monogamous females. I conclude that polygyny is costly to females in this population of the red - winged blackbird. Previous experimental studies demonstrated that females in this population prefer to settle with unmated males rather than already - mated males. In light of the present findings, the preferences appear adaptive, as they reduce the cost of polygyny. In Pennsylvania, Searcy (1988) reported that females settle independently of harem size and that harem size has no effect on their reproductive success. A comparison of the Ontario and Pennsylvania populations suggest that there are geographic differences in the effect of harem size on both female preferences and reproductive success.
Electronic and geometric effects of phosphatriazaadamantane ligands on the catalytic activity of an [FeFe] hydrogenase inspired complex

The [FeFe] hydrogenase enzyme active site inspired complexes [Fe2(μ-C6H4S2)(CO)5PTA] (1PTA) and [Fe2(μ-C6H4S2)(CO)4PTA2] (1PTA2) (PTA = 1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane) were synthesized and characterized. The ability of 1PTA and 1PTA2 to catalytically produce molecular hydrogen in solution from the weak acid acetic acid was examined electrochemically and compared to previous studies on the all carbonyl containing analogue [Fe2(μ-C6H4S2)(CO)6] (1). Computational methods and cyclic voltammograms indicated that the substitution of CO ligands by PTA in 1 resulted in markedly different reduction chemistry. Both 1PTA and 1PTA2 catalytically produce molecular hydrogen from acetic acid, however, the mechanism by which 1 and 1PTA and 1PTA2 catalyze hydrogen differ in the initial reductive processes.
Diverse Antimicrobial Killing by Enterococcus faecium E 50-52 Bacteriocin

An effective bacteriocin was identified and characterized. Lactic acid bacteria were screened against Campylobacter jejuni. One bacteriocin producer, Enterococcus faecium (NRRL B-30746), was studied. The isolate was grown, and the bacteriocin was purified to single-band homogeneity. Biochemical traits indicated that the peptide was a Class IIa bacteriocin, and it was named E 50-52. The bacteriocin had a molecular weight of 3339.7 and an isoelectric point of 8.0. The minimal inhibitory concentrations of E 50-52 against C. jejuni, Yersinia spp., Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli O157:H7, Shigella dysenteriae, Morganella morganii, Staphylococcus spp., and Listeria spp. ranged from 0.025 to 32 microg/mL. In therapeutic broiler trials, oral treatment with E 50-52 reduced both C. jejuni and Salmonella enteritidis by more than 100,000-fold in the ceca, and systemic S. enteritidis was reduced in the liver and spleen. The wide range of antibacterial activity of bacteriocin E 50-52 against pathogens provides a promising alternative to antibiotics.
Recommendations of community pharmacists and health food store employees regarding undiagnosed symptoms of diabetes.

BACKGROUND Consumers may seek health advice from health food store employees (HFSEs) and pharmacists. Delays in the diagnosis of time-critical illnesses may increase the likelihood of morbidity, mortality and healthcare expenditures.
Isolation of three forms of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase from Heliothis zea fat body tissue

Abstract Three different forms of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity have been isolated from Heliothis zea fat body tissue. The enzyme activities have been partially characterized and identified as the cognate enzymes to forms I, II, and (probably) III found in other eukaryotic sources. The catalytic activities and chromatographic behaviour of the H. zea RNA polymerases I and II are compared to those of RNA polymerases isolated from other insects.
Examining attendance, academic performance, and behavior in obese adolescents.

Although academics and safety continue to rank as high-priority issues in public schools, educators and administrators are beginning to recognize the importance of student health on school success. This move toward a holistic approach suggests that efforts to improve a student’s physical, social, and emotional well-being are as important as efforts to increase test scores. Adolescent obesity is epidemic, and it is a complex integration of social, psychological, and physical factors that exacerbate the turbulent transitional years of adolescence. Adolescents are vulnerable to issues related to weight, and they are at risk for suffering obesity’s negative effects, thereby resulting in unfortunate school outcomes such as decreased rates of attendance, poor academic performance, and school suspensions. Disparities related to overweight and obesity exist; therefore, the negative effects of obesity may disproportionately affect minorities and poor schoolchildren. Examining school outcomes for the overweight or ...
Pertuzumab: Optimizing HER2 Blockade

Pertuzumab has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in combination with trastuzumab and docetaxel for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced HER2-positive (HER2(+)) breast cancer. Pertuzumab is a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody that binds to the extracellular dimerization domain II of HER2 and inhibits heterodimerization of HER2 with other HER family members, including EGF receptor (EGFR), HER3, and HER4. The HER2-HER3 heterodimer is a robust activator of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway signaling and functions as the most transforming and mitogenic of the receptor complexes formed by the HER family of proteins; thus, blockade of HER2-HER3 likely represents the most relevant action of pertuzumab. In the seminal phase III study, patients with HER2(+) metastatic breast cancer were randomized to receive trastuzumab and docetaxel, with or without pertuzumab: Addition of pertuzumab significantly prolonged progression-free survival with an increase of 6.1 months (12.4 vs. 18.5 months, respectively). In a subsequent analysis with 30 months of median follow-up, pertuzumab conferred a 34% reduction in the risk of mortality. Here, we review the mechanism of action of pertuzumab, the rationale for combining it with trastuzumab/pertuzumab, clinical data, and future directions for this work.
Serum glutathione S-transferases: Perinatal development, sex difference, and effect of carbon tetrachloride administration on enzyme activity in the rat☆

Abstract Glutathione S -transferase activity was determined in rat, rabbit, and guinea pig serum using styrene 7,8-oxide (SO) and benzo (a) pyrene 4,5-oxide (4,5-BPO) as substrates. Of the species tested, rat had the highest transferase activity (62.5 and 3.2 nmol/min/ml serum for SO and 4,5-BPO, respectively) and rabbit had the lowest activity. Glutathione S -transferase activity was 60% higher in serum from male rats than in female rats. In rats, serum enzyme specific activities (nmol/min/mg protein) were less than 1% of hepatic enzyme activities with SO, 4,5-BPO, 1,2-dichloro-4-nitrobenzene (DCNB), and 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (DNCB). Glutathione S -transferase activity was also determined in rat serum during perinatal development. Serum from rats at 18 days of gestation or from 1- and 4-day-old animals had barely detectable transferase activity. Activity increased with age and reached a maximum in 140-day-old animals. The intraperitoneal administration of diethyl maleate (DEM) (0.8 ml/kg) or L-methionine-DL-sulfoximine (MS) (200 mg/kg) to male rats had no effect on serum or hepatic glutathione S -transferase activities 2 or 26 hr after dosing. Treatment with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) (1 m1/kg) caused an 11-fold increase in serum transferase activity and a 40% decrease in liver specific activities 24 hr after administration.
Congenital hemangioma with thrombocytopenia.

Summary A case of congenital hemangioma with marked thrombocytopenia is reported. The etiology of the thrombocytopenia inthis condition is briefly discussed. The use of steroids and platelet transfusionshad no effect on the size of the hemangioma or on the platelet count. Irradiation of the hemangioma resulted ina prompt decrease in the size of the tumor. This was followed by a return of the platelet count to normal.
Van der Waals binding energies in graphitic structures

Two types of methods are commonly used to describe the van der Waals cohesive properties of graphitic systems: one is based on density functional theory and the other on empirical model potentials. This paper examines therelation between the two and finds that, when properly done, both methods give the same results. The local density approximation (LDA) method can describe cohesion when graphitic molecules are close together, but must be supplemented with the theory of dispersion forces when the intermolecular distance increases. It is found that LDA dispersion force calculations reproduce the empirical potentials, which are thereby validated by fundamental theory. A recent disparity between two types of calculations in determining binding energy of C 6 0 molecules inside a (10,10) nanotube is also examined.
Low temperature thermal magnetoresistance of potassium

Abstract Unexpected magnet field behavior is observed in the low temperature thermal magnetoresistance of potassium. The thermal resistance does not saturate nor does it mirror the electrical magnetoresistivity. At high fields, a field dependent Wiedemann-Franz ratio is observed.
κ-Space Transfer Function Design of Discrete Operators: Application To Maxwell's Time-Domain Equations

The design of high-order, finite-difference, time-domain numerical solvers for Maxwell's equations is presented herein. Particularly, high-order spatial discrete operators are designed using Fourier techniques in k-space; the desired accuracy order is verified both analytically and numerically. As an example of the power of the method, an eighth-order super compact operator is designed on a three-point stencil. To advance the equations the fourth-order Runge-Kutta integrator is employed. The schemes are quantified in terms of their dispersion and dissipation error characteristics and the corresponding Courant number is established using standard Fourier analysis. Case studies involving a one-dimensional cavity and the rectangular waveguide are presented. For these case studies, specific boundary operators are introduced, and the time-stability of each scheme is cataloged. Moreover, the data associated with these case studies demonstrate the key features of the numerical schemes: The low accumulation of phase and dissipation type errors.
Location management for wireless networks: issues and directions

Location management is an important part of current and emerging wireless and mobile networks. Location management involves maintaining location information as mobiles power-on, move or power-off. This can be broadly divided into two steps location tracking and location information storage. Location management schemes used in first and second generation wireless networks, such as analogue cellular, PCS and GSM networks, have done a good job of providing a basic location management service for mobile users with limited mobility, applications and battery power under low to moderate traffic conditions in a macro-cellular environment. However, with increased mobility levels, traffic, use of micro and pico-cells, and emerging sophisticated applications, the current location schemes in use may lead to undesirable performance. In this review paper, we address location management issues in detail, present a qualitative analysis of all major location management schemes, discuss performance issues, and discuss several interesting ways to design location management schemes for wireless networks.
On closed form solutions for the differential matrix Riccati equation problem

A new formulation of the differential matrix Riccati equation is presented and a closed analytical solution is obtained under the hypothesis that certain commutativity conditions are fulfilled on a transformed space. The formulation generalizes the results of [1] on algebraic equations to differential matrix Riccati equations. To illustrate the usefulness of the method, a closed analytical solution of the differential matrix Riccati equation is obtained in R^{2 \times 2} .
Why Has the Land Memory Changed

The ‘‘land memory’’ refers to an interseasonal predictability of the summer monsoon rainfall in the southwestern United States, describing a relationship of the summer monsoon rainfall anomaly with anomalies in the antecedent winter season snow and land surface conditions in the western United States. This relationship has varied, however, showing a peculiar on-and-off feature in the last century. It is important to understand this variation so that the relationship can be used to assist making predictions of the monsoon rainfall for that region. This note offers the evidence and shows that the change of the land memory may have been a reflection of an irregular variation in the persistence of the sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) in the North Pacific Ocean; in epochs when the SSTA persisted from winter through summer, the SSTA and related anomalies in atmospheric circulation could have dominated the summer monsoon variation, whereas in epochs when the persistence collapsed the SSTA effect weakened and the effect of the land processes on the summer monsoon rainfall became prominent.
Accurate spacecraft angular position from DSN VLBI phases using X-band telemetry or DOR tones

At present spacecraft angular position with Deep Space Network (DSN) is determined using group delay estimates from very long baseline interferometer (VLBI) phase measurements employing differential one way ranging (DOR) tones. As an alternative to this approach, we propose estimating position of a spacecraft to half a fringe cycle accuracy using time variations between measured and calculated phases as the Earth rotates using DSN VLBI baseline(s). Combining fringe location of the target with the phase allows high accuracy for spacecraft angular position estimate. This can be achieved using telemetry signals of at least 4–8 MSamples/sec data rate or DOR tones.
Cardiomyocyte-Specific Deletion of the Vitamin D Receptor Gene Results in Cardiac Hypertrophy

Background—A variety of studies carried out using either human subjects or laboratory animals suggest that vitamin D and its analogues possess important beneficial activity in the cardiovascular system. Using Cre-Lox technology we have selectively deleted the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene in the cardiac myocyte in an effort to better understand the role of vitamin D in regulating myocyte structure and function. Methods and Results—Targeted deletion of the exon 4 coding sequence in the VDR gene resulted in an increase in myocyte size and left ventricular weight/body weight versus controls both at baseline and following a 7-day infusion of isoproterenol. There was no increase in interstitial fibrosis. These knockout mice demonstrated a reduction in end-diastolic and end-systolic volume by echocardiography, activation of the fetal gene program (ie, increased atrial natriuretic peptide and alpha skeletal actin gene expression), and increased expression of modulatory calcineurin inhibitory protein 1 (MCIP1), a...
Making overlay cognitive radios practical

The overlay approach to dynamic spectrum access recently proposed in information theory allows both primary users (PUs) and secondary users (SUs) to simultaneously access the same spectrum with comparable power levels while ensuring no degradation to the performance of PUs. However, this approach is based on a number of idealized assumptions that are difficult to satisfy in practice, and existing efforts to address this issue fall outside physical layer processing. In this paper, we propose a number of physical layer mechanisms to make the overlay approach practical. In particular, we leverage the broadcast nature of the wireless medium and the latest breakthrough in full-duplex radios to resolve the synchronization problem and to get around the non-causal assumption while naturally offering delay diversity.
An Investigation of Vibration Feedthrough and Feedthrough Cancellation in Joystick Controlled Vehicles

The inertial forces acting on operators of joystick controlled machinery in moving vehicles can produce unwanted control signals through the joystick. These forces tend to deteriorate continuous tracking performance and further, when the machinery in control is the vehicle itself, they may lead to unstable oscillations that jeopardize that vehicle’s safe operation. In this paper, we propose the use of a force-reflecting joystick and a model-based controller to cancel the effects of inertia forces. Using a physical model of human biomechanics, we experimentally investigate the effectiveness of a cancellation controller in stabilizing a driving task. A second experiment involving a human subject on board a motion base investigates the ability of the cancellation controller to improve performance in a continuous tracking task. Results indicate that the cancellation controller enhances stability and improves tracking.
ISL1 and BRN3B co-regulate the differentiation of murine retinal ganglion cells.

LIM-homeodomain (HD) and POU-HD transcription factors play crucial roles in neurogenesis. However, it remains largely unknown how they cooperate in this process and what downstream target genes they regulate. Here, we show that ISL1, a LIM-HD protein, is co-expressed with BRN3B, a POU-HD factor, in nascent post-mitotic retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Similar to the Brn3b -null retinas, retina-specific deletion of Isl1 results in the apoptosis of a majority of RGCs and in RGC axon guidance defects. The Isl1 and Brn3b double null mice display more severe retinal abnormalities with a near complete loss of RGCs, indicating the synergistic functions of these two factors. Furthermore, we show that both Isl1 and Brn3b function downstream of Math5 to regulate the expression of a common set of RGC-specific genes. Whole-retina chromatin immunoprecipitation and in vitro transactivation assays reveal that ISL1 and BRN3B concurrently bind to and synergistically regulate the expression of a common set of RGC-specific genes. Thus, our results uncover a novel regulatory mechanism of BRN3B and ISL1 in RGC differentiation.
PCR Detection of Group A Bovine Rotaviruses in Feces

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocol has been developed for identification of bovine group A rotavirus infection in feces. Primers (20mers) complementary to 3' ends of double-stranded RNA genome segment 6 of bovine rotavirus NCDV strain were synthesized and used in PCR. Bovine rotavirus RNA from infected cell culture was employed to optimize the PCR protocol. Rotavirus-negative fecal samples were spiked with known quantities of bovine rotavirus, and the sensitivity of the PCR assay was determined. Fecal samples were extracted with phenol and treated to eliminate unidentified PCR inhibitor(s) in feces, and PCR was performed. PCR products were either visualized on ethidium bromide-stained agarose gels or detected by chemiluminescent hybridization. The sensitivity of the assay was 6 x 10(4) viral particles/ml of feces with ethidium bromide-stained agarose gel visualization or 6 x 10(2) viral particles/ml of feces with chemiluminescent hybridization. The PCR assay was applied to 18 fecal specimens from clinical cases. All 16 clinical samples that were positive for rotavirus by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or by ELISA and electron microscopy (EM) were positive by PCR. The 2 samples that were rotavirus negative by ELISA or by ELISA and EM were also negative on PCR analysis.
An Overexpressed Gene Transcript in Senescent and Quiescent Human Fibroblasts Encoding a Novel Protein in the Epidermal Growth Factor-Like Repeat Family Stimulates DNA Synthesis†

We carried out subtractive enrichment of a cDNA library derived from mRNA of senescent human diploid fibroblasts (HDF) established from a subject with Werner syndrome of premature aging. By differential screening, we isolated an overexpressed cDNA sequence (S1-5) that codes for a novel protein containing epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like domains which match the EGF-like consensus sequences within several known extracellular proteins that play a role in cell growth, development, and cell signalling. S1-5 mRNA is overexpressed in Werner syndrome and senescent normal HDF, is induced by growth arrest of young normal cells, but is significantly decreased by high serum, conditions which promote cellular proliferation. Paradoxically, microinjection into young HDF of two different lengths of S1-5 mRNA, containing different putative AUG translational start sites, consistently stimulated rather than inhibited DNA synthesis by an apparent autocrine/paracrine mechanism. Thus, the S1-5 gene product may represent a negative and/or positive factor whose ultimate activity is modulated by the cell environment as occurs with other members of EGF-like family.
The association of urethrorrhagia and urethral stricture disease

Abstract Introduction Urethrorrhagia characterized by terminal hematuria and/or bloody spotting of the underwear between episodes of voiding is a common problem of childhood. We describe a series of boys with urethrorrhagia and associated clinical and endoscopic findings. Methods and materials The records of boys presenting between 1990 and 2005 with urethrorrhagia were retrospectively reviewed for age, symptoms, symptom duration, physical examination, radiographic evaluation, laboratory data and endoscopic findings. Results Of 66 boys, 50 presented with classic symptoms of terminal hematuria and/or blood spotting, and 16 with atypical symptoms who underwent cystoscopy with similar findings. Endoscopic evaluation was performed in 55 (82%) patients for prolonged symptomatology or recurrent symptoms and revealed four distinct patterns: Group 1, three (5%) patients with a normal appearing urethra; Group 2, 27 (49%) patients who were found to have inflammation or hyperemia of the bulbar urethra; Group 3, 17 (31%) cases in which there was a white membranous exudate or mucosal irregularity; and Group 4, eight (14%) patients who were found to have stricture disease on cystoscopy. Stricture developed after initial cystoscopy in six cases. Conclusion Consistent with previous studies, a subset of patients developed urethral stricture disease after presenting with urethrorrhagia. As eight patients had a urethral stricture on initial cystoscopy, and those with strictures are clinically indistinguishable symptomatically from those without, we feel that uroflow and selective cystoscopy are important tools for the work-up of severe and persistent cases of urethrorrhagia. Group 3 may represent a population at significant risk for the development of stricture disease warranting closer follow up and evaluation. The white membranous exudate found on cystoscopy may represent a pre-stricture lesion as evidenced by four cases that subsequently developed strictures.
Re: Robotic-Assisted Radical Cystectomy with Extracorporeal Urinary Diversion for Urothelial Carcinoma of the Bladder: Analysis of Complications and Oncologic Outcomes in 175 Patients with a Median Follow-up of 3 Years

Objective To report oncologic outcomes and complications after robotic-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC). Materials and Methods From March 2004 to August 2011, 175 consecutive patients underwent RARC with extracorporeal urinary diversion at our institution by a single surgeon. The study design was prospective. Perioperative parameters and postoperative complications were prospectively collected using the modified Clavien system. Recurrence-free survival and cancer-specific survival curves were generated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results A total of 145 men and 30 women with a median age of 73 years and a median body mass index of 27 kg/m2 underwent RARC. Four patients (2.3%) required conversion to open surgery because of difficulty to progress. One hundred nine patients (62%) underwent a transcutaneous ileal conduit, 40 patients (23%) an orthotopic neobladder, and 26 (15%) a continent cutaneous conduit. The median operating time was 360 minutes (interquartile range [IQR]: 300-420). The median estimated blood loss was 400 mL (IQR: 250-612), with a transfusion rate of 17.0%. The median postoperative length of stay was 7.0 days (IQR: 5.2-10). Early ( Conclusion RARC achieved mid-term oncologic efficacy. Moreover, the complication rates were comparable with open radical cystectomy series.
GPU-CPU implementation for super-resolution mosaicking of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) surveillance video

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have been used in many military and civilian applications, particularly surveillance. One of the best ways to use the capacity of a UAS imaging system is by constructing a mosaic of the recorded video. In this paper, we present a novel algorithm to calculate a super-resolution mosaic for UAS, which is both fast and robust. In this algorithm, the features points between frames are found using SIFT (Scale-Invariant Feature Transform), and then RANSAC (Random Sample Consensus) is used to estimate the homography between two consecutive frames. Next, a low-resolution (LR) mosaic is computed. LR images are extracted from the LR mosaic, and then they are subtracted from the input frames to form LR error images. These images are used to compute an error mosaic. The regularization technique uses Huber prior information and is added to the error mosaic to form the superresolution (SR) mosaic. The proposed algorithm was implemented using both a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The first part of the algorithm, which is the construction of the LR mosaic, is performed by the GPU, and the rest is performed by the CPU. As a result, there is a significant speed-up of the algorithm. The proposed algorithm has been tested in both the infrared (IR) and visible spectra, using real and synthetic data. The results for all these cases show a great improvement in resolution, with a PSNR of 41.10 dB for synthetic data, and greater visual detail for the real UAV surveillance data.
Using a spectral reflectance model for the illumination-invariant recognition of local image structure

We represent local spatial structure in a color image using feature matrices that are computed from an image region. Feature matrices contain significantly more information about local image structure than previous representations. Although feature matrices are useful for surface recognition, this representation depends on the spectral properties of the scene illumination. Using a finite dimensional linear model for surface spectral reflectance with the same number of parameters as the number of color bands, we show that illumination changes correspond to linear transformations of the feature matrices and that surface rotations correspond to circular shifts of the matrices. From these relationships we derive an algorithm for illumination and geometry invariant recognition of local surface structure. We demonstrate the algorithm with a series of experiments on images of real objects.
Fos expression in rat brain during depletion-induced thirst and salt appetite

The expression of Fos protein (Fos immunoreactivity, Fos-ir) was mapped in the brain of rats subjected to an angiotensin-dependent model of thirst and salt appetite. The physiological state associated with water and sodium ingestion was produced by the concurrent subcutaneous administration of the diuretic furosemide (10 mg/kg) and a low dose of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor captopril (5 mg/kg; Furo/Cap treatment). The animals were killed 2 h posttreatment, and the brains were processed for Fos-ir to assess neural activation. Furo/Cap treatment significantly increased Fos-ir density above baseline levels both in structures of the lamina terminalis and hypothalamus known to mediate the actions of ANG II and in hindbrain regions associated with blood volume and pressure regulation. Furo/Cap treatment also typically increased Fos-ir density in these structures above levels observed after administration of furosemide or captopril separately. Fos-ir was reduced to a greater extent in forebrain than in hindbrain areas by a dose of captopril (100 mg/kg sc) known to block the actions of ACE in the brain. The present work provides further evidence that areas of lamina terminalis subserve angiotensin-dependent thirst and salt appetite.
PERFORMANCE AND NOx EMISSIONS MODELING OF A JET IGNITION PRECHAMBER STRATIFIED CHARGE ENGINE.

The development of a cycle simulation model for the jet ignition prechamber stratified charge engine is described. Given the engine geometry, load, speed, air-fuel ratios and pressures and temperatures in the two intakes, flow ratio and a suitable combustion model, the cycle simulation predicts engine indicated efficiency and NO emissions. The relative importance of the parameters required to define the combustion model are then determined, and values for ignition delay and burn angle are obtained by matching predicted and measured pressure-time curves. The variation in combustion parameters with engine operating variables is then examined. Predicted and measured NO emissions are compared, and found to be in reasonable agreement over a wide range of engine operation. The relative contribution of the prechamber NO to total exhaust NO is then examined, and in the absence of EGR, found to be the major source of NO for overall air-fuel ratios leaner than 22:1.
Water Sector Structure, Size, and Demographics

Although the water sector (or water industry) is vital to the United States, national reporting systems do not include its economic or employment statistics. These would help policy makers and the public understand the strategic importance of the industry in terms of employment, revenues, and impact. To bridge this gap, the paper explains the water sector’s structure, size, and demographic characteristics. The water sector’s revenues are about 1% of gross domestic product. The sector includes about 150,000 water, wastewater, and storm water organizations; federal water offices at the national, regional, and state levels belonging to several agencies; some 100 state water agency organizations; and many other local government water organizations. Adding support sector establishments to this list leads to an estimate that some 1,000,000 employees work in the water sector. In spite of trends experienced by the sector, its size will not change much; revenues will be level, although unit costs may rise. The emp...
Effect of Timing of Amantadine Chemoprophylaxis on Severity of Outbreaks of Influenza A in Adult Long-Term Care Facilities

BACKGROUND Long-term care facilities (LTCFs) are vulnerable to outbreaks of influenza. There are limited data on the impact of antiviral chemoprophylaxis on the duration of outbreaks of influenza. We investigated the association of timely initiation of amantadine chemoprophylaxis on the duration and severity of outbreaks of influenza A in LTCFs in New York, New York. METHODS Outbreaks of influenza A occurring from October through May each year during the period 2001-2004 in LTCFs in New York were defined as a single laboratory-confirmed case or a cluster of > or = 2 cases of influenza-like illness on a unit of an LTCF. For those facilities that provided amantadine chemoprophylaxis, we examined the association between the time to initiation of chemoprophylaxis after outbreak onset and duration of outbreak, incidence rate, and case-fatality proportion using simple t tests, multivariate analyses of covariance, and linear regression modeling. RESULTS Adjusting for influenza season year, facility bed capacity, and the proportion of residents who were vaccinated against influenza, LTCFs that initiated chemoprophylaxis 15 days after outbreak onset (25 facilities) had significantly longer duration of outbreaks (18.3 vs. 6.7 days; P 5 days after initiation of outbreaks of influenza A had significantly longer outbreaks, significantly higher incidence rates, and significantly higher case-fatality rates. These data support prompt initiation of amantadine chemoprophylaxis after identification of influenza A in LTCFs.
Fast image search for learned metrics

We introduce a method that enables scalable image search for learned metrics. Given pairwise similarity and dissimilarity constraints between some images, we learn a Mahalanobis distance function that captures the imagespsila underlying relationships well. To allow sub-linear time similarity search under the learned metric, we show how to encode the learned metric parameterization into randomized locality-sensitive hash functions. We further formulate an indirect solution that enables metric learning and hashing for vector spaces whose high dimensionality make it infeasible to learn an explicit weighting over the feature dimensions. We demonstrate the approach applied to a variety of image datasets. Our learned metrics improve accuracy relative to commonly-used metric baselines, while our hashing construction enables efficient indexing with learned distances and very large databases.
Vicarious Calibration of Global Precipitation Measurement Microwave Radiometers

The vicarious cold calibration method of Ruf has been used to assess the calibration of the TMI, WindSat, SSM/I F13 and SSM/I F14 microwave radiometers using data from the GPM Inter-Calibration Working Group. Significant scan position dependent biases are seen for TMI (as large as 1 K) and for WindSat (as large as 5 K)-scan position dependent biases in SSM/I data were removed prior to processing. These biases are thought to be due to obstructions in the edge of scan field of view from the given instrument and its spacecraft. WindSat vertically polarized data also show a linear decrease in vicarious cold calibration brightness temperatures with scan position. SSM/I F13 and F14 vicarious cold brightness temperatures differ by an amount consistent with a ~0.2deg offset in their relative Earth incidence angles.
Collagen-specific T-cell repertoire in blood and synovial fluid varies with disease activity in early rheumatoid arthritis

Type II collagen is a DR4/DR1 restricted target of self-reactive T cells that sustain rheumatoid arthritis. The aim of the present study was to analyze the T-cell receptor repertoire at the onset of and at different phases in rheumatoid arthritis. We used the CDR3 BV-BJ spectratyping to study the response to human collagen peptide 261–273 in 12 patients with DR4+ rheumatoid arthritis (six at the onset of disease and six during the course of disease) and in five healthy DR4+ relatives. The collagen-specific T-cell repertoire is quite restricted at the onset of disease, involving approximately 10 rearrangements. Within the studied collagen-specific rearrangements, nearly 75% is shared among patients. Although the size of the repertoire used by control individuals is comparable to that of patients, it is characterized by different T-cell receptors. Part of the antigen-specific T-cell repertoire is spontaneously enriched in synovial fluid. The specific T-cell repertoire in the periphery was modulated by therapy and decreased with the remission of the disease. Failure of immunoscopy to detect this repertoire was not due to suppression of collagen-driven proliferation in vitro by CD4+ CD25+ T cells. Clinical relapse of the disease was associated with the appearance of the original collagen-specific T cells. The collagen-specific T-cell receptor repertoire in peripheral blood and synovial fluid is restricted to a limited number of rearrangements in rheumatoid arthritis. The majority of the repertoire is shared between patients with early rheumatoid arthritis and it is modulated by therapy.
Comparison of cryoprotectants for Escherichia coli lysine bioavailability assay culture

Our study indicates that cryoprotective agents trehalose, sucrose and glycerol and a preincubation procedure improved the resistance of the stored Escherichia coli lysine auxotroph (lys - ) culture to freezing and thawing. However, glycerol preserved cultures failed to retain their lysine auxotrophy. The slopes of the standard curves for lysine assay using the lys - culture cryoprotected in trehalose and sucrose were comparable to the fresh culture. Based on survivability of the E. coli lysine assay organism and lysine standard curve of regenerated cells, trehalose appeared to be the most suitable cryoprotective agent. The lysine assay using cryoprotected culture was less labor intensive than using the fresh culture and importantly, the time required for preparing the assay culture was decreased at least 20 h.
Stein the Educator in Autobiography, Writing, and Biography

This paper presents Edith Stein as a teacher in order to position her philosophy of education and illuminate her outstanding praxis. In a crafted biography of teaching, I shall use her first-person accounts in Essays on Women bolstered by the best Stein biographies. Why is it so essential that scholars and the educational community know of Steinian education? For this reason: Stein’s philosophy of education resonates today because she insisted that teachers focus on the individual. To Stein, every student had a soul, was an individual, and warranted a teacher who was empathetic, qualified, and committed.
Imaging the Chest Trauma Patient

Trauma is the third leading cause of death in the USA and the leading cause of death for those younger than 40 years of age. Approximately 25% of trauma deaths result from thoracic injuries. In the USA each year, >300,000 patients are hospitalized and >25,000 die as a consequence of chest trauma [1, 2, 3]. Blunt trauma accounts for 90% of chest trauma, and the most common cases of blunt trauma are motor vehicle collisions and falls [4, 5].
Three-Body Nuclear Systems in Pionless Effective Field Theory

New perturbative techniques for three-body systems with contact interactions are discussed. Their application to pionless effective field theory () for nd scattering is shown, and their extension to bound states addressed. With the extension to bound states a leading-order calculation of the triton charge radius and novel treatments of three-body forces are discussed.
Nonresonant and resonant mode-specific intermolecular vibrational energy transfers in electrolyte aqueous solutions.

The donor/acceptor energy mismatch and vibrational coupling strength dependences of interionic vibrational energy transfer kinetics in electrolyte aqueous solutions were investigated with ultrafast multiple-dimensional vibrational spectroscopy. An analytical equation derived from the Fermi’s Golden rule that correlates molecular structural parameters and vibrational energy transfer kinetics was found to be able to describe the intermolecular mode specific vibrational energy transfer. Under the assumption of the dipole–dipole approximation, the distance between anions in the aqueous solutions was obtained from the vibrational energy transfer measurements, confirmed with measurements on the corresponding crystalline samples. The result demonstrates that the mode-specific vibrational energy transfer method holds promise as an angstrom molecular ruler.
Local concentrations of macrophage colony-stimulating factor mediate osteoclastic differentiation.

Macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) is essential for differentiation of osteoclasts and macrophages from a common bone marrow precursor. Using ST-2 stromal cell/murine bone marrow cocultur...
Study on the analysis and nursing care to psychological problems of children's parents in pediatric nursing

Objective:To study the psychological problems of children's parents in pediatric nursing,and find the nursing strategy.Methods:150 children's parents,whose children were in hospital from Oct.2005 to Feb.2006,were sampling survey by questionnaire investigation.Results:From the results of the investigation,the first 6 psychological problems of children's parents were anxiety,fear,suspect,getting the priority attending,obtaining information about children's diseases and early discharge.Conclusion:The mental nursing could be executed early to children's parents according to the psychological problems concluded by the research work,and better nursing effects to children in hospital could be gotten and it is value to the recovery from illness.
3.19 High Resolution Fluorescence Imaging of Cell–Biomaterial Interactions☆

Biomaterials are widely used as cell-interactive substrates in both diagnostic and therapeutic areas of regenerative medicine. Advances in cell biology, materials science, microscopy, and biomedical modeling have converged to spawn new methods for characterizing cell–biomaterial interactions. This article focuses on the biorelevant characterization of cell-biomaterial behaviors using fluorescent imaging-based approaches. Traditional and modern fluorescent imaging methods used to characterize cell–biomaterial interactions are introduced in the first part of the article. In the second part, case studies demonstrate how distinct aspects of cellular responses to biomaterials can be discerned at various temporal and spatial scales via fluorescent-imaging approaches. Of particular interest are cell imaging modalities that extract or predict functional information from cells or organisms, which cannot be readily obtained in real-time using traditional biochemical, molecular, or genetic methodologies.
Learning Tree Structured Potential Games

Many real phenomena, including behaviors, involve strategic interactions that can be learned from data. We focus on learning tree structured potential games where equilibria are represented by local maxima of an underlying potential function. We cast the learning problem within a max margin setting and show that the problem is NP-hard even when the strategic interactions form a tree. We develop a variant of dual decomposition to estimate the underlying game and demonstrate with synthetic and real decision/voting data that the game theoretic perspective (carving out local maxima) enables meaningful recovery.
Analysis of Player Statistics in Major League Baseball Players Before and After Achilles Tendon Repair.

Background No currently available literature evaluates the effect of Achilles tendon repair on professional baseball players in the Major League Baseball (MLB).
Coverage issues in wireless sensor networks

A fundamental issue in the deployment of a large scale Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is the ability of the network to cover the region of interest. While it is important to know if the region is covered by the deployed sensor nodes, it is of even greater importance to determine the minimum number of these deployed sensors that will still guarantee coverage of the region. This issue takes on added importance as the sensor nodes have limited battery power. Redundant sensors affect the communications between nodes and cause increased energy expenditure due to packet collisions. While scheduling the activity of the nodes and designing efficient communication protocols help alleviate this problem, the key to energy efficiency and longevity of the wireless sensor network is the design of efficient techniques to determine the minimum set of sensor nodes for coverage. Currently available techniques in the literature address the problem of determining coverage by modeling the region of interest as a planar surface. Algorithms are then developed for determining point coverage, area coverage, and barrier coverage. The analysis in this thesis shows that modeling the region as a two dimensional surface is inadequate as most applications in the real world are in a three dimensional space. The extension of existing results to three dimensional regions is not a trivial task and results in inefficient deployments of the sensor networks. Further, the type of coverage desired is specific to the application and the algorithms developed must be able to address the selection of sensor nodes not only for the coverage, but also for covering the border of a region, detecting intrusion, patrolling a given border, or tracking a phenomenon in a given three dimensional space. These are very important issues facing the research community and the solution to these problems is of paramount importance to the future of wireless sensor networks. In this thesis, the coverage problem in a three dimensional space is rigorously analyzed and the minimum number of sensor nodes and their placement for complete coverage is determined. Also, given a random distribution of sensor nodes, the problem of selecting a minimum subset of sensor nodes for complete coverage is addressed. A computationally efficient algorithm is developed and implemented in a distributed fashion. Numerical simulations show that the optimized sensor network has better energy efficiency compared to the standard random deployment of sensor nodes. It is demonstrated that the optimized WSN continues to offer better coverage of the region even when the sensor nodes start to fail over time. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)