cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comparison of the actions of glycine and related amino acids on isolated third order neurons from the tiger salamander retina

Abstract Whole cell voltage and current clamp recordings were obtained from third order neurons isolated from the salamander retina. Using cross desensitization, the structure-function relationship of short chain amino acids on the glycine receptor were examined. l -Serine, l -alanine, β-alanine and taurine all cross desensitized with glycine, but did not show significant cross desensitization with GABA. This indicates that these amino acids act at the glycine receptor. The order of potency was glycine ≫ β-alanine > taurine ≫ l -alanine > l -serine. TAG, a reputed selective taurine antagonist, was equally effective in blocking taurine and glycine currents. There is no evidence for distinct antagonist, was taurine. Amino acids with larger moieties at the alpha carbon, such as threonine and valine, produced inactive ligands. Placing a methyl group on the amine of glycine or esterification of the carboxyl group also greatly reduced activity. Based on these modifications of the glycine molecule, it appears that selectivity at the glycine receptor results in part from steric restrictions at all three sites in the glycine chain. The steric interference is most critical at the carboxyl and amino ends, and less limiting at the alpha carbon. Doses of l -serine that had only slight effects in voltage clamp experiments, nevertheless produced large effects in current clamp experiments. This indicates that several endogenous amino acids can have significant effects on membrane voltage, even when their shunting activity may be small. High concentrations of agonists produced desensitization in the voltage clamp records, but there was little evidence of desensitization in the current clamp experiments. These results indicate that several endogenous amino acids can activate the glycine receptor, but there is no evidence for a discrete receptor for taurine, β-alanine, l -alanine or l -serine. Since all these endogenous amino acids have similar amino and acid terminals, reduction in potency results from steric interference around the alpha carbon. This graded potency may have functional significance in mediating inhibition.
Molluscum contagiosum presenting as cellulitis in an AIDS patient: Cytologic and ultrastructural features

This report describes the cytologic features of molluscum contagiosum presenting clinically as a left thigh abscess in a 29-yr-old male with AIDS. The fine-needle aspiration findings are correlated with the histologic and ultrastructural findings. Molluscum contagiosum's clinical presentation, natural course, and induction of host immune responses in immunocompetent and immunosuppressed individuals as identified by light microscopy, immunocytochemically and ultrastructurally are reviewed. Molluscum contagiosum presenting clinically and cytologically as an abscess is unusual. In this report, we emphasize the inclusion of molluscum contagiosum in a differential diagnosis of an abscess, particularly in immunosuppressed patients, and discuss the cytologic differential diagnoses.
Indirect complement immunofluorescence in the immunopathological assessment of bullous pemphigoid, cicatricial pemphigoid, and herpes gestationis.

Summary Sera from 50 untreated patients with bullous pemphigoid were examined by both the customary method of indirect immunofluorescence using anti IgG conjugate and by indirect complement immunofluorescence using anti C3 conjugate to detect circulating antibasement membrane zone antibodies. A circulating antibasement membrane zone antibody could be detected by the IgG method in 58% and by the C3 method in 76%. Sera from six patients with cicatricial pemphigoid examined in the same way showed a circulating antibasement membrane zone antibody in one by the IgG method but in three by the C3 method of indirect immunofluorescence. Sera from ten patients with active herpes gestationis contained anti-basement membrane zone antibody demonstrable by the C3 method in every case and by the IgG method of indirect immunofluorescence in one of these. Basement membrane zone bound IgG, or more commonly C3 in a linear pattern, was shown by direct immunofluorescence in all patients with bullous or cicatricial pemphigoid from whom adequate biopsy material was obtained. The immunopathological similarities of bullous pemphigoid, cicatricial pemphigoid and herpes gestationis are stressed, and the usefulness of indirect complement immunofluorescence in their diagnosis is emphasized.
Quantitation of choline and its metabolites in tissues and foods by liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-isotope dilution mass spectrometry.

Choline is important for normal membrane function, acetylcholine synthesis, lipid transport, and methyl metabolism. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences recently set requirements for choline in the human diet. In tissues and foods, there are multiple choline compounds that contribute to choline content. Betaine, a derivative of choline, is also important because of its role in donation of methyl groups to homocysteine to form methionine. Radioisotopic, high-pressure liquid chromatography, and gas chromatography/isotope dilution mass spectrometry (GC/IDMS) methods are available for measurement of choline. However, these existing methods are cumbersome and time-consuming, and none measures all of the compounds of interest. In this study, we describe a new method for quantitation of choline, betaine, acetylcholine, glycerophosphocholine, cytidine diphosphocholine, phosphocholine, phosphatidylcholine, and sphingomyelin in liver, plasma, various foods, and brain using liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-isotope dilution mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-IDMS). Choline compounds were extracted by and partitioned into organic and aqueous phases using methanol and chloroform and analyzed directly by LC/ESI-IDMS without the need for isolation and derivatization of each compound separately as was required by the GC/IDMS method. The new LC/ESI-IDMS method was validated using the existing published GC/IDMS method.
Neural network based classification of stressed speech using nonlinear spectral and cepstral features

The goal of this research work is to propose two spectral features, namely, the ‘Bark band spectral energy’ and the ‘significant spectral energy’, for the task of stressed speech classification and compare the result with mel frequency cepstrum coefficients (MFCCs) features. It is shown that these two spectral features outperform traditional cepstral (MFCC) features. Spectral energy in 17 bands of frequencies on Bark scale as well as 16 mel-scale warped cepstral coefficients were used independently for classifying stressed speech. The proposed features employ a neural network model based on the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. Their observed performance demonstrates the viability of the Bark spectral energy set in stressed speech detection experiment and classifies angry, question, and clear stressed speech conditions. Preliminary results of matching features for a small set of utterances showed correct detection of speech condition in better than 83% of the cases using each set of features from Bark band energy. Significant spectral energy and MFCC features, on the other hand, showed close to 75% correct detection for the same utterances.
Rethinking the digital divide

In our search for transgressive models of distance education, we found inspiration in the "Web-back" performance pieces of Guillermo Gomez-Penia (1997), the production of virtual favelas in Brazil, and rural education models from the Philippines and Malaysia. As we thought in particular about our desire to reach Native American reservations and Mexican-American border towns in the US Southwest, we asked how these various Third World projects profile and recruit their students and what models of virtual education and empowerment they create.
Resource Bounds and Subproblem Independence

There are several reasons why some NP-hard problems can be solved deterministically in 2O(n^a) time for some a, 0 < a < 1. One reason is that the problem can be solved with a nondeterministic procedure which uses only O(na) space. A second reason is that each instance of the problem exhibits a high degree of "subproblem independence" (specifically O(na) line channelwidth or treewidth). A third is that each instance of the problem can be solved using nondeterministic straight-line programs where the number of variables is only O(na).In this paper we show that, after imposing q-linear bounds on the computation time and obliviousness constraints on the nondeterminism, these three reasons are essentially equivalent. (q-Linear functions are similar to functions of the form n (log n)k.) Specifically, the problem classes associated with these reasons are interchangeable using reductions which are simultaneously polynomial time and q-linear size-bounded. We call these PQ-reductions.The classes of problems solvable by these methods we call NQna. Because these classes are defined in a very general way, they include a rich variety of problems. We take this as evidence that these classes have "power index" a (i.e., that 2O(n^a) is also a lower time bound). On the other hand, the easiness of all these problems can be derived from "subproblem independence" considerations, and thus the techniques associated with subproblem independence are seen to be more widely applicable than one might expect.
Barriers to Use of Workplace Personal Assistance Services to Support Employment in California

Providing personal assistance services (PAS) in the workplace (WPAS) is one approach to support the employment of individuals with disabilities. This descriptive study examined the implementation of Medicaid WPAS by collecting and analyzing telephone interview data from key informants selected from county and public authority officials in California in 2010. The results showed that less than a fraction of 1% of individuals with disabilities who used Medicaid personal care services used the services at work. The barriers to using WPAS included lack of consumer knowledge about the Medicaid buy-in program and about WPAS, lack of additional hours allocated for WPAS, lack of WPAS arrangements for intermittent services and transportation, negative attitudes of PAS staff, and uncertainty regarding PAS budget cuts. Policy recommendations include improving information about the buy-in program and WPAS, collecting WPAS information about client interest in working, establishing a WPAS client tracking system, increas...
On using scheme to introduce prolog

The traditional way to teach Prolog is to have students start by writing recursive mathematical definitions of the problems they are trying to solve. While this is an effective technique, it does not fit well into a Programming Languages course that uses a single demonstration language to illustrate the different paradigms. Thus, we have developed an approach to introduce students to Prolog via our demonstration language, Scheme. Additionally, we performed an experiment to determine if the Scheme to Prolog approach is as effective at introducing Prolog as the more traditional recursive mathematical definition approach.
Pyrolysis of corncobs at fluidization

Abstract Pyrolysis of corncob particles was conducted in nitrogen in an externally heated benchscale fluidized bed reactor. Test results are presented with a demonstration of their application in gasification modeling.
Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Thermal Schedulability of Periodic Real-Time Tasks

With growing need to address the thermal issues in modern processing platforms various performance throttling schemes have been proposed in literature (DVFS, clock gating etcetera). In real-time systems such methods are often unacceptable as they can result into potentially catastrophic deadline misses. As a result real-time scheduling research has been focused in developing algorithms which meet the compute deadline while satisfying power and thermal constraints. Basic bounds that can determine if a set of tasks can be scheduled or not were established in the 70's based on computation utilization of processing power and no new results have been forthcoming that deal with thermal effect based bounds. In this paper we address the problem of thermal constraint schedulability of tasks and derive necessary and sufficient conditions for thermal feasibility of periodic task sets for a unicore system. We then extend some of these results to multi-coreprocessing environment. We demonstrate the efficacy of our results through extensive simulations.
Some criticisms of connectionist models of human performance

Abstract Connectionism offers a challenge to current information-processing descriptions of linguistic performance. Upon examination, however, models with the connectionist framework are found to be wrong in important respects or are too powerful to be meaningful. The following observations support these claims. The assumption of interactive activation (i.e., two-way connections between units) of specific connectionist models is shown to be both unnecessary and inconsistent with empirical results. Connectionist models with hidden units are demonstrated to be too powerful; they can simulate different types of results that are generated by different process models. Given the power of connectionist models with hidden units, they can describe results with unrealistic assumptions about the psychophysical relationships that are functional in the task. Connectionist models with hidden units are limited in theoretical value without postulating something like sequential stages of processing in which some categorization occurs before response selection. Notwithstanding these limitations, it is noted that other important properties of connectionism are to be found in existing process models of pattern recognition.
Neutron-Proton and Neutron-Neutron Scattering at High Energies

The phase method and the Born approximation is used to calculate the cross sections of high energy neutrons scattered by protons and neutrons. Various exchange theories are considered for both, central and tensor forces of rectangular and Yukawa well shape.
The cosmological and ontological arguments : how Saint Thomas solved the Kantian problem

Let us call the Dependency Theses (DT) the view, first stated by Kant, that certain versions of the cosmological argument depend on the ontological argument. At least two different reasons have been given for the supposed dependence. Given the DT, some of Aquinas' views about God's essence, and about our knowledge of God's existence, can seem, at least at first, to be inconsistent. I consider two different ways of defending Aquinas against this suspicion of inconsistency. On the first defence, based on a widespread understanding of his notion of ‘necessary being’, Aquinas' views fall outside the scope of the DT. The success of this defence is doubtful. There is, however, another defence to be found in Aquinas' work, one directed not to avoiding, but actually to rejecting, the DT. In this second defence, the DT is not a correct assessment even of those views that do fall within its scope. Its success means that Aquinas had available a principled refutation of the DT some five hundred years before it was first formulated.
Think Small: Nanopores for Sensing and Synthesis

It is now possible to manipulate individual molecules using a nanopore to read DNA and proteins, or write DNA by inserting mini-genes into cells. Furthermore, development of these methodologies will kick open the door to new biology and chemistry that has been logistically intractable previously. Nanopore technology will place molecular and sub-molecular analysis within the reach of the typical bench-top scientist or clinical lab-no longer limited to genomics or mass spectrometry specialists. Moreover, the prospects for synthetic biology-using nanopores to program or reprogram cells-are promising as well, but have been examined only at the level of a single cell, so far.
Aerobic Dehydrogenation of Cyclohexanone to Phenol Catalyzed by Pd(TFA)2/2-Dimethylaminopyridine: Evidence for the Role of Pd Nanoparticles

We have carried out a mechanistic investigation of aerobic dehydrogenation of cyclohexanones and cyclohexenones to phenols with a Pd(TFA)2/2-dimethylaminopyridine catalyst system. Numerous experimental methods, including kinetic studies, filtration tests, Hg poisoning experiments, transmission electron microscopy, and dynamic light scattering, provide compelling evidence that the initial PdII catalyst mediates the first dehydrogenation of cyclohexanone to cyclohexenone, after which it evolves into soluble Pd nanoparticles that retain catalytic activity. This nanoparticle formation and stabilization is facilitated by each of the components in the catalytic reaction, including the ligand, TsOH, DMSO, substrate, and cyclohexenone intermediate.
Influence of cross-flow velocity on membrane performance during filtration of biological suspension

Abstract Through a new experimental procedure, the influence of cross-flow velocity on the formation of fouling layer during microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) of biological suspension with 5 g/l of mixed liquor suspended solids was studied. Based on the resistance-in-series model, filtration resistances caused by adsorption, concentration polarization, and reversible and irreversible fouling were determined. Each filtration resistance was compared with respect to the mass, thickness and density of the corresponding fouling layer (or foulants). Moreover, the effect of fouling layer on permeate quality was investigated. The obtained results showed that permeate flux increased linearly with increasing cross-flow velocity and a high cross-flow velocity was more effective to reduce fouling of MF membrane than that of UF membrane. The formation of a reversible fouling layer was actually prevented by a cross-flow velocity of 3.0 m/s for MF membrane and 2.0 m/s for UF membrane. In all cases, the magnitude of reversible and irreversible filtration resistances matched well the mass and thickness of their corresponding fouling layer. Along with its mass and thickness, the density of fouling layer was another important factor affecting filtration resistance and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) rejection. Distinct fouling layers as well as pore blocking and the narrowed pore itself were the major contributions for enhanced DOC rejection.
Glycosylation of ovine prolactin during cell-free biosynthesis.

Recently, a glycosylated form of ovine PRL (oPRL) was isolated from a crude pituitary preparation. As glycosylation of PRL was unexpected and because the composition of the oligosaccharide-containing peptide indicated the carbohydrate portion to be extensively degraded, studies of the glycosylation of oPRL during cell-free biosynthesis were initiated. Two glycosylated forms of oPRL can be recognized when biosynthesis occurs in ovine pituitary microsomes. Both forms are converted to mature PRL by digestion with endoglycosidase H and, thus, appear to contain only asparagine-linked, high mannose-type carbohydrate moieties. In contrast, immunoprecipitates from bovine pituitary microsomes consist of the expected (and nonglycosylated) pre-PRL and PRL. The results are consistent with the absence of a sequence segment in the bovine hormone which permits glycosylation (Asn-X-Ser- or Thr-) and the presence of the segment Asn3l-Leu-Ser- in the ovine hormone. The occurrence of two glycosylated forms of oPRL is not un...
DNA damage and repair in human spinal cord following ischemia–reperfusion injury

Summary Spinal cord ischemia leading to paraplegia is a rare, sporadic, but devastating complication of surgery on the thoracoabdominal aorta. Our patient, a 69-year-old man, succumbed from a stroke on the third hospital day following surgical repair. He also had bilateral leg paralysis. At autopsy done 4 h after death there were remarkable differences between the thoracic or normally perfused spinal cord and the lumbar potentially ischemia or reperfused spinal cord. The measurements of injury were small in the thoracic spinal cord and extensive in the lumbar spinal cord DNA D/R. Apoptotic cell numbers and apoptosis-related enzymes such as caspase-3 were increased in the lumbar spinal cord. These findings duplicated those we reported in the rabbit subjected to 30 min of aortic occlusion and reperfusion injury. This is the first report in humans documenting DNA oxidative injury and apoptosis in ischemia–reperfusion injury of the spinal cord.
Antenatal diagnosis of genodermatoses

The technics of fetoscopy and fetal skin biopsy have expanded our capabilities for antenatal diagnosis of certain hereditary skin disorders (genodermatoses). The fetus and placenta can be visualized directly and skin biopsy specimens can be obtained for light and electron microscopic studies, tissue culture, and biochemical analysis. These technics have been utilized successfully in the prenatal diagnosis or exclusion of epidermolysis bullosa, epidermolytic hyperkeratosis, and harlequin ichthyosis in fetuses known to be at risk for these disorders, and they offer tremendous potential for prenatal diagnosis in a variety of other genodermatoses. Studies of tissue obtained by this procedure will undoubtedly expand our knowledge of the morphogenesis and biochemistry of fetal skin and will provide needed baseline data for the further development of these technics.
Evaluation of time and dose in treating mammary adenocarcinoma with immunostimulants

BCG, C. parvum, and reovirus were used as immunostimulants in treating murine mammary adenocarcinoma (A-10) after tumor burden had been minimized with BCNU. Immunostimulants were administered at different times with respect to chemotherapy. Different doses were used to determine the optimal response as measured by survival. BCG induced the best response when 6.67×105 organisms were given 2 days after chemotherapy. The optimal response with C. parvum was observed after a dose of 0.35 mg was given 1 or 2 days after chemotherapy. Similarly, reovirus produced the best response when 1010 plaque-forming units were given 2 days after chemotherapy. These data are consistent with previous findings and support the notion that immunostimulants require an appropriate lymphoid substrate in order to induce an adequate anti-tumor response.
Evoked potential alterations in methylmercury chloride toxicity.

Abstract The present study was designed to assess the sensitivity of evoked potential techniques to detect alterations in offspring exposed to methylmercury chloride (MMC) at different developmental periods. Recording were obtained from the visual cortex (VEP) and lateral geniculate (LGP) in 30-day old offspring. Results revealed decreased VEP latencies for peaks N1, P1, and P2 in offspring from mothers exposed either during gestation, or nursing and in offspring exposed directly to MMC for 9 days after weaning. Although not significant, a similar trend was observed in the LPG. It is suggested that the decreased latencies may be a result of compressed brain development.
Implications of Glyphosate Toxicology and Human Biomonitoring Data for Epidemiologic Research

ABSTRACT Widely used pesticides, like glyphosate, have become a focus of epidemiologic research. In this review article, the authors summarize what is known about glyphosate toxicology and human exposures, as assessed through bxomonitoring, and provxdi a bxologxc perspective on epidemiologic research for this chemical. Since the highest conceivable human exposures are many orders of magnitude less than no effect levels in animal studies, it seems prudent to weigh toxicologic information heavily in interpreting epidemiologic findings for glyphosate.
Neutral couplings of the τ lepton

The precision electroweak measurements at LEP allow for a stringent test of the Standard Model predictions at the level of quantum corrections. Important information comes from the measurements involving τ 's. Recent results from LEP on the Z Boson lineshape, τ polarization and forward-backward charge asymmetry of τ pairs are reviewed. They are based on approximately 350 000 Z → τ + τ − decays collected by the four LEP experiments in 1990–1993 running periods.
Artificial protein cavities as specific ligand-binding templates: characterization of an engineered heterocyclic cation-binding site that preserves the evolved specificity of the parent protein.

Cavity complementation has been observed in many proteins, where an appropriate small molecule binds to a cavity-forming mutant. Here, the binding of compounds to the W191G cavity mutant of cytochrome c peroxidase is characterized by X-ray crystallography and binding thermodynamics. Unlike cavities created by removal of hydrophobic side-chains, the W191G cavity does not bind neutral or hydrophobic compounds, but displays a strong specificity for heterocyclic cations, consistent with the role of the protein to stabilize a tryptophan radical at this site. Ligand dissociation constants for the protonated cationic state ranged from 6 μM for 2-amino-5-methylthiazole to 1 mM for neutral ligands, and binding was associated with a large enthalpy-entropy compensation. X-ray structures show that each of 18 compounds with binding behavior bind specifically within the artificial cavity and not elsewhere in the protein. The compounds make multiple hydrogen bonds to the cavity walls using a subset of the interactions seen between the protein and solvent in the absence of ligand. For all ligands, every atom that is capable of making a hydrogen bond does so with either protein or solvent. The most often seen interaction is to Asp235, and most compounds bind with a specific orientation that is defined by their ability to interact with this residue. Four of the ligands do not have conventional hydrogen bonding atoms, but were nevertheless observed to orient their most polar CH bond towards Asp235. Two of the larger ligands induce disorder in a surface loop between Pro190 and Asn195 that has been identified as a mobile gate to cavity access. Despite the predominance of hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions, the small variation in observed binding free energies were not correlated readily with the strength, type or number of hydrogen bonds or with calculated electrostatic energies alone. Thus, as with naturally occurring binding sites, affinities to W191G are likely to be due to a subtle balance of polar, non-polar, and solvation terms. These studies demonstrate how cavity complementation and judicious choice of site can be used to produce a protein template with an unusual ligand-binding specificity.
Prevalence of rapid mixing—II: topological prevalence

We continue the study of mixing properties of generic hyperbolic flows started in an earlier paper (D. Dolgopyat. Prevalence of rapid mixing in hyperbolic flows. Erg. Th.& Dyn. Sys. 18 (1998), 1097–1114). Our main result is that generic suspension flow over subshifts of finite type is exponentially mixing. This is a quantitative version of an earlier result of Parry and Pollicott (W. Parry and M. Pollicott. Stability of mixing for toral extensions of hyperbolic systems. Proc. Steklov Inst. 216 (1997), 354–363).
Frustrated Lewis pair behavior of monomeric (boryl)iminomethanes accessed from isocyanide 1,1-hydroboration

The activation of carbon dioxide, organonitriles, and terminal acetylenes by (boryl)iminomethanes derived from isocyanide 1,1-hydroboration is described. Also detailed is the generality of hydroboration of m-terphenylisocyanides with hydroboranes of differing Lewis acidities.
Attitudes Toward Restricting the Sexual and Reproductive Rights of Women Living With HIV Infection in Yemen

A considerable amount of research has demonstrated the pervasive and destructive power of discrimination against people living with HIV, which limits their full and equal participation in society. This study surveyed 613 young adults from Yemen about their attitudes toward the sexual and reproductive rights of women living with HIV (WLWH). Among survey respondents, 80% believed that WLWH should be sterilized and not allowed to get married. Furthermore, 62% thought that WLWH should be forced to have abortions if they became pregnant. Men were more likely than women to impose restrictions on the sexual and reproductive rights of WLWH. HIV stigma predicted respondent attitudes toward WLWH, but religiosity and knowledge about HIV did not. The results of the study have implications for developing programs to protect and promote the rights of WLWH in Yemen.
Mutations reveal voltage gating of CNGA1 channels in saturating cGMP.

Activity of cyclic nucleotide–gated (CNG) cation channels underlies signal transduction in vertebrate visual receptors. These highly specialized receptor channels open when they bind cyclic GMP (cGMP). Here, we find that certain mutations restricted to the region around the ion selectivity filter render the channels essentially fully voltage gated, in such a manner that the channels remain mostly closed at physiological voltages, even in the presence of saturating concentrations of cGMP. This voltage-dependent gating resembles the selectivity filter-based mechanism seen in KcsA K+ channels, not the S4-based mechanism of voltage-gated K+ channels. Mutations that render CNG channels gated by voltage loosen the attachment of the selectivity filter to its surrounding structure, thereby shifting the channel's gating equilibrium toward closed conformations. Significant pore opening in mutant channels occurs only when positive voltages drive the pore from a low-probability open conformation toward a second open conformation to increase the channels' open probability. Thus, the structure surrounding the selectivity filter has evolved to (nearly completely) suppress the expression of inherent voltage-dependent gating of CNGA1, ensuring that the binding of cGMP by itself suffices to open the channels at physiological voltages.
Antenna Characterization Method for Front-End Design of Pulse-Based Ultrawideband Transceivers

A general method is presented for the modeling of arbitrary ultrawideband (UWB) antennas directly in RF circuit simulators in order to enable simulations of circuit performance with the antennas included. The antenna modeling approach is based on S-parameter measurements, which are conducted in a semi-anechoic chamber. Analytic expressions are derived to establish the relationship between the equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) and the circuit model of an antenna. Since the Federal Communications Commission uses the EIRP to assess compliance with their regulations, it is important to be able to accurately simulate its value. In addition, a procedure to model multipath channels in the circuit domain is presented. The impact of antenna characterization on transmitter design is illustrated by a finite impulse response type UWB pulse generator design example. Utilizing this antenna characterization method, it is possible to simulate the EIRP from an UWB transmitter and also evaluate the performance of a receiver design for an arbitrary multipath channel prior to fabrication.
Laboratory Culture of the Sepiolid Squid Euprymna scolopes: A Model System for Bacteria-Animal Symbiosis

The small Hawaiian sepiolid Euprymna scolopes, with its symbiotic luminous bacterium Vibrio fischeri, was cultured through one complete life cycle in 4 months. Paralarval squid hatchlings were acti...
Pattern matching for case analysis: a computational definition of closeness

Proposes a conceptually and technically neat method to identify known semantic patterns close to a novel pattern. This occurs in the context of a system to acquire knowledge incrementally from systematically processed expository technical text. This semi-automatic system requires the user to respond to specific multiple-choice questions about the current sentence. The questions are prepared from linguistic elements previously encountered in the text similar to elements in the new sentence. We present a metric to characterize the similarity between semantic case patterns. The computation is based on syntactic indicators of semantic relations and is defined in terms of symbolic pattern matching. >
Significance of Lipid Composition in a Blood-Brain Barrier–Mimetic PAMPA Assay:

Endothelial cells forming the blood-brain barrier limit drug access into the brain, due to tight junctions, membrane drug transporters, and unique lipid composition. Passive permeability, thought to mediate drug access, is typically tested using porcine whole-brain lipid. However, human endothelial cell lipid composition differs. This investigation evaluated the influence of lipid composition on passive permeability across artificial membranes. Permeability of CNS-active drugs across an immobilized lipid membrane was determined using three lipid models: crude extract from whole pig brain, human brain microvessel lipid, and microvessel lipid plus cholesterol. Lipids were immobilized on polyvinylidene difluoride, forming donor and receiver chambers, in which drug concentrations were measured after 2 h. The log of effective permeability was then calculated using the measured concentrations. Permeability of small, neutral compounds was unaffected by lipid composition. Several structurally diverse drugs were highly permeable in porcine whole-brain lipid but one to two orders of magnitude less permeable across human brain endothelial cell lipid. Inclusion of cholesterol had the greatest influence on bulky amphipathic compounds such as glucuronide conjugates. Lipid composition markedly influences passive permeability. This was most apparent for charged or bulky compounds. These results demonstrate the importance of using species-specific lipid models in passive permeability assays.
Posttraumatic Stress and Complicated Grief in Family Members of Patients in the Intensive Care Unit

Background Family members of patients in intensive care units (ICUs) are at risk for mental health morbidity both during and after a patient’s ICU stay.
Indo-Muslim Music, Poetry, and Dance in North America

Here, we contrast several types of Indo-Muslim cultural performances in North America to demonstrate how traditional forms can take on a wider significance and appreciation, as language, rhythm, and themes are differently understood and appreciated.
China Bashing: How Much? Who Does It? Has it Worked?

Many scholars in both the United States and China argue that a lot of the news stories about China published in major U.S. newspapers tend to have a negative slant. This tendency has generally been called “China bashing.” The purpose of this paper is threefold: (1) to quantify and measure the extent of this bashing, (2) to determine whether there are ideological reasons behind it, and (3) to assess whether the bashing has “worked” from the U.S. point of view (e.g. has it influenced the rate of appreciation of the Renminbi against the dollar?).To accomplish the first objective, I construct two China-bashing indices that track the incidence of news reported in the United States with a negative slant toward China. The first index tracks newspaper articles in major U.S. outlets containing one of the following “grievance” key phrases: “human rights,” “democracy,” “child labor,” “Tibet,” and “repression,” phrases that have persistently been associated with criticisms of China. I find that this index correlates well with opinion polls about China conducted in the United States, and the correlation suggests that the index is a meaningful measure of bashing. The second index tracks articles containing one or more of the following key phrases: “exchange rate manipulation,” “exchange rate manipulator,” “currency manipulation,” and “currency manipulator.” The indices, which span the 1990 to 2010 period, reveal that the composition of China-bashing in U.S. print media has shifted over time.While “human rights” bashing has declined somewhat, “currency manipulation” bashing has risen sharply. My estimates indicate that U.S. newspapers report news with a negative slant about China 130 to 150 percent as often as newspapers in other countries.To address the second objective I break down the “human rights” bashing index by the ideological slant of the newspaper. The results indicate that “liberal” newspapers bash China more intensely than “conservative” newspapers do, suggesting that ideology may be a relevant issue behind the bashing.Pertaining to the last objective – whether bashing has worked – the empirical results indicate that it has not. In fact, I find that currency-manipulation bashing appears to slow down, rather than accelerate, the rate at which the renminbi appreciates against the U.S. dollar. If the U.S. objective is to have China let the renminbi appreciate against the dollar, then the empirical results reported in this paper indicate that China bashing may actually be counterproductive.
An Information Approach to Trademarks

Trademark law’s current conception of information and how trademarks enable information transmission is underdeveloped. It has led to a world where trademark law hinders rather than “fosters the flow of information in markets.” Instead of promoting information exchange across and within markets, “[trademark] law’s core mission, as it is understood today, is to facilitate the transmission of accurate information to the market.” The distinction reveals deep problems within trademark law. Who can or may send a message about a trademark matters. When a mark is chosen by a mark holder, the possible messages that can and should be sent are unknown. Yet, trademark law’s view of information, source, and sender privileges the mark holder’s messages as the one and only - the pure source - for all messages about the mark and treats other communications about the mark as noise. This view reduces the ability for competitors to challenge a mark holder’s position in the marketplace and for active consumers to question or celebrate the mark holder’s goods, services, or business practices. As Professors Lemley and McKenna might put it in their article to which this paper responds, the situation reduces the possibility of substitutes.As the first step in a larger project about the system behind trademarks and other commercial symbols, I argue that an information approach to trademarks based on Claude Shannon’s information theory will clean up and sharpen trademark law’s understanding of information. This approach will allow trademark law to live up to the normative idea that trademarks ought to enhance information flow in markets. That in turn may increase the possibility for substitutes, which Lemley and McKenna argue is a way to understand trademarks as a competition doctrine.
Effect of atomic-scale defects and dopants on phosphorene electronic structure and quantum transport properties

By means of a multiscale first-principles approach, a description of the local electronic structure of two-dimensional and narrow phosphorene sheets with various types of modifications is presented. First, a rational argument based on the geometry of the pristine and modified P network, and supported by the Wannier functions formalism, is introduced to describe a hybridization model of the P atomic orbitals. Ab initio calculations show that nonisoelectronic foreign atoms form quasibound states at varying energy levels and create different polarization states depending on the number of valence electrons between P and the doping atom. The quantum transport properties of modified phosphorene ribbons are further described with great accuracy. The distortions on the electronic bands induced by the external species lead to strong backscattering effects on the propagating charge carriers. Depending on the energy of the charge carrier and the type of doping, the conduction may range from the diffusive to the localized regime. Interstitial defects at vacant sites lead to homogeneous transport fingerprints across different types of doping atoms. We suggest that the relatively low values of charge mobility reported in experimental measurements may have their origin in the presence of defects.
Understanding Hydrogen Sulfide Storage: Probing Conditions for Sulfide Release from Hydrodisulfides

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an important biological signaling agent that exerts action on numerous (patho)physiological processes. Once generated, H2S can be oxidized to generate reductant-labile sulfane sulfur pools, which include hydrodisulfides/persulfides. Despite the importance of hydrodisulfides in H2S storage and signaling, little is known about the physical properties or chemical reactivity of these compounds. We report here the synthesis, isolation, and characterization (NMR, IR, Raman, HRMS, X-ray) of a small-molecule hydrodisulfide and highlight its reactivity with reductants, nucleophiles, electrophiles, acids, and bases. Our experimental results establish that hydrodisulfides release H2S upon reduction and that deprotonation results in disproportionation to the parent thiol and S0, thus providing a mechanism for transsulfuration in the sulfane sulfur pool.
DISTANCES FROM BLOCH FUNCTIONS TO SOME MÖBIUS INVARIANT SPACES

Distance formulas from Bloch functions to some Mobius invariant function spaces are given. These results generalize the distance formula from Blocli functions to BMOA by Peter Jones. As consequences, we have characterizing the closures of these Mobius invariant function spaces in the Bloch space.
Key Roles of Lewis Acid–Base Pairs on ZnxZryOz in Direct Ethanol/Acetone to Isobutene Conversion

The effects of surface acidity on the cascade ethanol-to-isobutene conversion were studied using ZnxZryOz catalysts. The ethanol-to-isobutene reaction was found to be limited by the secondary reaction of the key intermediate, acetone, namely the acetone-to-isobutene reaction. Although the catalysts with coexisting Bronsted acidity could catalyze the rate-limiting acetone-to-isobutene reaction, the presence of Bronsted acidity is also detrimental. First, secondary isobutene isomerization is favored, producing a mixture of butene isomers. Second, undesired polymerization and coke formation prevail, leading to rapid catalyst deactivation. Most importantly, both steady-state and kinetic reaction studies as well as FTIR analysis of adsorbed acetone-d6 and D2O unambiguously showed that a highly active and selective nature of balanced Lewis acid–base pairs was masked by the coexisting Bronsted acidity in the aldolization and self-deoxygenation of acetone to isobutene. As a result, ZnxZryOz catalysts with only Le...
Pharmacy, pharmaceutics and modern drug delivery

Recent developments in the area of drug delivery are reviewed. Controlled delivery of drug substances (including controlled-release oral products, the Folkman-Long silastic device and membrane-medicated delivery systems) are discussed. The prodrug approach is illustrated by discussion of the esterification of epinephrine and the production of the dihydro form of 2-PAM (pro-2-PAM). It is suggested that the pharmacist study the release pattern of drug devices and the pharmaceutics of prodrugs in order to maintain his responsibility as the expert on drugs.
Reviewing U.S. “Reconstructing Iraq Strategy”

The causes of US"reconstructing Iraq strategy"are various, including the factors of history, reality and oil. After Iraq was defeated, the U.S. has occupied a predominant position in the Middle East, and Iraq has become a"strategic pillar "of the U.S. in this region. But now the U.S. is facing three major difficulties in Iraq: political identity embarrassment, tribalism against nationalism, and the absence of cultural structure for democratic politics. The contradictions of US"reconstructing Iraq strategy"are being manifested gradually. The U.S. dilemma between"exiting" and"staying"shall lead it to the historic destiny of hegemonic temptation and Vietnam-like war trap.
Measles Antibody Level of Healthy Population in Chengdu in 2003

Objective To know the measles immune antibody level among healthy population in Chengdu, and then accordingly to develop scientific prevention and cure of measles. Methods ELISA was used to measure the measles IgG antibody level in sera collected from healthy population in Chengdu. 157 healthy people were devided into 4 groups according to their age (3-5, 7-8, 13-14, 20-40 years old), and each group should sample no less than 30 people. Results The measles antibody GMT of the population was 881.60.With the increase of age, GMT showed a decrease trend, from 1002.13 in group of 3-5 years to 881.60 in group of 20-40 years old. Conclusion The total antibody level is high, but susceptible population shows a rise trend with the increase of age, which suggest the possibility of measles outbreak in some areas. Immunization should be enhanced for older children, especially transient children, and re-immune measles vaccine for adults when necessary.
Serum caffeine and paraxanthine concentrations and menstrual cycle function: correlations with beverage intakes and associations with race, reproductive hormones, and anovulation in the BioCycle Study

BACKGROUND Clinicians often recommend limiting caffeine intake while attempting to conceive; however, few studies have evaluated the associations between caffeine exposure and menstrual cycle function, and we are aware of no previous studies assessing biological dose via well-timed serum measurements. OBJECTIVES We assessed the relation between caffeine and its metabolites and reproductive hormones in a healthy premenopausal cohort and evaluated potential effect modification by race. DESIGN Participants (n = 259) were followed for ≤2 menstrual cycles and provided fasting blood specimens ≤8 times/cycle. Linear mixed models were used to estimate associations between serum caffeine biomarkers and geometric mean reproductive hormones, whereas Poisson regression was used to assess risk of sporadic anovulation. RESULTS The highest compared with the lowest serum caffeine tertile was associated with lower total testosterone [27.9 ng/dL (95% CI: 26.7, 29.0 ng/dL) compared with 29.1 ng/dL (95% CI: 27.9, 30.3 ng/dL), respectively] and free testosterone [0.178 ng/mL (95% CI: 0.171, 0.185 ng/dL) compared with 0.186 ng/mL (95% CI: 0.179, 0.194 ng/dL), respectively] after adjustment for age, race, percentage of body fat, daily vigorous exercise, perceived stress, depression, dietary factors, and alcohol intake. The highest tertiles compared with the lowest tertiles of caffeine and paraxanthine were also associated with reduced risk of anovulation [adjusted RRs (aRRs): 0.39 (95% CI: 0.18, 0.87) and 0.40 (95% CI: 0.18, 0.87), respectively]. Additional adjustment for self-reported coffee intake did not alter the reproductive hormone findings and only slightly attenuated the results for serum caffeine and paraxanthine and anovulation. Although reductions in the concentrations of total testosterone and free testosterone and decreased risk of anovulation were greatest in Asian women, there was no indication of effect modification by race. CONCLUSION Caffeine intake, irrespective of the beverage source, may be associated with reduced testosterone and improved menstrual cycle function in healthy premenopausal women.
Markers for Anti-Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte Antigen 4 (CTLA-4) Therapy in Melanoma

Therapeutic strategies that block Cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) enhance antitumor immunity and prolong the lives of patients with metastatic melanoma. However, only a subset of patients benefit, and responses are often delayed due to heterogeneous response kinetics. Ongoing monitoring of the immunologic effects of therapy and correlating these immunologic changes with patient outcomes continue to be important goals to better identify possible mechanisms of clinical activity of these agents. This chapter introduces the major areas of investigation in monitoring patients treated with CTLA-4 blockade and provides specific details of our experience performing selected assays.