cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ionizing radiation–induced MEK and Erk activation does not enhance survival of irradiated human squamous carcinoma cells

Abstract Purpose: Ionizing radiation (IR) triggers several intracellular signaling cascades that have commonly been regarded as mitogenic, including the Raf–MEK–Erk kinase cascade. In addition to promoting proliferation, activated MEK and Erk may also prevent cell death induced by cytotoxic stimuli. Because Raf, MEK, and Erk are activated by IR in some tumor cell lines, this suggests that IR-induced activation of the kinase cascade may enhance the survival of irradiated cells. Methods and Materials: IR-induced activation of MEK and Erk was assessed in irradiated UM-SCC-6 cells, a human squamous carcinoma cell line. Activation of MEK and Erk was blocked with the pharmacological inhibitor of MEK activation, PD098059. Clonogenic survival was assessed in irradiated UM-SCC-6 cells that were pretreated with nothing or with the MEK inhibitor. Results: In UM-SCC-6 cells, IR doses as low as 2 Gy rapidly activated MEK and Erk. Pretreatment of the cells with the pharmacological inhibitor of MEK activation, PD098059, effectively blocked IR-induced activation of MEK and Erk. However, inhibition of the kinase cascade did not affect the clonogenic survival of irradiated cells in either early or delayed-plating experiments. Conclusion: Taken together, these results suggest that although MEK and Erk are rapidly activated by IR treatment, these protein kinases do not affect the clonogenic survival of irradiated UM-SCC6 cells.
A new automated technique for measuring respiration in soil samples

An automated 36 place valve to provide continuous soil respiration measurements was constructed. The valve is fully computer controlled and can sample and purge the soil atmosphere as frequently as every 75 minutes. The concentrations, automatically measured by the valve, are essentially identical to those measured manually by gas chromatography in the concentration range of 0.1 to 1% CO2, and are kept in this range by adjusting the mass of soil and the sampling frequency. Data are transferred automatically to a computer spreadsheet program for data handling and plotting on either a rate or cumulative basis. The system has proved reliable over many thousands of analyses and has made detailed analysis of microbial activity on a continuous basis possible.
Subcortical structure segmentation using probabilistic atlas priors

The segmentation of the subcortical structures of the brain is required for many forms of quantitative neuroanatomic analysis. The volumetric and shape parameters of structures such as lateral ventricles, putamen, caudate, hippocampus, pallidus and amygdala are employed to characterize a disease or its evolution. This paper presents a fully automatic segmentation of these structures via a non-rigid registration of a probabilistic atlas prior and alongside a comprehensive validation. Our approach is based on an unbiased diffeomorphic atlas with probabilistic spatial priors built from a training set of MR images with corresponding manual segmentations. The atlas building computes an average image along with transformation fields mapping each training case to the average image. These transformation fields are applied to the manually segmented structures of each case in order to obtain a probabilistic map on the atlas. When applying the atlas for automatic structural segmentation, an MR image is first intensity inhomogeneity corrected, skull stripped and intensity calibrated to the atlas. Then the atlas image is registered to the image using an affine followed by a deformable registration matching the gray level intensity. Finally, the registration transformation is applied to the probabilistic maps of each structures, which are then thresholded at 0.5 probability. Using manual segmentations for comparison, measures of volumetric differences show high correlation with our results. Furthermore, the dice coefficient, which quantifies the volumetric overlap, is higher than 62% for all structures and is close to 80% for basal ganglia. The intraclass correlation coefficient computed on these same datasets shows a good inter-method correlation of the volumetric measurements. Using a dataset of a single patient scanned 10 times on 5 different scanners, reliability is shown with a coefficient of variance of less than 2 percents over the whole dataset. Overall, these validation and reliability studies show that our method accurately and reliably segments almost all structures. Only the hippocampus and amygdala segmentations exhibit relative low correlation with the manual segmentation in at least one of the validation studies, whereas they still show appropriate dice overlap coefficients.
Low-temperature magnetization and the excitation spectrum of antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin rings

Accurate results are obtained for the low-temperature magnetization vs magnetic field of Heisenberg spin rings consisting of an even number $N$ of intrinsic spins $s=1∕2,1,3∕2,2,5∕2,3,7∕2$ with nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic exchange by employing a numerically exact quantum Monte Carlo method. A straightforward analysis of this data, in particular, the values of the level-crossing fields, provides accurate results for the lowest-energy eigenvalue ${E}_{N}(S,s)$ for each value of the total spin quantum number $S$. In particular, the results are substantially more accurate than those provided by the rotational band approximation. For $s\ensuremath{\leqslant}5∕2$, data are presented for all even $N\ensuremath{\leqslant}20$, which are particularly relevant for experiments on finite magnetic rings. Furthermore, we find that for $s\ensuremath{\geqslant}3∕2$, the dependence of ${E}_{N}(S,s)$ on $s$ can be described by a scaling relation, and this relation is shown to hold well for ring sizes up to $N=80$ for all intrinsic spins in the range $3∕2\ensuremath{\leqslant}s\ensuremath{\leqslant}7∕2$. Considering ring sizes in the interval $8\ensuremath{\leqslant}N\ensuremath{\leqslant}50$, we find that the energy gap between the ground state and the first excited state approaches zero proportional to $1∕{N}^{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$, where $\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\approx}0.76$ for $s=3∕2$ and $\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\approx}0.84$ for $s=5∕2$. Finally, we demonstrate the usefulness of our present results for ${E}_{N}(S,s)$ by examining the ${\mathrm{Fe}}_{12}$ ring-type magnetic molecule, leading to a more accurate estimate of the exchange constant for this system than has been obtained heretofore.
Protein kinase C mediates peroxynitrite toxicity to oligodendrocytes

Peroxynitrite has been suggested to be the potent oxidant causing toxicity to neurons and oligodendrocytes (OLs). Our previous studies have illustrated that intracellular zinc liberation contributes to peroxynitrite toxicity to mature OLs. In this study, we further investigated the signaling pathways involved in this event and identified protein kinase C (PKC) as an important early signaling molecule. We found that a non-selective PKC inhibitor bisindolylmaleimide-1 blocked OL toxicity induced by a peroxynitrite generator SIN-1 and exogenous zinc. The protective effects were due to its inhibition on ERK1/2 phosphorylation and ROS generation. The same phenomenon was also observed in OLs following prolonged treatment with phorbol 12 myristate 13 acetate (PMA), which downregulates the conventional and the novel PKC isoforms (cPKCs and nPKCs). To determine the role of specific PKC isoforms, we found that a specific nPKC inhibitor rottlerin significantly reduced SIN-1- or zinc-induced toxicity, whereas Go6976, a cPKC inhibitor, reduced OL toxicity triggered by zinc, but not by SIN-1 at high concentrations. Rottlerin was more potent than Go6976 to attenuate ERK1/2 phosphorylation and ROS generation induced by SIN-1 or zinc. Surprisingly, zinc only induced phosphorylation of PKCθ, but not PKCδ. Knockdown of PKCθ using lentiviral shRNA attenuated SIN-1- or zinc-induced toxicity. These results suggest that PKCθ might be the major PKC isoform involved in peroxynitrite and zinc toxicity to mature OLs, and provide a rationale for development of specific inhibitors of PKCθ in the treatment of multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases, in which peroxynitrite formation plays a pathogenic role.
INFLUENCE OF METHODOLOGY ON OLFACTORY RESPONSE.

The odor of 2-heptanone was delivered by a precision olfactometer to five Ss using five methods of single-sample presentation of concentrations: (1) randomized, (2) sequential-down, (3) sequential-...
Exertional dyspnoea in patients with pectus excavatum

Abstract Most patients with pectus excavatum report better exercise tolerance and less exertional dyspnoea following surgical repair of their chest wall deformity. The reason(s) for this symptomatic improvement remain speculative but include a reversal of deconditioning and improved stroke volume. Improved function or efficiency of the respiratory muscle pump has never been assessed as a potential reason for reduced dyspnoea. An emerging approach to assessing ventilatory constraint during exercise is to plot the tidal flow–volume loops obtained during exercise within the maximal volitional flow–volume envelope obtained at rest. This paper summarises a review of pulmonary function in patients with pectus excavatum before and after surgery, and then illustrates how this newer technique can be applied in order to determine the ventilatory limitation to exercise in this population.
Sharing the pediatric airway: issues between the surgeon and the anesthesiologist.

Abstract During surgical procedures, "ownership" of the patient's airway is often controversial. Communication between the anesthesiologist and the surgeon is critical. The author discusses several medical scenarios in which the anesthesiologist and surgeon must share the patient's airway. Strategies are outlined that can be used by both surgeon and anesthesiologist to ensure optimal outcome for patients.
Boundary layer flow of Reiner-Philippoff fluids

Abstract An analysis is made of the boundary layer flow of Reiner-Philippoff fluids. This work is an extension of a previous analysis by Hansen and Na [A.G. Hansen and T.Y. Na, Similarity solutions of laminar, incompressible boundary layer equations of non-Newtonian fluids. ASME 67-WA/FE-2, presented at the ASME Winter Annual Meeting, November (1967)], where the existence of similar solutions of the boundary layer equations of a class of general non-Newtonian fluids were investigated. It was found that similarity solutions exist only for the case of flow over a 90° wedge and, being similar, the solution of the non-linear boundary layer equations can be reduced to the solution of non-linear ordinary differential equations. In this paper, the more general case of the boundary layer flow of Reiner-Philippoff fluids over other body shapes will be considered. A general formulation is given which makes it possible to solve the boundary layer equations for any body shape by a finite-difference technique. As an example, the classical solution of the boundary layer flow over a flat plate, known as the Blasius solution, will be considered. Numerical results are generated for a series of values of the parameters in the Reiner-Philippoff model.
VEGF as an inhibitor of tumor vessel maturation: implications for cancer therapy

Tumor angiogenesis is an important component of cancer biology driven in part by the thesis that inhibition of tumor vessel growth would be expected to starve and thereby disrupt tumor growth. A significant portion of research on tumor angiogenesis has focused on VEGF and its blockade with the expectation that dramatic results would be demonstrated in cancer patients as previously documented in animal models. However, to date, anti-VEGF (bevacizumab, Avastin) therapy alone has demonstrated little if any antitumor activity or survival benefit in humans. Interestingly, bevacizumab in combination with chemotherapeutic agents appears to result in a modest survival benefit in patients with various malignancies. This has prompted the re-evaluation of the biological effects resulting from VEGF blockade. Recent reports indicate that inhibition of VEGF and its receptor can have dramatic and unexpected effects on mural and perivascular cells in the tumor microenvironment, leading to vascular smooth muscle cell/pericyte activation and vessel normalization/maturation. Specifically, when VEGF levels in tumors are high, recent studies suggest that this leads to reduced responsiveness of the mural cell to the related growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor. This raises the possibility that in addition to the demonstrated anti-angiogenic effect of VEGF neutralization, mural cell recruitment and thus vascular maturation might be among the most critical activities of anti-VEGF agents. This review seeks to explore how VEGF blockade impacts tumor vascular maturation and considers its implications for cancer therapy.
Q2 dependence of exclusive baryon-antibaryon production in photon-photon collisions.

We compute the cross sections for baryon-antibaryon production in photon-photon reactions in which one or both of the photons is off shell, i.e., virtual. Besides confirming the Q/sup 2/..-->..0 limits obtained previously by Farrar we demonstrate that the Q/sup 2/ dependence of the cross sections provides dramatic further tests of QCD and of the factorization formalism underlying the application of QCD to these reactions. In particular the Q/sup 2/ dependence is very sensitive to the baryon wave functions that are folded together with the hard-scattering quark-level tree graphs.
Genetically modified crops as real options: Identifying regional and country-specific differences

Abstract This paper employs real options methodology for evaluating profitability of genetically modified (GM) crops in volatile market and regulatory environments. Observed instances of market entry, or product introduction, are viewed as outcomes of profit maximizing decisions based on comparison of market entry costs, expected future returns, and the value of managerial flexibility. The process is estimated using simulated maximum likelihood. The estimates suggest that, in the developing countries, the downward volatility of the returns is higher resulting in lower adoption rates, whereas the environment in the top four industrialized GMO adopting countries appears to be costlier but much more optimistic. Commercial success of GM soybean and maize in Argentina, Brazil, and the U.S. is explained mostly by a combination of high upward return volatility and moderate entry costs. The findings may contribute to the general understanding, measurement, and possibilities of controlling the rate of technical advance in biotechnology.
Dynamic electric potential redistribution and its influence on the development of a dielectric barrier plasma jet

We investigate the initiation and development of a streamer-like plasma jet generated in a single-electrode dielectric barrier configuration at atmospheric pressure. The influence of dielectric boundary conditions on discharge propagation dynamics, morphology and current distribution was studied using spatially and temporally resolved emission spectroscopy and wide-bandwidth current measurements. A Phantom high-frame-rate camera system was used to visualize discharge inception as a function of pulse repetition frequency, which was varied between 1 and 20 kHz. At discharge inception, with the copper ring anode located 20 mm behind the capillary tip, the discharge propagated along the 2 mm diameter inner wall of the glass capillary regardless of pulse repetition frequency. The steady-state morphology remained annular below 6 kHz, but gradually transitioned to an axial morphology with the expansion of a dark wall sheath towards the anode as the pulse repetition frequency was increased to 10 kHz. In the axial mode, the ionization front steadily decelerated with a corresponding decrease in peak emission intensity, while emission from the residual plasma channel increased. This indicated a dynamic redistribution of electric potential from the ionization front into the residual plasma channel that was attributed to charge accumulation on the dielectric surface between discharge pulses.
Oscillatory torsional interfacial viscometer

Abstract Exact solutions for the torsional interfacial viscometer with oscillatory motion are obtained. A sinusoidal oscillation is imposed upon the angular velocity of the dish. The bob is induced to oscillate with the same frequency as that of the dish. From measurements of the amplitude ratio and phase angle between these two oscillations, the surface shear viscosity can be determined. The analysis is confirmed by experimental measurement. The effects of various operational and instrumental variables upon the response of the bob are discussed. Typical behavior of the phase interface between the liquid—liquid adjoining phases is presented. The theoretical results suggest that the torsional interfacial viscometer with oscillatory motion is a viable instrument for measuring a wide spectrum of interfacial shear viscosity. The apparatus is schematically described. Experiments with the interface between air and an aqueous solution of sodium dodecyl sulfate and dodecyl alcohol are carried out and the results are analyzed by the developed theory.
Estimation of cellular and extracellular carbon contents in sulfate-reducing bacteria biofilms by lipopolysaccharide assay and epifluorescence microscopic technique

Abstract Measurement of cellular and extracellular carbon contents of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) is essential and important in studies of the role of SRB in corrosion and biofouling. An epifluorescence (EPI) microscopic technique and a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) assay were used to quantify cellular and extracellular carbon contents in Desulfovibrio desulfuricans biofilms. The average contents of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and cellular carbon were 7.3 ± 2.8 (fg LPS) cell −1 and 39.9 ± 9.9 (fg cellular-C) cell −1 , respectively, in a D. desulfuricans chemostat culture. A ratio of cellular carbon content to LPS content was 6.5 ± 2.8, and was used to estimate cellular carbon contents in a D. desulfuricans biofilm. The LPS and EPI methods gave comparable results for suspended samples, but not for biofilm samples.
Managing Role-Based Access Control Policies for Grid Databases in OGSA-DAI Using CAS

In this paper, we present a role-based access control method for accessing databases through the Open Grid Services Architecture – Data Access and Integration (OGSA-DAI) framework. OGSA-DAI is an efficient Grid-enabled middleware implementation of interfaces and services to access and control data sources and sinks. However, in OGSA-DAI, access control causes substantial administration overhead for resource providers in virtual organizations (VOs) because each of them has to manage a role-map file containing authorization information for individual Grid users. To solve this problem, we used the Community Authorization Service (CAS) provided by the Globus Toolkit to support the role-based access control (RBAC) within OGSA-DAI. CAS uses the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML). Our method shows that CAS can support a wide range of security policies using role-privileges, role hierarchies, and constraints. The resource providers need to maintain only the mapping information from VO roles to local database roles and the local policies in the role-map files, so that the number of entries in the role-map file is reduced dramatically. Also, unnecessary authentication, mapping and connections can be avoided by denying invalid requests at the VO level. Thus, our access control method provides increased manageability for a large number of users and reduces day-to-day administration tasks of the resource providers, while they maintain the ultimate authority over their resources. Performance analysis shows that our method adds very little overhead to the existing security infrastructure of OGSA-DAI.
Quantized near-consensus via quantized communication links

This paper develops a framework for treating multiagent consensus problems using quantized control. Specifically, we present asymmetrically and symmetrically quantized consensus protocols for multiagent dynamical systems. The proposed consensus protocols involve the exchange of quantized information between agents. Due to quantization, the requirement for consensus is weakened to quantized near-consensus, Under certain assumptions on the network topology, the proposed protocols guarantee that the closed-loop dynamical network is Lyapunov stable and convergent to an appropriately defined set in finite time. We present a complete stability and convergence analysis, using graph theory and nontangency-based Lyapunov tests. The robustness of the symmetrically quantized consensus protocols to slowly-varying communication errors is analyzed. To our knowledge this is the first time such an analysis has been presented in the literature. Several simulation examples illustrate the main results of the paper.
How individuals process NWS weather warning messages on their cell phones

AbstractU.S. government officials are focusing their attention on how to deliver timely and effective warning information to the public, especially given the devastating weather-related events that have occurred in recent years. With the increase of cell phones (and in particular, web-capable smartphones), weather warnings sent through various cellular technologies represent one way for officials to quickly notify an increasingly mobile public. Cellular technology innovations also make it possible for officials to broadcast information-rich media like graphics to cell phones. Whether warning messages must include such “rich” media to be effective remains an open question. The current study investigates the effectiveness of National Weather Service (NWS) warning messages sent either in plain text or in text that includes a radar image of the storm. The research protocol was modeled after the interactive National Weather Service (iNWS) messaging service currently available to NWS core partners. In the study...
Ventricular Function in Surgery for Congenital Heart Disease

BACKGROUND The history of measuring myocardial edema by two-dimensional echocardiography and the pathophysiology of myocardial edema are reviewed. METHODS The relevance of this subject to management of children undergoing corrective surgery for single ventricle physiology and tetralogy of Fallot is reviewed. RESULTS Evidence is presented that myocardial edema is an ongoing clinical problem with relevance to management and outcomes. Methods for measuring mass increases noninvasively in the range of 10-25% with increases in myocardial water content on the order of 2-4% are now well established. CONCLUSIONS These methods and advanced animal models replicating conditions of surgery for cyanotic congenital heart disease set the stage for clinical advances in this important area.
Alternative diagnoses at paediatric appendicitis MRI

As the utilization of MRI in the assessment for paediatric appendicitis increases in clinical practice, it is important to recognize alternative diagnoses as the cause of abdominal pain. The purpose of this review is to share our institution's experience using MRI in the evaluation of 510 paediatric patients presenting with suspected appendicitis over a 30 month interval (July 2011 to December 2013). An alternative diagnosis was documented in 98/510 (19.2%) patients; adnexal pathology (6.3%, n = 32), enteritis–colitis (6.3%, n = 32), and mesenteric adenitis (2.2%, n = 11) comprised the majority of cases. These common entities and other less frequent illustrative cases obtained during our overall institutional experience with MRI for suspected appendicitis are reviewed.
Assessment of whole-body vibration exposures and influencing factors for quarry haul truck drivers and loader operators

To further assess vibration exposure on haul trucks (HTs) and front-end wheel loaders (FELs), follow-up investigations were conducted at two US crushed stone operations. The purpose was to: 1) evaluate factors such as load/no-load conditions, speed, load capacity, vehicle age, and seat transmissibility relative to vibration exposure; 2) compare exposure levels with existing ISO/ANSI and EUGPG guidelines. Increasing HT speed increased recorded vibration at the chassis and seat as expected. Neither vehicle load nor vehicle speed increased transmissibility. Increasing HT size and age did show transmissibility decreasing. HT dominant-axis wRMS levels (most often the y-axis, lateral or side-to-side direction) were predominantly within the health guidance caution zone (HGCZ). However, several instances showed vibration dose value (VDV) above the exposure limit value (ELV) for the ISO/ANSI guidelines. VDV levels (all dominant x-axis or fore-aft) were within and above the HGCZ for the EUGPG and above the HGCZ for ISO/ANSI guidelines.
Induction of delayed mutations by benzene and ethylene dibromide in Drosophila.

Two carcinogens, ethylene dibromide and benzene, were used to induce delayed (germinal mosaic) sex-linked recessive lethal mutations in spermatozoa and spermatids of adult Drosophila males. Significant numbers of delayed mutations (in F 3 ) were scored in absence of conventional (in F 2 ) mutations. A large proportion of nonlethal F 2 cultures carried delayed mutations, so much so that, in some cultures, all F 2 females were carriers of mutations. The mechanism through which single strand damage to treated X chromosomes can result in such delayed lethals is discussed. These observations indicate that the delayed mutation test should be used for testing the mutagenicity of environmental compounds, especially carcinogens, which tested negative in the conventional sex-linked recessive lethal mutation test. The data will support the relationship between mutagenesis and carcinogenesis and, also will further enhance the sensitivity of the Drosophila mutation assay
Quantitation of cimetidine and cimetidine sulfoxide in serum by solid-phase extraction and solvent-recycled liquid chromatography.

A high performance liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of cimetidine and its major metabolite, cimetidine sulfoxide, was developed. These compounds and the internal standard, ornidazole, were extracted from 0.5 mL of serum using a solid phase Bond Elut ~ C18 analytical column with detection at 229 nm. Absolute recoveries were 94 to 103%0, 93 to 104%, and 95 to 105% for cimetidine, cimetidine sulfoxide, and ornidazole, respectively�9 The minimum detection limit for cimetidine was 0.1 mg/L and for cimetidine sulfoxide was 0.05 mg/L when the concentrating step was used. Cimetidine and cimetidine sulfoxide demonstrated linearity up to 10 mg/L and 7.5 mg/L respectively, with the between-run precision of less than a 5% coefficient of variation for both compounds. Interferences from other drugs tested or endogenous substances in serum were not detected. The mobile phase was recycled to maintain better long term column stability and to minimize solvent cost. The instability of the drugs in solution was circumvented with a reduced-pressure drying process that produced working standards possessing longterm stability. The problem of drug interconversion observed during sample storage and with concentrating steps was controlled also. In addition, a resolution test mixture was chromatographed daily to control chromatographic quality.
Conversational script performance in adults with non‐fluent aphasia: Treatment intensity and aphasia severity

Background: A growing body of research in aphasia treatment has indicated that greater amount and intensity of treatment is associated with better outcomes in individuals with chronic aphasia. AphasiaScriptsTM is a computerised conversational script training program that simultaneously collects accurate, reliable data about amount and intensity of treatment. Aims: The purpose of this study was first to investigate the relationship between amount of treatment and improvement on conversational script performance in persons with chronic non‐fluent aphasia, and second to investigate the influence of severity of language impairment on this relationship. Methods & Procedures: We collected computer‐generated treatment data from 17 participants with chronic non‐fluent aphasia during the 9‐week AphasiaScriptsTM treatment protocol. Participants practised three individualised conversational scripts for 3 weeks each. We computed two measures of outcome performance: percent change in script content (script‐related wor...
An ecosystem of platforms to support sensors for personal fitness

We have developed a collection of portable platforms to enable context-aware applications to help users with their personal fitness. Our approach has been to focus on established form-factors such as cellphones and wrist-watches for the user interfaces. A variety of sensors are used to infer aspects of the user's context and proactively gather and display information that is likely to be useful at that time. In this paper, we highlight some of our platforms, the roles they can play, some of the capabilities we have already implemented, and highlight some of the applications we are currently developing.
The influence of developmental, education, and mentorship experiences on career paths in cultural psychiatry

Career paths in cultural psychiatry and other areas of medicine often are influenced by a combination of developmental, academic and training experiences. One of the satisfactions for the cultural psychiatrist is the opportunity to integrate lifelong interests that are not central to medical training, such as anthropology, philosophy, history or geography into one's daily work and career path, and this is not necessarily just applicable to clinical work or research. A background in social sciences can be very helpful in navigating the political and interpersonal challenges of working in an academic medical center or designing effective education programs across the career spectrum in medicine. This article traces the development of my career in academic cultural psychiatry and illustrates the way my clinical and academic interests were influenced both by early developmental and educational experiences and by positive career experiences as a clinician, teacher and researcher in the context of effective mentorship and professional peer relationships. The future of cultural psychiatry is exciting and its continued growth will be dependent on effective nurturance of young physicians who have a broad vision of the important place of cultural psychiatry and how it influences medicine, mental health, and society at large.
Automatic subpixel registration for a tunable hyperspectral imaging system

Hyperspectral imagery of the Earth's surface is increasingly being acquired from aerial platforms. The many bands acquired by typical hyperspectral instruments are collected either in a push-broom, scanning, or staring fashion. Staring methods can be used in ground- and aerial-based applications and have the advantage of readily producing coherent images. Staring remote sensing instruments need some form of coregistration to match band-to-band pixel locations because it takes some time for the instrument to acquire images and save them as the aerial platform moves above the target scene. A well-known method for registration is the phase correlation (PC), which may be used to register images to an accuracy of plusmn1 pixels. This letter reports an enhancement to the PC method that allows for subpixel registration of hyperspectral images. The x-y location at which the maximum correlation function occurs is fitted with a cubic interpolation to find the maximum. This method was implemented to recover subpixel rotation and translation accuracy from an airborne hyperspectral imaging system, dubbed the Portable Hyperspectral Tunable Imaging System. Results showed that the approach improves up to 9.5% of the normalized cross correlation between wavebands in comparison with the PC method alone
Personal factors associated with leadership; a survey of the literature.

(1948). Personal Factors Associated with Leadership: A Survey of the Literature. The Journal of Psychology: Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 35-71.
A novel VOCODER for cochlear implants

A new VOCODER-based speech processing strategy for cochlear implants is presented. The proposed method improves upon existing VOCODER techniques in time-frequency resolution and can offer higher noise immunity. The presented method is based on the effective tracking of nonstationary sinusoid components using a non-linear sinusoid tracking algorithm (STA). The structure of the proposed technique, as well as the underlying STA are presented. It is expected that the improvement in time-frequency resolution will offer superior performance in cochlear implants, as well as improvements in speech coding applications. An eight-band version of the proposed technique is presented and superior performance to existing techniques is shown.
Developmental changes in the response of larval Manduca sexta fat body glycogen phosphorylase to starvation, stress and octopamine

Abstract Fasting or starvation of 1 st - and 2 nd -day fifth instar Manduca sexta larvae leads to rapid activation of fat body glycogen phosphorylase. Under feeding conditions, 21–29% of the phosphorylase was found in the active form. However, after only one hour of starvation, the active form increased to 55–65%. In larvae on the 3 rd -day there was a slower increase in the activation, requiring three hours of starvation to reach a maximum of 60–65%. No activation was observed in 4 th -day larvae after three hours of starvation. When 1 st - or 2 nd -day larvae were decapitated, the time-course of activation of glycogen phosphorylase was very similar to that observed in intact insects. However, activation of glycogen phosphorylase following decapitation was only observed in 1 st - and 2 nd -day larvae. In 2 nd -day larvae, octopamine promoted activation of glycogen phosphorylase and 100-pmol of octopamine promoted maximum activation. Higher amounts of injected octopamine caused a decrease in activation. The injection of 100 pmol of octopamine caused a 50–55% activation of phosphorylase within 30 minutes. The simultaneous injection of the α-adrenergic receptor antagonist phentolamine with octopamine blocked the octopamine effect in 1 st - and 2 nd -day feeding larvae. However, the activation of glycogen phosphorylase observed in ligated/decapitated larvae on the 1 st - and 2 nd -day was not abolished by injection of phentolamine. All of these data suggest that factors other than adipokinetic hormone and octopamine may be involved in the activation of glycogen phosphorylase during fasting or starvation in the early part of the fifth larval stage of M. sexta .
The Glycogen Storage Diseases and Related Disorders

The liver glycogen storage disorders (GSDs) comprise GSD I, the hepatic presentations of GSD III, GSD IV, GSD VI, the liver forms of GSD IX, and GSD 0. GSD I, III, VI, and IX present similarly with hypoglycemia, marked hepatomegaly, and growth retardation. GSD I is the most severe affecting both glycogen breakdown and gluconeogenesis. In GSD Ib there is additionally a disorder of neutrophil function. Most patients with GSD III have a syndrome that includes hepatopathy, myopathy, and often cardiomyo pathy. GSD VI and GSD IX are the least severe: there is only a mild tendency to fasting hypoglycemia, liver size normalises with age, and patients reach normal adult height. GSD IV manifests in most patients in infancy or childhood as hepatic failure with cirrhosis leading to end-stage liver disease. GSD 0 presents in infancy or early childhood with fasting hypoglycemia and ketosis and, in contrast, with postprandial hyperglycemia and hyperlactatemia. Treatment is primarily dietary and aims to prevent hypoglycemia and suppress secondary metabolic decompensation. This usually requires frequent feeds by day, and in GSD I and in some patients with GSD III, continuous nocturnal gastric feeding.
Age-Associated Degeneration of Backward Masking Task Performance: Evidence of Declining Temporal Resolution Abilities in Normal Listeners

A backward masking paradigm was employed to investigate temporal resolution capabilities in normal-hearing subjects of increasing chronological age. Results have documented: (1) a 2-, 4-, 8-, and 11-fold decibel magnitude difference for averaged psychoacoustic functions when comparing data obtained from young adults to those of elderly listeners; (2) that backward masking function slopes become significantly steeper with age, especially at very short interstimulus intervals; (3) a significant interaction between age and target frequency; (4) a linear age-associated decrement in presumed temporal resolution abilities, and (5) no significant target frequency difference nor any ear differences existed. Both end organ and central nervous system mechanisms were considered in explaining these findings.
Intracellular Delivery: A Multifunctional and Modular Approach

Intracellular delivery of drugs and nucleic acids has become one of the most widely explored areas of research. However, it has become increasingly evident that it is also necessary to control the nanocarrier’s disposition within a cell. Much attention has been paid nowadays to control the distribution of the nanocarrier within the cell by using organelle targeted nanocarriers. In this review we have described various approaches developed in our laboratory for intracellular delivery of drugs and nucleic acids with lipid-based nanocarriers.
Physics of light emission from porous silicon

It has been a long-standing goal of the materials-physics community to develop materials and processes that would allow optical devices to be directly integrated with silicon electronics. It is, therefore, not surprising that reports of efficient visible luminescence at room temperature from porous silicon have generated considerable interest in this material. Much of the research on porous silicon has been directed at determining the physics of light emission since an understanding of the mechanism is not only of fundamental importance but is also essential to determining whether this material will be useful in practical applications.
Recent advances in 2D-LC for bioanalysis

This article summarizes the most important developments in the use of 2D-LC for bioanalysis in the last 5 years. While several interesting and powerful applications have been developed recently, this work has been supported by continued, significant development of theoretical concepts, instrument development and practical aspects of method development. Some of the most exciting applications have been focused on the use of 2D-LC and characterize proteins both as biotherapeutic drug substances, and in formulations. These materials are inherently complex, difficult to resolve chromatographically and present problems that are essentially unknown (e.g., aggregation) in the small molecule world, thus 2D-LC can be leveraged very effectively to address these challenges.
Graft selection in knee surgery. Current concepts.

Abstract Recent advances in the understanding of knee mechanics and pathomechanics, in addition to newer techniques and instrumentation, have resulted in broadened indications for knee ligament surgery. Further, revision knee ligament or tendon surgery and delayed primary reconstruction are becoming more common as well. With the poor results of primary suture repair of the cruciate ligaments and the lateral collateral ligament, other graft sources often must be used. As a result, one must be familiar with the advantages and disadvantages of the different graft options available to the knee surgeon. This article discusses the current concepts regarding the advantages and disadvantages of the different graft options available to the knee surgeon.
Analytic calculation of the energy-momentum tensor in heavy ion collisions from color glass condensate

We generalize calculations of the energy-momentum tensor for classical gluon fields in the boost-invariant McLerran-Venugopalan model using the small-$\ensuremath{\tau}$ power series expansion method. Results to all orders for the energy density and pressures are given in the leading ${Q}^{2}$ approximation and with the inclusion of estimated running coupling effects. The energy density and transverse pressure decrease monotonically with time while the longitudinal pressure starts from a negative value and increases towards zero.
The Motion Picture Camera in the Army Air Forces

A brief account of the various uses of the motion picture camera in the Army Air Forces. A number of examples of such uses are given and it is pointed out that new demands coming in regularly make it reasonable to believe that the only limitation of the use of motion pictures in the total war effort will be the number of cameras and cameramen available.
Arylsulfatase B synthesis and clearance in inbred mouse strains

Arylsulfatase B activity levels were approximately 2–3-fold higher in adult C57BL/6J liver and kidney compared to corresponding tissues from A/J inbred mice. In vivo incorporation of tritiated leucine into C57BL/6J hepatic arylsulfatase B reached a maximum approximately 15 h after injection. The label was cleared from C57BL/6J arylsulfatase B with an apparent half-life of 36 h. The relative rates of synthesis of C57BL/6J and A/J arylsulfatase B were similar; however, the A/J enzyme was cleared more rapidly from liver tissue. C57BL/6J kidney arylsulfatase B appeared to be synthesized at a 2–3-fold higher rate than the corresponding A/J enzyme. These trends suggest genetic regulation of arylsulfatase B is effected through different means in liver and kidney from adult mice of these two inbred strains.
Design of an emittance exchanger for production of special shapes of the electron beam current

Recently, considerable attention has been focused on electron beam current profile shaping by means of a transverse beam mask followed by an emittance exchanger (EEX). This setup can transform a transverse particle distribution into a longitudinal particle distribution. We investigate the EEX technique with application to production of a double triangular drive and a trapezoidal main bunches for high transformer ratio, high brightness dielectric wakefield accelerators. We perform numerical optimization of two realistic configurations: a double dogleg and a chicane. In this paper we report sample designs and discuss the effects of the beam line nonlinearities, beam space charge, and coherent synchrotron radiation on a current profile of the output beam.
From Corpses to Courtesy: Xunzi’s Defense of Etiquette

Etiquette writer Judith Martin is frequently faced with “etiquette skeptics,” interlocutors who protest not simply that this or that rule of etiquette is problematic but complain that etiquette itself, qua a system of conventional norms for human conduct and communication, is objectionable. While etiquette skeptics come in a variety of forms, one of the most frequent skeptical complaints is that etiquette is artificial. “Artificial” typically operates in this context as a catch-all term embracing a host of sins and ills associated with etiquette. For example, practicing etiquette may oblige social actors to insincerity and hypocrisy, requiring that they suppress expression of unretouched opinions or feeling in favor of adopting a more socially pleasing facade. Etiquette can demand adherence to norms that are, sometimes rather obviously, culturally contingent or seemingly arbitrary. Etiquette can require that even the simplest endeavors be pursued circuitously, detouring practitioners away from straightforward efficiency by demanding they do what they do decorously. And of course, as Martin frequently observes, nowhere is etiquette’s artificiality more keenly felt than in parenting, in the attempt to contain the artless and spontaneous verbal outpourings and behavior of small children. What underwrites these charges is the sense that etiquette steers us away from presumptively more natural modes of conduct and communication. Rather than speak as we find, act as we are moved, and communicate ourselves as ourselves,
Conformational modulation of slow skeletal muscle troponin T by an NH2-terminal metal-binding extension

Troponin T (TnT) is an essential element in the thin filament Ca2+-regulatory system controlling striated muscle contraction. Alternative RNA splicing generates developmental and muscle type-specif...
Evaluation on control effect of occupational hazards in pulverization transportation line of a mining enterprise

[Objective]To evaluate the effect of technical transformation of pulverization transportation line in a mining enterprise,provide the technical basis for the prevention and control of occupational disease from the source.[Methods]By the combination of inspection and check list,the qualitative and quantitative analysis and evaluation was conducted.[Results]There were the occupational hazards of limestone dust and noise in the production process of this project.The construction was a general occupational hazard project.Workers operated in the control room,and the exposed concentration of productive dust and noise met the national standards.[Conclusion]By using the mechanization and automation measures,the technical transformation of pulverization transportation line has achieved the source control,avoided the operators' occupational hazards exposure,and effectively prevented occupational disease,which is worth learning and popularizing.
750 GeV diphotons from supersymmetry with Dirac gauginos

Motivated by the recent excess in the diphoton invariant mass near 750 GeV, we explore a supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model that includes the minimal set of superpartners as well as additional Dirac partner chiral superfields in the adjoint representation for each gauge group. The bino partner pseudoscalar is identified as the 750 GeV resonance, while superpotential interactions between it and the gluino (wino) partners yield production via gluon fusion (decay to photon pairs) at one-loop. The gauginos and these additional adjoint superpartners are married by a Dirac mass and must also have Majorana masses. While a large wino partner Majorana mass is necessary to explain the excess, the gluino can be approximately Dirac-like, providing benefits consistent with being both ``supersoft'' (loop corrections to the scalar masses from Dirac gauginos are free of logarithmic enhancements) and ``supersafe'' (the experimental limits on the squark/gluino masses can be relaxed due to the reduced production rate). Consistency with the measured Standard Model\char21{}like Higgs boson mass is imposed, and a numerical exploration of the parameter space is provided. Models that can account for the diphoton excess are additionally characterized by having couplings that can remain perturbative up to very high scales, while remaining consistent with experimental constraints, the Higgs boson mass, and an electroweak scale which is not excessively fine-tuned.
Psychosocial aspects of cancer in the elderly.

Although the elderly patient with cancer tolerates cancer treatment as well as younger patients, there are multiple psychosocial issues to which medical professionals should direct attention. In this article, we discuss the elderly patient's emotional response to cancer, common psychiatric disorders (depression, anxiety, delirium) and their management, compliance with treatment, and psychological issues associated with palliative care.