cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Almost sure convergence of recursive density estimators for stationary mixing processes

Abstract Let {Xj} be a vector-valued stationary strong mixing process with a first-order probability density f on Rd. We establish rates of almost sure convergence for recursive density estimators n (x) of f(x) of the kernel type.
Organic nonlinear Kerr materials in Fabry-Perot cavities for all optical switching

Combining organic films with high Kerr-nonlinearities and highly optimized photonic nanostructures could lead to new fast switching elements. Fabry-Perot cavities are fabricated by incorporating an organic material between two dielectric mirrors. Using femto-second pump and probe measurements we characterize these hybrid 1-D photonic band gap structures for various organic materials. By varying the pump beam wavelength across the cavity resonance we are able to delineate between the various underlying nonlinear processes. Comparing these measurements with computations we are able to quantify both the refractive and absorptive nonlinear coefficients of various organic materials.
Dissociation and reconstitution of chromatin without appreciable degradation of the proteins.

When chromatin from Novikoff hepatoma ascites cells was dissociated in 3 M NaCl – 7 M urea either at pH 6 or 8, degradation of chromosomal proteins was observed in two-dimensional gel electrophoretic patterns. This degradation was not prevented by 50 mM NaHSO3 but was prevented by 1 mM PMSF (phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride). Reconstitution of the chromatin components dissociated in 3 M NaCl – 7 M ure − 0.05 M sodium acetate (pH 6.0) containing 1 mM PMSF resulted in reassociation of DNA, histones and the major nonhistone proteins (B24, B26, B33, BE, BJ, C1, C6, CG, CH, CM, C14, CP, C18, CR, CS and C25). Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis showed that although the proportion of the nonhistone proteins to histones was lower in reconstituted than in native chromatin, the template activity of the reconstituted chromatin was similar to that of native chromatin.
Effects of Controlled Heat Stress on Ovarian Function of Dairy Cattle. 2. Heifers

Abstract The objective of this experiment was to determine the effects of controlled heat stress on ovarian function of dairy heifers. Estrus was synchronized in Holstein heifers (estrus = d 0), and heifers then were randomly assigned to either heat stress (n = 10; 33°C, 60% relative humidity) or thermoneutral (n = 11; 21°C, 60% relative humidity) treatment. For heat-stressed heifers, ambient temperature was increased from thermoneutrality to heat stress (33°C) between d 9 and 14 (2.4°C/d increase) after the synchronized estrus and remained between 31 and 33.5°C until d 22. From d 11 to 21, the growth and regression of ovarian follicles and corpora lutea were measured by using ultrasonography, and blood was collected daily for serum progesterone and estradiol analyses. The second wave dominant follicle was larger for the heifers in the thermoneutral environment than for heat-stressed heifers, and ovulation of the second wave dominant follicle occurred in 9 of 11 thermoneutral heifers. For 6 of 10 heat-stressed heifers, the second wave dominant follicle regressed and was replaced by an ovulatory third wave dominant follicle. Smaller follicular size in heat stressed heifers was associated with decreased serum estradiol concentrations between d 11 and 21. Serum concentrations of progesterone during the luteal phase were similar, but luteolysis was delayed in heat-stressed heifers compared with onset in heifers in the thermoneutral treatment. Conclusions were that heat stress inhibited the growth and function of the dominant follicle so that most of the heat-stressed heifers had three follicular waves and a delay in corpus luteum regression.
Peptide 53-78 of myelin P2 protein is a T cell epitope for the induction of experimental autoimmune neuritis.

Abstract We have recently described the clinical and pathological features of experimental autoimmune neuritis (EAN) in Lewis rats inoculated with varying doses of a synthetic peptide corresponding to the amino acid residues 53–78 of bovine P 2 protein (SP-26). Immunization with this synthetic peptide was able to induce severe clinical and pathological characteristics of EAN. We are now reporting that, SP-26 T cell lines derived from spleen and lymph node cell populations of such immunized rats, upon being triggered by SP-26, can adoptively transfer severe clinical and histological signs of EAN to naive syngeneic recipients. The disease appears 7–8 days postinoculation of the cells and persist 5–10 days. The pathological features were indistinguishable from SP-26-induced active EAN which appears 12–15 days after sensitization. Examination of the surface phenotype of the cells that were used for the passive transfer of EAN by FACS analysis, showed majority of the cells to be CD4 + , Ia + cells.
Psychosocial Screening of Cancer Patients

This article decscribes the development and validation of a screening instrument for predicting the level of emotional distress that newly diagnosed canccr patients may experience two to six months after the diagnosis. Thc initial evaluation consisted of a semistructured interview, psychological testing, and the use of rating scales with 120 paitients at the Massachusetts General Hospital. A multiple regression analysis was used to identify the best predictors of emotional distress. After the instrument was developed and calibrated, it was revalidated in a subsequent study of 381 patients, 86 percent of whom were correctly identified. The limitations and clinical usefulness of this approach are discussed.
Edustega: an Education-Centric Steganography methodology

This paper presents a novel Education-Centric Steganography Methodology (Edustega) that takes advantages of such text to conceal data. Edustega is based on Nostega paradigm, which implies that it neither hides data in a noise (errors) nor produces noise. Such materials, e.g., questions, answers, exams, examples, puzzles, competitions, etc., have an adequate room for concealing data where the observed bitrate by the experimental results of the current implementation is superior to all contemporary linguistic steganography approaches. Edustega can be applied to all languages. The presented implementation, validation, and experimental results confirmed that Edustega methodology is capable of achieving the steganographical goal.
Dielectric function modeling for In1−yAlyAs on InP

Abstract The pseudo-dielectric functions for In1−yAlyAs on InP (0.305≤y≤0.635) were measured using spectroscopic ellipsometry over the 1.5–5.6 eV photon energy range. The layer compositions were measured using double crystal X-ray diffraction. The pseudo-dielectric functions were fit using a critical point-based approach, and a numerical dielectric function model was generated with the Al fraction, y, as the only free variable. The extracted optical responses were used in process monitoring applications.
Experience, Development, and Resilience: The Legacy of Stuart Hauser's Explorations of the Transition from Adolescence into Early Adulthood

The legacy of Stuart Hauser's research into the developmental transformation that takes place from the adolescent living within his or her family to the young adult functioning independently is assessed. Four major themes are identified in this work: the interplay between the intrapsychic and the interpersonal, the need to understand the family in developmental context, the links between development and psychopathology, and the role of resilience in human psychological functioning. Hauser's broad, integrative, and fundamentally optimistic perspective on human nature is discussed as providing a roadmap to guide future research in this area.
Is the 21 Micron Feature Observed in Some Post-AGB Stars Caused by the Interaction between Ti Atoms and Fullerenes?

Recent measurements of fullerenes and Ti atoms recorded in our laboratory have demonstrated the presence of an infrared feature near 21 pm. The feature observed has nearly the same shape and position as is observed for one of the most enigmatic features in post-asymptotic giant blanch (AGB) stars. In our experimental system large cage carbon particles, such as large fullerenes, were produced from CO gas by the Boudouard reaction. Large-cage carbon particles intermixed with Ti atoms were produced by the evaporation of a Ti metal wrapped carbon electrode in CO gas. The infrared spectra of large fullerenes interacting with Ti atoms show a characteristic feature at 20.3 micron that closely corresponds to the 20.1 micron feature observed in post-AGB stars. Both the lab- oratory and stellar spectra also show a small but significant peak at 19.0 micron, which is attributed to fullerenes. Here, we propose that the interaction between fullerenes and Ti atoms may be a plausible explanation for the 21-micron feature seen in some post-AGB stars.
Learning O-O concepts in CS I using game projects

Teaching object-oriented design and programming in CS1 can benefit from problems that stimulate student interest, that yield to natural analysis under an object-oriented approach, and that provide a basis for extension and reuse. Our project endeavors to design, develop, and implement a set of games that spawn such problems spanning nearly the entirety of concepts presented in our CS1 course.
Science Writers as Characterized in Medical Journals: What Are Physicians Saying about Us?.

One method of assessing the opinions that physicians hold about science writers is to examine the public record, represented by two periodicals: the Journal of the American Medical Association and the New England Journal of Medicine. The citations to the news media that appear in the indexes of the two journals during the last fifteen years yield thirty-four opinion pieces, consisting of editorials and letters to the editor. The timing and content of medical news are of particular concern to physicians. Specifically, they watch for violations of the Ingelfinger Rule and the press embargo system—policies designed to ensure that physicians have access to medical information before it becomes widely disseminated to the general public—as well as errors of medical fact.
Electric field dependence of mobility fluctuation 1/f; noise in elemental semiconductors

Abstract It is shown that Bosman's empirical formula α(E) = α(0)/[1 + (E/Ec′)2] for the field dependence of Hooge's parameter can be explained if it is assumed that only the low-field value μaco of the acoustical mobility μac fluctuates and that μ ac = μ aco [1 + (E/E c ′) 2 ] 1 2 .
Behavioral responses of male guinea pigs to conspecific chemical signals following neonatal vomeronasal organ removal

Abstract Following vomeronasal organ removal or sham surgery at 4–7 days of age, male guinea pigs were tested for responsiveness to conspecific chemical uses as infants and again as adults. In the first experiment, vocalizations in response to soiled home cage bedding and male bedding were monitored twice prior to surgery and twice weekly for four weeks. Home cage cues elicited more vocalizations than did male bedding in both groups; however, there was no effect of vomeronasal organ removal. When tested as adults in a second experiment, animals without vomeronasal organs exhibited depressed investigative responsiveness and vocalizations to female genital smears. The data from the first experiment fail to indicate a role for the vomeronasal organ in infantile response to conspecific odor. However, the second experiment demonstrates that adult responses to similar odors are substantially depressed by an absence of the vomeronasal organ.
HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor attenuates platelet adhesion in intestinal venules of hypercholesterolemic mice.

Whereas the anti-inflammatory properties of statins have been extensively studied, less attention has been devoted to the antithrombogenic effects of these drugs. We evaluated the effect of short-t...
Phase-structure transitions of the elastin polypentapeptide-water system within the framework of composition-temperature studies

The temperature dependence of the composition of coacervate and equilibrium phases is examined for the polypentapeptide of elastin (L-Val1-L-Pro2-Gly3-L-Val4-Gly5)n in water. This provides for the development of a phase diagram. CD data is presented that provides information on associated polypeptide structure changes that, when added to previous CD, nmr, and dielectric relaxation data at lower water composition, allow construction of a phase-structure diagram of the polypentapeptide–water system. The molecular-weight dependence of phase change (coacervation) is included. The volume–composition studies as a function of temperature also provide temperature coefficients of expansion and of composition important in analyzing the mechanism of elasticity.
On an asymptotic optimality property of play-the-winner and vector-at-a-time samplig

Simon andWeiss (1975) consider the formulation of the clinical trial as a selection procedure (Bechhoffer, Kiefer andSobel, 1968). The object of the trial is to choose the better treatment with probability ≥P *, whereP * is assigned, when the difference in sucess probabilities is ≥ Δ*,Δ* also being assigned. They consider a family of single step allocation methods for the reduction of the number of patients given the poorer treatment. Using numerical results,Simon andWeiss conclude that if the stopping rule is based on the difference in successes then either alternating allocation or play-the-winner allocation appears to be optimal (Robbins, 1956;Sobel, Weiss, 1970). We make precise the above statement and the in our main theorem prove it to be true for all Δ* sufficiently small andP *→ 1.
Real time virtual window management for bit mapped raster graphics

In this paper we present a hardware real time window system which uses a. virtual address mapping scheme based on associative memories. Until now, bit block transfer operations were used to update screen contents from main memory window information. Since these operations transfer large blocks of data from main memory to the frame buffer whenever window parameters are changed, the response times of window systems were slow. With the proposed approach, the frame buffer may be completely eliminated and replaced by a large virtual video memory which is capable of holding all the window data in non-overlapping locations. Mapping becomes now a dynamic real-time function which assigns screen addresses to different areas of the virtual video memory at different times.
Submonolayer cluster formation at the Ge/Al2O3(11̄02) interface

The nucleation of clusters at the film-substrate interface is the first step in film growth. The three principal growth modes, layer growth, Stranski-Krastanov, and Volmer-Weber, describe growth kinetics which are different regimes of the competition between the surface kinetic processes of adsorption, diffusion, adatom capture by a cluster, and desorption. This study probes the growth of interfacial clusters during molecular beam epitaxy of Ge on Al2O3(1102). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is used to monitor the increase in cluster size at submonolayer surface coverages of Ge for growth temperatures of 300 and 900 K. Ge has two binding states, Ge-Ge and Ge-Al2O3, at all coverages for both temperatures. The Ge-Ge peak area reflects the concentration of surface clusters while the binding energy shift is related to the average coordination of the atoms within the cluster. Clusters form from the onset of deposition at coverages of 0.01–0.20 monolayers and increase in size rapidly with coverage, even at a growth temperature of 300 K. This low-coverage cluster formation is shown to be the product of the balance between the different surface kinetic processes.
A 3D metal artifact correction method in cone-beam CT bone imaging by using an implant image library

Cone-beam CT (CBCT) technique has been used by orthopedists to monitor bone graft growth after orthopedic surgery. In order to correct severe metal artifacts in reconstructed images caused by metal implants used in bone grafting, a three-dimensional metal artifact correction method has been previously proposed. The implants' mathematic boundaries were generated to help to segment metal from reconstructed images. The segmented metal implants were forward-projected onto the detector to create metal-only projections to compensate for beam-hardening effect. This method was proved effective with the metal implants of regular shape which can be simulated by simple 3D primitives, such as cuboid, cylinder and cone. But for metal implants of arbitrary shape, their boundaries are difficult to define mathematically. To solve this problem, this paper proposed a method by setting up an implant image library and using the implants' a priori shape information from the library during the artifact correction. The implants were acquired and scanned before the surgery and their a priori information were stored in a library. During the artifact correction, the library was called to provide the shape information of the implants to help to do the implant segmentation. The segmented implants were forward-projected onto the detector to generate implant-only projections by a cone-beam forward-projection technique. Beam-hardening effect in the original projections was then compensated by high polynomial orders of implant projections. Finally, the corrected projections were back-projected to produce artifacts-reduced images. Both phantom studies and patient studies were conducted to test this correction method. Results from both studies show the artifacts have been greatly reduced and the accuracy of bone volume measurement has been increased.
Rapid methods for the molecular diagnosis of infectious diseases: current trends and applications.

Methods for the rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases have become increasingly common in the last decade. The impetus for the development of such techniques has stemmed from the need to provide clinically relevant information without the length of time and complexity inherent to traditional cultivation methods. This is particularly important in high-risk populations for which more effective antibiotics and antiviral compounds are now available. Assay systems for the immunological detection of microbial agents occupy a central role in the molecular diagnosis of infectious diseases and are rapidly appearing on the market. Novel methods of organism detection by nucleic acid hybridization, long considered usable only in highly specialized laboratories, have the potential for use in routine microbiological laboratories and some systems are now cornmercially available. As more efficient and rapid diagnostics systems are being developed, the selection of the optimal method will depend on the environment in which the system is to be used. Rapid methods for the detection of infectious agents might markedly improve health care in a variety of clinical, laboratory and epidemiologic situations.
Bimolecular Ni+(2D5/2) + C3H8 Reaction Dynamics in Real Time

A beam of Ni+(2D5/2) is formed at a sharp zero of time by resonant two-photon ionization with a nanosecond dye laser pulse and crossed with a beam of propane gas under single-collision conditions at collision energies of 0.01 and 0.21 eV. The ion−molecule reaction occurs in field-free space in the extraction region of a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. After a variable time delay text = 1−8 μs, a fast high-voltage pulse extracts product ions and residual reactant ions into a field-free flight tube for mass analysis. In contrast with many earlier studies of this reaction under more energetic conditions, at 0.01 eV collision energy we find that Ni+(2D5/2) reacts with C3H8 to form long-lived NiC3H8+ complexes almost exclusively (≥96%) on the time scale 0−25 μs after initiation of the collision. Retarding field analysis of the decay of the long-lived NiC3H8+ complexes reveals that on a 6−24 μs time scale 28% revert to Ni+ + C3H8 and 6% form NiC2H4+ + CH4 elimination products; the remaining complexes have not...
Recommendations and Practices to Optimize Stroke Therapy Developing Effective Translational Research Programs

On June 20 and 21, 2012, a National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke-sponsored workshop on “Optimizing the Predictive Value of Preclinical Research” was held in Washington, DC.1 The primary objective of the workshop was to review deficiencies in preclinical and translational research and provide recommendations or guidelines to improve the rigor of preclinical research. The following is based on open discussions held at the meeting and panel recommendations for the application of basic principles of experimental design and reporting transparency that are currently standard of practice for stroke clinical trials. This article, which includes author interpretations of discussions, emphasizes the need for good laboratory practices, transparent scientific reporting, and the use of translational research models with clinically relevant end points to develop new strategies to treat stroke. There is a critical medical need for new therapeutic strategies to treat acute ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke to reduce mortality and improve the quality of life for stroke victims. Current US statistics indicate that stroke is the fourth leading cause of death and the leading cause of adult disability in the United States, with upward of 795 000 victims annually who suffer a new or recurrent stroke, despite improved diet, and control of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia. Currently, the only Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment for stroke is the thrombolytic, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) if administered within 3 hours of a stroke. Recently, the therapeutic window for tPA has been increased and shown to be beneficial if patients are treated within 4.5 hours of an ischemic stroke.2–4 However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet approved the extension of the time window >3 hours. Although thrombolysis is now widely accepted as a standard of care for acute ischemic stroke, only a minority (6%) of …
ROLE OF LYMPHATIC SYSTEM IN WATER AND SOLUTE TRANSPORT FROM RAT INTESTINE IN VITRO

The results of the present study confirm previous observations and provide further evidence that water and solute are primarily transported from the intestine by the lymphatic system of rat jejunum in vitro, regardless of the nature of the serosal bathing medium (moist air, mineral oil or Ringer solution), or degree of intestinal motility. The transport of fluid by the venous system was negligible under all circumstances so far observed. Venous transport occurred only over a brief duration but lymphatic transport continued with little diminution in rate for at least 40 min. Lymph flow decreased with the increase of mucosal fluid osmolarity but was not affected by changing serosal fluid osmolarity. Lymph was always isosmotic with the mucosal fluid whether the latter was hypo-, iso-, or hypertonic. The composition of lymph with respect to concentrations of glucose; Na, K and Cl was the same as that of the absorbed fluid. The glucose concentration in the lymph was closely related to that in the bathing fluid on the mucosal side, rather than to that on the serosal side. It is concluded that the formation of lymph in the intestine is closely associated with water and solute absorption.
Inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes by native microflora of whole cantaloupe.

Fresh-cut cantaloupe has been recalled due to the possible presence of Listeria monocytogenes. Several studies have reported that naturally occurring microflora of vegetable surfaces may be antagonistic to pathogen attachment, growth or survival. To test this possibility for L. monocytogenes and cantaloupes, whole melon were treated with water, ethanol (70%) or chlorine (200 ppm) to reduce the native microflora on the melon surfaces. Treated or untreated melons were immersed in a six strain cocktail of L. monocytogenes (10 7 CFU/mL) for 10 min and then allowed to dry for 1 h inside a biosafety cabinet followed by storage at 5, 10 and 20C for 15 days. Fresh-cut pieces prepared from the treated or untreated melons and directly inoculated with L. monocytogenes (3.48 log CFU/g) were stored under the same conditions listed above. Populations of L. monocytogenes and five classes of native microflora were investigated. Growth of L. monocytogenes in sterile or nonsterile rind and fresh-cut homogenates was also studied. The population of L. monocytogenes recovered from inoculated (10 3 to 10 8 CFU/mL) whole melons given no disinfection treatment or washed with water was significantly less (P < 0.05) than that recovered from melons treated with chlorine or EtOH. In general, populations of L. monocytogenes declined on the surface of treated and untreated whole melons and on fresh-cut pieces over the 15 days storage period at the temperatures tested. However, the decline in pathogen populations was less rapid in the presence of reduced populations of native microflora. Higher populations of L. monocytogenes were attained in sterile tissue homogenates than in nonsterile homogenates. Addition of yeast and mold to sterile rind homogenates was highly inhibitory to growth and survival of the pathogen. The results of this study indicate that native microflora of whole cantaloupe inhibited attachment to rind surfaces as well as survival and growth of L. monocytogenes on cantaloupe surfaces and homogenized fresh-cut pieces. Thus, L. monocytogenes recontamination of melons having a reduced level of native microflora following application of a disinfection treatment may be a food safety concern.
Identification of a disulfide-bonded 70 Kd type X procollagen in embryonic chick sternum cartilage.

Summary Chondrocytes from the presumptive calcification region of 20 day old embryonic chick sternum were found to synthesize a 70 Kd Type X procollagen precursor in addition to the previously described 59 Kd Type X collagen molecules. The 70 Kd molecules exhibited an additional cyanogen bromide peptide, contained a disulfide-bonded domain, and were converted into the 59 Kd moieties during pulse-chase experiments. The conversion of the 70 Kd to the 59 Kd Type X collagen was prevented upon microtubular transport inhibition with colchicine and resulted in tissue accumulation of the 70 Kd Type X procollagen.
Microcomputer-resident comprehensive statistical analysis

Hardware and Firmware SPS programs were written for a Tandy Radio Shack Model I computer that utilizes the l80 microprocessor and Microsoft BASIC. System configuration must be a minimum 32K RAM, at least one disk drive, and the TRSDOS or NEWDOS operating system. Hard-copy output can be enabled via operating system utilities or insertion of program statements to change PRINT to LPRINT (Buhyoff & Hull, 1980). Either serial or parallel printers may be used.
Methodologies and teacher stances: how do they interact in classrooms?

In this paper I focus on Read Alouds as a place for exploring the nexus of methodological beliefs and structures, and teachers' stances within a second grade Spanish–English dual-language education setting in New York City. Grounded in sociocultural and semiotic theory, I examined the segment in which the teacher reads from the written text in front of the children, that is, when s/he engages in the (re)voicing of the text. Distinct patterns of making the text accessible were found. I suggest that an ideationally based methodology of teaching literacy, legitimized by the curricula, may be falling short in attending to bilingual learners' needs. Furthermore, I suggest that teachers must understand the role they can play by taking critical stances in relation to methodologies and propose a hybrid linguistic and cultural scaffolding approach.
The Manufacture of Mozzarrelle Cheese from Pasteurized Milk

Summary In this study, Mozzarrelle cheese made from properly pasteurized milk without starter did not ripen well. When commercial lactic acid starter was used in pasteurized milk, even in minute quantities, extensive souring and overripening of the cheese took place. Regular commercial lactic acid starter apparently is not feasible for the manufacture of this type of cheese. Cheese of the Mozzarrelle type made from properly pasteurized milk with DK starter ripened as well as the raw milk cheese controls. The flavor and yield from these pasteurized milk cheeses were good and Pizza pies made with them were of excellent quality. Concentrations of from 0.20 to 0.5 per cent DK starter appear to be adequate for commercial operations. More fundamental information concerning the physio-chemical nature of this cheese would be extremely useful. In addition, ways and means to achieve standardization of procedure, particularly with the sub-dealer and the establishment of standards of identity should prove valuable to the industry.
Nematode.net update 2011: addition of data sets and tools featuring next-generation sequencing data

Nematode.net (http://nematode.net) has been a publicly available resource for studying nema- todes for over a decade. In the past 3 years, we reorganized Nematode.net to provide more user- friendly navigation through the site, a necessity due to the explosion of data from next-generation sequencing platforms. Organism-centric portals containing dynamically generated data are available for over 56 different nematode species. Next- generation data has been added to the various data-mining portals hosted, including NemaBLAST and NemaBrowse. The NemaPath metabolic pathway viewer builds associations using KOs, rather than ECs to provide more accurate and fine- grained descriptions of proteins. Two new features for data analysis and comparative genomics have been added to the site. NemaSNP enables the user to perform population genetics studies in various nematode populations using next-generation sequencing data. HelmCoP (Helminth Control and Prevention) as an independent component of Nematode.net provides an integrated resource for storage, annotation and comparative genomics of helminth genomes to aid in learning more about nematode genomes, as well as drug, pesti- cide, vaccine and drug target discovery. With this update, Nematode.net will continue to realize its original goal to disseminate diverse bioinformatic data sets and provide analysis tools to the broad scientific community in a useful and user-friendly manner.
Pathway of oxidation of pyruvic oxime by a heterotrophic nitrifier of the genus Alcaligenes: evidence against nitroethane as an intermediate.

Abstract The role of nitroethane as an intermediate in the oxidation of pyruvic oxime to nitrate by an Alcaligenes sp. was examined. Unlike pyruvic oxime, which serves as a sole source of C and N for the bacterium, nitroethane was incapable of supporting the growth of the microbe. Nitroethane was metabolized and diauxic growth did occur, however, if the nitroethane medium was amended with yeast extract. Alcaligenes sp. resting cells and cell-free extracts were prepared from nitroethane-yeast extract grown cultures and the maximum rate of nitrite synthesis when nitroethane was the substrate was 6.8 nmol min −1 mg cell protein −1 , a 10-fold lower rate than that previously noted for pyruvic oxime oxidation. These cell-free extracts were unable to metabolize pyruvic oxime. Resting cells and cell-free extracts prepared from Alcaligenes sp. cells grown in a pyruvic oxime medium were, conversely, incapable of metabolizing nitroethane. Collectively, these results indicate that nitroethane is not an intermediate in the pathway of pyruvic oxime oxidation and that two separate enzyme systems exist in the Alcaligenes sp. for the metabolism of pyruvic oxime and nitroethane.
Neuropsychological mechanism underlying antidepressant effect: a systematic meta-analysis

Antidepressants are widely used in clinical practice for the treatment of depression and other mood disorders. Numerous neuroimaging studies have recently examined how antidepressants influence emotional processes. However, both clinical trials and neuroimaging studies have reported inconsistent responses to antidepressants. Moreover, the neuropsychological mechanisms by which antidepressants act to improve depressive features remain underspecified. This systematic meta-analysis summarizes pharmacological neuroimaging studies (before February 2013) and the antidepressant effects on human brain activity underlying emotional processes. Sixty fMRI studies (involving 1569 subjects) applying antidepressants vs control were included in the current quantitative Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis. Pooling of results by ALE meta-analyses was stratified for population (mood disorder patients/healthy volunteers), emotional valence (positive/negative emotions) and treatment effects (increased/decreased brain activity). For both patients and healthy volunteers, the medial prefrontal and core limbic parts of the emotional network (for example, anterior cingulate, amygdala and thalamus) were increased in response to positive emotions but decreased to negative emotions by repeated antidepressant administration. Moreover, selective antidepressant effects were uncovered in patients and healthy volunteers, respectively. Antidepressants increased activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal (dlPFC), a key region mediating emotion regulation, during both negative and positive emotions in patients. Repeated antidepressant administration decreased brain responses to positive emotions in the nucleus accumbens, putamen, medial prefrontal and midbrain in healthy volunteers. Antidepressants act to normalize abnormal neural responses in depressed patients by increasing brain activity to positive stimuli and decreasing activity to negative stimuli in the emotional network, and increasing engagement of the regulatory mechanism in dlPFC.
Observational Constraints on the Centaur Population

Spacewatch was the first large-scale astronomical survey program employing automated and real-time software for moving object detection. The search has resulted in the discovery of three new Centaurs and a serendipitous detection of (2060) Chiron. We have determined the efficiency of the Spacewatch system as a function of an object's apparent visual magnitude and rate of motion. Convolving these efficiencies with the scanning pattern of the telescope and a theoretically motivated orbital distribution for the Centaurs allows us to determine the system's efficiency as a function of their absolute magnitude. The efficiency is nonzero in the range −4 <H< 11 (objects larger than about 40 km diameter) and has a maximum of about 3.4% atH∼ 5 (∼600 km diameter). Restricting this study to a pristine set of data left a single Centaur discovery for this analysis. Assuming that the magnitude–frequency relation follows a power-law distribution (∝10αH), and based on the detection of 1993 HA2, we find α = 0.61+0.70−0.40(stat) ± 0.08(sys). At the 99% confidence level, for the orbital distribution used in this analysis and in the absolute magnitude range −4 <H< 10.5, there must be fewer than ∼2000 Centaurs. This implies that the Centaur population may be as great or larger than the set of Main Belt asteroids in the same size range. Our best estimate suggests that there may be a total of only three objects of Chiron's size (∼200 km diameter) or larger.
Flow cytometric analysis of mature adipocytes.

Flow cytometry is an excellent method for studying the physiological function in adipocytes because their response to hormones, especially insulin, varies with cell maturity and therefore size. Adipocytes present a unique technical challenge. A freshly prepared adipocyte suspension contains cells and fat droplets ranging from 10 to >120 μm in diameter. Stored fat occupies 90–98% of the cell volume, making it difficult to distinguish cells from fat droplets. Other difficulties include buoyancy, large size, fragility, and tendency to aggregate and clog the sample tube and nozzle. These obstacles were overcome by (1) maintaining the sample, sample line, sheath fluid, reservoir, and nozzle assembly at 37°C; (2) using a 200 μm diameter orifice; (3) using a short, 300 μm inside diameter Teflon sample delivery line; (4) injecting the sample at constant flow rate into the sheath fluid at low pressure; and (5) using the pH-sensitive vital stain, biscarboxyethylcarboxyfluorescein (BCECF) to distinguish cells from fat droplets. Stained cells are brightly fluorescent when excited at 488 nm. Because fat droplets do not fluoresce, they can be distinguished from fat cells by gating on the BCECF emission. The cytosolic pH of intact, viable, mature adipocytes was derived from the ratio of the fluorescent emission intensities at 520 and 620 nm and was estimated to be 7.2. Unlike BCECF, several other useful fluorescent probes of cell function, e.g., the intracellular calcium indicator, indo-1, label both fat cells and fat droplets. Using a dual-excitation-laser flow cytometer and by gating on the BCECF emission in an adipocyte suspension labeled with both BCECF and indo-1, one can exclusively monitor cell-associated indo-1 fluorescence in order to assess unambiguously intracellular calcium concentration in viable, mature adipocytes.
First‐order bias correction for fractionally integrated time series

Most of the long memory estimators for stationary fractionally integrated time series models are known to experience non-negligible bias in small and finite samples. Simple moment estimators are also vulnerable to such bias, but can easily be corrected. In this article, the authors propose bias reduction methods for a lag-one sample autocorrelation-based moment estimator. In order to reduce the bias of the moment estimator, the authors explicitly obtain the exact bias of lag-one sample autocorrelation up to the order n−1. An example where the exact first-order bias can be noticeably more accurate than its asymptotic counterpart, even for large samples, is presented. The authors show via a simulation study that the proposed methods are promising and effective in reducing the bias of the moment estimator with minimal variance inflation. The proposed methods are applied to the northern hemisphere data. The Canadian Journal of Statistics 37: 476–493; 2009 © 2009 Statistical Society of Canada Il est connu que la majorite des estimateurs a memoire longue pour les modeles de series chronologiques stationnaires a integration d'ordre fractionnaire possedent un biais non negligeable pour de petits echantillons. Les estimateurs obtenus par la methode des moments sont aussi vulnerables a un tel biais, mais celui-ci peut etre facilement corrige. Dans cet article, les auteurs proposent une methode de reduction du biais pour les estimateurs obtenus par la methode des moments bases sur l'autocorrelation echantillonnale de delai un. Dans le but de reduire le biais de l'estimateur par cette methode, les auteurs obtiennent de facon explicite la fonction d'autocorrelation echantillonnale d'ordre un avec une precision d'ordre n−1. Ils presentent aussi un exemple oI le biais exact du premier ordre est beaucoup plus precis que celui obtenu de facon asymptotique, et ce, meme pour de grands echantillons. a l'aide d'une etude de simulation, les auteurs montrent que les methodes proposees sont prometteuses et efficaces pour reduire le biais de l'estimateur par la methode des moments tout en ayant une augmentation minime de la variance. Les methodes proposees sont appliquees a des donnees sur l'hemisphere nord. La revue canadienne de statistique 37: 476–493; 2009 © 2009 Societe statistique du Canada
The Transcriptional Activity of the CCAAT-binding Factor CBF Is Mediated by Two Distinct Activation Domains, One in the CBF-B Subunit and the Other in the CBF-C Subunit

CBF-A, CBF-B, and CBF-C together form the heterotrimeric mammalian CCAAT-binding factor, CBF, which binds to DNA to form a CBF-DNA complex. Here we examined the transcription activation function of CBF in an in vitro reconstituted system using the three purified recombinant CBF subunits expressed in Escherichia coli. Two of the subunits, CBF-A and CBF-C, were coexpressed and purified as a CBF-A/CBF-C complex. Addition of the three wild-type recombinant CBF subunits to EL4 cell nuclear extracts depleted of CBF stimulated transcription 5-20-fold from proalpha2(1) collagen promoters and 10-fold from the Rous sarcoma virus long terminal repeat. Two CBF deletion mutants, one containing full-length CBF-A and CBF-C and a CBF-B lacking the NH2-terminal residues 1-224, and the other containing full- length CBF-A and CBF-B and a CBF-C lacking the COOH-terminal residues 114-309, also stimulated transcription from these promoters, but the level of activation was reduced to half that obtained with the full-length CBF subunits. In contrast, a CBF deletion mutant protein containing full-length CBF-A and deleted forms of both CBF-B and CBF-C showed very little transcription activation from these promoters. Hence, this study demonstrates that the heterotrimeric CBF protein consists of two transcription activation domains, one present in CBF-B and the other in CBF-C, and that the two domains act additively in the in vitro assay. The activation domains of both CBF-B and CBF-C, which are rich in glutamine and hydrophobic residues, showed amino acid sequence similarities with each other and with the glutamine-rich activation domain of transcription factor Sp1.
Dehydro-enkephalins. IV. Discriminative recognition of delta and mu opiate receptors by enkephalin analogs

Abstract We have studied the receptor binding activities of C -terminal free and amidated enkephalins with and without the dehydrophenylalanine4 residue. For the selective labeling of so-called δ and μ opiate receptors, specific tracers were used at low concentrations in rat brain membranes and neuroblastoma cells containing pure δ receptors. C -Terminal free enkephalins are five to eight times more potent in the assay for δ receptors than in μ assay, while the amides are almost equipotent in both assays. The presence of a C-terminal carboxyl group is a determining factor for selective activity. [D-Ala2, ΔPhe4, Met5]-enkephalin amide is very potent in all of the binding assays examined, and, in particular, twice as active as the saturated amide and the C -terminal free enkephalin in the δ assay. We suggest that the steric arrangement of the dehydrophenylalanine residue in position 4 is very important to the enhanced interaction with the δ receptors.
Photocatalytic Oxidation of 2-Propanol on TiO2 Powder and TiO2 Monolayer Catalysts Studied by Solid-State NMR

The adsorption and photocatalytic oxidation of 2-propanol was studied by solid-state NMR spectroscopy over TiO2 powder and a TiO2 monolayer catalyst anchored on porous Vycor glass (TiO2 /PVG). Two adsorbed 2-propanol species were identified on the TiO2 powder, a hydrogen-bonded species and a 2-propoxide species, whereas only the H-bonded 2-propanol species was observed on TiO2/PVG. The photooxidation of 2-propanol proceeded along two parallel routes. The first occurred through the formation of acetone from the H-bonded 2-propanol species and was followed by the aldol condensation of acetone to form mesityl oxide. The subsequent photooxidation of mesityl oxide progressed slowly. Under dark conditions, mesityl oxide and its fragmentation products, acetaldehyde and isobutylene, were found to be in thermal equilibrium. The second route occurred through the relatively rapid and complete oxidation of 2-propoxide to CO2. In addition, the mobility of H-bonded 2-propanol was found to be important in the photooxida...
Innate Cells and T Helper 2 Cell Immunity in Airway Inflammation

Activated mast cells, eosinophils, and basophils infiltrate the airways of asthmatics as a result of an overexuberant T helper 2 (Th2) cell immune response that drives the production of IgE, primes mast cells and basophils, and promotes tissue eosinophilia and mast cell hyperplasia. Recent evidence demonstrates that these innate effectors can be activated outside of this classical Th2 cell paradigm and that they have additional roles in promoting the development of innate and adaptive pulmonary inflammation. There is also an appreciation for the role of airway epithelial cells in orchestrating allergic pulmonary inflammation. Emerging data from basic research highlight the involvement of many unique pathways in the inflammation triggered by complex native allergens and microbes at the airway mucosal surface. Here, we review the role of effector cells and airway epithelial cells in augmenting and, at times, bypassing traditional Th2 cell-mediated allergic inflammation.
Experimental and theoretical characterization of the 3,5-didehydrobenzoate anion: a negatively charged meta-benzyne.

A negatively charged analogue of meta-benzyne, 3,5-didehydrobenzoate, was synthesized in a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer, and its reactivity was compared to that of the same ion generated previously in a flowing afterglow apparatus and to its positively charged cousin, N-(3,5-didehydrophenyl)-3-fluoropyridinium. 3,5-Didehydrobenzoate was found to react as a nucleophile with electrophilic reagents. In contrast, N-(3,5-didehydrophenyl)-3-fluoropyridinium does not react with the same electrophilic reagents but reacts instead with nucleophilic reagents. Neither ion is able to abstract hydrogen atoms from typical hydrogen atom donors. The absence of any radical reactivity for these meta-benzynes is consistent with predictions that radical reactions of singlet biradicals should be hindered as compared to their monoradical counterparts. High-level calculations predict that the carboxylate moiety does not significantly perturb the singlet−triplet splitting of 3,5-didehydrobenzoate re...
HORMONAL CONTENT OF HUMAN PITUITARIES FROM EMBALMED BODIES.

A comparison of the hormonal content and yields of anterior lobe hormones from the pituitaries collected from embalmed and non-embalmed human bodies is reported. The embalmed group (3 pools totaling 350 glands; 5 experiments) were obtained from 10 hospitals in 4 widely separated cities in the United States; the unemjbalmed (control) group (1 pool of 1,000 glands; 5 experiments) came from 26 hospitals in 20 cities (USA). Identical collection, processing and fractionation procedures were used for both groups. The pituitary powder derived from the embalmed group of glands contained from 54 to 125% of the hormonal activity (GH, TSH, FSH, LH, prolactin, ACTH) of the control glands. The respective hormone-rich fractions derived from the embalmed glands contained from 60 to 74% of the activity of the corresponding control fractions. The specific activities of the corresponding extracts of the 2 groups were similar (−21 to +8% difference). It is concluded that pituitaries from embalmed bodies constitute an import...