cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Structure-function relationships in heparin cofactor II: spectral analysis of aromatic residues and absence of a role for sulfhydryl groups in thrombin inhibition

Abstract This study characterizes the structural and functional significance of sulfhydryl residues in human plasma heparin cofactor II (HCII). For quantification of sulfhydryl groups, the extinction coefficient of HCII was redetermined and found to be 0.593 ml mg −1 cm −1 using second-derivative spectroscopy and multicomponent analysis assuming 4, 10, and 2 residues of tryptophan, tyrosine, and tyrosine- O -sulfate per mole of protein, respectively. The results show that tyrosine- 0 -sulfate residues in HCII and in cholecystokinin peptide fragments (as model compounds) do not significantly contribute to the absorbance spectrum from 280 to 300 nm. A total of three sulfhydryl groups per mole of HCII was detected by Ellman's reagent titration, with or without treatment with dithioerythritol, indicating the absence of intramolecular disulfide bonds. Incubation of HCII with 0.1–10 m m dithioerythritol did not diminish its heparin-enhanced thrombin inhibition activity. Treatment with various sulfhydryl-specific reagents, including p -mercuribenzoate, HgCl 2 , and N -substituted maleimide derivatives, inactivated HCII. Titration with Ellman's reagent after these reactions identified the modification site as a cysteinyl residue(s). However, complete methanethio derivatization of the sulfhydryl groups of HCII using methyl methanethiosulfonate did not alter heparin-catalyzed thrombin inhibition. These results indicate that the sulfhydryl groups of HCII are not essential for thrombin inhibition. HCII differs from antithrombin III, which contains an essential disulfide bond for heparin-dependent thrombin inhibition (Longas, M. O., et al. (1980) J. Biol Chem. 255 , 3436). Furthermore, within the “serpin” (serine proteinase inhibitor) superfamily, HCII resembles chicken ovalbumin in occurrence of sulfhydryl residues and reactivity with various sulfhydryl group-directed Compounds.
Regulation of Hex gene expression and initial stages of avian hepatogenesis by Bmp and Fgf signaling

The vertebrate liver and heart arise from adjacent cell layers in the anterior lateral (AL) endoderm and mesoderm of late gastrula embryos, and the earliest stages of liver and heart development are interrelated through reciprocal tissue interactions. Although classical embryological studies performed several decades ago in chick and quail defined the timing of hepatogenic induction in birds and the important role for cardiogenic mesoderm in this process, almost nothing is known about the molecular aspects of avian liver development. Here we use in vivo and explantation assays to investigate tissue interactions and signaling pathways regulating Hex, a homeobox gene required for liver development, and the earliest stages of hepatogenesis in the chick embryo. We find that explants of late gastrula anterior lateral endoderm plus mesoderm, which have been used extensively for studies relating to heart development, also produce albumin-expressing hepatoblasts. Expression of Hex, the earliest known molecular marker for the hepatogenic endoderm, and albumin, indicative of early committed hepatoblasts, requires both autocrine Bmp signaling and a specific paracrine signal from the cardiogenic (anterior lateral) mesoderm. Endodermal expression of Fox2a, in contrast, requires the mesoderm but is independent of Bmp signaling. In vivo induction assays show that the ability of BMP2 to activate Hex expression in the endoderm is restricted to a region that is only slightly larger than the endogenous domain of Hex expression. Although Fgfs can substitute for the cardiogenic mesoderm to support the expression of Hex and albumin in the endoderm, several Fgf genes are expressed in the anterior lateral endoderm but an Fgf expressed predominantly in the mesoderm was not identified. Studies also showed that Fgf gene expression in the endoderm does not require a signal from the mesoderm. Mechanisms regulating endodermal signaling pathways activated by Fgfs may therefore be more complex than previously appreciated.
GENDER DIFFERENCE IN VOICE ONSET TIME

Voice onset time is known to be affected by phonetic context, age, native language of the speaker, or presence of a communication disorder in the speaker. The role of gender in VOT production has not been investigated. The present study reports a significant gender difference in VOT production of the /d/ and /t/ stops, with men having shorter VOTs than women (n subjects = 16). Qualitative differences in VOT based on gender are also noted. Although a significant difference in speaking rate between the genders was found, this was not correlated with VOT. Gender differences in VOT have implications for other research.
The Galactic Center region imaged by VERITAS

Abstract The Galactic Center has long been a region of interest for high-energy and very-high-energy observations. Many potential sources of GeV/TeV γ - ray emission have been suggested, e.g., the accretion of matter onto the black hole, cosmic rays from a nearby supernova remnant, or the annihilation of dark matter particles. The Galactic Center has been detected at MeV/GeV energies by EGRET and recently by Fermi/LAT. At GeV/TeV energies, the Galactic Center was detected by different ground-based Cherenkov telescopes such as CANGAROO, Whipple 10 m, HESS, and MAGIC. We present the results from 15 h of VERITAS observations conducted at large zenith angles, resulting in a > 10 standard deviation detection. The combined Fermi/VERITAS results are compared to astrophysical models.
Plant ribosome-bound proteins: A fraction from leaves that dissociates bean ribosomes

Abstract Partial purification is described for a fraction from the salt wash of leaf ribosomes that dissociates bean monoribosomes to subunits. The active fraction is heat-labile and of high molecular weight. Under the assay conditions used, a linear relationship exists between the amount of factor and the level of dissociation observed. Apparent heterogeneity within the dissociation fraction was found with column chromatography on DEAD-cellulose. Similarities between the properties of this fraction and those expected for ribosome-bound peptide initiation factors are discussed.
Effectiveness of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy With Older Adults: A Longitudinal Study

Using a longitudinal, time-series design, this effectiveness study analyzed archival data collected as a routine part of clinical services and program evaluation at a community mental health clinic utilizing psychodynamic therapy with older adult clients (N = 106) in its Seniors Program. An empirical measure, the Outcome Questionnaire 45.2, was used to track progress and to examine the nature of change over time at 3-month intervals across 12 time points. The effect size was large (ES = .8) and participants showed little deterioration. Findings suggest that older clients can and do benefit from psychodynamic treatment offered in this format.
Direct cardiac and peripheral vascular effects of intracoronary and intravenous nifedipine.

Abstract The hemodynamic effects of a new parenteral formulation of nifedipine administered by the intravenous (1 mg) and intracoronary (IC) (0.1 and 0.2 mg) routes were studied in 10 patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease undergoing diagnostic right- and left-sided cardiac catheterization. Intravenous nifedipine (1 mg) reduced systemic vascular resistance by 34% (p dP dt (−8% p dP dt (−15% p dP dt (−26% p
Government publications in secondary school libraries in Minnesota

Abstract A survey of a random sample of librarians was used to determine the variables affecting the acquisition of government publications in Minnesota secondary school library and media centers. The dependent variable was the number of government publications acquired during the preceding school year. The independent variables included: (1) number of pupils; (2) librarians' formal education relating to government publications; (3) the librarian's broad knowledge of government publications; (4) availability and suitability of reviews and selection tools; (5) purchasing problems; (6) use by students; (7) use by teachers; and (8) methods of shelving or storage. A descriptive analysis of the data was made in addition to the applications of multiple regression to the dependent and selected independent variables. Thirteen of the variables accounted for 39% of the variance. Those accounting for the greatest variance in the independent variable included: familiarity with a list of government publications, familiarity with government publication bibliographies, availability of reviews and number of hours in formal class work on government publications.
Self-assembling structures based on hydrogen bonding subunits

Over the past quarter of the century organic chemistry has been widely used as a tool to investigate and mimic biological processes[1]. The closing gap between physical and biological disciplines has lead to the evolution of new areas such as bioorganic chemistry and molecular recognition. Conventionally, the area of molecular recognition emerged as scientists investigated the interaction of a larger molecule “the receptor” with a smaller molecule called “the substrate”[2]. The earlier investigations in this area were focused on developing synthetic receptors for small organic molecules containing important functionalities such as urea, carboxylic acids, amides, etc[3]. The following section will cover briefly, some classical receptor substrate complexes that will lay the ground for a later discussion on the nature of self-assembling structures.
Benefitting from the variables that variable selection discards

In supervised learning variable selection is used to find a subset of the available inputs that accurately predict the output. This paper shows that some of the variables that variable selection discards can beneficially be used as extra outputs for inductive transfer. Using discarded input variables as extra outputs forces the model to learn mappings from the variables that were selected as inputs to these extra outputs. Inductive transfer makes what is learned by these mappings available to the model that is being trained on the main output, often resulting in improved performance on that main output. We present three synthetic problems (two regression problems and one classification problem) where performance improves if some variables discarded by variable selection are used as extra outputs. We then apply variable selection to two real problems (DNA splice-junction and pneumonia risk prediction) and demonstrate the same effect: using some of the discarded input variables as extra outputs yields somewhat better performance on both of these problems than can be achieved by variable selection alone. This new approach enhances the benefit of variable selection by allowing the learner to benefit from variables that would otherwise have been discarded by variable selection, but without suffering the loss in performance that occurs when these variables are used as inputs.
A fast kernel-based multilevel algorithm for graph clustering

Graph clustering (also called graph partitioning) --- clustering the nodes of a graph --- is an important problem in diverse data mining applications. Traditional approaches involve optimization of graph clustering objectives such as normalized cut or ratio association; spectral methods are widely used for these objectives, but they require eigenvector computation which can be slow. Recently, graph clustering with a general cut objective has been shown to be mathematically equivalent to an appropriate weighted kernel k-means objective function. In this paper, we exploit this equivalence to develop a very fast multilevel algorithm for graph clustering. Multilevel approaches involve coarsening, initial partitioning and refinement phases, all of which may be specialized to different graph clustering objectives. Unlike existing multilevel clustering approaches, such as METIS, our algorithm does not constrain the cluster sizes to be nearly equal. Our approach gives a theoretical guarantee that the refinement step decreases the graph cut objective under consideration. Experiments show that we achieve better final objective function values as compared to a state-of-the-art spectral clustering algorithm: on a series of benchmark test graphs with up to thirty thousand nodes and one million edges, our algorithm achieves lower normalized cut values in 67% of our experiments and higher ratio association values in 100% of our experiments. Furthermore, on large graphs, our algorithm is significantly faster than spectral methods. Finally, our algorithm requires far less memory than spectral methods; we cluster a 1.2 million node movie network into 5000 clusters, which due to memory requirements cannot be done directly with spectral methods.
Examining implicit attitudes toward emaciation and thinness in anorexia nervosa.

Objective To determine if females with anorexia nervosa (AN) associate emaciation with beauty by examining implicit attitudes toward emaciated bodies relative to thin bodies. Method Thirty women with AN and 29 healthy control women were primed by viewing images of either emaciated or thin women. Participants then completed a lexical decision task (LDT), wherein they distinguished words from nonwords as quickly and accurately as possible. Response times were measured. Real words consisted of beautiful, ugly, neutral, and positive words. Body mass index (BMI) was measured and several clinical interviews were completed, including the Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire 4 (EDEQ-4). Results There was a significant effect of group in the emaciated condition; participants with AN responded faster to both beautiful and ugly words than control women did. Eating disorder symptom severity (as measured by the EDEQ-4 subscales) predicted the strength of the association between emaciation and beauty. Discussion At an implicit, automatic level, women with AN in this study had stronger associations between emaciation and both beauty and ugliness than control women did, suggesting that women with AN may have atypical beliefs about beauty. Thin ideal internalization is an important factor in the development and maintenance of eating disorders; the type of thin ideal being internalized may be important to consider, particularly given the extent to which pro-eating disorder websites promote idealization of emaciation. The associations found by using the LDT highlight the utility of implicit measures, particularly when conducting assessments involving sensitive or atypical beliefs. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2014; 47:138–147)
An Examination of Stereotype Threat Effects on Girls' Mathematics Performance.

Stereotype threat has been proposed as 1 potential explanation for the gender difference in standardized mathematics test performance among high-performing students. At present, it is not entirely clear how susceptibility to stereotype threat develops, as empirical evidence for stereotype threat effects across the school years is inconsistent. In a series of 3 studies, with a total sample of 931 students, we investigated stereotype threat effects during childhood and adolescence. Three activation methods were used, ranging from implicit to explicit. Across studies, we found no evidence that the mathematics performance of school-age girls was impacted by stereotype threat. In 2 of the studies, there were gender differences on the mathematics assessment regardless of whether stereotype threat was activated. Potential reasons for these findings are discussed, including the possibility that stereotype threat effects only occur in very specific circumstances or that they are in fact occurring all the time. We also address the possibility that the literature regarding stereotype threat in children is subject to publication bias.
Combining General and Special Early Childhood Education Standards in Personnel Preparation Programs: Experiences from Two States.

The rapid increase in state efforts to provide services for children from birth through 5 years of age has the potential to foster growth in programs that serve children who have diverse needs and abilities. Early childhood professionals are beginning to recognize, however, that full inclusion of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities in a range of early childhood service settings is more likely to occur if personnel preparation programs are also integrated. This article describes the development and implementation of two interdisciplinary preservice programs that have combined standards from early childhood and early childhood special education to prepare personnel for integrated settings. Implications of professional unification in higher education are discussed.
New ways of thinking about (and teaching about) intestinal epithelial function.

This article summarizes a presentation made at the Teaching Refresher Course of the American Physiological Society, which was held at the Experimental Biology meeting in 2007. The intestinal epithe...
Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer Microscopy of the Helicobacter pylori Vacuolating Cytotoxin within Mammalian Cells

The Helicobacter pylori vacuolating cytotoxin (VacA) binds and enters mammalian cells to induce cellular vacuolation. To investigate the quaternary structure of VacA within the intracellular environment where toxin cytotoxicity is elaborated, we employed fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) microscopy. HeLa cells coexpressing full-length and truncated forms of VacA fused to cyan fluorescent protein (CFP) or yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) were analyzed for FRET to indicate direct associations. These studies revealed that VacA-CFP and VacA-YFP interact within vacuolated cells, supporting the belief that monomer associations at an intracellular site are important for the toxin's vacuolating activity. In addition, the two fragments of proteolytically nicked VacA, p37 and p58, interact when coexpressed within mammalian cells. Because p37 and p58 function in trans when expressed separately within mammalian cells, these data suggest that the mechanism by which these two fragments induce vacuolation requires direct association. FRET microscopy also demonstrated interactions between mutant forms of VacA, as well as wild-type VacA with mutant forms of the toxin within vacuolated cells. Finally, a dominant-negative form of the toxin directly associates with wild-type VacA in cells where vacuolation was not detectable, suggesting that the formation of complexes comprising wild-type and dominant-negative forms of toxin acts to block intracellular toxin function.
Pathway connectivity and signaling coordination in the yeast stress-activated signaling network

Stressed cells coordinate a multi-faceted response spanning many levels of physiology. Yet knowledge of the complete stressactivated regulatory network as well as design principles for signal integration remains incomplete. We developed an experimental and computational approach to integrate available protein interaction data with gene fitness contributions, mutant transcriptome profiles, and phospho-proteome changes in cells responding to salt stress, to infer the salt-responsive signaling network in yeast. The inferred subnetwork presented many novel predictions by implicating new regulators, uncovering unrecognized crosstalk between known pathways, and pointing to previously unknown ‘hubs’ of signal integration. We exploited these predictions to show that Cdc14 phosphatase is a central hub in the network and that modification of RNA polymerase II coordinates induction of stressdefense genes with reduction of growth-related transcripts. We find that the orthologous human network is enriched for cancercausing genes, underscoring the importance of the subnetwork’s predictions in understanding stress biology.
Formal Infrastructure and Ethical Decision Making: An Empirical Investigation and Implications for Supply Management

Building on Rest's (1986) conceptual model of ethical decision making, we derive and empirically test a model that links an organization's formal ethical infrastructure to individuals’ moral awareness of ethical situations, moral judgment, and moral intention. We contribute to the literature by shedding light on the importance of a multifaceted formal ethical infrastructure—consisting of formal communication, recurrent communication, formal surveillance, and formal sanctions—as a crucial antecedent of moral awareness. In so doing, we discern how these four elements of a formal ethical infrastructure combine to collectively influence moral awareness based on a second-order factor structure using structural equation modeling. We test our model based on survey data from 805 respondents with significant work experience across three separate ethical scenarios. Our results across the three scenarios provide overall support for our model. We found that a second-order factor structure for the formal ethical infrastructure explains the variance among the four infrastructure elements and that a multifaceted formal ethical infrastructure significantly increases moral awareness. Our results further suggest a strong positive effect of moral awareness on moral judgment, which in turn was found to have a positive impact on moral intention. These results were substantiated when taking several individual and contextual control variables into account, such as gender, age, religiosity, work satisfaction, and a de facto ethical climate. Implications for theory, practice, and supply management are discussed.
Synthesis, characterization and electrochemical polymerization of eight transition-metal complexes of 5-amino-1,10-phenanthroline

The ability to prepare polymer films on the surface of glassy carbon electrodes (GCEs) by electrochemical polymerization of transition-metal complexes of 5-amino-1,10-phenanthroline (aphen) was investigated. Eight different metal ions (Mn II , Fe II , Co II , Ni II , Cu II , Zn II , Ru II and Os II ) were studied. A simple and rapid method for the synthesis of the complexes with Mn II , Co II , Ni II , Cu II and Zn II was also elaborated. The surface coverage obtained through electrochemical polymerization of the complexes on the GCEs can be related to the redox potential of the metal. The iron(II) and ruthenium(II) complexes generated the greatest polymer film surface coverages (≈10 -8 mol cm -2 ), followed by the osmium(II) and cobalt(II) complexes (≈10 -9 mol cm -2 ). Electrochemical polymerization studies with aphen, 5-nitro-1,10-phenanthroline (nphen) and the metal complex [Fe(nphen) 3 ] 2+ provided further evidence that the oxidative electropolymerization mechanism for these complexes is initiated by sweeping through the oxidative potential of the aphen ligand (+1.35 V vs. Ag–AgCl).
Pharmaceutical formulation affects titanocene transferrin interactions.

Since the discovery of the anticancer activity of titanocene dichloride (TDC), many derivatives have been developed and evaluated. MKT4, a soluble, water-stable formulation of TDC, was used for both Phase I and Phase II human clinical trials. This formulation is investigated here by using 1H and 13C NMR, FT-ICR mass spectrometry, and UV/vis-detected pH-dependent speciation. DFT calculations are also utilized to assess the likelihood of proposed species. Human serum transferrin has been identified as a potential vehicle for the Ti anticancer drugs; these studies examine whether and how formulation of TDC as MKT4 may influence its interactions, both thermodynamic and kinetic, with human serum transferrin by using UV/vis absorption and fluorescence quenching. MKT4 binds differently than TDC to transferrin, showing different kinetics of binding as well as a different molar absorptivity of binding (7500 M−1 cm−1 per site). Malate, used in the buffer for MKT4 administration, acts as a synergistic anion for Ti binding, shifting the tyrosine to Ti charge transfer energy and decreasing the molar absorptivity to 5000 M−1 cm−1 per site. These differences may have had consequences after the change from TDC to MKT4 in human clinical trials.
A thin beryllium injection window for CESR-C

The e/sup +-/ collider CESR is expanding its beam energy range to below 2 GeV for the planned Charm Physics Program. The original 5 GeV injection beam lines consisted of two 0.025-mm thick titanium windows, separated by a helium line at atmospheric pressure. The beam injection efficiency at low energies is reduced dramatically due to excessive emittance growth from multiple scattering in the Ti windows. The Ti windows were replaced with 0.075-mm thick beryllium windows to restore injection efficiency at low beam energies. This paper describes the design and construction of the Be windows. Finite-element analysis was used to determine the minimum Be window thickness able to support atmospheric pressure across 24-mm diameter aperture. The Be window housing is a cylinder consisting of two stainless steel tubes (SST) vacuum brazed to each end of a copper ring. The Be window is subsequently vacuum brazed to the copper ring at a lower braze temperature. The SST ends of the window assembly provide mechanical strength and protection to the fragile window, and facilitate welding of the window assembly to the injection vacuum chambers. Injection efficiency close to 70% was achieved with the beryllium injection windows in CESR.
ON ACCARDI'S NOTION OF COMPLEMENTARY OBSERVABLES

We discuss some examples of complementary observables, in the sense of Accardi. We show that the trace property is not sufficient to determine such a pair of observables.
Electromagnetic transient underground radar (ETUR) for geophysical exploration

In simplest terms, ETUR is a conventional radar without the carrier. A narrow pulse is transmitted into the ground and a pulse scattered from any asymmetrical target (w.r.t. the antenna axis of symmetry) is observed on an electrically isolated receiving antenna. The pulse width is sufficiently narrow so that the transmitted pulse magnitude has become negligible when the scattered pulse arrives at the antenna terminals. These and other essential features of the ETUR system will be discussed. By careful design, these two mechanisms, the short pulse width and the antenna isolation provide a reasonably clear range window. This allows the reflected pulse to be observed in real time on the oscilloscope display. Experimental results will be presented in terms of this reflected pulse. These include the reflected pulses obtained from infinite metal and plastic pipe, finite length pipes and other finite sized objects, geological structures such as faults, joints and fractured rock zones, tunnels and coal mines. A commercial version of ETUR using a trade name Terrascan for the detection of buried pipes should be available at the time this paper is presented.
Effective Temperatures of a Driven System Near Jamming

Fluctuations in a model of a sheared, zero-temperature foam are studied numerically. Five different quantities that independently reduce to the true temperature in an equilibrium thermal system are calculated. One of the quantities is calculated up to an unknown coefficient. The other four quantities have the same value and all five have the same shear-rate dependence. These results imply that statistical mechanics is useful for the system even though it is far from thermal equilibrium.
Feature extraction from multiple data sources using genetic programming

Feature extration from imagery is an important and long-standing problem in remote sensing. In this paper, we report on work using genetic programming to perform feature extraction simultaneously from multispectral and digital elevation model (DEM) data. The tool used is the GENetic Imagery Exploitation (GENIE) software, which produces image-processing software that inherently combines spatial and spectral processing. GENIE is particularly useful in exploratory studies of imagery, such as one often does in combining data from multiple sources. The user trains the software by painting the feature of interest with a simple graphical user interface. GENIE then uses genetic programming techniques to produce an image-processing pipeline. Here, we demonstrate evolution of image processing algorithms that extract a range of land-cover features including towns, grasslands, wild fire burn scars, and several types of forest. We use imagery from the DOE/NNSA Multispectral Thermal Imager (MTI) spacecraft, fused with USGS 1:24000 scale DEM data.
Sticky Traps for Monitoring Pseudacteon Parasitoids of Solenopsis Fire Ants

A newly developed method for passively trapping adult Pseudacteon phorid flies, which parasitize workers of Solenopsis saevissima complex fire ants, is described. Adult flies responding to deployed Solenopsis invicta midden were captured when they landed on a Tanglefoot®-coated perch, which is part of the trap. This sampling method provided a uniform, repeatable, and verifiable sample that allowed continuous and simultaneous sampling among locations, which can only be accomplished with other techniques by substantially increasing the number of observers. A field test showed the superior operational efficiency and effectiveness of this method relative to other techniques. These traps have been shown effective in various phorid habitats in Texas and Florida. We expect this trap to also be effective in detecting/monitoring phorid flies in other locations.
Does The Dao Support Individual Autonomy And Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights lists what have come to be called “first” and “second” generation rights. First generation rights are civil and political; second generation rights are social, economic, and cultural. Western and Asian nations are in disagreement about whether each of these rights is universal. While Western nations strongly believe that first generation rights should be universal, many “Confucian” nations insist that second generation rights precede first generation rights. After analyzing the Confucian values in detail, I conclude that Confucianism supports both generations of rights.
Onset and Beyond Turing Pattern Formation

Turing patterns — stationary chemical patterns that arise spontaneously from a homogeneous state as a consequence of competition between reaction and diffusion processes — have served as the basis for extensive theoretical work in nonlinear physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics [1–5]. Although predicted by Turing in 1952 in a landmark paper entitled The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis [6], clear evidence of these nonequilibrium chemical patterns in well-controlled single-phase reaction-diffusion systems was not obtained until recently, first by a group in Bordeaux [7, 8], then by our group [9, 10], and later by a group in Brandeis [11, 12]. These experiments have sparked a renewed interest in Turing patterns.
Nondiscrimination Rules with Regard to Sexual Orientation: A Survey of the Rules of Professional Conduct of the Fifty States

This article will first highlight an amendment that was proposed to the preamble of the North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) in 2010 that would have added a nondiscrimination clause that included sexual orientation and gender identity. The rejection by the North Carolina Supreme Court after a thorough vetting of the amendment by the members of the North Carolina State Bar was a disappointment to many. Part I of this article will discuss the North Carolina State Bar’s process for amending the RPC in North Carolina, specifically using the rejected nondiscrimination clause as an example. Part II will include a survey of RPCs from other states, and whether those rules include nondiscrimination clauses as to sexual orientation. In Part III, I will examine the question of rule-making as it applies to the RPC, and whether the process used in North Carolina is atypical from that used in other states. Finally, the article will conclude with a discussion of whether this process of rule-making is the best model. Is it as inclusive and democratic as possible, or does this even matter?
Female gynandromorphs of Lutzomyia trinidadensis Newstead from Panamá.

There are numerous reports of gynandromorphism among mosquito species (Aslamkhan, 1970, Mosquito News 30 : 271), but only 2 for phlebotomine sandflies. One of these referred to a male Lutzomyia longipalpis Lutz & Neiva (Sherlock, 1958, Rev. Brasil. Biol. 18 : 433) which possessed typically female cibarial armature, but had male genitalia with one of the lateral lobes reduced, atrophied spermathecae and rudimentary cerci; the other reported, a male Phlebotomus ariasi Tonnoir (Rioux & Golvan, 1969, Monogr. de L'Inst. Nat. de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale, No. 37), had 2 abnormal spermathecae, reduced penis, and atrophied lateral lobes.
Sex-Ratio, Hatchability, Fertility and Egg Production in Geese

Abstract Ten years of data from a large flock of geese, averaging 1539 Embden and 749 Toulouse females indicate that within the range of 4 to 6 geese/gander each additional female increases hatchability but decreases fertility and egg production. Results from the Embdens applied to a hypothetical production of 30 eggs indicates the increase in hatchability equivalent to 0.37 goslings, the loss of 0.97 fertile eggs and the loss of 5.54 eggs laid. At the given hatchability of 73.4% and average fertility of 75.7% this translates into a loss of 3.85 goslings/goose.
Synthesis and structural characterization of dendritic dedoca ester

A new dendritic compound has been synthesized with ethylenediamine and acrylic dedoca ester by divergent on the basis of the synthetic method of PAMAM.The structure of dendrimer has been characterized with elemental analysis,IR,and NMR.The results show that the structure of synthetic product coincides with the expected structure.
Interaction of plasma lipoproteins with human platelets.

Human plasma low density lipoproteins (LDL) and high density lipoproteins (HDL) were radioiodinated and their interaction with washed human platelets was assessed. Both ligands were bound by the platelet at 37 degrees C, and an apparent equilibrium was attained within two hours. Minimal binding was observed at 22 degrees C or 4 degrees C. The specificity of these interactions was indicated by the observations that: (a) labeled and nonlabeled lipoproteins interacted with the platelet with the same apparent affinity; (b) nonlabeled lipoproteins inhibited binding, whereas unrelated plasma proteins did not; and (c) the platelet-bound ligands exhibited the appropriate apoprotein chain compositions when analyzed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Binding of HDL and LDL was found to be independent of the state of platelet activation and did not require divalent ions. Binding of HDL to the platelet was saturable, and a class of sites that maximally bound 1,585 +/- 390 HDL particles, with a dissociation constant of 3.1 X 10(-8) mol/L, was identified. Binding of LDL to the platelet was more complex, but evidence for a class of sites that bound 7,075 +/- 4,800 LDL particles, with a dissociation constant of 4 X 10(- 8) mol/L, was found. LDL was a poor inhibitor of 125I-HDL binding to the platelet, whereas HDL was an effective inhibitor of 125I-LDL binding. The capacity of HDL to bind or inhibit LDL binding was not dependent on its apoprotein E content. These results are most readily interpreted in terms of two types of lipoprotein interaction sites on platelets: (1) an HDL binding site that does not bind or interacts poorly with LDL, and (2) an LDL binding site that recognizes or is otherwise altered by HDL. The HDL site may be similar to the HDL receptor expressed by steroidogenic tissues in terms of apoprotein specificity. The LDL site is not the same as the LDL receptor of most extrahepatic cells.
The National Ignition Facility modular Kirkpatrick-Baez microscope.

Current two-dimensional X-ray imaging at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) uses time resolved pinhole cameras with ∼10-25 μm pinholes. This method has limitations in the smallest resolvable features that can be imaged with reasonable photon statistics for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) applications. ICF sources have a broadband self-emission spectrum that causes the pinhole images obtained, through thin foil filters, to contain a similarly broadband spectrum complicating the interpretation of structure in the source. In order to study phenomena on the scale of ∼5 μm, such as dopant mix in the ICF capsule, a narrow energy band, higher spatial resolution microscope system with improved signal/noise has been developed using X-ray optics. Utilizing grazing incidence mirrors in a Kirkpatrick-Baez microscope (KBM) configuration [P. Kirkpatrick and A. V. Baez, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 38, 766–774 (1948)], an X-ray microscope has been designed and fielded on NIF with four imaging channels. The KBM has ∼12 × magnification, <8 μm resolution, and higher throughput in comparison to similar pinhole systems. The first KBM mirrors are coated with a multilayer mirror to allow a “narrow band” energy response at 10.2 keV with ΔE ∼ 3 keV. By adjusting the mirror coating only, the energy response can be matched to the future experimental requirements. Several mirror packs have been commissioned and are interchangeable in the diagnostic snout.
Number Idolatry and Fallacies of Quantification

These deliberations will consider four widely current “Fallacies of Quantification” and their implications.
Generalized pseudosurface embeddings of graphs and associated block designs

In this paper we discuss recent results concerning the embedding of graphs into topological spaces which differ from surfaces at only finitely many points, called generalized pseudosurfaces. Such graph embeddings can be associated with certain classes of block designs. We will review the correspondences between graph embeddings and block designs, and then we will discuss some implications of these relationships to the constructing of new block designs as well as to the constructing and analyzing of proper graph embeddings.
Validating polyphenol intake estimates from a food-frequency questionnaire by using repeated 24-h dietary recalls and a unique method-of-triads approach with 2 biomarkers

Background: The assessment of polyphenol intake in free-living subjects is challenging, mostly because of the difficulty in accurately measuring phenolic content and the wide presence of phenolics in foods.Objective: The aims of this study were to evaluate the validity of polyphenol intake estimated from food-frequency questionnaires (FFQs) by using the mean of 6 measurements of a 24-h dietary recall (24-HR) as a reference and to apply a unique method-of-triads approach to assess validity coefficients (VCs) between latent "true" dietary estimates, total urinary polyphenol (TUP) excretion, and a surrogate biomarker (plasma carotenoids).Design: Dietary intake data from 899 adults of the Adventist Health Study 2 (AHS-2; 43% blacks and 67% women) were obtained. Pearson correlation coefficients (r), corrected for attenuation from within-person variation in the recalls, were calculated between 24-HRs and FFQs and between 24-HRs and TUPs. VCs and 95% CIs between true intake and polyphenol intakes from FFQs, 24-HRs, and the biomarkers TUPs and plasma carotenoids were calculated.Results: Mean ± SD polyphenol intakes were 717 ± 646 mg/d from FFQs and 402 ± 345 mg/d from 24-HRs. The total polyphenol intake from 24-HRs was correlated with FFQs in crude (r = 0.51, P < 0.001) and deattenuated (r = 0.63; 95% CI: 0.61, 0.69) models. In the triad model, the VC between the FFQs and theoretical true intake was 0.46 (95% CI: 0.20, 0.93) and between 24-HRs and true intake was 0.61 (95% CI: 0.38, 1.00).Conclusions: The AHS-2 FFQ is a reasonable indicator of total polyphenol intake in the AHS-2 cohort. Urinary polyphenol excretion is limited by genetic variance, metabolism, and bioavailability and should be used in addition to rather than as a replacement for dietary intake assessment.
Follistatin Gene Therapy for Sporadic Inclusion Body Myositis Improves Functional Outcomes

Sporadic inclusion body myositis, a variant of inflammatory myopathy, has features distinct from polymyositis/dermatomyositis. The disease affects men more than women, most commonly after age 50. Clinical features include weakness of the quadriceps, finger flexors, ankle dorsiflexors, and dysphagia. The distribution of weakness is similar to Becker muscular dystrophy, where we previously reported improvement following intramuscular injection of an isoform of follistatin (FS344) by AAV1. For this clinical trial, rAAV1.CMV.huFS344, 6 × 1011 vg/kg, was delivered to the quadriceps muscles of both legs of six sporadic inclusion body myositis subjects. The primary outcome for this trial was distance traveled for the 6-min walk test. The protocol included an exercise regimen for each participant. Performance, annualized to a median 1-year change, improved +56.0 m/year for treated subjects compared to a decline of −25.8 m/year (p = 0.01) in untreated subjects (n = 8), matched for age, gender, and baseline measures. Four of the six treated subjects showed increases ranging from 58–153 m, whereas two were minimally improved (5–23 m). Treatment effects included decreased fibrosis and improved regeneration. These findings show promise for follistatin gene therapy for mild to moderately affected, ambulatory sporadic inclusion body myositis patients. More advanced disease with discernible muscle loss poses challenges.
CYTOADHERENCE AND THE PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM-INFECTED ERYTHROCYTE

Publisher Summary The hemoglobin-containing erythrocyte is a free-floating, non-adherent cell. However, when erythrocytes are infected with the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, these cells adhere to the endothelial cells lining the blood vessels and block capillaries and venules. Adhesion of the P. falciparum-infected red cell is a developmentally regulated process. Only red cells bearing mature pigmented forms of the parasite, called trophozoites and schizonts, attach to the capillary and postcapillary venules. The surface of endothelial cells or other target cells contains adhesion molecules that play a critical role in sequestration and cytoadherence. Four families of adhesion molecules have been identified as ligands for P. falciparum-infected red cells: (1) the immunoglobulin gene superfamily, (2) the selectin family, (3) the thrombospondins, and (4) the CD361LIMP II family. Although there are several well-characterized candidates for the ligand(s) on the target cell, the identification and characterization of the adhesin(s) on the P. falciparum-infected red cell have not advanced to that stage. There are two broad categories of adhesins on the P. falciparum-infected red cell: parasite-encoded proteins and host-related proteins.
Multiple-Dose Oritavancin Evaluation in a Retrospective Cohort of Patients with Complicated Infections.

Objective Oritavancin is a lipoglycopeptide antibiotic approved for use in acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections as a single 1200-mg parenteral dose. Because of oritavancin's long half-life and broad gram-positive activity, interest in its use for other infections is high. Methods This study is a retrospective cohort evaluation of patients receiving oritavancin at a single academic medical center. All patients receiving more than one dose of oritavancin were included. Patients were excluded if therapy was interrupted by more than 14 days. Efficacy, defined a priori as clinical success, improvement, or failure, and adverse drug effect outcomes were collected. Results Seventeen patients received multiple oritavancin doses (range 2–18 doses) for the treatment of complicated infections including osteomyelitis, surgical site infection, intravascular infections, and pneumonia. All patients achieved clinical success or improvement with oritavancin. Four patients (24%) had an adverse event requiring oritavancin discontinuation that reversed rapidly. Conclusions Off-label oritavancin use may be a safe and effective alternative to daily antibiotic infusions to treat complicated infectious disease processes. This study is limited by small sample size and retrospective design, but it provides information on using oritavancin in these complex gram-positive infections.
Laser Pulses and the Generation of Acoustic Transients in Biological Material

Laser radiation, in addition to possessing unique optical properties such as spatial and temporal coherency, minimum angular beam divergence, polarization, and monochromaticity, may also provide a source of radiant energy of extremely high instantaneous power. Presently available laser sources operated in the Q-spoiled or giant-pulse mode produce megawatts of power in pulses of 20–50-nsec duration. Recently developed mode-locked lasers produce picosecond pulses with associated powers in the gigawatt range. That such high-transient-power densities may be generated from sources with relatively moderate total energy output (i.e., on the order of a few joules) suggests that unique power density—dependent effects must be considered in the evaluation of the effects of such radiation on physical or biological systems.
On Mass Polarization Effect in Three-Body Nuclear Systems

The mass polarization effect is considered for different three-body nuclear AAB systems having a strongly bound AB and unbound AA subsystems. We employ the Faddeev equations for calculations and the Schrodinger equation for analysis of the contribution of the mass polarization term of the kinetic-energy operator. For a three-boson system the mass polarization effect is determined by the difference of the doubled binding energy of the AB subsystem $$2E_{2}$$ and the three-body binding energy $$E_{3}(V_{AA}=0)$$ when the interaction between the identical particles is omitted. In this case: $$\left| E_{3}(V_{AA}=0)\right| >2\left| E_{2}\right| $$ . In the case of a system complicated by isospins(spins), such as the kaonic clusters $$ K^{-}K^{-}p$$ and $$ppK^{-}$$ , a similar evaluation is impossible. For these systems it is found that $$\left| E_{3}(V_{AA}=0)\right| <2\left| E_{2}\right| $$ . A model with an AB potential averaged over spin(isospin) variables transforms the latter case to the first one. The mass polarization effect calculated within this model is essential for the kaonic clusters. In addition we have obtained the relation $$|E_3|\le |2E_2|$$ for the binding energy of the kaonic clusters.
Kompartmentsyndrom des Unterarms nach intraarterieller Autoinjektion

Ein drogenabhangiger Patient injizierte sich ein Gemisch aus Methadon, Flunitrazepam, Speichel und Wasser intraartiell. Das resultierende Kompartmentsyndrom konnte durch Fasziotomien und multiple Debridements behandelt werden, durch die eine Amputation verhindert werden konnte. Es werden der Behandlungsverlauf und die daraus resultierenden funktionellen Ergebnisse beschrieben, sowie auch ein kurzer Uberblick uber die Literatur und ein Behandlungsvorschlag fur ahnliche Falle gegeben.