cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Role of muscarinic cholinergic transmission in Edinger-Westphal nucleus-induced choroidal vasodilation in pigeon.

Abstract Activation of the parasympathetic ciliary ganglion input to the choroid causes increases in choroidal blood flow. We examined the role and the type of muscarinic receptors within the choroid that are involved in these increases in choroidal blood flow, using electrical stimulation of the nucleus of Edinger-Westphal (EW) to activate the ciliary ganglion input to choroid in ketamine anesthetized pigeons. Baseline choroidal blood flow and its EW-evoked increases measured as peak and total (area under the curve) responses were determined using laser Doppler flowmetry. The EW-evoked responses were reduced dose-dependently after administration of 4-diphenyl-acetoxy-N-methylpiperedine (4-DAMP), a relatively selective antagonist of M3 type muscarinic receptors, with a maximal mean decrease of 86% (peak response) and 93% (total response) at a dose of 10 μg kg −1 i.v. without a significant effect on baseline choroidal blood flow, heart rate or systemic arterial blood pressure. Atropine, a non-selective antagonist of muscarinic receptors, decreased the EW-evoked responses to a lesser extent than 4-DAMP after intravenous administration of 1 mg kg −1 (by 67% for peak response and by 53% for total response) or topical administration of a 5% solution (by 41% for peak response and by 62% for total response), both of which increased heart rate and systemic arterial blood pressure without a consistent effect on baseline choroidal blood flow. In contrast, himbacine (i.p. 10 μg kg −1 ), a relatively selective antagonist of M2 type muscarinic receptors, increased the EW-evoked parasympathetic cholinergic vasodilation (by 93% for the peak response and by 142% for the total response) without a significant effect on heart rate, systemic arterial blood pressure or baseline choroidal blood flow. The results of our study suggest a major role of M3 type muscarinic receptors in the EW-evoked increases in choroidal blood flow. Based on findings that the ciliary ganglion input to choroid does not synthesize nitric oxide but inhibitors of NO production do block EW-evoked choroidal vasodilation, it seems likely that the M3 receptors acted on by 4-DAMP are present on choroidal endothelial cells and mediate choroidal vasodilation via stimulation of endothelial release of nitric oxide. In contrast, M2 muscarinic receptors may play a presynaptic role in downregulating EW-evoked parasympathetic cholinergic vasodilation in avian choroid.
EXPLORING EXPENDITURE‐BASED SEGMENTATION FOR RURAL TOURISM: OVERNIGHT STAY VISITORS VERSUS EXCURSIONISTS TO FEE‐FISHING SITES

About three fourths of new small tourism businesses fail within the first few years of operation mainly due to poor identification and lack of knowledge of their markets. While understanding visitor spending pattern is critical for the market to be economically viable and successful, research on rural tourist spending behavior is lacking in the literature. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore a visitor segmentation approach based on rural visitor spending behavior. Multiple regression analysis suggested accommodation attribute as the most useful predictor for visitor spending. Two subgroups were developed using accommodation type as a segmentation criterion—overnight stay visitors versus short excursionist. Comparative analyses were done using socio‐demographic variables, trip behavior, recreational motivation, and activity preferences. Overnight stay visitors and short excursion group showed significant differences on several behavioral and motivation variables. Practical suggestions are p...
Missing pieces: Notes on crime, poverty, and social policy

A long and impressive criminological tradition links crime to what social scientists call ‘persistent poverty’-and, in particular, to the corrosive effects of inadequate labor markets on a variety of social institutions. But few anticrime policies have seriously confronted those conditions, even at the height of the Great Society of the 1960s. With only scattered exceptions, those policies have sought to enhance the individual capacities of children and youth without substantially altering the surrounding economic institutions. An anticrime strategy for the next century that is both more effective and consistent with what we know about the roots of crime must involve measures that more directly address the labor market itself. Among other things, these measures include direct public job creation, systematic efforts to up grade wages, and greater support for labor organization.
Structure Se nsitivity of Photochemical Oxidation and Reduction Reactions on SrTiO3 Surfaces

The photochemical reduction of Ag+ and oxidation of Pb2+ from aqueous solution by SrTiO3 leave insoluble reaction products (silver and PbO2, respectively) on the surface. Microscopic analysis has been used to relate the rates of these two reactions to the structure and orientation of SrTiO3 surfaces. The nonpolar (100) surface is the most reactive for silver reduction and the composition of the termination layer does not influence this reaction. On the polar (111) surface, the reduction and oxidation reactions occur on terraces with different terminations and opposite charges; this leads to a nonuniform distribution of reaction products. The polar (110) surface is the least reactive, and the majority of the reaction products are observed at steps along directions where the more reactive {100} surfaces are exposed. The distribution of oxidation products found on (110) terraces is also influenced by the composition and charge of the surface termination. The results show that the photochemical reactivity of SrTiO3 is anisotropic and that, on polar surfaces, dipolar fields arising from charged surface domains influence the transport of photogenerated charge carriers and promote spatially selective oxidation and reduction reactions.
Heart injury from electric shock

Experiments and observations show that the heart is especially susceptible to injury from electric shock. Using experimental animals, measurements of heart currents showed that about 10 per cent of the total “shock” current actually flowed through that organ.
The Structure and Organization of the Human Erythroid Anion Exchanger (AE1) Gene

The AE1 (anion exchanger, band 3) protein is expressed in erythrocytes and in the A-type intercalated cells of the kidney distal collecting tubule. In both cell types it mediates the electroneutral transport of chloride and bicarbonate ions across the lipid bilayer, and, in erythrocytes, it also serves as the critical attachment site of the peripheral membrane skeleton. We have characterized the human AE1 gene using overlapping clones isolated from a phage library of human genomic DNA. The gene spans approximately 20 kb and consists of 20 exons separated by 19 introns. The structure of the human AE1 gene corresponds closely with that of the previously characterized mouse AE1 gene, with a high degree of conservation of exon/intron junctions, as well as exon and intron nucleotide sequences. The putative upstream and internal promoter sequences of the human AE1 gene used in erythroid and kidney cells, respectively, are described. We also report the nucleotide sequence of the entire 3' noncoding region of exon 20, which was lacking in the published cDNA sequences. In addition, we have characterized 9 Alu repeat elements found within the body of the human AE1 gene that are members of 4 related subfamilies that appear to have entered the genome at different times during primate evolution.
A unified least-squares formulation for fluid-structure interaction problems

In this exploratory article a new least squares formulation for the solution of fluid structure interaction problems consisting of the Navier-Stokes equations and the equations of linear elastodynamics will be analysed. It is an extension of the ideas presented in [Cai Z, Starke G. First-order system least squares for the stress-displacement formulation: linear elasticity. SIAM J Numer Anal 2003;41:715-30, Cai Z, Lee B, Wang P. Least-squares methods for incompressible newtonian fluid flow: linear stationary problem. SIAM J Numer Anal 2004;42(2):843-59] for the equations of linear elasticity and the Stokes equations. In those papers a mixed first order least squares formulation which includes the stresses as additional unknowns is proposed. As the stress field has to be approximated by discrete subspaces of H"d"i"v, the usual compatibility of the normal traction will automatically be satisfied on any element edge. Therefore the strongly coupled problem can be formulated in an almost uniform manner. After introducing the basic ideas and the general formulation, a computational error analysis is presented which confirms optimal convergence rates in all problem unknowns. Then the formulation is applied to test cases which come closer to real life applications. Also for these cases the formulation achieves a convincing accuracy.
Recovering Exponential Accuracy from Non-harmonic Fourier Data Through Spectral Reprojection

Spectral reprojection techniques make possible the recovery of exponential accuracy from the partial Fourier sum of a piecewise-analytic function, essentially conquering the Gibbs phenomenon for this class of functions. This paper extends this result to non-harmonic partial sums, proving that spectral reprojection can reduce the Gibbs phenomenon in non-harmonic reconstruction as well as remove reconstruction artifacts due to erratic sampling. We are particularly interested in the case where the Fourier samples form a frame. These techniques are motivated by a desire to improve the quality of images reconstructed from non-uniform Fourier data, such as magnetic resonance (MR) images.
On the site of function of the Rieske iron-sulfur center in the chloroplast electron transport chain.

Abstract A photosynthetic mutant (strain 1073) of Lemna perpusilla was previously shown to have a block in the electron transport chain between plastoquinone and cytochrome f ((1976) Plant Physiol. 57, 577–579). Electron paramagnetic resonance analysis of chloroplasts from this mutant indicates that the g = 1.89 signal of a reduced iron-sulfur center (the ‘Rieske’ iron-sulfur center) is absent. The absence of this signal indicates the Rieske center is either absent from or defective in the mutant, and this result is consistent with this iron-sulfur center functioning between plastoquinone and cytochrome f in the electron transport chain of chloroplasts.
Techniques in Failure Analysis of MOS Devices

The greatest concern on MOB devices is the physical integrity of the gate oxide. Leakage paths and/or shorts through defect sites in the oxide are a major device reliability problem. Optical microscopy is tedious and often does not resolve the defects. With this in mind, copper decoration techniques were developed that could reveal oxide failures sites down to 0.1?m size. The technique has isolated various failure mechanisms on MOS devices. This failure analysis capability has enhanced the ability to control the MOS process.
Insights on synaptic paired-pulse response using parametric and non-parametric models

Paired-pulse protocol is a well-established stimulation pattern used to characterize short-term changes in synaptic potency. Due to the experimental difficulty in accessing and measuring responses and interactions between subsynaptic elements, understanding the mechanisms that shape synaptic response is extremely challenging. We already proposed to address this issue and gain insights on the matter using a complex integrated modeling platform called EONS (Elementary Objects of the Nervous System). The use of this parametric platform provided us with insightful information on the subsynaptic components and how their interactions shape synaptic dynamics. We herein propose to add and combine a non-parametric model to (i) simplify the modeling framework, the number of underlying parameters and the overall computational complexity while faithfully maintaining the desirable synaptic behavior and (ii) provide a clear and concise framework to characterize AMPA and NMDA contributions to the observed paired-pulse responses.
A pH-sensitive nanotip array imaging sensor

Abstract Nanotip arrays have been fabricated on the distal faces of coherent fiber-optic bundles. A typical 270 μm diameter nanotip array comprised ∼6000 individual optical fibers that were etched chemically. Individual conical nanotips were 5.5 μm long with radii of curvatures as small as 15 nm. A combination spin-coating and photopolymerization technique was developed to deposit a chemical sensing layer (polymer+fluorescent dye) across the array such that the nanotip architecture was retained. PVA-SbQ was chosen as the model photopolymer and FITC-dextran was chosen as the pH-sensitive dye. The resulting nanotip array imaging sensor (NAIS) comprised individual pH-sensing tips with ∼100 nm radii of curvature. NAIS fluorescence images were transmitted through the fiber-optic bundle and acquired by an epifluorescence microscope/charged-coupled device imaging system. The pKa of the PVA-SbQ immobilized FITC-dextran was 6.2 and the NAIS time response to a 0.3 pH unit change was 1.5 s. Fluorescence images acquired from a NAIS inserted in a rat liver indicated that the sensing layer was robust and that the NAIS’s analytical performance was not altered following insertion.
Quantum simulation of ferrocytochrome c.

The dramatic progress in the understanding of the dynamics of biomolecules has been largely fuelled by computer simulations based on the law of classical mechanics1. However in some respects biomolecules are at the borders of the domain of applicability of classical mechanics. The role of quantum mechanical effects in biomolecular structure and function is therefore worth investigating. Here we present preliminary results from a quantum simulation of a protein and contrast them with results from full classical simulations. The most significant differences are found in motions of high frequency, such as bond stretching or the torsional oscillation of groups that bear hydrogen atoms. The amplitudes of such motions are significantly increased by the penetration of atoms into classically forbidden regions. These differences will directly influence the rates of such processes as proton and electron transfer.
The Rise of Intra-Occupational Wage Inequality in the United States, 1983 to 2002

Wage inequality has increased dramatically in the United States since the 1980s. This article investigates the relationship between this trend and occupational structure measured at the three-digit level. Using the Current Population Survey from 1983 to 2002, we find that the direct association between occupations and wage inequality declined over this period as within-occupational inequality grew faster than betweenoccupational inequality. We estimate multilevel growth models using detailed occupational categories as the unit of analysis to assess how the characteristics of occupations affect changes in mean wages and levels of wage inequality across this time period. The results indicate that changes in mean wages across occupations vary depending on the characteristics of individuals in those occupations and that intraoccupational inequality is difficult to predict using conventional labor force data. These findings seem largely inconsistent with the common sociological view of occupation as the most fundamental feature of the labor market. Correspondingly, a more comprehensive approach—one that incorporates the effects of organizational variables and market processes on rising wage inequality in the New Economy—is warranted.
The Effects of Talking on Writing

(1979). The Effects of Talking on Writing. English in Education: Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 33-37.
Enhancing Detection of Bladder Carcinoma In Situ by 3-Dimensional Optical Coherence Tomography

Purpose: We examined the usefulness of 3-dimensional optical coherence tomography to enhance the diagnosis of urothelial carcinoma in situ.Materials and Methods: By expressing SV40T antigen with uroplakin II promoter, carcinoma in situ readily develops in SV40T transgenic mice at about ages 8 to 20 weeks and then frank high grade papillary carcinoma develops in bladder epithelium. We examined 10 control and 40 SV40T mice during weeks 8 to 20 after birth by parallel en face white light imaging and 3-dimensional optical coherence tomography, and compared results with histology findings. We applied quantitative analysis of computer aided detection to 3-dimensional tomography images to enhance the diagnosis of carcinoma in situ, including 3-dimensional segmentation, speckle reduction, fast Fourier transform analysis, and standard deviation and histogram evaluation.Results: We identified carcinoma in situ in 23 SV40T mice by histology. Most carcinoma could not be detected by en face imaging and 2-dimensional o...
Alkaline phosphatase conjugated Protein A as a sensitive reagent to immunoscreen an expression cDNA plasmid library: Isolation of cDNA to the calcium-binding protein of the chick embryonic chorioallantoic membrane

A highly efficient immunoscreening procedure has been developed to isolate cDNA clones to the calcium-binding protein (CaBP) of the chick embryonic chorioallantoic membrane (CAM). A library of total CAM cDNA was constructed using the expression plasmid vector, pUC 19. Bacterial clones containing plasmids with CaBP cDNA inserts were detected immunohistochemically based on their expression of hybrid CaBP protein sequences. For immunodetection, nitrocellulose bacterial colony replicas were treated with specific antibodies to the CaBP followed by incubation with Staphylococcus aureus Protein A conjugated with alkaline phosphatase (AP) which served as a secondary immunoreagent. Positive clones were then histochemically identified based on AP enzyme activity. The identity of the immunopositive clones was further verified by in vitro translation of mRNA selected by hybridization to the cloned cDNA. The AP-based immunoscreening procedure yields stable reaction products with relatively low background, and should find general application for isolating specific cDNA clones from expression cDNA libraries.
LVC interaction within a mixed-reality training system

The United States military is increasingly pursuing advanced live, virtual, and constructive (LVC) training systems for reduced cost, greater training flexibility, and decreased training times. Combining the advantages of realistic training environments and virtual worlds, mixed reality LVC training systems can enable live and virtual trainee interaction as if co-located. However, LVC interaction in these systems often requires constructing immersive environments, developing hardware for live-virtual interaction, tracking in occluded environments, and an architecture that supports real-time transfer of entity information across many systems. This paper discusses a system that overcomes these challenges to empower LVC interaction in a reconfigurable, mixed reality environment. This system was developed and tested in an immersive, reconfigurable, and mixed reality LVC training system for the dismounted warfighter at ISU, known as the Veldt, to overcome LVC interaction challenges and as a test bed for cuttingedge technology to meet future U.S. Army battlefield requirements. Trainees interact physically in the Veldt and virtually through commercial and developed game engines. Evaluation involving military trained personnel found this system to be effective, immersive, and useful for developing the critical decision-making skills necessary for the battlefield. Procedural terrain modeling, model-matching database techniques, and a central communication server process all live and virtual entity data from system components to create a cohesive virtual world across all distributed simulators and game engines in real-time. This system achieves rare LVC interaction within multiple physical and virtual immersive environments for training in real-time across many distributed systems.
Recapitulation as process: The augmented-second tetrachord in the first movement of Haydn’s Op. 33, no. 5

The first movement of Haydn’s Op. 33, no. 5 string quartet famously opens with a closing gesture — a move from dominant to tonic chord accompanying a rising tetrachord. This opening puts the entire notion of closure into question and threatens to eviscerate the cadence of its efficacy. Moreover, Haydn ratchets up the tension created by the tetrachord motive’s omnipresence by altering its intervallic structure during the development in order to include an augmented second. What generically would be considered an almost banal cadential gesture becomes an agent of disruption that promises to derail the sense of completion required by tonal musical discourse.By undermining the efficacy of harmonic closure, Haydn seemingly jeopardized the closural function of the recapitulation, which, according to Charles Rosen, relies upon the resolution of large-scale dissonance. However, Haydn demonstrates that the recapitulation is often more than the resolution of large-scale dissonance. In this piece the recapitulation ...
Acute emotional stress and cardiac arrhythmias.

Episodes of acute emotional stress can have significant adverse effects on the heart. Acute emotional stress can produce left ventricular contractile dysfunction, myocardial ischemia, or disturbances of cardiac rhythm. Although these abnormalities are often only transient, their consequences can be gravely damaging and sometimes fatal. Despite the many descriptions of catastrophic cardiovascular events in the setting of acute emotional stress, the anatomical substrate and physiological pathways by which emotional stress triggers cardiovascular events are only now being characterized, aided by the advent of functional neuroimaging. Recent evidence indicates that asymmetric brain activity is particularly important in making the heart more susceptible to ventricular arrhythmias. Lateralization of cerebral activity during emotional stress may stimulate the heart asymmetrically and produce areas of inhomogeneous repolarization that create electrical instability and facilitate the development of cardiac arrhythmias. Patients with ischemic heart disease who survive an episode of sudden cardiac death in the setting of acute emotional stress should receive a β-blocker. Nonpharmacological approaches to manage emotional stress in patients with and without coronary artery disease, including social support, relaxation therapy, yoga, meditation, controlled slow breathing, and biofeedback, are also appropriate to consider and merit additional investigation in randomized trials.
Synthesis of fatty acid esters and diacylglycerols at elevated temperatures by alkalithermophilic lipases from Thermosyntropha lipolytica

LipA and LipB of Thermosyntropha lipolytica DSM 11003 as previously published are the most alkalithermophilic (pHopt25°C = 9.4–9.6, Topt = 96°C) and thermostable (T1/224 h = 74–76°C) lipases currently known. The purified enzymes were analyzed in organic solvents for their ability to catalyze synthesis of diacylglycerols and various alcohol fatty acids. To obtain 100% recovery and avoid a 40% and 50% loss of catalytic activity during lyophilization of purified LipA and LipB, respectively, addition of 1 mg/ml bovine serum albumin (BSA) and 25% polyethylene glycol (PEG400) was required. LipA and LipB catalyzed esterification of fatty acids and alcohols with the highest yields for octyl oleate (LipA) and lauryl oleate (LipB) and also catalyzed synthesis of 1,3-dioleoyl glycerol, 1-oleoyl-3-lauroyl glycerol, and 1-oleoyl-3-octoyl glycerol. Isooctane was the most efficient solvent for esterification reactions at 85°C. Similar to the positional specificity for the hydrolytic reaction in aqueous solutions, LipA and LipB catalyzed in organic solvents the synthesis of diacylglycerol with esterification of position 1 and 3 with a yield of 62% for di-oleoyl glycerol. The reported conversion rates do not represent the full potential of these enzymes, since only 1/100th–1/1,000th of the protein concentrations usually used in commercial processes were available. However, use of slightly increased protein concentrations confirmed the trend to higher yields with higher protein concentrations. The obtained specificity and variety of the reactions catalyzed by LipA and LipB, and their high thermostability allowing synthesis to occur at 90°C, demonstrate their great potentials for industrial applications, particularly in structured lipid biosynthesis for substrates that are less soluble at mesobiotic temperatures.
It's Not You, it's Me: Detecting Flirting and its Misperception in Speed-Dates

Automatically detecting human social intentions from spoken conversation is an important task for dialogue understanding. Since the social intentions of the speaker may differ from what is perceived by the hearer, systems that analyze human conversations need to be able to extract both the perceived and the intended social meaning. We investigate this difference between intention and perception by using a spoken corpus of speed-dates in which both the speaker and the listener rated the speaker on flirtatiousness. Our flirtation-detection system uses prosodic, dialogue, and lexical features to detect a speaker's intent to flirt with up to 71.5% accuracy, significantly outperforming the baseline, but also outperforming the human inter-locuters. Our system addresses lexical feature sparsity given the small amount of training data by using an autoencoder network to map sparse lexical feature vectors into 30 compressed features. Our analysis shows that humans are very poor perceivers of intended flirtatiousness, instead often projecting their own intended behavior onto their interlocutors.
Are independent central banks really as conservative as they like to pretend

Abstract In a recent paper in this journal [Demertzis, M., Hughes Hallett, A., Viegi, N., 2004. An independent Central Bank faced with elected governments: European Journal of Political Economy 20, 907–922.] we showed that, when voting is endogenised, an independent and conservative Central Bank will create the tendency for elected governments to become more liberal or populist. That causes policies as well as preferences to diverge. But we did not show whether the Central Bank would then become more conservative in response, by way of disciplining the fiscal authority and protecting its own preferred targets. Building on these earlier results, we examine that question in this paper. I find that the Central Bank would, in its own interest, not retaliate in this fashion except where the government's target for output growth becomes very ambitious. This behaviour seems to match what little empirical evidence we have on Central Bank reactions.
South American Paleohydrology: Future prospects and global perspective

Abstract Paleohydrology investigates the past through the reconstructed paleoflows of rivers, ancient lake volumes, groundwater fluctuations, etc. Analytical approaches use theoretical principles to predict paleohydrological parameters, while synthetic approaches rely upon indicators (signs) of past hydrological processes. Analytical approaches are favored in the current fashion of global change science, but these approaches place “the cart before the horse” because they focus on verifying models rather than on understanding the complexity of nature. South America is an exceptionally important area for synthetic paleohydrology. Discoveries from paleohydrological fieldwork in South America afford the opportunity for understanding Earth's environment and effectively communicating that understanding to the public, to policy makers, and to politicians. As much of the rest of the world engages in an overly polarized analytical approach to global environmental science, South American paleohydrologists have a great opportunity to lead in a more fruitful exploration of reality.
Cavitation in an elastomer: Comparison of theory with experiment

Abstract Wr compare the predictions of Ball's bifurcation analysis, which provides a theoretical prediction for when a void would nucleate in a radially deformed solid sphere, with the experiments of Oberth and Bruenner and those of Gent and Lindley.
A cautionary note on the appropriateness of using a linkage resource for an association study

Utilizing a linkage resource for association analysis requires consideration both of the marker data used and correlations among relatives in pedigrees. We previously developed a method for association testing in pedigrees. We applied our method to 50 replicates of microsatellite data surrounding five genes involved in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in the Genetic Analysis Workshop 13 (GAW13) simulated data and examined association with HDL as well as linkage disequilibrium (LD) between markers. Although no association was intentionally simulated, we found significant evidence of weak LD between microsatellite markers (flanking/~5 cM from the genes), in some but not all replicates. This level of LD compared well to that observed in the real GAW13 Framingham data. Only one region had sufficient replicates to assess power, and this was low (12.5–20.8%). More power was attained using all individuals and accounting for relationships, compared with one independent individual/pedigree, although this was not significant due to small sample sizes. Not accounting for relatedness inflated statistical significance (p < 0.0001). A correction for dependence is necessary in association studies to avoid an inflation of significance probabilities. Our results further illustrate that use of microsatellite marker data is not an effective approach for association testing.
Individualistic and Collectivistic Worldviews: Implications for Understanding Perceptions of Racial Discrimination in African Americans and British Caribbean Americans.

Cultural worldviews and perceived racial discrimination were examined among Americans (n = 106) and British Caribbean Americans (n = 95), both of African descent, who were recruited through university student organizations, community organizations, and snowball sampling. Consistent with public perceptions of differences in the experience of race among these 2 groups, multiple regression analyses revealed African Americans were more likely than British Caribbean Americans to perceive racial discrimination in the United States. In addition, a cultural worldview focus on individuality and equality (i.e., horizontal individualism) moderated the relationship between ethnic group and perceived racial discrimination. British Caribbean Americans who endorsed greater agreement with horizontal individualism were less likely to perceive racial discrimination. The same worldview was unrelated to African Americans' perceptions of racial discrimination. The results are discussed with respect to within-group heterogeneity among persons of African descent. Implications for counseling persons of African descent and future research directions are discussed.
Dividing attention between two transparent motion surfaces results in a failure of selective attention.

In object-based attention, it is easier to divide attention between features within a single object than between features across objects. In this study we test the prediction of several capacity models in order to best characterize the cost to dividing attention between objects. Here we studied behavioral performance on a divided attention task in which subjects attended to the motion and luminance of overlapping random dot kinemategrams, specifically red upward moving dots superimposed with green downward moving dots. Subjects were required to detect brief changes (transients) in the motion or luminance within the same surface or across different surfaces. There were two primary results. First, the dual-task deficit was large when attention was divided across two surfaces and near zero when attention was divided within a surface. This is consistent with limited-capacity processing across surfaces and unlimited-capacity processing within a surface—a pattern predicted by established theories of object-based attention. Second and unexpectedly, there was evidence of crosstalk between features: when cued to monitor transients on one surface, response rates were inflated by the presence of a transient on the other surface. Such crosstalk is a failure of selective attention between surfaces.
Biophysical and kinetic characterization of HemAT, an aerotaxis receptor from bacillus subtilis

HemAT from Bacillus subtilis is a new type of heme protein responsible for sensing oxygen. The structural and functional properties of the full-length HemAT protein, the sensor domain (1–178), and Tyr-70 mutants have been characterized. Kinetic and equilibrium measurements reveal that both full-length HemAT and the sensor domain show two distinct O2 binding components. The high-affinity component has a Kdissociation ≈ 1–2 μM and a normal O2 dissociation rate constant, kO2 = 50–80 s−1. The low-affinity component has a Kdissociation ≈ 50–100 μM and a large O2 dissociation rate constant equal to ∼2000 s−1. The low n-value and biphasic character of the equilibrium curve indicate that O2 binding to HemAT involves either independent binding to high- and low-affinity subunits in the dimer or negative cooperativity. Replacement of Tyr-70(B10) with Phe, Leu, or Trp in the sensor domain causes dramatic increases in kO2 for both the high- and low-affinity components. In contrast, the rates and affinity for CO binding are little affected by loss of the Tyr-70 hydroxyl group. These results suggest highly dynamic behavior for the Tyr-70 side chain and the fraction of the “up” versus “down” conformation is strongly influenced by the nature of the iron-ligand complex. As a result of having both high- and low-affinity components, HemAT can respond to oxygen concentration gradients under both hypoxic (0–10 μM) and aerobic (50–250 μM) conditions, a property which could, in principle, be important for a robust sensing system. The unusual ligand-binding properties of HemAT suggest that asymmetry and apparent negative cooperativity play an important role in the signal transduction pathway.
Renin Regulation in Cultured Proximal Tubular Cells

Abstract Recent studies have documented the presence of a complete renin-angiotensin system in the proximal tubule of the kidney; however, little is known about the regulation of renin in this proximal tubular system. Therefore, we performed the present studies to learn whether the behavior of the renin system in cultured proximal tubule is similar to that of the juxtaglomerular renin system. Basal renin secretion from rabbit proximal tubular cells in primary culture was low and not affected by isoproterenol (10 −5 mol/L), diltiazem (10 −5 mol/L), or a zero-calcium bath (0 nmol/L). Only the calcium ionophore A23187 (10 −4 mol/L) significantly reduced renin secretion in these cells (from 2.44±0.37 to 1.14±0.08 ng angiotensin I/mg protein per hour, P P 1 nuclease protection assay. Densitometry analysis of renin mRNA and either GAPDH mRNA (rat) or α-actin (rabbit) showed no significant alterations in renin mRNA abundance. In summary, these results confirm the presence of renin mRNA in cultured proximal tubular cells and suggest that a low-level, constitutive secretion of renin occurs in this system that is decreased by A23187. Moreover, the results also suggest that proximal tubular renin is regulated, albeit differently from the juxtaglomerular renin system. Finally, short-term increments in proximal tubular renin occur without a change in renin mRNA.
Seeded Growth of Highly Luminescent CdSe/CdS Nanoheterostructures with Rod and Tetrapod Morphologies

We have demonstrated that seeded growth of nanocrystals offers a convenient way to design nanoheterostructures with complex shapes and morphologies by changing the crystalline structure of the seed. By using CdSe nanocrystals with wurtzite and zinc blende structure as seeds for growth of CdS nanorods, we synthesized CdSe/CdS heterostructure nanorods and nanotetrapods, respectively. Both of these structures showed excellent luminescent properties, combining high photoluminescence efficiency (∼80 and ∼50% for nanorods and nanotetrapods, correspondingly), giant extinction coefficients (∼2 × 107 and ∼1.5 × 108 M-1 cm-1 at 350 nm for nanorods and nanotetrapods, correspondingly), and efficient energy transfer from the CdS arms into the emitting CdSe core.
Near optimal processing of information during concept identification

Subjects were taught a code in order to alleviate storage load during a concept identification problem. While using this code Ss performed about as expected from an information processing point of view but still showed some loss of information. Knowledgeable Ss performed better than more naive ones
Hepatic hydrolysis of octanoyl-CoA and valproyl-CoA in control and valproate-fed animals

Abstract 1. 1. Medium-chain acyl-CoA hydrolase activities were determined in liver from control and valproate-fed rats and rabbits. 2. 2. Octanoyl-CoA was readily hydrolyzed by all control liver preparations. 3. 3. Animals that had been fed diets containing 0.5 or 1.0% (w/w) valproic acid had significantly elevated octanoyl-CoA hydrolase activities. 4. 4. The CoA ester of valproic acid, a branched-chain isomer of octanoic acid, was poorly hydrolyzed by liver preparations from both control and valproate-fed animals. 5. 5. Livers from the valproate-fed animals contained high levels of medium-chain acyl-CoA; total CoA content was also increased. 6. 6. The inefficiency of hepatic valproyl-CoA hydrolysis may play a role in the toxicity of valproic acid.
Proton Therapy for Breast Cancer After Mastectomy: Early Outcomes of a Prospective Clinical Trial

Purpose Dosimetric planning studies have described potential benefits for the use of proton radiation therapy (RT) for locally advanced breast cancer. We report acute toxicities and feasibility of proton delivery for 12 women treated with postmastectomy proton radiation with or without reconstruction. Methods and Materials Twelve patients were enrolled in an institutional review board-approved prospective clinical trial. The patients were assessed for skin toxicity, fatigue, and radiation pneumonitis during treatment and at 4 and 8 weeks after the completion of therapy. All patients consented to have photographs taken for documentation of skin toxicity. Results Eleven of 12 patients had left-sided breast cancer. One patient was treated for right-sided breast cancer with bilateral implants. Five women had permanent implants at the time of RT, and 7 did not have immediate reconstruction. All patients completed proton RT to a dose of 50.4 Gy (relative biological effectiveness [RBE]) to the chest wall and 45 to 50.4 Gy (RBE) to the regional lymphatics. No photon or electron component was used. The maximum skin toxicity during radiation was grade 2, according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE). The maximum CTCAE fatigue was grade 3. There have been no cases of RT pneumonitis to date. Conclusions Proton RT for postmastectomy RT is feasible and well tolerated. This treatment may be warranted for selected patients with unfavorable cardiac anatomy, immediate reconstruction, or both that otherwise limits optimal RT delivery using standard methods.
When do two Banach spaces have isometrically isomorphic nonstandard hulls

The answer to the title question is given in terms of the elementary properties of Banach spaces regarded as structures for a certain first-order language. The same question for Banach space ultrapowers is also considered. The connection between nonstandard hulls and Banach space ultrapowers derives in part from the following fact, of independent interest in nonstandard analysis: for each cardinal number κ there exist ultrapower enlargements which are κ-saturated and which have the κ-isomorphism property.
Thrombospondin expression in nerve regeneration II. comparison of optic nerve crush in the mouse and goldfish

Expression of the extracellular matrix molecule thrombospondin (TSP) was examined following retrobulbar crush injury of the goldfish and mouse optic nerve. TSP was present within the glia limitans and surrounding axon fascicles of the control normal goldfish optic nerve, but was absent from the normal mouse optic nerve. Following crush injury of the goldfish optic nerve, TSP expression increased dramatically along the path of regenerating axons and returned to near normal levels following axonal outgrowth. In contrast, during the unsuccessful attempt at regeneration following crush injury of the mouse optic nerve, TSP expression was present only in glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-negative, macrophage-rich regions distal to ganglion cell axons. These results indicate that TSP expression is increased in a temporal pattern along the path of regenerating goldfish optic nerve axons and therefore may be involved in successful central nervous system regeneration. The absence of TSP in the environment encountered by damaged mouse optic nerve axons may correlate with the lack of regeneration observed in the mouse optic nerve.
Congenital facial hemihypertrophy: Report of a case with airway compromise

Facial hemihypertrophy, first described by Beck in 1836, aroused some interest in the early part of this century among European and American clinicians. However, a search of the otolaryngologic literature failed to reveal hemihypertrophy of the head and neck area as a well-recognized entity. We recently encountered a case of hemifacial hypertrophy in a 2-year-old. The child presented with airway compromise and swallowing difficulty. The treatment of this child and a review of associated head and neck findings are discussed.
Characterization of Injuries During Hardcourt Bike Polo Participation: A Descriptive Survey

Objective To describe injury rates and patterns in the emerging sport of hardcourt bike polo (HBP). Design Descriptive survey. Setting HBP playing areas (urban flat concrete surfaces). Participants Twenty-two adult (≥18 years) HBP players who presented to a routine thrice-weekly playing site completed the survey. Main Outcome Measurements Participants completed a survey that was used to evaluate demographics; frequency of play; rate, localization, and severity of injuries sustained in the past 1 year; and use of medical care. Results The incidence of sustaining an injury in 1 year was 0.86. The main sites of injury involved the knee, elbow, wrist, and hand. Medical attention was sought by 15% of the injured players. Conclusion HBP is a rapidly evolving urban sport in which participants are at risk for trauma-related injury, some of which may be preventable by the addition of appropriate safety equipment.
A comparison of in-person home care, home care with telephone contact and home care with telemonitoring for disease management:

We compared the effects of evidence-based disease management guidelines delivered to patients with heart failure and diabetes using three different modalities: in-person visits alone (Control), in-person visits and a telephone intervention (Telephone), and in-person visits and telemonitoring (Telemonitoring). Patients were randomized to the three groups. There were 112 patients in the Control group, 93 in the Telephone group and 98 in the Telemonitoring group. During the first 60 days, 10% of the Control group were rehospitalized, 17% of the Telephone group and 16% of the Telemonitoring group. Having heart failure and receiving more in-person visits were significantly related to readmission and time to readmission. However, after adjusting for diagnosis and visits, the differences between the three groups were non-significant. There was a trend for increased risk of readmission for the Telephone group compared to Control alone (P = 0.07, risk ratio 2.2, 95% CI: 0.9 to 5.2) and for readmission sooner (P = ...
On Dependent Tests from a Non-Orthogonal Design

Abstract This paper illustrates, through a special case, an effect of non-independent numerators on F-test's in an analysis of variance. Symmetrical balanced incomplete block designs are considered with “blocks” a random effect and no interaction. The joint density of the adjusted sums of squares is determined under the null hypothesis of no treatment effect. Given the result of testing for the block effect, the conditional probability of a Type I error when testing the null hypothesis concerning the treatment effect is evaluated for a number of designs.
Mapping Individual Variations in Learning Capacity

Individual differences in learning capacity are evident in humans and most other animals. Traditionally, such differences are described in terms of variations along a relatively small number of psychological dimensions corresponding to behavioral traits. Here, an alternative approach is considered in which individual differences in learning capacity are characterized by spatially sorting behavioral patterns. To illustrate this approach, a two-dimensional self-organizing feature map wasused to analyze patterns in the performances of intact and cortically-lesioned rats engaged in multiple learning tasks. After training, the spatial structure of the map revealed systematic variations inlearning across rats that were related to the degree of brain damage. Individual nodes within the map described prototypical performance profiles that corresponded closely to patterns of learning seen in individual rats, including individuals with idiosyncratic profiles. Techniques that automatically identify modal patterns of performance during learning may provide new insights into the processes that determine what an individual organism can learn.
Tumours of the biliary system

Summary Biliary hamartoma, bile-duct adenoma (BDA) and mucinous cystadenoma are the most common benign biliary tumours. Hamartomas occur sporadically or in association with polycystic liver disease. BDAs may represent a localized response to injury rather than true neoplasms. Cystadenomas are multilocular lesions lined by mucinous epithelium, often with cellular ovarian-like stroma. Cytologic atypia may suggest malignant transformation, but stromal invasion must be identified for diagnosis of cystadenocarcinoma. Cholangiocarcinoma (CC) is the most common malignant neoplasm. Risk factors include primary sclerosing cholangitis, liver flukes, hepatolithiasis and thorotrast exposure. The tumours show mass-forming, periductal-infiltrating or intraductal growth patterns. Intrahepatic CC presents as a hepatic mass and can be confused with hepatocellular carcinoma or metastatic adenocarcinoma. Immunohistochemistry and albumin in situ hybridization are helpful in this distinction. The diagnosis of extrahepatic CC can often be elusive due to the marked stromal desmoplasia, and multiple endoscopic biopsies and brushings may be required. Loss of p53 is common in mass-forming intrahepatic CC, and K-ras mutations in periductal-infiltrative extrahepatic tumours. Prognosis is poor, with 5-year survival of
Thermal-death kinetics of fifth-instar Amyelois transitella (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

Information on kinetics for thermal mortality of navel orangeworm, Amyelois transitella (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), is needed for developing post-harvest phytosanitation thermal treatments of walnuts. Thermal-death kinetics for fifth-instar navel orangeworms were determined at temperatures between 461C and 541C at a heating rate of 181C min � 1 using a heating block system. Thermal-death curves for fifth-instar navel orangeworms followed a 0.5th-order of kinetic reaction. The time required to achieve 100% mortality (N0 ¼ 600) decreased with increasing temperature in a logarithmic manner. Complete kill of 600 insects required a minimum exposure time of 140, 50, 15, 6, and 1 min at 461C, 481C, 501C, 521C, and 541C, respectively. The reaction rate (k) was affected by treatment temperatures following an Arrhenius relationship. The activation energy for thermal kill of fifth-instar navel orangeworms was