cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Erenumab (AMG 334) in episodic migraine: Interim analysis of an ongoing open-label study.

Objective: To assess long-term safety and efficacy of anti–calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor erenumab in patients with episodic migraine (EM). Methods: Patients enrolled in a 12-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial (NCT01952574) who continued in an open-label extension (OLE) study will receive erenumab 70 mg every 4 weeks for up to 5 years. This preplanned interim analysis, conducted after all participants had completed the 1-year open-label follow-up, evaluated changes in monthly migraine days (MMD), achievement of ≥50%, ≥75%, and 100% reductions, Headache Impact Test (HIT-6) score, Migraine-Specific Quality of Life (MSQ), Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS), and safety. Data reported as observed without imputation for missing data. Results: Of 472 patients enrolled in the parent study, 383 continued in the OLE with a median exposure to erenumab of 575 days (range 28–822 days). Mean (SD) MMD were 8.8 (2.6) at parent study baseline, 6.3 (4.2) at week 12 (beginning of OLE), and 3.7 (4.0) at week 64 (mean change from baseline [reduction] of 5.0 days). At week 64, 65%, 42%, and 26% achieved ≥50%, ≥75%, and 100% reduction in MMD, respectively. Mean HIT-6 scores were 60.2 (6.3) at baseline and 51.7 (9.2) at week 64. MSQ and MIDAS improvements from baseline were maintained through week 64. Safety profiles during the OLE were similar to those in the double-blind phase, which overall were similar to placebo. Conclusions: One-year efficacy, supported by functional improvements and favorable safety and tolerability profiles, supports further investigation of erenumab as a preventive treatment in patients with EM. Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT01952574. Classification of evidence: This study provides Class IV evidence that for patients with episodic migraine, erenumab reduces long-term MMD and improves headache-related disability and migraine-specific quality of life.
Examination of experimental variability in HFFB testing of a tall building under multi-directional winds

Abstract Examination of wind loading uncertainty is necessary for structural fragility analysis of tall buildings in the context of performance-based wind engineering. One of the sources of uncertainly is represented by random experimental error, which may occur during a standard test in wind tunnel, such as the high frequency force balance (HFFB) test. Few examples of systematic experimental error analysis are available. This study examines a series of experiments on a model of a standard benchmark building under simulated turbulent flow. HFFB experiments were conducted in the Northeastern University's small-scale wind tunnel. Three model equations are proposed to represent the power spectral density (PSD) functions of the above three forces in the frequency domain. Furthermore, effects of experimental errors are incorporated by allowing the parameters in each function to vary randomly. Variability is evaluated by considering the second-order statistical moments of the parameters (standard deviations and correlations). At last, this paper introduces a data-driven Monte-Carlo approach to reconstruct the generalized PSD of the wind loading through model equations. Experimental variability is accounted for by exploiting information on the probability distributions of the model parameters. Verification of the reconstructed PSD functions against experiments suggests that the Monte-Carlo approach can effectively generate synthetic PSD curves.
Overarching Concepts and Mechanisms Affecting Phenotypes of Ocular Genetic Conditions

This article describes recent advances in the understanding of cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie genetic eye diseases. Discoveries at the molecular level, including autophagy and nonsense suppression, improve understanding of overall eye development and open avenues for therapies designed to modify molecular expression, resulting in a different phenotype. Continued research of ciliopathies demonstrates the wide and variable expression of these disorders. This translates into the clinical setting when seemingly nonsyndromic eye disorders may be multisystemic due to ciliary dysfunction, requiring targeted diagnostics to detect subtle or early-stage disease outside of the eye. Ocular genetics is rapidly expanding to a point where an ophthalmologist’s understanding of the molecular and cellular basis of disease can impact and influence the diagnostic and therapeutic options available to patients. Further research of the outlined processes, among others, may lead to clinically relevant and widely applicable therapies for genetic eye diseases in the near future.
Can Rice (Oryza sativa) Mitigate Pesticides and Nutrients in Agricultural Runoff

Phytoremediation of nutrients and pesticides in runoff is a growing conservation effort, particularly in agriculturally intensive areas such as the lower Mississippi River Valley. In the current study, rice (Oryza sativa) was examined for its mitigation capacity of nitrogen, phosphorus, diazinon, and permethrin. Twenty-two high density polyethylene circular containers (56 cm x 45 cm) were used as mesocosms, with 12 mesocosms planted with rice and 10 mesocosms remaining unvegetated. Mesocosms were hydraulically connected and arranged in a series of two, with each system providing a 4 h hydraulic retention time (HRT) for a total system retention time of 8 h. Two treatments (RICE/RICE and RICE/BARE) of four replicates each were utilized, with three replicates of controls (BARE/BARE). Systems with RICE/RICE (8 h HRT) significantly reduced diazinon (p = 0.0126), cis-permethrin (p = 0.0442), filtered orthophosphate (p = 0.0058), and total orthophosphate (p = 0.0123) compared to control systems. No significant differences were noted for trans-permethrin, nitrate, or ammonium. Results indicate promise in phytoremediation of agricultural runoff by rice. If further studies reveal contaminants are not transferred into seeds, then rice could potentially serve as both a remediation tool and food source in countries facing agricultural pollution challenges.
Prescribing Practices of Rural Physicians Waivered to Prescribe Buprenorphine

Introduction Opioid use disorder is a serious public health burden, especially throughout rural America. Although efforts have been made to increase the availability of buprenorphine (an office-based medication-assisted treatment), more than 60% of rural counties in the U.S. lack a physician with a Drug Enforcement Administration waiver to prescribe it. Methods This study surveyed all rural physicians with a Drug Enforcement Administration waiver in 2016 to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder in the U.S. and asked about physician’s demographics, prescribing practices, and barriers to prescribing buprenorphine for treatment of opioid use disorder. Results Although 89.4% of physicians reported having prescribed buprenorphine for opioid use disorder, only 56.2% were currently accepting new patients for treatment. Physicians with a 30-patient waiver were treating, on average, 8.8 patients, but 53% were not treating any patients. Those with a 100-patient waiver were treating, on average, 56.9 patients. Significant practice variations were found throughout the U.S. by Census Division; more physicians in the Pacific Census Division accepted their own patients for treatment with buprenorphine whereas more physicians in the New England Census Divisions accepted patients of other clinicians in their practice. Although most physicians accepted private insurance, significantly fewer physicians in the East South Central and West South Central Census Divisions accepted Medicaid. Conclusions These findings suggest that without incorporating information about whether or not physicians are accepting new patients, how many patients are being treated, and which patients and reimbursements are accepted, estimating the supply of buprenorphine treatment services using the Drug Enforcement Administration waivered physicians list will overestimate treatment availability. Supplement information This article is part of a supplement entitled The Behavioral Health Workforce: Planning, Practice, and Preparation, which is sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Logic Verification, Testing and their Relationship to Logic Synthesis

Much work has gone into automating the integrated circuit (IC) design process over the past few years (e.g. [1] [2] [3]). A variety of Computer-Aided Design (CAD) tools for the logic [4] [5] and physical design [6] of integrated circuits have been developed. It is clear that an integrated set of computer design aids coupled with an unified approach to data management is essential for VLSI design. To this end, research has focused on IC synthesis systems [7] i.e. systems which can automatically generate functionally correct mask-level layout of integrated circuit chips from high level, programming language-like specifications.
Glutamate as a Retinal Neurotransmitter

Glutamate immunoreactivity has been studied by light microscopy in several species and by electron microscopy in the turtle. The glutamate immunoreactivity is particularly prominent in bipolar cells, and the studies in turtle suggest that all bipolar cell types are immunoreactive. All photoreceptor types are also immunoreactive, but with varying labelling densities and usually with less label than in the bipolar cells. A few horizontal cells (identified as HI cells in turtle) show a weak labelling. A small population of amacrine cells shows strong labelling and a much larger population shows weak or moderate label. A large proportion of the cells in the ganglion cell layer are labelled, as are the nerve fibres.
Query Expansion in Enterprise Search

Although web search remains an active research area, interest in enterprise search has not kept up with the information requirements of the contemporary workforce. To address these issues, this research aims to develop, implement, and study the query expansion techniques most effective at improving relevancy in enterprise search. The case-study instrument was a custom Apache Solr-based search application deployed at a medium-sized manufacturing company. It was hypothesized that a composition of techniques tailored to enterprise content and information needs would prove effective in increasing relevancy evaluation scores. Query expansion techniques leveraging entity recognition, alphanumeric term identification, and intent classification were implemented and studied using real enterprise content and query logs. They were evaluated against a set of test queries derived from relevance survey results using standard relevancy metrics such as normalized discounted cumulative gain (nDCG). Each of these modules produced meaningful and statistically significant improvements in relevancy.
High Isolation Diplexer-Free Dual-Polarized Array for Geostationary Satellites

This paper presents a circularly-polarized antenna subarray architecture for frequency-division duplex X-band phased array systems. The proposed antenna architecture enables high isolationbetween closely separated TX and RX bands without diplexers or polarization multiplexing.The subarray is composed of sequential rotation array (SRA) of four dual-polarized antenna elements fed by a $2 \times 4$ Butler matrix beamforming network (BFN) and is engineered such that the coupled TX signals are rerouted away from the RX port. Theoretically, the isolation between TX and RX ports is infinite for broadside radiation; however, due to geometrical and electrical asymmetries, the isolationis limited practically to 40-60 dB for ±8.9° scan angle.
Suddenness of death as a determinant of differential grief experiences

Previous research has shown that bereavement following the loss of a loved one can often produce a variety of physical and psychological effects for the individuals left behind. Specifically, the s...
Resurrecting the Lost Flames of American Chestnut

Loss of native foundation tree species to introduced pests profoundly alters the structure and function of many forest ecosystems. Recent advances to resurrect or prevent the loss of species by developing resistant hybrids hold promise, but uncertainty remains about the potential impacts of introducing a novel genotype on ecological processes, such as fire. A classic example of a non-native, pathogen-caused loss of a foundation species is American chestnut (Castanea dentata), a species now functionally extinct from the eastern US but undergoing experimental trials to resurrect the species with a putatively disease-resistant genotype. We compared the litter flammability among American chestnut, Chinese chestnut (C. mollisima), and a population of first intercross, third-generation backcrossed hybrid (BC3F2) using laboratory burning experiments. Litter flammability of American chestnut was consistently greater than Chinese chestnut, whereas the hybrid had an intermediate flammability or more closely resembled Chinese chestnut flammability by some measures. Greater flammability in American chestnut was associated with a longer leaf structure with greater curling when dry. American chestnut had flammability properties consistent with other pyrophytic species present in contemporary fire-prone ecosystems. The loss of American chestnut may have altered litter flammability of some eastern US forest ecosystems, a result more commonly associated with compositional changes in conjunction with fire exclusion and other disturbances. Resurrecting American chestnut with a hybrid genotype may mitigate this change in areas where less flammable species have replaced American chestnut. Resurrection of lost foundation species through introduction of resistant genotypes may represent a resounding ecological success story, but unanticipated changes to ecological processes, such as fire, should be considered.
UNIT 1E.2 Isolation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Amniotic Fluid and Placenta

Diverse progenitor cell populations, including mesenchymal, hematopoietic, trophoblastic, and possibly more primitive stem cells can be isolated from the amniotic fluid and the placenta. At least some of the amniotic and placental cells share a common origin, namely the inner cell mass of the morula. Indeed, most types of progenitor cells that can be isolated from these two sources share many characteristics. This unit will focus solely on the mesenchymal stem cells, the most abundant progenitor cell population found therein and, unlike some of the other stem cell types, present all through gestation. Protocols for isolation, expansion, freezing, and thawing of these cells are presented. Preference is given to the simplest methods available for any given procedure. Curr. Protoc. Stem Cell Biol. 1:1E.2.1-1E.2.12. © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Keywords: amniotic fluid; placenta; mesenchymal stem cells; fetus; neonate; amniotic stem cells; stem cells; tissue engineering; fetal tissue engineering
Remittances and varieties of democratization in developing countries

How do remittances affect democratization in developing countries? In this paper we reconcile divergent findings in the literature by examining the effect of remittances on procedural and liberal d...
Bidirectional associations between young adults' reported exposure to e-cigarette marketing and e-cigarette use.

AIMS To examine bidirectional associations between self-reported exposure to electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) marketing and ENDS use, over four 6-month follow-up surveys, among young adults. DESIGN The Marketing and Promotions Across Colleges in Texas project (M-PACT) is a cohort study that examined exposure to tobacco marketing and tobacco use behaviors among college students in Texas, United States. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS Participants were 5478 students from 24 2-year and 4-year Texas colleges. Approximately 64% (n = 3506) of the cohort were non-white, 64% were female and the average age was 20 years. MEASUREMENTS Students completed a baseline survey in Fall 2014/Spring 2015 and three subsequent surveys 6 months apart. Items assessed current ENDS use and self-reported exposure to ENDS marketing through the point-of-sale, on television, on the radio, on the internet and on billboards. A multi-level cross-lagged path model was used to examine the bidirectional associations between self-reported exposure to ENDS marketing and current ENDS use across the four waves, controlling for socio-demographics. FINDINGS Self-reported exposure to ENDS marketing at each previous wave predicted ENDS use at each subsequent wave (β = 0.07-0.10, P < 0.001). ENDS use at waves 2 and 3 predicted self-reported exposure to ENDS marketing at wave 3 and 4, respectively (β = 0.07-0.09, P < 0.001). Although ENDS users were more likely than non-users to report exposure to ENDS marketing, self-reported exposure to ENDS marketing predicted subsequent ENDS use controlling for prior ENDS use. CONCLUSION Self-reported exposure to electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) marketing was bidirectionally associated with past 30-day use of ENDS among young adult college students in Texas, USA from 2014/15 to 2016.
Classifying Images and Detecting Objects

Neural networks have gone from being one curiousity in lists of classification methods to being the prime engine of a huge and very successful industry. This has happened in a very short time, less than a decade. The main reason is that, with enough training data and enough training ingenuity, neural networks produce very successful classification systems, much better than anyone has been able to produce with other methods. They are particularly good at classifying images. As Fig. 18.1 shows, the top-5 error rate on one (very large and very hard) image classification dataset has collapsed in quite a short period. The primary reason seems to be that the features that are being used by the classifier are themselves learned from data. The learning process seems to ensure that the features are useful for classification. It’s easy to see that it might do so; the news here is that it does.
Speckle Tracking Strain Echocardiography: On Its Way into the Operating Room

The purpose of this review is to introduce the basic concepts of strain as well as its applicability to intraoperative echocardiography. In the operating room, strain literature is in its infancy. The majority of the strain literature is based on TTE studies. Currently, there are no published guidelines on the normal values of strain with TEE. Early strain literature has shown there is correlation between TTE and TEE values. Reduction in intraoperative left ventricular strain with TEE has been shown to be an independent predictor of prolonged hospitalization, postoperative atrial fibrillation, and low cardiac output syndrome in certain cardiac surgeries. Reduction in intraoperative right ventricular strain with TEE has been shown to be associated with hemodynamic instability following cardiac surgery. Understanding the limitations of intraoperative strain analysis is important. They include high frame rates required for analysis, vendor-to-vendor variability, and the limited availability of right ventricular strain software. The intraoperative use of strain echocardiography with TEE is growing because of its availability and ease of use. The application of intraoperative strain echocardiography in everyday practice has the potential to actively guide intraoperative clinical decision-making and risk stratify patients in the operating room, but further work needs to be done to validate early studies.
Data-Specific Functions: A Comment on Kindel et al.:

In this issue, Kindel et al. describe a new approach to managing survey data in service of the Fragile Families Challenge, which they call “treating metadata as data.” Although the approach they pr...
The pH dependent mechanisms of non-enzymatic peptide bond cleavage reactions

The non-enzymatic cleavage rates of amide bonds located in peptides in aqueous solution is pH-dependent and involves two distinct mechanisms: direct hydrolysis (herein termed “scission”) and intramolecular aminolysis by the N-terminal amine (herein termed “backbiting”). While amide bond cleavage has been previously characterized using a variety of peptides, no systematic study has yet been reported addressing the effect of the pH on the interplay between the two amide bond cleavage pathways. In this study, the cleavage rates of the glycine dimer (GG), the glycine trimer (GGG), and the cyclic dimer (cGG), as well as the alanine trimer (AAA), were measured at pH 3, 5, 7, and 10 at 95 °C employing quantification based on 1H NMR. The distinct rate constants for scission and backbiting processes were obtained by solving the differential rate equations associated with the proposed kinetic model. Generalizations concerning the relative importance of the various amide bond cleavage pathways at pH 3, 5, 7, and 10 are presented. In particular, scission dominates at pH 10, while backbiting dominates at neutral pH. At the acidic pH of 3, both backbiting and scission are significant. The model of the reaction network, used in this work, enables the quantification of these multiple competing mechanisms and can be applied to longer peptides and to similar types of reaction networks.
Whole genome sequencing identifies an allele responsible for clear vs. turbid plaque morphology in a Mycobacteriophage

Whole genome sequencing promises to revolutionize our ability to link genotypic and phenotypic variation in a wide range of model and non-model species. Here we describe the isolation and characterization of a novel mycobacteriophage named BGlluviae that grows on Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155. BGlluviae normally produces turbid plaques but a spontaneous clear plaque was also recovered. The genomic DNA from pure populations of the BGlluviae phage and the clear plaque mutant were sequenced. A single substitution, at amino acid 54 (I to T), in the immunity repressor protein resulted in a clear plaque phenotype. This substitution is predicted to be located at the subunit interaction interface of the repressor protein, and thus prevents the establishment of lysogeny.
In-situ Raman analysis of hydrogenation in well-defined ultrathin molybdenum diselenide deposits synthesized through vapor phase deposition

We report on the synthesis, characterization and in-situ Raman spectroscopy analysis of hydrogenation in ultrathin crystalline MoSe2 deposits. We use a controllable vapor phase synthesis method using MoSe2 powder as the only precursor, to fabricate nano- to micro-size few layer thick MoSe2 deposits with tunable number densities on SiO2/Si substrates. We employ this controllable synthesis method to correlate characteristic Raman spectroscopy response of MoSe2 at ca. 242 cm−1 (A1g) and ca. 280 cm−1 (E2g1) with the thickness of the deposits acquired from atomic force microscopy (AFM). We also use this array of well-defined atomically thin MoSe2 deposits to study possible hydrogenation effects on select architectures using in-situ Raman spectroscopy. Interestingly, our analysis indicates that ultrathin MoSe2 deposits with exposed edges show a blue shift of 1–2 cm−1 when exposed to H2 flow at 150–250 sccm for 2–4 hours in a sealed reaction cell. Exposure to Ar flow under same condition reverses the observed shift in the A1g mode of the select MoSe2 deposits. Our measurements provide in-situ evidence for hydrogen adsorption on MoSe2 deposits at room temperature and insight into the possible active sites for hydrogen reactions on layered dichalcogenides at lower dimensions.
An Immersive Decision Support System for Disaster Response

This project introduces GeospatialVR, an open-source collaborative virtual reality framework to dynamically create 3D real-world environments that can be accessed via desktop and mobile devices as well as virtual and augmented reality headsets. The framework can generate realistic simulations of desired locations entailing the terrain, elevation model, infrastructures (e.g. buildings, roads, bridges), dynamic visualizations (e.g. water and fire simulation), and information layers (e.g. disaster damages and extent, sensor readings, surveillance data, occupancy, traffic, weather). The framework incorporates multiuser support to allow stakeholders to remotely work on the same VR environment, and thus, presenting the potential to be utilized as a virtual incident command platform or meeting room. To demonstrate the framework's usability and benefits, several case studies have been developed for flooding, wildfire, transportation, and active shooter response.
Numerical Relativity: Starting from Scratch

Numerical relativity has emerged as the key tool to model gravitational waves - recently detected for the first time - that are emitted when black holes or neutron stars collide. This book provides a pedagogical, accessible, and concise introduction to the subject. Relying heavily on analogies with Newtonian gravity, scalar fields and electromagnetic fields, it introduces key concepts of numerical relativity in a context familiar to readers without prior expertise in general relativity. Readers can explore these concepts by working through numerous exercises, and can see them 'in action' by experimenting with the accompanying Python sample codes, and so develop familiarity with many techniques commonly employed by publicly available numerical relativity codes. This is an attractive, student-friendly resource for short courses on numerical relativity, as well as providing supplementary reading for courses on general relativity and computational physics.
Machine learning model for understanding laser superhydrophobic surface functionalization

Abstract A general machine learning (ML) framework of surface wetting is proposed by considering a broad range of factors, including solid surface topography, solid surface chemistry, liquid properties, and environmental conditions. In particular, an XGBoost-based ML model is demonstrated for learning the surface wetting behaviors processed by a laser-based surface functionalization process, namely nanosecond laser-based high-throughput surface nanostructuring (nHSN). This is the first known attempt to apply machine learning to surface wetting by considering both surface topography and surface chemistry properties. Novel microscale and nanoscale topography parameters viz., roughness, fractal, entropy, feature periodicity are defined with suitable computer algorithms to comprehensively describe the surface topography. A novel set of surface chemistry parameters such as polarity, volume, and amount of functional groups are also used as the machine learning model input. Upon analyzing the importance of each parameter for the nHSN process, surface chemistry shows the greatest importance in determination of surface wettability, while surface morphology also plays a part in influencing the wettability.
1.3 μm High Performance Regrown Distributed Feedback Lasers Epitaxially Grown on Si

Regrown quantum-dot distributed feedback lasers on Si demonstrate record performance, with a threshold current of 10 mA, an intrinsic linewidth of 41.2 kHz, a side-mode suppression ratio of 57.5 dB, and a maximum power of 11.7 mW.
Labor and Material Requirements for U.S. Jackup Construction

Most of the shipbuilding activity in the U.S. in support of the offshore oil and gas industry occurs in the Gulf Coast states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Between 2000 and 2012, two U.S. shipyards delivered a total of 26 jackup rigs worth $4.5 billion. In this final chapter, we quantify the labor and material requirements associated with jackup construction in the United States. Approximately $50–$70 million per rig is spent on labor at the shipyard and $60–$90 million per rig is spent on drilling equipment and the rig kit which flow to manufacturers throughout the region. The U.S. jackup industry competes with international markets with lower labor costs and higher productivity, and profit margins in the sector are expected to be low on a relative basis. Total annual employment is estimated between 800–3,900, and although small with respect to other offshore industries, is regionally and culturally important.
A compact NIR fluorescence imaging system with goggle display for intraoperative guidance

Near infra-red (NIR) fluorescence imaging offers high sensitivity and specificity for cancer detection and tumor margin localization. In this paper, a compact and wearable NIR fluorescence imaging system (FIS) for image guided surgery is presented. The proposed FIS captures 27 frames per second of both NIR and visible spectrum data, allowing for minimum detection of 10nM of ICG concentration. The design tradeoffs of the complete system are carefully analyzed. The performance of the proposed FIS is evaluated under both sensitivity test and experimental mouse study. The imaging system is currently used in clinical trials for imaging sentinel lymph nodes in breast cancer and melanoma patients.
Metal complexes of chiral pentaazacrowns as conformational templates for β-turn recognition

Examples of reverse turns as recognition motifs in biological systems can be found in high-resolution crystal structures of antibody-peptide complexes. Development of peptidomimetics is often based on replacing the amide backbone of peptides by sugar rings, steroids, benzodiazepines, or other hetero- and carbocycles. In this approach, the chemical scaffold of the peptide backbone can be replaced while retaining activity as long as the pharmacophoric groups of the peptide side chains stay in relatively the same place; in other words, similar functional groups must overlap in space for interaction with critical receptor sites. This study evaluates the potential of metal complexes of chiral pentaazacrowns (PAC) derived by reduction of cyclic pentapeptides as β-turn mimetics. Due to the limited flexibility of the pendant chiral side groups in these metal complexes, one can potentially elicit information about the receptor-bound conformation from their binding affinities. 11 PAC crystal structures with different substitution patterns complexed with 3 different metals (Mn, Fe, Cd) as a prototypical database of potential side-chain orientations. Complexation with different metals induces subtle differences in the conformations of a particular azacrown scaffold. The lack of parameterization of transition metals for force field calculations precludes a thorough theoretical study. Thus, this study utilizes a simple geometrical comparison between the experimental data for crystalline PAC complexes and the side-chain orientations seen in classic β-turns. The FOUNDATION program was used to overlap the Cα-Cβ vectors of the corresponding ideal β-turn side-chains to all possible leaving groups of the PAC complexes. When comparing the relative orientations of the chiral side chains, a strong overlap of the bonds (between about 0.1 A to about 0.5 A RMS for 3 residues and up to about 1 A RMS for 4 residues) was observed for many of the molecules. Such metal complexes may lack complete peptidomimetic activity due to the lack of spatial overlap of all four side-chain residues, however, if only three peptide side chains are needed for receptor recognition and/or binding, the metal complexes should show biological activity.
Psychoanalysis, Class and Politics: Encounters in the Clinical Setting

Psychoanalysis, Class and Politics: Encounters in the Clinical Setting - Introduction Lynne Layton, Nancy Caro Hollander, and Susan Gutwill, Working Directly with Political, Social and Cultural Material in the Therapy Session Andrew Samuels, Money, Love, and Hate: Contradiction and Paradox in Psychoanalysis Muriel Dimen, That Place Gives Me the Heebie Jeebies Lynne Layton, The Manic Society Rachael Peltz, Despair and Hope in a Culture of Denial Nancy Caro Hollander and Susan Gutwill, Class and Splitting in the Clinical Setting: The Ideological Dance in the Transference and Countertransference Susan Gutwill and Nancy Caro Hollander, Attacks on Linking: The Unconscious Pull to Dissociate Individuals from their Social Context Lynne Layton, The Normative Unconscious and the Political Contexts of Change in Psychotherapy Gary Walls, Racism, Classism, Psychosis and Self-image in the Analysis of a Woman Gary Walls, The Beheading of America: Reclaiming Our Minds Maureen Katz, Psychoanalysis and the Problem of the Bystander in Times of Terror Nancy Caro Hollander, Is Politics the Last Taboo in Psychoanalysis? A Roundtable Discussion Neil Altman, Jessica Benjamin, Ted Jacobs, and Paul Wachtel, Moderated by Amanda Hirsch Geffner Response to Roundtable: Something's Gone Missing Muriel Dimen, Response to Roundtable: Politics and/or/in/for Psychoanalysis Andrew Samuels, Response to Roundtable: What Dare We (Not) Do? Psychoanalysis: A Voice in Politics? Cleonie White, Political Identity: A Personal Postscript Amanda Hirsch Geffner
Azaguanine inhibition of protein synthesis: III. Site of action in HeLa cells

Abstract 1. 1. Employing cell-free extracts of HeLa cells, the mechanism by which azaguanine inhibits protein synthesis has been further explored. This inhibition was neither reversed when post-ribosomal supernatant fractions were passed through Sephadex G-25 to remove any soluble inhibitors, nor when Bacillus cereus control [ 14 C]Phe-tRNA was added to post-mitochondrial supernatant fractions. The crude ribosome fraction from an azaguanine extract was shown to be the site of inhibition, and when polysomes were isolated from azaguanine-treated cells, these also synthesized less protein than control polysomes. Single ribosomes from azaguanine extracts did not synthesize less polyphenylalanine than control ribosomes when polyuridylic acid (poly (U)) was added to the incubation mixtures. RNA ( Escherichia coli extracts to about 50 % of control RNA. It is concluded that azaguanine inhibits protein synthesis by incorporation into messenger RNA (mRNA) of polysomes. 2. 2. The block in protein synthesis in HeLa cells is not due to release or initiation mechanisms, since where the release of protein chains in control cell-free extracts is minimal, azaguanine caused an inhibition of amino acid incorporation. Furthermore, in growing cells, azaguanine did not block the incorporation of [ 14 C]leucine into the N-terminal position more than in the interior of protein chains. Azaguanine did not release small oligopeptides in the cytoplasm of growing HeLa cells. Hence, the lesion in protein synthesis cannot be due to miscoding, since small oligopeptides would be expected to be found. It is concluded that azaguanine blocks one or more reactions in the formation of the peptide bond.
LEGISLATIVE TERM LlMITS AND ELECTORAL COMPETITION IN OKLAHOMA: A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT

This paper examines the consequences of term limits on competition in primary and general elections for the Oklahoma House of Representatives. Term limits appear to have had little effect on competition. In fact, term limits may have a negative effect on competition in primary and general elections. Increased competition may only occur when incumbents are prohibited from seeking reelection.
Age, Race, and Gender Differences in Child and Adolescent Self-Concept: Evidence from a Behavioral-Acquisition, Context-Dependent Model

Age, race, and gender differences were examined in global and domain-specific self-concepts among 2,188 American children and adolescents between the ages of 10 and 18 years. Although a few statist...
Development of Molecular Strategies for Gene Containment and Marker-Free Genetically Modified Organisms

The genetically modified organism (GMO) is one of the fruits yielded by the rapidly developing field of molecular biology, providing the most promising solution to feeding the expanding population in the immediate future. We can introduce desired traits into plants to overcome disadvantageous growth conditions and/or increase crop yield. Concerns about their impact on ecosystems and potential biosafety issues have hindered the release and commercialization of GMOs. Addressing the former, different molecular strategies including generation of male sterility, utilization of maternal inheritance, genetic use restriction technologies, and RNA interference are developed and adopted to prevent the uncontrolled escape of transgenes from GMOs into wild type plants and nontransgenic crops. Addressing the latter, site-specific recombination, homologous recombination, and cotransformation offer useful tools for the removal of unnecessary DNA sequences from a GMO genome.
Fuzzy logic and the calculus of fuzzy if-then rules

Summary form only given. Fuzzy logic and the calculus of fuzzy if-then rules are reviewed. The agenda of the calculus of fuzzy if-then rules is set forth briefly. Their importance is discussed. >
The conduct of clinical trials of substances proposed for the nutrition of infants and children; including a critique of the nitrogen balance technique for measuring protein anabolism.

ANIMAL experiments may offer evidence of the value of a substance for human nutrition, but only well-conducted clinical trials can result in a verdict. Unless substances are tested on human subjects, judgment should be withheld. Though the design of experiments varies, certain general principles pertain to all experimentation; in addition, special considerations apply in the field of nutrition. The outline which follows presents some of these principles and considerations and should be useful to those conducting clinical trials. A statement of specific objectives should be prepared as the first step. In order to estimate the necessary sample size, estimates of expected results must be obtained, or deduced, either from the literature or from a pilot experiment. All possible sources of bias, such as age, sex, race, etc. should be listed in advance and considered in planning the study. Decisions must also be made concerning the following: 1) population for which the results will be relevant; 2) controls; 3)criteria for judging results; 4) sample size and duration of study; 5) form of reporting results. Whenever possible the people who give treatments and make measurements should be unable to distinguish between the study and the control subjects. I. POPULATION The type of population for which the conclusion is intended will determine the choice of subjects. For example the value of a foodstuff for all infants should be studied in subjects from a heterogeneous population. Alternatively, a dietary supplement for treating deficiency must be assayed in deficient subjects. Such a supplement would probably produce no signficant changes in normal subjects but even if it did the results would not necessarily apply to treatment of deficiency.
Characterization of an H2-utilizing enrichment culture that reductively dechlorinates tetrachloroethene to vinyl chloride and ethene in the absence of methanogenesis and acetogenesis

We have been studying an anaerobic enrichment culture which, by using methanol as an electron donor, dechlorinates tetrachloroethene (PCE) to vinyl chloride and ethene. Our previous results indicated that H2 was the direct electron donor for rductive dechlorination of PCE by the methanol-PCE culture. Most-probable-number counts performed on this culture indicated low numbers ( or equal to 10(6)/ml)) of sulfidogens, methanol-utilizing acetogens, fermentative heterotrophs, and PCE dechlorinators using H2. An anaerobic H2-PCE enrichment culture was derived from a 10(-6) dilution of the methanol-PCE culture. This H2-PCE culture used PCE at increasing rates over time when transferred to fresh medium and could be transferred indefinitely with H2 as the electron donor for the PCE dechlorination, indicating that H2-PCE can serve as an electron donor-acceptor pair for energy conservation and growth. Sustained PCE dechlorination by this culture was supported by supplementation with 0.05 mg of vitamin B12 per liter, 25% (vol/vol) anaerobic digestor sludge supernatant, and 2 mM acetate, which presumably served as a carbon source. Neither methanol nor acetate could serve as an electron donor for dechlorination by the H2-PCE culture, and it did not produce CH4 or acetate from H2-CO2 or methanol, indicating the absence of methanogenic and acetogenic bacteria. Microscopic observatios of the pruified H2-PCE culture showed only two major morphotypes: irregular cocci and small rods.
Managing Geriatric Syndromes: What Geriatric Assessment Teams Recommend, What Primary Care Physicians Implement, What Patients Adhere To

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the responses of primary care physicians and patients to recommendations from a commmunity-based comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) program for management of four target conditions: falls, depression, urinary incontinence, and functional impairment. DESIGN: Case series. SETTING: Senior centers, meal sites, senior housing, and other community sites as screening locations; and a community-based academic practice as the location for CGA. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 150 older patients living in the community who have one or more of the four target conditions and who received CGA MEASUREMENTS: Physician implementation and patient adherence rates were ascertained during a face-to-face structured interview with the patient 3 months after CGA. RESULTS: Two hundred twelve of 528 (40%) CGA recommendations were clearly or possibly related to the target or target-related conditions. Of these 212 recommendations, 59% required a physician's order for implementation. The remaining 41% were patient self-care recommendations. Overall physician implementation across conditions was 70%; implementation rates were highest for falls and lowest for functional impairment. Overall patient adherence rate was 85% for physician-implemented recommendations and 46% for self-care recommendations. Patient adherence to recommendations for counseling or support groups and exercise programs was particularly low. CONCLUSIONS: When examining the process of care of community-based CGA, patient as well as physician adherence must be considered. Although patient adherence to physician-initiated recommendations was high for all conditions, it varied substantially across target conditions and types of recommendations for self-care recommendations.
Factors affecting survival after heart transplantation: comparison of pre- and post-1999 listing protocols.

Background Listing status for heart transplantation (Tx) patients was changed in 1999 from Status 1 and 2 to Status 1A, 1B and 2. Because the selection process was modified in favor of seriously ill patients, it was not clear whether this change would affect survival or other aspects of transplant management. Methods We examined outcomes in 551 patients transplanted at our institution between 1986 and 2002 (pre-1999: n = 419; post-1999: n = 132) to determine the effects of change in listing protocol on transplant outcome. Results Using Cox proportional hazard analysis, survival was not different between pre-1999 (pre) and post-1999 (post). Overall waiting-list times were longer post-1999 (pre: 134 ± 10.5 days, post: 172 ± 15.6 days; p = 0.044), and were longer post-1999 for blood groups A (177 vs 123 days), B (96 vs 84 days) and O (229 vs 172 days), but were shorter post for blood group AB (42 vs 68 days). Survival was not affected by age (pre: 53.7 ± 0.52 years, post: 53.1 ± 1.04 years; hazard ratio [HR] 1.00; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.996 to 1.023; p = 0.181), male gender (HR 1.132; 95% CI 0.822 to 1.56; p = 0.447) or waiting-list time. Serum creatinine was similar between the 2 groups (pre: 1.25 ± 0.02, post: 1.26 ± 0.04; p = 0.794), whereas pulmonary artery (PA) diastolic pressure was increased post-1999 (pre: 24.9 ± 0.46, post: 27.0 ± 0.74; p = 0.023). Survival was not affected by PA pressure (HR 1.00; 95% CI 0.986 to 1.014; p = 0.976), but an elevated pre-transplant creatinine reduced survival (HR 1.484; 95% CI 1.139 to 1.933; p = 0.003). Conclusions The change in listing status implemented in 1999 caused an increase in wait times for patients with blood types A, B and O, and shortened wait time for type AB; however, no differences occurred in overall post-transplant survival after the change in listing protocol. Age, gender and PA pressure had no effect on survival in either time period, whereas pre-transplant serum creatinine decreased survival in both patient groups.
Aggregate modeling and control of plug-in electric vehicles for renewable power tracking

A robust strategy is proposed in this paper to control the aggregate charging power of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). The charging flexibility of PEVs provides the intermittent renewable power sources with control authority to cope with load fluctuations caused by the variation of grid-connected PEVs population and their instantaneous power demand. In this paper, we consider an aggregate model of PEVs power in the form of a partial differential equation (PDE). A sliding mode control is then developed for the derived PDE load model with no discretization in the spatial domain. The developed sliding mode controller operates on the real-time measurable imbalance between source and demand power. To evaluate the closed-loop response and demonstrate the controller's robustness against PEVs population variations, a Monte Carlo simulation is performed for real driving conditions and using renewable power data.
Distributed Roughness Effects on Blunt-Body Transition and Turbulent Heating

An experimental program has been conducted to obtain data on the effects of surface roughness on blunt bodies at laminar, transitional, and turbulent conditions. Wind tunnel models with distributed surface roughness heights from 0.06 mm to 1.75 mm were tested and heating data were obtained using global surface thermography. Heating rates of up to 85% higher than predicted, smooth-surface turbulent levels were measured.
Closure of abdominal wounds with through and through safety retention sutures

Summary A method for closure of a laparotomy incision with layer and through and through retention sutures is described. In our experience it is safer and less cumbersome in indicated cases.
Kinetics of the human medulloblastoma cell line, D283 Med, maintained in an organ culture system. Autoradiographic study after cumulative labelling in vitro: similarities to the kinetics of human medulloblastoma in situ.

Cells of the human D283 Med medulloblastoma cell line were collected by gravity sedimentation and maintained in vitro in an organ culture system. The explants grew as clusters of small cells with scanty cytoplasm; some cells were arranged in solid trabeculae, sometimes forming rows and columns, and occasionally rosettes. The kinetic parameters were estimated after 6 days in vitro by cumulative labelling of the cultures with tritiated thymidine in three different experiments. The length of G2 phase (TG2) was obtained from an analysis of the fractions of continuously labelled mitoses (FCLM), the length of S phase (Ts) from the median values of grains over mitotic figures (grain index, GI), and the other parameters from mathematical models that related growth fraction (GF), TG2, total cell cycle time (Tc) and labelling index (LI) as a function of time. Mean GF, Tc, TG1, Ts and TG2 were estimated respectively to be 0.35, 30 h, 13 h, 10 h, and 7 h. These estimates correspond to those reported for human medulloblastomas in situ and confirm previous in vitro experiments which suggest that the organ culture technique is a suitable system for the study of cell kinetics in human malignant gliomas and for an analysis of the in vitro effects of chemotherapeutic agents.