cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Comprehensive Approach to Care in Parkinson's Disease Adds Quality to the Current Gold Standard.

Background Providing high-quality care for patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) involves addressing both motor and nonmotor features. We describe the implementation and evaluation of a 2-day, interdisciplinary Comprehensive Care Clinic (CCC) for patients with PD. Methods Patients who attended the CCC between January 2010 and July 2013 were matched by sex and age with patients who were evaluated in specialist care during the same time frame. Provider documentation of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) quality measures for PD and Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor scores were compared between specialist and CCC visits at baseline and at 12 months. Results Ninety-five patients participated in the CCC (60% men; 75% white; mean age, 68 years; age range, 38–97 years). Of these, 29 patients were matched to specialist care patients based on the availability of 12-month follow-up data. Both groups were similar with respect to race, marital status, years with PD, and baseline UPDRS motor scores. On average, patients who received CCC care met 10 of 10 AAN quality measures, whereas those who received specialist care met only 5 of 10 quality measures (P < 0.001) over 12 months. At 12-months, there were no significant differences in UPDRS motor scores between the groups (P = 0.5). Conclusions According to the AAN quality measures, the CCC provided higher quality care than the gold standard of specialty care. A randomized controlled trial of the CCC model is warranted to determine its impact on patient-centered outcomes and to assess whether the standard model of care should be altered.
Synergistic Antibiotic Combinations

Synergy between antibiotics is a strictly defined microbiological phenomenon, requiring two bioactive agents to exhibit enhanced bacterial killing when the two are combined. Because of increasing antibiotic resistance, and few new drugs to treat multidrug-resistant bacteria, combination therapy is often used in the clinical setting. Frequently, these combinations have demonstrated synergistic activity both in vitro and in animal models before being used therapeutically. Antibiotic combinations are more likely to be used in patients with drug-resistant staphylococcal or enterococcal infections, as well as in patients whose diseases are caused by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, or Acinetobacter spp. Although well-defined combinations have been approved by regulatory authorities as single agents, such as trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole or β-lactamase inhibitor combinations, many combinations are used empirically with no clinical data to support their use. Because combination therapy will continue to be used in the absence of supportive clinical data, it will be important in the future to investigate mechanistic principles that may lead to predictive models for successful patient outcomes.
Subliminal Techniques: Considerations and Recommendations for Analyzing Feasibility

In an attempt to provide users with more information while maintaining a calm ubiquitous environment, researchers have investigated the possibility of presenting information “subliminally.” The aut...
Verification and validation of ethical decision-making in autonomous systems

Autonomous systems are increasingly becoming part of both the cyber and physical infrastructures that sustain our daily lives. Immersing these technologies into our technical and social infrastructures has profound implications and hence requires instilling confidence in their behavior to avoid potential harm. This paper examines the characteristics of autonomous behavior in relation to ethical decision-making and highlights the roles of cognitive computing and science of complexity toward addressing the identified verification and validation challenges. A framework influenced by the social intuitionist theory is discussed, and wide reflective equilibrium model of coherence is posited as a formal computational strategy for its implementation.
Large-Scale and Extreme-Scale Computing with Stranded Green Power: Opportunities and Costs

Power consumption and associated carbon emissions are increasingly critical challenges for large-scale computing. Recent research proposes exploiting stranded power - uneconomic renewable power - for green supercomputing in a system called Zero-Carbon Cloud (ZCCloud) [1], [2], [3]. These efforts studied production supercomputing workloads on stranded-power based computing resources, demonstrating their achievable productivity. We explore economic viability of stranded-power based supercomputing, using three datacenter total-cost-of-ownership (TCO) models to study cost-effectiveness. These studies show that ZCCloud's approach can be cost-effective in the USA today, and is even more attractive in regions with higher power prices (e.g., Japan, Germany), achieving cost advantages as large as 50 percent. Environmental and power-grid benefits are a further advantage. We also explore the sensitivity of these results to changes in hardware TCO; cheaper hardware or longer lifetimes magnify the attractiveness of stranded-power based approaches, yielding advantages as large as 91 percent. These results are robust across different TCO models. Finally, we study extreme-scale supercomputers (>100 MW), finding stranded-power can increase peak capability per cost by as much as 80 percent.
Patient-Reported Outcomes Measures in Psoriasis

Psoriasis, a chronic systemic inflammatory disease, has a substantial impact on patients’ quality of life (QoL): physical limitations, psychologic impact, social embarrassment, and occupational bur...
Structure and Reactivity of Chromium(VI) Alkylidenes.

Bis(arylimido)Cr(VI) dialkyls lacking β-hydrogen decompose by α-hydrogen abstraction and, upon trapping with triphenylphosphine, yield isolable alkylidene complexes. Two such complexes, namely (ArN)2Cr═CHR(PPh3) (R = tBu, SiMe3), have been structurally characterized. The coordinatively unsaturated alkylidene intermediates are highly reactive; they effect C—H activation of saturated hydrocarbons and they react with olefins to produce metallacyclobutanes.
Comparing SVM and ANN based Machine Learning Methods for Species Identification of Food Contaminating Beetles

Insect pests, such as pantry beetles, are often associated with food contaminations and public health risks. Machine learning has the potential to provide a more accurate and efficient solution in detecting their presence in food products, which is currently done manually. In our previous research, we demonstrated such feasibility where Artificial Neural Network (ANN) based pattern recognition techniques could be implemented for species identification in the context of food safety. In this study, we present a Support Vector Machine (SVM) model which improved the average accuracy up to 85%. Contrary to this, the ANN method yielded ~80% accuracy after extensive parameter optimization. Both methods showed excellent genus level identification, but SVM showed slightly better accuracy for most species. Highly accurate species level identification remains a challenge, especially in distinguishing between species from the same genus which may require improvements in both imaging and machine learning techniques. In summary, our work does illustrate a new SVM based technique and provides a good comparison with the ANN model in our context. We believe such insights will pave better way forward for the application of machine learning towards species identification and food safety.
Formal Notions of Anonymity for Peer-to-peer Networks.

Providing anonymity support for peer-to-peer (P2P) overlay networks is critical. Otherwise, potential privacy attacks (e.g., network address traceback) may deter a storage source from providing the needed data. In this paper we use this practical application scenario to verify our observation that network-based anonymity can be modeled as a complexity based cryptographic problem. We show that, if the routing process between senders and recipients can be modeled as abstract entities, network-based anonymity becomes an analogy of cryptography. In particular, perfect anonymity facing an unbounded traffic analyst corresponds to Shannon’s perfect secrecy facing an unbounded cryptanalyst. More importantly, in this paper we propose Probabilistic Polynomial Route (PPR) model, which is a new polynomially-bounded anonymity model corresponding to the Probabilistic Polynomial Time (PPT ) model in cryptography. Afterwards, network-based anonymity attacks are with no exception in BPP. This phenomenon has not been discovered in previous anonymity research. Keywords—Formal notion of anonymity; Probabilistic Polynomial Route model; Chosen Recipient Attack; Chosen Sender Attack; Chosen Route Attack; P2P network.
Overview of Conventional Sintering

This introductory chapter addresses an overview of the main processes taking place during the so-called Sintering phenomenon. The driving forces and mechanisms for the competitive processes, coalescence and grain growth, are also briefly discussed. The goal is not to provide and exhaustive review of the field, but to give the reader a concise perspective of the commonly accepted concepts of sintering, pathing the way for the next chapters of this book to address the specifics of nanosintering and field assisted processes.
Transfer deep learning mammography diagnostic model from public datasets to clinical practice: a comparison of model performance and mammography datasets

Literatures have showed that deep learning models can detect a breast cancer with high diagnostic accuracy in the publicly available mammography datasets. The objective of this study is to examine whether the high performance (accuracy) of a deep learning model, trained by the public mammography dataset, can be transferred into the clinic practice by applying it to a new mammography dataset obtained in an academic breast center. An end-to-end CNN architecture was trained on DDSM dataset and transferred to INbreast dataset and the in-house collected dataset. The model achieved validation AUC of 0.82 on DDSM dataset and 0.93 on INbreast dataset. However, it only achieved 0.70 when applied to the in-house dataset. Reviewing the images revealed that the in-house dataset is more challenging to classify. The mean subtlety score for DDSM dataset is 3.64 and median is 4. For in-house dataset, the mean and median scores are 2.65 and 2, respectively. In addition, the in-house dataset has more co-existing benign abnormalities as more patients with benign biopsy or prior surgery return for mammography. These observations are in line with other institutes’ finding that the relative percentage of early stage cancer cases from mammography diagnosis has more than tripled since 2002. This indicates that currently available public open datasets may be inadequate to represent the mammography seen in today’s clinical practice. It is necessary to build an updated mammography database that contains sufficient pathological heterogeneity of breast cancer and coexisting benign abnormalities that reflect the cases seen in current practice.
Attendance at National Cancer Institute Cancer Centers (NCI-CC) by older adults with myeloma.

e18020Background: Older adults with myeloma (MM) have poorer survival than younger patients. NCI-CC attendance is associated with superior outcomes in many cancers. Studies show that older adults a...
Graphene and 2D Materials for Phototherapy

Abstract Due to the unique and promising properties, two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials have gained vast attention in research areas for multipurpose applications. Among multipurpose applications, biomedical application of 2D materials has attracted ever-increasing interest over the last decade. Two-dimensional materials have the excellent ability and counted as an excellent phototherapy because of their exclusive qualities such as largest specific surface areas among other types of nanomaterials, extraordinary surface-to-volume ratios, classical physiological properties, and very thin structures that are responsive to external lights and can be used for optical imaging and photodynamic and photothermal therapies. In this book chapter, we have presented phototherapy including photodynamic therapy and photothermal therapy against 2D nanomaterials, including graphene; graphene oxide (GO); reduced graphene (rGO); graphene quantum dots; and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) such as MoS2, WS2, and MoSe2. Graphene-based materials have gain most attention compared with other 2D materials regarding phototherapy especially photothermal therapy.
Computational reproducibility of scientific workflows at extreme scales

We propose an approach for improved reproducibility that includes capturing and relating provenance characteristics and performance metrics. We discuss two use cases: scientific reproducibility of ...
Analyzing Earthquake Events in the Vicinity of Wenchuan Using ETAS Models

This chapter applies the spatial–temporal epidemic-type aftershock sequence (ETAS) model of Ogata to regional seismicity of surrounding Wenchuan, China. Events between 1973 and 2017 with magnitude 4.0 or above are included for analysis according to the model. The Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE) data used in this study are in a rectangular space window between 98°E and 108°E in longitude and between 26°N and 36°N in latitude. The space window includes the Wenchuan event of May 12, 2008 (epicenter located at 31.021°N, 103.367°E) approximately in the center of the rectangle. We implement five different models, a homogeneous model and four inhomogeneous models, and we compare them in model diagnostics and predicted intensity rate based on MLEs (maximum likelihood estimates), with calculation details provided and emphasized. Additionally, the data in 45 years between 1973 and 2017 are partitioned into two catalogs, before and after the Wenchuan event, and models are built for each catalog for comparison. We have discovered that the seismic activities appear distinct before and after the Wenchuan event, and we describe the difference using the ETAS model with its background rates, triggering parameters and predicted intensity rate. We also implement simulation to provide standard error and confidence interval for each triggering parameter of the best model found among the five models.
Strain-Rate Sensitivity of Nanocrystalline Cu–10Ta to 700,000/s

Several miniature Kolsky bars are used to obtain stress–strain curves for nanocrystalline Cu–10Ta over a range of high strain-rates. The smallest bar (steel) has a 305 μm diameter, and achieved rates up to 700 × 103/s. Different sample sizes are needed to obtain different strain-rates, and it is shown that there is no appreciable sample size effect when different sizes are tested at similar strain-rates, even though the sample sizes vary by over an order of magnitude. No significant increase in strain-rate sensitivity is noted over the strain-rate range studied, i.e., the strength increases linearly with the logarithm of strain-rate from 0.001/s to 700 × 103/s.
Identification and physiological comparison of plant species that show positive or negative co-occurrence with selenium hyperaccumulators

In these studies we identified and compared the properties of plant species that showed positive or negative co-occurrence with selenium (Se) hyperaccumulators in their natural habitat. The main questions addressed were: which species are most abundant directly adjacent to hyperaccumulators, and which are absent? How do Se accumulation and tolerance compare in species found to positively or negatively co-occur with hyperaccumulators? Approaches included field surveys, X-ray microprobe analysis of field samples, and a lab Se tolerance and accumulation study. When 54 hyperaccumulators across two naturally seleniferous sites were surveyed for their five nearest neighboring species, and the relative abundance of these species around hyperaccumulators compared to that in the overall vegetation, some species were identified to positively or negatively co-occur with hyperaccumulators. Several positively co-occurring species showed high Se accumulation capability (up to 900 mg Se per kg dry weight), which may reflect Se tolerance. Leaf X-ray microprobe analysis found relatively more organic forms of Se in two positively co-occurring species than in a negatively co-occurring one. There were elevated soil Se levels around Se hyperaccumulators, and neighbors of Se hyperaccumulators had a higher tissue Se concentration as compared to when the same species grew elsewhere in the area. The elevated soil Se levels around Se hyperaccumulators - likely resulting from litter deposition- may significantly affect the local plant community, facilitating Se-tolerant plant community members but lowering the fitness of Se-sensitive members.
Second Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Is a Successful Salvage Modality for Pediatric Patients Who Relapse after First Transplant

Introduction Disease relapse remains a major cause of treatment failure in pediatric patients receiving allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for high-risk acute leukemias (AL) or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Comprehensive data on prognostic factors and outcomes after post-transplant relapse in pediatric patients is lacking. Objective The goal of this study was to identify factors associated with survival following post-transplant relapse. Methods We performed a retrospective study of pediatric patients who experienced disease relapse following their 1st HCT for AL or MDS between 1990 – 2018 at our institution. Patient, disease and transplant-related characteristics were extracted from the medical record. Overall survival (OS) was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier (KM) method and compared using the log-rank test. Cox and logistic regression were performed to identify factors statistically associated with outcomes after post-transplant relapse. Results During the study period, 703 patients received 1st HCT, of which 221 (31%) relapsed at a median of 3.9 months after HCT. Of these relapsed patients, 60% (n = 132) received some chemotherapy or supportive care after post-transplant relapse, 13% (n = 28) received donor lymphocyte infusion only and 28% (n = 61) were able to proceed to a 2nd HCT. Patients who received a 2nd HCT were more likely to have been in first remission at the time of 1st HCT (P = 0.02), experienced relapse more than 6 months after 1st HCT (P Conclusion Duration of remission before post-transplant relapse was identified as the strongest independent predictor of a patient's ability to receive a 2nd HCT as well as survival after relapse. The 3-year OS for patients who received a 2nd HCT was 6 times higher than that for patients who did not receive a 2nd HCT. Although the outcomes after 2nd HCT are not commendable, they are improving with time. Our data supports the argument that, when feasible, pediatric patients experiencing post-transplant relapse should be considered for 2nd HCT.
An Exploration of Early Spelling in Kindergarten Children With Hearing Loss

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine if group differences exist in spelling accuracy or spelling errors between kindergarten children with hearing loss and children with normal hearing loss. Method Participants included 23 kindergarten children with hearing loss and 21 children with normal hearing. All children used spoken English as their primary language, and the children with hearing loss used amplification. Participants completed three single-word spelling assessments, a language assessment, and an oral reading assessment. Spelling was scored holistically and with two linguistic-based scoring systems. Results Children with hearing loss did not differ significantly from children with normal hearing in spelling accuracy or linguistic-based spelling error analyses. Conclusions The current study provides evidence that children with hearing loss in kindergarten do not differ significantly in their spelling errors compared to children with normal hearing, aside from a lower proportion of mental graphemic representation errors. With these data, in combination with previous research conducted, speech-language pathologists can further individualize treatment to focus on these specific error patterns. Additionally, this focus of treatment can help better prepare children with hearing loss for spelling and writing tasks in later grades. Future research should be conducted to determine when in elementary school the differences in spelling errors are initially seen.
Unexpected Findings from a Pilot Study on Vision Training as a Potential Intervention to Reduce Subconcussive Head Impacts during a Collegiate Ice Hockey Season.

Player-to-player contact is the most frequent head impact mechanism in collegiate ice hockey. Training with three-dimensional multiple-object tracking (3D-MOT) could potentially reduce the quantity...
Development of a Codebook of Online Anti-Vaccination Rhetoric to Manage COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation

Vaccine hesitancy (delay in obtaining a vaccine, despite availability) represents a significant hurdle to managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccine hesitancy is in part related to the prevalence of anti-vaccine misinformation and disinformation, which are spread through social media and user-generated content platforms. This study uses qualitative coding methodology to identify salient narratives and rhetorical styles common to anti-vaccine and COVID-denialist media. It organizes these narratives and rhetorics according to theme, imagined antagonist, and frequency. Most frequent were narratives centered on "corrupt elites" and rhetorics appealing to the vulnerability of children. The identification of these narratives and rhetorics may assist in developing effective public health messaging campaigns, since narrative and emotion have demonstrated persuasive effectiveness in other public health communication settings.
Using crime script analysis to elucidate the details of Amur tiger poaching in the Russian Far East

Poaching is the most direct threat to the persistence of Amur tigers. However, little empirical evidence exists about the modus operandi of the offenders associated with this wildlife crime. Crime science can aid conservation efforts by identifying the patterns and opportunity structures that facilitate poaching. By employing semi-structured interviews and participants observation with those directly involved in the poaching and trafficking of Amur tigers in the Russian Far East (RFE), this article utilizes crime script analysis to break down this criminal event into a process of sequential acts. By using this framework, it is possible account for the decisions made and actions taken by offenders before, during and after a tiger poaching event, with the goal of identifying weak points in the chain of actions to develop targeted intervention strategies. Findings indicate poaching is facilitated by the ability to acquire a firearm, presence of roads that enable access to remote forest regions, availability of specific types of tools/equipment, including heat vision googles or a spotlight and a 4 × 4 car, and a culture that fosters corruption. This crime script analysis elucidates possible intervention points, which are discussed alongside each step in the poaching process.
Effects of warming winter embryo incubation temperatures on larval cisco (Coregonus artedi) survival, growth, and critical thermal maximum

Freshwater whitefishes, Salmonidae Coregoninae, are cold stenothermic fishes of ecological and socio-economic importance in northern hemisphere lakes that are warming in response to climate change. To address the effect of warming waters on coregonine reproduction we experimentally evaluated different embryo incubation temperatures on post-hatching survival, growth, and critical thermal maximum of larval cisco (Coregonus artedi) sampled from lakes Superior and Ontario. Embryos were incubated at water temperatures of 2.0, 4.4, 6.9, and 8.9{degrees}C to simulate present and increased winter temperatures, and hatched larvae were reared in a common environment. For both populations, larval survival and critical thermal maximum were negatively related to incubation temperature, and larval growth was positively related to incubation temperature. The magnitude of change across incubation temperatures was greater in the population sampled from Lake Superior than Lake Ontario for all traits examined. The more rapid decrease in survival and critical thermal maximum across incubation temperatures for larval cisco in Lake Superior, compared to those from Lake Ontario, suggests that Lake Superior larvae may possess a more limited ability to acclimate to and cope with increasing winter water temperatures. However, the rapid increase in growth rates across incubation temperatures in Lake Superior larvae suggests they could recover better from hatching at a small length induced by warm winters, as compared to Lake Ontario larvae. Our results suggest propagation and restoration programs may want to consider integrating natural habitat preferences and maximizing phenotypic variability to ensure offspring are set up for success upon stocking.
Feeding outcomes in post-discharge feeding clinic for infants following cardiac surgery.

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to describe the development and assess the usefulness of a feeding clinic to help infants with CHD tolerate the highest level of oral feeding while achieving growth velocity and supporting neurodevelopment. MATERIALS AND METHODS This retrospective, cohort study assessed feeding outcomes for infants who underwent cardiac surgery at <30 days of age with cardiopulmonary bypass between February 2016 and April 2020. Diagnoses, age at surgery, hospitalisation variables, and feeding outcomes were compared between two cohorts, pre- and post-implementation of a specialised feeding clinic using Exact Wilcoxon signed-rank test, chi-squared, or Fisher's exact test. The association between time to full oral feed and risk factors was assessed using univariable and multivariable Cox regression model. RESULTS Post-clinic infants (n = 116) surgery was performed at a median of 6 days of life (interquartile range: 4, 8) with median hospital length of stay of 19 days (interquartile range: 16, 26). Infants' median age at first clinic visit was at 30 days old (interquartile range: 24, 40) and took median 10 days (interquartile range: 7, 12) after hospital discharge to first clinic visit. In the post-clinic cohort, the median time to 100% oral feeding was 47 days (interquartile range: 27, 96) compared to the 60 days (interquartile range: 20, 84) in the pre-clinic cohort (n = 22), but the difference was not statistically significant. DISCUSSION The cardiac feeding clinic was utilised by our neonatal surgery population and feasible in coordination with cardiology follow-up visits. Future assessment of cardiac feeding clinic impact should include additional measures of feeding and neurodevelopmental success.
Depth-dependent indicators of algal turf herbivory throughout the Main Hawaiian Islands

Herbivorous fish are key to maintaining a balance between coral and algae on reefs, where reefs with greater herbivore biomass often show lower algal cover. For reefs worldwide, algal turf cover is expanding and is increasingly used as an indicator of disturbance. Water depth affects reef fish composition; thus, it may be expected that herbivory could also differ by depth. We examined relationships between algal turf cover and biomass (g m−2), density (# m−2) and size (cm) of herbivore groups (grazers, browsers and scrapers) across shallow (< 6 m), mid (6–18 m) and deep (18–30 m) coral reefs in the Main Hawaiian Islands. We find that across all depth classes, algal turf cover decreased with increasing grazer and scraper density, with steeper relationships observed at mid and deep reefs than in shallow reefs. In contrast, algal turf cover slightly increased with increasing grazer and browser biomass at deep reefs. Considering fish size, algal turf cover increased with larger grazer and scrapers at mid and deep reefs. The results indicate that herbivorous fish density, rather than biomass, is a better indicator of reductions in algal turf cover and resulting coral-algal balance on Hawaiian reefs, where smaller fish exert greater top-down control on cover than larger fish. Despite significant differences in herbivorous fish compositions, length-frequency distributions and fishing intensities across depth, algal turf cover remains similar across depths. Increases in fishing would have a disproportionately negative impact in deep than shallow reefs due to a lower overall fish density, where grazing functions in deep reefs are maintained by significantly fewer and smaller grazers and browsers, and larger scrapers, than in shallow reefs. Developing an understanding of patterns of algal turf herbivory by depth is important to understanding the spatial scale at which herbivory and regime shifts operate.
The Boek War

Though the Dutch were determined not to deviate from the policy of neutrality and isolation, they did not accustom themselves easily to their new position and their new policy. They looked back with longing on their golden era in the days of the Republic when the Netherlands played a leading role in the political and economic life of Europe. As a result of the Napoleonic Wars their colonial possessions had shrunk. With the cession of Ceylon and South Africa they had lost strategic positions on important sea lanes on the route to the Indies. Until 1854 the Netherlands had been the sole connection between the Western World and Japan, but this survival of its proud earlier days was now likewise gone.
Catalytic conformation of carboxypeptidase A. The structure of a true reaction intermediate stabilized at subzero temperatures.

Abstract The structure of the mixed anhydride, acyl-enzyme intermediate of the esterolytic reaction of carboxypeptidase A is characterized by application of cryoenzymologic, magnetic resonance, and molecular graphics methods with use of the Co2+-substituted enzyme and the specific spin-label ester substrate O-3-(2,2,5,5-tetra-methylpyrrolinyl-1-oxyl)-propen-2-oyl- l -β-phenyllactate. A radial separation of 7·7 A between the active site Co2+ and the nitroxide group in the low temperature-stabilized acyl-enzyme intermediate is determined on the basis of their spin-spin (dipole-dipole) interactions. Application of molecular graphics techniques shows that the only configuration of the substrate that is sterically accommodated by the active site yields a calculated metal ion-to-nitroxide distance of 7·8 A. Steric accommodation of the spin-label in the active site requires severe torsional distortion around the aliphatic double bond of the propenoyl side-chain. Examination of the structure of the enzyme: spin-label intermediate reveals that the distortion arises from steric interactions of the pyrrolinyl group with the protein at a position that corresponds to the site occupied by the penultimate amide residue of an oligopeptide substrate from the site of cleavage. Together with kinetic data showing that hydrolysis of the spin-label is governed by rate-limiting deacylation, the results indicate that geometric distortion of substrates by secondary interactions with the enzyme, in general, is an obligatory part of the catalytic action of carboxypeptidase A. When viewed with respect to requirements for stereoelectronic control of bond cleavage in tetrahedral adducts of esters and amides (Deslongchamps, 1975) the results suggest that torsional distortion during catalysis results in rotation around the scissile bond of the substrate, and that this rotation is required to form the mixed anhydride reaction intermediate. These findings further support the interpretation that the hydrolysis of esters and amides catalyzed by carboxypeptidase A proceeds according to similar mechanisms except that formation of the mixed anhydride is rate-determining in peptide hydrolysis while deacylation of the mixed anhydride is rate-limiting in ester hydrolysis. Additionally, in this study application of the extension of the theory of the Solomon-Bloembergen-Morgan equations derived by Lindner (1965) for paramagnetic metal ions with S ≥ 1 demonstrates that the zero-field splitting of the high-spin Co2+ in the metal-substituted enzyme has no significant influence in determination of the relaxation enhancement of solvent protons by the active site metal ion.
Critical Behavior and Scaling of Confined 3He-4He Mixtures

When helium is confined to a uniform small dimension L, its behavior is modified due to the limitation of the growth of the correlation length. This has been explored for planar confinement over a wide range of L. Less is known about confined mixtures, especially in the case of the specific heat. Here two principal effects come into play: the magnitude of the correlation length ξ increases, and the measured heat capacity Cpx must be converted to Cpφ, where φ=μ3−μ4, before finite-size scaling predictions can be verified. The increase in ξ makes a given confinement L “look smaller” as the concentration x is increased. This, as well as changes of L itself, can be used to test predictions of correlation-length scaling. We report measurements of the specific heat of confined mixtures and compare with the well established scaling for the pure system.
Why Not Plastics Bridges

Considerable knowledge and experience has been accumulated over recent years with the use of structural plastics in buildings, boats, and automobiles but few attempts have been made to construct bridges of reinforced plastics. Factors inhibiting the use of plastics in bridge construction include high material costs, unknown material properties and unfamiliarity with design procedures. Design examples of two 80-ft. (24.4 m) span, posttensioned structural plastic bridges for pedestrians are presented and compared with similar bridges built with steel and concrete and aluminum. Materials cost differentials are decreasing with technological advances in plastics materials, but at the present time, structural plastics are not economically competitive with concrete and metals for general-purpose bridges.
Transportation, Psychology of

The psychology of transportation entails the study of human behavior and well-being in conjunction with the regularized movement of people, goods, and services regarding work, personal life, and community activity systems. It includes the interface of humans with transport system components, including their design and operation, provisions for human needs, forms of utilization, and social impacts, including public safety.
Chapter 4 Protein Interactions Linking Actin to the Plasma Membrane in Focal Adhesions

Publisher Summary Single proteins, either α-actinin or talin, form a bridge between actin and integrin. Interaction of actin with these two proteins may serve different functions in focal adhesions. In situ, there are structures that appear to be homologous, with focal adhesions, such as the dense plaques of smooth muscle, the myotendinous junctions of skeletal muscle, and the adhesions made by platelets and many other cells, interacting with the extracellular matrix. During development, cell interactions with the extracellular matrix provide cues for cellular differentiation, migration, and growth characteristics. Cells grown in tissue culture, such as fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and epithelial cells, develop focal adhesions and provide a model system to study the interaction of cells with the extracellular matrix. Much of the research on focal adhesions is directed toward understanding the proteins involved in linking actin filaments to the plasma membrane. This chapter describes the current knowledge of the organization of focal adhesions and presents data that suggest two alternative mechanisms for the attachment of actin to the membrane at these sites. Additional linkages to the membrane at focal adhesions almost certainly exist. This is suggested by the existence of other focal adhesion components that have been detected by different methods and also by the low affinity of some of the interactions described in the chapter that may require additional stabilization in the cell. The chapter discusses the interaction between α-actinin and β 1 integrin and the interaction between talin and actin.
Getting the T-box dose right

Holt–Oram syndrome has been associated with mutations in the T-box transcription factor TBX5, but little is known about the function of this protein or how mutations in it cause disease. A new mouse model of this syndrome will help to answer some of these questions.
Virtual environments for aerospace training

Virtual Environments (VEs) have the potential to significantly enhance the training of NASA astronauts and ground-based personnel for a variety of activities. At the same time this technology offers significant cost savings and increased training throughput. Issues being explored include the use of VEs to replicate features of microgravity environments that are not available in ground-based simulators, the degree of fidelity needed for effective training, the addition of haptic (tactile, force, temperature) feedback to VEs, and the feasibility of using VEs on orbit for "just-in-time training" and mission planning. The results of the use of virtual environments for training the Hubble Space Telescope Repair and Maintenance Mission flight team is discussed. In addition, progress on the development of shared virtual environments for training is presented. >
Mid-level providers and emergency care: let's not lose the force.

The progressive rise of ED visits globally, and insufficient numbers of emergency physicians, has resulted in the use of mid-level providers as adjuncts for the provision of emergency care, especially in the US and Canada. Military medics, midwives, aeromedical paramedics, EMT-Ps, flight nurses, forensic nurses, sexual assault nurse examiner nurses - are some examples of well-established mid-level provider professionals who achieve their clinical credentials through accredited training programmes and formal certification. In emergency medicine, however, mid-level providers are trained for general care, and typically acquire emergency medicine skills through on-the-job experience. There are very few training programmes for NPs and PAs in emergency care. The manpower gap for physicians in general, and emergency physicians specifically, will not be eliminated in the reasonable future. Mid-level providers – ENTs, paramedics, NPs, PAs – are an excellent addition to the emergency medicine workforce. However, the specialty of emergency medicine developed because specific and focused training was needed for physicians to practice safe and qualify emergency care. This same principle applies to mid-level providers. Emergency Medicine needs to develop a vision and a plan to train emergency medicine specialist NPs and PAs, and explore other innovations to expand our emergency care workforce.
Insulin alteration of epinephrine action on the heart

Abstract 1. 1. Insulin pretreatment enhances and prolongs the transient slowing effect of epinephrine on the hearts of intact rats, and diminishes its cardioaccelerator action. 2. 2. Insulin abolishes the cardioaccelerator response to epinephrine in perfused frog hearts, indicating that its action is directly on the heart. 3. 3. Epinephrine elevation of cyclic-AMP levels in the frog heart is not lowered by insulin pretreatment. 4. 4. The mechanism of insulin's antagonism to epinephrine is discussed in light of the hormone's effects on ion fluxes, the cell membrane potential, and cyclic AMP levels. 5. 5. The appearance of the insulin inhibition of the epinephrine cardioaccelerator response in dogs, rats, rabbits (unpublished), and the perfused frog heart suggests that this antagonism operates in a wide variety of vertebrates.
Updating hypothetical data bases

Abstract An extension to hypothetical databases is presented that permits the reinsertion of a previously deleted tuple, while preserving the append-only nature of the differential addition and deletion files.
A narrow quantitative trait locus in C. elegans coordinately affects longevity, thermotolerance, and resistance to paraquat.

By linkage mapping of quantitative trait loci, we previously identified at least 11 natural genetic variants that significantly modulate C. elegans lifespan, many of which would have eluded discovery by knockdown or mutation screens. A region on chromosome IV between markers stP13 and stP35 had striking effects on longevity in three interstrain crosses (each P < 1E–9). In order to define the limits of that interval, we have now constructed two independent lines by marker-based selection during 20 backcross generations, isolating the stP13–stP35 interval from strain Bergerac-BO in a CL2a background. These congenic lines differed significantly from CL2a in lifespan, assayed in two environments (each P<0.001). We then screened for exchange of flanking markers to isolate recombinants that partition this region, because fine mapping the boundaries for overlapping heteroallelic spans can greatly narrow the implicated interval. Recombinants carrying the CL2a allele at stP35 were consistently long-lived compared to those retaining the Bergerac-BO allele (P<0.001), and more resistant to temperature elevation and paraquat (each ~1.7-fold, P<0.0001), but gained little protection from ultraviolet or peroxide stresses. Two rounds of recombinant screening, followed by fine-mapping of break-points and survival testing, narrowed the interval to 0.18 Mb (13.35–13.53 Mb) containing 26 putative genes and 6 small-nuclear RNAs – a manageable number of targets for functional assessment.
The oxygen isotope composition of planktonic foraminifera from the Cariaco Basin, Venezuela: Seasonal and interannual variations

Material collected during a three-year sediment trapping experiment in the Cariaco Basin, Venezuela (January 1997 to December 1999) is used to examine both temporal and inter-species variability in the oxygen isotope composition of planktonic foraminifera. Specifically, this study compares the oxygen isotope composition of six species of planktonic foraminifera (Globigerinoides ruber (pink), Globigerina bulloides, Neogloboquadrina dutertrei, Orbulina universa, Globorotalia menardii and Globorotalia crassaformis) with the climatology and hydrography of the region, and evaluates the application of each species for use in paleoceanographic reconstructions. The isotope results are consistent with known depth habitats for all six species. The lowest δ 18 O values (− 1t o−2‰) were measured on G. ruber (pink) and G. bulloides, two species that live in the surface mixed layer. Values for deeper-dwelling species such as N. dutertrei, G. menardii and G. crassaformis are higher, predominantly ranging from 0 to −0.5‰. Temperature estimates derived using species-specific paleotemperature equations indicate that G. ruber (pink) accurately estimates sea surface temperatures (SSTs) throughout the year, while G. bulloides temperature estimates are similar to measured surface temperatures only during the upwelling season (January–April). For the remainder of the year, the δ 18 O-derived temperatures for G. bulloides typically are lower than the measured SST. Although the maximum flux of all species occurs during upwelling, the flux-weighted annual mean isotopic composition of the six species indicates that only G. bulloides is biased towards this season. Therefore, we conclude that the sediment δ 18 O record of G. ruber (pink) is most suitable for estimating past values of mean annual SST, while G. bulloides provides information on conditions during spring upwelling. The depth of calcification of N. dutertrei varies seasonally in response to changes in the depths of the thermocline and chlorophyll maximum. As a result, the δ 18 O difference between G. ruber (pink) and N. dutertrei provides an estimate of the annual surface to thermocline temperature gradient in the basin. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Assignment of the human diacylglycerol kinase gene (DAGK) to 12q13.3 using fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis.

A 1-kb cDNA probe specific for the human DAGK gene was prepared by polymerase chain reaction and used to assign it to human chromosome 12 using a human x hamster somatic cell hybrid mapping panel. To determine the chromosomal sublocalization of DAGK, used the 1-kg DAGK cDNA probe to isolate a DAGK-specific phage clone from a human chromosome 12 library by Southern blot techniques. This clone (phEDCDAGK) contained a 17-kb human genomic insert in the phage Charon 40 that hybridized to the 1-kb DAGK cDNA previously characterized.
Prostaglandin F2α induces the normoxic activation of the hypoxia-inducible factor-1 transcription factor in differentiating 3T3-L1 preadipocytes: Potential role in the regulation of adipogenesis

Prostaglandin F2alpha (PGF2alpha) is a potent paracrine inhibitor of adipocyte differentiation. Here we show that treatment of differentiating 3T3-L1 preadipocytes with PGF2alpha induces the expression of DEC1, a transcriptional repressor that has previously been implicated in the inhibition of adipogenesis in response to hypoxia as a downstream effector of the hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) transcription factor. Surprisingly, despite performing our experiments under normal ambient oxygen conditions, we find that treatment of differentiating 3T3-L1 preadipocytes with PGF2alpha also results in the marked activation of HIF-1, as measured by an increase in the accumulation of the HIF-1alpha regulatory subunit. However, unlike the effects of hypoxia, this PGF2alpha-induced normoxic increase in HIF-1alpha is not mediated by an increase in the stability of the HIF-1alpha polypeptide, rather we find that PGF2alpha selectively increases the expression of the alternatively spliced HIF-1alpha I.1 mRNA isoform. Significantly, we demonstrate that the shRNA-mediated knockdown of endogenous HIF-1alpha expression attenuates the PGF2alpha-induced expression of DEC1, overcomes the inhibitory effects of PGF2alpha on the expression of proadipogenic transcription factors C/EBPalpha and PPARgamma and partially rescues the PGF2alpha-induced inhibition of adipogenesis. Taken together, these results indicate that PGF2alpha promotes the activation of the HIF-1 transcription factor pathway under normal oxygen conditions, and highlight a potential role for the normoxic activation of the HIF-1/DEC1-pathway in mediating the inhibitory effects of PGF2alpha on adipocyte differentiation.
Hot-Electron Behavior in Germanium under the Influence of a Magnetic Field

The theory of the hot-electron problem in many-valley semiconductors based upon the individual ellipsoidal energy surface model is extended for germanium to the circumstance of a superposed magnetic field B. A first approach, ignoring collisional effects, allows ready delineation of the electron orbits; directional energy gain is evaluated for ${\mathbf{E}}_{100}$ and ${\mathbf{E}}_{110}$ with B rotated in longitudinal and transverse orientations. The anisotropy is found to be quite marked (decidedly stronger than for B=0), with the longitudinal arrangement more effective than the transverse one. The introduction of scattering considerably complicates the analysis and here consideration is given to the effective ratio $b$ of Larmor to scattering frequency. In the limit $b\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$ and the scattering decidedly anisotropic, transverse energy gain vanishes; whereas in the longitudinal alignment, the energy gain becomes extremely anisotropic. The shift in the optimal energy gain direction (s) is noted for selected combinations of E and B and comparisons made with the case B=0. As $b\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$, the anisotropy diminishes; detailed calculations have been performed for $b=1, 0.1, \mathrm{and} \ensuremath{\infty}$ for the limiting cases of isotropic and strongly anisotropic scattering.