cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Bernhardus (= Pagurus) Armatus Dana, 1851 (Decapoda, Anomura): Replacement of the Neotype By a Rediscovered Syntype

In 1851 and 1852, James Dana described a large number of new crustaceans collected by the United States Exploring Expedition. One of these was Bern hardus armatus, a new species of northern Pacific hermit crab. Many of Dana's type specimens, including the type specimen(s) of B. armatus, were thought lost in the great Chicago fire of 1871 (see Evans, 1967), but we here report the dis covery of a syntypic specimen in the collections of the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ). Dana introduced Bernhardus (now Pagurus) armatus (type locality: "in freto Tuget' Oregonensi" [= Puget Sound, Washington]) in a brief latinized descrip tion (1851: 270), and later gave an expanded English description (1852: 442). No illustration of the species appeared until the publication of Dana's Atlas of Crustacea (1855, pi. 27 fig. 2a) and Dana never designated a holotype nor cited an exact number of specimens in his type series. Stimpson (1858: 248) syn onymized the species with Eupagurus (now Pagurus) ochotensis (Brandt, 1851), but both Makarov (1938: 202) and McLaughlin (1974: 48) recognized the two species as distinct (see McLaughlin, 1974, for a more complete nomenclatural history). McLaughlin (1974: 57), citing the prior difficulties of separating P. ar matus and P. ochotensis and believing the type(s) to have been lost or destroyed, designated a male specimen (United States National Museum [USNM] 143637 from off Fauntleroy Fry Dock, Puget Sound, Washington) as the neotype for Bernhardus armatus.
A Calculation of Percentage Area Covered by Convective Clouds from Moisture Convergence

Abstract In large-scale tropical flows an estimate of the percentage area covered by active convective cloud elements may be made according to certain theoretical formulations involving parameterization of convective-scale motions. Such an example is Kuo's model cloud which is based on replacing the ambient tropical atmosphere with a moist adiabatic cloud element over a portion of a synoptic-scale grid network. Quantities such as friction layer mass convergence, moisture convergence, and other relevant parameters like net moisture convergence over vertical columns extending over the depth of the troposphere are determined to evaluate the percentage area occupied by convective clouds. An application to a case study of an easterly wave below a cold low is made. Some radar pictures are presented for comparison purposes.
SU‐EE‐A4‐04: Accelerating Breast Dynamic Contrast Enhanced MRI with Efficient Multiple Acquisitions by SPEED Using Shared Information

Purpose: The efficient multiple acquisition method using Skipped Phase Encoding and Edge Deghosting (SPEED) has been successfully demonstrated with a dynamic contrast enhanced (CE) mice tumor study; however, it has not been tested with any human subjects. In this work, this technique is further developed to accelerate breast dynamic CE MRI.Method and Materials: In dynamic CE‐MRI, a series of images are acquired within different time frames, which contain highly similar spatial information. The strong structural similarity is used to accelerate imaging by SPEED with factors greater than that achievable with a single acquisition. It was tested in this work with an in vivo breast dynamic CE MRI study. The dynamic CE scan was performed on a GE 1.5T system using a T1‐weighted gradient echo sequence (matrix 256×256, FOV 20cm × 20cm, TR = 5.5 ms, TE = 1.5 ms, flip angle = 30°, slice thickness = 4 mm, the number of frames = 7). Results: Reference images are first reconstructed from full k‐space data. The corresponding deghosted images are then reconstructed from partial data, with undersampling factors of 3/5 for one frame and 2/5 for all other frames, resulting in an acceleration factor of 2. In other words, the total scan time is 3.5 times that of a single acquisition. The imagesreconstructed from partial data by the proposed method show comparable quality as those reference images.Conclusion: In this work, the technique of efficient multiple acquisitions by SPEED is further developed to accelerate breast dynamic CE MRI. By using shared spatial information, a breast dynamic CE MRI study is accelerated by SPEED with a factor of 2, which is greater than that achievable with a single acquisition. This saving can be used to double the image resolution, or to increase the frame rates of dynamic sequence.
Embedded cholesterol in the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor

The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) is a cation-selective channel central to both neuronal and muscular processes and is considered the prototype for ligand-gated ion channels, motivating a structural determination effort that spanned several decades [Unwin N (2005) Refined structure of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor at 4 A resolution. J Mol Biol 346:967-989]. Purified nAChR must be reconstituted in a mixture containing cholesterol to function. Proposed modes of interaction between cholesterol and the protein range from specific binding to indirect membrane-mediated mechanisms. However, the underlying cause of nAChR sensitivity to cholesterol remains controversial, in part because the vast majority of functional studies were conducted before a medium resolution structure was reported. We show that the nAChR contains internal sites capable of containing cholesterol, whose occupation stabilizes the protein structure. We detect sites at the protein-lipid interface as conventionally predicted from functional data, as well as deeply buried sites that are not usually considered. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that occupation of both superficial and deeply buried sites most effectively preserves the experimental structure; the structure collapses in the absence of bound cholesterol. In particular, we find that bound cholesterol directly supports contacts between the agonist-binding domain and the pore that are thought to be essential for activation of the receptor. These results likely apply to those other ion channels within the Cys-loop superfamily that depend on cholesterol, such as the GABA receptor.
Venous systolic thrill and murmur in the neck: a consequence of severe tricuspid insufficiency.

Apalpable venous systolic thrill and murmur at the base of the neck are described as new physical findings in five patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation. In two of these patients, the tricuspid valve had been resected as treatment for infective endocarditis related to intravenous drug abuse. The third patient had severe chronic pulmonary disease with right heart failure. The fourth patient had a complex congenital defect in which the mitral valve served as the venous atrioventricular valve and was severely incompetent. The fifth patient suffered from long-standing rheumatic mitral and tricuspid disease with pulmonary hypertension 10 years after placement of a mitral prosthesis. From these observations, it is apparent that pulsatile retrograde fhnf in the cervical veins resuiting from severe right-sided atrioventricular valve incompetence can produce a palpable systolic thrill and murmur at the base of the neck.
Wafer-level fabrication of distributed feedback laser diodes by utilizing UV nanoimprint lithography

The authors have succeeded in employing nanoimprint lithography (NIL) to form diffraction gratings of distributed feedback laser diodes (DFB LDs) used in optical communication. We have fabricated more than 300 phase-shifted DFB LDs on a 2-in. InP substrate. The devices have indicated comparable characteristics including uniformity and reliability with those fabricated by conventional electron beam lithography. We have also demonstrated a novel concept of a mold containing various types of grating patterns in a field ("VARI-mold"). By utilizing the new mold, DFB LDs with various emission wavelengths are formed simultaneously on a wafer. It indicates that one VARI-mold is possible to be applied to various kinds of product, leading to the cost reduction of the molds and the total NIL process. The results of this study indicate that NIL is a promising candidate of the production technique for phase-shifted DFB LDs featuring low cost and high throughput.
Evidence for a two-magnon process in the linewidth of thin metal films

The temperature dependence of the spinwave resonance linewidth in thin ferromagnetic metal films has been observed at 35 GHz in the temperature range 4 °K to 300 °K. The data are analyzed in terms of a two-magnon relaxation process induced by a planar inhomogeneity in the internal field of the film. The inhomogeneity is due to imperfections in the film structure introduced during deposition. The linewidth is found to decrease with increasing temperature in a manner similar to the temperature dependence of the magnetization with a mode dependence that is in reasonable agreement with the model proposed.
XPC INITIATION CODON MUTATION IN XERODERMA PIGMENTOSUM PATIENTS WITH AND WITHOUT NEUROLOGICAL SYMPTOMS

Two unrelated xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) patients, with and without neurological abnormalities, respectively, had identical defects in the XPC DNA nucleotide excision repair (NER) gene. Patient XP21BE, a 27-year-old woman, had developmental delay and early onset of sensorineural hearing loss. In contrast, patient XP329BE, a 13-year-old boy, had a normal neurological examination. Both patients had marked lentiginous hyperpigmentation and multiple skin cancers at an early age. Their cultured fibroblasts showed similar hypersensitivity to killing by UV and reduced repair of DNA photoproducts. Cells from both patients had a homozygous c.2T>G mutation in the XPC gene which changed the ATG initiation codon to arginine (AGG). Both had low levels of XPC message and no detectable XPC protein on Western blotting. There was no functional XPC activity in both as revealed by the failure of localization of XPC and other NER proteins at the sites of UV-induced DNA damage in a sensitive in vivo immunofluorescence assay. XPC cDNA containing the initiation codon mutation was functionally inactive in a post-UV host cell reactivation (HCR) assay. Microsatellite markers flanking the XPC gene showed only a small region of identity (∼30 kBP), indicating that the patients were not closely related. Thus, the initiation codon mutation resulted in DNA repair deficiency in cells from both patients and greatly increased cancer susceptibility. The neurological abnormalities in patient XP21BE may be related to close consanguinity and simultaneous inheritance of other recessive genes or other gene modifying effects rather than the influence of XPC gene itself.
37 Limited Ability of Long-Term Cultured Murine Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Cells to Support Hematopoiesis

We studied the growth, differentiation and ability to support hematopoiesis of long-term cultured murine marrow-derived mesenchymal cells (MC) cultured in serum-containing medium but without additional cytokines. Unfractionated marrow from C57Bl6/J (Bl/6; CD45.2+) mice was plated in DMEM with 10% bovine serum; adherent cells were passaged when >80% confluent. During early ( 90% CD29, 90, 105, 106+) consistent with MC, and are capable of osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation in vitro. Analysis of five clones derived from one long-term MC culture showed similar growth characteristics as the parental culture, but the clones displayed variability in surface phenotype and the ability to undergo adipogenic differentiation. Furthermore, 2/5 clones were unable to undergo osteogenic differentiation, indicating that long-term MC cultures are comprised of heterogeneous subpopulations of cells. Transplantation of 106 long-term cultured MC with 5x105 unfractionated B6.SJL-PtrcaPep3b/BoyJ (BoyJ; CD45.1+) marrow cells into ablated BoyJ hosts revealed 5-fold lower repopulating ability, however, compared to marrow cells cultured without MC feeders, four months post-transplant in two independent competitive repopulation assays. These data suggest that long-term cultured MC, though morphologically and phenotypically homogeneous and lacking hematopoietic potential, may not support ex vivo culture/expansion of primitive hematopoietic cells, at least under these stringent (i.e., without additional cytokines) conditions. Assays comparing the hematopoiesis-supporting capacity of long-term cultured MC to classic Dexter-type stroma, and studies to determine optimal co-culture conditions are ongoing.
Fourier-space properties of photon-limited noise in focal plane array data, calculated with the discrete Fourier transform

The Fourier-space statistical properties of one-dimensional or two-dimensional focal plane array data subject only to photon-counting noise are investigated theoretically by using the discrete Fourier transform. Signal-to-noise ratios and probability density functions for the noise and for the components of the Fourier transform are presented for two cases: when the Fourier transform itself is considered to be the signal and when the power spectrum is considered to be the signal.
Transport equations for aeronomy

Abstract In this paper we present results for a general system of transport equations appropriate to a multi-constituent gas mixture. This system includes a continuity, momentum, internal energy, pressure tensor and heat flow equation for each species. The results can be applied to both collision dominated and collisionless plasmas with there being explicit limits derived for the validity of the various expressions. In the limit of very frequent collisions the pressure tensor and heat flow equations give the usual Navier-Stokes results for the viscous stress tensor and heat flow vector. Furthermore, the momentum equation includes thermal diffusion and thermoelectric transport coefficients equivalent to the second approximation of Chapman and Cowling. The basic system of equations has been applied to different regions of the ionosphere and neutral atmosphere. It is found that: (1) The viscous stress tensor and heat flow expressions used in previous studies of the neutral thermosphere may not be appropriate; (2) The transport coefficients normally used for mid-latitude F2-region and topside studies seem to be adequate; (3) The high speed flow of plasma in the polar topside ionosphere is likely to be strongly affected by stresses and heat flow; and (4) E- and F-region ionization at high latitudes is substantially affected by stresses and heat flow.
Ovarian cysts in premenarchal children.

A 20-month-old child with vaginal pain of 3 weeks duration presented to clinic. There was no change in urinary or bowel pattern. She complained of intermittent pain with no relation to time of day. The pain lasts only a few minutes and the patient is distractible. She denied any skin changes pruritus or vaginal discharge and was still in diaper (Pampers). She washes her hair in bath water with Johnson & Johnson soap. Upon physical examination she appeared well and very active alert and happy. Her thyroid was normal. Breasts were at Tanner stage 1 and her abdomen was soft without mass and there was no hepatosplenomegaly. Her perineum was Tanner stage 1 with no erythema. Examination in the frog-legged position revealed no discharge normal hymen normal lower vagina and normal anus. (excerpt)
Progress in the development of potent bombesin receptor antagonists

Bombesin and the mammalian-related peptides gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP), GRP and neuromedin B have been shown to have numerous actions in the CNS, gastrointestinal tract and on growth. However, the role of the peptides in various physiological processes has remained unclear because of the lack of potent antagonists. Recent in vitro studies have described four different classes of bombesin receptor antagonist, some of which are active in the nanomolar range and in vivo. Robert Jensen and David Coy describe recent insights into peptide structural determinants of biological activity. Evidence from structure-function studies have resulted in identification of some analogues that function as potent antagonists in all systems examined. Furthermore, various subtypes of bombesin receptors can now be differentiated by these various classes of antagonist.
Radical Outcome Method A New Approach to Critical Pathways in Congenital Heart Disease

Background Treatment of congenital heart disease has entered a new era of healthcare delivery and cost containment. Critical pathway method (CPM) has been previously demonstrated by us to produce a significant reduction in average length of stay (ALOS) in hospital of −44%. A new approach, radical outcome method (ROM), has produced comparable results that appear to improve over time. The dynamic nature is examined. Methods and Results Two hundred consecutive patients with congenital heart disease were treated by a single surgeon at a single health maintenance organization (HMO) facility. ROM was used in all patients. This method uses seven critical moments at which shortening rather than confirmation of the ALOS is possible. This process is completed by the second post-operative day. Overall mortality was 1%. The 200 patients were divided into two consecutive groups of 100 patients to determine the effectiveness of ROM over time. Fifty sets were matched. ALOS hospital decreased by 29 days (mean, 0.6 d/set)...
Phenylephrine-induced Hyperkalemia: Role of the Liver:

SummaryConstant infusion of phenylephrine into the portal vein in the dog produced hyperkalemia which was prolonged relative to previously reported epinephrine-induced hyperkalemia. The liver released potassium into the plasma. Although hepatic arterial blood flow was decreased, the egress of potassium from the liver was not sustained. The results indicate that the prolonged nature of phenylephrine-induced hyperkalemia is not due to a delayed washout of potassium from the liver.
Rereading “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies” Bodies, Texts, and Emergence

In this article, we explore our concern with the way youth identities and literacy research and practices are framed through a dominant conceptual paradigm in new literacy studies, namely, as articulated in the 1996 New London Group’s “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures.” More than any other text, “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies” streams powerfully through doctoral programs, edited volumes, books, journal reviews, and calls for conference papers, as the central manifesto of the new literacies movement. In what follows, we draw heavily from the work of Deleuze and Guattari to take issue with the New London Group’s disciplined rationalization of youth engagement in literacies. We organize our critical exploration of “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies” around Lee, a 10-year-old boy we follow through one day as he engages in reading and playing with text from Japanese manga. Our goal with this rereading is to reassert the sensations and movements of the body in the moment-by-moment unfolding o...
An item response theory approach to longitudinal analysis with application to summer setback in preschool language/literacy

As the popularity of classroom observations has increased, they have been implemented in many longitudinal studies with large probability samples. Given the complexity of longitudinal measurements, there is a need for tools to investigate both growth and the properties of the measurement scale. A practical IRT model with an embedded growth model is illustrated to examine the psychometric characteristics of classroom assessments for preschool children, and also to show how nonlinear learning over time can be investigated. This approach is applied to data collected for the Academic Rating Scale (ARS) in the literacy domain, which was administered on four occasions over two years. The model enabled an effective illustration of overall and individual gains over two academic years. In particular, a significant de-acceleration in latent literacy skills during summer was observed. The results also provided psychometric support for the argument that ARS literacy can be used to assess developmental skill levels consistent with theories of early literacy acquisition. The proposed IRT approach provided growth parameters that are estimated directly, rather than obtaining these coefficients from estimated growth scores—which may result in biased and inconsistent estimates of growth parameters. The model is also capable of simultaneously representing parameters of items and persons.
Mapping the Energy Landscape of Repeat Proteins using NMR-detected Hydrogen Exchange

Repeat proteins contain tandem arrays of a simple structural motif. In contrast to globular proteins, repeat proteins are stabilized only by interactions between residues that are relatively close together in the sequence, with no "long-range" interactions. Our work focuses on the tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR), a 34 amino acid helix-turn-helix motif found in tandem arrays in many natural proteins. Earlier, we reported the design and characterization of a series of consensus TPR (CTPR) proteins, which are built as arrays of multiple tandem copies of a 34 amino acid consensus sequence. Here, we present the results of extensive hydrogen exchange (HX) studies of the folding-unfolding behavior of two CTPR proteins (CTPR2 and CTPR3). We used HX to detect and characterize partially folded species that are populated at low frequency in the nominally folded state. We show that for both proteins the equilibrium folding-unfolding transition is non-two-state, but sequential, with the outermost helices showing a significantly higher probability than inner helices of being unfolded. We show that the experimentally observed unfolding behavior is consistent with the predictions of a simple Ising model, in which individual helices are treated as "spin-equivalents". The results that we present have general implications for our understanding of the thermodynamic properties of repeat proteins.
The Effect of Preparation Conditions on Tensile Strength of Soda‐Lime‐Silica Glass Rods

A study has been made of the relationship between conditions of specimen preparation and the tensile strength of small constricted soda-lime-silica glass rods. The preparation and testing techniques were basically the same as those used in a previous investigation' except that the drawing loads were systematically varied. It was found that different loads under which specimens were drawn resulted in significant changes in tensile strength values. The average strength values varied from 62,800 lb. per sq. in. to 88,400 lb. per sq. in., depending on the drawing loads used. Maximum strength values were obtained with the highest loads. The limits of error of the strength values did not change appreciably with different drawing conditions. Rubbing the specimens with the fingers reduced the strength by approximately 32%.
Suppression of edge cracking in layered ceramic composites by edge coating

A strategy is proposed to reduce surface tensile stresses that develop in ceramic microlaminate structures. As a specific example, surface stresses, which can lead to unwanted edge cracking, appear within a thin alumina/mullite layer bounded by thicker alumina layers after fabrication at some elevated temperature and subsequent cooling. A stress analysis is performed using the finite element method on a geometry in which the (edge) surface of the ceramic sandwich structure has been coated with an overlayer of the alumina/mullite material with thickness proportional to the initial buried layer thickness. These analyses show there is a critical thickness of the overlayer at which the surface tensile stresses can be reduced to zero. Stress concentration factors are calculated numerically for cracks propagating through this structure, and thus the resistance to surface cracking is quantified.
Judith N. Shklar and American citizenship: Thinking citizenship series

It is claimed that although the European debate about social rights has concentrated on the formation of citizenship, American political and social theory has focused almost exclusively on civil liberties and individual rights. The specific characteristics of American history – the Declaration of Independence, slavery, the Civil War, the persistence of the race issue and the civil rights movement – explain this fundamental difference. This article explores some of the exceptions to this claim in the work of sociologists and political scientists such as W.E. DuBois, Talcott Parsons, Morris Janowitz, Rogers Smith and Michael Schudson, but the contrast between individual rights and social rights remains important. The American tradition is explored primarily through the work of Judith N. Shklar whose approach to cruelty, misfortune and inequality represented a major and innovative approach to what we might call the phenomenological foundation of justice and rights. She emphasised the importance of earning a ...
Circadian gene expression regulates pulsatile gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) secretory patterns in the hypothalamic GnRH-secreting GT1-7 cell line.

Although it has long been established that episodic secretion of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) from the hypothalamus is required for normal gonadotropin release, the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the synchronous release of GnRH are primarily unknown. We used the GT1-7 mouse hypothalamic cell line as a model for GnRH secretion, because these cells release GnRH in a pulsatile pattern similar to that observed in vivo. To explore possible molecular mechanisms governing secretory timing, we investigated the role of the molecular circadian clock in regulation of GnRH secretion. GT1-7 cells express many known core circadian clock genes, and we demonstrate that oscillations of these components can be induced by stimuli such as serum and the adenylyl cyclase activator forskolin, similar to effects observed in fibroblasts. Strikingly, perturbation of circadian clock function in GT1-7 cells by transient expression of the dominant-negative Clock-Δ19 gene disrupts normal ultradian patterns of GnRH secretion, significantly decreasing mean pulse frequency. Additionally, overexpression of the negative limb clock gene mCry1 in GT1-7 cells substantially increases GnRH pulse amplitude without a commensurate change in pulse frequency, demonstrating that an endogenous biological clock is coupled to the mechanism of neurosecretion in these cells and can regulate multiple secretory parameters. Finally, mice harboring a somatic mutation in the Clock gene are subfertile and exhibit a substantial increase in estrous cycle duration as revealed by examination of vaginal cytology. This effect persists in normal light/dark (LD) cycles, suggesting that a suprachiasmatic nucleus-independent endogenous clock in GnRH neurons is required for eliciting normal pulsatile patterns of GnRH secretion.
Metallothionein-I/II knockout mice are sensitive to acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity.

Metallothioneins (MTs) are a group of low-molecular weight, cysteine-rich, metal-binding proteins. MT has an unusually high sulfhydryl content, and thus it has been suggested to react with free radicals and electrophiles [1–2].
The putative β4-adrenergic receptor is a novel state of the β1-adrenergic receptor

The atypical β3-adrenergic receptor (AR) agonist CGP-12177 has been used to define a novel atypical β-AR subtype, the putative β4-AR. Recent evaluation of recombinant β-AR subtypes and β-AR-deficie...
Daily chest roentgenograms are unnecessary in nonhypoxic patients who have undergone pulmonary resection by thoracotomy.

Background The purpose of this study is to assess the clinical benefit of performing a daily chest roentgenogram (CXR) on patients who have had a pulmonary resection. Methods Patients underwent thoracotomy and pulmonary resection, and all had a daily CXR. The impact the CXR had on their care was evaluated. Hypoxia was defined as a sustained decrease in oxygen saturation of 6% or greater from patient's baseline. Results Between January 2006 and December 2009, 1,037 patients met the eligibility criteria for this study. Types of resection were wedge in 282 patients, segmentectomy in 146, and lobectomy in 609. Only 20 of the 834 patients (2%) who did not have a pneumothorax on the recovery room CXR had hypoxia, compared with 42 patients (21%) who had a recovery room pneumothorax (odds ratio 10.6, 95% confidence interval: 6.1 to 18.5, p p Conclusions Daily CXRs are not needed in the vast majority of patients who undergo elective pulmonary resection after thoracotomy. It is of little benefit for patients who do not have a pneumothorax on their recovery room CXR or for patients who do not become hypoxic.
Characterizing variation in Northwest Atlantic fish-stock abundance

Catch-per-tow indices obtained by research vessels for the years 1963–2009 from NAFO statistical areas 4W, 4X, 5Y, and 5Z were studied to determine how fish “apparent abundance” in the decade 2000–2009 differed from the long-term time-series. Cluster analysis of normalized catch-per-tow data indicated that the abundance and species composition of stocks in each statistical area changed dramatically over the 50-year period. There were decreases in thorny skate, ocean pout, cusk, witch flounder, and monkfish and increases in herring, haddock, northern shrimp, and spiny dogfish. Cluster analysis suggested that these decreases and increases were not gradual, but abrupt, and that these abrupt decreases and increases were concentrated in the decade of the 1980s. Observations of abrupt change were supported by regression-tree analysis of individual stocks. Examination of the interrelationship among abundance indices from different stocks by Bonferroni-adjusted correlation coefficients showed that the abundance trajectories of most stocks were uncorrelated. It appears that the set of population transitions during the decade of the 1980s was a dominant event in the statistical time-series.
Atypicalities and Apartment Rent Concessions

This paper examines the use and value of rental concessions using a 1988 sample of apartment rents in the Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem (North Carolina) MSA. The first section develops an approach to the problem and the second section estimates a logit model to predict the use of concessions as a pricing strategy based on characteristics of the apartment. The third section employs a hedonic pricing model to measure the average value of rental concessions in the Greensboro market. The final section summarizes relevant findings.
Some aspects of the adaptive control of stochastic evolution systems

An adaptive control problem for some linear stochastic evolution systems is formulated and solved. The adaptive control problem is dichotomized into an identification problem and a control problem. For the identification of the unknown parameters, a family of least-squares estimates is shown to be strongly consistent. For the control problem the family of average costs for the optimal stationary controls based on the estimates of the unknown parameters is shown to converge to the optimal average cost. To verify this optimality, it is shown that the solution of the Riccati equation is a continuous function of the unknown parameters in the uniform operator topology. >
A Psychometric Study of the Geriatric Depression Scale

Criterion-referenced (Livingston’s r) and norm-referenced (Cronbach’s α and Gilmer-Feldt coefficient) techniques were used to calculate the internal consistency reliability of the 30-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) on a sample (N = 417) of elderly medical outpatients. For the widely used cutoff score of 10 for depression, the criterion-referenced reliability (Livingston’s r) of the GDS total score was found to be .896, .883, and .891 for the elderly patients with Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores > 17, ≤ 17, and total sample, respectively, while the norm-referenced reliability Gilmer-Feldt coefficient (and Cronbach’s α) of the GDS total score was found to be .895 (α = .893), .877 (α = .875), and .890 (α = .888), respectively. Tests of significance between the GDS total score means and reliability coefficients for the patients with MMSE scores > 17 and ≤ 17 were found to be nonsignificant. Therefore, the cognitive status of our sample does not seem to have an effect on the GDS total score. ...
School breakfast and cognition among nutritionally at-risk children in the Peruvian Andes.

In 1993 in Peru the Institute of Nutritional Research conducted two studies in Huaraz in the Andean region to evaluate the educational and nutritional impact of the governments School Breakfast Program. The school breakfast included a small cake and a glass of Amilac (similar in taste and color to milk) which provided 30% of each childs energy requirements 60% of recommended dietary allowances for minerals and vitamins and 100% of dietary iron needs. A case control study examined the effects of breakfast on cognition among 54 elementary schoolchildren 9-11 years old. It found that the school breakfast did not have a significant effect on the childrens performance in the Number Discrimination Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test Raven Progressive Matrices or Reaction Time tests. Children nutritionally at risk who received the placebo had significantly slower short-term memory scanning than their counterparts who received the breakfast. The no-risk placebo group exhibited more rapid discrimination between visual stimuli than the no-risk breakfast group. A field evaluation of the program in 10 rural schools which were randomly assigned to a treatment or control condition was conducted. In terms of energy protein and iron intake the children in the case and control conditions were not significantly different. The children tended to be either very stunted or overweight. School attendance increased 0.58 points in the experimental group while it decreased by 2.92 points in the control group (p < 0.05). When both groups received the breakfast attendance rates increased significantly in both groups (p < 0.05). Vocabulary was sensitive to the effects of the breakfast. Specifically the greater the childs weight the higher his/her vocabulary test scores (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that the brain is sensitive to decreases in the short-term availability of nutrients and that an overnight and morning fast produces a physiological state accompanied by changes in brain function especially working memory particularly among nutritionally at-risk children.
Link Between Body Fat and the Timing of Puberty

Several recent studies suggest that the timing of the onset of puberty in girls has become earlier over the past 30 years, and there is strong evidence that the increasing rates of obesity in children over the same time period is a major factor. This article reviews studies from the United States that examined the age of menarche and the age of onset of breast development and pubic hair as a function of body mass index, which is a good surrogate measure of body fat. These studies are nearly all cross-sectional, so many questions remain unanswered. However, at least several studies show that girls who have relatively higher body mass index are more likely to have earlier menses, as well as a relationship between body mass index and other measures of pubertal onset. The evidence published to date suggests that obesity may be causally related to earlier puberty in girls rather than that earlier puberty causes an increase in body fat. In contrast, few studies have found a link between body fat and earlier puberty in boys. A growing body of evidence from both rodent and human studies suggests that leptin may be the critical link between body fat and earlier puberty. Leptin-deficient mice and humans fail to enter puberty unless leptin is administered, and rodent studies indicate that very low levels of leptin stimulate gonadotropin secretion both at the hypothalamic and the pituitary level. Current evidence indicates that leptin appears to play a permissive role rather than act as the critical metabolic signal initiating puberty. The linkage between body fat and the reproductive axis in girls may have evolved in mammals as a mechanism for ensuring that pregnancy will not occur unless there are adequate fat stores to sustain both the mother and the growing fetus.
Utilization of a deoxynucleoside diphosphate substrate by HIV reverse transcriptase.

Background: Deoxynucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs) are the normal substrates for DNA synthesis catalyzed by polymerases such as HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT). However, substantial amounts of deoxynucleoside diphosphates (dNDPs) are also present in the cell. Use of dNDPs in HIV-1 DNA synthesis could have significant implications for the efficacy of nucleoside RT inhibitors such as AZT which are first line therapeutics for treatment of HIV infection. Our earlier work on HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) suggested that the interaction between the c-phosphate of the incoming dNTP and RT residue K65 in the active site is not essential for dNTP insertion, implying that this polymerase may be able to insert dNDPs in addition to dNTPs. Methodology/Principal Findings: We examined the ability of recombinant wild type (wt) and mutant RTs with substitutions at residue K65 to utilize a dNDP substrate in primer extension reactions. We found that wild type HIV-1 RT indeed catalyzes incorporation of dNDP substrates whereas RT with mutations of residue K65 were unable to catalyze this reaction. Wild type HIV-1 RT also catalyzed the reverse reaction, inorganic phosphate-dependent phosphorolysis. Nucleotide-mediated phosphorolytic removal of chain-terminating 39-terminal nucleoside inhibitors such as AZT forms the basis for HIV-1 resistance to such drugs, and this removal is enhanced by thymidine analog mutations (TAMs). We found that both wt and TAM-containing RTs were able to catalyze Pi-mediated phosphorolysis of 39-terminal AZT at physiological levels of Pi with an efficacy similar to that for ATP-dependent AZT-excision. Conclusions: We have identified two new catalytic functions of HIV-1 RT, the use of dNDPs as substrates for DNA synthesis, and the use of Pi as substrate for phosphorolytic removal of primer 39-terminal nucleotides. The ability to insert dNDPs has been documented for only one other DNA polymerase, the RB69 DNA polymerase and the reverse reaction employing inorganic phosphate has not been documented for any DNA polymerase. Importantly, our results show that Pi-mediated phosphorolysis can contribute to AZT resistance and indicates that factors that influence HIV resistance to AZT are more complex than previously appreciated.
Analysis of structural changes in a grain logistics system: Trainload facilities and intermodal competition in northwest Kansas

This article evaluates potential change in Central Plains grain logistics systems, focusing on a supply area in northwest Kansas and export markets at the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Coast. Employing a network model, total efficiency gains as well as changes in storage and transport costs are measured. Specific logistical changes that are evaluated include construction of trainloading facilities (subterminals) and increases in rail rates. Construction of subterminals results in substantial system cost savings and nearly all export wheat moves through the subterminal-unit train marketing channel. Rail rate increases of 15% result in only minor changes in marketing patterns and intermodal substitution.
Storage Stability of Hard-Cooked Eggs

Abstract Hard-cooked eggs were stored both peeled and in the shell for 24 days at 25 and 5° C. Aerobic plate counts were determined throughout the storage period. Taste panel evaluations of flavor, texture, appearance and overall acceptability were conducted for the eggs stored at 5° C. A storage temperature of 25° C. permitted rapid development of bacteria after one day of storage. Sliminess was visible on the peeled eggs after four days. Both peeled and shell hard-cooked eggs stored at 5° C. failed to show any significant bacterial development until after 20 days of storage. No significant differences in flavor or overall acceptability, and only sporadic significant differences in texture and appearance, were detected among the hard-cooked eggs evaluated during 21 days storage at 5° C.
Is the Relation of Systolic Blood Pressure to Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Continuous and Graded, or Are There Critical Values?

Because epidemiologic data indicate a continuous incremental risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in relation to blood pressure (BP), hypertension treatment guidelines now recommend treating high-normal and mild BP elevations.1 Port and coworkers,2 analyzing Framingham Study data, challenge this assertion. They claim that Framingham data in actuality “contradict the concept that lower pressures imply lower risk and the idea that 140 mm Hg is a useful cut-off value for hypertension for all adults .” They suggest that there is an age- and sex-dependent threshold for “hypertension” and that a substantial proportion of the population currently deemed at increased risk are, in fact, not. Their conclusion derives from the use of “logistic splines” methodology to examine the relation of systolic blood pressure (SBP) to CVD and all-cause mortality. They contend that previous linear logistic analysis depicting a continuous, graded relation is misleading and that there is actually a threshold at the 70th percentile of SBP for a person at a given age and sex. They also suggest that because BP increases steadily with age, the threshold also increases with age.2 By inference, Port et al seem to suggest that we to return to the discarded concept that a “normal” systolic pressure is, roughly, “100+ years of age mm Hg.” They focus on all-cause mortality because “it is most free of misclassifications and, importantly the number of events is sufficiently high to allow accurate estimates of the shape of the relation with systolic blood pressure.” However, the more relevant outcome is CVD mortality and the CVD events promoted by hypertension unconfounded by non-CVD mortality, which could be associated with low BP. Furthermore, even a focus on CVD mortality, excluding the large majority of nonfatal events, needlessly reduces the amount of data on which to determine the shape of the BP–CVD …
To Do, or Not to Do That is the Question for White Cross-Cultural Researchers

Cross-cultural issues in counseling and therapy have been a major topic of interest in recent years. It has drawn people of different ethnic backgrounds together However, this has often come at a cost to minority communities, due to inappropriate or misleading conclusions further stigmatizing members of the communities. To examine the feelings of ethnic-minority researchers about the impact of White researchers investigating cross-cultural issues, Ponterotto organized a symposium addressing this topic at the l990 American Psychological Association Convention. The present article is a summary of what transpired at the symposium. It concludes with four lessons to be drawn from the whole topic of minority and majority researchers investigating ethnic-minority populations and other cross-cultural issues.
Minimizing the Harm of State Fiscal Volatility

This report’s primary concern is how U.S. state governments should respond to the fiscal volatility created by their balanced budget constraints. Applying the principles of risk allocation theory to this recurring problem, we conclude that states should primarily adjust the rates of broad-based taxes as their economies cycle, rather than fluctuating public spending.
Understanding the host-adapted state of Citrobacter rodentium by transcriptomic analysis

Citrobacter rodentium (Cr) is a mouse pathogen that mimics many aspects of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli infections including producing attaching and effacing (A/E) lesions. Host-adapted (HA) Cr cells that are shed at the peak of infection have been reported to be hyper-infective. The exact mechanism underlying this phenomenon has remained elusive since the pathogen loses its HA 'status' immediately upon subculturing in laboratory media. We sequenced the entire transcriptome of Cr directly from the feces of infected mice and analyzed the gene expression pattern. We observed that the entire transcriptional machinery as well as several transcriptional regulators to be differentially expressed when compared with the transcriptome of cells grown on laboratory media. Major adhesion and effector genes, tir and eae, were highly expressed in HA along with many genes located on all five loci of enterocyte effacement regions (LEE 1-5). Notable absent among the HA expressed genes were 19 fimbrial operons and non-fimbrial adhesions and several non-LEE encoded effectors. These results demonstrate that host-adapted Cr has a unique transcriptome that is associated with increased host transmission.
Topographic correlations with soil and regolith thickness from shallow‐seismic refraction constraints across upland hillslopes in the Valles Caldera, New Mexico

How rock is weathered physically and chemically into transportable material is a fundamental question in critical-zone science. In addition, the distribution of weathered material (soil and intact regolith) across upland landscapes exerts a first-order control on the hydrology of watersheds. In this paper we present the results of six shallow seismic-refraction surveys in the Redondo Mountain region of the Valles Caldera, New Mexico. The P-wave velocities corresponding to soil (≤ 0.6 km s−1) were inferred from a seventh seismic survey where soil-thickness data were determined by pit excavation. Using multivariable regression, we quantified the relationships among slope gradient, aspect, and topographic wetness index (TWI) on soil and regolith (soil plus intact regolith) thicknesses. Our results show that both soil and regolith thicknesses vary inversely with TWI in all six survey areas while varying directly with slope aspect (i.e. thicker beneath north-facing slopes) and inversely with slope gradient (i.e. thinner beneath steep slopes) in the majority of the survey areas. An empirical model based on power-law relationships between regolith thickness and its correlative variables can fit our inferred thicknesses with R2-values up to 0.880 for soil and 0.831 for regolith in areas with significant topographic variations. These results further demonstrate the efficacy of shallow seismic refraction for mapping and determining how soil and regolith variations correlate with topography across upland landscapes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Reaction time of male high school students in 14-17 year age groups.

(1948). Reaction Time of Male High School Students in 14-17 Year Age Groups. Research Quarterly. American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation: Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 22-29.