cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Aminoglutethimide-induced lysosomal changes in adrenal gland in mice

Aminoglutethimide is a steroidogenesis inhibitor and inhibits a cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzyme (CYP11A1) that converts cholesterol to pregnenolone in mitochondria. We investigated histopathological changes induced by 5-day administration of AG in mice. Cytoplasmic vacuoles of various sizes and single cell necrosis were found in zona fasciculata cells in AG-treated mice. Some vacuoles were positive for adipophilin, whereas others were positive for lysosome-associated membrane protein-2 on immunohistochemical staining, indicating they were enlarged lipid droplets and lysosomes, respectively. Electron microscopy revealed enlarged lysosomes containing damaged mitochondria and lamellar bodies in zona fasciculata cells, and they were considered to reflect the intracellular protein degradation processes, mitophagy and lipophagy. From these results, we showed that AG induces excessive lipid accumulation and mitochondrial damage in zona fasciculata cells, which leads to an accelerated lysosomal degradation in mice.
Plant Nitrogen Status of Southern Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L. Interspecific Hybrid) Grown in Pine Bark Amended Soils with Varying Rates of Nitrates

ABSTRACTAn experiment evaluating three fertilizer types (granular, liquid, and controlled released fertilizer) with nitrate ranging from 0% to 44% was conducted over two seasons on southern highbush blueberry ‘Star’ at the University of Georgia’s blueberry farm in Alapaha, GA. The objective was to identify the effect on fruit quality, plant growth, and plant tissue nitrogen status. This work demonstrated that the applications of fertilizer had similar effects on fruit quality and growth for ‘Star’ grown in sandy organic soils. In addition, fertilizers with 36.5% or 44% nitrate did not appear to have significant accumulation of nitrate in the leaves. Soil analysis revealed that none of the fertilized soils significantly increased cation exchange capacity; however, soil pH increased in soils with 36.5% and 44% nitrate applications. This suggests these nitrate levels will require continued soil monitoring and possible soil acidification to maintain appropriate soil pH for blueberry production (4.0–5.5 pH).
Towards the Security of Big Data: Building a Scalable Hash Scheme for Big Graph

Big graph model is frequently used to represent large-scale datasets such as geographical and healthcare data. Deploying these datasets in a third-party public cloud is a common solution for data sharing and processing. Maintaining data security in a public cloud is crucial. Here we target the data integrity issue, which is mainly achieved by hash operations. Existing hash schemes for graphs-structured data are either not suitable to all type of graphs or not computationally efficient for big graph. In this paper, we propose a secure, scalable hash scheme that is applicable to big graphs/trees, and its computation is highly efficient. We use the graph structure information to make our scheme unforgeable. Furthermore, we skillfully tune the scheme to make the graph verification and update processes very efficient. We will prove that our hash scheme is cryptographically secure. Our experimental results show that it has scalable computation performance.
Influence of Mulch Characteristics on Sporulation by the Artillery Fungus Sphaerobolus stellatus

Abstract The artillery fungus (Sphaerobolus stellatus) is a common, white-rotting wood decay fungus that grows on landscape mulch. During colonization, the fungus produces dark-brown, sticky spore masses (gleba) that it shoots from the mulch towards a source of light or light-colored objects. The gleba adhere tightly to surfaces such as the sides of houses or cars. Twenty-five landscape mulches were evaluated in the field and laboratory to determine which mulches supported or inhibited the artillery fungus. Although the artillery fungus eventually grew on most types of mulch, some mulches supported more sporulation than others. The artillery fungus did not grow or sporulate well on mulches made from large pine bark nuggets, Atlantic white-cedar, or cypress. We recommend these mulches for use in areas having an existing or potential artillery fungus problem. However, even these mulches should be replaced with new mulch on a regular basis.
AML Therapy: Wake Up the Guardian and Cut Loose the Executioners

In this issue of Cancer Cell, Pan et al. show that a combination therapy designed to reactivate the p53 tumor suppressor while antagonizing the anti-apoptotic function of Bcl-2 is highly active in preclinical models of refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The results may move the needle in this hard-to-treat malignancy.
Fashion subscription retailing: an exploratory study of consumer perceptions

Fashion subscription service is a newly emerged retailing model that provides an innovative way of shopping to meet consumers’ fashion needs. From the perspective of innovation adoption, the purpose of this paper is to provide an insight of consumers’ perceptions as well as adoption intention of this innovative retailing format.,This research is qualitative in nature, utilizing focus group study approach. In this paper, content analysis was applied to analyze the data.,While possessing varying degrees of knowledge about fashion subscription retailing, the participants shared the following perceptions of relative advantages, including convenience, personalization, consumer excitement, opportunities to try new styles, and opportunity to better manage their apparel budget. Concerns mainly focused on missing social shopping experiences and the hassle in the cancellation process. The overall adoption intention was high.,Due to the nature of this research, the sample size was limited and results may not be generalized. This research paid less attention to individual differences, in terms of demographic and psychographic characteristics.,Future marketing could focus more on educating consumers about the attributes of the services they provide. Retailers can strategically leverage the positively perceived advantages in their marketing communications to enhance consumers’ adoption intention of their services.,The paper fills a gap in the literature on consumer behavior toward fashion subscription retailing and sheds light for companies in their endeavors to excel in this new retailing venue.
On state encoding against power analysis attacks for finite state controllers

Finite-state controllers are central to the design of numerous small-scale electronic appliances used in home automation, environment/infrastructure monitoring, health care and emerging safety-critical systems such as drones and self-driven cars. It is estimated that there will be 50 billion small-scale IoT devices by 2020. These devices, however, are extremely vulnerable to side-channel attacks, therefore low-cost, low-power defense methods are highly desirable. This paper presents an effective method for secure state encoding of finite-state machine (FSM) based controllers to defend against power analysis attacks. Given a user-defined graded security metric, we derive constrained state encoding for the FSM controllers to mitigate information leakage through the power side-channel, resulting in low-power designs. Experimental results using over 100 FSMs from BenGen and MCNC benchmark suites show a graded increase in encoding length (40–70% for restructured FSMs) depending on the level of security chosen. The mutual information between power side-channel and both Hamming attack models varies between 0 and 2.
Boots on the ground in Africa's ancient DNA ‘revolution’: archaeological perspectives on ethics and best practices

Recent methodological advances have increased the pace and scale of African ancient DNA (aDNA) research, inciting a rush to sample broadly from museum collections, and raising ethical concerns over the destruction of human remains. In the absence of discipline-wide protocols, teams are often left to navigate aDNA sampling on an individual basis, contributing to widely varying practices that do not always protect the long-term integrity of collections. As those on the frontline, archaeologists and curators must create and adhere to best practices. We review ethical issues particular to African aDNA contexts and suggest protocols with the aim of initiating public discussion.
Ecosystems of South America

The diversity of South American ecosystems has been shaped by the geology, climate, and biogeographical history of the continent and includes tropical rain forest, dry forest, cloud forest, savannas, shrub lands, xeric formations, high Andean ecosystems, temperate grasslands, Mediterranean Matorral, temperate forest, deserts, wetlands, and mangrove ecosystems.
Experimental study of light forces on atoms: diffraction and diffusion

We have observed both diffractive and diffusive regimes in the transfer of momentum to an atomic beam by a standing-wave radiation field. The transition from diffractive to diffusive behavior is associated with an increase in the average number of spontaneous decays occurring during the interaction. In the diffractive regime, spontaneous decay is insignificant, and momentum transfer proceeds by pairs of absorption/stimulated emission processes.
Nursing enhances the negative effect of estrogen on LH release in the cow.

Twenty-three crossbred beef cows between 4 and 5 yr of age were assigned at random to one of six treatments: (1) ovariectomized 4 d postpartum (OVX) with early weaning of calves 21 d postpartum (OVX-EW; n = 4), (2) OVX-EW and 17 beta-estradiol implants (OVX-E2-EW; n = 4), (3) OVX and normal nursing by calves throughout the experiment (OVX-NN; n = 3), (4) OVX-NN and 17 beta-estradiol implants (OVX-E2-NN; n = 4), (5) intact cows and early weaning of calves 21 d postpartum (EW), (6) intact cows and normal nursed (NN). Blood was collected at 15-min intervals over a 4-h period once weekly during the 12-wk postpartum period in the OVX cows. Early weaned intact cows exhibited estrus 23 d sooner (P less than .05) than normally nursed cows. A hormone level for each cow at each week was determined from the mean of the 17 samples collected over the 4 h period each week. There were no significant changes due to E2 treatment, for concentrations of LH, FSH or number of pulses during wk 1 through 3. However, during wk 4 through 12 the linear and quadratic contrasts of wk X estrogen X nursing were significant for serum LH, indicating there was no difference between the treatments for EW and NN without E2 but there was a large difference in the presence of E2. During nursing E2 suppressed serum LH below that of nonestrogen-treated cows while after weaning E2 stimulated LH release above that of nonestrogen-treated cows.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The molecular energetics of the failing heart from animal models - Large animal models

Large animal models of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and cardiac failure are associated with alterations of myocardial high energy phosphate (HEP) content and abnormalities of oxidative phosphorylation regulation. Concentric LVH secondary to pressure overload can result in loss of myocardial ATP, a decrease of the phosphocreatine (PCr)/ATP ratio, and an increase of calculated free ADP; these changes are, at least in part, the result of alterations in the regulation of oxidative phosphorylation, but can be aggravated by impaired blood flow to the subendocardium during increased cardiac workloads. Eccentric LVH resulting from volume overload produces only modest reductions of the myocardial PCr/ATP ratio which are not worsened during increases of cardiac work. Post-infarction left ventricular remodeling is associated with a decrease of the myocardial PCr/ATP ratio that is most marked in animals that develop overt congestive heart failure. The depressed PCr/ATP ratio and ATP content in hypertrophied hearts are not the result of persistent myocardial hypoperfusion, since they are not corrected by pharmacologic coronary vasodilation. Furthermore, the additional decrease of myocardial PCr/ATP which occurs during high workloads in hypertrophied as well as in normal hearts occur without evidence of myoglobin desaturation, indicating that these changes cannot be ascribed to oxygen insufficiency. There is some evidence that impairment of long chain fatty acid uptake contributes to HEP abnormalities in hypertrophied or failing hearts. Furthermore, alterations in creatine kinase isoform expression in hypertrophied or failing hearts may result in higher levels of free ADP that could contribute to the observed HEP abnormalities.
Markov Chain MINLP Model for Reliability Optimization of System Design and Maintenance

Abstract The need for optimization tools for reliability design considering operational factors is motivated by the significance of availability of process systems and the lack of systematic and rigorous tools. In response to this need, this paper introduces a systematic approach to model the stochastic process of system failures and repairs as a continuous-time Markov chain, in which the impact of maintenance is incorporated in order to find the optimal selection of parallel units. An illustrative example is shown.
Sharing Economy Services: Business Model Generation:

The emerging growth of the sharing economy demonstrates the need to understand the factors driving this growth and the business models and practices of sharing economy service (SES) companies. Usin...
No Fraud? No Problem: Outside Director Liability for Shelf Offerings Under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933

The central purpose of the securities laws in the United States is to ensure that quality information about the companies who sell their securities to the public is being disclosed to investors. This objective is achieved through the imposition of liability for failure to comply with the laws' disclosure obligations. In particular, Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 imposes liability on parties who fail to conduct reasonable due diligence in accordance with first-time offerings of securities. Historically, courts construed the due diligence obligation under Section 11 such that parties intimately involved in a public offering - e.g., inside directors and underwriters - were required to perform thorough due diligence while outside directors, by virtue of their limited involvement, were not. This makes sense because Section 11 liability was created in order to deter negligent due diligence, but to do so without interfering with honest business practices; imposing varying levels of due diligence on parties based on their respective involvement adheres to this principle. Shelf offerings - a relatively new means of selling securities to the public - complicate things. Unlike a traditional offering, in a shelf offering there is virtually no time to conduct due diligence. Thus, scholars and industry professionals have argued that there should be a Section 11 safe harbor for underwriters when a company conducts a shelf offering. There was no similar concern for outside directors because it was just assumed that outside directors were subject to minimal liability under Section 11. In re WorldCom, Inc. Securities Litigation, changes this assumption and demonstrates the need for regulatory action. In re WorldCom imposed an unrealistic standard of due diligence for outside directors that does not serve any of Section 11's objectives. Because of this problem and the little attention outside directors have received, in this article, I propose an efficient solution: A safe harbor for outside directors modeled off of the state law doctrine, the business judgment rule.
Magnetic effects in general relativity: Quadrupoles, shear, and memory

Gravitational effect of ``magnetic type''---those having a curl-like character over large spheres---are investigated, for isolated systems. The Bondi--Sachs--Newman--Penrose formalism clarifies a number of points, especially related to radiation memory. It is shown that the ``memory tensor'' is equivalent to the change in Bondi shear, from before to after the emission of radiation. This means that if magnetic radiation memory is present, at least one of the intervals bracketing the radiation must have nonzero magnetic shear but vanishing radiation. Such intervals, called here CPMS regimes, are shown to be necessarily nonstationary, however, raising a variety of technical and interpretative issues. In linearized general relativity, the gravitational fields due to point magnetic quadrupoles with arbitrary time-dependence are computed, and some of their physics studied. In the far zone, there is a redshift effect which could be searched for astrophysically: light coming from behind a source generating magnetic shear would be redshifted by an amount varying with the angle around the source of shear, and in the far-field limit this redshift goes inversely with the impact parameter. Induction-zone effects are also considered. An induction-zone memory effect should exist which could possibly be within the reach of laboratory experiments, but no good candidates for astrophysically detectable effects are found. Also a quadrupole will induce test particles to move in such a fashion as to create an opposing quadrupole, an effect reminiscent of Lenz's law.
Can We Improve Prediction of Adverse Surgical Outcomes? Development of a Surgical Complexity Score Using a Novel Machine Learning Technique

Background An optimal method to quantify surgical complexity using patient comorbidities derived from administrative billing data is lacking. We sought to develop a novel, easy-to-use surgical Complexity Score to accurately predict adverse outcomes among patients undergoing elective surgery. Study design A novel surgical Complexity Score was developed using 100% Medicare Inpatient and Outpatient Standard Analytic Files (SAFs) from years 2012 to 2016 (n = 1,049,160). Comorbid conditions were entered into a machine learning algorithm to assign weights to maximize the correlation with multiple postoperative outcomes including morbidity, readmission, mortality, and postoperative super-use. Predictive ability was compared against 3 of the most commonly used risk adjustment indices: the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), Elixhauser Comorbidity Index (ECI), and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service's Hierarchical Condition Category (CMS-HCC). Results Patients underwent colectomy (12.6%), abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (4.4%), coronary artery bypass grafting (13.0%), total hip replacement (22.0%), total knee replacement (43.0%), or lung resection (5.0%). The Complexity Score had a good to very good predictive ability for all adverse outcomes. The Complexity Score had the highest accuracy in predicting perioperative morbidity (area under the curve [AUC]: 0.868, 95% CI 0.866 to 0.869); this performed better than the CCI (AUC: 0.717, 95% CI 0.715 to 0.719), ECI (AUC: 0.799, 95% CI 0.797 to 0.800), and similar to the CMS-HCC (AUC: 0.862, 95% CI 0.861 to 0.863). Similarly, the Complexity Score outperformed each of the 3 other comorbidity indices in predicting 90-day readmission (AUC: 0.707, 95% CI 0.705 to 0.709), 30-day readmission (AUC: 0.717, 95% CI 0.715 to 0.720), and postoperative super-use (AUC: 0.817, 95% CI 0.814 to 0.820). Conclusions Compared with the most commonly used comorbidity and surgical risk scores, the novel surgical Complexity Score outperformed the CCI, ECI, and CMS-HCC in predicting postoperative morbidity, 30-day readmission, 90-day readmission, and postoperative super-use.
Screening race in American nontheatrical film: edited by Allyson Nadia Field and Marsha Gordon, Durham and London, Duke University Press, 2019, 456 pp., $30.95(paperback), ISBN 9781478004769

Myriad avenues exist to assert influence beyond theatrical release. In Screening Race in American Nontheatrical Film, the tensions of white Hollywood’s exclusionary politics take a backseat to movi...
Individual variation in tolerance of human activity by urban dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis).

An important goal of urban ecology is determining what differentiates urban-tolerant populations of birds from their non-urban ancestors and urban-intolerant species. One key to urban success may be reacting appropriately to human activity, and the degree to which birds view humans as threats can be quantified by their escape behavior. Understanding individual-level plasticity, however, requires the tracking of known individuals. We compared flight-initiation distances (FID) and distances fled (DF) from approaches by a human across urban and non-urban populations of individually-marked Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis) in southern California. The urban population is more tolerant to people as evidenced by attenuated FIDs and DFs relative to non-urban birds. Although individual urban birds either habituated or sensitized to repeated approaches, there was no significant pattern at the population level. Overall, the behavioral patterns exhibited by urban juncos are more supportive of in situ evolution than either being a biased sample from an ancestral non-urban population or intrinsic behavioral plasticity that produces a uniform adjustment to urban life.
Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs and Ownership Structure

This paper integrates elements from the theory of agency, the theory of property rights and the theory of finance to develop a theory of the ownership structure of the firm. We define the concept of agency costs, show its relationship to the ‘separation and control’ issue, investigate the nature of the agency costs generated by the existence of debt and outside equity, demonstrate who bears costs and why, and investigate the Pareto optimality of their existence. We also provide a new definition of the firm, and show how our analysis of the factors influencing the creation and issuance of debt and equity claims is a special case of the supply side of the completeness of markets problem. The directors of such [joint-stock] companies, however, being the managers rather of other people’s money than of their own, it cannot well be expected, that they should watch over it with the same anxious vigilance with which the partners in a private copartnery frequently watch over their own. Like the stewards of a rich man, they are apt to consider attention to small matters as not for their master’s honour, and very easily give themselves a dispensation from having it. Negligence and profusion, therefore, must always prevail, more or less, in the management of the affairs of such a company. — Adam Smith (1776)
The passion projects: modernist women, intimate archives, unfinished lives: by Melanie Micir Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2019, $29.95, (hardcover) 224 pages, ISBN: 9780691193113

Melanie Micir takes as her subject the often unfinished, late career biographical writing pursued by queer women about the queer women with whom they shared intimate relationships. In championing t...
Rangeland Cattle and the Risk of Waterborne Cryptosporidium parvum Infection in Humans

Cryptosporidium parvum (C. parvum) is a tiny protozoal parasite that can cause gastrointestinal illness in a wide variety of mammals, including humans, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and horses. It also occurs in various wildlife species such as deer, raccoons, opossums, and rabbits (Fayer et al. and Ungar 1990). In cattle, clinical disease and shedding of the parasite is usually limited to calves under a few months of age (National Animal Health Monitoring System 1994, Kirkpatrick 1985, Anderson and Hall 1982). Although not confirmed by studies done in the U.S., researchers in England and in Spain have reported the shedding of C. parvum in adult beef cattle (Scott et al. 1994, Lorenzo Lorenzo et al. 1993). In humans, clinical disease and shedding can appear at all ages, but is typically more common among children (Ungar 1990). The predominant clinical sign is profuse, watery diarrhea lasting from a few days to several weeks in normal (immunocompetent) calves (Kirkpatrick 1985) and humans (Jokipii and Jokipii 1986). While this disease is usually self-limiting in immunocompetent calves and humans, it can be prolonged and life-threatening among immunocompromised people such as AIDS patients. An effective treatment for eliminating this parasite from the gastrointestinal track still does not exist (White et al. 1994, Goodgame et al. 1993). A few antibiotics may show some promise in reducing the amount of oocyst shedding in AIDS patients, but further clinical trials are needed to fully evaluate their efficacy (White et al. 1994, Goodgame et al. 1993). The severity of this disease for the immunosuppressed and the fact that this parasite was implicated in recent large scale water-borne outbreaks of gastroenteritis in humans (MacKenzie et al. 1994, Hayes et al. 1989) has prompted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state and local public health agencies and regional water districts to seek ways to reduce surface water contamination of this parasite. Some of this attention has focused on identifying the primary sources of C. parvum in surface water. Cattle are often perceived to be a leading environmental source of water-borne C. parvum. For example, the U.S. EPA has explicitly warned that inclusion of C. parvum into the proposed Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule will likely result in new restrictions being placed on the location and management of livestock operations situated within watershed regions (U.S. EPA 1994). Presented below is a brief summary of the medical ecology of C. parvum in calves and in humans and the existing scientific evidence that addresses the claim that grazing of cattle on watershed regions puts humans at significant risk for water-borne infection of C. parvum.
Attention-Based 3D Neural Architectures for Predicting Cracks in Designs

The rapid and accurate prediction of residual stresses in metal additive manufacturing (3D printing) processes is crucial to ensuring defect-free fabrication of parts used in critical industrial applications. This paper presents promising outcomes from applying attention-based neural architectures for predicting such 3D stress phenomena accurately, efficiently, and reliably. This capability is critical to drastically reducing the design maturation time for additively manufactured parts. High fidelity, physics-based numerical models of the additive melting process exist that can simulate the thermal gradients and consequent stresses produced during manufacturing, which can then be used to synthesize a 3D crack index field for the entire part volume, capturing the likelihood that a region in a part will crack upon heat treatment. However, these models are expensive and time-consuming to run. In response, a Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN) model is explored as a surrogate for the physics-based model, so that it can be used to time-efficiently estimate the crack index for a given part-design. This requires careful design of the training regime and dataset for a given design problem. Using the U-Net architecture as the baseline, we expand the standard 2D application of this architecture for segmentation to the estimation of the full 3D, continuous valued, stress field. We illustrate the primary challenge faced by the standard U-Net architecture with L2-loss arising from sparsity in critical values of the crack index and show how augmenting the architecture with attention mechanisms helps address the issue as well as improve the overall accuracy of estimation.
Difference-Frequency Chirped-Pulse Dual-comb Generation in the THz Region: Temporal Magnification of the Quantum Dynamics of Water Vapor Lines by >60,000

A new difference-frequency method based on electro-optic phase modulators and two free-running lasers is reported to perform THz dual-comb spectroscopy.
Las pinturas murales de la iglesia de San Pablo de Cacha (Canchis, Perú)

Recently discovered by a team of restorers, the mural paintings of the Church of San Pablo de Cacha in the Canchis Province of southern Peru have received little scholarly attention. This article provides the first iconographic study of the Church's rich murals, examining them in light of their broader historicaland cultural relevance. The paintings were produced in two distinct phases: the first phase corresponds to the early seventeenth century and the second phase was carried out in the late eighteenth century. This study considers the radically different social contexts within which these images were produced andthe distinct meanings that they may have transmitted to local congregations during these two critical moments in colonial Andean history.
SU‐E‐J‐173: Dosimetric Effect of Patient Positioning Uncertainties for IMRT and SBRT

Purpose: To quantify the dosimetric effects of patient positioning uncertainties on PTV coverage and normal tissue sparing and find the tolerance for IMRT and SBRT positioning errors.Method and Materials: Patient positioning uncertainties were represented by isocenter shifts. Three head and neck IMRT, three prostate IMRT, and two lung SBRT plans were included in this study. The potential positioning uncertainties were introduced by shifting the isocenters by 0.1 cm, 0.3 cm, 0.5 cm, .0 cm, and 1.5 cm in Eclipse. Actual isocenter shifts (clinical shift) based on OBI/CBCT were also applied to the plans. The plans with isocenter shifts were recalculated in Eclipse and the results were compared with the original plans. Results: The dose errors increased with isocenter shifts. For head and neck patients, the PTV D95 dropped by 3.3% and the cord dose increased by 3.0% for 3-mm shift, but D95 dropped 6.8 % with 5 mm shift, and spinal cord dose increased by 6.9%. For prostate, 3-mm shift reduced 3.4% in D95 and increased 1.2% rectum dose and 2.7% bladder dose, while 5 mm shift caused 9.8% of reduction in D95 and 14.2% increase in bladder dose, but 7.1% decrease in rectum mean dose. For lung SBRT, 1-mm shift caused 2.2% decrease in D95 and 0.7% decrease in spinal cord, but 3 mm shifts led to 14.9% of decrease in D95, while spinal cord dose also decreased by 1.5%.ConclusionThe patient positioning uncertainties reduced the PTV coverage and changed the dose to the normal tissues. However, the significance of dosimetric effect of patient positioning uncertainties varied with different tumor sites. This study suggested that the positioning uncertainty should be within 3 mm for regular IMRT treatment, and 1 mm for SBRT to avoid significant dose errors.
Trace metal cation adsorption in soils: selective chemical extractions and biological availability

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the nature of metal ions adsorbed to soil solids as interpreted by selective chemical extractions. Adsorbed metals may be classified as being bound by processes of general adsorption or specific adsorption, known as chemisorption. Metals in soil geochemical phases other than exchangeable (adsorbed) ions are in chemical equilibrium with the adsorbed metals and serve as a reservoir for metals in the soil solution and sorbed forms. The strength of adsorption of metal cations to different soil constituents varies as a function of both ion and exchanger characteristics and the chemical nature (pH and ionic strength) of the soil environment. Soluble cations may arise from several sources in a soil system: weathering of primary and secondary minerals, addition of fertilizer and liming materials, atmospheric precipitation, decay of organic matter, or anthropogenic inputs. Outside the soil solution species, adsorbed metals are the most bioavailable geochemical forms in the soil and are of great interest with respect to bioavailability and potential groundwater contamination. One of the recent geochemical applications of metal ions is the use of chemical extractions to provide rapid assessment of the bioavailable cations in contaminated soils and estimate the long-term reservoir of potentially bioavailable and leachable metals.
Experimental cryptorchidism inhibited growth of the rat ventral prostate.

: Adult Sprague-Dawley“ male rats, weighing about 350 g, were rendered cryptorchid by suturing the testes to the lateral abdominal wall. Twenty-eight days later, cryptorchidism resulted in a significant decline in testis weight and suppressed spermatogenesis. The ventral prostate was significantly smaller in cryptorchid rats. There was no significant difference in serum testosterone levels between the normal and cryptorchid rats. Charcoal-stripped aqueous extracts of the testis from intact and cryptorchid animals were tested on primary cultures of rat prostatic stromal cells. Cultures treated with extract from the intact testis had a significantly increased cell proliferation as assessed by cell count and by the rate of 3H-thymidine incorporation. Additionally, extracts of seminiferous tubules significantly increased prostate stromal cell proliferation compared to extracts of testicular interstitial components. Furthermore, this proliferative effect of testicular extracts is specific to the prostate as extract of both normal and cryptorchid testis stimulated proliferation of rat footsole fibroblasts in culture, but only extracts from intact testis stimulated proliferation of prostate stromal cells. These observations demonstrate that the testis produces nonandrogenic substances that can promote growth of prostatic stromal cells and that these substances were eliminated in the cryptorchid testis.
The whole earth telescope

The history of our galaxy and the detailed history of star formation in the early universe is written in the white dwarf stars. Recently we have learned how to reach beneath their exposed surfaces by observing white dwarfs that are intrinsic variables. We use the stellar equivalent of seismology to probe their interiors, and thus to unravel the history they hold inside. We have designed and placed into operation an observational technique that uses the whole earth as a telescope platform, defeating the effects of daylight which, until now, had seriously limited the length of a single light curve, and therefore the amount of information we could hope to extract from it. This paper describes our new telescope and presents preliminary results from our first observing run in March, 1988.
Antihypertensive agents in hemodialysis patients: a current perspective

Hypertension affects most hemodialysis patients and is often poorly controlled. Adequate control of blood pressure is difficult with conventional hemodialysis alone but is important to improve cardiovascular outcomes. Nonpharmacologic interventions to improve blood pressure include educating patients about limiting sodium intake, ensuring adequate sodium solute removal during hemodialysis, and achieving target "dry weight." However, most patients require a number of antihypertensive medications to achieve an appropriate blood pressure. First-line antihypertensive agents include angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers given their safety profile and demonstrated benefit on cardiovascular outcomes in clinical trials. beta-blockers and combined alpha- and beta-blockers should also be used in patients with cardiovascular disease or congestive heart failure and may improve outcomes in these populations. Calcium channel blockers and direct vasodilators are also effective for controlling blood pressure. Many blood pressure agents can be dosed once daily and should preferentially be administered at night to control nocturnal blood pressure and minimize intradialytic hypotension. In patients who are noncompliant with therapy, renally eliminated agents (such as lisinopril and atenolol) can be given thrice weekly following hemodialysis. Older antihypertensive agents which require thrice daily dosing ought to be avoided given the high pill burden with these regimens and the concern for noncompliance resulting in rebound hypertension. Newer antihypertensive agents, such as direct renin inhibitors, may provide alternative options to improve blood pressure but require testing for efficacy and safety in hemodialysis patients.
Ecology of Anti-Biofilm Agents I: Antibiotics versus Bacteriophages

Bacteriophages, the viruses that infect bacteria, have for decades been successfully used to combat antibiotic-resistant, chronic bacterial infections, many of which are likely biofilm associated. Antibiotics as anti-biofilm agents can, by contrast, be inefficacious against even genetically sensitive targets. Such deficiencies in usefulness may result from antibiotics, as naturally occurring compounds, not serving their producers, in nature, as stand-alone disruptors of mature biofilms. Anti-biofilm effectiveness by phages, by contrast, may result from a combination of inherent abilities to concentrate lytic antibacterial activity intracellularly via bacterial infection and extracellularly via localized population growth. Considered here is the anti-biofilm activity of microorganisms, with a case presented for why, ecologically, bacteriophages can be more efficacious than traditional antibiotics as medically or environmentally applied biofilm-disrupting agents. Four criteria, it can be argued, generally must be met, in combination, for microorganisms to eradicate biofilms: (1) Furnishing of sufficiently effective antibacterial factors, (2) intimate interaction with biofilm bacteria over extended periods, (3) associated ability to concentrate antibacterial factors in or around targets, and, ultimately, (4) a means of physically disrupting or displacing target bacteria. In nature, lytic predators of bacteria likely can meet these criteria whereas antibiotic production, in and of itself, largely may not.
Copper Proteins: Oxidases

Oxidases are enzymes that use dioxygen as the electron acceptor in oxido-reduction reactions. Many members of this enzyme class (EC 1.) rely on the Cu1+/Cu2+ redox cycle of copper prosthetic group(s) in their catalysis of the electron transfer from reducing substrate to O2. Those copper oxidases that catalyze the four-electron reduction of O2 to 2H2O are known as multicopper oxidases (MCO) because each member of this group contains at least four copper atoms of three distinct electronic and spectral types. These three types are: type 1 or ‘blue’ Cu(II), so-called because of its distinguishing strong absorbance at ∼600 nm; type 2 Cu(II), comparable in electronic structure to that found in square-planar copper complexes; and type 3 Cu(II), a Cu(II)Cu(II) pair bridged by O(H) and thus diamagnetic. With four 1e− metal redox sites, MCOs are the all-copper equivalent of the copper-heme respiratory terminal oxidases. However, MCOs are true oxidases in that all members can use as electron acceptors common (di)phenolic, and aromatic (di)amine substrates, for example, hydroquinone, ascorbic acid, and phenylenediamine. The laccases and ascorbate oxidase are examples of these MCOs (EC 1.10.3). Members of a separate MCO class (EC 1.16.3) also use lower valent metal ions as substrates, for example, Fe2+, Cu1+, and/or Mn2+. These are thereby designated metallo-oxidases; the most widely studied activity of this class has been towards Fe2+ giving rise to the common enzyme name, ferroxidase. The typical MCO structure consists of three ‘cuprodoxin’ domains, a Greek-key beta-fold that characterizes a family of mononuclear copper electron-transfer factors. Among MCOs are both soluble and type 1 membrane proteins. Functionally, MCOs are known to play essential roles in biodegradation and transformation, cell redox balance, and metal metabolism. This article summarizes current knowledge of this class of copper oxidase enzymes. Keywords: multicopper oxidase; ferroxidase; binuclear, trinuclear copper; electron transfer; spectroscopy; metal metabolism; copper resistance
Repair of locked bucket-handle meniscal tears in knees with chronic anterior cruciate ligament deficiency.

Background:Large bucket-handle meniscal tears in knees with chronic anterior cruciate ligament deficiency have been considered avascular and, thus, irreparable.Hypothesis:The rate of meniscal healing is higher than previously reported.Study Design:Prospective cohort study.Methods:Fifty-nine patients underwent staged surgical procedures of meniscal repair followed at an average of 77 ± 58 days by ligament reconstruction once full range of motion was obtained.Results:Fifty-two patients with 55 meniscal repairs were available for follow-up. At reconstruction, 30 menisci (55%) appeared healed; 19 (34%), partially healed; and 6 (11%) showed no healing (only 4 were removed). Of 43 tears in the white-on-white zone, 21 appeared healed; 17, partially healed; and 5 showed no healing. Of 11 in the red-on-white zone, 8 appeared healed; 2, partially healed; and 1 showed no healing. One meniscal tear in the red-on-red zone appeared healed. At an average follow-up of 4.3 ± 3.1 years, 36 of the 43 (83.7%) white-on-white ...
Multicolor fringe projection system with enhanced 3D reconstruction of surfaces

Most optical topology systems use a single wavelength laser for projection, using a swept spot, a moving line, or a projected grating. In a typical projected grating system, the gratings are shifted and a series of images are used to recover the 3D shape of the target. When the series of images is analyzed in the normal phase shift manner, the resulting 2D phase map typically has phase unwrapping problems due to noise and Nyquist limits. Surfaces with large vertical discontinuities present the biggest problem in 3D shape recovery. This paper looks at simultaneously projecting multiple wavelengths onto a surface to help avoid problems in unwrapping the 2D phase map. Using multiple wavelengths, the interferometer mirror does not have to be rotated to change the grating pitch and some operations can be done in parallel which reduces scanning time. Limitations and improvements in the current system will be discussed.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Risk factors for ectopic pregnancy: a comparison between adults and adolescent women.

Abstract Purpose To compare the prevalence of classical risk factors and presenting signs and symptoms between adolescents and adults with ectopic pregnancy (EP). Procedure A database containing information regarding presentation symptoms, past medical history, and ultimate pregnancy outcomes of patients presenting to the Emergency Department during early pregnancy is maintained in our institution. Data were extracted and analyzed for all patients ultimately diagnosed with EP. Patients were separated into adult (≥20 years of age) and adolescent groups ( Results The incidence of EP was lower in the adolescent group versus the adult group (9.7% versus 21.7%). Classical risk factors such as prior EP ( P P P = 0.045) and current gonorrhea and/or chlamydia (gc/ct) infection ( P Conclusions This preliminary study suggests that different risk factors may be associated with EP in adolescents compared to adults.
Changes in weight and hemolymph total solids resulting from starvation in the sixth instar of Peridroma saucia and Pseudaletia unipuncta (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Abstract Food and water deprivation during the active feeding phase results in an initial rise in the concentration of total solids in the plasma of summer laboratory generations of sixth-instar larvae of Peridroma saucia and Pseudaletia unipuncta reared at a constant temperature of 25°C. It is felt that this change is a characteristic symptom associated with starvation in these species.
CARBOXY-TERMINAL REGIONS OF THE SARCOPLASMIC/ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM CA2+- AND THE NA+/K+-ATPASES CONTROL THEIR K+ SENSITIVITY

The Na+,K(+)-ATPase and the sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-(SERCA-) ATPase belong to a family of P-type ATPases that undergo a cycle of conformational changes between the phosphorylated and dephosphorylated stages in an ion-specific manner. The ouabain-inhibitable Na+,K(+)-ATPase activity requires Na+ and K+. On the other hand, the Ca(2+)-dependent and thapsigargin-inhibitable activity of the SERCA-ATPase does not depend upon Na+ and K+ for its basal activity. However, the SERCA-ATPase and Ca(2+)-transport activities can be further activated either by K+ in a two-step fashion with high (ED50 approximately 20 mM) and low affinity (ED50 approximately 70 mM) or by Na+ in a one-step fashion with an ED50 value of approximately 50 mM. A chimera, in which the carboxy-terminal region (Leu861-COOH) of the Na+,K(+)-ATPase alpha 1 subunit replaced the corresponding region (Ser830-COOH) of the SERCA1-ATPase, lacked the low-affinity K+ activation of the SERCA-ATPase but displayed a higher-affinity (ED50 < 10 mM) activation by K+, similar to that of the Na+,K(+)-ATPase, whereas activation by Na+ was not affected. The replacement of the large cytosolic loop (Gly354-Lys712) and the amino-terminal regions (Met1-Asp162) of the SERCA1-ATPase with the corresponding portions of the Na+,K(+)-ATPase alpha 1 subunit did not affect the sensitivity of the SERCA-ATPase activity to K+. Thus, the carboxy-terminal regions of both the SERCA1 and the Na+,K(+)-ATPase alpha 1 subunit are critical for K+ sensitivity. Analysis of additional (Ca2+/Na+,K+)-ATPase chimeras demonstrated that the carboxy-terminal 102 amino acids (Phe920-Tyr1021) of the Na+/K(+)-ATPase alpha 1 subunit are sufficient to shift the K+ affinity for activation of the SERCA-ATPase without the beta subunit. No change in the two-step activation of SERCA-ATPase by K+ was seen when residues Thr871-Thr898 of the SERCA1-ATPase were replaced with residues Asn894-Ala919 of the Na+,K(+)-ATPase alpha 1 subunit, a region known to bind the Na+,K(+)-ATPase beta subunit [Lemas, M. V., et al. (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 8255-8259]. Thus, the Na+,K(+)-ATPase subunit-assembly domain and the K(+)-sensitive region are distinct within the carboxy-terminal 161 amino acids of the Na+,K(+)-ATPase.
An experimental study of argon condensation in cryogenic shock tubes

Abstract Cryogenic shock tubes immersed in liquid nitrogen were used to study condensation onset in argon diluted in helium carrier gas. The condensation in the shock tube expansion fans was detected by light scattering; the pressure was measured and used to calculate temperature, assuming isentropic flow. Previous studies employing supersonic nozzles at higher initial temperatures produced substantial supersaturation at the onset of condensation and agreed well with theory. In contrast, the shock tube experiments showed condensation at states close to equilibrium saturation, having temperatures from 47 to 76 K and pressures from 1 to 166 torr. Possible explanations of the discrepancy require consideration of differences between the two methods in cooling rates and initial temperatures in conjunction with the theory of homogeneous nucleation.
Norm enforcement among the Ju/'hoansi Bushmen : A case of strong reciprocity?

The concept of cooperative communities that enforce norm conformity through reward, as well as shaming, ridicule, and ostracism, has been central to anthropology since the work of Durkheim. Prevailing approaches from evolutionary theory explain the willingness to exert sanctions to enforce norms as self-interested behavior, while recent experimental studies suggest that altruistic rewarding and punishing—“strong reciprocity”—play an important role in promoting cooperation. This paper will use data from 308 conversations among the Ju/’hoansi (!Kung) Bushmen (a) to examine the dynamics of norm enforcement, (b) to evaluate the costs of punishment in a forager society and understand how they are reduced, and (c) to determine whether hypotheses that center on individual self-interest provide sufficient explanations for bearing the costs of norm enforcement, or whether there is evidence for strong reciprocity.
Predicting, Fabricating, and Permeability Testing of Free-Standing Ternary Palladium−Copper−Gold Membranes for Hydrogen Separation†

For hydrogen from coal gasification to be used economically, novel separation processes that produce high-purity H2 must be developed. While binary palladium based alloys have shown promising pure ...