cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Protein-Ligand Interactions: Probing the Energetics of a Putative Cation-π Interaction

In order to probe the energetics associated with a putative cation-π interaction, thermodynamic parameters are determined for complex formation between the Grb2 SH2 domain and tripeptide derivatives of RCO-pTyr-Ac6c-Asn wherein the R group is varied to include different alkyl, cycloalkyl, and aryl groups. Although an indole ring is reputed to have the strongest interaction with a guanidinium ion, binding free energies, ΔG°, for derivatives of RCO-pTyr-Ac6c-Asn bearing cyclohexyl and phenyl groups were slightly more favorable than their indolyl analog. Crystallographic analysis of two complexes reveals that test ligands bind in similar poses with the notable exception of the relative orientation and proximity of the phenyl and indolyl rings relative to an arginine residue of the domain. These spatial orientations are consistent with those observed in other cation-π interactions, but there is no net energetic benefit to such an interaction in this biological system. Accordingly, although cation-π interactions are well documented as important noncovalent forces in molecular recognition, the energetics of such interactions may be mitigated by other nonbonded interactions and solvation effects in protein-ligand associations.
CORRELATION BETWEEN CREATININE AND TOTAL NITROGEN ELIMINATION IN TWO CASES O F DYSTROPHIA ADIPOSO-GENITALIS

Introduction: The creatinine elimination of man has been the subject of much study and many experiments by physiologists and chemists and the literature on this interesting urinary constituent is quite extensive. Practically all investigators since the publication of Folin’s colorimetric method for ’the determination of creatinine are agreed that the amount eliminated by any individual is practically constant from day to day. Folin (1) says, “The absolute quantity of kreatinin eliminated in the urine on a meat-free diet is a constant quantity different for different individuals, but wholly independent of quantitative changes in the total amount of nitrogen eliminated.” This conclusion has been fully confirmed by Von Hoogenhuyze and Verploegh (2), Klerclier (3), Closson (4), Shaffer (5), and others. With this fact so firmly established we were very much sur- prised to find so wide a variation in the daily creatinine output of two patients suffering from dystrophia adiposo-genitalis,
Do bone cells behave like a neuronal network

Bone cells are organized into an interconnected network, which extends from the osteocytes within bone to the osteoblasts and lining cells on the bone surfaces. There is experimental evidence suggesting that bone tissue exhibits basic properties of short- and long-term memory. An analogy might be made between the bone cell network and neuronal systems. For instance, recent studies suggest that the neurotransmitter glutamate may play a role in cell-to-cell communication among bone cells. Glutamate is a key neurotransmitter involved in learning and memory in reflex loops and the hippocampus. The simplest forms of memory include habituation (desensitization) and sensitization. It is argued that bone cells exhibit habituation to repeated mechanical stimuli and sensitization to mechanical loading by parathyroid hormone (PTH). Acquired long-term memory of a mechanical loading environment may influence the responsiveness of bone tissue to external stimuli. For instance, bone tissue from the skull shows markedly different responses to several stimuli, e.g., mechanical loading, disuse, and PTH, compared with long bones. We speculate that the history of weight bearing imparts long-term cellular memory to the bone cell network that modulates the cellular response to a wide variety of stimuli.
Immunostimulatory factor(s) in the porcine uterine fluids

The effects of porcine uterine fluid filtrate (PUF) on lymphocyte activity were examined. PUF was added to porcine lymphocyte cultures in the presence or absence of phytohemagglutinin (PHA), concanavalin A (Con A), or pokeweed mitogen (PWM). Lymphocyte response was determined by 3H-thymidine incorporation. Results indicated that PUF enhanced PHA-, Con A-, and PWM-induced lymphocyte mitogenesis by 222%, 207%, and 261%, respectively, as compared to control. The stimulatory effect of PUF was unlikely to be due to the presence of interleukin-2 in PUF, by evidence that PUF alone did not support cytotoxic T-lymphocyte proliferation, nor was the stimulatory effect due to microbial contamination, because treatment of PUF through PyroBind columns to remove endotoxin did not affect its activity. Incubation of PUF at 56C for 40 min did not alter the enhancement effect. Treatment of PUF with trypsin or pronase for up to 24 hr did not change its activity. In mixed lymphocytes reaction, PUF augmented 3H-thymidine uptake by 242%. The molecular (mol) mass of the immunostimulatory activity in PUF was examined by size-exclusion HPLC, Sephadex G-50, and G-15 gel filtration, and it was found to be 0.8 kDa and < 0.5 kDa. Extracts of porcine endometrium also enhanced PHA-induced lymphocyte mitogenesis, suggesting that the factor(s) may be of uterine origin. In conclusion, we have identified an factor(s) in PUF capable of stimulating lymphocyte mitogenesis and mixed lymphocyte reaction.
Inhaled loxapine for acute agitation in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Agitation is a common presentation in medical and psychiatric emergency departments, as well as clinics. Agitation ranges in severity and as the agitation rises, the choices for treatment lessen. The agitated patient is typically less cooperative, necessitating use of medications that cannot be diverted – usually rapid-dissolving forms or intramuscular medications. There is currently a medication/device being studied that can be used with this patient population. The medication is older but the device is an entirely new concept. Staccato® loxapine offers rapid delivery of loxapine via an inhaled device. The aerosol is able to penetrate deep into the lung, allowing for quick delivery to systemic circulation. The studies have been favorable, showing intravenous-like pharmacokinetics and rapid onset effect. As the delivery method is noninvasive, it is a more patient-friendly alternative to intramuscular medication.
Visual tunnel analysis for visibility prediction and camera planning

A sequence of images taken along a camera trajectory captures a subset of scene appearance. If visibility space is the space that encapsulates the appearance of the scene at every conceivable pose and viewing angle, then the act of acquiring the image sequence constitutes "carving a volume in visibility space." We call such a volume a visual tunnel. The analysis of the visual tunnel allows us to do the following: predict the range of virtual camera poses in which the images can be reconstructed totally using the captured rays, predict which parts of the image can be generated for a given virtual camera pose, and plan camera paths for scene visualization at desired locations. We describe our visual tunnel concept and provide illustrative examples in 2D and 3D.
Clarifying competition: the case of wildlife and pastoral livestock in East Africa

Contentious debates surrounding the relationship between peoples’ livelihoods and protected areas in East Africa have largely revolved around claims and counter-claims about the level of competition between pastoral livestock and wildlife. Habitat and dietary overlap are often cited as the primary mechanism by which competition occurs with both overlap and lack of overlap (displacement) used as evidence of competition. Despite the importance of this issue for the economic and environmental futures of the region, there has been little scientific progress for understanding the nature of livestock–wildlife competition in pastoral landscapes. This article seeks to add conceptual clarity to this debate by focusing attention on exploitation competition in ways that are relevant to dryland East Africa. The article begins by briefly reviewing the changing understandings of the concept of competition in ecology. Requirements of competition, as defined in the literature, are then related to the ecological characteristics of East African drylands. By demonstrating that competition necessarily occurs through vegetative responses, we argue that there is the need to clarify competition by differentiating between ‘proximate competition’ and competition that is mediated by vegetation change across seasons. The article concludes by outlining the implications of these clarifications for the management and study of livestock–wildlife interactions.
The Effect of Dietary Deficiency on the Energy Metabolism of the Chick

Abstract IT HAS become increasingly clear in recent years that the formulation of modern poultry diets requires the use of energy values of feedstuffs in one form or another. In 1946, Fraps published in terms of productive energy the caloric value of many feedstuffs. More recently Hill and Anderson (1955) and Titus (1955) revised the energy values give n by Fraps and suggested the use of metabolizable energy values instead of productive energy values claiming that metabolizable energy values are more easily obtained and are less subject to variation. Brody (1945) stated that the metabolizable energy value of a feed ingredient is not decreased by a nutrient deficiency while productive energy is. Because of this he stated that the specific dynamic action of a deficient diet must be greater than that of a complete diet. Mitchell and Carman (1926) reported that a deficiency of sodium and chlorine in a diet limited…
Cloning of a horn fly cDNA, HiαE7, encoding an esterase whose transcript concentration is elevated in diazinon-resistant flies.

Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to clone two esterase cDNAs from a diazinon-resistant field population of horn flies that expresses qualitative and quantitative differences in esterases compared with a susceptible population. The open reading frame from one of the esterase cDNAs, HialphaE7, exhibits substantial amino-acid identity to an esterase associated with diazinon resistance in Lucilia cuprina. RNA Northern blots showed that HialphaE7 mRNA was more abundant in the diazinon-resistant population than the susceptible population. DNA copy number analysis did not reveal major differences in HialphaE7 gene copy number between the two populations. The full-length cDNA to HialphaE7 was cloned and sequenced, and found to contain all of the highly conserved sequence elements associated with carboxyl/cholinesterases. The HialphaE7 homologs in diazinon-resistant strains of L. cuprina and Musca domestica have been shown to possess an amino-acid substitution conferring diazinon hydrolytic activity to the esterase enzyme. This amino-acid substitution was not found in diazinon-resistant horn flies examined by allele-specific PCR. Individual flies from the resistant field population were phenotyped as diazinon-resistant or diazinon-susceptible by topical diazinon application bioassays and total RNA isolated and hybridized to HialphaE7 probe in ribonuclease protection assays. HialphaE7 transcript was expressed at a five-fold higher level in resistant female individual flies than in susceptible female individuals.
A perception-based color space for illumination-invariant image processing

Motivated by perceptual principles, we derive a new color space in which the associated metric approximates perceived distances and color displacements capture relationships that are robust to spectral changes in illumination. The resulting color space can be used with existing image processing algorithms with little or no change to the methods.
The geophysical applications of gravity anomalies

The gravity anomalies are an important tool in the hands of the geodesists and geophysicists. For instance, the positive Bouguer anomalies of the oceans and the negative ones of the mountains show qualitatively that isostatic equilibrium exists in broad lines. The isostatic anomalies are even able to localize the isostatically compensating layers and in such a way to determine the thickness of the Earth's crust. Also local disturbing masses of different types are not too difficult to discover. With the rapid and accurate gravimeters beginning a new epoch in gravimetry, quite new views for detailed geophysical study of the behavior of the Earth's interior are to be presented. But the gravity anomalies must be used carefully. In some cases they too easily lead us to wrong conclusions.
Use of Self-Questioning with a Computer-Mediated Text System and Measures of Reading Performance:

This study investigated the effects of a computer-mediated text system (CTS), designed to facilitate use of questioning strategies, on third-grade students' performance on vocabulary, comprehension, and prediction measures. The subjects were 48 third-grade average and good readers assigned randomly to one of four treatment conditions (three experimental and one control). Students in the experimental conditions read passages using the CTS and were trained to generate questions for clarification and/or focus of attention. Students in the control condition read passages printed on paper and did not receive any questioning training. The Nelson Reading Skills Test and an assessment of ability to predict reading performance were administered both before and after the treatment. Results supported the hypothesis that the CTS would be an effective medium for teaching students to generate questions to improve reading performance. Additional findings revealed that average readers made significantly greater gains than good readers in comprehension and vocabulary knowledge, whereas good readers made greater gains in ability to predict vocabulary performance. These findings indicated that students of average reading ability can learn how to use a reading strategy and apply it to a reading task. The results of the relation between computer feedback to studentgenerated questions and subsequent reading performance are also discussed. Outcomes of this study suggest the need for future research on the use of computers in the understanding and enhancement of the reading process. Comprehension is of major concern to educators and researchers who seek a better understanding of the strategies and techniques that contribute to improved reading performance. Current views of the reading process place comprehension within a framework of active processing, and descriptions of fluent reading include the use of strategies such as asking questions, making predictions, and formulating
Rural Hospital Inpatient Surgical Volume: Cutting‐edge Service or Operating on the Margin?

Surgical services are an important part of modern health care, but providing them to isolated rural citizens is especially difficult. Public policy initiatives could influence the supply, training, and distribution of surgeons, much as they have for rural primary care providers. However, so little is known about the proper distribution of surgeons, their contribution to rural health care, and the safety of rural surgery that policy cannot be shaped with confidence. This study examined the volume and complexity of inpatient surgery in rural Washington state as a first step toward a better understanding of the current status of rural surgical services. Information about rural surgical providers was obtained through telephone interviews with administrators at Washington's 42 rural hospitals. The Washington State Department of Health's Commission Hospital Abstract Recording System (CHARS) data provided a count of the annual surgical admissions at rural hospitals. Diagnosis-related group (DRG) weights were used to measure complexity of rural surgical cases. Surgical volume varied greatly among hospitals, even among those with a similar mix of surgical providers. Many hospitals provided a limited set of basic surgical services, while some performed more complex procedures. None of these rural hospitals could be considered high volume when compared to volumes at Seattle hospitals or to research reference criteria that have assessed volume-outcome relationships for surgical procedures. Several hospitals had very low volumes for some complex procedures, raising a question about the safety of performing them. The leaders of small rural hospitals must recognize not only the fiscal and service benefits of surgical services--and these are considerable--but also the potentially adverse effect of low surgical volume on patient outcomes. Policies that encourage the proper training and distribution of surgeons, the retention of basic rural surgical services, and the rational regionalization of complex surgery are likely to enhance the convenience and safety of surgery for rural citizens.
Quantitative evaluation of stress distribution in magnetic materials by Barkhausen effect and magnetic hysteresis measurements

The feasibility of determining surface stress distribution in magnetic materials by magnetic measurements has been studied using a newly developed magnetic imaging system. The results indicate that magnetic measurements can be usefully used for detecting stress concentration in magnetic materials nondestructively. The system measured hysteresis loop and Barkhausen effect signal using a surface sensor, and converted the data into a two-dimensional image showing spatial variations in magnetic properties. The sample used in this study was a nickel plate machined into a shear stress load beam configuration. When compressive stresses were applied along the neutral axis of the sample, the image of magnetic properties such as coercivity exhibited patterns which were similar to the stress distributions calculated using finite element model (FEM). For direct comparison with FEM results, stress distributions were determined empirically from the measured coercivity values using experimental calibration of the stress dependence of coercivity. The stress patterns derived from the measured magnetic properties were found to closely resemble those calculated using FEM.
Learning about suicide from the diary of Cesare Pavese.

Background: The study of the diaries of suicides presents an opportunity for greater insight into the psychodynamics of suicide than does the study of suicide notes. Aims: The present study analyzed the last year of the published diary of the Italian writer, Cesare Pavese (1908–1950), to identify changes in the content over the last year of his life. Methods: The last year of the published diary was analyzed using the Linguistic Word Count program. Results: The proportion of words related to positive emotions and optimism increased over the last year of Pavese’s life, and the entries became less complex and more self-oriented. Conclusions: The results confirm the changes in mood documented in diaries and letters from suicides in previous research, and extend the research to published diaries of famous individuals and in transition.
Managing The New Primary Care: The New Skills That Will Be Needed

Developing new models of primary care will demand a level of managerial expertise that few of today's primary care physicians possess. Yet medical schools continue to focus on the basic sciences, to the exclusion of such managerial topics as running effective teams. The approach to executing reform appears to assume that practice managers and entrepreneurs can undertake the managerial work of transforming primary care, while physicians stick with practicing medicine. This essay argues that physicians currently in practice could be equipped over time with the management skills necessary to develop and implement new models of primary care.
Medical Information Filtering Using Rule-based and Content-based Approaches

Healthcare professionals need to keep themselves updated with the latest medical developments by finding and reading relevant articles in order to provide the best possible care to their patients. The most popular technique for retrieving relevant articles from a digital library is keyword matching, which is known to retrieve a large amount of irrelevant articles without taking into account the knowledge requirements the user. Currently, the research community is making progress, but is still far from resolving this problem. In this paper, we propose a new method for generating rule-based stereotypical profiles to capture the knowledge requirements based on user roles, and an information filtering technique that combine content-based and rule-based filtering to deliver relevant articles to a user.
The Chebyshev Spectral Continuous Time Approximation for Periodic Delay Differential Equations

In this paper, the approximation technique proposed in [1] for converting a system of constant-coefficient delay differential equations (DDEs) into a system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) using pseudospectral differencing is applied to both constant and periodic systems of DDEs. Specifically, the use of Chebyshev spectral collocation is proposed in order to obtain the ”spectral accuracy” convergence behavior shown in [1]. The proposed technique is used to study the stability of first and second order constant coefficient DDEs with one or two fixed delays with or without cubic nonlinearity and parametric sinusoidal excitation, as well as of the delayed Mathieu’s equation. In all the examples, the results of the approximation by the proposed method show good agreement with either analytical results, or the results obtained before by other reliable approximation methods. In particular, the greater accuracy and convergence properties of this method compared to the finite difference-based continuous time approximation proposed recently in [2] is shown.
Boosting the Feature Space: Text Classification for Unstructured Data on the Web

The issue of seeking efficient and effective methods for classifying unstructured text in large document corpora has received much attention in recent years. Traditional document representation like bag-of-words encodes documents as feature vectors, which usually leads to sparse feature spaces with large dimensionality, thus making it hard to achieve high classification accuracies. This paper addresses the problem of classifying unstructured documents on the Web. A classification approach is proposed that utilizes traditional feature reduction techniques along with a collaborative filtering method for augmenting document feature spaces. The method produces feature spaces with an order of magnitude less features compared with a baseline bag-of-words feature selection method. Experiments on both real-world data and benchmark corpus indicate that our approach improves classification accuracy over the traditional methods for both support vector machines and AdaBoost classifiers.
Compliance of small-diameter vascular grafts as a determinant of patency

The success of small diameter vascular grafts in determining long term patency is highly limited due to the lack of compliance associated with the structures currently produced. The mismatch in compliance between the graft and the host artery has been noted as the primary cause for graft failure. Currently, there are many methods used to measure compliance, however there still exists a great deal of ambiguity in the measurements obtained by these methods. It is essential that the currently available measurement techniques be reviewed so that a simple standardized method for compliance measurement may be identified and used. The availability of such a method would lead to a significant reduction in the amount of inconsistency currently encountered by researchers when comparing compliance values.
The Rule of Law in Post‐Conflict Settings: The Empirical Record

This paper analyzes whether and to what extent countries reconstitute the rule of law following civil conflict. Drawing on an original data set of 47 cases in which conflict ended between 1970 and 1999, we find that the cessation of conflict has at best a modest effect on the rule of law. On average, countries revert to the pre-conflict rule-of-law status quo ante. In simple models, rule of law prior to the onset of conflict is the best indicator of post-conflict performance. Analysis of individual cases using structural break analysis shows that the cessation of conflict is not typically associated with an inflection in the rule of law; improvements are modest, take a long time, and fall far short of plausible thresholds for robust rule of law.
Lung edema formation following inhalation injury: Role of the bronchial blood flow

We investigated the contribution of the bronchial blood flow to the lung lymph flow (QL) and lung edema formation after inhalation injury in sheep (n = 18). The animals were equally divided into three groups and chronically prepared by implantation of cardiopulmonary catheters and a flow probe on the common bronchial artery. Groups 1 and 2 sheep were insufflated with 48 breaths of cotton smoke while group 3 received only room air. Just before injury, the bronchial artery of group 2 animals was occluded. The occlusion was maintained for the duration of the 24-h study period. At the end of the investigation, samples of lung were taken for determination of blood-free wet weight-to-dry weight ratio (W/D). Inhalation injury induced a sevenfold increase in QL in group 1 (7 +/- 1 to 50 +/- 9 ml/h; P less than 0.05) but only a threefold increase in group 2 (10 +/- 2 to 28 +/- 7 ml/h; P less than 0.05). The mean W/D value of group 1 animals was 23% higher than that of group 2 (5.1 +/- 0.4 vs. 3.9 +/- 0.2; P less than 0.05). Our data suggest that the bronchial circulation contributes to edema formation in the lung that is often seen after the acute lung injury with smoke inhalation.
Commercial Micro Computer Chips for Integrated Phased Array Control

Low cost commercial microcomputers, (currently used in many diverse applications, e.g. point-of-sale terminals, desk top computers, check processors, etc.), despite their relatively low computational speed, provide the opportunity for computing beam steering and shaping phase shifts for large phased-array antennas at high beam switching rates through the use of federated multi-computer techniques.
A numerical study of peak ground motion scaling

Strong ground motion scaling relations for the Central United States cannot be obtained by applying regression analysis to the existing, sparse data base. Adaptation of the corresponding Western United States data base must be done carefully because the important problems of differences in regional anelastic attenuation, magnitude scales, and earthquake source physics still have to be resolved. Until this is done, empirical relations have to be adapted, but some test of their validity must be made. Since the Central United States data set is not a valid test, synthetic seismograms can be used to test some of the assumptions and results. The Central United States ground motion scaling problem differs from usual experience in that the nature of ground motion scaling at distances greater than 100 km from the source is of utmost importance. Numerical techniques are used to generate SH time histories in a four layer Central United States earth model. A study of model parameters indicates that simple deductions based on the scaling of pulses are applicable to the high-frequency surface wave trains at large distances and that spatial attenuation for these waves should be of the form R − 5 / 6 exp (−γR) . An attempt to apply the results of the numerical study to the existing Central United States data base is not too impressive because of the limited frequency range of the synthetics and lack of detailed knowledge about earth structure in the Mississippi embayment, from which the actual data were obtained.
Development and Validation of a Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Method for the Prediction of Acrylamide Content in French-Fried Potato

This study investigated the ability of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to predict acrylamide content in French-fried potato. Potato flour spiked with acrylamide (50-8000 μg/kg) was used to determine if acrylamide could be accurately predicted in a potato matrix. French fries produced with various pretreatments and cook times (n = 84) and obtained from quick-service restaurants (n = 64) were used for model development and validation. Acrylamide was quantified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and reflectance spectra (400-2500 nm) of each freeze-dried sample were captured on a Foss XDS Rapid Content Analyzer-NIR spectrometer. Partial least-squares (PLS) discriminant analysis and PLS regression modeling demonstrated that NIRS could accurately detect acrylamide content as low as 50 μg/kg in the model potato matrix. Prediction errors of 135 μg/kg (R(2) = 0.98) and 255 μg/kg (R(2) = 0.93) were achieved with the best PLS models for acrylamide prediction in Russet Norkotah French-fried potato and multiple samples of unknown varieties, respectively. The findings indicate that NIRS can be used as a screening tool in potato breeding and potato processing research to reduce acrylamide in the food supply.
Distinguishing Boron Desorption from Mineral Dissolution in Arid-Zone Soils

Boron release from six arid-zone soil samples from the San Joaquin Valley of California was investigated as a function of reaction time, solution pH, and suspension density. A multiple batch extraction experiment was performed for 362 d to distinguish B desorption from B released from mineral dissolution. Amounts of B released decreased rapidly and reached a low constant value after about 6 mo of reaction time. Slopes of the B release curves for the last eight extractions approached zero (constant release rate), indicating that this B release was from mineral dissolution. We also did a shorter term experiment that contained added Mg and silicate in solution. These experiments were conducted to evaluate the contribution of B release from dissolution of B-containing Mg silicate minerals. We determined that most of the B released from the soils can be attributed to release from sorption sites rather than resulting from dissolution of B-containing Mg silicates. Various B soil tests were evaluated for their ability to measure native extractable adsorbed B. The diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA)–sorbitol extract was the best measure of available adsorbed B but still only extracted 48% of the amount of B released in the long-term experiment. The greatest amount of B was extracted at the lowest suspension density for DTPA–sorbitol (92%) and phosphate buffer pH 6.6 (95%). These extractants are recommended for quantifying native extractable adsorbed B, which must be considered in application of chemical speciation transport models to describe B movement in soils. Incorporation of our results will allow improved predictions of soil solution B concentrations under diverse agricultural and environmental conditions.
Structure of Turning in Airborne Rock Dove (Columba livia) Flocks

-We describe a nonstereo, three-dimensional photographic technique to study the turning movements of flocks of semidomestic Rock Doves (Columba livia). The method permits sequential examination of an individual's position and flight path. The birds in flocks we studied with this technique did not maintain fixed positions. Birds continually repositioned themselves during a turn. Such repositioning of individuals may be more significant in the predator-evasion function of cluster flocks than for aerodynamics. Received 8 February 1991, accepted 13 January 1992. THE WHEELING and turning maneuvers of birds flying in coordinated cluster flocks are commonly observed phenomena (Heppner 1974). The advantages incurred by birds within an organized flock structure may include aid in location and efficient exploitation of food (Murton 1968, Krebs 1973), detection of predators (Powell 1974, Siegfried and Underhill 1975, Kenward 1978), and use of neighbors as a physical screen from danger (Pulliam 1973, Treis-
Doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide lead to long-lasting impairment of spatial memory in female, but not male mice

Self-reports of chemotherapy-related cognitive deficits (CRCDs) are more prevalent among women than men, suggesting that women may be more vulnerable to the cognitive-impairing effects of chemotherapy. However, there have been no direct comparisons of females and males using objective measures of cognitive function either during or following exposure to the same chemotherapeutic regimen. The present study used an animal model, and a prospective longitudinal design, to assess sex differences in the manifestation and persistence of spatial memory deficits resulting from exposure to doxorubicin (DOX) and cyclophosphamide (CYP), commonly used anticancer drugs. The spatial memory of female and male BALB/C mice was assessed using the Morris water maze prior to, during and following 4 weekly intravenous injections of DOX (2.5mg/kg) and CYP (25mg/kg) or vehicle. Females receiving DOX+CYP experienced significant deficits in spatial memory during and following injections when compared to baseline or females receiving vehicle. These deficits persisted for at least 34 days following the final injection. In contrast, males receiving DOX+CYP injections did not exhibit alterations in spatial memory relative to baseline or males receiving vehicle. These findings indicate that females may be more vulnerable than males to the cognitive-impairing effects of DOX+CYP and demonstrate that deficits in females persist for at least several weeks following drug exposure. Preclinical studies of CRCDs should parallel clinical work by including females and examine sex specific factors as potential mechanisms.
Learning Concepts of Constructionism and Its Inspiration to Modern Education

The learning concept of constructionism centres on students,emphasizes students' subjective,encourages critical thinking and natural questioning which all can stimulate students' motive.This study would serves our modern education well.
Sustained benefits of leuprolide acetate with or without subsequent medroxyprogesterone acetate in the nonsurgical management of leiomyomata uteri

Objective To determine the effectiveness of leuprolide acetate (LA) followed by medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) in the treatment of abnormal uterine bleeding attributed to leiomyomata uteri. Design Randomized, double-blinded, controlled clinical trial. Setting Human volunteers in an academic research environment. Patients Premenopausal women with abnormal uterine bleeding attributed to leiomyomata uteri. Interventions Subjects received 6 months of LA after which they were randomized to receive MPA or placebo. Main Outcome Measures Control of bleeding as assessed by menstrual calendar and self-report; hematologic parameters (hemoglobin and ferritin); uterine size by ultrasonography. Results More than three quarters of subjects became amenorrheic on LA. The proportion of subjects with improvement in the bleeding abnormality after therapy was not different in the group receiving MPA compared with placebo; however, women who received MPA were less likely to be anemic after therapy than women receiving placebo. Among the women assigned to placebo, 55% experienced an improvement in bleeding compared with pre-GnRH agonist therapy that persisted after discontinuation of LA. There was a high dropout rate (51%), largely associated with failure of the regimens to control bleeding symptoms. Conclusions Approximately one half of women with abnormal bleeding attributed to leiomyomata uteri have sustained symptomatic improvement after 6 months of therapy with LA even when only placebo therapy is given, although MPA decreases the incidence of anemia. Leuprolide acetate with or without subsequent progestin may be useful as a component of nonsurgical management of these tumors, with monitoring of hematologic status. The interpretability of these data is limited by the high rate of therapy discontinuation in women with abnormal bleeding of the severity studied here.
A techno-economic analysis of the corn stover feedstock supply system for cellulosic biorefineries

The primary feedstock choice for most first-generation commercial cellulosic biorefineries in the Midwest is corn stover. Their rated capacities are between 76 and 114 million liters per year (MLPY). For uninterrupted operation of these plants, a year-round supply of corn stover needs to be secured, requiring a robust, efficient, and cost-effective feedstock supply system. Thus, the main objective of this work is to stochastically analyze the techno-economics of corn stover supply system for a 114 MLPY cellulosic biorefinery in the Midwest using production-scale experimental field data collected in Iowa. This study analyzes the resources requirements (equipment, labor, fuel, and consumables) and costs of different components of the supply chain that include harvesting (windrowing and baling), in-field bale collection and stacking at the field-edge, handling and transportation of bales from the field-edge to the distributed storage facilities and then to the biorefinery plant, storage, and finally the audit of nutrients removed during stover collection from the field. Additionally, this study identifies and ranks different supply chain parameters based on their relative influence on the overall resources and costs requirements. A 114 MLPY cellulosic biorefinery annually requires around 0.95 million corn stover bales supply, 250 000 hours equivalent of labor and 4.3 million L of diesel fuel. The average cost of biorefinery gate delivered corn stover is estimated to be 121.9 $-std. t−1. This cost is identified to be the most sensitive to bale density followed by harvest rate, bale length, baler field efficiency, and annual harvest days. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Prejudice and terror management at trial: Effects of defendant race/ethnicity and mortality salience on mock-jurors’ verdict judgments

Following a mortality salience or control prime, Black, Hispanic, and White college students read a murder/carjacking or auto theft trial transcript in which the defendant belonged to their racial/ethnic group or one of the others. Black and Hispanic, but not White, mock-jurors discriminated, more frequently judging outgroup defendants guilty. Mortality salience affected judgments about outgroup, but not ingroup, defendants, heightening perceptions of guilt in the murder case and decreasing guilty verdict preferences in the theft case. Mortality salience may compel derogation of outgroup defendants who threaten the cultural worldview, but not of less threatening ingroup defendants. The effect, however, seems restricted to crimes like murder that can sustain death-related anxiety.
The Use of Micropuncture Technique for Vascular or Body Cavity Access

More than 1 million cardiac catheterizations are performed every year in the United States, and incur substantial risk of access site bleeding. Furthermore, insertion of central venous catheters and performance of pericardio- or pleurocentesis are common practice, also with substantial risk of vascular or organ injury. One of the major risks for access site bleeding is multiple or posterior arterial puncture with a large needle. Using a very small needle to obtain initial access to vessels or organ cavities has the potential to reduce the risk of bleeding or organ injury. Multiple unsuccessful attempts to achieve vascular access are more forgiving, and accidental organ injury during pericardio- or pleurocentesis is less traumatic when using a small micropuncture needle. This article reviews the use of micropuncture technique for vascular or organ cavity access, a technique that has the potential to decrease vascular access site complications and organ injury.
Time to the initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy does not impact survival in patients with resected pancreatic cancer.

BACKGROUND Surgical resection with adjuvant chemotherapy is the standard of care for patients with pancreatic cancer, but to the authors' knowledge, little is known regarding the temporal relationship between chemotherapy initiation and survival. The current study analyzed the impact of time to the initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy. METHODS The National Cancer Data Base (2003-2011) was retrospectively reviewed for patients with clinical American Joint Committee on Cancer stages I to III resected pancreatic carcinoma. Time to chemotherapy was stratified at the 12-week postoperative time point. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. RESULTS The current study included 6706 patients who underwent surgical resection alone, 3723 patients who initiated adjuvant chemotherapy at ≤12 weeks, and 669 patients who initiated adjuvant chemotherapy at >12 weeks. Patients who received chemotherapy at >12 weeks were older and had greater comorbidities. Those undergoing a Whipple resection or total pancreatectomy were more likely to initiate chemotherapy later compared with those patients undergoing a distal surgical resection. Adjuvant chemotherapy conferred a survival benefit over surgical resection alone (P 12 weeks (P =.5301). When stratified by pathological stage of disease, there was no survival benefit noted for the earlier initiation of chemotherapy: stage I: P =.2783; stage II: P =.0708; and stage III: P =.0778. After controlling for patient, disease, and surgery characteristics, both patients who initiated adjuvant chemotherapy at ≤12 weeks and at >12 weeks were found to have a 35% lower odds of mortality versus those who underwent surgical resection alone (P<.0001 for both). CONCLUSIONS The earlier initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy does not appear to significantly impact long-term survival in patients with resected pancreatic cancer. Because adjuvant chemotherapy confers a survival benefit, delayed chemotherapy should be offered when appropriate. Cancer 2016. © 2016 American Cancer Society.
First Order Multivariable Calculus

In this chapter, first order calculus for functions of two variables is developed. This includes the new notions of continuity, partial derivatives, tangent plane approximations and the chain rule. It also discusses how to use MatLab to visualize these ideas.
Effects of testosterone on the transgender male voice.

Summary There is sparse prospective data on the effects of testosterone therapy on the voices of transgender men (also referred to as trans men or female-to-male transsexuals). Our aim was to investigate the timing and degree of voice deepening over 12 months among an ethnically diverse sample of transgender men. This was a prospective 12-month study at an academic outpatient endocrinology clinic and speech and voice center. The participants were seven transgender men naive to testosterone therapy. All patients received two voice assessments at baseline and one assessment at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months while on intramuscular testosterone esters. Serum testosterone and estradiol concentrations were measured at baseline and every 3 months. All seven transgender men reached a cisgender male mean fundamental frequency (MF0) within 6 months of testosterone therapy and four continued to experience a decrease after 6 months. The mean decrease in MF0 after 12 months of testosterone therapy was 6.4 semitones (49 Hz). Several patterns emerged regarding the extent and timing. For example, some participants showed no decrease in MF0 within the first 3 months of testosterone therapy, whereas others showed their greatest decrease in MF0. We concluded that transgender men who start testosterone therapy display different patterns of voice lowering. Clinicians should counsel transgender men that they may or may not experience voice lowering within the first 3 months of testosterone therapy and that the majority of voice deepening will occur within 6–9 months.
330 GHz / 500 MHz Dynamic Nuclear Polarization-NMR spectrometer

We describe the implementation of a 330 GHz gyrotron and microwave transmission line system for Dynamic Nuclear Polarization - NMR experiments performed at 1H frequencies of 500 MHz. Overall microwave transmission efficiency of 72% was achieved by careful alignment of the corrugated waveguides. Initial DNP signal enhancement of 120 was observed.
Diastolic Dysfunction and Hypertension

Left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) is characterized by alterations in LV diastolic filling, and is a strong predictor of cardiovascular events and heart failure. Hypertension is the most important risk factor for LVDD in the community and promotes LVDD through several mechanisms, including hemodynamic overload and myocardial ischemia. Associated factors such as age, ethnicity, dietary sodium, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and chronic kidney disease also contribute to LVDD in hypertensive individuals. Blood pressure lowering using antihypertensive medications can improve LVDD; however, it remains unclear whether this improvement in LV diastolic function can improve cardiovascular outcomes.
Reactive aggression and suicide-related behaviors in children and adolescents: a review and preliminary meta-analysis

The empirical literature on the association between reactive aggression and suicide-related behaviors in children and adolescents was reviewed. A narrative review of seven studies that met inclusion/exclusion criteria is followed by a preliminary meta-analysis to provide insight into the strength of the association between reactive aggression and suicide-related behaviors. Each of the seven studies reported a statistically significant association between reactive aggression and suicide-related behaviors, including suicide, nonfatal suicide attempt, and suicide ideation. Results from the meta-analysis indicated a consistent, medium-sized association (k = 7; N = 4,693; rbar = .25). The narrative review and results of the preliminary meta-analysis support the promise of pursuing future research on reactive aggression and suicide-related behaviors in children and adolescents. A theoretical model is proposed to guide the development of future research.
The Future of Modeling Languages and Modeling Systems

This chapter gives some ideas about the future of modeling system and the modeling companies. A list of features which might find a way into future releases of the modeling languages is listed. The chapter focuses on how economic constraints might influence the development of the modeling systems.
Comparison of SiC and eGaN devices in a 6.78 MHz 2.2 kW resonant inverter for wireless power transfer

This paper presents a performance comparison of two wide band gap (WBG) devices, a silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFET and an enhancement mode gallium nitride (eGaN) FET in a resonant inverter operating at 6.78 MHz for wireless power transfer (WPT) applications. While SiC MOSFETs provide high breakdown voltage and good thermal characteristics, eGaN FETs can reduce gate losses due to small gate resistance and input capacitance. In this work, we compare a 1200 V SiC MOSFET in a single-ended class Φ 2 inverter to two 650 V eGaN FETs in a push-pull class Φ 2 inverter. We designed and implemented a 6.78 MHz 2.2 kW single-ended class Φ2 inverter using a 1200 V customized SiC MOSFET with low-inductance package. In our experiments, the inverter has a 93% efficiency and 2.2 kW output power with input voltage of 440 V. We also implemented a push-pull class Φ2 inverter using two 650 V eGaN FETs at 6.78 MHz. The push-pull class Φ2 inverter reduces the input current ripple because of interleaving operation. At 200 V input voltage, the push-pull inverter with two eGaN FETs provides output power of 2 kW with 96% efficiency. In order to reduce a volume and weight of the inverter, we implemented a class Φ2 inverter with 3D printed inductors.
Achievement Standards, Debilitating Anxiety, Intelligence and College Women’s Achievement

An interaction between teacher achievement cues, student anxiety, intelligence, and scores on an achievement test in introductory psychology was found in three separate studies. High cues affected positively women low in anxiety who were either high or low in intelligence and students high in anxiety in the middle third of the intelligence test distribution.