cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The non-peptide CRH1-antagonist CP-154,526 elicits a paradoxical route-dependent activation of the HPA axis.

Abstract The corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) plays an important role in mediating physiological response to stress and is thought to be involved in the development of various psychiatric disorders. In this paper, we compare the differences between the effect of intraperitoneal (i.p.) and intraarterial (i.a.) administration of the non-peptide CRH1 antagonist CP-154,526 (CP) (10 and 20 mg/kg) on plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone levels (ACTH), heart rate, MAP, and c-Fos expression in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. Intraperitoneal, but not i.a., injection of CP resulted in an increase in plasma ACTH (from 105 ± 13 to 278 ± 51 pg/ml after 20 mg/kg). This effect was accompanied by a dramatic increase in c-Fos expression in cells immunoreactive for CRH in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. When the drug was administered i.p., CP-induced activation of the HPA appears to mask the inhibitory effect of CP on stress-induced ACTH secretion, an effect which was readily apparent when the drug was given i.a. Intraperitoneal administration of CP also increased the baseline MAP which may account for previous reports that treatment with this drug attenuated the increases associated with stress. CP given by either route had no effect on baseline heart rate or stress-induced tachycardia. Thus, in all studies in which CP 154,526 is given, the route of delivery must be given careful consideration.
The Doctor of Health Administration: an educational innovation for healthcare executives.

This article describes the development and implementation of an innovative doctoral program designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of healthcare executives. The program is a Doctor of Health Administration (D.H.A.) Degree with a specific focus on leadership. This sets the program at the Medical University of South Carolina apart from all others in being the first D.H.A. offered in the United States and the only program at the time to place its primary emphasis on leadership.
Psychosocial correlates of gap time to anabolic-androgenic steroid use.

OBJECTIVE Theoretically, legal supplement use precedes and increases the risk for illicit appearance and performance enhancing drug (APED) use-also referred to as the gateway hypothesis. Little is known about associations between the speed of progression, or gap time, from legal to illicit APED use, and psychological risk factors, such as sociocultural influence, eating disorders, body image disturbance, and impulsivity. METHOD The sample taken from two studies included 172 active steroid users (n = 143) and intense-exercising healthy controls (n = 29) between the ages of 18 and 60 (M = 34.16, SD = 10.43), the majority of whom were male (91.9%). Participants, retrospectively, reported APED use and completed measures assessing psychological and behavioral factors, including eating concern, muscle dysmorphia, and impulsivity. Participants had a gap time from initial APED use to anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) use that ranged from 0 to 38 years. RESULTS Continuous survival analysis indicated that interactions between self- versus other sociocultural influence on APED onset and both higher eating concern and impulsivity are associated with a shorter gap time from initial legal to illicit APED use. DISCUSSION The results indicate the potential value in developing different strategies for individuals with other sociocultural versus self-influence on illicit APED use, and among more impulsive and eating-concerned APED users. Future research is needed to assess different trajectories of APED use, such that eating-concerned and impulsive individuals who perceive less other sociocultural influence may be at greatest risk for a speedier progression to AAS use.
Beyond Supramolecular Chemistry: Supramolecular and Übersupramolecular Aspects of Chemical Structure and Reactivity: Static and Oscillating Electric and Magnetic Fields, Coherence, and Cooperativity

An accepted scientific theory may be viewed as an intellectual structure universally accepted by a community of scientists and termed the community’s paradigm.1 A mature science, such as Chemistry, is usually governed by a set of paradigms setting the standards for legitimate work within the science it governs. The paradigms, being the set of beliefs driving the intellectual activities, strategies, and methodologies (what can be done, what is worth doing, and how to do it) of the practitioners, coordinate and direct the puzzle-solving activity of normal everyday science. The existence of a paradigm capable of supporting a normal science tradition has been put forth as the most important characteristic that distinguishes a mature science from a developing science or a non-science. The nature of a paradigm is to possess intellectual and physical components and connections that are accepted as necessary and sufficient to describe all observable phenomena.
Using Peptide Mimics to Study the Biosynthesis of the Side-Ring System of Nosiheptide

Thiopeptide natural products have gained interest recently for their diverse pharmacological properties, including antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, and antimalarial activities. Due to their inherent poor solubility and uptake, there is interest in developing new thiopeptides that mimic these unique structures, but which exhibit better pharmacokinetic properties. One strategy is to exploit the biosynthetic pathways using a chemoenzymatic approach to make analogs. However, a complete understanding of thiopeptide biosynthesis is not available, especially for those molecules that contain a large number of modifications to the thiopeptide core. This gap in knowledge and the lack of a facile method for generating a variety of thiopeptide intermediates makes studying particular enzymatic steps difficult. We developed a method to produce thiopeptide mimics based on established synthetic procedures to study the reaction catalyzed by NosN, the class C radical S-adenosylmethionine methylase involved in carbon transfer to C4 of 3-methylindolic acid and completion of the side-ring system in nosiheptide. Herein, we detail strategies for overproducing and isolating NosN, as well as procedures for synthesizing substrate mimics to study the formation of the side-ring system of nosiheptide.
Pulmonary and Sleep Disorders

Respiratory problems are a common issue in individuals with autism spectrum disorder, (ASD), with sleep disorders and asthma being the most frequently encountered. Treatment of sleep disorders is paramount because poor sleep impacts the mental and physical well-being not only of children and adults with ASD but their families and caregivers as well. Evaluation and management of pulmonary and sleep disorders take patience and attention to detail from caregivers and medical providers; diaries and behavioral approaches are central features. There is conflicting evidence regarding the prevalence of asthma in ASD, but the greater concern is the effects that commonly used medications used to treat asthma have on behavior. In this chapter, the evaluation and management of respiratory and sleep disorders in children and adults with ASD are discussed.
What Is Your Academic Legacy

In instructional settings, educators are both the creator and the vehicle for that which seeks to be born: an academic legacy. Creating an enduring legacy begins with bringing to life the kind of a...
Regulating Best-Case Scenarios

Environmental law and policy increasingly focuses on the extreme downsides of human policies affecting environmental quality: on ecological collapse, natural hazards, disasters, and catastrophes. A robust interdisciplinary literature has developed to guide policymakers in managing such extreme-downside phenomena. Strikingly, however, there is no opposite literature for regulating and managing phenomena that expose society to the possibility of extreme-upside events, such as might result from geoengineering, successfully colonizing other planets, or implementing other socially- or environmentally-transformational new technologies. A careful comparison of the policy implications of extreme-upside outcomes with extreme-downside outcomes suggests at least a partial explanation for the asymmetric attention to extreme-downside events: psychological phenomena like loss aversion lead to greater attention to, and care for, what are perceived as potential extreme losses than for concomitant extreme gains. Unfortunately, while understandable, this asymmetric focus on perceived losses may also generate unnecessary and even counterproductive despair, while simultaneously obscuring extraordinary opportunities for improving social welfare and environmental quality, and for using law and policy to achieve wonderful outcomes.
Back to the Basics: The Resurgence of Moral Formation in American Protestant Ethics:

In the North American context, one trend in introductory Protestant Christian ethics texts is clear: the desire to draw the focus away from moral pronouncements about contemporary ‘issues’ in order...
Building a comprehensive cancer survivorship program

There is a significant increase in the number of people surviving cancer as a result of improved detection and better treatments. In the United States (US) alone, these numbers are estimated to reach 20 million by 2026 [Miller et al (2016) CA Cancer J Clin 66(4) 271-289)]; [Bluethmann et al (2016) Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 25(7) 1029-1036]. Living through cancer treatment represents a life-changing event, often including residual and long-term emotional, physical, psychological and spiritual sequelae. Survivorship programming must encompass the clinical management of medical issues, local support services for patients and their caregivers, protocols for communicating with community primary care providers (PCPs) and education for all clinicians in the survivorship continuum on the issues impacting survivors. This article will discuss a range of issues that should be addressed when developing a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary cancer survivorship care.
Welcome to the Gap: The Cultural Gap of Translation at the Age of New Media

The article addresses a phenomenon that is often referred to either as a “gap in translation,” or as an element that is “lost in translation.” The argument is that rather than a hurdle or a “loss” to be circumvented, bridged, covered and smoothed over, the gap in translation often represents the most valuable part in the act of translation. It is further argued that the tendency to bridge the gap of translation is the result of the cultural tradition of a horror-vacui (a fear of empty space) that is both gender-based and in the service of a dominant narrative that uses the notions of harmony and consistency to stifle alternative voices. It is for this reason that the gap of translation often contains the most critical information for understanding the cultural context in which translation is performed. The article discusses the gap of translation as a vehicle for cultural communication (and miscommunication); in relation (and opposition) to equivalences; in Media and New Media; in the relationship between Gender and Translation; and in relation to Gender.
From ER to OR: Results After Implementation of Multidisciplinary Pathway for Fragility Hip Fractures at a Level I Trauma Center:

Introduction:Hip fractures are one of the most common indications for hospitalization and orthopedic intervention. Fragility hip fractures are frequently associated with multiple comorbidities and ...
Maximizing coverage while ensuring fairness: a tale of conflicting objective

Ensuring fairness in computational problems has emerged as a $key$ topic during recent years, buoyed by considerations for equitable resource distributions and social justice. It $is$ possible to incorporate fairness in computational problems from several perspectives, such as using optimization, game-theoretic or machine learning frameworks. In this paper we address the problem of incorporation of fairness from a $combinatorial$ $optimization$ perspective. We formulate a combinatorial optimization framework, suitable for analysis by researchers in approximation algorithms and related areas, that incorporates fairness in maximum coverage problems as an interplay between $two$ conflicting objectives. Fairness is imposed in coverage by using coloring constraints that $minimizes$ the discrepancies between number of elements of different colors covered by selected sets; this is in contrast to the usual discrepancy minimization problems studied extensively in the literature where (usually two) colors are $not$ given $a$ $priori$ but need to be selected to minimize the maximum color discrepancy of $each$ individual set. Our main results are a set of randomized and deterministic approximation algorithms that attempts to $simultaneously$ approximate both fairness and coverage in this framework.
IL-4-induced hysteresis in naïve T cell activation

Abstract Naive T cells are generally considered to be a homogeneous population, but for their unique T cell receptors (TCRs). Naive T cells are activated within a specific cytokine milieu upon interaction with antigen-presenting cells through cognate TCR::MHC-peptide interaction and co-stimulation. Here we demonstrate that naive T cells are transcriptionally heterogeneous, and that the relative proportions of transcriptionally distinct naive T cell subpopulations are modified by immune responses, such as during helminth infection. Not only are cognate naive T cells activated during an immune response, but the cytokine produced - such as IL-4 during helminth infection - changes the transcriptome of bystander naive T cells. Such changes in gene expression and population level heterogeneity in bystander naive T cells result in altered responses to a concurrent immune challenge, for instance, hypo-responsiveness to vaccination. Thus, naive T cell activation is not the result of a singular temporal event, but is characterized by hysteresis. Our studies suggest that antigen-agnostic, cytokine-dependent naive T cell conditioning and resulting hysteresis is a mechanism that integrates input signals from concurrent infections for the regulation of the overall magnitude of the immune response.
Proteomic approach to discover human cancer viruses from formalin-fixed tissues

The challenge of discovering a completely new human tumor virus of unknown phylogeny or sequence depends on detecting viral molecules and differentiating them from host molecules in the virus-associated neoplasm. We developed differential peptide subtraction (DPS) using differential mass-spectrometry (dMS) followed by targeted analysis to facilitate this discovery. We validated this approach by analyzing Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), an aggressive human neoplasm, in which ~80% of cases are caused by the human Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV). Approximately 20% of MCC have a high mutational burden and are negative for MCV, but are microscopically indistinguishable from virus positive cases. Using 23 (12 MCV positive, 11 MCV negative) formalin-fixed MCC, DPS identified both viral and human biomarkers (MCV Large T antigen, CDKN2AIP, SERPINB5 and TRIM29) that discriminates MCV positive and negative MCC. Statistical analysis of 498,131 dMS features not matching the human proteome by DPS revealed 562 (0.11%) to be up-regulated in virus-infected samples. Remarkably, four (20%) of the top 20 candidate MS spectra originated from MCV T oncoprotein peptides and confirmed by reverse translation degenerate oligonucleotide sequencing. DPS is a robust proteomic approach to identify novel viral sequences in infectious tumors when nucleic acid-based methods are not feasible.
Alkali treatment facilitates functional nano-hydroxyapatite coating of 3D printed polylactic acid scaffolds.

Abstract Autografting is currently the gold standard for treatment of bone defects, but has shown disadvantages in the limited volume of and donor site morbidity associated with harvested bone. Customized bone scaffolds that mimic the mechanical and biological properties of native bone are needed to augment the currently limited bone regeneration strategies. To achieve this goal, a repeated cross-hatch structure with uniform cubic pores was designed and 3D printed using polylactic acid (PLA) via fused deposition modeling (FDM). PLA surfaces were modified by wet chemical (alkali) treatment for either 1 h (1hAT) or 6 h (6hAT), followed by coating with nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA). Our hypotheses were that: (i) 6-hour (but not 1-hour) alkali treatment would enhance nHA coating, (ii) the nHA coating on the 6-hour alkali-treated surface would increase hydrophilicity and cell attachment/proliferation, and (iii) stiffness, but not effective Young's modulus, would be reduced by 6-hour alkali treatment. The effects of AT and nHA coating on scaffold morphology was observed by scanning electron microscopy and quantified using a custom MATLAB script. Chemical composition and hydrophilicity were evaluated via energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and water contact angle analyses, respectively. Mechanical testing and in vitro cell culture were further employed to analyze compressive properties, and cell attachment and proliferation, respectively. As expected, 6hAT led to reduced strut width and stiffness, while improving the nHA coating and hydrophilicity. Interestingly, PLA/6hAT but not PLA/6hAT/nHA demonstrated a reduction in effective modulus compared to PLA and PLA/nHA scaffolds. From in vitro experiments, the combined PLA/6hAT/nHA modification resulted in the greatest extent of cell attachment but not proliferation. These results collectively demonstrate that the PLA/6hAT/nHA scaffold exhibits properties that may prove beneficial for cancellous bone regeneration.
Thermal Degradants Identified from the Vaping of Vitamin E Acetate.

Studies have suggested that vitamin E acetate (VEA), when used in an electronic vaping device, undergoes thermal degradation and is considered one of the main contributors in E-cigarette or Vaping product use-Associated Lung Injury (EVALI). Using a Borgwaldt 5.1 linear smoker, a SVS250 Electronic Vaporizer, and two types of tank systems, VEA was analyzed for degradation products produced via the Cooperation Centre for Scientific Research Relative to Tobacco (CORESTA) method 81 when the filter containing vaporized VEA was extracted using acetonitrile. Two of the major products identified were 2,3,5,6-tetramethyl-1,4-benzoquinone and 2,6,10,14-tetramethyl-1-pentadecene which were confirmed using analytical standards and Gas Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (GC-HRMS). Additional synthesis of 4-acetoxy-2,3,5,6-tetramethyl-2,4-cyclohexadienone and subsequent characterization using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and GC-HRMS suggested that this is not one of the products produced. Identification of these degradants will allow future studies to quantify and examine the degradants in vivo and in vitro as biomarkers for exposure and toxicity assessment.
Hepatic disposition of acetaminophen and metabolites: Pharmacokinetic modeling, protein binding and subcellular distribution

Successful pharmacokinetic modeling often requires the ability of a simple model to describe a complex series of physiological processes. However, a simple model may be inappropriate. Physiologically-relevant modeling may offer a more appropriate description, but requires further support from in vitro/in vivo data. A well-stirred hepatic model with linear processes was proposed to describe in vivo disposition of acetaminophen and metabolites after a 100 mg/kg bolus of acetaminophen to vehicle- or phenobarbital-pretreated, renal-ligated rats. Model simulations underpredicted acetaminophen glucuronide (AG) concentrations at early time points in serum, and were inconsistent with AG biliary excretion-rate profiles. Intracellular binding of AG by ligandin was hypothesized, and a cytosolic compartment with reversible binding was incorporated into the model. In this second model, only AG bound in the cytosolic compartment was available for excretion into bile. Model 2 better described the AG biliary excretion rate-time profiles based on calculated Akaike's information criterion values. However, no apparent change was observed in the underprediction of AG serum concentrations. Parameter estimates derived from the two models also were different. The rate constants regulating AG formation and sinusoidal egress were increased significantly after phenobarbital pretreatment according to model 1, while the AG biliary excretion rate constant was decreased significantly. Parameter estimates based on model 2 suggested that phenobarbital pretreatment impaired the cytosolic binding of AG but increased significantly the AG biliary excretion rate constant. The physiologic relevance of model 2 was not supported by a subsequent investigation of the protein binding and subcellular distribution of acetaminophen and metabolites. Acetaminophen, AG and acetaminophen sulfate (AS) were not bound extensively in hepatic cytosol (mean +/- SD unbound fractions were 0.90 +/- 0.08, 0.97 +/- 0.08, and 0.88 +/- 0.06, respectively). Phenobarbital pretreatment did not alter significantly the unbound fractions of acetaminophen, AG or AS in hepatic cytosol. Acetaminophen was distributed to a greater extent in lysosomes than in the nuclear, mitochondrial, microsomal and cytosolic fractions. Distribution of AS predominated in cytosolic and lysosomal fractions. AG was detected only in cytosol. Phenobarbital pretreatment decreased the content of acetaminophen, AG and AS in all hepatic fractions. This study demonstrates the utility of pharmacokinetic modeling in exploring mechanistic hypotheses. However, these results underscore the importance of obtaining pivotal data from in vitro/in vivo studies to validate hypothesized mechanisms.
The adjuvant activity of nonionic block polymer surfactants. II. Antibody formation and inflammation related to the structure of triblock and octablock copolymers.

We tested the ability of 17 surface-active agents to enhance antibody formation and inflammation. The surfactants were all block copolymers of hydrophilic polyoxyethylene (POE) and hydrophobic polyoxypropylene (POP), which differed in m.w. and mode of linkage of POP to POE. Mice were injected in each rear footpad with 1.25 mg of each surfactant with 25 micrograms of bovine serum albumin in an oil-in-water emulsion. Each agent produced a distinct pattern of immune response and inflammation. Preparations that are large and insoluble with the POE chains flanking the POP chains were very effective adjuvants for increasing antibody formation. They also activated complement and induced the release of chemotactic factors from serum. Increasing the percent of POE decreased adjuvant activity and inflammation. Decreasing the m.w. of the molecules while maintaining the proportions of POP and POE decreased the adjuvant activity and increased inflammation. Preparations synthesized in the reverse order, with the POP flanking POE, tended to induce granulomas instead of antibody. These data demonstrate that block copolymer surfactants have a spectrum of biologic activities that depend on the size and arrangement of their constituent parts. We suggest that much of the activity of these agents derives from their ability to form adsorptive surfaces similar to those of a mycobacterial glycolipid, quartz, and monosodium urate.
The role of IL-10 in regulating immunity to persistent viral infections

The immune system has evolved multipronged responses that are critical to effectively defend the body from invading pathogens and to clear infection. However, the same weapons employed to eradicate infection can have caustic effects on normal bystander cells. Therefore, tight regulation is vital and the host must balance engendering correct and sufficient immune responses to pathogens while limiting errant and excessive immunopathology. To accomplish this task, a complex network of positive and negative immune signals are delivered, which in most instances successfully eliminate the pathogen. However, in response to some viral infections, immune function is rapidly suppressed leading to viral persistence. Immune suppression is a critical obstacle to the control of many persistent viral infections such as HIV, hepatitis C, and hepatitis B virus, which together affect more than 500 million individuals worldwide. Thus, the ability to therapeutically enhance immunity is a potentially powerful approach to resolve persistent infections. The host-derived cytokine IL-10 is a key player in the establishment and perpetuation of viral persistence. This chapter discusses the role of IL-10 in viral persistence and explores the exciting prospect of therapeutically blocking IL-10 to increase antiviral immunity and vaccine efficacy.
Absence of a generalized disaccharide effect in adult female rats

Adult female Sprague-Dawley rats were either prefed ground nonpurified diet, starved 48 h, then refed a purified carbohydrate diet for 72 h or shifted from ground nonpurified diet directly to a purified carbohydrate diet for 72 h. Diets were formulated to contain 65% carbohydrate either as the disac- charides maltose or sucrose or as their respective monosaccharide equivalents glucose and invert sugar (glucose: fructose, 1:1). Alterations in hepatic glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH), 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGDH) and malic enzyme (ME) activities, relative liver size and food efficiency were determined. Rats starved and refed invert sugar had higher levels of G6PDH and ME than those red glucose, indicating a positive fructose effect. The greatest changes in hepatic enzyme activities were observed in rats consuming diets containing sucrose. Positive fructose and disaccharide effects were obtained with sucrose for all enzymes studied in both dietary shift and starve-refeed studies. No disaccharide effect was observed with maltose. In conclusion, females did not display a generalized disaccharide effect with either dietary shifting or star vation refeeding. J. Nutr. 116: 1555-1560, 1986.
Non time stationary shaping of ultrafast pulses with transient molecular alignment

Ultrafast lasers pulses are shaped when propagating through ultrafast index transients by controlling both the input pulse temporal phase and the index transient. This technique extends beyond the limits of standard pulse shapers
The remarkable medical lineage of the Monro family: contributions of Alexander primus, secundus, and tertius.

Among the families that have influenced the development of modern medicine into what it is today, the Monro lineage stands as one of the most notable. Alexander Monro primus (1697–1767) was the first of 3 generations with the same name, a dynasty that spanned 126 years occupying the Chair of Anatomy one after the other at the University of Edinburgh. After becoming Professor of Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh in 1719, Monro primus played a principal role in the establishment of the University of Edinburgh School of Medicine and the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. In 1726, he published The Anatomy of the Humane Bones, of which 8 editions were printed during his lifetime. His son, Alexander Monro secundus (1733–1817), arguably the most notable of the 3 men, succeeded him as Professor of Anatomy. A highly regarded lecturer and anatomist, Monro secundus studied under many great physicians, including William Hunter and Johann Friedrich Meckel the Elder, and was also teacher to other well-known figures at the...
On the Cognitive Component of Learned Helplessness and Depression

Publisher Summary This chapter presents data that bears directly on the existence of cognitive deficit and proposes that the deficit stems either from perceptual or from expectational bias toward non-contingency. The learned helplessness theory successfully integrates the animal and human data within a single theoretical framework. The present state of animal research strongly indicates that helpless animals have trouble learning later contingencies but has not yet isolated whether the deficit is perceptual or expectational. The present state of human research tends less strongly to indicate that depressed and helpless humans have trouble learning later contingencies. Learned helplessness argues that organisms actively form a subjective representation of the degree to which an outcome is dependent upon responses. This representation has been variously called a perception, belief, or expectation of control. The learned helplessness theory is cognitive. It is one of the few learning theories which postulates subjective representations of contingencies as a mediator between objective contingencies and behavioral effects. The chapter examines evidence bearing on the judgment of contingency in animals and humans as it bears on helplessness theory. The chapter also critically examines the findings offered in support of cognitive deficit in helpless animals and humans, with particular reference to the separation of this deficit from hypothesized motivation and activity.
Variations in opioid receptor genes in neonatal abstinence syndrome.

Background There is significant variability in the severity of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) due to in-utero opioid exposure. We wanted to determine if single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in key candidate genes contribute to this variability.
Quantum Fields in the Spacetime Tangent Bundle

Maximal-acceleration invariant quantum fields are formulated in terms of the differential geometric structure of the spacetime tangent bundle. The simple special case is considered of a flat Minkowski space-time for which the bundle is also flat. The field is shown to have a physically based Planck-scale effective regularization and a spectral cutoff at the Planck mass.
Radiation Effects on Cerebral White Matter: MR Evaluation

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the white-matter changes associated with cranial radiation by MR imaging. The MR scans of 95 patients receiving conventional external beam radiation for a wide variety of central nervous system tumors were reviewed. Moderately T2-weighted spin-echo images with a 2000-msec repetition time and 56-msec-echo time were analyzed for white-matter abnormalities without knowledge of the patient9s history. These were correlated with radiation dose, port, and time interval since completion of therapy, and then compared with an age-matched control group of 180 patients with nonirradiated, space-occupying, intracranial lesions. Radiation-related lesions were characterized as symmetric, high-signal foci in the enventricular white matter. Relative sparing of the posterior fossa, basal ganglia, and internal capsules was noted. In patients older than 20 years, these changes paralleled those seen in ischemia but were more prevalent (p
Identification of OTX2 as a medulloblastoma oncogene whose product can be targeted by all-trans retinoic acid

Through digital karyotyping of permanent medulloblastoma cell lines, we found that the homeobox gene OTX2 was amplified more than 10-fold in three cell lines. Gene expression analyses showed that OTX2 transcripts were present at high levels in 14 of 15 (93%) medulloblastomas with anaplastic histopathologic features. Knockdown of OTX2 expression by siRNAs inhibited medulloblastoma cell growth in vitro, whereas pharmacologic doses of all-trans retinoic acid repressed OTX2 expression and induced apoptosis only in medulloblastoma cell lines that expressed OTX2. These observations suggest that OTX2 is essential for the pathogenesis of anaplastic medulloblastomas and that these tumors may be amenable to therapy with all-trans-retinoic acid.
Porcine Islets as an Alternative to Human Islets for Transplantation

My discussion will focus on the use of porcine islets as an alternative to human islets for transplantation. In my opinion, allotransplantation (human-to-human) will remain the gold standard. I hope to convince you by the end of this talk, however, that in the future, there may be a need to consider alternative sources of organs. The number of patients on the organ transplant list in the United States has increased dramatically from less than 20,000 in 1988 to greater than 75,000 in 2001. During the same 12 years, the number of cadaveric donors has remained fairly constant, ranging between 4,500 and 5,900. A fraction of the shortfall between the number of patients on the waiting list and the number of cadaveric donors is made up by those altruistic people who offer organs to their relatives or friends: living donors (see Figure 1). Figure 1. Although the number of cadaveric organ donors in the United States has remained fairly constant during the last 12 years, the number of patients on the waiting list has soared. Living donors (mostly of kidneys, but of an increasing number of livers) have made up some of the shortfall. The United Network for Organ Sharing (Richmond, Va) updates its organ transplant waiting list weekly on its website, www.unos.org. As of February 24 of this year, almost 2,500 people are waiting for combined kidney-pancreas transplants; greater than 1,000 for isolated pancreases; and 185 for islet cell transplants. Because patients are added to the waiting list each day, investigators have been forced to develop methods of expanding the donor pool. Secretary Tommy Thompson of the United States Department of Health and Human Services had great success as Governor of Wisconsin in encouraging organ donation. He stated that during the first 100 days of his administration, he hoped to …
Negotiator Judgment: A Critical Look at the Rationality Assumption

This article overviews prescriptive research, specifies limitations of that research direction, and introduces a complementary research approach that focuses on the judgmental limitations of negotiators. Specifically, this complementary approach examines how systematic deviations from rationality in negotiator judgment reduce the effectiveness of negotiators.
Nonequilibrium Molecular Dynamics of Microwave-Driven Zeolite−Guest Systems: Loading Dependence of Athermal Effects

We have performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of zeolite−guest systems driven by microwaves (MW), to study how energy is distributed in these systems as a function of guest loading. Expanding on a previously published communication [Blanco, C.; Auerbach, S. M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 6250.], we have found that MW-driven MD with the Andersen thermostat gives robust steady states, while MW-driven MD with the Nose−Hoover chain thermostat does not. We studied MW-driven zeolites NaY, DAY and silicalite, as well as benzene and/or methanol in DAY or silicalite. DAY and silicalite exhibit little MW heating, while NaY gives strong MW heating primarily through the Na cations, whose kinetic energy was found to equilibrate on picosecond time scales. Zeolite−benzene systems show minimal MW heating, while zeolite−methanol systems exhibit significant MW heating with steady-state temperatures increasing linearly with methanol loading. MW-driven equimolar mixtures of benzene and methanol at low to medium load...
Adaptive quantum tomography

Quantum states are characterized using quantum tomography, a benchmarking tool used to analyze quantum information systems. We report on advances in tomographic theory and practice which together increase the accuracy and efficiency of this analysis
Subependymal Pseudocysts in the Fetal Brain and Unrelated Hydrocolpos

Subependymal pseudocysts are found in approximately 5% of all neonates. When they are isolated, the outcome is usually favorable. However, when they are associated with other anomalies, the prognosis is often poor. The diagnosis of imperforate hymen is rarely diagnosed before puberty, but reports of diagnosis in utero have been documented. The authors present a case with two coexisting rare findings in one fetus. The postnatal outcome for the infant with these isolated unrelated findings proved to be reassuring.
Repression breeds resistance: The black liberation army and the radical legacy of the black panther party

Abstract Recent scholarship argues the Black Panther Party (BPP) existed from 1966 to 1982. Many activists and scholars argue that the BPP only existed as a revolutionary organization from 1966 until 1971, in the initial period of its existence. A significant part of the BPP's legacy is the development of and participation in armed resistance in response to a governmental counter‐insurgency campaign. As some BPP members committed themselves to involvement in clandestine resistance, this radical response accelerated the development of the armed movement called the Black Liberation Army. The focus of this study is to examine the influence and participation of BPP members and supporters on the revolutionary armed movement, the Black Liberation Army. This study asserts the activity of the radical faction of the BPP through the form of the Black Liberation Army existed just as long as the Oakland‐based Panthers, perhaps longer since it has current manifestations.
15N NMR spectroscopy as a method for comparing the rates of imidization of several diamines

The relative rates of the conversion of amide-acid to imide was measured for a series or aromatic diamines that have been identified as potential replacements for 4,4'-methylene dianiline (MDA) in high-temperature polyimides and polymer composites. These rates were compared with the N-15 NMR resonances of the unreacted amines. The initial rates of imidization track with the difference in chemical shift between the amine nitrogens in MDA and those in the subject diamines. This comparison demonstrated that N-15 NMR spectroscopy is appropriate for the rapid screening of candidate diamines to determine their reactivity relative to MDA, and can serve to provide guidance to the process of creating the time-temperature profiles used in processing these materials into polymer matrix composites.
Water sorption of poly(methyl methacrylate): 3. Effects of plasticizers

Abstract Plasticized poly(methyl methacrylate) was made by γ-irradiation of mixtures of monomer and various phthalates. Samples were immersed in water and uptake and diffusion coefficients determined. More reliance was placed on determinations made in desorption because these did not involve complications due to loss of components by dissolution. As expected, plasticizers reduced water uptake simply due to their more hydrophobic nature. An additional reduction was attributed to the filling, by plasticizer, of microvoids which otherwise would have been able to accommodate water. The diffusion coefficient of water increased with plasticizer content and there was an indication that this increase was greater above the glass transition temperature.
Sensitivity of sheep to exogenous prostaglandin F2α early in the estrous cycle

Abstract One hundred ewes were monitored twice-a-day for estrus and only those ewes displaying an estrous cycle of 16.5–18.0 days in length were utilized in the experiment. Ewes were subsequently treated with a single injection of 5 or 10 mg of prostaglandin F 2α (PGF 2α ) on days 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5 or 5.0 ( n =10 ewes per day) of the estrous cycle (day 0.0=the a.m. or p.m. of first detected estrus) to determine their sensitivity to induction of estrus with prostaglandin F 2α . Ewes that were detected in estrus within 24–72 h after treatment with PGF 2α were considered sensitive to PGF 2α treatment. This definition of sensitivity to PGF was inclusive as all ewes either responded within 24–72 h after PGF 2α treatment or they came into estrus at the expected time based on their previous, untreated, estrous cycle. Results indicated that a significant ( P 2α between days 3.5 and 4.0, as 10 and 50% of the ewes, respectively, responded to treatment. PGF 2α treatment on days 4.5 and 5.0 caused a non-significant increase in responsiveness as 70 and 75% of the ewes, respectively, came into estrus within 1–3 days. The 10 mg dose, being more effective than the 5 mg dose, shifted the response curve by roughly 20 percentage points beginning on day 3.5 and continued through the later exposure times. In conclusion, the CL early in the estrous cycle of ewes was variable in its responsive to a single exposure to PGF 2α and some of this variability was attributed to physiological events occurring between days 3.5 and 4.0.
Some aspects of Rashevsky's theory of delayed reflexes

A closed solution of the integral equation obtained by N. Rashevsky, with the assumption that the inhibitory influence between centers is a constant, i.e., independent of the distance apart, is obtained. Furthermore, a more general kernel, representing a variable inhibitory influence, which in our case is a monotonic (increasing or decreasing) function of the distance between centers, is introduced. The resulting integral equation is solved and some properties of the solution discussed.
Reactivity on photooxidation of selected five-membered heterocyclic flavor compounds

Conjugated five-membered heterocyclic compounds including 2-ethylfuran, 2-furfural, 2-acetylfuran, 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furfural (HMF), 2-ethylthiophene, 2-formylthiophene, 2-acetylthiophene, 2-ethylpyrrole, 2-formylpyrrole, 2-acetylpyrrole, 2,4,5-trimethyloxazole, and 2,4,5-trimethylthiazole in absolute alcohol containing chlorophylls were bubbled with oxygen under light for 1 h. The reactivity of these heterocyclic compounds with singlet oxygen was studied using a high-performance liquid chromatographic method, in which the percentage of substrate remaining was determined. The photooxidation reactivity of these selected five-membered flavor compounds was as follows: 2-ethylpyrrole > 2-ethylfuran > 2-ethylthiophene; 2,4,5-trimethyloxazole > 2,4,5-trimethylthiazole; 2-ethylfuran > HMF > 2-acetylfuran > 2-furfural; 2-ethylpyrrole > 2-acetylpyrrole > 2-formylpyrrole. The electron density at C-1 and C-4 may explain the photooxidation reactivity of these five-membered heterocyclic compounds. Keywords: Five-me...
Adaptive control of aircraft lateral motion with an unknown transition to nonmimimum-phase dynamics

We apply retrospective cost adaptive control (RCAC) to a linearized aircraft dynamics with an unknown transition to nonminimum-phase (NMP) dynamics. In prior work, RCAC was used for command-following with unknown NMP zeros. In this work we extend those results to command following for cases where the dynamics transition from minimum-phase to NMP. We use system identification techniques to identify the NMP zero, and use this information in RCAC. We consider both full-state feedback and output feedback, and in both cases we follow step commands with transitioning dynamics. We first consider the case where RCAC is unaware of the change and NMP zero identification is unavailable to RCAC. We then assume that NMP zero information is available to RCAC from system identification.
Numerical Simulation of Three-Dimensional Augmented Burnett Equations for Hypersonic Flow

For computation of hypersonic e owe elds about space vehicles in low Earth orbits, where the local Knudsen numbers Kn lie in the continuum-transition regime, a set of extended three-dimensional hydrodynamic equations is required that is more accurate than the Navier ‐Stokes equations and computationally more efe cient than the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) computations. The three-dimensional augmented Burnett equations are derived from the Chapman ‐Enskog expansion of the Boltzmann equation to O(Kn 2) and adding the augmented terms (linear third-order super Burnett terms with coefe cients determined from linearized stability analysis to ensure stability of the augmented Burnett equations to small wavelength disturbances ). The three-dimensional augmentedBurnettequationsareappliedtocomputethehypersonicblunt-bodye owsforvariousrangeofKnudsen numbers (0:0884 < ‐ Kn < ‐ 0:227) and Mach numbers (10 < ‐ M < ‐ 25:3). The computational results are compared with the Navier ‐Stokes solutions, the existing augmented Burnett solutions, and the available DSMC results. The comparisons show that the difference between the Navier ‐Stokes and the augmented Burnett solutions is very small (less than 3% for the shock layer thickness ) at Knudsen numbers less than 0.01; the difference becomes signie cant as the Knudsen number increases. The comparisons also show that the augmented Burnett solutions are signie cantly closer to the DSMC results for the temperature distributions in the continuum-transition regime than the Navier ‐Stokes calculations.
INCARCERATED WOMEN: I. A COMPARISON OF COLLEGE AND NONCOLLEGE INMATES '

Whether inmates who participate in college programs have better postrelease outcomes than those who do not participate is controversial, with opponents of college prison programs suggesting that college programs' successes are due to selectivity. 150 women in a state prison, including 61 women in a college program and 89 women sampled from the general population, were compared. Only 7 of 34 variables significantly differentiated the two groups. The percentage of women who had used marijuana, rates of mothers' arrests, length of time served, rates of physical abuse, participation in vocational programs, and percent incarcerated for violent offences were higher among the women in the college program, who were more likely to be first-time offenders.
Time series analysis of treatment adherence patterns in individuals with obstructive sleep apnea.

Adherence to medical recommendations is often suboptimal, making examination of adherence data an important scientific concern. Studies that attempt to predict or modify adherence often face the problem that adherence as a dependent variable is complex and non-normally distributed. Traditional statistical approaches to adherence data may mask individual variability that may guide clinician and researcher’s development of adherence interventions. In this study, we employ time series analysis to examine adherence patterns objectively in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Although treatment adherence is poor in OSA, state-of-the-art adherence monitoring allows a comprehensive examination of objective data. The purpose of the study is to determine the number and types of adherence patterns seen in a sample of patients with OSA receiving positive airway pressure (PAP). Seventy-one moderate to severe OSA participants with 365 days of treatment data were studied. Adherence patterns could be classified into seven categories: (1) Good Users (24%), (2) Slow Improvers (13%), (3) Slow Decliners (14%), (4) Variable Users (17%), (5) Occasional Attempters (8%), (6) Early Drop-outs (13%), and (7) Non-Users (11%). Time series analysis provides a useful method for examining adherence while maintaining a focus on individual differences. Implications for future research are discussed.