cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of d-amphetamine on the turnover, synthesis and metabolism of brain phosphatidylcholine

Abstract The effect of acute and chronic d -amphetamine treatment on the synthesis, metabolism and turnover of 14 C-choline labeled phosphatidylcholine was measured in discrete regions of the rat brain. Chronic d -amphetamine treatment was found to inhibit the turnover of 14 C-phosphatidylcholine in the cortex, cerebellum, hypothalamus, diencephalon, brain stem and caudate nucleus. Acute d -amphetamine treatment was found to inhibit the incorporation of 14 C-choline into phosphatidylcholine only in the cortex and cerebellum. Studies in vitro suggest that d -amphetamine inhibits cortical phosphatidylcholine synthesis at the cytidine diphosphorylcholine diglyceride transferase step. d -Amphetamine was not found to alter the base-exchange reaction or phospholipase C activity.
Capsid-targeted viral inactivation can eliminate the production of infectious murine leukemia virus in vitro

Abstract Capsid-targeted viral inactivation (CTVI), a promising gene-based antiviral strategy against retroviruses, was designed to disrupt the retroviral life cycle by incorporating a degradative enzyme (e.g., nuclease) into viral particles during assembly, thereby reducing or eliminating the production of infectious virus. The experimental system used to develop the CTVI strategy for retroviruses is designed to block the production of infectious Moloney murine leukemia virus (Mo-MLV). Two nucleases, Escherichia coli ribonulease HI and Staphylococcus nuclease, have been shown to be tolerated by the cell as Mo-MLV Gag-nuclease fusion polyproteins and still be active in the viral particles. The goal of this study was to determine what cellular and viral factors limit CTVI in cultured cells. The avian DF-1 cell line greatly expanded our ability to test the antiviral efficacy of CTVI in long-term assays and to determine the mechanism(s) of CTVI action. The CTVI antiviral effect is dependent on the level of Mo-MLV Gag-nuclease fusion polyprotein expressed. The Mo-MLV Gag-nuclease polyproteins produce a long-term prophylactic antiviral effect after a low- or high-dose Mo-MLV challenge. The Mo-MLV Gag-nuclease fusions have a significant therapeutic effect (∼1000-fold) on the production of infectious Mo-MLV. The therapeutic CTVI effect can be improved by a second delivery of the CTVI fusion gene. Both the prophylactic and the therapeutic CTVI antiviral approaches can virtually eliminate the production of infectious Mo-MLV in vitro and are only limited by the number of cells in the population that do not express adequate levels of the CTVI fusion polyprotein.
Examining hate-motivated aggression: A review of the social psychological literature on hate crimes as a distinct form of aggression

Although intergroup violence has occurred in the United States from as early as the first European contact with North America, it has only been within the last two decades that the label hate crime has been used to describe particular acts of intergroup aggression and violence. A hate crime is an illegal act involving intentional selection of a victim based on a perpetrator's bias or prejudice against the actual or perceived status of the victim. Little scholarly attention has focused on hate crime, and attempts to explain its causes and to describe its victims and perpetrators are rare. This article reviews the literature on hate crimes in social psychology and other related fields. The goal of this article was to identify common factors across the different types of hate crimes in order to clarify existing claims about the nature of hate-motivated crimes, their prevalence, and causes. Existing theory and empirical findings are examined throughout the discussion.
Event Dependence and Heterogeneity in Duration Models: The Conditional Frailty Model

We introduce the conditional frailty model, an event history model that separates and accounts for both event dependence and heterogeneity in repeated events processes. Event dependence and heterogeneity create within-subject correlation in event times thereby violating the assumptions of standard event history models. Simulations show the advantage of the conditional frailty model. Specifically they demonstrate the model's ability to disentangle the sources of within-subject correlation as well as the gains in both efficiency and bias of the model when compared to the widely used alternatives, which often produce conflicting conclusions. Two substantive political science problems illustrate the usefulness and interpretation of the model: state policy adoption and terrorist attacks.
Developing and debugging algebraic specifications for Java classes

Modern programs make extensive use of reusable software libraries. For example, a study of a number of large Java applications shows that between 17p and 30p of the classes in those applications use container classes defined in the java.util package. Given this extensive code reuse in Java programs, it is important for the interfaces of reusable classes to be well documented. An interface is well documented if it satisfies the following requirements: (1) the documentation completely describes how to use the interface; (2) the documentation is clear; (3) the documentation is unambiguous; and (4) any deviation between the documentation and the code is machine detectable. Unfortunately, documentation in natural language, which is the norm, does not satisfy the above requirements. Formal specifications can satisfy them but they are difficult to develop, requiring significant effort on the part of programmers.To address the practical difficulties with formal specifications, we describe and evaluate a tool to help programmers write and debug algebraic specifications. Given an algebraic specification of a class, our interpreter generates a prototype that can be used within an application like a regular Java class. When running an application that uses the prototype, the interpreter prints error messages that tell the developer in which way the specification is incomplete or inconsistent with a hand-coded implementation of the class. We use case studies to demonstrate the usefulness of our system.
A summary review of the scientific findings of the mariner venus mission.

A summary review of the scientific findings of Mariner II is given insofar as available data allow. The instruments and those characteristics of the total rocket system which affect the scientific experiments are described. The review covers both planetary and interplanetary results and provides descriptive material on the instruments.
Uncoupling metallonuclease metal ion binding sites via nudge mutagenesis.

The hydrolysis of phosphodiester bonds by nucleases is critical to nucleic acid processing. Many nucleases utilize metal ion cofactors, and for a number of these enzymes two active-site metal ions have been detected. Testing proposed mechanistic roles for individual bound metal ions has been hampered by the similarity between the sites and cooperative behavior. In the homodimeric PvuII restriction endonuclease, the metal ion dependence of DNA binding is sigmoidal and consistent with two classes of coupled metal ion binding sites. We reasoned that a conservative active-site mutation would perturb the ligand field sufficiently to observe the titration of individual metal ion binding sites without significantly disturbing enzyme function. Indeed, mutation of a Tyr residue 5.5 A from both metal ions in the enzyme–substrate crystal structure (Y94F) renders the metal ion dependence of DNA binding biphasic: two classes of metal ion binding sites become distinct in the presence of DNA. The perturbation in metal ion coordination is supported by 1H–15N heteronuclear single quantum coherence spectra of enzyme–Ca(II) and enzyme–Ca(II)–DNA complexes. Metal ion binding by free Y94F is basically unperturbed: through multiple experiments with different metal ions, the data are consistent with two alkaline earth metal ion binding sites per subunit of low millimolar affinity, behavior which is very similar to that of the wild type. The results presented here indicate a role for the hydroxyl group of Tyr94 in the coupling of metal ion binding sites in the presence of DNA. Its removal causes the affinities for the two metal ion binding sites to be resolved in the presence of substrate. Such tuning of metal ion affinities will be invaluable to efforts to ascertain the contributions of individual bound metal ions to metallonuclease function.
Implementation of Nephrology Subspecialty Curricular Milestones

Beginning in the 2014-2015 training year, the US Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) required that nephrology Clinical Competency Committees assess fellows' progress toward 23 subcompetency "context nonspecific" internal medicine subspecialty milestones. Fellows' advancement toward the "ready for unsupervised practice" target milestone now is tracked in each of the 6 competencies: Patient Care, Medical Knowledge, Professionalism, Interpersonal Communication Skills, Practice-Based Learning and Improvement, and Systems-Based Practice. Nephrology program directors and subspecialty societies must define nephrology-specific "curricular milestones," mapped to the nonspecific ACGME milestones. Although the ACGME goal is to produce data that can discriminate between successful and underperforming training programs, the approach is at risk to produce biased, inaccurate, and unhelpful information. We map the ACGME internal medicine subspecialty milestones to our previously published nephrology-specific milestone schema and describe entrustable professional activities and other objective assessment tools that inform milestone decisions. Mapping our schema onto the ACGME subspecialty milestone reporting form allows comparison with the ACGME subspecialty milestones and the curricular milestones developed by the American Society of Nephrology Program Directors. Clinical Competency Committees may easily adapt and directly translate milestone decisions reached using our schema onto the ACGME internal medicine subspecialty competency milestone-reporting format.
Light Scattering Functions for Concentric Spheres. Total Scattering Coefficients, m 1 = 2.1050, m 2 = 1.4821*

Total scattering coefficients for concentric spheres with inner sphere m1 = 2.1050 and concentric spherical shell m2 = 1.4821 have been computed for ν = 2πb/λ over the interval 0.1 (.1) 23.0 (2) 53.0 and for α/ν values of 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 0.9, 0.95, 0.98, 0.99, and 1.00, where α = 2πa/λ, a and b are the radii of the inner and total spheres, and λ is the wavelength. The results are compared with those obtained by a small particle approximation, the approximation suggested by Ryde, the Rayleigh-Gans method and an approximation based on using the single sphere method with a volume averaged refractive index. The Rayleigh-Gans equations for concentric spheres are derived. The small particle approximation permits accurate estimation of the total scattering coefficient for any combination of α and ν up to ν = 1.4.
Turning Western, turning Asian: a study of Japanese ‘identity’ from a Gramscian perspective

Abstract Cultural analysis, an increasingly popular approach, contributes to our understanding of comparative and global politics by drawing needed attention to non-material factors. In some forms, however, this approach may also strip political actors of agency, treating norms and ideas as external, independent and determinative. Gramsci offers a useful corrective, highlighting the elusive link between material and non-material factors. I invoke Gramscian analysis to explain the otherwise confounding volatility in Japanese norms of identity, norms that over the past 150 years have appeared to flip-flop between “Western” and “Asian” poles. This case study reveals that dominant forces in Japan have used these competing social constructs to consolidate their hegemony or advance their particular interests at different historical moments.
The Regulation of Metabolism and Energy Release in Contracting Muscle

A brief review has been given of our present knowledge of the nature of the chemical events coupled with muscular contraction. Although there are experiments that fail to demonstrate a breakdown of ATP in the contraction of living muscle, these may yet yield to special explanations, leaving the conclusion that a breakdown of ATP is the reaction most closely related to the mechanical activity of the contractile structure. Owing to a rapid rephosphorylation reaction, this event appears in the form of a breakdown of phosphocreatine. The amount of energy liberated in contraction may be written as the sum of 3 quantities (a) activation energy, (b) shortening energy, and (c) work. It appears that, chemically, these correspond to 3 distinct quantities of phosphocreatine breakdown. The matter is complicated by the fact that the activation energy is not constant but may diminish as the muscle shortens. This may be little noticeable in frog sartorius muscle (dependent on the treatment) but appears to be pronounced in the heart, where it leads to the classical observation that work against a high pressure is performed less efficiently than work raised by ejections of an increased volume.
Effects of cold stress on tumor growth

Abstract The relationship between stress and tumor growth was assessed in experiments in which the paradigm was held constant while type of tumor and sex of rats were varied. Singly housed male and female W/Fu rats were given cold stress before and/or after injection of tumor cells, or received no stress at all. Rats stressed only before receiving the tumor cells developed significantly smaller tumors than the nonstressed control group. Tumors of the other two groups were only slightly smaller than those of the nonstressed control group. The results are interpreted to indicate that being stressed before disease may provide an inoculation effect, whereas stress occurring after disease onset (or no stress at all) precludes to increased severity of the illness.
PackaTAC: a conservative trading agent

The Supply Chain Management game presents a challenging manufacturing scenario where agents compete for customer demand and supplies needed to produce the demanded products. The entry of North Carolina State University, PackaTAC, is a relatively simple agent that plays a conservative, low-risk strategy. Its aim is to never bid on more orders than it can handle, while maintaining low inventory levels and aspiring to full factory utilization. The agent relies on the fact that it will have ten opportunities to win contracts for a given production day, and constantly adjusts its profit margins to track the market prices. Its low risk approach was chosen to combat the mutually destructive strategies that were emerging during the qualifying rounds. Despite PackaTAC's simple approach, it performed quite well in the 2003 competition held at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Acapulco.
EPR spectroscopy and catalase activity of manganese-bound DNA-binding protein from nutrient starved cells.

DNA-binding proteins from nutrient-starved cells (DPS) protect cells from oxidative stress by removing H2O2 and iron. A new class of DPS-like proteins has recently been identified, with DPS-like protein from Sulfolobus solfataricus (SsDPS) being the best characterized to date. SsDPS protects cells from oxidative stress and is upregulated in response to H2O2 but also in response to iron depletion. The ferroxidase active site of SsDPS is structurally similar to the active sites of manganese catalase and rat liver arginase. The present work shows that the ferroxidase center in SsDPS binds two Mn2+ ions with K D = (1/K 1 K 2)1/2 = 48(3) μM. The binding constant of the second Mn2+ is significantly higher than that of the first, inducing dinuclear Mn(II) cluster formation for all but the lowest concentrations of added Mn2+. In competition experiments, equimolar amounts of Fe2+ were unable to displace the bound manganese. EPR spectroscopy of the Mn2 2+ cluster showed signals comparable to those of other characterized dimanganese clusters. The exchange coupling for the cluster was determined, J = −1.4(3) cm−1 (H = −2JS 1 S 2), and is within the range expected for a μ1,1-carboxylato bridge between the manganese ions. Manganese-bound SsDPS showed catalase activity at a rate 10–100 times slower than for manganese catalases. EPR spectra of SsDPS after addition of H2O2 showed the appearance of an intermediate in the reaction with H2O2.
Extensibility of the Extended Tail Domain of Processive and Nonprocessive Myosin V Molecules

Myosin V is a single-molecule motor that moves organelles along actin. When myosin V pulls loads inside the cell in a highly viscous environment, the force on the motor is unlikely to be constant. We propose that the tether between the single-molecule motor and the cargo (i.e., the extended tail domain of the molecule) must be able to absorb the sudden mechanical motions of the motor and allow smooth relaxation of the motion of the cargo to a new position. To test this hypothesis, we compared the elastic properties of the extended tail domains of processive (mouse myosin Va) and nonprocessive (Drosophila myosin V) molecular motors. The extended tail domain of these myosins consists of mechanically strong coiled-coil regions interspersed with flexible loops. In this work we explored the mechanical properties of coiled-coil regions using atomic force microscopy. We found that the processive and nonprocessive coiled-coil fragments display different unfolding patterns. The unfolding of coiled-coil structures occurs much later during the atomic force microscopy stretch cycle for processive myosin Va than for nonprocessive Drosophila myosin V, suggesting that this elastic tether between the cargo and motor may play an important role in sustaining the processive motions of this single-molecule motor.
Implicit source routes for on-demand ad hoc network routing

In an ad hoc network, the use of source routing has many advanctages, including simplicity, correctness, and flexibility. For example, all routing decisions for a packet are made by the sender of the packet, avoiding the need for up-to-date routing information at intermediate nodes and allowing the routes used to be trivially guaranteed loop-free. It is also possible for the sender to use different routes for different packets, without requiring coordination or explicit support by the imtermediate nodes. In addition, on-demand source routing has performed very strongly when compared against other proposed protocol designs. However, source routing has the disadvantage of increased per-packet overhead due to the source route header that must be present in every packet orginated or forwarded. In this paper, we propose and analyze the use in ad hoc networks of implicit source routing while avoiding the associated per-packet overhead in most cases. We evaluated this technique through detailed simulations of ad hoc networks based on the Dynamic Source Routing protocol (DSR), an on-demand ad hoc network routing protocol based on source routing. Although routing packet overhead increased slightly with implicit source routing, by about 12.3%, the total number of bytes of overhead decreased substantially, by between 44 and 86%. On all other metrics evaluated, the performance or DSR either did not change significantly or actually improved somewhat, due to indirect effects of of the reduced routing overhead
Real-time multispot beam steering with electrically controlled spatial light modulators

Today diffractive elements are routinely designed and fabricated that diffract laser beams into hundreds of spots with diffraction efficiencies in excess of 90%. Thus it is easy to imagine that an electrically addressed phase-only spatial light modulator (SLM) could be used for the simultaneous and independent scanning of multiple spots in arbitrary directions. As opposed to single spot scanning, each spot would be present for the entire frame time of the modulator, thereby increasing dwell time over raster-based scanners. Key to actually achieving arbitrary scanning operations at real-time rates is the issue of specifying the electrical control values to the SLM. The control values are not obvious because arbitrary complex modulation is needed to produce arbitrary diffraction patterns. Calculation of the control values using global optimization (as is used to design diffractive optics) is too slow. Group oriented encoding procedures are fast but the use of groups to represent individual complex values reduces the resolution of the scanner correspondingly. The recently developed method referred to as pseudorandom encoding can be computed in real- time and does not sacrifice resolution. This statistically based encoding procedure is reviewed with emphasis on its performance and suitability for applications requiring multispot beam steering.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Contact Analysis Studies of an ESCAP resist with scCO2 Compatible Additives

Rapid technological advances have presented several environmental issues and call for the use of environmentally friendly processes. Supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO 2 ) is a widely used solvent that can enhance processing performance in photolithography, especially in the development step. Supercritical CO 2 is a good solvent for many nonpolar molecules with low molecular weights. However, it is generally a very poor solvent for high molecular-weight photoresists. Recently researchers have reported the ability to develop conventional polymeric resists in scCO 2 using tailored soluble additives. The mechanism of dissolution of a polymer photoresist in scCO 2 in the presence of these additives is clearly at a very early stage of understanding. To understand this mechanism in more detail, we synthesized a series of scCO 2 compatible quaternary ammonium salts (QAS) and used them as additives in the dry development of model and commercially available photoresists. In this paper, we describe the various interactions that the QAS additive has with the different functional groups on the polymer resist to assist its dissolution in scCO 2 . Using contact analysis plots we report the dominant interactions between the additive and the resist material. We report the results with two salts (QAS-I and QAS-II) to show the structure-property relation of these amphiphilic additives with an ESCAP resist. Finally, we report the lithographic evaluation of a commercial EUV resist using an appropriate scCO 2 compatible QAS after development in scCO 2 .
Nondestructive Bridge Deck Testing with Air-Coupled Impact-Echo and Infrared Thermography

Two different nondestructive test (NDT) methods, air-coupled impact-echo (IE) and infrared (IR) thermography are evaluated on a full-scale simulated reinforced concrete bridge deck containing simulated delamination and cracking defects. The IE data are presented as two-dimensional frequency maps and spectral B-scan lines. The IR data are presented as temperature maps on the concrete surface. The lateral boundaries of the detected delaminations are also indicated in the images. The results obtained from each of the individual NDT methods show reasonably good agreement with most of the actual defects. The advantages and limitations of each method to characterize defects are discussed. The consistency and sensitivity of each method are also investigated. Finally, a simple data fusion technique is proposed to improve effectiveness of the individual test data. The findings from this study demonstrate that the combination of air-coupled IE and IR thermography tests is a practical option for consistent and rapid in situ evaluation of reinforced concrete bridge decks.
Magnetic moment measurement of the Cs 129 11 2 − isomer in a CsI cubic environment

The g factor of the 575-keV 11/2/sup -/ isomer in /sup 129/Cs has been measured by the time differential perturbed angular distribution technique using the /sup 127/I(..cap alpha..,2n) /sup 129/Cs reaction with a thick CsI target to maintain alignment. A value of g = + 1.191 +- 0.018 was obtained, which is consistent after M1 core-polarization corrections with a predominantly 1h/sub 11/2/ quasiproton structure for this state. The experiment also yielded a remeasurement of the mean lifetime of the isomer as tau = 1059 +- 33 nsec.
A common single-nucleotide polymorphism in cyclooxygenase-2 disrupts microRNA-mediated regulation

Elevated expression of the prostaglandin synthase cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is commonly observed in many chronic inflammatory diseases and cancer. However, the mechanisms allowing for pathogenic COX-2 overexpression are largely unknown. The gene for COX-2 (PTGS2) carries a common single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at position 8473 (T8473C), in exon 10 that is associated with diseases in which COX-2 overexpression is a contributing factor. We demonstrate that the T8473C SNP resides within a region that targets COX-2 mRNA for degradation through microRNA-mediated regulation. miR-542-3p was identified to bind transcripts derived from the 8473T allele and promote mRNA decay. By contrast, the presence of the variant 8473C allele interfered with miR-542-3p binding, allowing for mRNA stabilization, and this effect was rescued using a mutated miR-542-3p at the respective 8473 site. Colon cancer cells and tissue displayed COX-2 mRNA levels that were dependent on T8473C allele dosage, and allele-specific expression of COX-2 was observed to be a contributing factor promoting COX-2 overexpression. These findings provide a novel molecular explanation underlying disease susceptibility associated with COX-2 T8473C SNP, and identify it as a potential marker for identifying cancer patients best served through selective COX-2 inhibition.
Speech recognition by humans and machines under conditions with severe channel variability and noise

Despite dramatic recent advances in speech recognition technology, speech recogmzers still perform muchworse than humans. The difference in performance between humans and machines is most dramatic whenvariable amounts and types of filtering and noise are present during testing. For example, humans readilyunderstand speech that is low-pass filtered below 3 kHz or high-pass filtered above 1 kHz. Machines trainedwith wide-band speech, however, degrade dramatically under these conditions. An approach to compensatefor variable unknown sharp filtering and noise is presented which uses mel-filter-bank magnitudes as inputfeatures, estimates the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for each filter, and uses missing feature theory todynamically modify the probability computations performed using Gaussian Mixture or Radial BasisFunction neural network classifiers embedded within Hidden Markov Model (1-1MM) recognizers. Theapproach was successfully demonstrated using a talker-independent digit recognition task. It was found thatrecognition accuracy across many conditions rises from below 50%toabove 95% with this approach. Thesepromising results suggest future work to dynamically estimate SNIR's and to explore the dynamics of humanadaptation to channel and noise variability.Keywords: speech recognition, speech perception, missing features, filtering, noise, robust, neural network
Unproven or unsatisfactory versus equipoise in emergency research with waived consent.

Like the authors of the open letter (Kipnis, King and Nelson 2006), I support the waiver of informed consent for emergency research detailed at 21 CFR 50.24, commonly referred to as the “Final Rule...
Dr. Marken Replies

Sir: My colleagues and I thank Dr. Chung for his views; he makes several important points about our article.1 I would like to point out that some of his data, although interesting, reflect dosing in diseases not covered directly in our article. My colleagues and I do appreciate the update of data that was unavailable when we wrote this article.2,3
Discerning tumor status from unstructured MRI reports--completeness of information in existing reports and utility of automated natural language processing.

Information in electronic medical records is often in an unstructured free-text format. This format presents challenges for expedient data retrieval and may fail to convey important findings. Natural language processing (NLP) is an emerging technique for rapid and efficient clinical data retrieval. While proven in disease detection, the utility of NLP in discerning disease progression from free-text reports is untested. We aimed to (1) assess whether unstructured radiology reports contained sufficient information for tumor status classification; (2) develop an NLP-based data extraction tool to determine tumor status from unstructured reports; and (3) compare NLP and human tumor status classification outcomes. Consecutive follow-up brain tumor magnetic resonance imaging reports (2000–­2007) from a tertiary center were manually annotated using consensus guidelines on tumor status. Reports were randomized to NLP training (70%) or testing (30%) groups. The NLP tool utilized a support vector machines model with statistical and rule-based outcomes. Most reports had sufficient information for tumor status classification, although 0.8% did not describe status despite reference to prior examinations. Tumor size was unreported in 68.7% of documents, while 50.3% lacked data on change magnitude when there was detectable progression or regression. Using retrospective human classification as the gold standard, NLP achieved 80.6% sensitivity and 91.6% specificity for tumor status determination (mean positive predictive value, 82.4%; negative predictive value, 92.0%). In conclusion, most reports contained sufficient information for tumor status determination, though variable features were used to describe status. NLP demonstrated good accuracy for tumor status classification and may have novel application for automated disease status classification from electronic databases.
Effect of carbon source on pyrimidine formation in Pseudomonas fluorescens ATCC 13525

The effect of carbon source on the regulation of the de novo pyrimidine biosynthetic enzymes in the type strain of Pseudomonas fluorescens was investigated. The de novo pyrimidine biosynthetic enzyme activities were measured in P. fluorescens ATCC 13525 cells and in cells from an auxotroph deficient for orotate phosphoribosyltransferase activity where glucose or succinate served as the carbon source. Pyrimidine supplementation to the culture medium affected the biosynthetic enzyme activities in ATCC 13525 cells. Pyrimidine Limitation of the mutant strain indicated transcriptional regulation of the biosynthetic pathway by pyrimidines that was influenced by carbon source. Transcriptional regulation of pyrimidine synthesis in P. fluorescens appeared to be more highly regulated than was observed for the taxonomically related species Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Pseudomonas putida.
Effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol on delayed matching-to-sample choice speeds in chimpanzees

The effects of Δ9-THC on choice response speeds in chimpanzee short-term recognition memory were assessed in a delayed matching-to-sample task. Choice speeds were faster on correct than on incorrect trials and were inversely related to delay length. Although Δ9-THC lowered matching accuracy, it did not affect any aspect of choice speed. These results were interpreted as indicating that the disruption of short-term recognition memory produced by Δ9-THC reflects changes in acquisition-storage processes rather than in memory retrieval processes.
A single source three-stage evaporation approach to CIGS absorber layer for thin film solar cells

Abstract A novel single source three-stage evaporation process has been developed to deposit CuIn 1− x Ga x Se 2 absorber layers well suited for thin films solar cells. By varying the electron beam current and substrate temperature for each stage, the film structure, texture, morphology, composition and composition profile can be controlled precisely. The thin films are well crystallized with compact and faceted grains, with sizes ranging from 1 to 1.5 µm and also predominantly textured along [112] direction. The elemental compositions are well controlled with Cu:(In+Ga) of 0.85:0.87 and Ga:(In+Ga) of 0.25:0.26, which is within the range for the highest efficiency CIGS solar cells. Photoluminescence and Raman spectra verify that the as-deposited thin films have desired optical properties, and secondary ion mass spectra composition depth profiling suggests that the thin films have graded bandgaps. Thin film solar cells fabricated with such films achieved a power conversion efficiency of 10.6%. This approach avoids the complexity and large area uniformity issues of co-evaporation, and therefore is promising for in-line CIGS film fabrication using the evaporation method.
Psychiatry and Assisted Suicide in the United States

After years of debate over the ethical and legal issues in physician-assisted suicide, empirical research is beginning to infuse a realistic clinical perspective into this previously theoretical controversy. Studies reveal that a host of practical issues must be examined as we consider whether to legalize physician-assisted suicide in the United States. The appropriate role of psychiatrists in legalized physician-assisted suicide has yet to be defined. Groenewoud and colleagues, in a survey of Dutch psychiatrists described in this issue of the Journal, raise complex questions.1 When should a psychiatrist be asked to evaluate a patient who requests assistance in suicide? What . . .
Exosomes from marrow stromal cells expressing miR-146b inhibit glioma growth

Exosomes are 30–150 nm vesicles secreted by a wide range of mammalian cells that can contain microRNA (miRNA). To test if marrow stromal cell (MSC) exosomes could be used as a vehicle for delivery of anti-tumor miRNAs, we transfected MSCs with a miR-146b expression plasmid, and harvested exosomes released by the MSCs. Intra-tumor injection of exosomes derived from miR-146-expressing MSCs significantly reduced glioma xenograft growth in a rat model of primary brain tumor.
Micropatterning of small molecular weight organic semiconductor thin films using organic vapor phase deposition

Using both analytical and experimental methods, we show that micron scale patterned growth of small molecular weight organic semiconductor thin films can be achieved by the recently demonstrated process of organic vapor phase deposition (OVPD). In contrast to the conventional process of vacuum thermal evaporation, the background gas pressure during OVPD is typically 0.1–10 Torr, resulting in a molecular mean free path (mfp) of from 100 to 1 μm, respectively. Monte Carlo simulations of film growth through apertures at these gas densities indicate that when the mfp is on the order of the mask-to-substrate separation, deposit edges can become diffuse. The simulations and deposition experiments discussed here indicate that the deposited feature shape is controlled by the mfp, the aperture geometry, and the mask-to-substrate separation. Carefully selected process conditions and mask geometries can result in features as small as 1 μm. Furthermore, based on continuum and stochastic models of molecular transport in confined geometries, we propose the in situ direct patterning growth technique of organic vapor jet printing. The high pattern definition obtained by OVPD makes this process attractive for the growth of a wide range of structures employed in modern organic electronic devices.
Free radical cyclization in molecular aggregates

Abstract The cyclization of free radicals has been investigated in micelles and multilamellar lipid bilayer vesicles. The substrate for cyclization is the amphipathic bromohydrin 7-bramo-octadec-11-ene-8-ol, 1. The radical is generated from 1 in aqueous micelles or vesicles by NaBH 4 Bu 3 SnCl . Four diastereomeric cyclopentanol products are formed in the 5-exo cyclization and the distribution of these products depends on the solvent and aggregate. Product distributions for cyclization in all media which have an aqueous/organic interface are significantly different from product distributions obtained for reactions in homogeneous media.
Membrane Localization, Oligomerization, and Phosphorylation Are Required for Optimal Raf Activation

Activation of the serine/threonine kinase c-Raf-1 requires membrane localization, phosphorylation, and oligomerization. To study these mechanisms of Raf activation more precisely, we have used a membrane-localized fusion protein, myr-Raf-GyrB, which can be activated by coumermycin-induced oligomerization in NIH3T3 transfectants. By introducing a series of point mutations into the myr-Raf-GyrB kinase domain (S338A, S338A/Y341F, Y340F/Y341F, and T491A/S494A) we can separately study the role that membrane localization, phosphorylation, and oligomerization play in the process of Raf activation. We find that phosphorylation of Ser-338 plays a critical role in Raf activation and that this requires membrane localization but not oligomerization of Raf. Mutation of Tyr-341 had a limited effect, whereas mutation of both Ser-338 and Tyr-341 resulted in a synergistic loss of Raf activation following coumermycin-induced dimerization. Importantly, we found that membrane localization and phosphorylation of Ser-338 were not sufficient to activate Raf in the absence of oligomerization. Thus, our studies suggest that three key steps are required for optimal Raf activation: recruitment to the plasma membrane by GTP-bound Ras, phosphorylation via membrane-resident kinases, and oligomerization.
Incidental Kill of Dunlin and Killdeer by Strychnine

Strychnine poisoning of 36 dunlin (Calidris alpina) and two killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) in Yolo County, California (USA) was documented from 11 to 17 December 1990. Birds were found dead on a field containing treated wheat seeds (337 μg strychnine/g seed) in postures consistent with the known physiopathology of strychnine poisoning: rapid rigor mortis, wings folded over backs, straightened toes, and fecal material extruding from vents. Five dunlin and two killdeer were necropsied, and their crop and stomach contents were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography for the presence of strychnine. The mean (± SD) actual unabsorbed strychnine concentration per amount stomach content for the five dunlin was 110 (± 108) μg/g and for the two killdeer, 210 (± 109) μg/g. Shorebirds have not been identified previously as victims of pesticides.
Surgical management for intractable cholangitis in biliary atresia

Abstract Background/Purpose: The efficacy of antireflux surgical procedures involving the Roux-en-Y jejunal limb for cholangitis was evaluated retrospectively in patients with biliary atresia (BA). Methods: From July 1993 to December 2001, 41 patients with BA underwent hepatic portojejunostomy with Roux-en-Y reconstruction. Of these patients, 11 had intractable cholangitis that was treated by creation of a value with or without lengthening of the Roux-en-Y limb. Results: Among the 11 patients, the first episode of cholangitis occurred within 6 months after portojejunostomy in 10 patients and at the age of 4 years in one patient. Cholangitis developed at various intervals from once every week to once every 2 months requiring hospitalization each time. All patients underwent valve creation at 2 months to 5 years postoperatively, whereas 2 had an additional lengthening of the limb. Cholangitis resolved completely after surgery in all cases. Two patients underwent liver transplantation, and the third patient died of an unrelated cause. The 8 survivors with native livers are doing well after 1 to 8 years of follow-up. Conclusion: Early surgical intervention could control intractable cholangitis in all patients, both delaying the time of liver transplantation and improving the quality of life. J Pediatr Surg 37:1713-1715. Copyright 2002, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.
Factors influencing the perception of touch by elderly nursing home residents and their health caregivers

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine which factors influence the perceptions of touch by elderly nursing home residents and their health caregivers. A random sample of residents ( n = 100) and a convenience sample of health caregivers ( n = 100) were selected from two nursing homes. The five variables of interest were as follows: staff status; type of touch; area of the body touched; resident's locus of control; and resident's functional level. Vignettes were developed from combinations of variables which described a touch interaction between a resident and caregiver. To determine the main effects of the five variables of interest, fractional factorial analyses of variance were performed. Resident's locus of control appeared to be the most influential factor affecting residents' and caregivers' perceptions of touch. Touch was experienced as positive when it was appropriate to the situation, did not impose greater intimacy than desired, and did not impart a condescending message. Negative touch situations often involved some procedure used in a manner considered "intimate" or when discrepant with the needs of the individual. A conceptual model of interpersonal touch is described and recommendations for further study are discussed.
7239 Stricture dilation and brush cytology in the evaluation of malignant biliary obstruction (mbo): two brushes are better than one.

Background: Tissue confirmation is desirable in pts with suspected MBO. Endoscopic manipulation of the stricture prior to tissue sampling may increase tumor exfoliation, making more malignant cells available for diagnosis. This on-going study compares the yield of brush cytology before and after stricture dilation applied at ERCP. Methods: Pts found to have a biliary stricture at ERCP suspicious for neoplasia initially underwent brush cytology with a standard Geenen brush (Wilson-Cook). Following stricture dilation (pneumatic balloon and/or Soehendra dilating catheter), repeat brush cytology was obtained. Final cancer diagnosis was based on cytologic results plus surgery, EUS, autopsy or clinical follow-up. Results: From 6/98-11/99, 59 pts had 60 double brush cytology specimens obtained from 41 malignancies (42 specimens): 26 pancreatic, 9 cholangioCA, 3 metastases, 2 gallbladder, 1 lymphoma. If highly atypical cells were considered as cancer, 15/42 pts (35.7%) had cytologic brushings positive for malignancy. However, only 6 pts were found to have malignant cells using both brushes. 3 pts (2 panc CA, 1 cholangioCA) had positive cytology with the pre-dilation specimen but only benign cells post-dilation. 6 pts (4 panc CA, 2 cholangioCA) had negative cytology pre-dilation but malignant cells post-dilation. Subgroup analysis revealed no difference between the balloon and Soehendra dilating catheters. Summary: There were no differences in sensitivity for cancer detection pre- and post-stricture dilation (21.4% vs. 28.6%, p=NS). The addition of a 2nd brush cytology specimen did increase sensitivity to 35.7% (p=.024). Conclusions: The cancer detection rate of biliary brush cytology remains low. Our high panc CA prevalence (63%) may partially account for this. However, the yield of two cytology brushes is greater than one. Biliary stricture dilation prior to performing brush cytology does not appear to increase diagnostic accuracy. A larger series is needed to determine the benefits (if any) from stricture dilation. Studies comparing multiple brushings with and without stricture dilation would be of interest.
Global proteomic analysis distinguishes biologic differences in head and neck squamous carcinoma.

The goal of this study was to establish a method for detecting biologically significant differences in protein expression of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) obtained from the same samples utilized in gene expression analyses. Proteins from two head and neck tumor cell lines, SCC-25 and FaDu, were isolated from the denatured protein solution remaining from the TRIzol extraction procedure used for isolation of total RNA for microarray analysis. Peptides resulting from chemical and enzymatic digestion of the proteins were first separated by strong cation-exchange chromatography, followed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis on a QqTOF mass spectrometer. Stable isotope-labeled synthetic peptides were added to each ion-exchange fraction as internal standards, for reversed-phase HPLC retention time alignment. Protein extraction and digestion were repeated three times for each cell line and each extract was analyzed three times by LC-MS. To discriminate between technical vs biological variation, the ion-exchange fraction, retention time, normalized mass and signal intensity of these nine data sets were constructed into numerical arrays for statistical analysis. Of the ∼50 000 signals, 90 peptide ions were found to discriminate the two cell lines with high stringency. Of those, six peptides were derived from vimentin and four peptides were derived from annexin II; both expressed more in SCC-25. Follow-up analysis of some of these signals by LC-MS/MS and RNA expression profiling revealed both concordance and discordance of RNA and protein expression. This study demonstrates that this procedure is highly reliable for identifying peptides that distinguish biological variability among samples, indicating that this method can be applied to study clinical samples, to identify potential prognostic biomarkers for HNSCC.
Capturing simultaneity: a commentary on the paper by Hamida Demirdache and Myriam Uribe-Etxebarria

How does grammar represent simultaneity? More precisely, how do grammatical representations of sentences indicate that two events or situations are located at the same time? This is a question of central importance for the theory of tense and aspect, and one to which Hamida Demirdache and Myriam Uribe-Etxebarria (Nat. Lang. Linguist. Theory, doi:10.1007/s11049-014-9231-2, 2014) (D&UE) propose some provocative new answers. Their empirical focus is the semantics of perfective, imperfective, and progressive aspect in French and Spanish, with special attention to the temporal semantics of modal verbs, but their account has broader implications for the theory of simultaneous time reference and the imperfective/perfective distinction in general.
Requirements for estrogen receptor α membrane localization and function

The estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) exists as a functional receptor at the plasma membrane. The structural requirements for localization and function are not well understood. Several laboratories have recently elucidated certain requirements. We recently found the translocation of ERalpha to the membrane in the absence of estrogen is dependent on caveolin-1 and serine 522 of the ERalpha protein. Mutation of serine 522 to alanine results in a 62% decrease in membrane localization and association with caveolin-1. Similarly, deletion of the caveolin-1 scaffolding domain (amino acids 60-100) largely prevents the localization of ERalpha at the plasma membrane. In the presence of estradiol (E2), ERalpha, Src-homology and collagen homology (Shc), and insulin-like growth factor receptor-1 proteins associate with and increase the localization of ERalpha at the membrane. Membrane-localized ERalpha functions as an atypical G-protein coupled receptor. There is no good evidence that ERalpha spans the membrane or contains an extracellular domain. E2/ERalpha activates different G-proteins in cell context-related fashion. These G-proteins lead to the activation of Src through PLC, PKC, IP3 and calcium influx. In breast cancer, Src activates matrix metalloproteinase-2 and -9, which cleaves heparin binding epidermal growth factor, and thus activates EGFR. This leads to downstream signaling through ERK and PI3 kinase, imparting cell growth and survival.
Obstructive sleep apnea in poorly controlled asthmatic children: effect of adenotonsillectomy.

Background Asthma and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children share multiple epidemiological risk factors and the prevalence of snoring is higher in asthmatic children, suggesting that the latter may be at increased risk for OSA. Since both asthma and OSA are inflammatory disorders, we hypothesized that polysomnographically-demonstrated OSA would be more frequent among poorly controlled asthmatics (PCA), and that treatment of OSA, if present, would ameliorate the frequency of acute asthmatic exacerbations (AAE).