cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Injured vitreous stimulates DNA synthesis in retinal pigment epithelial cells in culture and within the vitreous.

Cultures of rabbit retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) were exposed to normal vitreous and to vitreous injured by intravitreal injection of foreign particles. Counts of labeled RPE nuclei after incubation with3H-thymidine in vitro indicated an increase in DNA synthesis with exposure to normal vitreous and an even greater increase with exposure to injured vitreous. Fractionation of injured vitreous demonstrated that the apparent proliferation stimulus resided in the cell-free supernate. The data suggest that normal vitreous contains a humoral factor that stimulates RPE proliferation and that levels of an active agent increase after vitreal injury. RPE injected into the vitreous also responds by increased DNA synthesis to subsequent vitreal injury. This observation implies that foreign substances in the vitreous, as after vitreal hemorrhage, promote development of extraretinopathies involving RPE by stimulating intravitreal proliferation of invasive RPE cells.
On the mechanisms of hydrogen embrittlement of Ni3Al alloys

Abstract The effects of hydrogen on the deformation and fracture processes in Ni3Al have been examined by the in situ environmental cell TEM technique. Stoichiometric, hypo- and hyper-stoichiometric compositions both with (100 and 500 wt.ppm) and without boron additions were studied. Mixed mode (ductile transgranular and brittle intergranular) but predominantly intergranular fracture was observed in vacuum for all compositions except B-doped hypo-stoichiometric alloys, Ni76Al24, which failed in a transgranular manner by ductile processes. Deformation in gaseous hydrogen environments caused a change to mixed mode failure in the B-doped hypo-stoichiometric material. Based on the present observations it is concluded that hydrogen causes embrittlement by decreasing the cohesive strength of the grain boundaries. Hydrogen was also observed to enhance the dislocation mobility and thus crack propagation, during ductile transgranular crack growth.
Variable rotation composite pulses for high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance using inhomogeneous magnetic and radiofrequency fields

Abstract An approach toward high-resolution NMR spectroscopy on samples located outside the physical confines of a magnet (ex situ NMR), has recently been described [C.A. Meriles, D. Sakellariou, H. Heise, A.J. Moule, A. Pines, Science 293 (2001) 82]. Nutation echoes are generated by a train of z-rotation pulses in the presence of spatially matched static and rf field gradients. These pulses were based on a combination of `perfect' π/2 constant rotation composite pulses and `imperfect' ordinary pulses of variable length. Here we introduce a new class of `self-compensated' z-rotation composite pulses based only on variable rotation inversion pulses that lead to an rf dependent phase shift. Experiments and simulations show that these new pulses perform well at high B0 gradients and require less rf power than previous schemes.
Muscle Protein Turnover in Sex-Linked Dwarf and Normal Broiler Chickens,

Dietary infusion of L-[U-14C]tyrosine was used to estimate the fractional protein synthesis rates (FSR) in normal and dwarf female broiler chicks. Five 2-week-old and five 3-week-old birds of each genotype were placed in individual metabolism cages and given a purified diet in agar-gel containing 2 mu Ci L-[U-14C]tyrosine for 6 hr. Birds were killed and the pectoralis major (PM) and combined gastrocnemius and peroneous longus muscles (LM) were removed for analyses. Additional groups of 4 to 5 chickens were killed 3 days before and 3 days after each infusion to determine fractional protein accretion rate (FAR) over the 6-day period. Fractional degradation rate (FDR) was obtained by difference (FDR = FSR - FAR). Protein, ribonucleic acid (RNA), and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) concentrations were determined to observe possible relationships between these cellular constituents and FSR. Activities of RNA and DNA were determined as units of protein synthesized per unit RNA or DNA per day. Two-week-old chicks, dwarf chicks, and the PM muscles had higher (P less than .05) FSR than 3-week-old chicks, normal chicks, and the LM, respectively. Two-week-old chicks and dwarf chicks had higher FDR than 3-week-old chicks, respectively. There was a significant decrease in RNA concentration and RNA activity from 2 to 3 weeks. The RNA activity tended to be higher in dwarf than normal birds. Concentration of RNA was higher (P less than .05) in the PM than LM. However, DNA concentration was higher (P less than .05) in the LM than PM.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Janusene and tetrafluorojanusene in superacid media ; radical cation formation and chemistry

Abstract Both janusene 1 and the facial tetrafluorojanusene undergo one electron oxidation in FSO 3 H.SbF 5 (1:1) ‘magic acid’/SO 2 ClF and in HF.SbF 5 (1:1)/SO 2 ClF at low temperature to give persistent radical cations. Rapid dimerization → polymerization follows. Stable σ-complexes of protonation were not observed at all. In the less oxidizing milder superacid FSO 3 H/SO 2 , neither 1 nor 2 are fully protonated or oxidized. Radical cation-mediated condensation of 1 is much more rapid than for the fluorinated analog. Two structurally different dimeric compounds could be isolated in quenching experiments. The extent of transannular donor-acceptor interactions in the facially fluorinated janusenes were compared with those for the tropylium-containing janusene, fluorinated [2.2] paracyclophane and its stable σ-complex.
Electronic structure calculations for atomic and diatomic phases of oxygen chemisorbed on Al(111)

Abstract A systematic study of the electronic structure of oxygen chemisorbed on Al(111) surface has been carried out using an iterative extended Huckel method. We have investigated several configurations of atomic and diatomic oxygen chemisorption models. In agreement with previous studies, we find that the angular resolved photoemission data are reasonably consistent with the atomic oxygen chemisorption model. However, we also note that a diatomic chemisorbed phase gives rise to similar spectra though the relative energy level spacing is not in very good agreement with experiments. It has recently been suggested that at low doses and at room temperature an overlayer and an underlayer may coexist. Our calculation indicates that a double layer oxygen chemisorption model is not necessarily inconsistent with the photoemission data. Furthermore, a small change in work function observed upon oxygen chemisorption is also consistent with the double layer chemisorption model. We also report result of electronic structure calculations on isolated atomic and diatomic layers using the extended tight binding method. These results are helpful in interpreting the complex electronic structure of the oxygen-aluminum system.
Photon absorption and photon scattering—What we do not know and why it matters

Abstract We examine some of the problems of theory and experiment that are limiting our understanding of photon absorption and photon scattering. Much of what we know and don't know is signified via simple models, whether (i) in semi-classical non-relativistic dipole radiation of the hydrogen atom, treated as two quantum particles bound in a Coulomb potential, or (ii) in full relativistic multipole radiation of an atom in independent particle approximation. Chaotic and singular features can already be recognized. The inconsistencies in a non-relativistic multipole description lead to spurious predictions for absorption and scattering, but even the full theory is not in agreement with experiment. Additionally, paradoxes associated with quantum entanglement are already present in these simple models. The more advanced approaches treating many particle interactions and field quantization lead to a more sophisticated description of states and fields and cross-sections, which can simplify to the simpler models in various sum rule approximations, by invoking limitations on experimental measurement. Advanced discussions include issues of correlations and consequences of infrared divergence. A further level of complexity is to recognize the inevitable presence of environments, whether in a cage, a solid or a plasma, with consequences of modifying isolated processes, and in the significances for coherence and decoherence, and loss of entanglement. We conclude by reviewing the current status of the agreement between theory and experiment for photon absorption and scattering.
Modeling of non-lte atomic physics processes during the interaction of thin foils with short pulse lase

Atomic physics model of aluminum has been incorporated into a 2D3V PIC code to study the interaction of an intense laser with thin solid targets. Each ionization stage of Al contains one ground and one lumped excited state, for which atomic physics processes such as optical field and collisional ionization, excitation, de-excitation and radiative decay describe the population density. Radiation emitted during the laser-target interaction is computed by accounting for both bound-bound transitions and Bremsstrahlung radiation. Using 2D PIC simulations for laser pulses with intensity 3×1020 W/cm2, duration 40 fs, spot size 5 µm and energy 1 J interacting with ultrathin (0.2 µm) Al foil, we demonstrate that the radiation signature of laser-produced plasma can be used as a complementary tool to other diagnostic techniques used in laser-plasma interactions.
Image fusion for human observers: How should we choose the method?

Image fusion is used to improve target detection and identification. In human-observer applications it is useful to rank fusion methods according to how well they assist the observer in a decision task. Two images (medium- and long-wave infrared), acquired for each of a number of outdoor scenes, were fused by each of nine methods. For each scene, a set of observers assessed each of the 36 pairwise combinations of fused images, choosing from each pair the one that was deemed best for target identification. We used that set of preferences to rank the fusion methods for their effectiveness in the identification task. A classical technique for ranking these “discriminal processes” is Thurstone's Law of Comparative Judgment and its implementation as the Thurstone-Mosteller (TM) Method of Paired Comparisons, which is reviewed briefly here. To make meaningful statements about preferences, one should have a measure of uncertainty for each rank. The TM method, however, cannot readily provide such a measure. An alternative, the Bradley-Terry (BT) method, does permit calculation of confidence intervals for ranks. To our knowledge, BT has not previously been applied in the evaluation of fusion methods. We present results from a multi-observer, multi-view trial, evaluated using TM and BT. The methods yield similar rankings of the fusion methods. But the additional information provided by BT — that is, whether there are significant differences between the ranks — can have a substantial impact on the implementation of fusion in real systems. There could be meaningful tradeoffs among fusion methods — e.g., performance vs. computation time — that may not be exploited in the absence of those insights.
Resisting the Disenchantment of Nature: McDowell and the Question of Animal Minds

Abstract McDowell's contributions to epistemology and philosophy of mind turn centrally on his defense of the Aristotelian concept of a “rational animal”. I argue here that a clarification of how McDowell uses this concept can make more explicit his distance from Davidson regarding the nature of the minds of non-rational animals. Close examination of his responses to Davidson and to Dennett shows that McDowell is implicitly committed to avoiding the following “false trichotomy”: that animals are not bearers of semantic content at all, that they are bearers of content in the same sense we are, and that they are bearer of “as if” content. Avoiding the false trichotomy requires that we understand non-rational animals as having concepts but not as making judgments. Furthermore, we need to supplement McDowell's distinction between the logical spaces of reasons and of the realm of law with what Finkelstein calls “the logical space of animate life”. Though McDowell has taken some recent steps to embrace a view l...
Sporulation in Physarum polycephalum: a model system for studies on differentiation.

Abstract The sporulating plasmodium of the slime mold Physarum polycephalum is an excellent system for studies on differentiation. Ample material maintained in axenic culture is available for biochemical studies; the changes are synchronous, distinct, and separate from growth; and the process may be easily initiated by starving a plasmodium and then exposing it to light. Studies reveal that sporulation is dependent on the synthesis of DNA prior to the period of illumination, on the continued synthesis of protein throughout the entire period, and on the synthesis of RNA until approx. 3 h after the end of the illumination period. Three hours after light exposure also marks the time at which processes associated with the early stages of sporulation attain a point of no return—a time at which the plasmodium is irreversibly committed to sporulate even though it is returned to a growth medium.
Governance of labor in digital video networks

Theories of digitally distributed labor tend to fall into an idealized, oppositional binary that conflates digital labor systems with critiques that are judgmental rather than based on detailed analyses of the actual system or site. On the one hand are celebrations of user-generated content emerging out of the free time and willful contributions of millions of people. On the other hand are accounts of digital labor and exploitation that argue for the dystopic effects of flexible capitalist labor outsourcing. This paper argues for an inductive model of analysis that considers these two perspectives within the context of practices within the sites or systems themselves. This is all the more important when one analyzes emerging social enterprises, which attempt to fulfill a primary social, non-capitalist outcome while still maintaining a competitive position within the market. To demonstrate my argument for hybridity, I present one social enterprises that navigates the utopic and dystopic positions presented above: (1) the user-generated television network Current TV. This case study was selected because it is a for-profit social enterprise that employs digital technologies to accumulate, distribute, and coordinate multiple forms of networked production. I examine how the corporate celebrations of "democratized" or "distributed" work function for the case study in question. My point is that with a critical analysis of the case study theories can be developed that are analytically resonant with digital labor sites and systems.
Development of a Corrugated Test Specimen for Composite Materials Energy Absorption

One of the key factors preventing the widespread adoption of composites in primary crash structures is the absence of specialized test methods for the characterization of specific energy absorption (SEA). Aside from thin-walled tubular specimens, a limited number of attempts have been made at using a plate specimen, which is easier to manufacture but requires complex anti-buckling fixtures. A new method, featuring a corrugated plate, which can be easily manufactured and is self-stabilizing and hence does not require a dedicated test fixture, is suggested here. A systematic investigation is performed to validate the possibility of using such specimen to screen candidate material systems and laminate designs, with the specific goal of isolating the sensitivity of the method to intrinsic specimen parameters.
The relationship between suboptimal effort and post-concussion symptoms in children and adolescents with mild traumatic brain injury

This retrospective chart review study explored the relationship between suboptimal effort and post-concussion symptoms in pediatric mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Participants were 382 clinically referred children and adolescents between 8 and 16 years of age who sustained an mTBI. Suboptimal effort was identified using reliable digit span and age-corrected scaled scores from the Numbers subtest of the Children's Memory Scale (CMS); 20% of the sample were classified as non-credible performers. Chi-square analyses and t-tests were used to examine differences in post-concussion symptoms and neuropsychological test performance between credible and non-credible performers. Linear regression was used to examine whether CMS Numbers performance predicted post-concussion symptoms after controlling for baseline symptoms and other relevant demographic- and injury-related factors. We found that non-credible performers presented with a greater number of post-concussion symptoms as compared with credible performers. Additionally, non-credible performers demonstrated comparatively poorer performance on neuropsychological tests of focused attention and processing speed. These results suggest that children and adolescents with mTBI who fail effort testing might have a greater tendency to exaggerate post-concussion symptoms and cognitive impairment. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
Biomarkers of brain injury in the premature infant.

The term “encephalopathy of prematurity” encompasses not only the acute brain injury (such as intraventricular hemorrhage) but also complex disturbance on the infant’s subsequent brain development. In premature infants, the most frequent recognized source of brain injury is intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and periventricular leukomalacia (PVL). Furthermore 20-25% infants with birth weigh less than 1,500 g will have IVH and that proportion increases to 45% if the birth weight is less than 500-750 g. In addition, nearly 60% of very low birth weight newborns will have hypoxic-ischemic injury. Therefore permanent lifetime neurodevelopmental disabilities are frequent in premature infants. Innovative approach to prevent or decrease brain injury in preterm infants requires discovery of biomarkers able to discriminate infants at risk for injury, monitor the progression of the injury and assess efficacy of neuroprotective clinical trials. In this article, we will review biomarkers studied in premature infants with IVH, Post-hemorrhagic ventricular dilation (PHVD) and PVL including: S100b, Activin A, erythropoietin, chemokine CCL 18, GFAP and NFL will also be examined. Some of the most promising biomarkers for IVH are S100β and Activin. The concentrations of TGF-β1, MMP-9 and PAI-1 in cerebrospinal fluid could be used to discriminate patients that will require shunt after post-hemorrhagic ventricular dilation. Neonatal brain injury is frequent in premature infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care and we hope to contribute to the awareness and interest in clinical validation of established as well as novel neonatal brain injury biomarkers.
The plane elastostatic solution for a symmetrically loaded crack in a strip composite

Abstract The plane elastostatic problem for a crack in a strip composite loaded with normal or shearing traction is reduced to a single integral equation. The dependence of the solution on the material parameters is exhibited explicitly in the integral equation through two composite parameters. The integral equation is solved numerically and the dependence of the stress intensity factors on the material parameters is displayed graphically for all physically relevant composites for each of several chosen values of the crack length to strip width ratio.
The wrath of God

That God has the capacity for anger indeed, for anger of peerless intensity constitutes a thesis with copious Scriptural foundation. One finds in the Sacred Text many graphic and stridently unsentimental depictions of divine wrath and its (at times) catastrophic consequences. While it is true that references to God's wrath appear with greater frequency in the Hebrew Bible1 than in the New Testament, Revelation 19:15 speaks explicitly "of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God". This notwithstanding, however, the idea of divine wrath has widely been regarded as an unacceptably naive or "primitive" piece of theology, i.e., as an anthropocentric slur upon the divine perfection. Indeed, as will shortly be elaborated, such is pretty much the view of those philosophical theologians that have been seriously influential in shaping normative theistic metaphysics. Accordingly, it has standardly been contended by distinguished philosophical representatives of Judaism and Christianity that the ascription of literal anger to God is a flagrant breach of conceptual propriety. Moreover, this contention reflects the general doctrine that it is conceptually impermissible to ascribe any affective states to God. Rather (so the argument proceeds), the unsurpassable greatness of the
CARS signals: phase matching, transverse modes, and optical damage effects.

The transverse modes of the lasers used in coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) affect the signal strength, spatial resolution, and noise. A general formulation for CARS signal calculations with arbitrary TEM modes and 3-D phase matching is presented. Numerical calculations for useful beam geometries are reported and compared with calculations based on simple models. The variation of intensity and phase across a laser beam is shown to have significant effect on the CARS signal strength. The effects of the transverse modes on window damage are discussed. Estimates of CARS signal strengths are presented for nitrogen thermometry near windows.
Age- and sex-dependent stimulation of calcium uptake in duodenal cells by prolactin in vitamin D-deficient rats.

Abstract Administration of ovine-prolactin (O-PRL) stimulated Ca 2+ uptake in isolated duodenal cells prepared from vitamin D-deficient rats. The time course of this effect was biphasic: uptake activity reached a peak in 2.5 hrs followed by a decrease at 5 hrs to original levels. This stimulatory effect of O-PRL was observed in vitamin D-deficient male, but not in female rats. This stimulatory effect was observed in 16- and 26-week old, but not 9 week old, animals. Increase in Ca 2+ uptake in duodenal cells was not due to a decrease in intracellular Ca 2+ efflux. We measured serum Ca concentration in vitamin D-deficient female rats and found that serum Ca increased in D-deficient female rats between 16 and 52 weeks whereas a minimal increase was observed in D-deficient male rats. Although prolactin was shown to stimulate duodenal Ca 2+ uptake, it appears that the source of the increse in levels of serum Ca in D-deficient female rats was not derived from an increase in Ca 2+ uptake by prolactin in duodenum. The increase in serum calcium with time may explain why female D-deficient rats survive longer then male.
She Said No, Pass Me a Beer

Sex is widely recognized as rewarding across the animal kingdom, but rejection of sexual advances or even deprivation can have negative effects. Behavioral studies indicate that sex can be positive—that is, viewed as a reward—in some learning experiments. Rejection of a sexual advance can also have lasting effects on physiology and behavior. How the success or failure of courtship behaviors are linked to other behaviors has been difficult to address. On page 1351 of this issue Shohat-Ophir et al. ( 1 ) assess the connection between the rewarding properties of sex and the effects of sex deprivation in the fly Drosophila melanogaster . The authors discover a neural system defined by a specific neuropeptide that unexpectedly couples courtship rejection or sex deprivation to a rewarding behavior—ethanol consumption.
Syntheses and crystal structures of 3- tert -butyl-4-cyano pyrazole and its complexes with cobalt(II), manganese(II), and copper(II)

Abstract A new pyrazole ligand, 3-tert-butyl-4-cyano pyrazole (Hpzt-Bu,4CN), has been synthesized. The crystal structure of this pyrazole, along with the syntheses and crystal structures of Co, Cu, and Mn complexes of this ligand, are reported. The uncoordinated pyrazole shows the formation of a cyclic hydrogen-bound dimer. The Co complex is octahedral, with four coordinated pyrazoles and two coordinated waters. The Mn complex is octahedral, with two coordinated pyrazoles, two coordinated triflates and two coordinated waters. A hydrogen bonding network involving the triflates and waters results in a linear double chain of Mn complexes. The Cu complex has two coordinated pyrazoles and two coordinated chlorides in a slightly distorted square-planar geometry, with a long bond to the cyano N atom of a neighboring Cu complex, forming a pseudodimer.
The relationship between calcium flux and beating in hyperpermeable heart muscle cells

Abstract Beating hyperpermeable myocardial fragments, suspended in fresh medium, show a Ca uptake rate which greatly exceeds the release rate. Under these conditions, Ca influx and contraction frequeny co-vary with temperature. Ca efflux, however, is not temperature responsive. In addition, influx, but not efflux, is ATP-dependent. This implies that influx, but not efflux, is a controlled process, the activity of which has the same determinants as does contraction. However, under conditions approximating the steady state, the Ca influx rate was found to decrease, while the efflux rate increased. This suggests the possibility, at least, that the source of contraction-activating Ca can vary with the prevailing conditions.
Comparing Polychaete and Polyethylene Uptake to Assess Sediment Resuspension Effects on PCB Bioavailability

Polyethylene sampler uptake was compared to polychaete uptake to assess bioavailability of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from resuspended sediments. New Bedford Harbor (MA, U.S.) sediment, contaminated with PCBs, was resuspended under four different water column oxidation conditions: resuspension alone, resuspension under aeration, resuspension under helium, and no resuspension (control). Residuals were tested for differences in PCB availability to the marine polychaete Nereis virens and to polyethylene (PE) passive samplers. Few significant differences between the four resuspension treatments were observed: under aeration, three of 23 PCBs analyzed showed significant increases in polychaete accumulation, while resuspension alone showed increased concentrations in PE samplers for nine of 23 PCBs. Otherwise, no differences were observed and overall we concluded that resuspension had no effect on residual PCB availability. The relationship between disequilibrium-corrected PE and lipid-normalized polychae...
Use of Various Measurements for Biomass Estimation

Electron, carbon, and nitrogen balances can be thought of as relationships among the time rates of change of the various compounds participating in a fermentation process. As such, they define the minimum number of necessary measurements from which the remaining rates can be determined through the use of the balances. All possibilities, however, are not equivalent, and some of them lead to singularities and solutions of high sensitivity. These possibilities are reviewed in this paper, and suggestions are offered in regard to the combination of rate measurements from which robust biomass estimates can be produced.
Formulation of tenofovir‐loaded functionalized solid lipid nanoparticles intended for HIV prevention

ABSTRACT The objective of this study is to engineer polylysine–heparin functionalized solid lipid nanoparticles (fSLNs) for the use of a vaginal microbicide delivery template for HIV prevention. The fSLNs are prepared using a modified phase‐inversion technique followed by a layer‐by‐layer deposition method. The Box–Behnken experimental design is used to analyze the influence of three factors ( X 1 = bovine serum albumin concentration, X 2 = pH of the aqueous phase, and X 3 = lipid amount) on the particle mean diameter (PMD) measured by dynamic light scattering (DLS). Tenofovir is used as a model anti‐HIV microbicide. The SLNs are also characterized for morphology, zeta potential (ζ ), percent drug encapsulation efficiency (EE%), and cytotoxicity on a human vaginal epithelial cell line by electron microscopy, DLS, ultraviolet, and fluorescence spectroscopy, respectively. The statistical model predicts particle size ( Y ) with 90% confidence and the Y values are significantly affected by X 1 and X 2 . The produced fSLNs appear noncytotoxic and exhibit a platelet‐like shape with respective PMD, EE%, and ζ value of 153 nm, 8.3%, and − 51mV. These fSLNs intended to be administered topically have the potential to enhance cellular uptake of hydrophobic microbicides and outdistance the virus during the HIV/AIDS infection process, possibly leading to more effective prevention of the disease transmission. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association J Pharm Sci 100:3345–3356, 2011
Clinical implications of dysregulated cytokine production

Cytokines are soluble proteins that are produced and secreted as part of the immune response to a variety of tissue insults including infection, cancer, and autoimmunity. Most cytokines are secreted by cells of the immune system, but some (for example, type I interferons) are released from "nonimmunological" cells such as fibroblasts and epithelial cells. Cytokines have pleiotropic effects, acting on many somatic cell types to modulate the host's immune response. For the most part, cytokines exert their antimicrobial actions locally---they are secreted by cells in the area of infection, and their effects are restricted to neighboring cells. While many of their local effects benefit the host, cytokines are soluble molecules that may act systemically and are often responsible for many of the symptoms of infection (e.g., headache, fever, myalgia). In high concentrations they can be toxic, or even lethal. Human clinical trials involving the systemic injection of purified cytokines such as interleukins 2 and 12 and tumor necrosis factor alpha provide compelling evidence for the toxicity of these molecules. Likewise, studies of septic shock syndrome demonstrate how overproduction/aberrant production of inflammatory cytokines can lead to rapid mortality. The host may attempt to counter high cytokine levels by releasing soluble cytokine receptors (sCR) or by synthesizing high-affinity anti-cytokine antibodies (acAb), and these natural responses have spawned great interest as potential therapeutic approaches for alleviating cytokine-mediated disease. However, recent studies indicate that these in vivo interactions are much more complex than previously realized; administration of sCR or acAb may either inhibit or (paradoxically) enhance cytokine activity. An alternative therapeutic approach is to intervene at the source of cytokine production. T cells initiate cytokine production only upon antigen contact and terminate synthesis almost immediately after this contact is broken. Thus T cells secrete cytokines specifically at sites of infection and do not continuously produce these potentially toxic molecules while migrating through uninfected tissues or the bloodstream. By learning more about the molecular mechanisms involved with on/off regulation of cytokine production we may be able to develop novel therapeutic drugs to protect against cytokine-mediated immunopathology. This review discusses the regulation of cytokine function by sCR and acAb and compares this to the regulatory mechanisms that are associated with antigen-specific cytokine release by T cells.
AMASS: a structured pattern matching approach to shotgun sequence assembly

In this thesis, the sequence assembly problem is dealt with. The sequence assembly problem is to reconstruct a DNA sequence from a collection of short DNA fragments taken from random positions by identifying overlaps between the fragments. This problem arises in practice when biologists use shotgun sequencing, a cost-effective method for reading DNA. Existing sequence assembly algorithms have demonstrated limited success in assembling (long) real DNA sequences because they are computationally expensive and fail to properly handle repetitive sequences which are common in real DNA. We propose an efficient, reliable, shotgun sequence assembly algorithm based on a fingerprinting scheme that is quite robust to both noise and repetitive sequences in the data. Our algorithm uses exact matches of short patterns randomly selected from fragment data to identify fragment overlaps, construct an overlap map, and finally deliver a consensus sequence. We show how statistical clues made explicit in our approach can easily be exploited to correctly assemble results even in the presence of extensive repetitive sequences. Our approach is exceptionally fast in practice: e.g., we have successfully assembled a whole Mycoplasma genitalium genome (approximately 580 kbps) in roughly 8 minutes of 64MB 200MHz Pentium Pro CPU time from real shotgun data, where most existing algorithms can be expected to run for several hours to a day on the data. In addition, experiments with shotgun data (data is taken from a wide range of organisms, including human DNA) synthetically prepared from real DNA sequences containing extensive repeats demonstrate our algorithm's robustness to repetitive sections in many different sequences. For example, we have correctly assembled a 238kbp Human DNA sequence in less than 3 minutes of 64MB 200MHz Pentium Pro CPU time.
Relationships between membrane water molecules and Patman equilibration kinetics at temperatures far above the phosphatidylcholine melting point.

Abstract The naphthalene-based fluorescent probes Patman and Laurdan detect bilayer polarity at the level of the phospholipid glycerol backbone. This polarity increases with temperature in the liquid–crystalline phase of phosphatidylcholines and was observed even 90 °C above the melting temperature. This study explores mechanisms associated with this phenomenon. Measurements of probe anisotropy and experiments conducted at 1 M NaCl or KCl (to reduce water permittivity) revealed that this effect represents interactions of water molecules with the probes without proportional increases in probe mobility. Furthermore, comparison of emission spectra to Monte Carlo simulations indicated that the increased polarity represents elevation in probe access to water molecules rather than increased mobility of relevant bilayer waters. Equilibration of these probes with the membrane involves at least two steps which were distinguished by the membrane microenvironment reported by the probe. The difference in those microenvironments also changed with temperature in the liquid–crystalline phase in that the equilibrium state was less polar than the initial environment detected by Patman at temperatures near the melting point, more polar at higher temperatures, and again less polar as temperature was raised further. Laurdan also displayed this level of complexity during equilibration, although the relationship to temperature differed quantitatively from that experienced by Patman. This kinetic approach provides a novel way to study in molecular detail basic principles of what happens to the membrane environment around an individual amphipathic molecule as it penetrates the bilayer. Moreover, it provides evidence of unexpected and interesting membrane behaviors far from the phase transition.
Characterization of a peptide adduct formed by n-acetoxy-2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP), a reactive intermediate of the food carcinogen PhIP

2-Amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) is a member of a class of compounds known as the heterocyclic amines (HCAs) that are formed in meat during cooking. It is a multi-organ carcinogen in rodents forms adducts and with DNA and protein. Although protein adducts are not thought to be involved in cancer development, they may be useful as internal dosimeters of PhIP exposure and bioactivation. Towards the goals of characterizing the adducts formed in humans and the development of an assay for quantitation of adduct levels, we have characterized a peptide adduct formed by the putative genotoxic metabolite, N-acetoxy-PhIP. A model peptide with the internal sequence Leu-Gln-Lys-Cys-Pro-Tyr, which is homologous to a potential target sequence for HCAs in human serum albumin, was reacted with N-acetoxy-PhIP and an adduct was identified and further characterized by LC-ESI-MS/MS. N-acetoxy-PhIP is covalently bound to the peptide via cysteine and the exocyclic amino group of PhIP. Future work is needed to establish if this adduct is formed and is stable in vivo in humans following exposure to PhIP.
Primary systemic amyloidosis and persistent pleural effusions

Persistent pleural effusions are not common in patients with primary systemic amyloidosis (AL). A recent review of this complication of the disease hypothesized that the pathophysiology of these effusions is pleural amyloid deposition, disrupting lymphatic drainage. We report the case of a 73-year-old woman with primary systemic AL and persistent bilateral pleural effusions, refractory to diuresis and repeated thoracenteses. The patient's cardiac and renal dysfunction was not severe enough to explain these persistent effusions. Thus, despite a lack of biopsy-proven amyloid deposition, we suggest that these effusions may be secondary to pleural amyloid deposition.
Symmetrizations for clustering directed graphs

Graph clustering has generally concerned itself with clustering undirected graphs; however the graphs from a number of important domains are essentially directed, e.g. networks of web pages, research papers and Twitter users. This paper investigates various ways of symmetrizing a directed graph into an undirected graph so that previous work on clustering undirected graphs may subsequently be leveraged. Recent work on clustering directed graphs has looked at generalizing objective functions such as conductance to directed graphs and minimizing such objective functions using spectral methods. We show that more meaningful clusters (as measured by an external ground truth criterion) can be obtained by symmetrizing the graph using measures that capture in- and out-link similarity, such as bibliographic coupling and co-citation strength. However, direct application of these similarity measures to modern large-scale power-law networks is problematic because of the presence of hub nodes, which become connected to the vast majority of the network in the transformed undirected graph. We carefully analyze this problem and propose a Degree-discounted similarity measure which is much more suitable for large-scale networks. We show extensive empirical validation.
Direct grafting of poly(pentafluorophenyl acrylate) onto oxides: versatile substrates for reactive microcapillary printing and self-sorting modification

Poly(pentafluorophenyl acrylate) was covalently attached to silicon oxide through the direct coupling of the reactive ester to surface silanol groups. Subsequently, reactive microcapillary printing (R-μCaP) and a one-pot, self-sorting postpolymerization modification reaction were used to generate patterns of spatially resolved chemical functionality.
A robust iterative spatial algorithm for correcting the transmission attenuation and detector response in single photon emission tomography

A post-correction to compensate for tissue attenuation and spatial variation of resolution is described for single photon emission computed tomography. The iterative method described is robust in the sense of being less sensitive to noise. The method also exhibits better convergence compared to the standard iterative schemes. The method was applied on simulated phantoms corrupted with noise and on an ex-vivo dog heart scanned with a Gamma camera. The results obtained from the application of this method are illustrated. >
Crosstalk reduction for interconnect-limited bus based on raised cosine signaling

Presents a new signaling scheme designed for today's aggressive process interconnect scaling aimed at reducing cross-talk noise. The scheme uses band-limited basis waveforms or raised cosine approximation (RCA) pulses to minimize the crosstalk noise due to higher frequency components. Simplified interconnect modeling shows that this technique is particularly beneficial for high-density local and global interconnects. Simulation results predict a reduction of approximately 18 dB of sideband noise power at 3 times the fundamental frequency (3f/sub 0/).
Catalysis of the isocyanate‐hydroxyl reaction

The reaction of toylene diisocyanate (80/20 mixture of 2,4 and 2,6-isomer) with a secondary hydroxyl-containing polyoxypropylene triol was studied in the presence of numerous compounds to test their catalytic effect on the reaction. The reaction was studied by determination of the gelation time of the reaction mixture. Many metallic compounds were found to be good catalysts for the isocyanate-hydroxyl reaction. Compounds in roughly descending catalytic activity are: Bi, Pb, Sn, triethylenediamine, strong bases, Ti, Fe, Sb, U, Cd, Co, Th, Al, Hg, Zn, Ni, trialkylamines, Ce, Mo, V, Cu, Mn, Zr, trialkyl phosphines. Similar gelation tests were made with m-xylene diisocyanate and the same triol and also with hexamethylene diisocyanate and the triol. In these tests the order of strength of the catalysts was found to be different than when tolylene diisocyanate was used. In decreasing order of activity: Bi, Fe, Sn, Pb, Ti, Sb, strong bases, Co, Zn, triethylenediamine, trialkyl amines. A mechanism is proposed for the way in which a metal compound may catalyze the isocyanate-hydroxyl reaction. Steric hinderance is suggested to explain the differing catalytic activity observed with tolylene diisocyanate and the unhindered aliphatic diisocyanates.
Enzymatic synthesis of poly(hydroxyalkanoates) in ionic liquids

Ring-opening polymerization of five lactones catalyzed by Candida antarctica lipase B in ionic liquids yielded poly(hydroxyalkanoates) of moderate molecular weights up to Mn=13,000. In the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethane)-sulfonimide and with a low weight ratio of enzyme to lactone (1:100) we obtained polymers from beta-propiolactone, delta-valerolactone, and epsilon-caprolactone with degrees of polymerization as high as 170, 25, and 85, respectively; oligomers from beta-butyrolactone and gamma-butyrolactone with degrees of polymerization of 5; and a copolymer of beta-propiolactone and beta-butyrolactone with a degree of polymerization of 180. Water-immiscible ionic liquids were superior to water-miscible ionic liquids. Reducing the water content of the enzyme improved the degree of polymerization by as much as 50% for beta-propiolactone and epsilon-caprolactone.
Properties of Local Andness/Orness

The goal of this paper is to investigate fundamental properties of local andness/orness. We analyze the distribution of local andness/orness in the unit hypercube from the standpoint of usability of these indicators in decision models.
The efficacy of direct extracranial–intracranial bypass in the treatment of symptomatic hemodynamic failure secondary to athero-occlusive disease: A systematic review

Abstract Objective The 1985 International Extracranial–Intracranial (EC–IC) Bypass Trial failed to show a benefit following surgery in patients with varying degrees of angiographic ICA stenosis. More recent studies using modern technology to identify appropriate candidates, however, have generated promising findings. As a result, controversy exists regarding the role of this technique in the treatment of symptomatic athero-occlusive disease. To this end, we performed a systematic review and quantitative analysis of the literature to determine if a subset of patients with symptomatic hemodynamic failure secondary to athero-occlusive disease may benefit from direct EC–IC bypass. Methods We performed a MEDLINE (1985–2007) database search using the following keywords, singly and in combination: EC–IC bypass, hemodynamic failure and misery perfusion. Additional studies were identified manually by scrutinizing references from identified manuscripts, major neurosurgical journals and texts, and personal files. Our literature search divided studies into three categories: natural history of patients with stage I hemodynamic failure (16 studies, 2320 patients), natural history of patients with stage II hemodynamic failure (3 studies 163 patients), and outcomes of patients with hemodynamic failure treated by EC–IC bypass (23 studies 506 patients). Results Patients with severe stage I and stage II hemodynamic failure are at higher risk of cerebral infarction than those with mild disease (p = .014, OR 1.17–4.08 and p = 0.10, OR 0.89–3.63, respectively). Additionally, patients with severe hemodynamic failure respond better to surgery than those with mild disease (p = 0.03, OR 0.16–0.92). Conclusions Patients with severe hemodynamic failure secondary to athero-occlusive disease appear to benefit from direct EC–IC bypass surgery. As a result, the conclusions of the 1985 International EC–IC Bypass Trial may not be applicable to this subset of patients. A randomized clinical trial involving this patient population is warranted.
An axiomatic approach to multiresolution signal decomposition

We have been developing general multiresolution signal decomposition schemes that unify traditional (linear) approaches and allow use of nonlinear filtering techniques in the decomposition. This paper summarizes our approach and provides several simple examples. Some of these examples are known in the literature (e.g., Haar pyramid and wavelet) and some of them are new (e.g., morphological Haar pyramid and wavelet).
Asymptotic Optimality Theory for Decentralized Sequential Hypothesis Testing in Sensor Networks

The decentralized sequential hypothesis testing problem is studied in sensor networks, where a set of sensors receive independent observations and send summary messages to the fusion center, which makes a final decision. In the scenario where the sensors have full access to their past observations, the first asymptotically Bayes sequential test is developed having the same asymptotic performance as the optimal centralized test that has access to all sensor observations. Next, in the scenario where the sensors do not have full access to their past observations, a simple but asymptotically Bayes sequential tests is developed, in which sensor message functions are what we call tandem quantizer, where each sensor only uses two different sensor quantizers with at most one switch between these two possibilities. Moreover, a new minimax formulation of optimal stationary sensor quantizers is proposed and is studied in detail in the case of additive Gaussian sensor noise. Finally, our results show that in the simplest models, feedback from the fusion center does not improve asymptotic performance in the scenario with full local memory, however, even a one-shot, one-bit feedback can significantly improve performance in the case of limited local memory.
Branded product placement and pre‐teenaged consumers: influence on brand preference and choice

Purpose – In an industry where billions of dollars are spent to place branded products within entertainment media, it is critical to understand if this form of promotional communication actually results in the preference of the branded product. The purpose of the current research is to contribute to this understanding relative to pre‐teenaged consumers.Design/methodology/approach – Three research questions related to brand preference and choice were investigated using a two‐group experimental design with a convenience sample. The impact of product placement on choice was assessed within minutes of the exposure. Preference and choice were also assessed two weeks later.Findings – The findings suggest that branded product placement may not affect attitudes or behavior of pre‐teenaged consumers.Originality/value – Although empirical findings suggest the practices may not lead to the intended attitudes and behaviors in adults, the theory of mere exposure and research related to social learning theory provide s...