cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Probes for protein adduction in cholesterol biosynthesis disorders: Alkynyl lanosterol as a viable sterol precursor

The formation of lipid electrophile-protein adducts is associated with many disorders that involve perturbations of cellular redox status. The identities of adducted proteins and the effects of adduction on protein function are mostly unknown and an increased understanding of these factors may help to define the pathogenesis of various human disorders involving oxidative stress. 7-Dehydrocholesterol (7-DHC), the immediate biosynthetic precursor to cholesterol, is highly oxidizable and gives electrophilic oxysterols that adduct proteins readily, a sequence of events proposed to occur in Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS), a human disorder resulting from an error in cholesterol biosynthesis. Alkynyl lanosterol (a-Lan) was synthesized and studied in Neuro2a cells, Dhcr7-deficient Neuro2a cells and human fibroblasts. When incubated in control Neuro2a cells and control human fibroblasts, a-Lan completed the sequence of steps involved in cholesterol biosynthesis and alkynyl-cholesterol (a-Chol) was the major product formed. In Dhcr7-deficient Neuro2a cells or fibroblasts from SLOS patients, the biosynthetic transformation was interrupted at the penultimate step and alkynyl-7-DHC (a-7-DHC) was the major product formed. When a-Lan was incubated in Dhcr7-deficient Neuro2a cells and the alkynyl tag was used to ligate a biotin group to alkyne-containing products, protein-sterol adducts were isolated and identified. In parallel experiments with a-Lan and a-7-DHC in Dhcr7-deficient Neuro2a cells, a-7-DHC was found to adduct to a larger set of proteins (799) than a-Lan (457) with most of the a-Lan protein adducts (423) being common to the larger a-7-DHC set. Of the 423 proteins found common to both experiments, those formed from a-7-DHC were more highly enriched compared to a DMSO control than were those derived from a-Lan. The 423 common proteins were ranked according to the enrichment determined for each protein in the a-Lan and a-7-DHC experiments and there was a very strong correlation of protein ranks for the adducts formed in the parallel experiments.
Oncostatin M promotes cancer cell plasticity through cooperative STAT3-SMAD3 signaling

Increasing evidence supports the idea that cancer cell plasticity promotes metastasis and tumor recurrence, resulting in patient mortality. While it is clear that the tumor microenvironment (TME) contributes to cancer cell plasticity, the specific TME factors most actively controlling plasticity remain largely unknown. Here, we performed a screen to identify TME cytokines and growth factors that promote epithelial–mesenchymal plasticity, and acquisition of cancer stem cell (CSC) properties. Of 28 TME cytokines and growth factors tested, we identified Oncostatin M (OSM) as the most potent inducer of mesenchymal/CSC properties. OSM-induced plasticity was Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 (STAT3)-dependent, and also required a novel intersection with transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)/SMAD signaling. OSM/STAT3 activation promoted SMAD3 nuclear accumulation, DNA binding and induced SMAD3-dependent transcriptional activity. Suppression of TGF-β receptor activity or ablation of SMAD3 or SMAD4, but not SMAD2, strongly suppressed OSM/STAT3-mediated plasticity. Moreover, removal of OSM or inhibition of STAT3 or SMAD3 resulted in a marked reversion to a non-invasive, epithelial phenotype. We propose that targeted blockade of the STAT3/SMAD3 axis in tumor cells may represent a novel therapeutic approach to prevent the plasticity required for metastatic progression and tumor recurrence.
Race and resistance: A typology of African American sport activism:

Historically, sport has been viewed as an apolitical space where organizers, managers, coaches, spectators, and sponsors expected athletes to focus solely on their performance and adhere to functionalist origins of the activity, including physical fitness benefits, character building, teamwork, and social entertainment. Despite these various positive attributes, the institution of sport does not operate in isolation from broader society. Instead, sport serves as a site where societal inequalities such as racism, sexism, economic stratification, and other forms of oppression are reproduced, exacerbated, and/or ignored. Throughout history, several African American athletes, sport scholar activists, sport institutions, and entrepreneurs have critically reflected upon this arrangement and courageously engaged in actions to promote social justice within and beyond sporting spaces. Recent actions by African American athletes across participation levels have raised questions about the term activism and how it is...
Evolution of Radical Prostatectomy as It Pertains to Nerve-Sparing

Only a few decades ago, radical prostatectomy generally left patients impotent, but today, with the advent of nerve-sparing techniques, many patients can recover sexual function after surgery. We describe our contemporary technique for nerve-sparing during open radical prostatectomy. Key factors include the establishment of a bloodless surgical field prior to dissection of the neurovascular bundles, preservation of any accessory pudendal arteries, avoidance of electrocoagulation in proximity to the neurovascular bundles, and complete mobilization of the neurovascular bundles off the prostate prior to division of the urethra. Resection or partial resection of a neurovascular bundle may be warranted depending on the location of cancer. Estimates of the frequency of recovery of potency after nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy vary greatly, from 21 to 86% of patients. Recovery of potency can take up to 2 years after surgery and is more likely in patients who are younger, who were potent before surgery, and who had both neurovascular bundles preserved. Postoperative potency seems to be increased with the early use of phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors and intracavernous injection therapy. Potential neuroprotective agents, such as immunophilin ligands, are an area of active research.
Third-Wave Feminism and Representation

Third-wave feminism gained hold in the 1990s as a way to help explain and account for new developments in media representation. For women’s sports, this meant developing a framework that could account for a multiplicity of body images, identities and ideals, and that could help address an emphasis in feminist critical studies on the contradiction between beauty and power in female athletes. Instead of an opposition between athleticism and femininity, new codes emerged that began to combine them in complicated ways. In this chapter, a third-wave analytic looks at the relationship between athleticism and femininity, and it is used to analyze the cases of ESPN The Magazine’s ‘Bodies We Want’ feature in 2016, and the incidences of body shaming that occurred around Serena Williams.
Rate theory scenarios study on fission gas behavior of U3Si2 under LOCA conditions in LWRs

Abstract Fission gas behavior of U3Si2 under various loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) conditions in light water reactors (LWRs) was simulated using rate theory. A rate theory model for U3Si2 that covers both steady-state operation and power transients was developed for the GRASS-SST code based on existing research reactor/ion irradiation experimental data and theoretical predictions of density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The steady-state and LOCA condition parameters were either directly provided or inspired by BISON simulations. Due to the absence of in-pile experiment data for U3Si2’s fuel performance under LWR conditions at this stage of accident tolerant fuel (ATF) development, a variety of LOCA scenarios were taken into consideration to comprehensively and conservatively evaluate the fission gas behavior of U3Si2 during a LOCA.
The Role of Compounds Derived from Natural Supplement as Anticancer Agents in Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Review

Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) is the most prominent kidney cancer derived from renal tubules and accounts for roughly 85% of all malignant kidney cancer. Every year, over 60,000 new cases are registered, and about 14,000 people die from RCC. The incidence of this has been increasing significantly in the U.S. and other countries. An increased understanding of molecular biology and the genomics of RCC has uncovered several signaling pathways involved in the progression of this cancer. Significant advances in the treatment of RCC have been reported from agents approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that target these pathways. These agents have become drugs of choice because they demonstrate clinical benefit and increased survival in patients with metastatic disease. However, the patients eventually relapse and develop resistance to these drugs. To improve outcomes and seek approaches for producing long-term durable remission, the search for more effective therapies and preventative strategies are warranted. Treatment of RCC using natural products is one of these strategies to reduce the incidence. However, recent studies have focused on these chemoprevention agents as anti-cancer therapies given they can inhibit tumor cell grow and lack the severe side effects common to synthetic compounds. This review elaborates on the current understanding of natural products and their mechanisms of action as anti-cancer agents. The present review will provide information for possible use of these products alone or in combination with chemotherapy for the prevention and treatment of RCC.
Monoclonal antibody-based ELISA for the quantification of porcine hemoglobin in meat products

Abstract Misusage of porcine blood proteins, such as misbranding and substitution, can cause religious objections, law violation, and food quality concerns. These issues highlight the need for detecting unlabeled or overuse of porcine blood in foods. Compared with acidic and neutral pHs, porcine hemoglobin (PHb) at alkaline pH retained the best solubility, molecular integrity, and immunoreactivity after heat treatment. PHb at acidic and alkaline pHs remained stable during storage at 4 °C for 29 days. A monoclonal antibody (mAb) specific to mammalian hemoglobin, 13F7, was developed. A mAb13F7-based indirect competitive ELISA (icELISA) was optimized for the quantification of PHb in meat products. This assay had a wide working range from 0.5 ppm to 1000 ppm. It was sensitive (limit of detection: 0.5 ppm), precise and reproducible with low inter- and intra-coefficient of variances (
Testing collapse models by a thermometer

Collapse models postulate that space is filled with a collapse noise field, inducing quantum Brownian motions, which are dominant during the measurement, thus causing collapse of the wave function. An important manifestation of the collapse noise field, if any, is thermal energy generation, thus disturbing the temperature profile of a system. The experimental investigation of a collapse-driven heating effect has provided, so far, the most promising test of collapse models against standard quantum theory. In this paper, we calculate the collapse-driven heat generation for a three-dimensional multi-atomic Bravais lattice by solving stochastic Heisenberg equations. We perform our calculation for the mass-proportional continuous spontaneous localization collapse model with nonwhite noise. We obtain the temperature distribution of a sphere under stationary-state and insulated surface conditions. However, the exact quantification of the collapse-driven heat-generation effect highly depends on the actual value of cutoff in the collapse noise spectrum.
Community at Work: Sensing Community Through Needs Fulfillment and Responsibility

Scholars have recently been increasing attention to the topic of developing communities in organizational settings, however there has been a lack of theoretical grounding and empirical science demonstrating the importance of community experiences at work. This began to change when Nowell and Boyd (2010) developed the Community Experience Framework, which proposes that the experience of community can take two conceptually distinct forms: (1) the experience of a community as a resource and (2) the experience of community as a responsibility. This chapter will highlight the recent progression of scholarship on community at work, detail our empirical knowledge on the subject to date, and offer insights into the importance of developing communities in organizational settings.
Reddit Rules! Characterizing an Ecosystem of Governance

The social sharing and news aggregation site Reddit provides a unique example of an ecosystem of community-created rules. Not only do individual subreddits create and enforce their own regulations, but site-wide guidelines and norms may also influence behavior. This paper reports on a mixed-methods study of 100,000 subreddits and their rules. Our findings characterize the types of rules across Reddit, the frequency of rules at scale, and patterns of rules based on subreddit characteristics. We find that rules appear to be context-dependent for individual subreddits but also share common characteristics across the site. Taken together, our findings provide a rich description of this ecosystem of rules, motivating further inquiry into underlying mechanisms for rule formation and enforcement in online communities.
Preparing to Conduct Remediation

In this chapter, the authors assert that effective faculty development for remediation is a capacity-building process, which requires both individually and institutionally focused approaches. They propose a set of specific competence areas for individual faculty development and briefly discuss attributes of teachers and theories of learning and teaching strategies that impact on the ability to remediate effectively. In particular, they focus on the importance and specifics of developing judgment, facilitation skills, emotional intelligence and courage, and attitudes consistent with effective remediation work. They conclude by proposing the need to organize these activities so that they are aimed at creating a community of practice in remediation, which is integrated with other important communities of practice (e.g., education and workplace) to inform and be informed by these related activities to ensure the most “competent” healthcare systems possible.
Impose a Noncommercial Use Levy to Allow Free Peer-to-Peer File Sharing

Noncommercial users of peer-to-peer systems, such as Kazaa and Gnutella, should be free to distribute and modify files as they wish. But providers of services and devices the value of which are substantially enhanced by such P2P file-swapping should be charged a statutory fee - what I term the Noncommercial Use Levy ("NUL") - set as a percentage of gross revenue. Likely candidates include Internet access, P2P software and services, computer hardware, consumer electronic devices (such as CD burners, MP3 players, and digital video recorders) used to copy, store, transmit, or perform downloaded files, and storage media (like blank CDs) used with those devices. Once collected, levy proceeds would be allocated among copyright holders in proportion to the popularity of their respective works and of user-modified version of their works, as measured by digital tracking and sampling technologies. I estimate that an average levy of some 4 percent of annual retail revenues of P2P-related goods and services would be sufficient to compensate copyright holders for the lost revenues they suffer as a result of NUL-privileged activity, at least for the next 5 years. Following my description of the NUL and how it would operate, I consider some common criticisms that scholars have put forth regarding levies. These include the argument that the NUL would unfairly and inefficiently require low-volume users of copyright-protected material to subsidize both copyright owners and high-volume users. I then favorably compare the NUL with three proffered alternatives for resolving the P2P file sharing controversy. These include (1) "digital abandon," a regime in which the law accords authors neither proprietary control nor a right to receive remuneration for P2P uses of their work; (2) "digital lock-up," a regime in which proprietary copyright reaches full fruition as copyright holders use digital encryption to control all uses of their works; and (3) a regime of government compensation to copyright holders paid out of general tax revenues rather than a levy on P2P-related goods and services. My proposed NUL is not a panacea. But a balance of trade-offs favors it over the alternatives.
Using Generalized Linear Models to Assess Medical Care Costs

Medical expenditure data typically exhibit certain characteristics that must be accounted for when deriving cost estimates. First, it is common for a small percentage of patients to incur extremely high costs compared to other patients, resulting in a distribution of expenses that is highly skewed to the right. Second, the assumption of homoscedasticity (constant variance) is often violated because expense data exhibit variability that increases as the mean expense increases. In this paper, we describe the use of the generalized linear model for estimating costs, and discuss several advantages that this technique has over traditional methods of cost analysis. We provide an example, applying this technique to the problem of determining an incidence-based estimate of the cost of care for patients with diabetes who suffer a stroke.
Patient-Centered Care in Medicine and Surgery: Guidelines for Achieving Patient-Centered Subspecialty Care

Patient-centered care is based on the principle that equality between physician and patient is mutually advantageous. This model of care recently has largely supplanted the historical paternalistic model of the physician-patient relationship. Patient-centered care differs from the disease-centered model of evidence-based medicine, but the two are not mutually exclusive. Patient-centered care has 5 core components: the biopsychosocial perspective, the patient as person, sharing power and responsibility, the therapeutic alliance, and the doctor as person. This article explores these components, explains the differences between patient-centered care and evidence-based medicine, and offers guidelines for achieving patient-centered subspecialty care in hand surgery.
Accuracy of different digital scanning techniques and scan bodies for complete-arch implant-supported prostheses.

Abstract Statement of problem The effect of various scan bodies and scanning techniques on the accuracy and scan time for completely edentulous patients is not well understood. Purpose The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effects of 4 scanning techniques and 5 intraoral scan bodies (ISBs) on the trueness, precision, and scan time in a completely edentulous arch with 4 implants. Material and methods Five different ISB systems: AF, NT, DE, C3D, and ZI, and 4 different scanning techniques: unmodified master model (NO), glass fiduciary markers placed on the edentulous ridge (GB), pressure-indicating paste brushed over the ridge and palate (PP), and floss tied between the scan bodies (FL), were evaluated. Scan bodies were attached to an edentulous maxillary model with 4 dental implant analogs and scanned by using a structured blue light industrial scanner, and 5 consecutive digital scans of the model were made by using an intraoral scanner and 1 of the 4 techniques (n=5). The scans were superimposed on the master reference model, and the distance deviation and angular deviation of the scan bodies was calculated. The scan time was also recorded. A 2-factor ANOVA was used to examine the effect of scan body and technique on the trueness and scan time, with subsequent Tukey honestly significant difference or Bonferroni-corrected Student t tests. Precision was evaluated by tests for homogeneity of the variances between groups. Reliability for the entire study was evaluated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (α=.05 for all tests). Results The overall reliability of the study according to intraclass correlations was 0.999. In terms of trueness, no statistically significant interaction was found between the effects of scan body and technique on the distance deviation (P=.246); however, the scan body (P=.031) and technique (P Conclusions The accuracy (trueness and precision) of complete-arch digital implant scans using ISBs was affected by both the scan body and scan technique when using an intraoral scanning system. The ZI scan body had significantly less distance deviation, whereas splinting scan bodies with floss led to significantly more distance deviation. The scan techniques with different surface modifications were not found to improve the scan accuracy. The use of different ISBs led to significant differences in the scan time.
A phenomenological exploration of children’s school life and well-being

This phenomenological study explored children’s school life as it relates to their subjective well-being in the United States (N = 22). It was conducted as part of a multinational comparative study of children’s well-being following a semi-structured qualitative interview protocol. Rural and urban children (aged 8–12 years) participated in an interview and mapping exercise that prompted them to illustrate and then describe aspects of and influences on their well-being. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using a phenomenological approach in which child verbal responses and mapped responses were analysed to explore (1) the essence of well-being from children’s perspectives and (2) their perceptions of the role that school life and context played in their well-being. Three main themes emerged. Theme 1 was that school climate is important to their well-being. Subthemes included positive environment, school safety, appropriate teacher dispositions, and supportive programming and policies. Theme 2 was that relationships within the school context are important to their well-being. Subthemes included relationships with teachers, peers and other school personnel. Theme 3 was that children view the school setting as one context, two worlds: academic and social. Subthemes included the importance of academic life, the importance of peer interactions that are unstructured in the school context, and the challenge of academic and peer worlds colliding. Results are discussed in regard to children’s self-report of the hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of their well-being, and in relation to what is currently known about the importance of school environments. Implications, strengths and weaknesses of the study are discussed.
Characterization of a functionally active primary microglial cell culture from the pig retina

Retinal inflammation is an integral component of many retinal diseases including diabetic retinopathy (DR), age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Inflammation is commonly initiated and perpetuated by myeloid-derived immune cells. In the retina, microglial cells are resident macrophages with myeloid origins, which acts as the first responders involved in the innate immune system. To understand the disease pathogenesis, the use of isolated retinal cell culture model is vital for the examination of multiple cellular responses to injury or trauma. The pig retina resembles human retina in terms of tissue architecture, vasculature, and topography. Additionally, it is a better model than the rodent retina because of the presence of the pseudomacula. In the present study, we sought to establish and characterize pig retinal primary microglial cell (pMicroglia) culture. We used pig eyes from the local abattoir and optimized pMicroglia cultures using multiple cell culture conditions and methods. The best results were obtained by seeding cells in DMEM-high glucose media for 18 days followed by shaking of the culture plate. The resulting pMicroglia were characterized by cellular morphology, phenotype, and immunostaining with Iba-1, CD68, P2Y12, CD163, CD14, and Isolectin GS-IB4. Generated pMicroglia were found functionally active in phagocytosis assay and responsive to lipopolysaccharides (LPS) in dose-dependent production of IL-1β. Furthermore, they showed increased secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines with LPS treatment. Thus, we report a novel and reproducible method for the isolation of primary microglial cells from pig eyes, which may be useful for studying retinal diseases.
Short-Term 51Cr-Release Tests for Direct Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity: Methods, Clinical Uses, and Interpretations

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the use of the rapid 51Cr-release test for human direct cell-mediated cytotoxicity. In animal models, this test measures primarily T-cell-induced cytotoxicity. The chapter presents the nature of these tests, their limitations, and several clinical applications. Direct cell-mediated cytoxicity is an operational term. The rapid direct cell-mediated cytotoxicity tests have been reported to detect T-cell-mediated cytotoxicity. In these assays, target-cell injury by attacking cells occurs in the absence of added humoral antibody or complement. The cell-free mediators of cytotoxicity have not been detected. The technique most commonly used to detect rapid direct cell-mediated cytotoxicity involves the release of 51Cr from damaged target cells. In humans, cells to be tested for cytotoxic activity are usually prepared from anticoagulated peripheral blood by centrifuging cells layered on Ficoll–Hypaque (FH). The detection of cell-mediated cytotoxicity in vitro can be important for diagnosing the presence of a cellular immune response in the host, even if the response is immature or blocked so that cytotoxic cells do not exist in situ.
Androgen Receptor Interaction with Mediator Complex Is Enhanced in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer by CDK7 Phosphorylation of MED1

In this issue of Cancer Discovery, Rasool and colleagues show that TF11H/CDK7 phosphorylates the MED1 component of the Mediator complex, which enhances its interaction with androgen receptor (AR), and that this phosphorylation is increased in prostate cancer that is resistant to castration and enzalutamide. A covalent CDK7-specific inhibitor (THZ1) impairs AR-mediated MED1 recruitment to chromatin, and can suppress enzalutamide resistance in vitro and induce tumor regression in a castration-resistant prostate cancer xenograft model, suggesting a novel therapeutic approach for advanced prostate cancer.See related article by Rasool et al., p. 1538.
Analysis and characterization of etched silica aerogels

Silica aerogels are unique materials with characteristics that allow them to be used in a wide variety of applications. They are nanoporous, with low density, large surface area, low thermal conductivity, and they are relatively translucent. Recently, the use of a CO2 engraving and cutting system to etch a variety of patterns, including text and photographs, onto the surface of silica aerogel with minimal damage to the bulk aerogel was demonstrated; however, the mechanism by which the aerogel surface is altered was not understood and the extent of the damage not quantified. In this paper we present results on the effect of etching on, and cutting through, silica aerogel material with a CO2 laser engraving and cutting system, using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and gas adsorption analysis. SEM analyses of the etched aerogel material show evidence of melting. Surface areas of the etched portion of aerogel monoliths are lower compared that the unetched material while pore diameters are larger. FTIR shows that little structural change occurs on the molecular level during etching of the silica aerogel.
Birth of Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology

For most of human history, the heart was the essence of life; yet, it would take centuries before its electrical signals were recorded. In this chapter, the author discusses the recording of the electrocardiogram (ECG), and nearly 60 years later in 1967, the development of programmed electrical stimulation of the heart (PES) by Dr. Dirk Durrer and associates in Holland and, simultaneously, by Dr. Phillipe Coumel and his group in France. In 1969, Dr. Scherlag and Dr. Anthony N. Damato and coworkers described a catheter technique to record a His bundle electrogram at the USPHS hospital in Staten Island, NY. These two pioneering studies would usher a new specialty in cardiovascular medicine that of clinical cardiac electrophysiology. The author also discusses the initial contributions to the field focusing on two schools of thought: The Anthony N. Damato and The Dutch School of Cardiac Electrophysiology, as well as the contributions of several pioneers in clinical and basic electrophysiology.
Dynamic wavelength and bandwidth allocation for supporting diverse customers and prioritized traffic in NG-PON2 networks

Resource allocation is a fundamental task in any PON and it is necessary to have an efficient scheme that reduces delay, maximizes bandwidth usage, and minimizes the resource wastage. A variety of dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) and dynamic wavelength and bandwidth allocation (DWBA) algorithms have been proposed which are based on different PONs (e.g., EPON, GPON, XG-PON, 10G EPON, etc.). But to our knowledge, no DWBA scheme for NG-PON2 system, with diverse customers and prioritized traffic, has been proposed yet. In this work, this problem is addressed and five different dynamic wavelength and bandwidth allocation (DWBA) schemes are proposed. First, mixed integer linear programming (MILP) models are developed to minimize the total delay of the high-priority data. Due to the MILP’s high computational complexity, heuristic algorithms are developed based on the MILP model insights. The five heuristic algorithms are: No Block-Split Heuristic (NBH), Equal Block-Split Heuristic (EBH), Priority-Based No Block-Split Heuristic (P-NBH), Priority-Based Equal Block-Split Heuristic (P-EBH), and Priority-Based Decider Block-Split Heuristic (P-DBH). Six priority classes of requests are introduced with the goal of minimizing the total delay for the high-priority data and to lessen the bandwidth wastage of the system. Finally, experiments for the performance evaluation of the five DWBA schemes are conducted. The results indicate that P-NBH, P-EBH, P-DBH schemes show a 47.63% less delay and 30% of less bandwidth wastage on average for the highest priority data transmission than the schemes without priority support (NBH and EBH). Among these five schemes, NBH method has the highest delay, whereas EBH and P-EBH waste more bandwidth than the other schemes. P-DBH is the most efficient among the five, because this scheme offers the lowest delay for high-priority data and the minimum bandwidth wastage for lower priority ones.
Urgent: Dreams

People of the twenty-first century urgently require new ways of envisioning Earth and humanity’s uncertainly unfolding future in order to live in ways that do not further exacerbate the environmental crisis. The fragmented environmental community is responsible for pulling together to help do so. Mature hope requires the cooperation of all the academic environmental disciplines and beyond to engage in intelligent, loving, and creative research and utopian storytelling. This paper discusses obstacles to that endeavor. It also suggests three elements to help frame fresh, diverse dreams of land health and human happiness at once emerging from and returning to real places, the real Earth.
Effects of Osmolarity on the Spontaneous Calcium Signaling of In Situ Juvenile and Adult Articular Chondrocytes

Calcium is a universal second messenger that mediates the metabolic activity of chondrocytes in articular cartilage. Spontaneous intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]i) oscillations, similar to those in neurons and myocytes, have recently been observed in chondrocytes. This study analyzed and compared the effects of different osmotic environments (hypertonic, hypotonic, and isotonic) on the spontaneous [Ca2+]i signaling of in situ chondrocytes residing in juvenile and adult cartilage explants. In spite of a lower cell density, a significantly higher percentage of chondrocytes in adult cartilage under all osmotic environments demonstrated spontaneous [Ca2+]i oscillations than chondrocytes in juvenile cartilage. For both juvenile and adult chondrocytes, hypotonic stress increased while hypertonic stress decreased the response rates. Furthermore, the spatiotemporal characteristics of the [Ca2+]i peaks vary in an age-dependent manner. In the hypotonic environment, the [Ca2+]i oscillation frequency of responsive adult cells is almost tripled whereas the juvenile cells respond with an increased duration and magnitude of each [Ca2+]i peak. Both juvenile and adult chondrocytes demonstrated significantly slower [Ca2+]i oscillations with longer rising and recovery time under the hypertonic condition. Taken together, these results shed new insights into the interplay between age and osmotic environment that may regulate the fundamental metabolism of chondrocytes.
Far from Silicon Valley: How emerging economies are re-shaping our understanding of global entrepreneurship

Abstract In this paper we describe three distinct but interrelated processes — spillover and catch up, brokering and bottom up — that link globalization to entrepreneurship in emerging economies. We then outline an ambitious research agenda concerning entrepreneurship in the emerging economy context. Is most of such entrepreneurship Kirznerian or Schumpeterian? How do brokering processes work in this context? What informal and formal institutions will emerge to govern entrepreneurship? Does entrepreneurship at the base of the pyramid represent just another MNE-inspired spillover, or will the severe constraints lead to truly revolutionary innovations in business models, governance arrangements and social relations? Most fundamentally, will the entrepreneurial processes in emerging economies conform to or transform the organization of entrepreneurship as we know it?
Hollywood Heroines: Women in Film Noir and the Female Gothic Film

Helen Hanson's Hollywood Heroines: Women in Film Noir and the Female Gothic Film fills a void left by critical discussions of these genres which have traditionally addressed women as either femme f...
Kinetics of NO nitridation in SiO2/4H-SiC

The kinetics of nitrogen incorporation in SiO2/4H–SiC using NO are presented. Samples were annealed in NO at pressures of 100 Torr and 1 atm, at temperatures from 1050 to 1175 °C, and for times from 0.5 to 6 h. Annealing in NO incorporates ∼1014 cm−2 of nitrogen at the SiO2/SiC interface. The nitrogen content initially increases with time and temperature, but nitrogen is removed at later times at temperatures above 1050 °C. This nitrogen removal, and the associated oxide growth in the SiC substrate, is caused by O2 formed by the thermal decomposition of NO. Eventually, the nitridation and oxidation reactions reach equilibrium, and the nitrogen content saturates as the oxide thickness increases.
3T MR Guided in bore transperineal prostate biopsy: A Comparison of robotic and manual needle-guidance templates

Purpose To demonstrate the utility of a robotic needle-guidance template device as compared to a manual template for in-bore 3T transperineal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided prostate biopsy. Materials and Methods This two-arm mixed retrospective-prospective study included 99 cases of targeted transperineal prostate biopsies. The biopsy needles were aimed at suspicious foci noted on multiparametric 3T MRI using manual template (historical control) as compared with a robotic template. The following data were obtained: the accuracy of average and closest needle placement to the focus, histologic yield, percentage of cancer volume in positive core samples, complication rate, and time to complete the procedure. Results In all, 56 cases were performed using the manual template and 43 cases were performed using the robotic template. The mean accuracy of the best needle placement attempt was higher in the robotic group (2.39 mm) than the manual group (3.71 mm, P < 0.027). The mean core procedure time was shorter in the robotic (90.82 min) than the manual group (100.63 min, P < 0.030). Percentage of cancer volume in positive core samples was higher in the robotic group (P < 0.001). Cancer yields and complication rates were not statistically different between the two subgroups (P = 0.557 and P = 0.172, respectively). Conclusion The robotic needle-guidance template helps accurate placement of biopsy needles in MRI-guided core biopsy of prostate cancer. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2015;42:63–71. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A procedure for the measurement of urinary 17-hydroxycorticosteroids, aldosterone acid-labile conjugate, and free plasma cortisol in patients with chronic illness.

The usual steps for steroid isolation are: (1) hydrolysis, acid for the urinary acid-labile aldosterone conjugate, and enzymatic for the urinary 17-hydroxycorticosteroids (17-OHCS); (2) organic solvent extraction of the corticosteroids; and (3) alkaline, acid, and aqueous washing of the organic extracts of steroids. In the method described the crude extracts are purified by 3 or 4 sequential partitions using solvent systems of increasing polarity. After three chromatographic separations the 17-OHCS are still near the origin, and the fourth solvent system will separate these from each other. For the measurement of 17-OHCS, the mixed steroids are eluted after the third separation. Half of each eluate is analyzed by the Porter-Silber reaction; the other half is used as a blank to obtain the absorbance of the phenylhydrazones by spectrophotometry. For the measurement of aldosterone or cortisol, aldosterone (mixed with cortisone) or cortisol (mixed with tetrahydrocortisone) is eluted after the fourth paper chromatographic separation and acetylated with 100 µg (2 µc) of 14C-acetic anhydride (specific activity, 2 mc/mmol). The labeled acetates are extracted by liquid partition and isolated by paper chromatography after addition of stable carriers. The beta emissions of the isotopic derivatives are counted by liquid scintillation. Concentrations are calculated from data obtained by acetylation and chromatographic separation of pure steroid standards and suitable blanks.
Electrical properties of ion‐implanted poly(p‐phenylene sulfide)

Ion implantation of impurities into thin films of poly(p-phenylene sulfide) (PPS) is found to increase the conductivity of the material by up to 12 orders of magnitude. The increase is stable under exposure to ambient conditions, in contrast to the instability of the conductivity increases in PPS produced by chemical doping with AsF5. PPS films 0.1–0.2 μm thick are spin cast from solution onto interdigitated electrodes patterned on an oxidized silicon substrate. The room-temperature interelectrode resistance is measured as a function of implantation fluence. An estimate of film conductivity is obtained from this resistance with a simple model for the electrode and film geometry. A first experiment yielded similar conductivity increases for implantation of either arsenic or krypton. At a fluence of 1 × 1016cm−;2, which corresponds to an average impurity concentration of 2.5 × 1021cm−3, the conductivity reaches an apparently saturated value of 1.5 × 10−5 (Ω cm)−1. Infrared spectra of the films before and after implantation suggest that crosslinking may be present in the implanted films, and Auger studies show stoichiometric changes throughout the implanted layer. These results suggest that the observed conductivity changes are the result of molecular rearrangements produced by the implantation rather than the result of specific chemical doping. Specific chemical doping may, however, explain the results of a second experiment in which implantation of bromine resulted in substantially larger conductivities found to increase at an approximate linear rate from a value of 1.0 × 10−4 (Ω cm)−1 at a fluence of 1 × 1016 cm−2 to a value of 4.0 × 10−4 (Ω cm)−1 at a fluence of 3.16 × 1016 cm−2.
Mechanism of impulse Corona and breakdown in oil

OIL IS USED widely in electric apparatus as an insulating medium. Past investigations on the breakdown mechanisms of oil insulation generally were restricted to uniform field conditions and slow varying voltages. However, electric apparatus frequently contain some nonuniform fields and often have to pass impulse acceptance tests.
Evaluation of worksite weight loss programs: A review of data and issues

Abstract This article reviews evaluations of weight loss programs at the worksite. Of the nine studies reviewed, five were behavior modification programs, three were hybrid programs, and one was a self-help program. The purpose of the report was to (a) identify evaluation studies of weight management programs conducted at the worksite; and (b) outline issues that should be addressed in subsequent evaluations. Issues which need to be considered in subsequent evaluations of worksite weight loss programs include: attrition, research design, sample size and selection, variable measurement and maintenance and follow-up.
An objective rotation tensor applied to non-Newtonian fluid mechanics

To develop objective constitutive equations, local frames which translate and rotate with the fluid particle can be used. For example, the corotating frame rotates such that the curl of the velocity calculated in this frame vanishes. From the corotating frame, the Jaumann derivative can be derived. In this paper, a new local frame is developed which causes the cross product of the velocity and acceleration to vanish and is designated as the rigid-rotating frame. The corotating and rigid-rotating frames rotate identically for a rigid-body rotation of the fluid, but rotate differently in flows that contain shearing. This difference in rotation can be used to develop an objective rotation tensor that can be applied to constitutive equations for viscoelastic liquids. The rigid-rotating frame can also be used to develop a rheological time derivative which has been designated the rigid-rotating derivative. These new quantities expand the traditional set of kinematical variables and invariants available for use in constitutive equations. Use of this expanded set of kinematic variables is demonstrated in limiting constitutive equations.
Multilevel matrices with involutory symmetries and skew symmetries

Let n = n1 n2 ⋯ nk where k > 1 and n1, … , nk are integers >1. For 1 ⩽ i ⩽ k, let pi=∏j=1i-1nj and qi=∏j=i+1knj, and suppose that Ui∈Cni×ni is a nontrivial involution; i.e., Ui=Ui-1≠±Ini. Let Ri=Ipi⊗Ui⊗Iqi, 1 ⩽ i ⩽ k, and denote R = (R1, … , Rk). If μ ∈ { 0, 1, l… , 2k−1}, let μ=∑i=1kliμ2i-1 be its binary expansion. We say that A∈Cn×n is (R, μ)-symmetric if RiARi=(-1)liμA, 1 ⩽ i ⩽ k; thus, we are considering matrices with k levels of block structure and an involutory symmetry or skew symmetry at each level. We characterize the class of all (R, μ)-symmetric matrices and study their properties. The theory divides into two parts corresponding to μ = 0 and μ ≠ 0. Problems involving an (R, 0)-symmetric matrix split into the corresponding problems for 2k−1 matrices with orders summing to n, while problems involving an (R, μ)-symmetric matrix with μ ≠ 0 split into the corresponding problems for 2k−1−1 matrices with orders summing to n. The latter is also true of A = B + C where B is (R, 0)-symmetric and C is R, μ)-symmetric with μ ≠ 0.
Effects of homocysteine and ginsenoside Rb1 on endothelial proliferation and superoxide anion production.

Background Homocysteine (Hcy) is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease by its multiple effects on vascular cells and throbmosis factors, which may be involved in oxidative stress mechansims. Ginsenoside Rb1, a constituent of ginseng, bears various beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system. In the present study, we investigated the effect of Hcy on endothelial proliferation and a protective effect of ginsenoside Rb1 on the action of Hcy. Methods We initially incubated a mouse lymph node endothelial cell line (SVEC4-10) with increasing concentrations of Hcy or for different time periods and then assessed cell proliferation by using [3H]-thymidine incorporation. We then incubated SVEC4-10 cells with Hcy (50 μM) for 24 h with or without Rb1 (10 μM) to examine its inhibitory effect on the proliferation. These experiments were repeated in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). To explore the underlying molecular mechanisms, we measured superoxide anion, a reactive oxygen species (ROS), by using dihydroethidium (DHE) staining. Results SVEC4-10 cells treated with Hcy (50, 100, and 200 μM) for 24 h significantly reduced cell proliferation by 43%, 42%, and 40%, respectively, as compared with control cells (P Conclusion Hcy significantly inhibits endothelial proliferation with increased production of superoxide anion, which is effectively blocked by ginsenoside Rb1. This study provides some new aspects of Hcy-induced endothelial dysfunction, and suggests a potential role of Rb1 to block Hcy action, which may have clinical applications.
Residential Problems, Dissatisfaction, and Mobility

Abstract With the use of longitudinal data on a representative national sample of families, three facets of the process of residential change and mobility are explored in this paper: the incidence of perceived housing and neighborhood problems, the relationships between these problems and satisfaction with house and neighborhood, and the impact of these problems on actual mobility. Blacks and those on welfare reported a disproportionate share of serious housing and neighborhood problems, even after the effects of income level were taken into account. Links between problems and reports of discontent with housing and neighborhood were found, but specific problems in the residential environment appear to have no strong or direct effects on actual moves.
Female Reproductive Cycle and Sexual Conflict over Precopulatory Mate-guarding in Thermosphaeroma (Crustacea, Isopoda)

In species with time-limited opportunities for insemination, precopulatory mate-guarding is expected to coevolve with the duration of female reproductive cycles. Despite this adaptation to female characteristics, it may also be advantageous for males to adjust the duration of guarding with respect to sex ratio because the benefits of guarding are dependent on the availability of females. If female fitness is reduced because of guarding, male guarding behavior leads to intersexual conflict. We studied these aspects of male mate-guarding behavior in two closely related, thermal-spring isopods (Thermosphaeroma). First, guarding duration showed species specificity which was related to the duration of reproductive cycle; cycle length for females and duration of guarding by males in T. milleri were twice as long as in T. thermophilum, Second, males in both species adjusted their guarding duration with sex ratio, guarding longer when a competing male was present. Third, in T. thermophilum, ovarian development began immediately after the birth of the previous brood and continued through guarding, sexual molt and post-molt periods until oviposition, whereas in T. milleri, ovarian development was largely postponed until the post-molt period. Because guarding during ovary provisioning periods may be costly for females, we tested the existence of intersexual conflict over guarding duration in T. thermophilum. We compared the duration of guarding of control pairs with those of pairs in which either male guarding ability or female ability to resist guarding was reduced experimentally. Guarding durations for manipulated and control males were equal, but manipulated females were guarded longer, suggesting that conflict exists and that females can effectively shorten guarding duration by their behavior. Moreover, we suggest that selection in the context of intersexual conflict may play an important role in the evolution of delayed oviposition and sperm-storage organs in mate-guarding crustaceans.
AN APPLICATION OF LEAST‐SQUARES TO THE DETERMINATION OF THE SUB‐END POINT OF A METEOR*

The determination of the coordinates of the sub-end point of a meteor by the method of least-squares is discussed. This method is applicable when 3 or more bearings of the sub-end point are available, and makes use of the equation for the perpendicular distance from a point to a line. A simple numerical example is worked out in detail.