cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Defect Pair Formation by Implantation-Induced Stresses in High-Dose Oxygen Implanted Silicon-on-Insulator Material

Defect microstructure and the near-surface strain of high-dose oxygen implanted silicon-on-insulator material (SIMOX) were investigated as a function of dose, implant temperature, and annealing temperature by transmission electron microscopy and high resolution x-ray diffraction. Dislocation half loops (DHLs) begin to form by stress assisted climb at a critical stress level due to implantation-induced damage. DHLs evolve into through-thickness defect (TTD) pairs by expansion during annealing. Both DHL and TTD-pair density increase with higher implant dose and lower implant temperature. Possible methods for defect density reduction are suggested based on the results of this study.
Clinical evaluation of mepivacaine hydrochloride by a new method

A controlled blind test procedure that can be used in the comparison of anes­ thetic solutions in a school clinic has been developed. Four solutions of mepivacaine hydrochloride were compared with the control solution, propoxycaine hydro­ chloride 0.4 per cent, procaine hydro­ chloride 2 per cent, and levo-nordefrin 1:20,000. The results indicate that mepi­ vacaine is the first safe local anesthetic agent to produce satisfactory anesthesia for dental procedures without the benefit of a vasoconstrictor.
Fusion for Moving

Most lethal cancers are carcinomas, which arise from epithelia, tissues composed of cells that touch each other, usually forming continuous sheets that line the cavities and surfaces of structures throughout the body. The clinical problem with carcinomas is that they can spread to other parts of the body. Exactly how they develop this capacity is not completely clear, although a number of routes to metastasis have been proposed. Most prominent is the idea that cancer cells undergo a transition from an epithelial state to a more primitive mesenchymal state. In this transition, cell-cell adhesion is lost and cells gain the ability to migrate. Among the other proposed metastatic mechanisms is the idea that a tumor cell could fuse with a mobile cell type and then travel to another site in the body to establish cancer. Although this notion was raised about 100 years ago, it never received widespread attention. This theory may have gained some new traction through a recent study of melanoma metastasis ( 1 ).
Tapasin: an ER chaperone that controls MHC class I assembly with peptide

The stable assembly of MHC class I molecules with peptides in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) involves several accessory molecules. One of these accessory molecules is tapasin, a transmembrane protein that tethers empty class I molecules to the peptide transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP). Here, evidence is presented that tapasin retains class I molecules in the ER until they acquire high-affinity peptides.
Ready for capital account convertibility

Abstract This paper investigates whether the impact of capital account convertibility on the long term volatility of economic growth depends on financial development. It estimates a system of three simultaneous equations: mean growth, volatility of growth and financial development. This allows for the study of both, the impact of capital account liberalization on volatility, as well as its direct impact on financial development. Results indicate that economies with low financial development fall prey to excess volatility arising from capital account openness, while capital account openness itself has a significant positive impact on financial development. The results are robust to alternative measures of financial development and volatility and to the removal of outliers.
Dependence of Zn diffusion on the Al content in Ga1−xAlxAs

Abstract Zn diffusion in Ga1−xAlxAs as a function of Al content has been studied. From the diffusion depth measurements a dependence of the diffusion rate on the Al content has been found and the reason discussed. The use of the GaAs epilayer as a mask for Zn diffusion in Ga1−−xAlxAs was demonstrated.
P-glycoprotein inhibition by the agricultural pesticide propiconazole and its hydroxylated metabolites: Implications for pesticide–drug interactions

The human efflux transporter P-glycoprotein (P-gp, MDR1) functions as an important cellular defense system against a variety of xenobiotics; however, little information exists on whether environmental chemicals interact with P-gp. Conazoles provide a unique challenge to exposure assessment because of their use as both pesticides and drugs. Propiconazole is an agricultural pesticide undergoing evaluation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program. In this study, the P-gp interaction of propiconazole and its hydroxylated metabolites were evaluated using MDR1-expressing membrane vesicles and NIH-3T3/MDR1 cells. Membrane vesicle assays demonstrated propiconazole (IC50,122.9μM) and its metabolites (IC50s, 350.8μM, 366.4μM, and 456.3μM) inhibited P-gp efflux of a probe substrate, with propiconazole demonstrating the strongest interaction. P-gp mediated transport of propiconazole in MDR1-expressed vesicles was not detected indicating propiconazole interacts with P-gp as an inhibitor rather than a substrate. In NIH-3T3/MDR1 cells, propiconazole (1 and 10μM) led to decreased cellular resistance (chemosensitization) to paclitaxel, a chemotherapeutic drug and known MDR1 substrate. Collectively, these results have pharmacokinetic and risk assessment implications as P-gp interaction may influence pesticide toxicity and the potential for pesticide-drug interactions.
Hepatotoxicity After Continuous Amiodarone Infusion in a Postoperative Cardiac Infant

A former 34-week-old female infant with Down syndrome underwent surgical correction of a congenital heart defect at 5 months of age. Her postoperative course was complicated by severe pulmonary hypertension and junctional ectopic tachycardia. Following treatment with amiodarone infusion, she developed laboratory indices of acute liver injury. At their peak, liver transaminase levels were 19 to 35 times greater than the upper limit of normal. Transaminitis was accompanied by coagulopathy, hyperammonemia, and high serum lactate and lipid levels. Hepatic laboratory abnormalities began to resolve within 48 hr of stopping amiodarone infusion. Heart rate control was achieved concurrently with discovery of laboratory test result abnormalities, and no further antiarrhythmic therapy was required. The intravenous formulation of amiodarone contains the diluent polysorbate 80, which may have hepatotoxic effects. Specifically, animal studies suggest that polysorbate 80 may destabilize cell membranes and predispose to ...
Energy management for MapReduce clusters

The area of cluster-level energy management has attracted significant research attention over the past few years. One class of techniques to reduce the energy consumption of clusters is to selectively power down nodes during periods of low utilization to increase energy efficiency. One can think of a number of ways of selectively powering down nodes, each with varying impact on the workload response time and overall energy consumption. Since the MapReduce framework is becoming "ubiquitous", the focus of this paper is on developing a framework for systematically considering various MapReduce node power down strategies, and their impact on the overall energy consumption and workload response time.We closely examine two extreme techniques that can be accommodated in this framework. The first is based on a recently proposed technique called "Covering Set" (CS) that keeps only a small fraction of the nodes powered up during periods of low utilization. At the other extreme is a technique that we propose in this paper, called the All-In Strategy (AIS). AIS uses all the nodes in the cluster to run a workload and then powers down the entire cluster. Using both actual evaluation and analytical modeling we bring out the differences between these two extreme techniques and show that AIS is often the right energy saving strategy.
Abstract 356: Photoacoustic imaging of pancreatic cancer proliferation via sigma-2 receptor/PGRMC1-eYFP

Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL Sigma-2 receptor binding sites, recently identified as progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1) (Nature Communications, 2011; 2:380), are highly expressed in tumor cells. We have previously reported that measuring the sigma-2 receptor expression is a novel strategy for evaluating the proliferative status of tumors in vivo using the non-invasive imaging technique, positron emission tomography (PET). Our group has developed a series of sigma-2 receptor radioligands as PET imaging probes, one sigma-2 receptor radiotracer [18F]ISO-1 is under clinical evaluation for imaging the proliferation status in the patients with different types of cancers. PGRMC1 depleted human ovarian SKOV-3 cancer cells have been reported to lack tumor formation in mice and PGRMC1 depleted tumors displayed poor microvasculature system (Endocrinology, 2009; 150:4846-4854). To further understand the regulation of PGRMC1 in cell cycle and cancer proliferation, we have stably transfected PGRMC1-eYFP, enhanced yellow fluorescent protein conjugated PGRMC1, into human pancreatic BxPC3 cancer cells and those cells were transplanted into immunodeficient nude mice to grow into solid tumors; subsequently, a traditional fluorescence imaging system and an optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) were utilized for in vivo monitoring of BxPC3 cancer cells growth and observing the surrounding microvasculature development for those tumors under conditions of sigma-2 receptor/PGRMC1 overexpression. Tumor tissue sections were prepared and in vitro fluorescence microscopy analysis of PGRMC1-eYFP cells revealed that PGRMC1-eYFP overexpressed cells form cluster patterns which may represent the proliferation priority created by PGRMC1 overexpression. The subcellular localization of PGRMC1-eYFP appeared to be similar to that of sigma-2 receptors reported previously by our group using the sigma-2 receptor fluorescent probes (Cancer Res 2007; 67, 6708-6716). PGRMC1-eYFP BxPC3 cells were surrounded by fully developed microvasculature system. Further application of this in vivo imaging platform for evaluating the sigma-2 receptor pharmacology and imaging proliferation is ongoing in our group. (Supported by CA 102869 and CA136398). Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 356. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-356
BANKRUPTCY RULES AND COALITIONAL MANIPULATION

In this paper, we study the immunity of bankruptcy rules to manipulation via merging or splitting agents' claims. We focus on the TAL-family of bankruptcy rules (Moreno-Ternero & Villar, 2005), a o...
Minimizing address arithmetic instructions in embedded applications on DSPs

Address arithmetic instructions constitute a big part of the generated code for digital signal processors (DSPs). Most modern digital signal processors (DSPs) provide multiple address registers and a dedicated address generation unit (AGU) which performs address generation in parallel to instruction execution. There is no address computation overhead if the next address is within the auto-modify range. A careful placement of variables in memory is utilized to reduce the number of address arithmetic instructions and thus generate compact and efficient code. The simple offset assignment (SOA) problem concerns the layout of variables for machines with one address register and the general offset assignment (GOA) deals with multiple address registers. Both these problems assume that each variable needs to be allocated for the entire duration of a program. Both SOA and GOA are NP-complete. In this article, we present effective solutions using simulated annealing (SA) for the simple and the general offset assignment problems with variable coalescing where two or more non-interfering variables can be mapped into the same memory location. Results on several benchmarks show the significant improvement from our proposed techniques compared to other heuristics in the literature.
Phosphides, sulfides and other actinide fuel compounds as possible ceramic fuel materials☆

Abstract The preparation and fabrication of actinide compounds in the pnictide and chalcoginide classes is discussed. These compounds have potential as nuclear fuels for certain types of nuclear reactors. The properties of these compounds which would be of interest for nuclear applications were measured, and reported. These properties were found to be dependent on the purity of the compound, and to some extent on the method of fabrication.
General inverse solid-phase synthesis method for C-terminally modified peptide mimetics.

Peptide mimetics are of considerable interest as bioactive agents and drugs. C-terminally modified peptide mimetics are of particular interest given the synthetic versatility of the carboxyl group and its derivatives. A general approach to C-terminally modified peptide mimetics, based on a urethane attachment strategy and amino acid t-butyl ester-based N-to-C peptide synthesis, is described. This approach is compatible with the reaction conditions generally employed for solution-phase peptide mimetic synthesis. To develop and demonstrate this approach, it was employed for the solid-phase synthesis of peptide trifluoromethyl ketones, peptide boronic acids, and peptide hydroxamic acids. The development of a versatile general approach to C-terminally modified peptides using readily available starting materials provides a basis for the combinatorial and parallel solid-phase synthesis of these peptide mimetic classes for bioactive agent screening and also provides a basis for the further development of solid-p...
Further characterization of the peptidyl α-amidating enzyme in rat anterior pituitary secretory granules☆

In previous studies we have demonstrated a secretory granule-associated peptide α-amidatiori activity in rat anterior, intermediate, and posterior pituitary. This activity is capable of converting 125I-labeled synthetic D-Tyr-Val-Gly to labeled D-Tyr-Val-NH2, and requires ascorbic acid, CuSO4, and molecular oxygen for optimal activity. Because of the requirement for peptides with COOH-terminal glycine residues, and cofactor requirements similar to monooxygenases such as dopamine β-monooxygenase, we have proposed that the α-amidating enzyme be named peptidylglycine α-amidating monooxygenase, or PAM. The present study focused on (i) verifying that PAM could utilize a physiologically relevant peptide substrate, and (ii) demonstrating the retention of the cofactor requirements with purification of PAM. PAM (Mr = 50,000) was partially purified from rat anterior pituitary secretory granules and was shown to be capable of converting α-N-acetyl-ACTH(1–14) to α-N-acetyl-ACTH(1–13)NH2 (α-melanocyte stimulating hormone) and ACTH(9–14) to ACTH(9–13)NH2. The optimal rates for these conversions were dependent on ascorbic acid and CuSO4. Kinetic analyses, using the model compound D-Tyr-Val-Gly as the peptide substrate, demonstrated that, compared to the crude granule extract, the partially purified enzyme displayed increased apparent affinities for both the peptide substrate and ascorbate. These analyses also showed that the Km for D-Tyr-Val-Gly was dependent on the concentration of ascorbate, while the Km for ascorbate was constant over a wide range of D-Tyr-Val-Gly concentrations. The results presented here indicate that PAM can α-amidate physiologically relevant peptides related to αMSH, and performs the reaction in an ascorbate-dependent fashion. Retention of the ascorbate and copper requirements with purification further support the hypothesis that these cofactors are important requirements for the COOH-terminal α-amidation of neuro and endocrine peptides.
Malignant melanoma: relationship of the human leukocyte antigen class II gene DQB1*0301 to disease recurrence in American Joint Committee on Cancer Stage I or II

BACKGROUND Melanoma patients who carry the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) Class II allele DQB1*0301 have an increased frequency of metastases at presentation compared with those lacking HLA-DQB1*0301. This study was designed to determine whether HLA-DQB1*0301 is associated with an increased risk of recurrence in melanoma patients presenting with American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Stage I or II (localized) disease. METHODS Molecular oligotyping of HLA-DQ genes was performed for 259 patients with AJCC Stage I or II melanoma. Rate of disease recurrence was determined by retrospective review and prospective follow-up. Kaplan-Meier analysis, log rank, and proportional hazard (Cox) comparison were performed. RESULTS Median follow-up was 24 months. Minimum follow-up was 6 months. Although HLA-DQB1*0301-positive and -negative patients were balanced with regard to standard melanoma prognostic factors (primary tumor thickness, level of invasion, presence of ulceration, anatomic location, and sex), HLA-DQB1*0301-positive patients were more likely to develop locally recurrent, regional, or distant metastatic melanoma during follow-up (actuarial median disease free survival 48 months [DQB1*0301-positive patients] vs. 97 months [DQB1*0301-negative patients]; log rank P = 0.0002). HLA-DQB1*0301 status, in addition to primary tumor thickness, was an independent prognostic indicator in these patients (Cox multivariate P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS Patients presenting with localized melanoma who carry HLA-DQB1*0301 are at an increased risk of developing recurrent disease compared with stage-matched patients who lack this allele. HLA-DQB1*0301 is a genomic marker which independently identifies melanoma patients in whom recurrence is more likely, and is potentially useful in selecting those most likely to benefit from adjuvant therapy. Cancer 1996;78:758-63.
The ‘missing scale’ and direct simulation of block effective properties

Abstract In reservoir characterization, stochastic simulations are typically based on quasi-point core or well data, yet they are used as cell or block properties whose support is much larger than that of the available measurements. This paper presents some numerical examples to illustrate the problems of neglecting this support effect. A methodology for directly simulating the block effective (equivalent) properties is also suggested. The spatial statistics of the block-support values are obtained from a calibration process which can utilize available outcrop data. Conditioning to core-support subsurface measurements is done with a rank-preserving quantile transform.
Expanding the value-added cost component

Manufacturing costs are controlled by labour, materials, and burden. Currently, labour is less than 15% of the value-added cost for most discrete manufactures, and materials is not a value-added cost. Thus, most manufacturers evaluate product costs by lumping over 85% of their costs into burden and averaging these costs out over their products. This leads to highly inaccurate cost values and in several cases has resulted in manufacturers selling their products for less than they cost to manufacture. This paper suggests that we need to dissect burden and create additional cost controls. Energy costs are used as an example of a cost-that can be controlled.
The Contributing Effect of Apple Pectin on the Freezing Point Depression of Apple Juice Concentrates

Frozen apple juice concentrate was prepared using conventional procedures. Response surface methodology was used to statistically model the results. A regression equation was derived as a function of Brix and pectin concentration. The results of this investigation indicated that pectin contributed to the freezing point depression of apple juice concentrate, the effect of which was greater with increasing concentration. The untreated apple juice concentrate (with pectin intact) had a lower freezing point compared to the depectinized juice. The freezing point of apple juice concentrate decreased as the apples ripened as would be expected due to an increase in soluble pectin.
A method for obtaining swine alveolar macrophages by segmental pulmonary lavage.

Abstract A technique for obtaining alveolar macrophages (AM) from anesthetized swine is described. Animals were intubated and segmental pulmonary lavage was performed utilizing a double lumen catheter (DLC). An average of 98% of the initial 100 ml lavage fluid was recovered with a typical yield of 1 × 108 free alveolar cells (FAC). AM were then separated from other FAC by their adherence to plastic. The final adherent cell population consisted of >95% macrophage as determined by morphology and non-specific esterase activity. The technique described had no adverse effects on the animals even when repeated on the same animal several days later.
Use of an immunization information system to assess the effectiveness of pentavalent rotavirus vaccine in US children.

Abstract Immunization information systems (IISs) are accessible sources of immunization data. We validated immunization information from a local IIS against provider records and assessed the system's utility in evaluating vaccine effectiveness against rotavirus disease using a case-control study. Among the 91% of case and control patients with immunization records, 49% were in the IIS, and 97% had a provider record. Good agreement was observed across record sources ( к = 0.65). Vaccine effectiveness (VE) was 82% using IIS data compared to 82–88% using provider data. Controls identified through the IIS provided VE estimates similar to hospital control patients. IISs could represent a valuable source of data for effectiveness evaluations.
Social Control in Traditional China

By comparing the relative manifestation of formal government control and informal social control, we can draw several hypotheses and insights from traditional Chinese society which can facilitate social control research in modern China and similar societies. Social and political institutions within traditional China were a complex network of formal and informal controls, characterized by the ability of the government to penetrate popular culure and co-opt elements of that culture to define state ideology. Examples of these controls were the development of the personal charisma of the Emperor, reliance upon the tradition of the Mandate of Heaven, commingling law with the people's religion, and incorporating the family organization as an ideological control function. Further bolstering formal government control of the people were clans, craft guilds, and numerous spontaneous “unofficial” organizations. Additionally, the transcendence of these societal groups beyond the official power of the imperial state e...
Infrequent patterns of upper gastrointestinal tract malignancy

The skin and the upper gastrointestinal tract are frequent sites of malignant tumors. However, cutaneous metastasis from primary gastrointestinal tract lesions remains a relative rarity. Similarly rare is spread of primary skin cancer (nonmelanomatous) to upper gastrointestinal tract. This paper presents an unusual example of primary esophageal carcinoma with synchronous skin and bone metastases and a case of squamous cell carcinoma of the stomach, possibly due to spread from a remote squamous cell carcinoma of the skin.
Measuring the onset of locking in the Peru–Chile trench with GPS and acoustic measurements

The subduction zone off the west coast of South America marks the convergence of the oceanic Nazca plate and the continental South America plate. Nazca–South America convergence over the past 23 million years has created the 6-km-deep Peru–Chile trench, 150 km offshore. High pressure between the plates creates a locked zone, leading to deformation of the overriding plate. The surface area of this locked zone is thought to control the magnitude of co-seismic release and is limited by pressure, temperature, sediment type and fluid content1. Here we present seafloor deformation data from the submerged South America plate obtained from a combination of Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and acoustic transponders. We estimate that the measured horizontal surface motion perpendicular to the trench is consistent with a model having no slip along the thrust fault between 2 and 40 km depth. A tsunami in 1996, 200 km north of our site, was interpreted as being the result of an anomalously shallow interplate earthquake2. Seismic coupling at shallow depths, such as we observe, may explain why co-seismic events in the Peruvian subduction zone create large tsunamis.
High contrast optical imaging methods for image guided laser ablation of dental caries lesions

Laser based methods are well suited for automation and can be used to selectively remove dental caries to minimize the loss of healthy tissues and render the underlying enamel more resistant to acid dissolution. The purpose of this study was to determine which imaging methods are best suited for image-guided ablation of natural non-cavitated carious lesions on occlusal surfaces. Multiple caries imaging methods were compared including near-IR and visible reflectance and quantitative light fluorescence (QLF). In order for image-guided laser ablation to be feasible, chemical and physical modification of tooth surfaces due to laser irradiation cannot greatly reduce the contrast between sound and demineralized dental hard tissues. Sound and demineralized surfaces of 48 extracted human molar teeth with non-cavitated lesions were examined. Images were acquired before and after laser irradiation using visible and near-IR reflectance and QLF at several wavelengths. Polarization sensitive-optical coherence tomography was used to confirm that lesions were present. The highest contrast was attained at 1460-nm and 1500-1700-nm, wavelengths coincident with higher water absorption. The reflectance did not decrease significantly after laser irradiation for those wavelengths.
Non-nutritive sweeteners, energy balance, and glucose homeostasis.

Purpose of reviewTo review the recent work on potential mechanisms underlying a paradoxical positive association between the consumption of non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) and weight gain.Recent findingsSeveral potential mechanisms, not mutually exclusive, are hypothesized. First, by dissociating swe
Error resilient logic circuits under dynamic variations

Summary form only given. The design of low power and robust circuits under dynamic variations has emerged as a key challenge for silicon technologies. A particularly challenging problem is to tolerate transient supply noise that can occur in nanoseconds to microseconds time scales. The use of voltage or timing safety margin helps tolerate dynamic variations but at the expense of reduced performance or increased power dissipation. This talk will present adaptive circuit techniques to design resilient pipelines under fast transient variations. The presented techniques will allow a pipeline circuit to operate with minimal safety margin while preventing timing errors by adaptive clocking as well as time-borrowing and clock stretching. The measurement data from test-chips designed in 130nm CMOS technology will be presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of adaptive circuit techniques in designing low-power and resilient pipeline circuits.
Circadian Rhythm of Cell Division in Euglena: Effects of a Random Illumination Regimen

A persisting, "free-running," circadian rhythm of cell division in autotrophically grown Euglena gracilis is obtained upon placing either an exponentially increasing population or a culture that has been synchronized by a 10:14 light-dark cycle in a random illumination regimen that affords a total of 8 hours of light each 24 hours. These results are interpreted as implicating an endogenous biological clock which "gates" the specific event of cell division in the cell developmental cycle.
Plasma radiation during γ-ray bursts

Most γ-ray bursts are thought to originate from or near the surface of neutron stars1. Their spectra, however, have been measured only in the 30 keV–10 MeV energy range2, with possible detection of some 1–12 keV X rays reported for several events3 (notably the Apollo event of 27 April 1972)4 at a level ≃0.01–0.02 of the γ-ray flux. Here I propose that γ-ray bursters may also strongly emit 0.05–1 keV XUV radiation simultaneously with the γ-rays, in the form of two narrow spectral lines, corresponding to the ωe and 2ωe plasma radiation, where ωe = (4πnee2/me)1/2 is the electron plasma frequency of the γ- emitting (and pair annihilation) region of the burster. As estimates based on observed annihilation line intensities and other theoretical arguments typi cally give ne≳1024–1026 cm−3 (ref. 5), hωe≳37–373 eV, in the XUV range. If detected and their frequencies accurately measured with high time resolution, such radiation could be a valuable diagnostic tool for the emission region, as in the case of solar radio bursts6. Failure to detect them would also put strong con-traints on the γ-emission models.
The nonlinear superposition theorem of Lie and Abel’s differential equations

On etudie deux regles de superposition non lineaires qui ne derivent pas du theoreme de Lie. On note une dichotomie pour l'equation d'Abel de premiere espece
Continuously produced, high specific activity 11C for studies of photosynthesis, transport and metabolism

Abstract A continuous supply of high specific activity 11CO2 was produced for studies of photosynthesis, transport, metabolic utilization, and storage in plants. The reaction 12C(p,d) 11C from a 35 MeV proton beam on a 300 cm3 gaseous 12CO2 target yielded 7.7 × 105 atoms/μA/sec in a flow of 1 cm3/sec, and yielded 2.1 × 10911C atoms/μA/sec from a dry ice target. The resultant 11CO was purified (in air), then oxidized to 11CO2, and 12CO2 was added in known amounts to produce the mixture air/12CO2/11CO2 of known concentration and specific activity. By analyzing pulse-fronts and steady-state labelling levels in an individual plant it is possible to extract considerably more information about uptake rates, product pool sizes and turnover rates, transport velocities and concentrations, metabolic sink strengths, and other parameters, than would be attainable by pulse methods alone. The high yields of 11C and potentially of 13N by these and related methods would also be of use in radiopharmaceuticals and biomedical tracers.
Evaluation of Prognostic Factors for Growth Following Distal Femoral Physeal Injuries in 17 Dogs

Seventeen dogs that had incurred Salter Type I or II injuries to the distal femoral physis were evaluated clinically and radiographically for evidence of altered growth of the femur or tibia. Some degree of femoral growth disturbance was found in 82.4% of the dogs; the mean extent of decreased growth was 6.7%. Obvious clinical lameness resulted from the leg length discrepancy in three dogs. Several factors were evaluated statistically as predictors of growth disturbance; the age of the animal at the time of injury appeared to have the most prognostic importance. Factors found not to be as significant were the adult size of the animal, the type of Salter fracture incurred, the displacement of the fracture, the time lag between injury and surgery, and the method of fracture fixation employed. Compensatory overgrowth of the tibia in response to decreased growth of the femur was a rare finding.
Content management systems

Purpose – To introduce the special theme issue on “Content management systems”.Design/methodology/approach – Each of the articles in the theme are described in brief.Findings – The articles cover a range of topics from implementation to interoperability, object‐oriented database management systems, and research about meeting user needs.Originality/value – Libraries have only just begun to realize that their web presence is potentially as rich and complex as their online catalogs, and that it needs an equal amount of management to keep it under control.
A framework for understanding drag parameterizations for coral reefs

[1] In a hydrodynamic sense, a coral reef is a complex array of obstacles that exerts a net drag force on water moving over the reef. This drag is typically parameterized in ocean circulation models using drag coefficients (CD) or roughness length scales (z0); however, published CD for coral reefs span two orders of magnitude, posing a challenge to predictive modeling. Here we examine the reasons for the large range in reported CD and assess the limitations of using CD and z0 to parameterize drag on reefs. Using a formal framework based on the 3-D spatially averaged momentum equations, we show that CD and z0 are functions of canopy geometry and velocity profile shape. Using an idealized two-layer model, we illustrate that CD can vary by more than an order of magnitude for the same geometry and flow depending on the reference velocity selected and that differences in definition account for much of the range in reported CD values. Roughness length scales z0 are typically used in 3-D circulation models to adjust CD for reference height, but this relies on spatially averaged near-bottom velocity profiles being logarithmic. Measurements from a shallow backreef indicate that z0 determined from fits to point measurements of velocity profiles can be very different from z0 required to parameterize spatially averaged drag. More sophisticated parameterizations for drag and shear stresses are required to simulate 3-D velocity fields over shallow reefs; in the meantime, we urge caution when using published CD and z0 values for coral reefs.
The Horizontal-Vertical Velocity Illusion: Implications for the Design of Dynamic Displays

It has long been known that physically equivalent vertical and horizontal stimuli are often perceived as different. The present study examines this phenomenon in the context of motion perception. Participants were asked to judge the speed of stimuli moving in vertical and horizontal directions using the method of constant stimuli. The findings are consistent with previous research in that vertically moving stimuli appear to move relatively faster than horizontal stimuli traveling at the same speed. Further, the axis of focus, i.e., horizontal or vertical, used as the standard for comparison of the two relative velocities, appears to mediate the perceived velocity of the vertically ascending and vertically descending stimuli. These findings may have important implications for the design and implementation of displays that use a combination of both horizontal and vertical indicators.
Surveying Campus GIS and GPS Users to Determine Role and Level of Library Services

This survey was created by The University of Tennessee (UT) Libraries to assess the need for providing geographic information system (GIS) and global positioning system (GPS) services to the UT Knoxville, community. In the past few years, the UT Libraries have seen an increase in the number of students and faculty who need help with GIS-related technologies (GIS and GPS). To meet these needs, the library has expanded virtual training and begun to collaborate with other departments on campus to assist users with GIS needs. This survey attempts to answer the question: Where does the library fit into campus GIS-related services? Graduate students and faculty who participated in the survey agreed that the library should play a central role in offering GIS-related services. However, the survey results show that there is not enough training available with GIS-related technologies on campus. If the library is to play a central role, then additional resources should be considered to support GIS-related services i...
Revisiting the ‘Moderating Effects of Incumbency’: A Comparative Study of Government Participation and Political Extremism

This article seeks to achieve three goals:(1) clarification of ‘extremism's’ conceptual boundaries and problematic relationship with democracy; (2) articulation of a framework for locating incumbency among a range of strategic responses to political extremists; and (3) systematic cross-national comparison of incumbency's consequences for right-populist/nationalist politicians and parties. In particular, the study addresses a fundamental question in the study of political extremism—how accurate (and how generalisable) is the argument that participation in government will ultimately serve to moderate ‘extreme’ parties and politicians? The subsidiary question is whether denying power to electorally successful extremist parties is in the interest of—or antithetical to—democracy. Pursuit of answers to these questions should advance our understanding of the fates of extremist parties under democratic political rules.
Taste change after laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding

Abstract Background Many patients have described changes in taste perception after weight loss surgery. Our hypothesis was that patients develop postoperative changes in taste that vary by bariatric procedure. Methods Patients who underwent laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) or laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) completed a 23-question institutional review board–approved survey postoperatively regarding their degree and type of taste changes and food aversion and how these influenced their eating habits. Results A total of 127 patients participated. After removing the inadequately completed surveys, 82 LRYGB and 28 LAGB patients were included. Of these, 87% of LRYGB and 69% of LAGB patients believed taste is important to the enjoyment of food. More LRYGB patients (82%) than LAGB patients (46%) reported a change in the taste of food or beverages after surgery ( P P Conclusion Although most LRYGB and many LAGB patients experienced taste changes and food repulsion postoperatively, procedural differences were found in these taste changes. Taste changes need to be investigated further as a possible mechanism of weight loss after bariatric surgery.
Agent-based modeling and biomedical ontologies: a roadmap

The translational dilemma represents a foundational challenge for the biomedical research community. Addressing the dilemma will require an enhancement in the throughput capacity of the expression and evaluation of mechanistic hypotheses. Doing so will require the ability to place biomedical knowledge into a format where hypotheses can be readily instantiated such that the dynamics inherent to biological systems can be represented, and also technological enhancement of the generation of such dynamic models. We suggest that the former goal can be approached by using the meta-structure of agent-based models (ABMs) to integrate different knowledge hierarchies currently represented with bio-ontologies and increase the expressiveness of formal knowledge representation to account for mechanistic biological rules. The development of an agent-based modeling format (ABMF) will provide a bridge between ontological knowledge representation and methods for modeling and simulation (M&S). We further suggest that the latter goal of process enhancement can be targeted by the development of intelligent computational agents that can concatenate bio-ontologies with M&S ontologies to semiautomate the generation of bio-simulations. We believe that the application of these two complementary approaches would address the foundational nature of the current throughput bottleneck in the scientific cycle. WIREs Comp Stat 2011 3 343–356 DOI: 10.1002/wics.167 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
BK Channels Mediate Dopamine Inhibition of Firing in a Subpopulation of Core Nucleus Accumbens Medium Spiny Neurons

Dopamine, a key neurotransmitter mediating the rewarding properties of drugs of abuse, is widely believed to exert some of its effects by modulating neuronal activity of nucleus accumbens (NAcc) medium spiny neurons (MSNs). Although its effects on synaptic transmission have been well documented, its regulation of intrinsic neuronal excitability is less understood. In this study, we examined the cellular mechanisms of acute dopamine effects on core accumbens MSNs evoked firing. We found that 0.5 µM A-77636 and 10 µM quinpirole, dopamine D1 (DR1s) and D2 receptor (D2Rs) agonists, respectively, markedly inhibited MSN evoked action potentials. This effect, observed only in about 25% of all neurons, was associated with spike-timing-dependent (STDP) long-term potentiation (tLTP), but not long-term depression (tLTD). Dopamine inhibits evoked firing by compromising subthreshold depolarization, not by altering action potentials themselves. Recordings in voltage-clamp mode revealed that all MSNs expressed fast (IA), slowly inactivating delayed rectifier (Idr), and large conductance voltage- and calcium-activated potassium (BKs) channels. Although A-77636 and quinpirole enhanced IA, its selective blockade by 0.5 µM phrixotoxin-1 had no effect on evoked firing. In contrast, exposing tissue to low TEA concentrations and to 10 µM paxilline, a selective BK channel blocker, prevented D1R agonist from inhibiting MSN firing. This result indicates that dopamine inhibits MSN firing through BK channels in a subpopulation of core accumbens MSNs exclusively associated with spike-timing-dependent long-term potentiation.
Treatment of periodontal disease in beagles with lodoxamide ethyl, an inhibitor of mast cell release.

The effect of lodoxamide ethyl, a mast cell release inhibitor on the progression of chronic periodontal disease in beagles was examined. Twelve adult female beagles with naturally occurring periodontitis were studied. Following a six-month pretreatment baseline period, six dogs were given 20 mg/kg lodoxamide ethyl orally for a twelve-month treatment period. In addition, at the beginning of the treatment period one-half’ mouth in each dog was treated with periodontal flap surgery. Thus, the experimental design allowed a comparison of the progression of periodontitis about premolar teeth in a pretreatment period with progression of periodontitis in a treatment period in which one of the following treatment protocols was used: no treatment, teeth treated with periodontal flap surgery, teeth treated with lodoxamide ethyl administration, and teeth treated with lodoxamide ethyl administration plus periodontal flap surgery. In the systemically untreated dogs the rate of alveolar bone loss increased in the treatment period, compared to the baseline pretreatment period about both teeth not treated locally and teeth treated with flap surgery. In contrast, the rate of alveolar bone loss was significantly reduced in the treatment period in those dogs administered lodoxamide ethyl daily. Lodoxamide ethyl administration combined with flap surgery was more effective than lodoxamide ethyl alone. Tooth mobility significantly increased in those dogs administered lodoxamide. The data indicate that administration of an orally active mast cell release inhibitor can decrease the rate of alveolar bone loss which occurs in beagle periodontitis. However, the clinical usefulness of this pharmacologic agent is not clear due to the increased tooth mobility which occurred in this study. Since the principle effect of lodoxamide ethyl is believed to be on mast cell degranulation, a role for mast cells in beagle alveolar bone loss is implied.
Laboratory Automation in a Supplemental Newborn Screening Laboratory

The Institute of Metabolic Disease performs Supplemental Newborn screening for genetic biochemical abnormalities. A challenge facing many specialized high throughput-screening laboratories is fast,...
PARALYTIC SHELLFISH TOXINS: THEIR ORIGIN, CHARACTERISTICS AND METHODS OF DETECTION: A REVIEW

Paralytic shellfish toxin derivatives of saxitoxin (STX) are a group of nonprotein toxins associated with shellfish that are derived intracellularly from dinoflagellate algal cells such as Alexandrium catanella, A. tamarensis, and Gymnodinium catenatum. Recent reports indicate that pure cultures of bacteria harbored by the dinoflagellates intracellularly are capable of producing several of the toxins. The fundamental structure is that of saxitoxin, with 17 derivatives presently recognized, all of which exhibit varying levels of sodium channel blockage of neurons, resulting in neurological symptoms and paralysis at sufficiently high dosage. The toxins can be purified using adsorption chromatography on Sephadex G-15 or Bio-gel P-2 followed by cation-exchange chromatography. The toxins are readily resolved with silica gel thin layer chromatography, and can be visualized by oxidation with H2O2 resulting in highly fluorescent derivatives. In recent years the mouse bioassay has been supplemented with ELISA assays, HPLC for resolution followed by post-column oxidative derivatization for detection and quantitation of the various derivatives, as well as a mammalian neuroblastoma cell assay, which is highly specific for sodium channel blocking agents.
Macro-neocortical dynamics, cognition, and EEG

A conceptual framework for neocortical dynamic behavior is proposed to embrace brain theories applied to different experimental designs, spatial scales, and brain states. Neocortical dynamics and correlated behavioral/cognitive brain states are viewed as distinct, but interacting local (regionally specific) processes and globally coherent dynamics. Global processes can facilitate synchronous activity in remote cell groups (top down) which function simultaneously at several different spatial scales. At the same time, local processes may help drive (bottom up) macroscopic global dynamics observed with EEG (or MEG).
A Relationship between the Bowen Ratio and Sea-Air Temperature Difference under Unstable Conditions at Sea

Abstract At the air–sea interface, estimates of evaporation or latent heat flux and the Monin–Obukhov stability parameter require the measurements of dewpoint (Tdew) or wet-bulb temperature, which are not routinely available as compared to those of air (Tair) and sea surface temperature (Tsea). On the basis of thermodynamic considerations, this paper first postulates that the quantity of (qsea − qair) for the difference in specific humidity between the sea surface and its overlying air is related to the quantity of (Tsea − Tair). Using hourly measurements of all three temperatures, that is, Tsea, Tair, and Tdew from a buoy in the Gulf of Mexico under a severe cold air outbreak, a linear correlation between (qsea − qair) and (Tsea − Tair) does exist with a compelling high correlation coefficient, r, of 0.98 between these two quantities. Second, based on this Clausius-Clapeyron effect, the Bowen ratio B is proposed to relate to the quantity of (Tsea − Tair) only such that B = a(Tsea − Tair)b. Using all data...
Knowledge, attitudes and practice relating to hazardous alcohol use across the continuum of care in a community healthcare centre

Alcohol screening and intervention in community health settings places a great time demand on practitioners. Thus, implementation of practitioner-delivered intervention is challenging.Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of incorporating a brief alcohol intervention into daily practices of a community health care centre by utilizing assistance from non-practitioners and administrative staff.Methods: In regard to alcohol use, the knowledge, attitudes and practice (KAP) of the staff of a health care centre were assessed using a self-administered survey. The 57-item survey consisted of alcohol-relevant questions in four domains: clinical practice, knowledge and self-assessment of skills and available resources.Findings: The sample consisted of 70 individuals—23 practitioners, 21 medical assistants and 26 administrative staff from two New Orleans’ clinics. Practitioners were observed to be most confident in assessing alcoholism as well as in implementing interventions for alcohol abuse. M...