cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Reduced Enzyme Dynamics upon Multipoint Covalent Immobilization Leads to Stability-Activity Trade-off.

The successful incorporation of enzymes into materials through multipoint covalent immobilization (MPCI) has served as the foundation for numerous advances in diverse fields, including biocatalysis, biosensing, and chemical weapons defense. Despite this success, a mechanistic understanding of the impact of this approach on enzyme stability has remained elusive, which is critical for realizing the full potential of MPCI. Here, we showed that the stabilization of lipase upon MPCI to polymer brush surfaces resulted from the rigidification of the enzyme with an increase in the number of enzyme-brush attachments. This was evident by a 10-fold decrease in the rates of enzyme unfolding and refolding as well as a reduction of the intrinsic fluctuations of the folded and unfolded states, which was measured by single-molecule (SM) Forster Resonance Energy Transfer imaging. Moreover, our results illuminate an important trade-off between stability and activity as a function of this decrease in structural dynamics of the immobilized lipase. Notably, as the thermal stability of lipase increased, as indicated by the temperature optimum for activity of the enzyme, the specific activity of lipase decreased. This decrease in activity was attributed to a reduction in the essential motions of the folded state that are required for catalytic turnover of substrate. These results provide direct evidence of this effect, which has long been a matter of speculation. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the retention of activity and stabilization of an enzyme may be balanced by tuning the extent of enzyme attachment.
Relationship of energy to geometry in brittle fracture

Abstract Numerous investigators have noticed that there is a relationship between the energy of branching and the energy of initiation during a fracture event in materials that fail in a brittle manner. Usually, this is measured in terms of the stress intensities, i.e., KB/Kc. The ratio has been reported between 3 and 4, implying a constant value. However, data suggests that it is a constant for a material, but not a universal constant. The fractal dimension of the fracture surface is related to the critical stress intensity factor. It is a measure of the tortuosity of the fracture surface. We show that the KB/KC ratio is directly related to the square root of the fractal dimensional increment, indicating a relationship between the energy of crack propagation and the tortuosity of the fracture surface.
Accessing Vaping Products When Underage: A Qualitative Study of Young Adults in Southern California.

INTRODUCTION California implemented multiple strategies, such as a Tobacco 21 law and compliance checks, to reduce high rates of youth e-cigarette use. However, the prevalence of use among underage youth and young adults continues rising. Little is known about how underage individuals obtain e-cigarettes. AIMS AND METHODS We conducted structured qualitative interviews with 61 young adult (18-25 years old) vapers in the Los Angeles, CA area between June 2018 and June 2019. Interviews were comprehensive and designed to elicit information on participants' thoughts, feelings, and experiences related to vaping. We queried participants on where and how they obtained vaping products, and participants discussed their experiences accessing products while under the legal age for sale. Directed content analysis was used to analyze interviews. RESULTS Four concepts emerged: (1) early experimentation of e-cigarettes with peers often occurred in a school setting, (2) continued use of e-cigarettes commonly obtained through peer sales, (3) inconsistent implementation of age restrictions at in-person retailers, and (4) at online retailers. Participants had peers purchase products on their behalf and frequented in-person and online retailers with few to no age verification processes. Few participants faced challenges when purchasing products from retailers. CONCLUSIONS The current study's findings offer insight into where and how underage individuals obtain vaping products despite restrictions to prevent them from doing so. Participant accounts of mixed ease of underage purchasing in-person and online suggest retailer education is needed, along with additional research to inform more effective policies to reduce underage access to vaping products. IMPLICATIONS Despite legal age restrictions, e-cigarettes remain accessible to underage individuals, but specific strategies that underage youth utilize to evade legal age restrictions are largely unknown. We found that participants often accessed vaping products for the first time at school. Sales between peers were common, and participants also reported frequenting in-person retailers that inconsistently enforced age restrictions. Many participants reported little to no age verification online, though some believed online age verification measures were increasingly difficult to surpass. Knowledge of strategies underage youth utilize to access e-cigarettes can inform enforcement efforts.
MicroRNA-21 Modulates White Adipose Tissue Browning and Altered Thermogenesis in a Mouse Model of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Background and Aim: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is associated with obesity, and white adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT) dysregulation. However, the molecular mechanisms that mediate WAT and BAT derangements in PCOS are poorly understood. Subcutaneous (SC) WAT (SC-WAT) can transition to a beige/brite adipose tissue phenotype (browning) under altered thermogenic conditions. MicroRNAs play critical functions in brown adipocyte differentiation and maintenance. We aim to study the role of microRNA-21 (miR-21) in androgen-mediated browning and beiging derangements in both SC-WAT and BAT. Methods: Three week-old miR-21 knockout (miR21KO) or wild type (WT) female mice were treated with dihydrotestosterone (DHT, 8 mg/silastic tube) or vehicle for 90 days (n=12/grp). Body composition was measured by EchoMRI. Energy expenditure (EE), oxygen consumption (VO2), and carbon dioxide production (VCO2) were measured by indirect calorimetry. Glucose homeostasis was measured by oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). HOMA-IR index was calculated from fasting serum glucose and insulin levels. Gene expression for browning (UCP1, Cox7a1, Elov3, Dio2 and Cidea) and beiging (Hspb7 and Txb1) markers was quantified by RT-qPCR in SC-WAT and BAT. Results: DHT increased body weight (25.07 ± 0.52 vs 21.79 ± 0.47 g, p<0.05) and fat mass (4.60 ± 0.46 vs 1.98 ± 0.12 g, p<0.05), impaired OGTT (186.10 ± 5.99 vs 250.70 ± 14.76 mg.min/dL, p<0.05), and did not significantly change EE, VO2 or VCO2 in WT mice. All browning markers were downregulated by DHT in SC-WAT; however, only iodothyronine deiodinase 2 (Dio2) downregulation reached significance in both SC-WAT and BAT (by 53 and 40%, respectively) compared with the vehicle-treated mice. Beiging markers were significantly upregulated in SC-WAT and did not change in BAT. DHT-treated miR21KO mice showed attenuated DHT-mediated increase in body weight (23.84 ± 0.99 vs 25.07 ± 0.52 g, p<0.05) compared with WT mice. MiR-21 ablation did not modify DHT-mediated increase in fat mass or OGTT but worsened insulin resistance as calculated by the HOMA-IR index. Additionally, DHT-treated miR21KO mice showed a trend to reduced EE, VO2 and VCO2 values compared with DHT-treated WT. Gene expression analysis showed an exacerbation in DHT-mediated reduction in browning markers expression in the SC-WAT. Additionally, the induction in the adaptive beiging response was abolished in SC-WAT. Conclusion and Significance: These findings suggest that adipose tissue miR-21 may have a protective role in PCOS and ameliorate the DHT-mediated decrease in energy expenditure. Adipose tissue-specific modulation of miR-21 levels could be a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of PCOS-associated metabolic derangements. (Supported by NIH grants NIGMS P20GM121334 to LLYC and DGR, NIDDK R21DK113500 to DGR, NIGMS P20GM104357 and NHLBI P01HL51971).
How do we learn what works? A two-step algorithm for causal inference from observational data

Making decisions among several courses of action requires knowledge about their causal effects on health outcomes. Randomized experiments are the preferred method to quantify those causal effects. When randomized experiments are not feasible or available, causal effects are often estimated from observational databases. Therefore, causal inference from observational data can be viewed as an attempt to emulate a hypothetical randomized experiment—the target trial—that would quantify the causal effect of interest. Through several examples, this talk outlines a general algorithm for causal inference using observational databases that makes the target trial explicit. This causal framework channels counterfactual theory for comparing the effects of sustained treatment strategies, organizes analytic approaches, provides a structured process for the criticism of observational analyses, and helps avoid common methodologic pitfalls.
Comparative reconstruction of the predatory feeding structures of the polyphenic nematode Pristionchus pacificus

Abstract Pristionchus pacificus is a nematode model for the developmental genetics of morphological polyphenism, especially at the level of individual cells. The polyphenism of P. pacificus includes an evolutionary novelty, moveable teeth, which have enabled predatory feeding in this species and others in its family (Diplogastridae). From transmission electron micrographs of serial thin sections through an adult hermaphrodite of P. pacificus, we three-dimensionally reconstructed the 73 epithelial cells of its face, mouth, and pharynx. We found that the epithelia that produce the predatory morphology of P. pacificus are identical to Caenorhabditis elegans in the number of cell classes and nuclei. However, differences in cell form, connectivity, and nucleus position correlate with gross morphological differences from C. elegans and outgroups. Moreover, we identified fine-structural features, especially in the anteriormost pharyngeal muscles, that underlie the conspicuous, left-right asymmetry that characterizes the P. pacificus feeding apparatus. Our reconstruction provides an anatomical map for studying the genetics of polyphenism, feeding behavior, and the development of novel form in a satellite model to C. elegans.
Shading decreases and delays NDVI and flowering of prostrate arctic shrubs

Increases in shrub growth and canopy cover are well documented community responses to climate warming in the Arctic. An important consequence of larger deciduous shrubs is shading of prostrate plan...
Supreme Court Ethics Reform: The Need for an Ethics Code and Additional Transparency

The nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court are the only judges in the United States, federal or state, who are not governed by a code of ethical conduct. This white paper provides a brief overview of the current judicial ethics framework and highlights three changes that the U.S. Supreme Court could adopt right now to bring clarity and transparency to the ethical standards governing the nation’s most powerful jurists: 1) adopting its own Code of Conduct, 2) establishing a regular practice of explaining its recusal decisions and 3) strengthening its rules governing gifts and financial disclosures. The justices’ embrace of these reforms would end the long-standing debate about why the nation’s highest court lacks the kind of written ethical code that is increasingly ubiquitous, not only for government officials but also in schools, private corporations, and many other organizations. It would also re-establish the U.S. Supreme Court as a beacon of accountability and rule of law at a moment when these core democratic principles are under attack, domestically and around the world.
Harry Potter and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual: Muggle Disorders in the Wizarding World

J.K. Rowling has created a wizarding world almost entirely devoid of mental health issues and treatment. Nonetheless, Harry Potter offers four clear representations of Muggle psychiatric disorders that match the official diagnostic criteria. The most obvious is dementor-induced depression and the ability of both chocolate and the Patronus Charm to neutralize their effects. Rowling shows familiarity with both the published symptoms of clinical depression and its treatment. The Patronus Charm, with its reliance on substituting positive memories for distressing ones, resembles cognitive behavior therapy, a treatment for depression Rowling herself received. The happy memories Harry uses to summon his Patronus are those of successful escapes and his social support network, both factors known to mitigate depression. Additionally, the incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom resembles advanced dementia of Alzheimer’s type; their son Neville shows behavioral traits that might be expected both in the son of an Alzheimer’s patient and in a boy raised by a grandmother. Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody’s name and actions suggest he is a prototype of post-traumatic stress disorder, while Winky the house-elf embodies Stockholm syndrome. The sympathetic portrayal of characters with psychological disorders may enhance moral development and promote understanding of mental illness.
Efficient Estimation of Elliptical Hysteresis with Application to the Characterization of Heat Stress

When biological systems undergo hysteretic behavior of stress and recovery due to global warming or other changes in environment and resources, modeling hysteresis becomes increasingly important. A system displays hysteresis if the output depends on past history of changes in the input. Moreover, the trajectory of rate-dependent hysteresis may be viewed as a loop when the period is known. Consider the thermoregulatory response of an animal, hysteresis appears as the delay in body temperature when an animal experiences heat stress produced by elevated air temperature. If air temperature is controlled as a sinusoidal, the hysteresis loop shows an elliptical pattern. The parameters of such loops are useful for describing rhythmic biological processes. Three analytic methods, linear, nonlinear, and two-step harmonic, are developed to fit an elliptical hysteretic process. Formulas for parameters that characterize the dynamics are obtained. Statistical efficiency of parameter estimation is evaluated by simulations using both the delta method and bootstrap. Overall, two-step simple harmonic regression with bootstrap produces the most efficient estimates for parameters of the elliptical hysteresis loop. Application of this procedure to control-chamber data reveals differences between animals in response to heat stress.
Recent Developments in Image Algebra

Publisher Summary Image algebra is a mathematical theory concerned with the transformation and analysis of images. This chapter focuses on the analysis and transformation of images by computers, the main goal is the establishment of a comprehensive and unifying mathematical theory of image transformations, image analysis, and image understanding in the discrete as well as the continuous domain. This chapter defines “image algebra” as a heterogeneous or many-valued algebra with multiple sets of operands. The manipulation of images for purposes of image enhancement, analysis, and understanding involves operations not only on images, but also on different types of values and quantities associated with these images. Thus, the basic operands of image algebra are images and certain values or quantities associated with images. An image consists of two things, a collection of points and values associated with these points. Images are, therefore, endowed with two types of information—namely, the spatial relationships of the points and also some type of numeric or other descriptive information associated with these points. To make these notions mathematically precise, the chapter formally defines the concepts of value set, point set, and image.
Structural basis of the 70-kilodalton heat shock cognate protein ATP hydrolytic activity. I. Kinetic analyses of active site mutants.

The 70-kDa heat shock cognate protein is a member of a highly conserved family of molecular chaperones in which the binding and release of target polypeptides are coupled to the chaperones' ATPase activity. The ATPase activity resides in the amino-terminal 44-kDa fragment of the protein. Four acidic residues of the ATPase fragment which might participate in catalysis (Asp-10 and Asp-199, which are Mg2+ ion ligands; Glu-175 and Asp-206, which are candidates for a role as catalytic base) have been individually mutated to both the cognate amide residue (aspartate to asparagine, glutamate to glutamine) and to serine, and the effects of the mutations on the kinetics (this manuscript) and structure (Flaherty, K.M., Wilbanks, S. M., DeLuca-Flaherty, C., and McKay, D. B. (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 12899-12907) have been determined. Changes at Asp-10 and Asp-199 reduced kcat to approximately 1% of wild type; changes at Glu-175 and Asp-206 reduced kcat to approximately 10% of wild type. Changes to Asp-199 and Asp-206 had little effect on Km; changes to Asp-10 and Glu-175 increased Km 10-100-fold. These data suggest that the bound magnesium ion and its local environment are crucial to catalysis; they argue against a single residue acting as the sole essential general base catalyst in the hydrolytic reaction.
Where are the diploid (2n = 2x = 20) genome donors of Glycine Willd. (Leguminosae, Papilionoideae)?

There are about 16 genera in the subtribe Glycininae, tribe Phaseoleae, family Leguminosae. The overwhelming reason for the economic importance of the subtribe Glycininae is due to the cultivated soybean,Glycine max (L.) Merrill. The soybean, its wild annual counterpart and most of wild perennial members of the genusGlycine carry 2n=40 chromosomes. It is reasonable to assume that the base number of the genus is x=10. HoweverGlycine plants carrying 2n=20 have not been reported. Herein we report on the 2n chromosome situation of the remaining 15 genera in the subtribe Glycininae and two genera (Galactia, Ophrestia) once thought to be allied withGlycine. Certain species inDumasia, Galactia andOphrestia were found to carry 2n=20 chromosomes. All the other genera carry 2n=22, 28 or 44 chromosomes. The 2n chromosome number ofTeyleria (44) andPseudeminia (22) is being reported for the first time. No cytological information is available forDiphyllarium, Masteria andSinodolichos.
Testing the 400 MHz IBM generation-4 CMOS chip

This paper describes the design-for-test framework of the 400 MHz CMOS central processor (CP) used in the fourth generation (G4) of the IBM S/390(R) line of servers. It will describe details of modeling logic to achieve correct and effective tests as well as describe the test sets required to test all portions of the design. This includes built-in self-test, array self-test, weighted random pattern generation, algorithmic pattern generation, and manual patterns. Tests are used to detect faults, static and dynamic, and to debug/diagnose chip failures characteristic to the function under test. The described tests ensure the highest reliability for the components within the system and the same test patterns can be applied from manufacturing all the way to the system level.
Serum proteins in patients with toxemic glomerular lesion.

Abstract The mean concentrations of total protein and the electrophoretic fractions of the serum proteins, as well as the mean levels of haptoglobin and ceruloplasmin were determined among gravidas with acute hypertension classified by renal morphology. Among these subjects, elevated mean values for alpha-1 globulin and haptoglobin were statistically significant. When comparisons were made with normal gravidas at corresponding periods of gestation, an elevated mean concentration of alpha-1 globulin identified the group of patients with the toxemic glomerular lesion. When comparisons were made between the groups of patients with abnormal renal morphology, an elevated mean level of haptoglobin characterized the group of patients with the lesions of chronic latent glomerulonephritis.
On Various Abstract Understandings of Abstract Interpretation

We discuss several possible understandings and misunderstandings of Abstract Interpretation theory and practice at various levels of abstraction.
Utilizing Yucatan mini-pigs for 1318-nm skin exposure ED 50 determination

Yucatan Mini-pigs were exposed on their flank to 0.5 milli second 1318 nm pulses of laser light. The ED50 damage threshold was determined for this laser exposure combination. The skin was assessed for injury immediately, at 1 hour, 24 hours and three days post exposure. Generally, at least 24 hours was required for visible lesions to form. It was found that as the duration between exposure and assessment expanded the injury was more easily visualized. Tissue samples were collected for histology at one hour, 24 hours and three days. Histologic sections will be presented in future work. It was also found that the topical application of mineral oil to the area of interest was found to greatly increase the ease of identification of injuries.
Evolution of the E structural unit during uniaxial and constrained tensile deformation

Abstract Molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the mechanisms by which Shockley partial dislocations are nucleated from 〈1 1 0〉 copper grain boundaries which contain the E structural unit. Simulations in this work indicate that the natural conformation of the interface porosity with respect to the primary dislocation slip systems is responsible for the easy emission of Shockley partial dislocations during a tensile deformation. Furthermore, it is found that tensile stresses parallel to the interface plane can diminish the severity of the E structural unit on the dislocation nucleation process.
Gaetano Salvemini: antifascism in thought and action

Abstract Decades of historical revisionism of fascism and exploitation by the Italian press and politicians have distorted the careers of a generation of exiled Italian antifascists and devalued their work. One feature of the distortion has been to tie these democratic political activists uncritically to the communist armed Resistance and thus to dismiss the exiles after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the demise of the Italian Communist Party, and the depreciation of the founding myth of the Republic ‘born of the Resistance’. The exiles themselves are partly responsible for contributing to this misunderstanding by failing to clarify their differences with Stalinism, particularly as Carlo Rosselli moved the Paris-based antifascist organization Giustizia e Liberta to the left in the mid-1930s. Gaetano Salvemini's opposition to Rosselli's repositioning of Giustizia e Liberta illustrates merely one dimension of the diversity within the antifascist movement, and Salvemini's American career provides a useful...
Metaphyiscal Nihilism and Necessary Being

This paper addresses the most fundamental question in metaphysics, Why is there something rather than nothing? The question is framed as a question about concrete entities, Why does a possible world containing concrete entities obtain rather than one containing no concrete entities? Traditional answers are in terms of there necessarily being some concrete entities, and include the possibility of a necessary being. But such answers are threatened by metaphysical nihilism, the thesis that there being nothing concrete is possible, and the subtraction argument for this thesis, an argument that is the subject of considerable recent debate. I summarize and extend the debate about the argument, and answer the threat it poses, turning the tables on it to show how the subtraction argument supports a cosmological argument for a necessary being.
Inheritance of Permethrin Resistance in Culex quinquefasciatus

The toxicity of permethrin to different life stages of Culex quinquefasciatus (Say) was examined in three field insecticide resistant strains, HAmCq(G0), MAmCq(G0), and BAmCq(G0); two permethrin selected strains, HAmCq(G8) and MAmCq(G6); and a laboratory susceptible strain, S-Lab. The levels of tolerance to permethrin differed among the developmental stages of Culex mosquito larvae with an ascending order from first to fourth instar. A developmentally regulated pattern of permethrin resistance in Culex mosquito larvae was identified, once again increasing from first to fourth instar. Adult mosquitoes had relatively lower levels of resistance in general compared with their larval stages, suggesting that different mechanisms may be involved in the response to insecticide selection pressure between larvae and adults. Inheritance of resistance to permethrin was examined using reciprocal crosses between resistant HAmCq(G8) and susceptible S-Lab strains; the resulting logarithm concentration-probit response curves for reciprocal F1 lines were similar to those for the susceptible strain, with degree of dominance values of -0.2 to -0.3, suggesting that the inheritance of permethrin resistance in Cx. quinquefasciatus is incompletely recessive. No significant difference was found in the values of LC50 and the slope of the log concentration-probit lines between reciprocal F1 lines, indicating that the resistance to permethrin was inherited autosomally. Both chi2 goodness-of-fit test and log concentration-probit line analysis on responses of backcross and self-bred progeny to permethrin indicated that permethrin resistance in the HAmCq(G8) strain did not follow a monogenic gene inheritance model, revealing that permethrin resistance in Cx. quinquefasciatus is controlled by more than one gene.
“I'm Mother! I Can Take Care of Myself!”: A Contrapuntal Analysis of Older Parents' Relational Talk with Their Adult Children

While definitions of close relationships impact older individuals' self-identity and feelings of aging (Hummert, 1990, 1994), little is known about how older parents socially construct the relational changes that occur with their adult children in late life. Therefore, this study used Relational Dialectics Theory to identify the cultural and relational discourses older parents invoke to make meaning of relational changes with their adult children. Among other findings, our study found that participants emphasized independence and openness by engaging in a single-voiced monologue. Additionally, participants gave voice to a discursive struggle between anticipating death and sustaining life by engaging in (a) hidden polemical interplay, (b) antagonistic struggles, and (c) aesthetic moments. Implications and areas for future research are discussed.
Relationships between amplitudes and kinetics of rapid cytosolic free calcium fluctuations in GH4C1 rat pituitary cells: roles for diffusion and calcium-induced calcium release

We have examined statistical relationships between the amplitudes and the kinetics (rise times, fall times, and decay constants) of cytosolic free calcium fluctuations (spikes) in a population of 353 individual GH4C1 rat pituitary cells. The fast falling phase was approximated by a single exponential decay, and the decay time constant, tau, increased linearly with spike amplitude in 80% of the cells studied. The slope of the tau versus amplitude plot for each cell was inversely related to the cell's mean spike amplitude. Thus, some process responsible for prolonging the decay phase of spikes appeared to operate strongly in cells with spikes of low amplitude, but to become less prominent in cells with high amplitude spikes. Mean tau correlated more strongly with mean rise and fall times than with mean spike amplitude, indicating that the kinetic properties of spikes were not tightly coupled to spike amplitude. These findings are consistent with a model wherein the rise phase corresponds to entry of extracellular calcium via L-type calcium channels into localized sub-plasmalemmal domains, followed by diffusion of subplasmalemmal calcium into the cell interior; and the falling phase corresponds to further calcium diffusion combined with activation of cytoplasmic calcium-induced calcium release, which prolongs the falling phase.
Nuclear Data Sheets for A = 247

Abstract Available information pertaining to the nuclear structure of all nuclei with mass numbers A=247 is presented. Various decay and reaction data are evaluated and compared. Adopted data, levels, spin, parity and configuration assignments are given. When there are insufficient data, expected values from systematics of nuclear properties or/and theoretical calculations are quoted. Unexpected or discrepant experimental results are also noted. A summary and compilation of the discovery of various isotopes in this mass region is given in 2013Fr02 ( 247 Pu, 247 Am, 247 Cm, 243 Bk, 247 Cf), 2011Me01 ( 247 Es), and 2013Th02 ( 247 Fm, 247 Md).
Interdisciplinary Approach to Neurocritical Care in the Intensive Care Nursery

Neurocritical care is a multidisciplinary subspecialty that combines expertise in critical care medicine, neurology, and neurosurgery, and has led to improved outcomes in adults who have critical illnesses. Advances in resuscitation and critical care have led to high rates of survival among neonates with life-threatening conditions such as perinatal asphyxia, extreme prematurity, and congenital malformations. The sequelae of neurologic conditions arising in the neonatal period include lifelong disabilities such as cerebral palsy and epilepsy, as well as intellectual and behavioral disabilities. Centers of excellence have adapted the principles of neurocritical care to reflect the needs of the developing newborn brain, including early involvement of a neurologist for recognition and treatment of neurologic conditions, attention to physiology to help prevent secondary brain injury, a protocol-driven approach for common conditions like seizures and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, and education of specialized teams that use brain monitoring and imaging to evaluate the effect of critical illness on brain function and development.
Sound localization in chinchillas III: Effect of pinna removal

The ability of chinchillas to make left/right, front/back, and vertical locus discriminations was determined before and after surgical removal of the pinnae. The animals were tested behaviorally using a conditioned avoidance procedure. In the left/right localization tests, removal of both pinnae had no effect on localization acuity for broadband noise but did result in a small decrement in performance when localizing low-pass filtered noise. In the front/back localization tests, removal of a single pinna resulted in a small but consistent decrement in performance when the sound sources were located in the hemifield on the same side as the intact pinna, and a greater decrement when the sound sources were located in the hemifield on the side of the missing pinna; removal of both pinnae resulted in the largest decrement in performance. Finally, vertical localization acuity and performance when localizing low-pass filtered noise were greatly impaired following removal of both pinnae. These results demonstrate the importance of the pinnae in performing front/back and vertical localization tasks in which binaural cues are not available.
Total Abdominal Colectomy for Refractory Ulcerative Colitis. Surgical Treatment in Evolution

Total abdominal colectomy is the procedure of choice for debilitated patients with acute, medical refractory ulcerative colitis in our practice. A laparoscopic approach has been previously shown to be safe and effective, and has become our preferred strategy. This study illustrates the laparoscopic evolution towards a truly minimally invasive approach comparing three phases of a single colorectal surgeon experience. In May 2010 single incision laparoscopy was introduced in our practice and has become our preferred approach. Ten consecutive ulcerative colitis patients were case matched and compared with 10 previous laparoscopic-assisted (Feb 2003–Jan 2007) and 10 hand-assisted (Feb 2006–Apr 2010) total abdominal colectomies. Patient, disease and surgery-related factors were analyzed and short-term outcomes were compared. Given the study design, there were no differences in demographics, smoking history, disease duration and severity, nutritional and inflammatory parameters, and indication for surgery between groups. Single incision patients were more likely to have received immunosuppressive therapy within 30 days of the surgery (p = 0.016). In the single incision group we noticed significantly shorter duration of surgery (p < 0.001) and faster resumption of solid diet (p = 0.019) compared to the other groups. Other short-term outcomes did not differ between groups. Single incision laparoscopy offers a safe alternative to other laparoscopic approaches. Despite the higher technical complexity, the duration of surgery is shorter with faster resumption of oral intake. Studies with larger sample size and longer follow-up will be required to confirm the benefits of this approach.
Pharmacological alleviation of cholinergic lesion induced memory deficits in rats

The cholinergic cells of the nucleus basalis of Meynert (nbM) have recently been found to degenerate in Alzheimer's disease and are thought to be at least partly responsible for the cognitive deficits which are characteristic of this disease. These experiments explored the behavioral effects of bilateral excitotoxic lesions of the nbM in adult rats. The first experiment showed that nbM lesions lead to a substantial deficit in the 24 hour retention of the habituation to a novel environment without affecting general exploratory behavior. The second experiment showed that this retention deficit is a general phenomenon reflected in the 72 hour retention of a one trial passive avoidance task. These retention deficits could be reversed by the postacquisition administration of the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, physostigmine. These results support the hypothesis that central cholinergic systems are involved in the retention of learned responses, and suggest that cholinergic lesion induced retention deficits can be reversed by pharmacological means.
A Cross-Cultural Study of Ethics: The United States, Romania, Poland, and the Czech Republic

Global expansion of business into areas defined by different cultural and national environments creates the need for companies to better understand the impact of culture on business operations. Of particular importance is the role country of residence plays. Researchers argue that many cultural differences are malleable, capable of shifting to fit the corporate culture of an organization. However, additional research aimed at identifying different countries’ cultural values is needed. This paper presents the results of a multi-national survey of business students identifying differences in cultural perceptions of ethical behaviors. Differences in personal versus social decision making are discussed.
Electron paramegnetic detection of ionic motional effects in the super ionic conductor β-sodium gallate

Abstract The EPR spectra of Cu2+, Mn2+ and Eu2+, incorporated into the conducting mirror planes of β-sodium gallate, have been studied. For all three impurities, the EPR spectra at or near room temperature show pronounced relaxation effects caused by the motion of the ions. From the relaxation effects the correlation time of the motion is found to be of the order of 10-11 sec. This time corresponds to a residence time for the paramagnetic ion at a lattice site in the conducting plane. From this time and the thermal activation energy an attempt frequency of 1012 Hz is determined.
Bacterial Inactivation Kinetics of Dialdehyde Starch Aqueous Suspension

The bacterial inactivation kinetics of dialdehyde starch (DAS) aqueous suspension was studied by the relationship between the minimal lethal concentration (MLC) and the inactivation time at four different temperatures. The relationship between MLC and exposure time was found to follow the first-order Chick-Watson law. This first-order inactivation kinetics was modeled by pseudo-first order chemical reaction. This model was validated by the successful predication of the bacterial inactivation response at room temperature.
Exterior electromagnetic boundary value problem of a wedge

Abstract A linear relation between the time-dependent tangential component of the electric field vector on an aperture in a conducting wedge and the time-dependent electric field vector at a field point in the region of the wedge is obtained. In the derivation of the relation, use is made of Laplace, Fourier, and Kontorovich-Lebedev transforms.
Cholinergic-stimulated alkaline phosphatase secretion and phospholipid synthesis in guinea pig seminal vesicles

Incubation of slices of seminal vesicles of the guinea pig with cholinergic drugs led to an enhanced secretion of alkaline phosphatase. Incubation with carbamylcholine also stimulated the incorporation of P32 into the phospholipid fraction. Both cholinergic effects required a supply of energy since dinitrophenol was inhibitory. The stimulation of enzyme secretion and phospholipid synthesis by carbamylcholine was completely abolished by atropine. Omission of calcium ions from the incubation medium and pre-treatment of the slices with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) caused a marked reduction in alkaline phosphatase secretion induced by carbamylcholine but had no effect on incorporation of P32 into phospholipids. Adenergic agents such as epinephrine, norepinephrine and isoproterenol did not influence these two processes. Addition of cyclic AMP, dibutyryl cyclic AMP and a phosphodiesterase inhibitor was also ineffective. The incorporation of P32 into the various phospholipids of the seminal vesicle was examined. In the presence of carbamylcholine, there was a marked increase in the P32-specific activities of phosphatidylinositol (nearly 6-fold) and of phosphatidylserine (about 1.5-fold). These observations indicate that the guinea pig seminal vesicle, a large hollow organ composed of a single layer of epithelium, is ideally suited for studies concerning the biochemistry of macromolecular secretion.
Relation between phonologic difficulty and the occurrence of disfluencies in the early stage of stuttering

People who stutter, especially children, have often been reported to exhibit a wide range of concomitant communication problems including articulation and phonologic deficiencies. This study invest...
Spectroscopic studies of the ionic liquid during the electrodeposition of Al–Ti alloy in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride melt

Abstract A new approach for the formation of Al–Ti alloy in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (EmimCl) was investigated. The dissolution of titanium electrodes in presence of EmimCl:AlCl3 was performed at various potentials to understand the effect of voltage on the reaction rate. It was observed that at low potentials, the presence of titanium hinders the reaction and diminishes the formation of aluminum and aluminum–titanium alloy at the cathode. However, at higher potentials there was substantial formation of Al3Ti alloy. To understand the reaction mechanism during the electrolysis, the electrolyte was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. The material on the cathode was characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) techniques. From the above analysis it was found that titanium forms a complex with aluminum and also assists in formation of AlCl4− phase in the acidic ionic liquid.
Free and Forced Variability of the Tropical Atlantic Ocean: Role of the Wind-Evaporation-Sea Surface Temperature Feedback

Abstract The role of the wind–evaporation–sea surface temperature (WES) feedback in the low-frequency natural variability of the tropical Atlantic is studied using an atmospheric global climate model—the NCAR Community Climate Model, version 3 (CCM3)—thermodynamically coupled to a slab ocean model (SOM). The coupled model is modified to suppress the WES feedback and is compared to a control run. Singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis over the tropical Atlantic reveals that the coupled meridional mode of the Atlantic Ocean is amplified in the presence of the WES feedback. In its absence, the meridional mode still exists, but with a weaker amplitude. A feedback mechanism that involves the near-surface specific humidity is proposed to sustain the weaker Atlantic meridional mode in the absence of the WES feedback. Similar analysis of coupled model integrations when forced with an artificial El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-like SST cycle in the Pacific reveals that in the presence of the WES feedback,...
A graph partitioning heuristic for the parallel pseudo-exhaustive logical test of VLSI combinational circuits

The logical test of integrated VLSI circuits is one of the main phases of their design and fabrication. The pseudo-exhaustive approach for the logical test of integrated circults consists in partitioning the original circuits to be tested into non-overlapping subcircuits with a small, bounded number of subcircuits, which are then exhaustively tested in parallel. In this work, we present an approximate algorithm for the problem of partitioning integrated combinational circuits, based on the tabu search metaheuristic. The proposed algorithm presents several original features, such as: the use of a reduced neighborhood, obtained from moves involving only a subset of boundary nodes; complex moves which entail several resulting moves, although the variations in the cost function are easily computable; a bi-criteria cost function combining the number of subcircuits and the number of cuts, which simultaneously adds a diversification strategy to the search; and the use of a bin-packing heuristic as a post-optimization step. The behavior of the proposed algorithm was evaluated through its application to a set of benchmark circuits. The computational results have been compared with those obtained by the other algorithms in the literature, with significant improvements. The average reduction rates have been of the order of 30% in the number of subcircuits in the partition, and of the order of 40% in the number of cuts.
The ocular manifestations of herpes zoster, varicella, infectious mononucleosis, and cytomegalovirus disease

Herpes zoster, caused by varicella-zoster (V-Z) virus which also causes varicella (chickenpox), is usually a benign self-limited disease. However, when the ophthalmic division of the trigeminal nerve is affected, the ocular disease (ophthalmic zoster), although also usually mild and self-limited, may have severe complications (corneal scarring, glaucoma, iris atrophy, posterior synechiae, scleritis, motor disturbances, optic neuritis, retinitis, anterior segment necrosis, and phthisis bulbi and servere postherpetic neuralgia). Varicella affects the eye rarely (except for the typical lid lesions), but associated conjunctival and corneal lesions, iridocyclitis, glaucoma, chorioretinitis, and optic nerve lesions have been described. Infectious mononucleosis may involve the eye either by direct involvement or from a remote focus such as the central nervous system. Ocular manifestations of cytomegalovirus disease is usually limited to the choroid and retina unless involvement of the developing embryo occurs prior to the development of the eye.
Media Lens Revisited: Television and Socio-Political Changes in China

This paper attempts to understand the development of Chinese television news reporting practice in the reform era and its implications for the socio-political changes in China. Due to the heavy Soviet influence, Chinese television has adopted a TASS style from its very beginning, which places an emphasis on imparting a heavily ideological message and propagating government policies and rules. This practice, however, has been substantially changed during the reform era. Television news reporting in today’s China is moving towards the CNN style in both format and content. These changes reflect a more relaxed socio-political environment in China.
Bladder cancer: Lack of progress in bladder cancer--what are the obstacles?

Research has revealed what we already suspected—randomized controlled trials are lacking in the field of bladder cancer. Many areas require further investigation, and we must try to incentivize clinicians to perform the much-needed trials. A newly established patient advocacy group will be invaluable in this endeavour.
S1 nuclease sensitivity of a double-stranded telomeric DNA sequence

We examined structural properties of poly d(C4A2).d(T2G4), the telomeric DNA sequence of the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena. Under conditions of high negative supercoiling, poly d(C4A2).d(T2G4) inserted in a circular plasmid vector was preferentially sensitive to digestion with S1 nuclease. Only the C4A2 strand was sensitive to first-strand S1 cutting, with a markedly skewed pattern of hypersensitive sites in tracts of either 46 or 7 tandem repeats. Linear poly d(C4A2).(T2G4) showed no preferential S1 sensitivity, no circular dichroism spectra indicative of a Z-DNA conformation, no unusual Tm, and no unusual migration in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The S1 nuclease sensitivity properties are consistent with a model proposed previously for supercoiled poly d(CT).d(AG) (Pulleyblank et al., Cell 42:271-280, 1985), consisting of a double-stranded, protonated, right-handed underwound helix. We propose that this structure is shared by related telomeric sequences and may play a role in their biological recognition.
Evaluating rotational diffusion from protein MD simulations

It is now feasible to carry out molecular dynamics simulations of proteins in water that are long compared to the overall tumbling of the molecule. Here, we examine rotational diffusion in four small, globular proteins (ubiquitin, binase, lysozyme, and fragment B3 of protein G) with the TIP3P, TIP4P/EW, and SPC/E water models, in simulations that are 6 to 60 times as long as the mean rotational tumbling time. We describe a method for extracting diffusion tensors from such simulations and compare the results to experimental values extracted from NMR relaxation measurements. The simulation results accurately follow a diffusion equation, even for spherical harmonic correlation functions with l as large as 8. However, the best-fit tensors are significantly different from experiment, especially for the commonly used TIP3P water model. Simulations that are 20 to 100 times longer than the rotational tumbling times are needed for good statistics. A number of residues exhibit internal motions on the nanosecond time scale, but in all cases examined here, a product of internal and overall time-correlation functions matches the total time-correlation function well.
Speech following sign language training in autistic children with minimal verbal language

This study was carried out to test the main and interaction effects of training condition and pretreatment-elicited verbal imitation ability when predicting spoken language use during language training of 60 minimally verbal autistic children. Subjects were randomly assigned to Speech Alone, Sign Alone, Simultaneous Presentation of Sign and Speech, and Alternating Presentation of Sign and Speech training conditions. Speech Alone, Simultaneous Presentation, and Alternating Presentation condition facilitated more child-initiated speech during treatment than did the Sign Alone condition. Regardless of training condition, pretreatment verbal imitation ability positively predicted the size of child-initiated spoken vocabulary observed during training. Exploratory analyses indicated that, in addition to verbal imitation, pretreatment age and IQ may also predict spoken language developed during training.