cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ejaculate-female coevolution in Drosophila mojavensis.

Interspecific studies indicate that sperm morphology and other ejaculatory traits diverge more rapidly than other types of character in Drosophila and other taxa. This pattern has largely been attributed to postcopulatory sexual selection involving interaction between the sexes. Such divergence has been suggested to lead rapidly to reproductive isolation among populations and thus to be an ‘engine of speciation.’ Here, we test two critical predictions of this hypothesis: (i) there is significant variation in reproductive traits among incipient species; and (ii) divergence in interacting sex–specific traits exhibits a coevolutionary pattern among populations within a species, by examining geographical variation in Drosophila mojavensis , a species in the early stages of speciation. Significant among–population variation was identified in sperm length and female sperm–storage organ length, and a strong pattern of correlated evolution between these interacting traits was observed. In addition, crosses among populations revealed coevolution of male and female contributions to egg size. Support for these two important predictions confirms that coevolving internal characters that mediate successful reproduction may play an important part in speciation. The next step is to determine exactly what that role is.
Liver cyp1A protein expression and pigmented macrophage aggregates as indicators of polychlorinated biphenyl exposure in carp Cyprinus carpio L. from the Kalamazoo River Superfund site, Michigan

Cytochrome p450 1A (cyp1A), pigmented macrophage aggregate (PMA) variables and fish descriptive characteristics were measured in field-caught adult carp Cyprinus carpio from two upstream reference sites and two downstream Superfund sites contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Kalamazoo River, MI, U.S.A. Liver PCB content in fish differed among sites, and immunocytochemical cyp1A protein expression was significantly elevated in fish liver at contaminated sites and with liver PCBs. PMA number (number per mm2), mean size [mean size (area) per mm2] and percentage area occupied (total area of PMAs per total field area evaluated) were significantly greater in fish livers from the contaminated sites. PMA number was significantly greater at one contaminated site, Lake Allegan, than at the Trowbridge Dam impoundment, the other contaminated site. The level of cyp1A protein was significantly correlated with PMA mean size and PMA per cent area but not with PMA number. These results suggest that carp are responding to PCB contamination and point to complex site dynamics related to fish condition in the Kalamazoo River.
Metformin for the treatment of the polycystic ovary syndrome.

A 23-year-old woman with known polycystic ovary syndrome visits her family physician. She has taken oral contraceptive pills in the past but did not tolerate them and is not currently receiving any treatment. She has three or four menstrual periods per year and is not interested in becoming pregnant now, but she will be getting married in a year. She has heard that the polycystic ovary syndrome is associated with diabetes and is concerned because both her mother and father have type 2 diabetes. Her bodymass index (the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) is 32, her waist circumference is 38 in. (96.5 cm), her serum total testosterone level is elevated at 0.9 ng per milliliter (90 ng per deciliter, or 2.9 nmol per liter), her plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level is 35 mg per deciliter (0.9 mmol per liter), and her triglyceride level is 190 mg per deciliter (2.1 mmol per liter). Her serum glucose level 2 hours after the ingestion of 75 g of dextrose is 138 mg per deciliter (7.7 mmol per liter). The physician wonders whether treatment with metformin would be beneficial and refers the patient to an endocrinologist. T h e C l i nic a l Probl e m The polycystic ovary syndrome is a clinical diagnosis characterized by the presence of two or more of the following features: chronic oligo-ovulation or anovulation, androgen excess, and polycystic ovaries. 1 It affects 5 to 10% of women of childbearing age 2,3 and is the most common cause of anovulatory infertility in developed countries. Common clinical manifestations include menstrual irregularities and signs of androgen excess such as hirsutism, acne, and alopecia. The polycystic ovary syndrome is associated with important metabolic derangements. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the United States is 10 times as high among young women with the polycystic ovary syndrome as among normal women, 4,5 and impaired glucose tolerance or overt type 2 diabetes develops by the age of 30 years in 30 to 50% of obese women with the polycystic ovary syndrome. 4‑6 The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome is two to three times as high among women with the polycystic ovary syndrome as among normal women matched for age and body-mass index, and 20% of women with the polycystic ovary syndrome who are younger than 20 years of age have the metabolic syndrome. 7 Although outcome data specifically for women with the polycystic ovary syndrome are lacking, the risk of fatal myocardial infarction is twice as high among women with severe oligomenorrhea, most of whom would be expected to have the polycystic ovary syndrome, as among women with eumenorrhea. 8 This Journal feature begins with a case vignette that includes a therapeutic recommendation. A discussion of the clinical problem and the mechanism of benefit of this form of therapy follows. Major clinical studies, the clinical use of this therapy, and potential adverse effects are reviewed. Relevant formal guidelines, if they exist, are presented. The article ends with the author’s clinical recommendations.
Evaluative versus Conceptual Judgments in Automatic Stereotyping and Prejudice

Abstract The goal of the study reported in this article was to examine whether automatic processes in stereotype and prejudice activation are sensitive to task characteristics of the assessment procedure and whether these influences may account for existing inconsistencies that have recently been reported in the literature on automatic racial prejudice. Using a sequential priming paradigm with subliminal primes (“BLACK” and “WHITE”) to examine automatic prejudice, the study varied the judgment task in which the priming procedure was presented. Whereas half of the participants were asked to perform a lexical decision task (word/nonword), the remaining participants made evaluative judgments (good/bad). Results showed reliable influences of the judgment task on the observed pattern of priming effects. Moreover, the priming effects found in both conditions replicated the respective results reported in previous research that had used either evaluative or conceptual judgment tasks (Fazio, Jackson, Dunton, & Williams, 1995; Wittenbrink, Judd, & Park, 1997). In addition, the response time measure also showed different relationships with explicit measures of racial prejudice, depending on the judgment condition. In addition to their implications for the assessment of automatic stereotyping and prejudice these results suggest that automatic responses are not as invariant as it is sometimes posited.
THE ELM1 KINASE FUNCTIONS IN A MITOTIC SIGNALING NETWORK IN BUDDING YEAST

In budding yeast, the Clb2 mitotic cyclin initiates a signaling network that negatively regulates polar bud growth during mitosis. This signaling network appears to require the function of a Clb2-binding protein called Nap1, the Cdc42 GTPase, and two protein kinases called Gin4 and Cla4. In this study, we demonstrate that the Elm1 kinase also plays a role in the control of bud growth during mitosis. Cells carrying a deletion of the ELM1 gene undergo a prolonged mitotic delay, fail to negatively regulate polar bud growth during mitosis, and show defects in septin organization. In addition, Elm1 is required in vivo for the proper regulation of both the Cla4 and Gin4 kinases and interacts genetically with Cla4, Gin4, and the mitotic cyclins. Previous studies have suggested that Elm1 may function to negatively regulate the Swe1 kinase. To further understand the functional relationship between Elm1 and Swe1, we have characterized the phenotype of Deltaelm1 Deltaswe1 cells. We found that Deltaelm1 Deltaswe1 cells are inviable at 37 degrees C and that a large proportion of Deltaelm1 Deltaswe1 cells grown at 30 degrees C contain multiple nuclei, suggesting severe defects in cytokinesis. In addition, we found that Elm1 is required for the normal hyperphosphorylation of Swe1 during mitosis. We propose a model in which the Elm1 kinase functions in a mitotic signaling network that controls events required for normal bud growth and cytokinesis, while the Swe1 kinase functions in a checkpoint pathway that delays nuclear division in response to defects in these events.
Does desertification diminish biodiversity? Enhancement of ant diversity by shrub invasion in south- western USA

The conversion of desert grasslands to shrublands is a long-standing concern in the south-western United States, but the effects of this change on native animals defy generalization. Here, I consider evidence that shrub invasion and encroachment, particularly that of honey mesquite ( Prosopis glandulosa ), has led to increasing ecological dominance and diversity of ants in general, as well as increases in specific native taxa. The effects of shrub invasion on ants were measured at two scales: (1) between Chihuahuan Desert landscapes that vary slightly in temperature and strongly in the dominance of mesquite, and (2) across variation in mesquite density occurring within a generally mesquite-dominated landscape. Ant richness and numerical dominance was measured at pitfall traps over 2 years and baits were used to assess ecological dominance across different temperatures. The mesquite-dominated Jornada site harboured four times the number of ant foragers found at the relatively ‘pristine’ Sevilleta site, with several ecologically dominant taxa driving this pattern, especially Dorymyrmex bicolor . Species richness and ecological dominance were also greatest at the Jornada. Within the Jornada landscape, turnover in species composition was related to mesquite density, but local richness and abundance was unrelated to mesquite density. Coupled with the results of previous manipulative experiments and comparative studies, there is support for the notion that ant diversity is not negatively affected by shrub invasion but that several taxa prosper from it. The Jornada is uniquely saturated by dominant ant taxa, perhaps as a consequence of an overall high level of shrub availability that provides a reliable source of carbohydrate-rich plant exudates. This raises important questions about the relationship between environmental degradation, ecosystem productivity, and animal diversity.
Pregnane X receptor expression in skin: the good and the bad.

Keywords: 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene; aryl hydrocarbon receptor; cancer; drug metabolism; pregane X receptor
Signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)-3 regulates microRNA gene expression in chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells.

Backgrounds: Approximately 1,000 microRNAs (miRs) are present in the human genome; however, little is known about the regulation of miR transcription. Because miR levels are deregulated in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)-3 is constitutively activated in CLL, we sought to determine whether STAT3 affects the transcription of miR genes in CLL cells. Methods: We used publically available data from the ENCODE project to identify putative STAT3 binding sites in the promoters of miR genes. Then we transfected CLL cells with STAT3-shRNA or with an empty vector, and to determine which miRs are differentially expressed, we used a miR microarray approach followed by validation of the microarray results for 6 miRs using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Results: We identified putative STAT3 binding sites in 160 promoter regions of 200 miRs, including miR-21, miR-29, and miR-155, whose levels have been reported to be upregulated in CLL. Levels of 72 miRs were downregulated (n = 63) or upregulated (n = 9). qRT-PCR confirmed the array data in 5 of 6 miRs. Conclusions: The presence of activated STAT3 has a profound effect on miR expression in CLL cells.
Correlated Error Statistics on Troposcatter Channels

The object of this concise paper is to find statistics for the number of errors in a block of n digits transmitted over the troposcatter channel. An approximate solution for FSK modulation is found based on bounding the Correlation between nonadjacent bits. As an application of the result, bit error probabilities were found after using the (23,12,3) Golay code. At high signal-to-noise ratio, there is an effective multiplication by 4 of the order of diversity as long as some decorrelation exists between adjacent bits.
The Masculine Depression Scale: Development and psychometric evaluation.

A preponderance of anecdotal evidence suggests that men manifest depression differently than women and that this atypical symptom presentation is even more evident in men who adhere to restrictive masculine norms (Cochran & Rabinowitz, 2000; Real, 1997). The aim of this study was to develop a self-report assessment instrument, the Masculine Depression Scale (MDS), which captures these atypical symptoms of depression. One hundred and two men who experienced a recent stressful life event were asked to complete measures of prototypic depression, masculine norm conformity, and our measure of masculine depression. Factor analyses yielded a two-factor solution: internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Externalizing symptoms were moderately correlated with measures of depression and masculine norm adherence, while internalizing symptoms were highly correlated with measures of depression but unrelated to masculine norm adherence. Men who adhered strongly to masculine norms were more likely to endorse externalizing symptoms on the MDS than prototypic symptoms of depression. The findings suggest that the MDS may be capturing aspects of depression associated with masculine gender socialization that are not captured by existing measures.
A rotation design to reduce weed density in organic farming

Weeds are a major obstacle to successful crop production in organic farming. Producers may be able to reduce inputs for weed management by designing rotations to disrupt population dynamics of weeds. Population-based management in conventional farming has reduced herbicide use by 50% because weed density declines in cropland across time. In this paper, we suggest a 9-year rotation comprised of perennial forages and annual crops that will disrupt weed population growth and reduce weed density in organic systems. Lower weed density will also improve effectiveness of weed control tactics used for an individual crop. The rotation includes 3-year intervals of no-till, which will improve both weed population management and soil health. Even though this rotation has not been field tested, it provides an example of designing rotations to disrupt population dynamics of weeds. Also, producers may gain additional benefits of higher crop yield and increased nitrogen supply with this rotation design.
External modulation of Terahertz Quantum Cascade Lasers using electrically-driven active metamaterials

We have designed, fabricated and measured a first generation external modulator for a ∽2.4 terahertz Quantum Cascade Laser based on an electrically-driven active terahertz metamaterial structure.
Rethinking Database Algorithms for Phase Change Memory

Phase change memory (PCM) is an emerging memory technology with many attractive features: it is non-volatile, byte-addressable, 2–4X denser than DRAM, and orders of magnitude better than NAND Flash in read latency, write latency, and write endurance. In the near future, PCM is expected to become a common component of the memory/storage hierarchy for a wide range of computer systems. In this paper, we describe the unique characteristics of PCM, and their potential impact on database system design. In particular, we present analytic metrics for PCM endurance, energy, and latency, and illustrate that current approaches for common database algorithms such as B + -trees and Hash Joins are suboptimal for PCM. We present improved algorithms that reduce both execution time and energy on PCM while increasing write endurance.
Reflections on Reflections Training in Counseling Psychology

The Major Contribution in the September issue of The Counseling Psychologist provides several points to consider as the field defines the profession and training models for the 21st century. Calls for returning, in part, to our roots in career and vocational issues as well as our presence in the schools and recommendations for increased focus on children and adolescents should enable the retention of, and perhaps the increase in, our relevance in colleges of education. This reaction adds to this list a continued focus on personal adjustment and crucial attention to marriage and family issues, areas that can augment our institutional fit. Interpretations of survey data on outcomes of training models and racial-ethnic representation in our programs are offered. Little evidence exists to indicate advantages in moving counseling psychology away from its exclusive adherence to a scientist-professional training model. Our contributions to broad educational goals can positively impact our movement toward diverse...
History, current status, and trends of radiation protection standards.

Quantitative standards for protection against exposure to ionizing radiation were first formulated in the 1930s. Since that time, standards have been restated periodically in different radiation units and conceptual frameworks that reflect improved understanding of the biological effects of radiation interactions and their consequences for human health. In the 1970s the expression of protection standards shifted from a dose- to a risk-based approach, with dose limits established to yield risks to radiation workers comparable with those for workers in other "safe" industries. Over the years, radiation protection standards have exhibited a downward trend to more rigorous limits that require increased commitments of personnel and resources for their enforcement. There are several reasons for this trend, including increased recognition of the long-term health effects of radiation, improved protection measures that permit radiation use at lower levels of exposure, growing numbers of persons exposed occupationally to radiation, and probably a greater intolerance to involuntary risks in society, with radiation targeted as a highly visible source of involuntary risks in the form of nuclear power plants and radioactive waste sites. In the past few years, reports of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation, United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, and the National Research Council of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences have presented increased risk estimates for radiation exposure as a consequence of ongoing epidemiological analyses of human populations exposed to ionizing radiation. These risk estimates have enhanced public concern about radiation exposure and set the stage for discussions about the desirability of further reductions in exposure standards for radiation workers and members of the public. Such reductions would directly affect the professional activities, educational responsibilities, and administrative burdens of most medical and health physicists. These persons should understand the process of deriving risk estimates from epidemiological data, the factors that influence the risk estimates, how risk estimates are integrated into radiation protection standards, and the possible impact of more rigorous standards on the use of radiation in medicine.
CB5-01: Where Science, Management and Administration Meet: Lessons Learned from Large Multi-site Programs

Background/Aims Within the HMORN multi-site collaborations are routine but as they grow in size and scope, the common challenges of managing these projects becomes more complex. As funders look to the HMORN as a model for distributed research, it is important to document best practices across projects and institutions.
C-vector for identification of oceanic secondary circulations across Arctic Fronts in Fram Strait

[1] Secondary circulation, referring to the motion relative to a basic flow (geostrophic and hydrostatic balanced), occurs often in the ocean such as deep convection and circulations driven by fronts and eddies. It affects the general circulation and the mass, heat, salt, and energy balance. The oceanic secondary circulation is difficult to measure directly, but is easy to be identified by pseudovorticity using routine observations. A C-vector method, commonly used in atmospheric mesoscale moist frontogenesis, is applied to oceanography for identifying frontal secondary circulation in Fram Strait using Conductivity-Temperature-Depth data collected during a large-scale hydrographic survey on R/V Valdivia cruise-54 of the eastern Greenland Sea and Fram Strait from 16 March to 5 April 1987. Possible application of this method to large-scale motion is also discussed.
Origins of Complex Syntax in Interlanguage Development

This study examines the emergence of complex syntax in interlanguage (IL) development through a functionalist analysis of longitudinal, conversational IL data from two Vietnamese learners of English. The study focuses on discourse-pragmatic factors in the learners′ production and acquisition of complex syntax, specifically on their reliance on collaboration by interlocutors in the production of complex syntactic structures. Its findings offer a test of the utility of Givon's functionalist approach in SLA studies, and of claims by Hatch and others to the effect that “syntax develops out of conversation.” The interdependence of different linguistic levels in IL development is demonstrated, and the use of a variety of analytical units is shown to be critical in characterizing prepositional encoding in IL speech.
Biological effects of ultrasound: Development of safety guidelines. Part II: General review

In the 1920s, the availability of piezoelectric materials and electronic devices made it possible to produce ultrasound (US) in water at high amplitudes, so that it could be detected after propagation through large distances. Laboratory experiments with this new mechanical form of radiation showed that it was capable of producing an astonishing variety of physical, chemical and biologic effects. In this review, the early findings on bioeffects are discussed, especially those from experiments done in the first few decades, as well as the concepts employed in explaining them. Some recent findings are discussed also, noting how the old and the new are related. In the first few decades, bioeffects research was motivated partly by curiosity, and partly by the wish to increase the effectiveness and ensure the safety of therapeutic US. Beginning in the 1970s, the motivation has come also from the need for safety guidelines relevant to diagnostic US. Instrumentation was developed for measuring acoustic pressure in the fields of pulsed and focused US employed, and standards were established for specifying the fields of commercial equipment. Critical levels of US quantities were determined from laboratory experiments, together with biophysical analysis, for bioeffects produced by thermal and nonthermal mechanisms. These are the basis for safety advice and guidelines recommended or being considered by national, international, professional and governmental organizations.
Increased thrombin sensitivity of human platelets after storage at 4 C.

In vitro function of fresh platelets and platelets stored for 24 hours at 4 C and 22 C was studied using the release of 14C-5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), adenine nucleotides and calcium following stimulation with thrombin. Storage of platelets did not affect 14C-5-HT uptake capability, adenine nucleotide content or adenine nucleotide release. Platelets stored in 4 C varied from fresh platelets and 22 C-stored platelets with respect to 5-HT and calcium release. For measurement of 5-HT release, different thrombin-to-platelet concentrations were used. At thrombin-to-platelet concentrations of 0.013 to 0.02 U/108 platelets, 4 C-stored platelets released more 5-HT than did fresh platelets. Differences between 4 C-stored platelets and 22 C stored platelets were observed over a wider range of thrombin-to-plate-lets concentrations. The 4 C-stored platelets released significantly greater amounts of 5-HT at thrombin-to-platelet concentrations of 0.008-0.02 L/ml. Calcium release, measured with the calcium electrode, was studied at high (1.0 L/ml) and low (0.06 U/ml) thrombin concentrations and at a platelet concentration of 8 × 108 platelets/ml. At the high thrombin concentration, the amount of calcium released was the same for all platelets studied. At the low thrombin concentration, platelets stored at 4 C released a greater amount of calcium than did either fresh platelets or platelets stored at 22 C. The results obtained with different thrombin-to-platelet concentrations suggest that there is only a narrow range of thrombin concentrations per platelet at which the subtle differences between platelet populations may be detected. The range may reflect the threshold concentration of thrombin that is required to initiate a release reaction. The apparently lower thrombin threshold required by 4 C platelets to undergo a release reaction may be a factor contributing to their reduced circulation and superior hemostatic effectiveness.
Exploring Content Features for Automated Speech Scoring

Most previous research on automated speech scoring has focused on restricted, predictable speech. For automated scoring of unrestricted spontaneous speech, speech proficiency has been evaluated primarily on aspects of pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary and language usage but not on aspects of content and topicality. In this paper, we explore features representing the accuracy of the content of a spoken response. Content features are generated using three similarity measures, including a lexical matching method (Vector Space Model) and two semantic similarity measures (Latent Semantic Analysis and Pointwise Mutual Information). All of the features exhibit moderately high correlations with human proficiency scores on human speech transcriptions. The correlations decrease somewhat due to recognition errors when evaluated on the output of an automatic speech recognition system; however, the additional use of word confidence scores can achieve correlations at a similar level as for human transcriptions.
Gender differences in moral development

Sixty-nine Midwestern middle-class children and adolescents were tested on justice and care orientations when reasoning abstract and interpersonal moral dilemmas. Nona Lyons" ("Two Perspectives on Self, Relationships and Morality," Harvard Educational Review, 1983, 53,125-145) scoring method was used to score subjects" responses. A 2(sex) × 2(age) analysis of variance run on the total justice and care scores, as well as each individual dilemma, supported Carol Gilligan's (In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development, Cambridge, MA" Harvard University Press, 1982) theory that two distinct ways of thinking about moral problems exist-justice and care-and are differentially related to gender. Girls emphasized the morality of care significantly more than justice. Contrary to Gilligan (1982) and Lyons (1983), however, boys in both age groups emphasized the morality o f justice and care equally. Data from the interpersonal dilemmas using L yons's (1983) coding scheme are consistent with J. Piaget (The Moral Judgement of the Child, New York: Free Press, 1966) and Lawrence Kohlberg ['The Cognitive-Developmental Approach, " in D. A. Goslin (Ed.), Handbook of Socialization Theory and Research, Chicago: Rand McNally, 1969]: older subjects became more justice oriented and younger subjects emphasized the morality of care. Sex differences on Kohlberg's stage theory were not significant and the protagonist's gender in the Heinz dilemma had no effect on moral reasoning.
Network neighborhood analysis with the multi-node topological overlap measure

Motivation: The goal of neighborhood analysis is to find a set of genes (the neighborhood) that is similar to an initial 'seed' set of genes. Neighborhood analysis methods for network data are important in systems biology. If individual network connections are susceptible to noise, it can be advantageous to define neighborhoods on the basis of a robust interconnectedness measure, e.g. the topological overlap measure. Since the use of multiple nodes in the seed set may lead to more informative neighborhoods, it can be advantageous to define multi-node similarity measures. Results: The pairwise topological overlap measure is generalized to multiple network nodes and subsequently used in a recursive neighborhood construction method. A local permutation scheme is used to determine the neighborhood size. Using four network applications and a simulated example, we provide empirical evidence that the resulting neighborhoods are biologically meaningful, e.g. we use neighborhood analysis to identify brain cancer related genes. Availability: An executable Windows program and tutorial for multi-node topological overlap measure (MTOM) based analysis can be downloaded from the webpage (http://www.genetics.ucla.edu/labs/horvath/MTOM/). Contact: shorvath@mednet.ucla.edu Supplementary information: Supplementary material is available at Bioinformatics online.
Engaging individual learning through collaborative knowledge building processes: a hybrid framework

The globalisation of engineering teams has increasingly demanded technologies that support collaboration and knowledge sharing while also respecting the cultural and cognitive differences of individual team members. Existing collaborative knowledge building systems apply a one-size-fits-all approach to knowledge building, allowing individuals to contribute to collective knowledge but overlooking individual knowledge backgrounds, learning styles, and information needs; a hybrid framework is needed to apply the activities and benefits of collaborative knowledge building to an individual’s acquisition of knowledge. A system based upon such a framework encourages team members to share knowledge, resources, insights and opinions collaboratively, thus providing a rich experience of discussion, co-discovery and innovation. At the same time, these shared resources and discussions can be filtered to a personal learning space in which each individual team member can further explore and reflect on the resources best suited to his current understanding, experience, cultural background and, most importantly, knowledge needs.
The polypyrimidine tract binding protein regulates desaturase alternative splicing and PUFA composition

The Δ6 desaturase, encoded by FADS2, plays a crucial role in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acid synthesis. These fatty acids are essential components of the central nervous system, and they act as precursors for eicosanoid signaling molecules and as direct modulators of gene expression. The polypyrimidine tract binding protein (PTB or hnRNP I) is a splicing factor that regulates alternative pre-mRNA splicing. Here, PTB is shown to bind an exonic splicing silencer element and repress alternative splicing of FADS2 into FADS2 AT1. PTB and FADS2AT1 were inversely correlated in neonatal baboon tissues, implicating PTB as a major regulator of tissue-specific FADS2 splicing. In HepG2 cells, PTB knockdown modulated alternative splicing of FADS2, as well as FADS3, a putative desaturase of unknown function. Omega-3 fatty acids decreased by nearly one half relative to omega-6 fatty acids in PTB knockdown cells compared with controls, with a particularly strong decrease in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) concentration and its ratio to arachidonic acid (ARA). This is a rare demonstration of a mechanism specifically altering the cellular omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid ratio without any change in diet/media. These findings reveal a novel role for PTB, regulating availability of membrane components and eicosanoid precursors for cell signaling.
Beyond the Mammalian Heart: Fish and Amphibians as a Model for Cardiac Repair and Regeneration

The epidemic of heart disease, the leading cause of death worldwide, is made worse by the fact that the adult mammalian heart is especially poor at repair. Damage to the mammal heart—such as that caused by myocardial infarction—leads to scarring, resulting in cardiac dysfunction and heart failure. In contrast, the hearts of fish and urodele amphibians are capable of complete regeneration of cardiac tissue from multiple types of damage, with full restoration of functionality. In the last decades, research has revealed a wealth of information on how these animals are able to perform this remarkable feat, and non-mammalian models of heart repair have become a burgeoning new source of data on the morphological, cellular, and molecular processes necessary to heal cardiac damage. In this review we present the major findings from recent research on the underlying mechanisms of fish and amphibian heart regeneration. We also discuss the tools and techniques that have been developed to answer these important questions.
Draft Genome Sequence of Prosthecomicrobium hirschii ATCC 27832T

ABSTRACT We report the draft genome sequence of Prosthecomicrobium hirschii ATCC 27832T, an alphaproteobacterium with remarkable cellular morphologies. The chromosome comprises 6,484,983 bp in six scaffolds with a G+C content of 69%, and 6,066 potential coding sequences.
Agricultural safety and health: principles and possibilities for nursing education.

Health risks for the men, women and children involved in production agriculture are substantial. The profession of nursing, with its current emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention, is potentially capable of profoundly impacting the health of these vulnerable families in positive ways. Suggestions for methods of integrating content and activities related to agricultural safety and health in already crowded nursing curricula are offered. Language: en
Inhibition of MUC1-C Suppresses MYC Expression and Attenuates Malignant Growth in KRAS Mutant Lung Adenocarcinomas

Dysregulation of MYC expression is a hallmark of cancer, but the development of agents that target MYC has remained challenging. The oncogenic MUC1-C transmembrane protein is, like MYC, aberrantly expressed in diverse human cancers. The present studies demonstrate that MUC1-C induces MYC expression in KRAS mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells, an effect that can be suppressed by targeting MUC1-C via shRNA silencing, CRISPR editing, or pharmacologic inhibition with GO-203. MUC1-C activated the WNT/β-catenin (CTNNB1) pathway and promoted occupancy of MUC1-C/β-catenin/TCF4 complexes on the MYC promoter. MUC1-C also promoted the recruitment of the p300 histone acetylase (EP300) and, in turn, induced histone H3 acetylation and activation of MYC gene transcription. We also show that targeting MUC1-C decreased the expression of key MYC target genes essential for the growth and survival of NSCLC cells, such as TERT and CDK4. Based on these results, we found that the combination of GO-203 and the BET bromodomain inhibitor JQ1, which targets MYC transcription, synergistically suppressed MYC expression and cell survival in vitro as well as tumor xenograft growth. Furthermore, MUC1 expression significantly correlated with that of MYC and its target genes in human KRAS mutant NSCLC tumors. Taken together, these findings suggest a therapeutic approach for targeting MYC-dependent cancers and provide the framework for the ongoing clinical studies addressing the efficacy of MUC1-C inhibition in solid tumors.
Nucleus gracilis: an integrator for visceral and somatic information.

Al-Chaer, Elie D., Karin N. Westlund, and William D. Willis. Nucleus gracilis: an integrator for visceral and somatic information. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 521–527, 1997. The nucleus gracilis (NG) rece...
Beryllium-Based Multilayer Structures

Multilayer (ML) structures composed of Mo-Be, Ru-Be and Rh-Be with bilayer periods of - 6 nm have been grown using dc magnetron sputter deposition. The ML microstructure has been characterized using x-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and the normal incidence reflectivity has been measured at soft x-ray wavelengths.
INVERSE AEROACOUSTIC PROBLEM FOR A RECTANGULAR WING IN A GUST t

The feasibility of an inverse aeroacoustic problem, where the pressure on a thin, flat, rigid rectangular wing in unsteady, subsonic flow is predicted from the farfield acoustic signal, is investigated. The decaying nature of radiation phenomena renders the inverse problem ill-posed because small discrepancies in the farfield are amplified in the nearfield. The resulting ill-conditioned system is solved using the Singular Value Decomposition which generally requires cut-off or regularization techniques to discard redundant or unphysical information. However, an algorithm is developed for optimally determining the nearfield pressure without relying on the user input of a threshold parameter. Tests using numerically generated input data show the inversion is feasible and accurate for sufficiently accurate input data. For low Mach numbers and low-to-moderate reduced frequencies, the inversion remains feasible when error is introduced in the farfield measurements.
Missing in Action: Gender in International Environmental Law

Given that women make up half of the world’s population and possess invaluable knowledge and expertise, it is imperative that the international environmental law (IEL) system uphold women’s full and equal participation and leadership in all areas of practice. This article briefly explores the nature and evolution of global efforts to address and incorporate gender in IEL. It traces the evolution of the international environmental agenda from the early 1970s to more recent agreements, focusing on both foundational treaties and soft law instruments before turning to a more detailed examination of the climate change and biodiversity treaty regimes. Both frameworks are reviewed in terms of their substantive gender commitments (or lack thereof), highlighting the need to strengthen the role of gender in international environmental law and ensure the meaningful implementation and enforcement of provisions aimed at integrating a gender perspective in IEL instruments.
Where Should Pitch Accents and Phrase Breaks Go? A Syntax Tree Transducer Solution.

Motivated by a desire to assess the prosody of foreign language learners, this study demonstrates the benefit of highlevel syntactic information in automatically deciding where phrase breaks and pitch accents should go in text. The connection between syntax and prosody is well-established, and naturally lends itself to tree-based probabilistic models. With automatically-derived parse trees paired to tree transducer models, we found that categorical prosody tags for unseen text can be determined with significantly higher accuracy than they can with a baseline method that uses n-gram models of part-ofspeech tags. On the Boston University Radio News Corpus, the tree transducer outperformed the baseline by 14% overall for accents, and by 3% overall for breaks. These automatic results fell within this corpus’s range of inter-speaker agreement in assigning accents and breaks to text.
Minimally Invasive Management of Complex Recurrent Lymphangioma of the Thorax and Abdomen.

Lymphangioma is a rare benign proliferation of lymph vessels in the head and neck, axilla, and rarely the mediastinum. We report on the minimally invasive management of a complex recurrence of lymphangioma involving bilateral chest, mediastinum, and abdomen. Given the complexity, the patient underwent debulking of the lymphangioma, ligation of the cisterna chyli, and repeated percutaneous drainage and sclerosing procedures. This report suggests that the use of combined minimally invasive techniques including laparoscopy, thoracoscopy, percutaneous drainage, and sclerosis may be the optimal strategy to manage these complex situations.
Motion Planning in Deformable Soft Tissue with Obstacles with Applications to Needle Steering

In this chapter we introduce motion planning for steerable needles, a new class of needles that can follow curved paths around obstacles to reach clinical targets in soft tissue. Steerable needles are capable of reaching targets inaccessible by rigid needles.
Nonadiabatic bulk-surface oscillations in driven topological insulators

Recent theoretical and experimental work has suggested the tantalizing possibility of opening a topological gap upon driving the surface states of a three-dimensional strong topological insulator (TI) with circularly polarized light. With this motivation, we study the response of TIs to a driving field that couples to states near the surface. We unexpectedly find coherent oscillations between the surface and the bulk and trace their appearance to unavoidable resonances caused by photon absorption from the drive. We show how these resonant oscillations may be captured by the Demkov-Osherov model of multilevel Landau-Zener physics, leading to nontrivial consequences such as the loss of adiabaticity upon slow ramping of the amplitude. We numerically demonstrate that these oscillations are observable in the time-dependent Wigner distribution, which is directly measurable in time-resolved angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) experiments. Our results apply to any system with surface states in the presence of a gapped bulk, and thus suggest experimental signatures of a generic surface-bulk coupling mechanism that is fundamental for proposals to engineer nontrivial states by periodic driving.
Catechol O-Methyltransferase : IV. Factors Affecting m- and p-Methylation of Substituted Catechols

The methylation of substituted catechols catalyzed by catechol O-methyltransferase (EC 2.1.1.6) with S-adenosylmethionine as methyl donor results in the formation of a mixture of m- and p-O-methyl derivatives. A variety of evidence indicates that a single enzyme catalyzes the formation of both O-methylated products. The ratio of O-methylated products and values for the apparent Km and Vmax obtained with a wide variety of substituted mono-, bi-, and polycyclic catechols, including catecholamines, amino acids, acids, esters, amides, and ketones, are presented. The results provide a guide for the prediction of the ratio of products to be expected with other catechols. The magnitude of the ratio of the O-methylated products is dependent upon the concentration of divalent cation, the pH of the medium, and the nature and position of the substituents on the catechol ring. It is proposed that the magnitude of this ratio results from the orientation in which the substrate binds to the enzyme. Polar groups, either anionic or cationic in nature, militate against binding of the catechol ring in the orientations that results in p-O-methylation. The ratio of O-methylated isomers obtained with various catecholamines and amino acids is discussed with respect to the probable preferred conformations of the side chains in these substrates.
Basics of Minimax Algorithms

Minimax problems are a very important class of nonsmooth optimization problems. They occur in curve fitting, engineering design, optimal control and many other situations (see [26]) for some specific examples). They are also among the best understood nonsmooth optimization problems, particularly when they involve maxima of smooth functions. There is now a considerable literature dealing with minimax problems and we present a selected list of publications in our references section (see [2], [4], [6], [7], [8], [9], [11], [12], [18], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [28], [29], [31], [32]). Looking over these papers, the reader will find that several approaches to minimax algorithms are possible, some of which yield first order methods, while others yield superlinearly converging ones. In this chapter we examine a particularly simple approach to the construction of minimax algorithms, which yields first order methods only.
Effective number of breeders from sibship reconstruction: empirical evaluations using hatchery steelhead

Effective population size (Ne) is among the most important metrics in evolutionary biology. In natural populations, it is often difficult to collect adequate demographic data to calculate Ne directly. Consequently, genetic methods to estimate Ne have been developed. Two Ne estimators based on sibship reconstruction using multi-locus genotype data have been developed in recent years; sibship assignment and parentage analysis without parents. In this study, we evaluated the accuracy of sibship reconstruction using a large empirical dataset from five hatchery steelhead populations with known pedigrees and using 95 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. We challenged the software COLONY with 2,599,961 known relationships and demonstrated that reconstruction of full-sib and unrelated pairs were greater than 95% and 99% accurate, respectively. However, reconstruction of half-sib pairs was poor (< 5% accurate). Despite poor half-sib reconstruction, both estimators provided accurate estimates of the effective number of breeders (Nb) when sample sizes were near or greater than the true Nb and when assuming a monogamous mating system. We further demonstrated that both methods provide roughly equivalent estimates of Nb. Our results indicate that sibship reconstruction and current SNP panels provide promise for estimating Nb in steelhead populations in the region. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Nephrotoxic amino acid and glutathione S-conjugates: formation and renal activation.

The mechanisms by which chemicals produce tissue damage include, for example, biotransformation to reactive, electrophilic metabolites, initiation of lipid peroxidation, and formation of toxic, reduced oxygen metabolites. The liver, because of its abundant capacity for biotransformation, is frequently the target organ for chemicals whose toxicity is associated with bioactivation. Extrahepatic target organs are well known, and this toxicity may also be associated with target organ bioactivation.
Politics, Kinship, and Ecology in Southeast Persia

The Iranian plateau is an ideal area for investigating the relationship be? tween ecological and sociological factors because of its stark aridity, on the one hand, and its historical role as a meeting place of ethnic and cultural movements on the other. The part of the plateau which forms the southeast corner of Persia is particularly interesting from this point of view. Over an area of some 200,000 square kilometers the great majority of the population, which numbers about half a million and includes both peasants and nomads, call themselves Baluch. Most, but not all of them, speak a dialect of Baluchi as their native tongue, and practically all adults speak it as a lingua franca. However, their political and social organization shows important variations, and there are striking geographical variations in the country they inhabit. It is unusual to find such wide variations among people who consider themselves one society. This paper shows how the variations in political and social organization in the area may be related to variations in human ecology. I wish to demonstrate that in this area of Persia, where political leadership relies on an income from settled agriculture, there is a definite social differentiation into classes and cognatic values are given to kin relationships, whereas leadership which relies primarily on nomadic pastoralism works through a structure of agnatic kin relationships without class differentiation.1