cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Diagnostic stewardship of C. difficile testing: a quasi-experimental antimicrobial stewardship study.

Objective:We evaluated whether a diagnostic stewardship initiative consisting of ASP preauthorization paired with education could reduce false-positive hospital-onset (HO) Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI).Design:Single center, quasi-experimental study.Setting:Tertiary academic medical center in Chicago, Illinois.Patients:Adult inpatients were included in the intervention if they were admitted between October 1, 2016, and April 30, 2018, and were eligible for C. difficile preauthorization review. Patients admitted to the stem cell transplant (SCT) unit were not included in the intervention and were therefore considered a contemporaneous noninterventional control group.Intervention:The intervention consisted of requiring prescriber attestation that diarrhea has met CDI clinical criteria, ASP preauthorization, and verbal clinician feedback. Data were compared 33 months before and 19 months after implementation. Facility-wide HO-CDI incidence rates (IR) per 10,000 patient days (PD) and standardized infection ratios (SIR) were extracted from hospital infection prevention reports.Results:During the entire 52 month period, the mean facility-wide HO-CDI-IR was 7.8 per 10,000 PD and the SIR was 0.9 overall. The mean ± SD HO-CDI-IR (8.5 ± 2.0 vs 6.5 ± 2.3; P < .001) and SIR (0.97 ± 0.23 vs 0.78 ± 0.26; P = .015) decreased from baseline during the intervention. Segmented regression models identified significant decreases in HO-CDI-IR (Pstep = .06; Ptrend = .008) and SIR (Pstep = .1; Ptrend = .017) trends concurrent with decreases in oral vancomycin (Pstep < .001; Ptrend < .001). HO-CDI-IR within a noninterventional control unit did not change (Pstep = .125; Ptrend = .115).Conclusions:A multidisciplinary, multifaceted intervention leveraging clinician education and feedback reduced the HO-CDI-IR and the SIR in select populations. Institutions may consider interventions like ours to reduce false-positive C. difficile NAAT tests.
'She Had Her Role to Play': The Performance of Servanthood in East Lynne and Other Sensation Novels

In its original novel form and subsequent theatrical versions, Ellen Wood's East Lynne (1861) tells the story of Lady Isabel, who infiltrates her former home disguised as a servant. This essay explores Isabel in the context of other acting heroines of sensation novels by Mary Elizabeth Braddon and Wilkie Collins. These actresses give performances as servants as an unexpected means to gain access to the domestic space and to achieve personal independence. While the servant who acts and dresses above her station has been recognized as a stock character of sensation fiction, the lady-qua-servant merits equal attention. The servant and the actress share an ambiguity of class and the stigma of sexuality that make them a natural fit for sensation fiction's tropes of illicit behaviour, secret identities, and forbidden romance. The actress-servant is able to use her attention to costume, her emotional control, and her performance of helplessness to deflect suspicion from her true motives. While the other actresses largely use their servant roles for mercenary purposes, Isabel poses as a governess to reclaim her titles of 'mother' and 'wife', literalising the subservience she previously performed as a 'lady.'
Neuroimaging correlates with neuropathologic schemes in neurodegenerative disease.

Abstract Introduction Neuroimaging biomarkers are important for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, and comparing multimodality neuroimaging to autopsy data is essential. Methods We compared the pathologic findings from a prospective autopsy cohort (n = 100) to Pittsburgh compound B PET (PiB-PET), 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET (FDG-PET), and MRI. Correlations between neuroimaging biomarkers and neuropathologic schemes were assessed. Results PiB-PET showed strong correlations with Thal amyloid phase and Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease score and categorized 44% of Thal phase 1 participants as positive. FDG-PET and MRI correlated modestly with Braak tangle stage in Alzheimer's type pathology. A subset of participants with “none” or “sparse” neuritic plaque scores had elevated PiB-PET signal due to diffuse amyloid plaque. Participants with findings characterized as “suspected non-Alzheimer's pathophysiology” represented 15% of the group. Discussion PiB-PET is associated with Alzheimer's disease, neuritic plaques, and diffuse plaques. FDG-PET and MRI have modest correlation with neuropathologic schemes. Participants with findings characterized as suspected non-Alzheimer's pathophysiology most commonly had primary age-related tauopathy.
Do incentives work? Option-based compensation and corporate innovation

Abstract Numerous scholars have investigated the link between option-based compensation and innovation in public firms, generally concluding options motivate innovative activities better than alternative compensation methods. In most studies, the evidence of causality is weak or suffers from econometric concerns, leading to questions regarding the conclusions. We use the implementation of FAS 123R as a quasi-natural experiment to explore the role option compensation has in incentivizing innovation. FAS 123R increased the cost of granting options as compensation, resulting in a plausibly exogenous shift away from options. Using an updated sample of patent applications, we do not observe any decline in innovation. Despite a similar empirical design, our results differ from those of Mao and Zhang (2018), due to truncation bias inherent in their patent data. Overall, using our updated data, our findings are inconsistent with conclusions from prior studies and suggest option-based compensation does not drive innovation.
Fetal gunshot wound characteristics

Firearm injury in pregnant women is reported in the literature; however, no articles to date address the forensic analysis of the wounds sustained by the fetus. This is a report of a 40 weeks gestational age fetus who died following multiple perforating gunshot wounds, while his mother survived. The fetal wounds were atypical, consisting of irregular perforations with radiating linear lacerations and adjacent abrasions. The unusual wound pattern may have been due to the presence of interposed targets, the shoring of the fetus against itself and the uterine corpus, and the intrinsic character of fetal skin.
A mutation in histone H2B represents a new class of oncogenic driver

By examination of the cancer genomics database, we identified a new set of mutations in core histones that frequently recur in cancer patient samples and are predicted to disrupt nucleosome stability. In support of this idea, we characterized a glutamate to lysine mutation of histone H2B at amino acid 76 (H2B-E76K), found particularly in bladder and head and neck cancers, that disrupts the interaction between H2B and H4. Although H2B-E76K forms dimers with H2A, it does not form stable histone octamers with H3 and H4 in vitro, and when reconstituted with DNA forms unstable nucleosomes with increased sensitivity to nuclease. Expression of the equivalent H2B mutant in yeast restricted growth at high temperature and led to defective nucleosome-mediated gene repression. Significantly, H2B-E76K expression in the normal mammary epithelial cell line MCF10A increased cellular proliferation, cooperated with mutant PIK3CA to promote colony formation, and caused a significant drift in gene expression and fundamental changes in chromatin accessibility, particularly at gene regulatory elements. Taken together, these data demonstrate that mutations in the globular domains of core histones may give rise to an oncogenic program due to nucleosome dysfunction and deregulation of gene expression. SIGNIFICANCE: Mutations in the core histones frequently occur in cancer and represent a new mechanism of epigenetic dysfunction that involves destabilization of the nucleosome, deregulation of chromatin accessibility, and alteration of gene expression to drive cellular transformation.See related commentary by Sarthy and Henikoff, p. 1346.This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 1325.
Protein Stability in Titan's Subsurface Water Ocean

Models of Titan predict that there is a subsurface ocean of water and ammonia under a layer of ice. Such an ocean would be important in the search for extraterrestrial life since it provides a pote...
“You Were Going to Go to College”: The Role of Chicano Fathers’ Involvement in Chicana Daughters’ College Choice:

Using platicas, the sharing of cultural teachings through intimate and informal conversations, this article analyzes our personal college choice processes as Chicanas by examining the impact of bei...
"We're Building Frameworks": Administrator and Educator Perspectives on Implementing a Dual Language Pre-K Program to Include All Students.

Abstract In this study, one Southwestern public school district strives to implement a Dual Language (DL) for All Pre-K program that includes students with disabilities. The Arizona Revised Statute...
Using the Imagination in Normative Moral Reasoning Around the Principle of Double Effect to Foster Doctrinal Development in Catholic Bioethics

The essay explores how the imagination contributes to moral normativity. The purpose is not to argue that the imagination provides a particular mode of reasoning. It does not. Rather, the imagination can present riveting images based on practical experience that facilitate reasons to coalesce around a conclusion. This presents what can be seen as a common sense view of moral normativity. The experience of marriage or belief in God can be illustrative of reaching certitude even when demonstrative proof is not feasible. In this process, the imagination must always be accountable to reasoning. Also, the dynamic nature of experiential images can inspire action, contrasting with abstract modes of moral normativity that may appear detached from accompanying action. The analysis suggests that the abstract process of formal reasoning adopted in the classical principle of double effect can be enhanced by a role for the imagination. The role facilitates personal and practical reasoning to coalesce around insight and moral conclusions that can be explained further using the abstract process of double effect reasoning. This approach can foster doctrinal development in Catholic bioethics. The religious epistemology and theological method of John Henry Newman (1801–1890) are discussed to provide a theoretical explanation of this interaction between the imagination and reasoning as a distinctive contribution to moral normativity.
Air Pathway Analysis

As our societies become more centralized in and around large population centers and as the demand for energy, food, water and technological need increases proportional to an exponentially increasing population of the world, air pollution and its adverse health effects outcome will continue to be an important concern. Relatively speaking, the pollution of environmental media such as water, soil and plants are not as critical as the pollution of air, which we need to breathe regularly. This is because the other environmental media such as water, soil and plants can be processed, remediated or treated before we come into contact with them. On the other hand, air has to be clean anywhere and everywhere that we go, and it cannot be isolated, other than probably indoor air, if it needs to be treated. Thus, source control is the most effective remedy for the control of air pollution. In the United States the regulatory branches of the government started addressing air pollution problems during the early 1960s with the enactment of the Clean Air Act followed by its subsequent amendments in 1963, 1966, 1970, 1977 and 1990. Early regulations focused on point sources such as emissions from smoke stacks originating from industrial, commercial or power plants. Later on these regulations were extended to cover distributed sources originating from roads and highways and indoor air pollution which could originate from natural diffusion of environmental contaminants, uncirculated indoor conditions or circulation based dispersion of contamination sources. Whatever is the source, indoor and outdoor air pollution is a major health concern and we need to understand and evaluate contaminant migration patterns in this environmental pathway.
Dialing in Direct Air Capture of CO2 by Crystal Engineering of Bisiminoguanidines

Direct air capture (DAC) technologies that extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere via chemical processes have the potential to restore the atmospheric CO2 concentration to an optimal level. This study elucidates structure-property relationships in DAC by crystallization of bis(iminoguanidine) (BIG) carbonate salts. Their crystal structures are analyzed by X-ray and neutron diffraction to accurately measure key structural parameters including molecular conformations, hydrogen bonding, and π-stacking. Experimental measurements of key properties, such as aqueous solubilities and regeneration energies and temperatures, are complemented by first-principles calculations of lattice and hydration free energies, as well as free energies of reactions with CO2, and BIG regenerations. Minor structural modifications in the molecular structure of the BIGs are found to result in major changes in the crystal structures and the aqueous solubilities within the series, leading to enhanced DAC.
A network-level sidewalk inventory method using mobile LiDAR and deep learning

Abstract Sidewalks are a critical infrastructure to facilitate essential daily trips for pedestrian and wheelchair users. The dependence on the infrastructure and the increasing demand from these users press public transportation agencies for cost-effective sidewalk maintenance and better Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance. Unfortunately, most of the agencies still rely on outdated sidewalk mapping data or manual survey results for their sidewalk management. In this study, a network-level sidewalk inventory method is proposed by efficiently segmenting the mobile light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data using a customized deep neural network, i.e., PointNet++, and followed by integrating a stripe-based sidewalk extraction algorithm. By extracting the sidewalk locations from the mobile LiDAR point cloud, the corresponding geometry features, e.g., width, grade, cross slope, etc., can be extracted for the ADA compliance and the overall condition assessment. The experimental test conducted on the entire State Route 9, Massachusetts has shown promising performance in terms of the accuracy for the sidewalk extraction (i.e., point-level intersect over union (IoU) value of 0.946) and the efficiency for network analysis of the ADA compliance (i.e., approximately 6.5 min/mile). A case study conducted in Columbus District in Boston, Massachusetts, demonstrates that the proposed method can not only successfully support transportation agencies with an accurate and efficient means for network-level sidewalk inventory, but also support wheelchair users with accurate and comprehensive sidewalk inventory information for better navigation and route planning.
The Ironic Defense of Socrates: Prothesis (18a7–19a7)

The Charges of the First Accusers The Most Dangerous Accusers In the prothesis, or statement of the case, Socrates takes a step that no defense lawyer would recommend: he goes out of his way to multiply the number of charges and accusers against him. It is as though a man on trial for murder took the opportunity to remind the jury that he was suspected of several other crimes as well. Long before Anytus and his followers dragged him into court, says Socrates, he was being slandered by men he calls his “first accusers.” Since these accusers accused him “earlier and much more” than the present ones, he must reply to them first (18e2–4). Their charges – which are altogether untrue (18b2), or at least “no more true” than the present charges (cf. 18b4–6 with 17a3–4 and 17b6–7) – are that Socrates is “a wise man, a thinker on the things aloft, who has investigated all things under the earth, and who makes the weaker speech the stronger” (18b1–c1). The first accusers, we can say, charge him with engaging in natural science and rhetoric. By using the perfect participle (ἀνeζητηκώς), they imply that his investigation of “all” things under the earth, which would include Hades, has been completed (cf. Clouds 187–192); that is, they imply that he has answered the question of what happens to us when we die.
Time to Colonoscopy After Abnormal Stool-Based Screening and Risk for Colorectal Cancer Incidence and Mortality.

Background and aims The optimal time interval for diagnostic colonoscopy completion after an abnormal stool-based colorectal cancer (CRC) screening test is uncertain. We examined the association between time to colonoscopy and CRC outcomes among individuals who underwent diagnostic colonoscopy after abnormal stool-based screening. Methods We performed a retrospective cohort study of veterans age 50 to 75 years with an abnormal fecal occult blood test (FOBT) or fecal immunochemical test (FIT) between 1999 and 2010. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards to generate CRC-specific incidence and mortality hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for 3-month colonoscopy intervals, with 1 to 3 months as the reference group. Association of time to colonoscopy with late-stage CRC diagnosis was also examined. Results Our cohort included 204,733 patients. Mean age was 61 years (SD 6.9). Compared with patients who received a colonoscopy at 1 to 3 months, there was an increased CRC risk for patients who received a colonoscopy at 13 to 15 months (HR 1.13; 95% CI 1.00–1.27), 16 to 18 months (HR 1.25; 95% CI 1.10–1.43), 19 to 21 months (HR 1.28; 95% CI: 1.11–1.48), and 22 to 24 months (HR 1.26; 95% CI 1.07–1.47). Compared with patients who received a colonoscopy at 1 to 3 months, mortality risk was higher in groups who received a colonoscopy at 19 to 21 months (HR 1.52; 95% CI 1.51–1.99) and 22 to 24 months (HR 1.39; 95% CI 1.03–1.88). Odds for late-stage CRC increased at 16 months. Conclusions Increased time to colonoscopy is associated with higher risk of CRC incidence, death, and late-stage CRC after abnormal FIT/FOBT. Interventions to improve CRC outcomes should emphasize diagnostic follow-up within 1 year of an abnormal FIT/FOBT result.
Evolution of a sundown town and racial caste system: Norman, Oklahoma from 1889 to 1967:

Sundown regions were post-Reconstruction localities that deliberately excluded African Americans, often well into the 20th century. While former states of the Confederacy instituted state-wide raci...
Average Curvature FISTA for Nonconvex Smooth Composite Optimization Problems

A previous authors' paper introduces an accelerated composite gradient (ACG) variant, namely AC-ACG, for solving nonconvex smooth composite optimization (N-SCO) problems. In contrast to other ACG variants, AC-ACG estimates the local upper curvature of the N-SCO problem by using the average of the observed upper-Lipschitz curvatures obtained during the previous iterations, and uses this estimation and two composite resolvent evaluations to compute the next iterate. This paper presents an alternative FISTA-type ACG variant, namely AC-FISTA, which has the following additional features: i) it performs an average of one composite resolvent evaluation per iteration; and ii) it estimates the local upper curvature by using the average of the previously observed upper (instead of upper-Lipschitz) curvatures. These two properties acting together yield a practical AC-FISTA variant which substantially outperforms earlier ACG variants, including the AC-ACG variants discussed in the aforementioned authors' paper.
How Do Ionic Liquids "Fold" Ionenes? Computational and Experimental Analysis of Imidazolium Polymers Based on Ether and Alkyl Chain Variations Dissolved in an Ionic Liquid

Molecular dynamics simulations and complementary experiments are used to understand the inter- and intramolecular structures and conformational properties of ionenes (i.e., cationic polymers formed...
Extending Skin: Architecture theory and conceptual metaphors

ABSTRACT: Architects use metaphor constantly in their writing, speech and project development. It is engaged for its ability to transfer meaning and as an aid in orientating design positions (Collins 1971; Seligmann and Seligmann 1977; Alberti 1988; Forty 2000; Hearn 2003; Muller 2009; Libeskind 2012). While architects have acknowledged the general presence of metaphor as part of design theory, there is little understanding of metaphor's deeper role in architectural cognition and its effect on architectural values (Lakoff and Johnson 1980; Caballero 2006). This paper examines a small aspect of metaphor use in architecture in order to follow a thread from historically grounded applications of metaphorical terms to contemporary and highly conventionalized conceptualization of spatial design. The focus is on the HUMAN BODY as a source domain and, in particular, the concept of skin. Through the discussion, skin (and thus the human body) is shown to be present in architectural discussions not only knowingly used metaphorical expressions but also in highly conventionalized and normalized occurrences. These unrecognized examples of conceptual metaphors allow skin move well beyond simply being an analogue for a building enclosure. Rather, concepts related to skin are extended into interpretations of actions as a projection of human capacity into deep disciplinary examples of architectural concepts and abstractions. KEYWORDS: conceptual metaphor theory, architectural theory, cognitive linguistics, building as body, conventionalization, cognitive semantics
‘The Lament for the South’: Editions and commentaries

Yu Hsin's works were originally collected during his own lifetime by his friend Yu-wen Yu, the Northern Chou Prince of T'eng. This first collection, of 579, no longer survives; all current editions of the works are reconstructions from quotations in encyclopedias, etc. A good deal has certainly been lost, but almost all the surviving works are apparently intact, not fragmentary. There is also a problem with false attributions, but this involves only a few minor pieces. The ‘Lament’ itself is as surely by Yu Hsin as Paradise Lost is by Milton. The standard edition of the works is the Yu Tzu-shan chi , with commentary by Ni Fan; it appears in the Ssu-pu pei-yao series, among other places. Because of its ready availability, I have used this as my basic text and have cited as Works the Hu-pei hsien-cheng yi-shu facsimile reprint of Ni's first edition of 1687. Ni's text is generally good, but his commentary is less satisfactory. It is, admittedly, of staggering length, about 50,000 words on 3400 or so words of text of the ‘Lament’, for example, but a great deal of it is irrelevant or forced. The modern scholar Kao Pu-ying used Ni's work as the basis for his ‘Commentary on “The Lament for the South”’ (‘Ai Chiang-nan fu chien’). More capable than Ni, Kao added much valuable information from other commentators as well as his own corrections.
Research Trends in the Use of Mobile Learning in Mathematics

The use of mobile learning in education is growing at an exponential rate. To best understand how mobile learning is being used, it is crucial to gain a collective understanding of the research that has taken place. This research was a systematic review of 36 studies in mobile learning in mathematics from the year 2000 onward. Eight new findings emerged: 1 The primary purpose of most studies was to focus on evaluating mobile learning. 2 Case studies and experimental design were the main research methods. 3 Most studies report positive learning outcomes; 4 Mobile phones were the mobile device used most often. 5 Elementary school settings were the most common research context. 6 The majority of researchers did not identify a specific mathematical concept being studied. 7 The majority of the studies took place in formal educational contexts; and 8 research on mobile learning in mathematics is geographically diverse.
Structure and stability of mRNA synthesized by vaccinia virus-encoded bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase in mammalian cells. Importance of the 5' untranslated leader.

We have analyzed the structure and stability of RNA synthesized by bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase in mammalian cells. The T7 polymerase, expressed by a recombinant vaccinia virus, transcribed the Escherichia coli lacZ gene flanked by T7 promoter and terminator signals. The lacZ gene cassette was introduced into infected cells within either a transfected plasmid or a second recombinant vaccinia virus. The T7-lacZ transcripts, which had a half-life of approximately 75 minutes, represented approximately 30% of total cytoplasmic RNA after a 24 hour period. The latter estimation indicated a disparity between the levels of lacZ RNA and β-galactosidase synthesis. Analysis of the T7 transcripts indicated that they were initiated correctly but that only 5 to 10% contained terminal cap structures, providing an explanation for the low translatability of the RNA. Since the 5′ end of the T7 transcripts can form a stem-loop structure that might interfere with capping by vaccinia virus RNA guanylyltransferase, as well as ribosome binding and scanning, a similar vector lacking such sequences was constructed. In vitro experiments demonstrated that T7 RNA polymerase transcribed both templates with similar efficiency and that the RNA lacking the potential to form the stem-loop was capped more rapidly by the purified vaccinia virus enzyme. Nevertheless, when the stem-loop was removed, β-galactosidase was not expressed in infected cells; moreover, no T7 transcripts could be detected, suggesting that the RNA was not made or more likely was degraded during or shortly after synthesis. There is previous evidence that vaccinia virus RNA guanylyltransferase is associated with the viral transcription complex, thereby allowing RNA synthesis and capping to occur concurrently. We suggest that a lack of coupling between the vaccinia viral RNA guanylyltransferase and bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase delays capping of T7 transcripts and that, under these conditions, the 5′-terminal double-stranded stem is required to stabilize the nascent RNA against degradation. Although deletion of the 3′ palindromic sequence specifying T7 transcriptional termination from the expression cassette resulted in RNA of more heterogeneous lengths, neither the apparent turnover rate nor translation of the RNAs was diminished appreciably.
Interactions of porphyrins with rabbit hemopexin.

Abstract The formation of complexes of rabbit hemopexin with a representative group of porphyrins was investigated to determine the stoichiometry and estimated dissociation constants (Kd) as well as the effect of pH on these interactions. In a 1:1 molar ratio, rabbit apohemopexin (RHx) binds iron-protoporphyrin IX (heme), iron-deuteroporphyrin IX (deuteroheme), iron-mesoporphyrin IX (mesoheme), and cobalt-deuteroporphyrin IX. The estimated Kd values are heme ≃ mesoheme ≃ deuteroheme ≤10-8 m; and cobalt-deuteroporphyrin ≤10-7 m. The relative affinity of RHx was shown to be deuteroheme g nickel-deuteroporphyrin IX g deuteroporphyrin IX, and cobalt-deuteroporphyrin g nickel-deuteroporphyrin, by displacement of ligands with lower affinity employing difference spectrophotometry or gel electrophoresis. The binding strength was influenced more by the presence and nature of the metal chelated to the porphyrin nitrogens than by the substitutions in positions 2,4 of the porphyrin ring. The pH dependence of the association and dissociation of the deuteroheme-RHx complex showed 50% saturation at pH 4.9 ± 0.1 and 10.7 ± 0.1. At pH values from 6 to 9.5, binding was equimolar, whereas none occurred below pH 4.0 or above pH 11.2. The circular dichroism spectrum of RHx exhibits a prominent positive maximum at 231 nm, which is tentatively ascribed to tryptophan. The ellipticity at 231 nm increases approximately 50% upon formation of the deuteroheme-RHx complex. This band is abolished both by N-bromosuccinimide treatment and by lowering the pH to 2 or raising it to 11.
The impact of information technology on nursing practice and knowledge

The impact of information technology on nursing has been a subject of discourse and dissertation for the latter half of the 20(th) century and the early part of the 21(st). That this burgeoning technology has impacted the way nurses nurse can be without doubt. Whether this technology has and will have a negative or positive outcome on nursing practice is where the debate centres. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the debate that surrounds the issues of the impact of Information Technology (IT) on nursing practice as well as to briefly assess the types of Clinical Information Systems (CIS) that may be beneficial as opposed to detrimental to the practice of nursing in the 21(st) Century and beyond.
Millennial Encounters with Mainstream Television News: Excess, Void, and Points of Engagement

This article argues that investigations of public sphere engagement are most productively pitched as sociohistorical and discursive analyses that move across the levels of production, textuality, and reception. Through a study of the discourse of young adults who express disaffection with television newscasting, I propose that ideologies and projections of generic personhood and genuine communication are key operators in processes of public connection in the U.S. I analyze how these ideologies and preferred readings inform the stances and rationalizations of young people as they talk about television news, and how they are enabled by the semiotics of both new and old newscasting formats. [media, publics, semiotics, language ideology, personhood]
Synergy between stresses: an interaction between spaceflight-associated conditions and the microgravity response.

Gravity is the one constant, ubiquitous force that has shaped life on Earth over its 4.8 billion years of evolution. But the sheer inescapability of Earth’s gravitational pull has meant that its influence on Earth’s organisms is difficult to study. Neutralization of the gravity vector (so-called simulated microgravity) by random movement in three-dimensional space is the best option for Earth-based experiments, with spaceflight alone offering the possibility to assess the effects of an extremely reduced gravitational field (microgravity). However, the technical constraints associated with spaceflight introduce complications that can compromise the interpretation of microgravity experiments. It can be unclear whether changes detected in these experiments reflect additional spaceflight-related stresses (temperature shifts, vibrational effects, radiation exposure, and so on) as opposed to the loss of gravitational force per se. In this issue, Herranz et al. (2010) report a careful study in which the effects of simulated and actual microgravity on gene expression in Drosophila melanogaster were compared and the effects of the flight-associated stresses on the microgravity responses were investigated. A striking finding emerged. The additional stresses associated with the spaceflight experiment altered the response to microgravity. Despite controlling for the effects of these stresses/constraints, the group found that responses to microgravity are much stronger in the stressed/constrained background than in its absence. This interaction of gravity with other environmental influences is a novel finding with important implications for microgravity research and other situations where multiple stress factors are combined.
Export performance in transition economies

Trade performance Export reorientation in the transition We examine export performance in the transition economies of Europe and central Asia. We conclude that early success in exporting required the simultaneous pursuit of stabilization and liberalization. Neither liberalizing the foreign trade regime alone nor drastic devaluations of domestic currencies will improve trade performance unless domestic prices are decontrolled, inflationary expectations lowered, and administrative controls over the economy relaxed. Within the foreign trade regime, removing export controls appears a more immediate priority than relaxing import controls: export controls induce undervaluation and high levels of protection that insulate domestic producers and consumers from international markets. —Bartlomiej Kaminski, Zhen Kun Wang and L. Alan Winters
A study of chemical aging effects on HDD Fe–zeolite SCR catalyst

Abstract The effect of phosphorus (P) on iron (Fe)–zeolite based selective catalytic reduction (SCR) monolith catalysts was studied in the absence and the presence of sulfur, and at two different exposure temperatures (220 and 450 °C). It was found that exposure of Fe–zeolite SCR catalyst to P resulted in a loss of NOx conversion and an increase of NH 3 slip relative to a degreened baseline sample. Some of the increased slip was attributed to a loss of NH 3 storage capacity due to P blockage of adsorption sites. Additional increased slip resulted from a rise in the slip to storage ratio, likely due to a shorter effective channel length for NH 3 adsorption since most of the P blocked sites at the sample inlet. DeNOx activity was then reduced due to the decreased amount of adsorbed NH 3 . P exposure using zero sulfur fuel resulted in the same amount of deactivation as aging done using low sulfur (350 ppm S) fuel, suggesting that this amount of S did not affect this formulation. An initial loss of activity proved to be due to hydrocarbon exposure, and was reversible simply by ramping the sample up in temperature during the evaluation test. Increasing the exposure temperatures also increased the loss of DeNOx performance. It is proposed that P impacts these catalysts by physically blocking adsorption sites for NH 3 , primarily at the monolith channel inlet.
Use of menopausal hormones in the United States, 1992 through June, 2003.

Purpose The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study that documented an unfavorable benefit to risk ratio of Prempro and subsequently an increased risk of stroke with menopausal estrogen prompted us to investigate the use during 1992 through June 2003 of menopausal hormones in the United States. Methods Two pharmaceutical research databases from IMS Health, the National Prescription Audit Plus™ and the National Disease and Therapeutic Index™, were accessed and analyzed. Results The number of dispensed outpatient prescriptions for oral menopausal estrogens and oral combination estrogen–progestins increased 2.5-fold (153%) from 34.5 million dispensed in 1992 to a high of 87.3 million in 2000. For July 2002 through June 2003, the year following the publication of the results of the WHI trial, prescriptions for these products declined to 59.6 million, a 32% decrease from their peak in 2000. Prescriptions for transdermal estrogen and transdermal combination estrogen–progestin products increased from 5.2 million dispensed in 1992 to their peak of 8.3 million in 2000, and declined 10% to 7.5 million during July 2002 through June 2003. By contrast, prescriptions for oral menopausal progestins rose to 17.5 million in 1995 and then steadily declined. In the year after the WHI, prescriptions for oral progestins decreased 49% to 8.9 million from their peak in 1995. The earlier decline in oral progestin prescriptions was primarily due to the marketing in 1995 of the popular oral combination estrogen–progestin drugs. Conclusions Prescriptions dispensed for menopausal hormones increased substantially between 1992 and peaked in 2000. By June 2003, prescriptions for oral menopausal estrogens and oral combination estrogen–progestins had declined by about one-third from their peak year. Published in 2004 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Evolution of the vertebrate pineal gland: the AANAT hypothesis.

The defining feature of the pineal gland is the capacity to function as a melatonin factory that operates on a ∼24 h schedule, reflecting the unique synthetic capacities of the pinealocyte. Melatonin synthesis is typically elevated at night and serves to provide the organism with a signal of nighttime. Melatonin levels can be viewed as hands of the clock. Issues relating to the evolutionary events leading up to the immergence of this system have not received significant attention. When did melatonin synthesis appear in the evolutionary line leading to vertebrates? When did a distinct pineal gland first appear? What were the forces driving this evolutionary trend? As more knowledge has grown about the pinealocyte and the relationship it has to retinal photoreceptors, it has become possible to generate a plausible hypothesis to explain how the pineal gland and the melatonin rhythm evolved. At the heart of the hypothesis is the melatonin rhythm enzyme arylalkylamine N‐acetyltransferase (AANAT). The advances ...
Relation of chemical structure to activity of iodine compounds against the developmental stages of horse strongyles.

Abstract In a study of the toxicity of 43 iodine compounds for the developmental stages of horse strongyles in feces, compounds which were lethal at a concentration of 0.0005 M or less were iodic acid, periodic acid, barium iodide, cadmium iodide, calcium iodide, lithium iodide, plumbous iodide, strontium iodide, zinc iodide, trimethylene iodide, and pentamethylene iodide. In a series of 16 alkyl monoiodides, all n -alkyl iodides with five or less carbon atoms were inactive at a concentration of 0.01 M . The most toxic member of the series was n -octyl iodide (0.0025 M ). Compounds with more carbon atoms were increasingly less active. The three alpha-omega diiodides, ethylene iodide, trimethylene iodide and pentamethylene iodide, were much more active than their related n -alkyl monoiodides. In an analysis of the results obtained in this and a previous study, it has been shown that the toxicity of the compounds is closely related to the availability of the iodine atom. Those compounds in which it is ionized as an iodide ion (inorganic ionized compounds, quaternary ammonium iodides, quaternary heterocyclic nitrogen iodides, and iodonium iodides) were highly toxic, while inorganic un-ionized compounds, aryl iodides and polyiodo compounds, in which the iodine is tightly bound, were relatively non-toxic. Alkyl iodides, in which the iodine is less tightly bound, were intermediate in toxicity. Alpha-iodo and beta-iodo carbonyl compounds, in which the iodine is still more loosely bound, were as toxic as the ionized compounds.
Abstract 896: Pre-diagnostic blood fatty acid levels and prostate cancer mortality

Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC Purpose: Fatty acid metabolism, particularly de novo lipogenesis, may be an important determinant of prostate cancer progression and mortality. However, epidemiologic data regarding the role of circulating fatty acids, as biomarkers of fatty acid intake and metabolism, on prostate cancer progression and mortality is scarce. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study among 582 Physicans’ Health Study participants who provided a blood sample in 1982 and who were later diagnosed with prostate cancer, between 1982 and 2006. Blood samples were kept frozen until they were assayed. Men were followed from the date of prostate cancer diagnosis until death or the end of follow-up (March 31, 2009). Blood levels of major types of fatty acids were measured using gas chromatography and expressed as percentage of total fatty acids. Men were categorized according to quintiles of blood fatty acid levels. Proportional hazards regression was used to estimate the relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of prostate cancer specific mortality in a given quintile of fatty acid level in relation to the lowest quintile. Results: During 7,414 person-years of follow-up, 94 men died of prostate cancer. The median time between diagnosis and prostate cancer death was 14 years. The median time between blood draw and prostate cancer diagnosis was 9.5 years. Blood levels of all the mono-unsaturated, n-6 polyunsaturated and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids examined were unrelated to prostate cancer mortality. However, compared to men in the lowest quintile, the RRs (95% CIs) of prostate cancer mortality for men in increasing quintiles of blood stearic acid (18:0) levels were 1.90 (0.81-4.50), 3.61 (1.55-8.42), 2.29 (0.96-5.43) and 4.96 (2.10-11.7) (P, trend <0.001) after adjusting for age at diagnosis, race, body mass index, smoking status, clinical stage and tumor grade at diagnosis, and time between blood draw and prostate cancer diagnosis. Blood levels of the remaining saturated fatty acids examined were unrelated to prostate cancer mortality. Conclusions: Pre-diagnostic blood levels of stearic acid, a saturated fatty acid, are positively related to prostate cancer mortality. Since blood stearic acid levels are usually unrelated to diet, these data suggest that differences in fatty acid metabolism might be responsible for this association. It remains to be determined whether this finding is due to between-person differences in the activity of de novo lipogenesis enzymes or other metabolic factors that result in higher blood levels of stearic acid. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 896.
Treatment of heart failure beyond practice guidelines. Role of cardiac remodeling.

Heart failure (HF) is clinical syndrome that develops and progresses as a result of the overexpression of biologically active molecules that are sufficient to cause deleterious effects on the heart and circulation. Over the past 2 decades the adherence to practice guidelines for treating HF, including the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin-receptor antagonists and β-blockers, has resulted in improved survival for patients. However, despite the use of these evidence-based strategies that block the deleterious effects of neurohormonal activation, the overall mortality for HF remains unacceptably high. Unfortunately, when patients remain symptomatic despite having their medical and/or device therapies optimized, the "next steps" to improving patient morbidity are not at all clear. Thus, there remains an unmet need with respect to the treatment of HF patients. The concept that cardiac remodeling represents an important mechanism for disease progression in HF is reviewed, as well as discussion of several novel treatment strategies with respect to devices that are intended to prevent worsening cardiac remodeling. (Circ J 2008; Suppl A: A-1 - A-7)
Structural and conformational features that affect the interaction of polyactosaminoglycans with immobilized wheat germ agglutinin

We examined the interaction between immobilized wheat germ agglutinin and the large, polylactosamine-containing glycans from human erythrocytes and human K-562 erythroleukemic cells. Three classes of interaction were identified. One class of glycan was merely retarded during chromatography. The other two classes were retained and could be distinguished by their ease of displacement with N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc); one was a moderate-affinity fraction displaced by 0.1 M GlcNAc and the other was a high-affinity fraction subsequently displaced by 1.0 M GlcNAc. A relatively small fraction of the K-562 polylactosamines were in the high-affinity class. We explored the role that fucose and sialic acid substitutions play in the strength of the lectin-glycan interaction. Although sialic acid is recognized by wheat germ agglutinin, sialylation was not required for the high-affinity interaction, and the presence of sialic acids actually prevented some glycans from binding with high affinity. In contrast, fucose is not part of the binding determinant, yet the removal of fucose resulted in decreased affinity. The possibility that some of these changes in affinity were the result of conformational changes was explored using matrices that had wheat germ agglutinin immobilized at different densities. At low wheat germ agglutinin densities, adult and fetal erythroglycans and K-562 glycophorin-like glycans were not retained by the matrix. As the density increased, the proportion of glycans that were retarded, and ultimately retained, increased. While these increases in the proportions retained occurred in parallel for the three different glycans, the apparent affinities of the glycan-lectin interactions differed. The glycophorin-like glycans were always readily displaced by 0.1 M GlcNAc, even at higher wheat germ agglutinin densities. In contrast, as the wheat germ agglutinin density increased, the proportion of erythroglycans that could be displaced by 0.1 M GlcNAc decreased; at 10 mg/ml immobilized wheat germ agglutinin, greater than 80% of the erythroglycans exhibited this tighter interaction. We suggest that this higher affinity interaction is the result of the large glycans spanning adjacent wheat germ agglutinin molecules, and is determined by the proximity of these molecules and the conformation of the glycans.
Calcein blue—a new metalfluorechromic indicator for chelatometric titrations

Abstract A new metal fluorechromic indicator is described for the chelatometric titration of metal ions. Calcein Blue (a condensation product of 4-methylumbelliferone, formaldehyde, and iminodiacetic acid) may be used for the chelatometric determination of metal ions which form highly coloured complexes with chelatometric reagents. A procedure based on reaction rates is given for the determination of nickel and chromium in mixtures without prior separations. Calcein Blue serves as an indicator for the direct titration of the alkaline earth elements as the result of the formation of an indicator-reversal complex.
Genetics and Epigenetics of Diabetic Nephropathy.

Background: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the most common cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the USA and worldwide, contributing to significant morbidity a
Abiotic transformation of DDT in aqueous solutions.

Abstract Significant concentrations of chlorinated pesticides such as 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDT) and its two main transformation products, 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDD) and 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethylene (DDE) are still present in soil and sediment systems more than 30 years after DDT use was banned in the United States. DDT enters waterways via the runoff from industrial point sources, agricultural lands and atmospheric deposition. We evaluated zero-valent iron (Fe 0 ), ferrous sulfide (FeS), as well as combining them with hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) as viable treatment technologies for degrading DDT in an aqueous solution. Treatment of DDT with Fe 0 and FeS resulted in approximately 88% and 56% transformation of DDT within 150 h, respectively. DDE production was insignificant in all systems. The DDT removal was slower with FeS than with Fe 0 , but the amounts of DDD and DDE produced did not exceed baseline. Treatment with a 1:1 mixture of Fe 0 –FeS removed about 95% of the added mass of DDT within 4 days and generated significant amounts of DDD and minor amounts of DDMU. When small amounts of H 2 O 2 were introduced halfway through the Fe 0 and FeS treatment times, the mass of DDT decreased by 87% and 96%, respectively, within 2 days. Our results demonstrate that mixtures of Fe 0 –FeS in combination with H 2 O 2 can be used for rapid and efficient removal of DDT from aqueous solutions.
Infrared absorption-coefficient data on SF6 applicable to atmospheric remote sensing

Spectral absorption coefficients, k(nu)/cm per atm, of SF6 have been measured in the central Q-branches of the nu(3)-fundamental at 947/cm at various temperature-pressure combinations representing tangent heights in solar-occultation experiments or layers in the atmosphere. The data obtained with the Doppler-limited spectral resolution (about 0.0001/cm) of a tunable-diode laser spectrometer are useful in the atmospheric remote sensing of this trace gas.