cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Summary of the Scientific Conference on the Efficacy of Hypocholesterolemic Dietary Interventions

Diet is the primary therapeutic approach for persons who are at increased risk of premature heart disease as a result of elevated cholesterol levels (>200 mg/dL). This conference was held to reassess the efficacy of hypocholesterolemic diets based primarily on reduced intake of saturated fat and cholesterol and to evaluate the effects on lipoproteins and cholesterol of dietary components other than cholesterol and saturated fat. The Step I and Step II diets are designed to reduce dietary intake of saturated fat and cholesterol and thereby on average lower total and LDL cholesterol levels. The Step I diet lowers LDL cholesterol approximately 7% to 9%. The Step II diet can lower LDL cholesterol 10% to 20%. Available evidence suggests that further reductions in the range of ≥20% to 25% can be achieved with a very low fat diet (also very low in saturated fat and cholesterol). Individual responses can vary markedly. Many Americans may be unable to achieve the maximum cholesterol-lowering potential expected of these dietary recommendations and thus will require pharmacological intervention. This variation is the result of the interplay of many physiological variables that are not yet fully understood. Low-fat diets can result in reductions in HDL cholesterol and sometimes apolipoprotein (apo) A-1 as well as in plasma triglycerides. Scientists disagree as to whether or not this is harmful. ### Fatty Acids Several mechanisms have been proposed for fatty acid influences on lipoproteins: (1) saturated fat interferes with formation of cholesterol esters in the liver, which leads to an increase in unesterified cholesterol that suppresses LDL receptor activity; (2) a large change in polyunsaturated fat intake relative to saturated fat results in decreased apoB production; and (3) polyunsaturated fats reduce production of cholesterol-carrying lipoproteins. The mechanism of cholesterol response may vary, depending on the fatty acid (eg, lauric, myristic, and palmitic acids, …
Absorption kinetics of regular, isophane, and protamine zinc insulin in normal cats

Abstract Absorption kinetics of regular, isophane (NPH), and protamine zinc (PZI) insulin were evaluated in seven clinically normal domestic shorthair cats by measurement of serial serum concentrations of insulin after subcutaneous administration of each insulin preparation. These results were compared to measurements of serial serum insulin concentrations after similar dosages of regular insulin were administered intravenously. Regular insulin administered subcutaneously was better absorbed than NPH and PZI insulins (mean bioavailability index 45.4% vs. 33.0% for NPH and 27.3% for PZI), and resulted in a significantly greater maximal increase in mean circulating insulin concentrations above baseline values (3529 pM vs. 1044 pM for NPH and 344 pM for PZI, P
Web based RFID asset management solution established on cloud services

In this paper, an RFID architecture has been presented where the traditional role of the localised middleware has been distributed to the RFID reader and a cloud based web service supported by a web based user interface, eliminating the role of the former. Such an interface allows a user to control and carry out all of the major RFID related operations in a typical supply chain based situation remotely. Load testing was carried out to test the processing capability of the RFID reader based Reader Resident Application and the Reader Web Service for both large scale tag traffic and large scale event generation and processing. Different schemes were proposed for small and large scale event processing. These results are presented to demonstrate the applicability of this architecture for multiple RFID based operations.
Feasibility and safety of percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with end-stage liver disease referred for liver transplantation

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has traditionally not been an option for patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD) and coronary artery disease (CAD). This retrospective study was designed to demonstrate the feasibility and safety of PCI in liver transplant candidates. Patients with ESLD and hemodynamically significant CAD who were otherwise deemed to be acceptable candidates for liver transplantation underwent PCI. The procedural success rates, mortality and myocardial infarction rates, and bleeding outcomes were examined. Sixteen patients with ESLD underwent PCI: 15 with bare-metal stents (1.3 stents per patient on average) and 1 with balloon angioplasty alone. The median diameter stenosis per lesion was 80%, the median platelet count was 68 × 10(9) /L, the median international normalized ratio was 1.3, and the median Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score was 13. PCI was successful in 94% of the patients. One patient had a suboptimal residual stenosis of 50% after stenting. There were no in-hospital or 30-day deaths or myocardial infarctions, and no patients developed hematomas. One patient required a 1-U platelet transfusion, and another required 1 U of packed red blood cells. All patients remained clinically stable 1 month after PCI. Nine of the 16 patients were listed for liver transplantation, and 3 patients underwent liver transplantation. In conclusion, we have demonstrated the safety and feasibility of PCI in a small cohort of patients with ESLD and hemodynamically significant CAD, the majority of whom had significant thrombocytopenia. Larger studies are required to determine whether PCI is an effective treatment strategy for patients with ESLD and hemodynamically significant CAD who otherwise would not be candidates for liver transplantation.
Reliability and validity of the Parent-Child Relationship Inventory (PCRI): Evidence from a longitudinal cross-informant investigation.

Psychometric properties of the Parent-Child Relationship Inventory (PCRI) were examined using data collected from adolescents and their parents in the Fullerton Longitudinal Study. Results revealed acceptable internal consistency for most scales and moderate to high 1-year stability for all scales. Both parents' PCRI scores correlated with their views of family climate. Cross-informant concordance was pervasive and strong between mothers' PCRI scores and adolescents' perceptions of the parent-child relationship and family climate; however, convergence was not evident between fathers' and adolescents' reports. Additionally, poor performance was observed for the Autonomy scale. In conjunction with other research on parent-adolescent relationships, concerns are raised regarding the utility of scales to contrast mother-adolescent with father-adolescent relationships.
Effects of dicofol on mallard eggshell quality

Dicofol is an organochlorine acaricide structurally similar to DDE and there is concern that it may effect avian reproduction. Effects of dietary dicofol on mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) egg production and eggshell quality were evaluated; the mallard is moderately sensitive to DDE shellthinning toxicity. Hens in egg production were fed either 0, 3, 10, 30, or 100 μg/g dicofol for 42 days (the formulation of dicofol contained <0.1% DDT-related impurities). A positive control study was also conducted in which mallard hens in egg production were fed 0, 3, 10, and 100 μg/g DDE for 42 days. Egg weight, shell thickness, shell strength, and dried shell weight were measured for all eggs produced. Egg production was not affected by dicofol diets but the percentages of cracked and soft-shelled eggs from birds on the 100 μg/g dicofol diet were significantly (p < 0.05) greater. Shell strength, thickness, and weight were negatively related to dicofol dietary concentrations. Shell quality was reduced after one day of treatment with some dicofol diets. Effects of similar character and magnitude were observed in eggs from positive control birds fed DDE.
Abstract A8: Network analysis of retroviral and transposon mutagenesis sites in B cell lymphoma converges on MyD88 pathway

Using the murine leukemia virus (MuLV) and the Sleeping Beauty retrotransposon, we have generated several thousand mutagenesis sites associated with development of B cell lymphoma in iMyc mice. We have utilized the gene-centric common insertion site algorithm (gCIS) to determine common events in B cell lymphomagenesis. After gCIS analysis, we have established networks based on filtering with known protein-protein and transcription factor-transcription factor interaction networks. Additionally, gene set enrichment analysis was performed subtracting T cell lymphoma-associated pathways from B cell lymphoma-associated pathways. Several promising networks have been identified through these methods, including one leading to the activation of MyD88. MyD88 mutations are recently identified in several B cell lymphomas. These findings demonstrate the utility of these methods and suggest that common insertion sites during mutagenesis can either affect a single important factor, or converge on its interaction partners. Citation Format: Samuel Lifton, Alicia Olivier, Adam Dupuy, Wendy Dubois, Linda Wolff, Siegfried Janz. Network analysis of retroviral and transposon mutagenesis sites in B cell lymphoma converges on MyD88 pathway [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Chemical Systems Biology: Assembling and Interrogating Computational Models of the Cancer Cell by Chemical Perturbations; 2012 Jun 27-30; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(13 Suppl):Abstract nr A8.
Pierre de Ronsard's SONETS POUR HELENE

Ma douce Helene, non, mais bien ma douce haleine, 1 Qui froide rafraischis la chaleur de mon cœur, 2 Je prens de ta vertu cognoissance et vigueur, 3 Et ton œil, comme il veut, a son plaisi...
Bayesian inference in limited dependent variable models. An application to measuring strike duration

This paper presents a straightforward set of Bayesian techniques for analyzing models involving limited dependent variables; the techniques are demonstrated in an analysis of Kennan's (1985) data on contract strikes in US manufacturing. The data are analyzed by deriving posterior distributions—including probability distributions—of hazard functions for strike duration using numerical Monte Carlo methods. The distributions are employed to derive coverage intervals for hazard functions, to assess the relative plausibility of nonnested hypotheses concerning the shape of the functions, and to assess the impact of industrial production on duration.
Delayed Mediastinal Tamponade after Open Heart Surgery

Nine cases of delayed mediastinal tamponade occurring between the 6th and 20th days after operation are described. All patients were on anticoagulant therapy at the time tamponade occurred. Tube drainage of the mediastinum and wide drainage of the mediastinum into the pleural space did not prevent this complication. Eight of the nine cases were managed successfully by mediastinal drainage through the subxyphoid portion of the wound or formal re-exploration of the wound. The details of diagnosis and management are discussed.
STAT-4 mediated IL-12 signaling pathway is critical for the development of protective immunity in cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Recent studies have demonstrated that two IL-12 signaling pathways, a STAT 4 – dependent and STAT4 – independent, are involved in the development of a Th1-like response. To determine their roles in the development of protective immunity against Leishmania major, we monitored progression of cutaneous Leishmania major infection in STAT4-deficient mice (STAT4–/–) compared to similarly infected wild-type (STAT4+/+) mice. Although the onset of lesion growth was delayed in STAT4–/– mice during the early phase of infection, these mice eventually developed large, non-healing lesions, whereas STAT4+/+ mice resolved their lesions. As infection progressed, both STAT4+/+ and STAT4–/– mice infected with L. major displayed similar titers of Leishmania-specific IgG1 and IgE but later produced lower IgG2a. On days 20 and 40 post-infection, Leishmania antigen-stimulated lymphnode cells from STAT4–/– mice produced significantly lower amounts of IFN-γ than those from STAT4+/+ mice as measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. There was no significant difference, however, in IL-4 and IL-12 production between the two groups. These results indicate that STAT4-mediated IL-12 signaling is critical for the development of protective Th1 response following L. major infection in genetically resistant mice. Additionally, they demonstrate that, although genetically resistant mice lacking STAT4 signaling pathway develop large, non-healing lesions, they do not default towards a Th2-like response.
Neural circuitry of submissive behavior in social anxiety disorder: A preliminary study of response to direct eye gaze

Fear of eye gaze is common in social anxiety disorder (SAD) and may represent an evolutionarily conserved submissive behavior. SAD subjects and healthy volunteers who underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging showed significant differences in neural activity in amygdala, fusiform, insula, anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortex in response to direct versus averted gaze. Neural response to direct gaze may identify brain regions important in the pathophysiology of SAD.
National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) Scientific Committee 72-Radiation Protection in Clinical Mammography: A Progress Report

Committee SC-72 of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) was formed to prepare a report on Radiation Protection in Clinical Mammography which will both supplement and expand upon the material presented in NCRP Report No. 66: "Mammography". Highlights of the current draft of the report are presented.© (1983) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Impact of Electronic Device Use in Class on Pharmacy Students’ Academic Performance

Objectives. To evaluate and assess the impact of pharmacy students’ electronic device (e-device) use during a lecture-based pharmacotherapeutics sequence.Methods. A validated survey instrument to assess e-device use was e-mailed to 238 second- (P2) and third-year (P3) pharmacy students. Grades were reviewed retrospectively and correlated with e-device use to determine its impact on academic performance.Results. Of 140 responding students (59% response rate), 106 reported using e-devices during class for course-related (91.5%) and non-course-related (81.1%) activities. When P2 and P3 students were combined, e-device use was not associated with academic performance (p = 0.70). Academic performance was not impacted among P3 students (p = 0.86), but P2 students performed better academically if they refrained from using e-devices during class (mean grade = 88.5% vs. 83.3%; p=0.019).Conclusions. The impact of e-device use on overall academic performance was negligible. Use of e-devices by students enrolled in t...
Clergy Perceptions of Spiritual Health for Adults, Men, and Women.

A questionnaire consisting of 62 bipolar items was given to active clergy with one of three sets of instructions: Describe a spiritually healthy (a) adult (sex unspecified), (b) adult man, or (c) adult woman, by indicating which of each set of characteristics listed on the questionnaire is most descriptive. Results showed that judgments differed as a function of the sex of the person being judged; and that spiritual health for men was not viewed as significantly different from ideal adult spiritual health, whereas spiritual health for women was viewed as significantly different from spiritual health for both adults and men.
Front migration in the nonlinear Cahn-Hilliard equation

The method of matched asymptotic expansions is used to describe solutions of the nonlinear Cahn-Hilliard equation for phase separation in N > 1 space dimensions. The expansion is formally valid when the thickness of internal transition layers is small compared with the distance separating layers and with their radii of curvature. On the dominant (slowest) timescale the interface velocity is determined by the mean curvature of the interface, by a non-local relation which is identical to that in a well-known quasi-static model of solidification, which exhibits a shape instability discovered by Mullins & Sekerka (J. appl. Phys. 34, 323-329 (1963)). On a faster timescale, the Cahn-Hilliard equation regularizes a classic two-phase Stefan problem. Similarity solutions of the two-phase Stefan problem should describe boundary layers. Existence and uniqueness of such similarity solutions which admit metastable states is proved rigorously in an appendix.
High-performance liquid chromatographic method using ultraviolet detection for measuring metrifonate and dichlorvos levels in human plasma

Abstract We report high-performance liquid chromatographic methods using ultraviolet detection, developed for the first time in our laboratory with sensitivity to detect clinically significant concentrations of metrifonate (MTF), an experimental drug for Alzheimer disease, and its active anticholinesterase metabolite, dichlorvos (DDVP). The determination limit of the method for MTF and DDVP was 1 μg/ml and 40 ng/ml, respectively. Stability of MTF and DDVP at various temperatures in water, buffered solutions and in human plasma were also studied.
Improving Early Seizure Detection

Over the last decade, the search for a method able to reliably predict seizures hours in advance has been largely replaced by the more realistic goal of very early detection of seizure onset, which would allow therapeutic or warning devices to be triggered prior to the onset of disabling clinical symptoms. We explore in this article the steps along the pathway from data acquisition to closed-loop applications that can and should be considered to design the most efficient early seizure detection. Microelectrodes, high-frequency oscillations, high sampling rate, high-density arrays, and modern analysis techniques are all elements of the recording and detection process that in combination with modeling studies can provide new insights into the dynamics of seizure onsets. Each of these steps needs to be considered if detection devices that will favorably impact the quality of life of patients are to be implemented. This article is part of a Supplemental Special Issue entitled The Future of Automated Seizure Detection and Prediction.
Reference data for the American English acoustic vowel space.

Reference data for the acoustic vowel space area (VSA) in children and adolescents do not currently appear to be available in a form suitable for normative comparisons. In the current study, individual speaker formant data for the four corner vowels of American English (/i, u, ae, ɑ/) were used to compute individual speaker VSAs. The sample included 300 children aged 5–18 years and 38 adults aged 25–50 years. Age trends and sex differences were examined and reference data for clinical application were developed. Findings indicated significant declines in VSA with age; sex differences were not fully apparent until late adolescence and adulthood. Implications are discussed.
Thermodynamics of base pairing

The study of the thermodynamics of base pairing is a rapidly expanding field due to its importance for taking advantage of opportunities presented by the growing database of nucleic acid sequences. Both natural and unnatural nucleic acids are being studied. The determination of nearest-neighbor parameters from optical melting data for RNA-DNA and DNA-DNA duplexes with Watson-Crick base pairs is particularly noteworthy. The foundations are also being laid for a theoretical understanding of these thermodynamics.
Determination of Ticarcillin in Serum by Reversed Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract Ticarcillin is a semi-synthetic penicillin useful against several Pseudomonas species. In order to easily quantitate this drug, a new procedure was developed whereby ticarcillin in serum is converted to its free acid form by the addition of citric acid and, subsequently, extracted into ethyl acetate. The organic extract which contains the nonionized form of ticarcillin is dried under nitrogen, the sample is reconstituted with mobile phase and analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography. Elution is completed in less than five minutes. The assay is linear from 1 mg/L through 100 mg/L. The correlation coefficient of ticarcillin concentration to peak area (r) was 0. 999 over this concentration range. The small sample volume (100 yl) makes this assay particularly suitable for pediatric patients.
S-adenosylmethionine levels in psychiatric and neurological disorders: a review.

Introduction - S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe) is an important methyl donor in over 35 methylation reactions involving DNA, proteins, phosphalipids and catechol- and indole- amines. Material and Methods - This article reviews the studies that have examined brain and blood levels of SAMe in several psychological, neurological and metabolic disorders. Results - Although studies have found no consistent changes in whole blood SAMe levels in psychiatric patients, other investigators have found low cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) SAMe levels in patients with neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's dementia, subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord (SACD), and HIV-related neuropathies, as well as in patients with metabolic disorders such as 5, 10-CH2-H4 folate reductase deficiency. Conclusion - Intravenous or oral administration of SAMe thus represents a possible treatment for these neurological and metabolic disorders.
An approximate numerical solution for multiclass preemptive priority queues with general service time distributions

In this paper an approximate numerical solution for a multiclass preemptive priority single server queue is developed. The arrival process of each class follows a Poisson distribution. The service time distribution must have a rational Laplace transform, but is otherwise arbitrary and may be different for different classes. The work reported here was motivated by a desire to compute the equilibrium probability distribution of networks containing preemptive priority servers. Such networks are frequently encountered when modeling computer systems, medical care delivery systems and communication networks. We wish to use an iterative technique which constructs a series of two station networks consisting of one station from the original network and one “complementary” station whose behavior with respect to the original station mimics that of the rest of the network. At each iteration, it is necessary to compute the equilibrium probability distribution of one or more preemptive priority queues.Although such queues have been studied for some time, the resulting solutions have most often been developed utilizing transforms or probability generating functions, e.g. Jaiswal [1968]; in many cases of interest, inversion has not been attempted. Miller [1981] presented explicit solutions for two class priority queues but Miller's work, which is based on that of Neuts, is limited to exponential service times and two classes. The approach presented here is applicable to many classes and to more general service time distributions than have previously been considered.The algorithm utilizes a bootstrap approach, a concept borrowed from dynamic programming. The solution for class 1 is trivial. Once we have solved the system with k different classes, we have available all the necessary information to solve the system with k+l classes. We shall assume that each class has a distinct service time distribution Gk, with mean gk and variance s2k. Let class k have preemptive priority over class l if k 1, we consider a model with one machine whose service time distribution is Gk. The breakdown rate of the machine is the sum of the arrival rates of all higher priority jobs. The downtime or repairtime of the machine has mean gk-l and variance s2k-l; these parameters are the mean and variance of the busy period in a preemptive priority system with k-l classes.The first step in the solution of all the machine breakdown and repair models considered herein is to construct the infinitesimal generator
The contributory effects of supervisor intentions on subordinate feedback responses

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the contributory effects of perceived supervisor intentions on subordinate reactions, motivation to improve, and feedback seeding behavior when a supervisor provides informal feedback. One hundred eighty-four participants responded to scenarios within the context of their current work situations in which feedback sign (positive/negative), supervisor feedback giving behavioral style (effective/ineffective), and supervisor intentions (constructive/mixed/nonconstructive) were manipulated in a 2 × 2 × 3 factorial design. The results provided further support for the impact of feedback sign and supervisor behavior on subordinate feedback reactions and responses. Intention perceptions interacted with feedback sign to affect feedback reactions and, as a main effect, significantly contributed to the variance explained for each of the three dependent variables. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for the feedback process and suggestions are offered for future research on subordinate reactions and responses to supervisor feedback.
Microtubules and tracheole migration in wing disks of Galleria mellonella.

Tracheoles migrate into the lacunae of wing imaginal disks that are cultured in vitro in medium containing α-ecdysone. Colchicine and vinblastin prevented tracheole migration in vitro under conditions which did not affect the viability of the disks. Cytochalasin B also inhibited tracheole migration, but only at concentrations which were deleterious to the disks. Our ultrastructure findings were in accord with the hypothesis that microtubules, but perhaps not microfilaments, are required for tracheole migration.
Structural Insights into DNA Polymerase β Deterrents for Misincorporation Support an Induced-Fit Mechanism for Fidelity

Abstract DNA polymerases generally select the correct nucleotide from a pool of structurally similar molecules to preserve Watson-Crick base-pairing rules. We report the structure of DNA polymerase β with DNA mismatches situated in the polymerase active site. This was achieved by using nicked product DNA that traps the mispair (template-primer, A-C or T-C) in the nascent base pair binding pocket. The structure of each mispair complex indicates that the bases do not form hydrogen bonds with one another, but form a staggered arrangement where the bases of the mispair partially overlap. This prevents closure/opening of the N subdomain that is believed to be required for catalytic cycling. The partially open conformation of the N subdomain results in distinct hydrogen bonding networks that are unique for each mispair. These structures define diverse molecular aspects of misinsertion that are consistent with the induced-fit model for substrate specificity.
Ride-through for critical loads. Exploring a low-cost approach to maintaining continuous connections between buildings and/or industrial systems

A low-cost approach to provide ride-through capability for critical loads has been explored. The approach provides continuous power to the load under two operational modes. Normal mode allows the load to be connected directly from the utility power supply, as long as it remains undisturbed. Once a voltage sag appears, the load is transferred to an inverter that provides the ride-through mode. The output of the inverter is synchronized with the utility input and is regulated by keeping the DC-link voltage regulated, too. An external energy source can be incorporated in the DC-link to provide ride-through during short-term power interruptions. Results show that the detection of the disturbance is quick, and the transfer between operational modes is seamless, causing no evident problems to the load. High efficiency is only achieved by applying the ride-through operational mode during the disturbance duration. Reduced size and low cost are additional characteristics of the proposed approach.
Coffee drinking and cigarette smoking: II. Coffee, urinary pH and cigarette smoking behavior.

Abstract This study was designed to evaluate the relationship between coffee consumption, urinary pH, and cigarette smoking. Urine acidity levels were manipulated and the resulting effect on cigarette smoking was monitored. Each of eight subjects participated in each of four conditions in which they received: water, coffee, coffee plus sodium bicarbonate, or coffee plus ascorbic acid. Subjects provided both pre- and post-session urine specimens, which were analyzed to determine pH, and cigarette butts were collected. The results showed that subjects smoke more cigarettes in a one hour session when they receive coffee. However, coffee did not have the effect of increasing urine acidity in one hour so that increased urine acidity cannot account for observed smoking increases. The results are discussed in terms of a stimulus control explanation for the relationship between coffee consumption and cigarette smoking.
RBCK1, a protein kinase C βI binding partner and its splice variant RBCK2: potential role in cardiac hypertrophy?

The protein kinase C (PKC) family participates in signal transduction in a large number of mammalian cell types. Several PKC isozymes are expressed in rat cardiac myocytes. Many studies have shown that different PKC isozymes are involved in the modulation of diverse functions in the heart, including the developmental and pathological hypertrophic growth of cardiomyocytes.We are focused on understanding the individual role of each PKC isozyme and how they regulate cardiac functions. Our laboratory and others have demonstrated that activation of PKC beta plays a critical role in the development of cardiac hypertrophy. Recently, the PKC-binding partner designated RBCK1 for RBCC protein interacting with PKC 1, has been shown to interact specifically with PKCβI when coexpressed in cultured COS-7 cells. In addition, two different studies have established a correlation between the variation of RBCK1 mRNA levels and cardiac hypertrophy. However, whether the product protein mediate hypertrophy or whether the changes in its levels are the result of hypertrophy cannot be determined from such an analysis. Based on these results, the goal of our present study is therefore to determine if RBCK1 participates actively in the processes leading to cardiac hypertrophy and characterize the molecular mechanisms involved. Does RBCK1 bind PKCβI in cardiac myocytes and is their interaction altered during the induction of hypertrophy? Is the level of expression of PKCβI regulated by the level of expression of RBCK1? A splice variant of RBCK1 named RBCK2 has been cloned and characterized. Does RBCK2 also participate in the development of cardiac hypertrophy? To investigate these questions, adenoviralmediated gene transfer of wild-type RBCK1 and RBCK2 fused to the green fluorescent protein (GFP) was carried out in cultured neonatal rat ventricular cardiac myocytes. By identifying regulators and binding proteins of PKC, we may identify new means to modulate the progression of pathological hypertrophy of the heart. In this study, we showed the preferential interaction of RBCK1 with inactive PKCβI in vitro and the perinuclear localization of endogenous PKCβI and overexpressed RBCK1 in unstimulated cells. This result suggests that RBCK1 could be a binding partner for inactive PKCβI in rat neonatal cardiac myocytes. We also found an increase in the level of expression of endogenous PKCβI and RBCK1 proportional to the time in culture and the induction of hypertrophy with phenylephrine (PE). The level of expression of PKCβI is directly correlated to the level of expression of RBCK1. An isoform specific motility shift of PKCβI was also seen upon the overexpression of RBCK1-GFP, which could reflect a dephosphorylation state. Finally, there was an Nesiritide Improves Urine Output in Severely Ill Pediatric Patients Awaiting Heart Transplantation Without Severe Hypotension Ruchir Sehra, Karen R. Underwood2—Pediatrics/Pediatric Cardiology, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA; Critical Care Medicine, Chlidren’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Silencing hyperoxia-induced C/EBPα in neonatal mice improves lung architecture via enhanced proliferation of alveolar epithelial cells

Postnatal lung development requires proliferation and differentiation of specific cell types at precise times to promote proper alveolar formation. Hyperoxic exposure can disrupt alveolarization by inhibiting cell growth; however, it is not fully understood how this is mediated. The transcription factor CCAAT/enhancer binding protein-α (C/EBPα) is highly expressed in the lung and plays a role in cell proliferation and differentiation in many tissues. After 72 h of hyperoxia, C/EBPα expression was significantly enhanced in the lungs of newborn mice. The increased C/EBPα protein was predominantly located in alveolar type II cells. Silencing of C/EBPα with a transpulmonary injection of C/EBPα small interfering RNA (siRNA) prior to hyperoxic exposure reduced expression of markers of type I cell and differentiation typically observed after hyperoxia but did not rescue the altered lung morphology at 72 h. Nevertheless, when C/EBPα hyperoxia-exposed siRNA-injected mice were allowed to recover for 2 wk in room air, lung epithelial cell proliferation was increased and lung morphology was restored compared with hyperoxia-exposed control siRNA-injected mice. These data suggest that C/EBPα is an important regulator of postnatal alveolar epithelial cell proliferation and differentiation during injury and repair.
Comparative analysis of patients with cauda equina syndrome versus an unaffected population undergoing spinal surgery.

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective analysis. OBJECTIVE To determine patient demographics, incidence of comorbidities, and procedure-related complications and identify risk factors associated with morbidity and mortality after spinal surgery for cauda equina syndrome (CES). SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA To our knowledge, no study has provided nationwide estimates of patient characteristics and procedure-related complication rates after spinal surgery for CES relative to an unaffected population. METHODS Nationwide Inpatient Sample data collected between 2001 and 2010 were analyzed. Discharges with procedural codes for lumbar spinal fusion, decompression, or discectomy were included. The CES cohort included diagnoses of CES, and the unaffected cohort included lumbar spinal pathology diagnoses. Patient demographics, incidence of comorbidities and procedure-related complications, and risk factors associated with morbidity and mortality were compared. RESULTS Discharges for 11,207 CES and 689,799 unaffected patients were identified. Differences between cohorts were found for demographic and hospital data. Average comorbidity indices for the CES cohort were found to be increased (0.23 vs. 0.13, P < 0.0001), as well as the incidence of total procedure-related complications (18.63% vs. 13.12%, P < 0.0001). In-hospital mortality rate was significantly increased for the CES cohort (0.30% vs. 0.08%, P < 0.0001). A number of comorbidities associated with additional risk for morbidity and mortality among the CES cohort were identified. CONCLUSION Relative to an unaffected population undergoing similar treatment, patients with CES were more likely to have increased associated comorbidities on presentation, as well as increased complication rates with a prolonged hospital course postoperatively. CES was found to carry an increased incidence of procedure-related complications as well as in-hospital mortality. A number of comorbidities associated with additional risk for morbidity and mortality among the CES cohort were identified. This study provides clinically useful data for surgeons to educate patients at risk for morbidity and mortality as well as direct future research to improve patient outcomes. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 3.
Viral cartographies: Mapping the molecular politics of global HIV

This article uses fieldwork conducted among North American and Ugandan HIV researchers to track the evolution of molecular HIV science in the global context. The recent initiation of programs funding free antiretroviral treatment in sub-Saharan Africa has both forestalled the deaths of millions of patients and brought molecular medicine to the continent on a massive scale. However, in the years leading up to this development, scientists and policymakers engaged in heated debates over whether HIV treatment in Africa could succeed, with many arguing that economic and 'cultural' factors would lead to missed pills and the rapid development of drug-resistant HIV strains. This article describes how the molecular 'maps' upon which knowledge claims about HIV were made (including claims about treatment and drug resistance) are based on HIV strains found primarily in patients in North America and Europe, and raises questions about what this implies for patients and scientists in Africa and other regions in the global South. Borrowing from the insights of critical geographers, I argue that our genetic maps of HIVare partial and contingent and reflect a 'molecular politics' in which the global inequalities of the AIDS epidemic are manifest at the most minute scale, embedded within the very materials and tools scientists use to study HIV. The consequences of this fact are at once clinical, political and epistemological. BioSocieties (2011) 6, 142-166. doi:10.1057/biosoc.2010.37; published online 31 January 2011
In situ microfluidic fabrication of SERS nanostructures for highly sensitive fingerprint microfluidic-SERS sensing

A microfluidic device with integrated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was fabricated via in situ galvanic replacement of a pre-patterned copper substrate in a microfluidic channel. The integrated microfluidic device with AgNPs serves as a highly active Raman substrate which can be applied for in-channel surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Preparation of the SERS active substrate and subsequent SERS experiments are all completed within the microfluidic device allowing for easy integration and application. In conjunction with the high sensitivity, easy fabrication and mobility of the microfluidic device, the developed microfluidic-SERS system provides an excellent sensing platform for sensitive, real-time fingerprint detection of target molecules. Crystal violet is first used as a model compound to demonstrate the effectiveness of the microfluidic-SERS system. Specifically, the in situ fabricated SERS active substrate demonstrates high sensitivity and exhibits an apparent enhancement factor of 2.2 × 107, high robustness and reusability, making it a perfect fit for the real time detection of pesticides. Finally the detection of pesticides and herbicides such as Carbofuran and Alachlor as low as 5 ppb was demonstrated using the as-developed microfluidic-SERS system. This study opens a new avenue to fabricate an integrated microfluidic-SERS sensing system with high performance.
Cloning and characterization of seven novel Dictyostelium discoideum rac-related genes belonging to the rho family of GTPases.

Abstract Cellular processes including proliferation, organization of the actin cytoskeleton, vesicular traffic and secretion of proteins comprising the lysosomal/endosomal system are regulated by low-molecular-weight GTP-binding proteins of the Ras superfamily. However, to date only three Dictyostelium discoideum ras -like genes and two ypt-1/sec4 -like genes have been identified and characterized. We report here the identification (using an oligodeoxyribonucleotide probe) of seven additional cDNAs coding for members highly related to the Rac proteins (Ras-related-C3 botulinum toxin substrate) which belong to the Rho (Ras homologous) family of GTPases. Three of these rac -related genes ( rac1A, rac1B and rac1C ) predict proteins with > 90% amino acid (aa) sequence identity with each other and > 80% identity to the human rac1 gene product, whereas the other members ( racA, racB, racC and racD ) predict proteins with 46–74% identity to the rac1 and rhoA gene products and to each other. The D. discoideum proteins were entirely conserved over the four regions known to be important for GTP binding and all contained the C-terminal CAAX aa motifs shared by other Rho proteins. Interestingly, the D. discoideum rac -related genes revealed unique patterns of expression during growth and development. For instance, the steady-state level of rac1 mRNA, encoded by three highly related genes, increased transiently during aggregation and then rapidly decreased. In contrast, the cellular abundance of mRNAs encoded by the other rac -like genes decreased at different rates and to different levels during development from the peak levels observed during growth. This suggests that the GTP-binding proteins encoded by these genes may play unique roles during the different stages of the D. discoideum life cycle. This study forms the foundation of future investigations to determine the role of these small GTPases in cell proliferation, organization of the actin cytoskeleton, vesicular trafficking during growth and development, and secretion of lysosomal hydrolases.
DECOUPLED, ENERGY STABLE SCHEMES FOR PHASE-FIELD MODELS OF TWO-PHASE INCOMPRESSIBLE FLOWS ∗

In this paper we construct two classes, based on stabilization and convex splitting, of decoupled, unconditionally energy stable schemes for Cahn--Hilliard phase-field models of two-phase incompressible flows. At each time step, these schemes require solving only a sequence of elliptic equations, including a pressure Poisson equation. Furthermore, all of these elliptic equations are linear for the schemes based on stabilization, making them the first, to the best of the authors' knowledge, totally decoupled, linear, unconditionally energy stable schemes for phase-field models of two-phase incompressible flows. Thus, the schemes constructed in this paper are very efficient and easy to implement.
Peer Interaction and Problem Solving: When Are Two Heads Better Than One?.

AZMITIA, MARGARITA. Peer Interaction and Problem Solving: When Are Two Heads Better Than One? CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1988, 59, 87-96. 80 5-year-olds participated in 4 sessions in which they built a replica of a Lego model. During the first session, children's building competence was assessed. Based on their performance, children were classified as either expert or novice builders. Children then participated in 2 sessions in which they built alone or with a partner. There were 3 types of dyads: novice, expert, and mixed ability (expert-novice). Their performance was compared with that of novice and expert singletons. In the final session, children's ability to copy 2 new models was assessed to determine whether they generalized the skills acquired during interaction. Collaboration was more conducive to learning than independent work, and children were able to generalize their skills. However, these conclusions were qualified by the fact that children's expertise and that of their partners, the acquisition of task strategies, the quality of verbal discussion, children's tendency to observe and imitate their partners, and experts' tendency to provide guidance mediated learning.
Linguistic foundations for bidirectional transformations: invited tutorial

Computing is full of situations where two different structures must be "connected" in such a way that updates to each can be propagated to the other. This is a generalization of the classical view update problem, which has been studied for decades in the database community [11, 2, 22]; more recently, related problems have attracted considerable interest in other areas, including programming languages [42, 28, 34, 39, 4, 7, 33, 16, 1, 37, 35, 47, 49] software model transformation [43, 50, 44, 45, 12, 13, 14, 24, 25, 10, 51], user interfaces [38] and system configuration [36]. See [18, 17, 10, 30] for recent surveys.Among the fruits of this cross-pollination has been the development of a linguistic perspective on the problem. Rather than taking some view definition language as fixed (e.g., choosing some subset of relational algebra) and looking for tractable ways of "inverting" view definitions to propagate updates from view to source [9], we can directly design new bidirectional programming languages in which every expression defines a pair of functions mapping updates on one structure to updates on the other. Such structures are often called lenses [18].The foundational theory of lenses has been studied extensively [20, 47, 26, 32, 48, 40, 15, 31, 46, 41, 21, 27], and lens-based language designs have been developed in several domains, including strings [5, 19, 3, 36], trees [18, 28, 39, 35, 29], relations [6], graphs [23], and software models [43, 50, 44, 12, 13, 14, 24, 25, 8]. These languages share some common elements with modern functional languages---in particular, they come with very expressive type systems. In other respects, they are rather novel and surprising.This tutorial surveys recent developments in the theory of lenses and the practice of bidirectional programming languages.
Ultrasonic processing for recovery of chicken erythrocyte hemoglobin

Abstract Hemoglobin from chicken blood has been shown to be a good substitute for synthetic polymeric flocculants. One stage of processing the blood entails lysis of the cells to release the hemoglobin; in the present study, the use of ultrasonic processing at this stage is investigated. Washed chicken blood cells are suspended in buffer and run continuously through a chamber attached to an ultrasonic probe. Calorimetry is used to measure acoustic power input to the liquid. Ultrasonic cell lysis is tested using chamber residence times of 75–300 ms, and the equipment's entire range of power inputs. The hemoglobin release kinetic parameters are determined and it is shown that above a particular level, increasing power input can actually result in a decreased rate constant. Ultrasonic processing can damage proteins, so reduction of hemoglobin's flocculant activity is considered. Using a sensitive assay involving suspensions of kaolin clay, no effect of ultrasonic processing on hemoglobin flocculant activity is detected. Although the conversion of electrical power to acoustic power is inefficient, the electric power required to release greater than 90% of the hemoglobin is shown to be minimal.
Betting on immunotherapy for melanoma

Immunotherapy is an effective treatment option for a small percentage of patients with advanced melanoma or at high risk for recurrence after resection of the primary tumor. However, a long period of unsuccessful immune modulation trials involving new cytokines, antibodies, cancer vaccines, adoptive immunotherapy, and combinations generated doubts that benefit could be extended to a larger group of patients. Renewed optimism for the therapeutic potential of immune therapy is currently driven by key advances in tumor immunobiology, including the potential to manipulate and disrupt immune activation checkpoints and tumor defense mechanisms; newer approaches to antigen presentation for immune activation; refinements to procedures for antigen-specific T-cell expansions in vitro and preparative regimens to support their expansion and activity in vivo; gene transfer to alter lymphocyte specificity and function; and the potential for discovery of improved predictive biomarkers to select patients for individual treatments. Proof of concept is provided by durable remissions observed in patients with advanced melanoma enrolled in clinical trials of anti-CTLA-4 and in new studies of adoptively transferred tumor antigen-specific lymphocytes combined with lymphocyte ablation conditioning regimens. Many agents now being developed are predicted to produce broader, more potent, and more effective antitumor immune responses.