cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Beyond Aztec Castles: Toric Cascades in the dP 3 Quiver

Given one of an infinite class of supersymmetric quiver gauge theories, string theorists can associate a corresponding toric variety (which is a Calabi–Yau 3-fold) as well as an associated combinatorial model known as a brane tiling. In combinatorial language, a brane tiling is a bipartite graph on a torus and its perfect matchings are of interest to both combinatorialists and physicists alike. A cluster algebra may also be associated to such quivers and in this paper we study the generators of this algebra, known as cluster variables, for the quiver associated to the cone over the del Pezzo surface d P 3. In particular, mutation sequences involving mutations exclusively at vertices with two in-coming arrows and two out-going arrows are referred to as toric cascades in the string theory literature. Such toric cascades give rise to interesting discrete integrable systems on the level of cluster variable dynamics. We provide an explicit algebraic formula for all cluster variables that are reachable by toric cascades as well as a combinatorial interpretation involving perfect matchings of subgraphs of the d P 3 brane tiling for these formulas in most cases.
Blurring the Lines: Exploring the Work Spouse Phenomenon:

Human social behavior is largely driven by our innate motivation to develop and maintain interpersonal relationships. In the workplace, employees form various types of relationships to fulfill the ...
Data-Informed Duties in AI Development

Law should help direct—and not merely constrain—the development of artificial intelligence (AI). One path to influence is the development of standards of care both supplemented and informed by rigorous regulatory guidance. Such standards are particularly important given the potential for inaccurate and inappropriate data to contaminate machine learning. Firms relying on faulty data can be required to compensate those harmed by that data use—and should be subject to punitive damages when such use is repeated or willful. Regulatory standards for data collection, analysis, use, and stewardship can inform and complement generalist judges. Such regulation will not only provide guidance to industry to help it avoid preventable accidents. It will also assist a judiciary that is increasingly called upon to develop common law in response to legal disputes arising out of the deployment of AI.
Automated Cardiovascular Pathology Assessment Using Semantic Segmentation and Ensemble Learning

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging provides high spatial resolution, enabling improved extraction of important functional and morphological features for cardiovascular disease staging. Segmentation of ventricular cavities and myocardium in cardiac cine sequencing provides a basis to quantify cardiac measures such as ejection fraction. A method is presented that curtails the expense and observer bias of manual cardiac evaluation by combining semantic segmentation and disease classification into a fully automatic processing pipeline. The initial processing element consists of a robust dilated convolutional neural network architecture for voxel-wise segmentation of the myocardium and ventricular cavities. The resulting comprehensive volumetric feature matrix captures diagnostic clinical procedure data and is utilized by the final processing element to model a cardiac pathology classifier. Our approach evaluated anonymized cardiac images from a training data set of 100 patients (4 pathology groups, 1 healthy group, 20 patients per group) examined at the University Hospital of Dijon. The top average Dice index scores achieved were 0.940, 0.886, and 0.849 for structure segmentation of the left ventricle (LV), myocardium, and right ventricle (RV), respectively. A 5-ary pathology classification accuracy of 90% was recorded on an independent test set using the trained model. Performance results demonstrate the potential for advanced machine learning methods to deliver accurate, efficient, and reproducible cardiac pathological assessment.
Acetonitrile-Hexane Extraction Route to Pure Sulfonium Salts.

A rapid, simple procedure is described for synthesizing trialkyl, dialkylaryl, and alkyldiaryl sulfonium salts that features a selective extraction procedure to access analytically pure sulfonium s...
Intergenerational Effects of Maternal Childhood Experiences on Maternal Parenting and Infant Developmental Progress.

OBJECTIVE This study evaluated the intergenerational indirect effects of maternal childhood experiences on infant progress in reaching developmental milestones through maternal scaffolding behaviors. We hypothesized that mothers who perceived their own mothers as highly supportive in childhood, even in the context of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), would be more likely to engage in scaffolding with their infants, which in turn would predict greater infant developmental progress (e.g., less risk for developmental delay). METHODS Participants included 295 low-income mothers and their infants who were assessed prenatally and at 6 and 12 months postpartum. Mothers retrospectively reported on their childhood experiences, maternal parenting behaviors were observationally rated at 6 months postpartum, and infant developmental progress (communication, problem-solving, gross motor, fine motor, and personal-social) was assessed at 6 and 12 months postpartum using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire. RESULTS The results of autoregressive structural equation models indicated that mothers who perceived their own mothers as highly supportive in childhood were more likely to engage in scaffolding behaviors with their infants, who in turn made greater progress (e.g., showed less risk for developmental delay) in reaching developmental milestones from 6 to 12 months postpartum. Follow-up analyses revealed that indirect effects were specific to infant problem-solving and communication skills. Maternal ACEs were not associated with parenting or infant developmental progress. CONCLUSION Parenting behaviors in 1 generation influence parenting behaviors in the next, which has implications for infant developmental progress. The results may inform evidence-based preventive interventions for mothers and infants living in contexts of risk.
Operators on Riemannian Manifolds: Hodge Laplacian, Laplace-Beltrami Laplacian, the Bochner Laplacian, and Weitzenböck Formulae

The Laplacian is a very important operator because it shows up in many of the equations used in physics to describe natural phenomena such as heat diffusion or wave propagation. Therefore, it is highly desirable to generalize the Laplacian to functions defined on a manifold. Furthermore, in the late 1930s, Georges de Rham (inspired by Elie Cartan) realized that it was fruitful to define a version of the Laplacian operating on differential forms, because of a fundamental and almost miraculous relationship between harmonics forms (those in the kernel of the Laplacian) and the de Rham cohomology groups on a (compact, orientable) smooth manifold. Indeed, as we will see in Section 8.6, for every cohomology group \(H^k_{\mathrm {DR}}(M)\), every cohomology class \([\omega ]\in H^k_{\mathrm {DR}}(M)\) is represented by a unique harmonic k-form ω. The connection between analysis and topology lies deep and has many important consequences. For example, Poincare duality follows as an “easy” consequence of the Hodge theorem.
Active ozone removal technologies for a safe indoor environment: A comprehensive review

Abstract Ozone is a highly reactive gas and one of the critical air pollutants for both indoor and outdoor environments. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) determined that the permissible level of ozone is 100 ppb—for 8-h exposure at workplaces. Therefore, using an ozone removal technology can be crucial when outdoor ozone concentration is high and where active ozone emission sources exist. Activated carbon-based filters, catalytic decomposition, and photocatalytic decomposition are air treatment technologies that have been used for ozone removal. The catalytic decomposition approach showed higher efficiency and higher durability with no generation of considerable by-products, particularly manganese oxide (MnOx) based catalysts, which can decompose ozone to oxygen at room temperature. The low cost, as well as high catalytic activity, are among the advantages of MnOx-based catalysts. High specific surface area, high density of oxygen vacancy, high reducibility, and low average oxidation state are desirable properties of the catalyst for ozone decomposition. Despite their excellent performance, their loss of activity in humid conditions challenges their widespread applications. This review presents the recent studies on ozone decomposition technologies, particularly MnOx-based catalysts performance and modification techniques used to improve their performance, and potential future research directions in this field.
79 Activity of chemotherapy in recurrent uterine serous carcinoma

Background Uterine serous carcinoma (USC) carries a poor prognosis and the majority of patients develop recurrence. The study objective was to compare efficacy of chemotherapy regimens in recurrent USC. Methods A retrospective review of patients with USC treated at our institution from 1993 to 2012 was performed. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) was estimated using methods of Kaplan and Meier and modeled via Cox proportional hazards regression. RFS1 was calculated from date of first recurrence to second recurrence. Platinum-sensitivity was defined as recurrence >6 months after platinum-based therapy. Those never exposed to chemotherapy during adjuvant therapy were included in the platinum-sensitive cohort. Results Of 313 patients, 147 (47%) had recurrence. Median age was 64 years; 65% were stage III/IV. Median follow up was 39.3 months. Median RFS1 was 5.5 months (95% CI 0.7 – 31.4). 115 patients (78%) received chemotherapy alone. Objective response was highest in the platinum-sensitive compared with the platinum-resistant cohort ((21/84; 25%) vs. (4/35; 11%)). In platinum-sensitive disease treated with chemotherapy, platinum-based had higher response compared to non-platinum-based regimens (18/44(41%) vs 3/41(7%) p=0.029). Response in platinum-resistant tumors to platinum-based regimens was 37%(3/8). 86% of patients with platinum-resistance had progressive disease regardless of chemotherapy. 86 patients (27%) had a second recurrence, 47(55%) were platinum-sensitive and 36(77%) were treated with chemotherapy. Response to chemotherapy was 5% in those with a second recurrence. Conclusion In patients with recurrent USC deemed platinum-sensitive at first recurrence, platinum-based regimens may be associated with improved response. Platinum-resistant tumors do not appear to have an optimal second-line chemotherapy regimen.
Revisiting "Qualitatively Characterizing Neural Network Optimization Problems"

We revisit and extend the experiments of Goodfellow et al. (2014), who showed that - for then state-of-the-art networks - "the objective function has a simple, approximately convex shape" along the linear path between initialization and the trained weights. We do not find this to be the case for modern networks on CIFAR-10 and ImageNet. Instead, although loss is roughly monotonically non-increasing along this path, it remains high until close to the optimum. In addition, training quickly becomes linearly separated from the optimum by loss barriers. We conclude that, although Goodfellow et al.'s findings describe the "relatively easy to optimize" MNIST setting, behavior is qualitatively different in modern settings.
Finite-time control of multiagent networks as systems with time transformation and separation principle

Abstract In this paper, we study finite-time control of multiagent networks as systems, where they involve floating agents that exchange local information and driver agents that not only exchange local information but also take input and output roles. For this class of multiagent networks, control algorithms are applied to the driver agents based on the measurements collected from them for the purpose of influencing the overall behavior of the resulting system. Specifically, we consider time-critical applications in the control of multiagent networks as systems and propose a finite-time control approach predicated on a recent time transformation method. The proposed method guarantees execution of control algorithms over a prescribed time interval [ 0 , T ) with T being a user-defined convergence time based on analysis performed over a stretched, infinite-time interval [ 0 , ∞ ) . We analytically show that the resulting system achieves user-defined finite-time convergence regardless of the initial conditions of agents, where we also discuss the separation principle obtained with the proposed method. The presented theoretical contributions are not only illustrated by numerical examples but also experimentally validated using ground mobile robots.
Nafcillin-Induced Hepatic Injury: A Case Report and Literature Review

Background Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is the most common cause of acute liver failure in the Western world. While it requires a diagnosis of exclusion, it is exceedingly prevalent in patients taking multiple hepatotoxic agents, the foremost of which are antibiotics, followed by herbal and dietary supplements. Below we will discuss a case of nafcillin-induced liver injury suggested by a thorough work-up and rule-out of other hepatic and biliary pathologies. Case presentation We report the case of a 66-year-old white male who presented with painless jaundice. Clinical, laboratory and radiographic features demonstrated a cholestatic pattern of liver injury without significant abnormalities in the biliary tract. All workup for viral hepatitis and autoimmune diseases with liver involvement was negative. Liver biopsy showed acute necro-inflammatory changes suggestive of drug-induced liver injury. The patient had received 18 days of IV nafcillin for blood culture positive methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) four weeks prior to his presentation. He showed clinical and laboratory improvement of his liver functions with supportive care only. Conclusion Nafcillin is a safe and effective antibiotic for the treatment of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcal infections. However, physicians and prescribing healthcare professionals should be aware of the rare, but serious side effects, especially one of drug-induced liver injury with emphasis on the need for early cessation of nafcillin if liver function abnormalities develop.
Evaluation of “Toolkit” consisting of handheld and portable analytical devices for detecting active pharmaceutical ingredients in drug products collected during a simultaneous nation-wide mail blitz

A "toolkit" consisting of a handheld Raman spectrometer equipped with a 1064 nm laser, a portable Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer and a portable direct analysis in real-time mass spectrometer (DART-MS) was employed in a laboratory setting to examine 82 representative products collected during a nationwide mail blitz for the presence of APIs. These results were compared to those obtained using laboratory-based methods; 8 of the products were not found to contain APIs and 74 of the products were found to contain a total of 88 APIs (65 of the 88 APIs were unique). The individual performance of each device and combined performance of the three-device toolkit were evaluated with regard to true positives, true negatives, false positives and false negatives. Using this toolkit, 81 (92.0 %) of the APIs were detected by at least one technique and 47 (64.8 %) of the APIs were detected by at least two techniques. Seven false negatives (8.0 %) were encountered and while the toolkit yielded 12 false positives, no false positives were detected by more than one technique. Overall, this study demonstrated that when the toolkit detects an API using two or more devices, the results are as reliable as those generated by a full-service laboratory.
Two-Stage Learning of a Systemic Risk Factor

Motivated by multi-dimensional sources of systemic risk in the economy and the low frequency nature of the observed empirical proxies for some of these, we propose a two-stage learning procedure to construct one better high-frequency (i.e., daily) systemic risk factor. In the first stage, we use a Kalman-Filtering approach to synthesize the information about systemic risk contained in 19 different monthly proxies for systemic risk and produce one better monthly Bayesian risk factor. The low frequency (i.e., monthly) Bayesian factor can be used to predict the cross-section of stock returns out of sample. In particular, a strategy that goes long the quintile portfolio with the highest exposure to the Bayesian factor and short the quintile portfolio with the lowest exposure to the Bayesian factor yields a Fama-French-Carhart alpha of 1.7% per month (20.4% annualized). This provides a new empirical evidence to support three mainstream models: the ICAPM, the Intermediary Asset Pricing Model, and the Disaster Risk Model. On top of the first stage, the second stage is to impute the monthly Bayesian factor and achieve our final goal of generating a high-frequency risk factor. We use the Natural Language Process technique Word Embedding to read the headlines and abstracts of all daily financial articles from the New York Times and aggregate all daily semantic and syntactic information into one 100-dimension word vector. This daily 100-dimension word vector is then used as a regressor to mimic and track the monthly Bayesian factor. The mimicking regression could then produce daily mimicking values of the monthly risk factor, which become our daily systemic risk factor. This daily text mimicking risk factor is validated in several ways including by showing how well it captures the 2008 crisis. We also find that the text mimicking risk factor is priced in the cross-section of stock returns at the daily level and can predict large swings in the VIX using a quantile regression approach, which sheds some light on the puzzling relation between the macro-economy and stock market volatility.
Analysis of Fomepizole Elimination in Methanol- and Ethylene Glycol-Poisoned Patients.

Fomepizole is an anti-metabolite therapy that is used to diminish the toxicity from methanol or ethylene glycol. Although its elimination kinetics have been well described in healthy human subjects, the elimination in poisoned patients have only been described in a few isolated cases. This study was designed to relate the elimination of fomepizole in a series of poisoned patients to that in healthy humans. Plasma samples from 26 patients in the clinical trials of the use of fomepizole for methanol and ethylene glycol poisoning were analyzed for fomepizole concentrations. The elimination of fomepizole was assessed after individual doses, both during and without intermittent hemodialysis. In methanol- and ethylene glycol-poisoned patients, fomepizole had a volume of distribution of 0.66–0.68 L/kg. After repeated doses of fomepizole, the minimum trough concentration averaged 86–109 µmol/L, which is 10 times higher than the minimum therapeutic concentration. In healthy human subjects, fomepizole elimination follows Michaelis–Menten kinetics and has been calculated as zero-order elimination rates. Zero-order elimination rates averaged 13 and 17 μmol/L/h in methanol and ethylene glycol patients, respectively, compared to 6–19 μmol/L/h in healthy subjects. Elimination during intermittent hemodialysis followed first-order kinetics, with a half-life of 3 h. Plasma concentrations during the repeated dosing confirmed that the recommended dosing schedule, with and without intermittent hemodialysis, maintained therapeutic concentrations throughout the treatments. Fomepizole elimination in poisoned patients at therapeutic plasma concentrations appears be similar to that reported previously in healthy human subjects.
Thermal aging of graphite/polyimide composites

Celion 6000/PMR-15, Celion 6000/LARC-160, and Celion 6000/RK-99 graphite/polyimides were aged in circulating air ovens at temperatures of 202, 232, 260, and 288 C for various times, up to 15,000 h. Three unidirectional specimens were studied: short-beam-shear (SBS), flexure, and 153-mm square panels. The interior region of the square panels exhibited little or no property degradation. Based on the individually aged SBS specimen results, the relative thermal-oxidative stability from highest to lowest is as follows: PMR-15, LARC-160, RK-99, Celion 6000/PMR-15 and Celion 6000/LARC-160 laminates retained at least 80 percent of their initial flexural strengths for the duration of aging at each temperature. Celion 6000/RK-99 laminates exhibited a 20 to 50 percent loss of flexural strength at all aging temperatures. All three graphite/polyimide laminate materials degraded preferentially at the specimen edge perpendicular to the fibers.
Magnetic Launch Assist

With the ever-increasing cost of getting to space and the need for safe, reliable, and inexpensive ways to access space, NASA is taking a look at technologies that will get us there. One of these technologies is Magnetic Launch Assist (MagLev). This is the concept of using both magnetic levitation and magnetic propulsion to provide an initial velocity by using electrical power from ground sources. The use of ground based power can significantly reduce operational costs over the consumables necessary to attain the same velocity. The technologies to accomplish this are both old and new. The concept of MagLev has been around for a long time and several MagLev Trains have already been made. Where NASA's MagLev diverges from the traditional train is in the immense power required to propel this vehicle to 600 feet per second in less than 10 seconds. New technologies or the upgrade of existing technologies will need to be investigated in areas of energy storage and power switching. Plus the separation of a very large mass (the space vehicle) and the aerodynamics of that vehicle while on the carrier are also of great concern and require considerable study and testing. NASA's plan is to mature these technologies in the next 10 years to achieve our goal of launching a full sized space vehicle off a MagLev rail.
Constitutionalizing Women's Equality

The U.S. Constitution is the only major written constitution that includes a bill of rights but lacks a provision explicitly declaring the equality of the sexes. Since 1946 the French Constitution has provided that "[t]he law guarantees to the woman, in all spheres, rights equal to those of the man."'1 Article 3 of the German Constitution declares that "[m]en and women have equal rights," and that "[n]obody shall be prejudiced or favored because of their sex ... ."2 The Constitution of India provides that "the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of... sex... ."3 Among newer constitutions, Canada's states that "[e]very individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination based on ... sex.. . ."4 South Africa's provides that neither the state nor any person may "unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on... grounds including... gender, sex, pregnancy, [or] marital status . ...." In contrast, the U.S. Constitution, in its original text, never referred to women at all. The only known use of the pronoun "she" in the framing deliberations concerned a later-rejected clause that would have referred to the
A new approach to broadband SAW diffraction theory

The authors describe an innovative technique for determining a two-dimensional impulse response diffraction model for a SAW (surface acoustic wave) device from the wave equation using an impulse driver. The approach presented is unique in that it determines the point-to-point impulse response for the isotropic case using the basic wave equation of motion, and utilizes a double integral reduction technique to determine the tap-to-tap response. This takes into account diffraction effects, and provides an impulse response which is valid for the broadband case. Results of the analysis are presented for both the isotropic and anisotropic case. >
Estimating arterial properties from Doppler signals in mice

Mice are the animal of choice for genetic manipulations many of which affect the peripheral vascular system either directly or indirectly via compensatory responses. Traditional pressure and flow methods for assessing vascular function are invasive and difficult to apply to mice so we have been developing several noninvasive techniques using Doppler ultrasound to evaluate the peripheral vasculature in mice. Velocity signals can be obtained from most major peripheral arteries for evaluation of pulsatility and resistance indices, pulse wave velocity can be measured in the aorta and carotid arteries, and the simplified Bernoulli equation can be used to estimate the pressure drop across an aortic stenosis. By measuring velocity simultaneously at two closely spaced sites along an artery, a volume waveform can be generated directly, forward and backward waves can be computed, and pulse pressure can be estimated. Characteristic impedance can be calculated from pulse wave velocity and impedance spectra and reflection coefficients can be calculated. Thus, many of the basic characteristics of the cardiovascular system can be assessed noninvasively in mice using Doppler ultrasound.
Bank Shots: Dude Perfect, Corporatization, and Sporting [Hyper‐]Reality

This article investigates the paradoxes of communicative liberalization. We explore the ways in which something as seemingly banal as backyard basketball—by being incorporated into the realm of Internet communication—is at once “opened up” to the media consuming public and yet invariably constrained by the corporate and spectacularizing technologies that have come to define the era of free market communication. Drawing upon an extensive case analysis of the “trick shot” enterprise known as Dude Perfect, we illustrate how even the most homespun forms of mediation are thrust into the imperatives of neoliberal accumulation whereby the “homemade” cyber-spatial media-sport production becomes aligned with, if not overdetermined by, the processes of corporatization, spectacularization, and marketization.
A Review of: Remembering the AIDS Quilt, edited by Charles E. Morris III: East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2011. lxix +313 pp. $59.95 (hardcover).

Featuring ten innovative essays by leading scholars of memory and sexuality, Charles E. Morris III's Remembering the AIDS Quilt grapples with one of the world's most challenging and ubiquitous publ...
Large-parameter limits of conformal blocks1

Conformally invariant quantum field theories can be “bootstrapped” because they can be defined without reference to a Lagrangian or a Hamiltonian. When they are instead defined in terms of spins an...
IgG4-related disease and the kidney

IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a systemic fibroinflammatory condition that involves almost every organ system. In this Review, we summarize current knowledge of IgG4-RD and its most frequent manifestations in the kidney—IgG4-related tubulointerstitial nephritis (TIN) and membranous glomerulonephropathy (MGN). Diagnosis of IgG4-RD relies on histopathology: the typical features are a dense lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate and storiform fibrosis. A high percentage of plasma cells observed within lesions stain positively for IgG4. IgG4-related TIN bears the hallmark pathological findings of IgG4-RD; distinctive radiographic characteristics are also frequently observed with use of contrast-enhanced CT. MGN secondary to IgG4-RD seems to be distinct from idiopathic MGN. Humoral and cell-mediated immunity seem to have roles in the pathophysiology of IgG4-RD, but the details of these roles remain unclear. The IgG4 molecule itself is unlikely to be the primary driver of inflammation; rather, it probably downregulates the immune response. Fibrosis might be caused by activation of innate immune cells by polarized CD4(+) T cells. Glucocorticoids are the standard initial treatment for IgG4-RD, but their long-term adverse effects and the high frequency of relapse and renal damage associated with use of this treatment has prompted a search for more effective options. B-cell depletion and the targeting of plasmablasts are both promising approaches.
Esophagectomy: Right Thoracotomy and Laparotomy

This chapter describes open surgery through the right chest to gain access to the upper esophagus with resection of associated lymphatic tissue. The stomach is fully mobilized during the abdominal phase of the operation. With care to preserve the arterial supply and venous drainage, the stomach can be extended as far as the cervical esophagus.
Immunology of the Antiphospholipid Syndrome: Antibodies, Antigens, and Autoimmune Response

Introduction: The antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is an autoimmune condition in which a group of autoantibodies are thought to play a direct role in the pathogenesis of thrombosis, fetal loss, and other clinical manifestations. This review will focus on the nature of these autoantibodies, the antigens they recognize, and mechanisms that may contribute to autoimmunity and the production of autoantibodies in patients with APS.
The application of religious law in North American courts: a case study of_mutʿa marriages

The tradition of marriage has long been a fundamental aspect of religious societies. As with most religious traditions, Islam has texts, found in the Qurʾan and Sunna, that govern this contractual relationship in some detail. Various schools of thought within the Shiʿi tradition differ from Sunni traditions with regard to the contractual relationship of mutʿa, or temporary, marriages. There is much controversy over the use of mutʿa marriage contracts in North America, and scholars, both Sunni and Shiʿi, are unable to agree on the legality and terms of this unique relationship. Within the last few years, Western courts have grappled with the complex interpretation of Islamic law in the context of these mutʿa marriages. This comparative study examines the legal requirements for marriage in Islam as well as the legal requirements for mutʿa within Shiʿi traditions. The article compares the two concepts based on their religious mandates, discussing advantages and disadvantages of both permanent and temporary m...
Chemical Modification of the N-10 Ribityl Side Chain of Flavins EFFECTS ON PROPERTIES OF FLAVOPROTEIN DISULFIDE OXIDOREDUCTASES

Three flavin derivatives modified at the 2′-position of the flavin N-10 ribityl side chain were synthesized: arabinoflavin, 2′-F-2′-deoxyarabinoflavin, and 2′-deoxyriboflavin. These were converted to the FAD level with FAD synthetase. Apoproteins of lipoamide dehydrogenase, glutathione reductase, and mercuric reductase, a family of flavoprotein oxidoreductases, were reconstituted with these flavins. Significant reduction of the catalytic activities was observed with the modified enzymes. During anaerobic reduction of the modified enzymes with substrate or dithiothreitol, decreased thermodynamic stability of the two-electron reduced enzyme forms (EH2) and the accumulation of the four-electron reduced forms (EH4) noted. This effect was more pronounced in case of arabino-FAD-reconstituted enzymes than with the other two. It was found that NAD+ binding influences the interaction between the flavin and the reduced disulfide in the 2′-F-arabino-FAD-lipoamide dehydrogenase, presumably by altering the relative oxidation-reduction potentials. 19F NMR data were obtained for different forms of the 2′-F-arabino-FAD-lipoamide dehydrogenase, which suggest marked conformational changes from one form to the other. The 19F NMR data for the oxidized forms of all three 2′-F-arabino-FAD proteins suggest that the fluorine experiences very similar chemical environments at the active sites.
Production of Quellung antisera in chickens.

Summary and conclusions1. Antisera satisfactory in the Quellung reaction were prepared for K. pneumoniae types A and B by injection of adult chickens with formalinized suspensions of the encapsulated bacilli. As few as 4 injections at weekly intervals were sufficient for this purpose.2. Effective antiserum was similarly prepared for H. influenzae type B. Capsular swelling was readily demonstrable with sera collected from chickens after 3 or 4 weekly injections of living organisms from young cultures, while sera from rabbits undergoing the same immunization schedule were distinctly inferior at this stage.3. Chickens are very useful for the production of Quellung antisera, with particular advantages where Gram-negative bacteria are concerned.The assistance of Mrs. Frances Fuller during the early part of the work is appreciated.
Altering Functional Properties of Fats Using Power Ultrasound

Ultrasound has been used for the last 50 y in different processing applications. Depending on the power and frequency of the sound waves, ultrasound techniques can be classified in different categories. Low-intensity ultrasound uses high frequencies in the range of 100 kHz to 10 MHz and is mostly used for therapeutic purpose (frequencies between 1 and 10 MHz) and to passively monitor the characteristics of materials (frequencies between 100 kHz and 10 MHz). High-intensity ultrasound (HIU), on the other hand, uses lower frequencies in the range of 20 to 100 kHz and it is commonly used for cleaning, disrupting, and restructuring materials. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of HIU on functional properties of anhydrous milk fat (AMF), palm kernel oil (PKO), and an all-purpose shortening (Sh). Results from this research shows that HIU induced primary and secondary nucleation in the lipid, generating smaller crystals and as a consequence harder materials. HIU affected hardness more efficiently when applied at higher crystallization temperatures (26 and 28 degrees C) as shown for AMF data, and when the sonication was applied after the first crystals were formed as observed for PKO and Sh systems. In addition to changes in hardness, AMF and Sh networks obtained after sonication were characterized by a steeper and sharper melting profile. This research shows that HIU can be used as an additional processing tool to tailor the functional properties of lipids with the potential to be used in the processing of trans-free shortenings.
Changes in radiobiological parameters in 131Cs permanent prostate implants

In prostate permanent implants using 131Cs seeds, the prostatic edema developed during the implantation procedure, increases the separation between the seeds. This leads to a decrease in the prostate coverage and thus causes an edema induced dose reduction, which results in an increase in tumour cell surviving fraction (SF) with a corresponding decrease in tumour control probability (TCP). To investigate the impact of edema on the SF and the TCP, the expression of the SF of the linear quadratic (LQ) model was extended to account for the effects of edema using the exponential nature of edema resolution and the dose delivered to the edematous prostate. The SF and the TCP for edematous prostate implants were calculated for 31 patients who underwent real time 131Cs permanent seed implantation. The dose delivered to the edematous prostate was calculated to compute the SF and the TCP for these patients for edema half lives (EHL) ranging from 4 days to 34 days and for edemas of magnitudes (M0) varying from 5 to 60% of the actual prostate volume.A reduction in the dose delivered to the edematous prostate was found with the increase of EHL and edema magnitude which results in an increase of the SF, and corresponding decrease in the TCP. The dose reductions in 131Cs implants varied from 1.1% (for EHL = 4 days and M0 = 5%) to 32.3% (for EHL = 34 days and M0 = 60%). These are higher than the dose reduction in 125I implants, which vary from 0.3% (for EHL = 4 days and M0 = 5%) to 17.5% (for EHL = 34 days and M0 = 60%). As edema half life increased from 4 days to 34 days and edema magnitude increased from 5 to 60% the SF increased by 4.57 log, and the TCP decreased by 0.80. Compensation of edema induced increase in the SF and decrease in the TCP in 131Cs seed implants should be carefully done by redefining seed positions with the guidance of post-needle plans. The presented model in this study can be used to estimate the SF or the TCP for pre plan or real time permanent prostate implants using day 0 post-implant CT images.
Research with multi-charged ions using synchrotron radiation and ion traps

Abstract The experimental study of the photoionization of ions is now a realistic possibility using synchrotron radiation sources, existing and planned. Ion storage provides a localized target of singly or multiply charged ions for such research. Theoretical studies and applications in astrophysical and terrestrial plasmas provide a motivation. Some basic properties of ion traps relevant to the measurements are reviewed, and estimates of obtainable signals for K-shell photoionization of ions using the parameters of planned synchrotron insertion devices are presented. The current status of ion storage measurements on multicharged ions produced by photoionization using synchrotron bending magnet radiation is also described.
Solvent Effect on Organogel Formation by Low Molecular Weight Molecules

Solvent−gelator interactions play a key role in mediating organogel formation and ultimately determine the properties of the gel. The effect of solvent on organogel formation was investigated in selected ester, ketone, and alcoholic solvents using unique symmetrical trehalose diesters as gelators. In solvents of the same class the gelation number (defined as the ratio of solvent molecules that gel per gelator molecule) decreased for trehalose 6,6‘-diacetate and 6,6‘-dibutyrate as the solvent Hildebrand solubility parameter increased. The opposite was observed for trehalose 6,6‘-didecanoate and 6,6‘-dimyristate. In general, the gelation numbers for all the gelators studied decreased in the order of esters > ketones > alcohols. Alcohols, which are capable of hydrogen bonding and can make substantial contribution to the total solvent−gelator interaction, significantly compromise gel formation. Optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy revealed that for systems with high gelation numbers, such as tr...
Comparison between chicken and guinea pig thyroid with respect to the incorporation of 131I in vitro

Abstract Phenol red inhibits the 131 I uptake by chick thyroids during in vitro incubation. Chick thyroids take up more 131 I during in vitro incubation after Tapazole pretreatment, whereas guinea pig thyroids, which take up less 131 I, are not affected by Tapazole pretreatment. Chick thyroids incorporate a higher proportion of 131 I into organic fractions than do guinea pig thyroids. A possible explanation for this effect is discussed. During in vitro incubation chick thyroids form thyroxine plus triiodothyronine and/or diiodothyronine.
In vitro metabolism of ovarian steroids by bovine whole blood and plasma

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of time and temperature on the potential of bovine whole blood (WB) or plasma (PL) to metabolize the ovarian steroids progesterone, estradiol-17β and testosterone. During a radioimmunoassay study (Experiment 1), we observed a temperature and time-dependent reduction (P<0.001) of plasma progesterone concentrations in samples incubated as WB at 5, 15, 25, or 35C for up to 48 hr. Most notable was the observation that 27% of progesterone present in controls was lost when WB was incubated at 5C for 48 hr and a 17% reduction was observed when PL samples were incubated at 35C for 48 hr. Immunoreactive estradiol-17β concentrations (Experiment 2) in PL and WB incubates were not affected by time or temperature. However, immunoreactive testosterone concentrations increased more than 3-fold by 48 hr in WB incubates held at 35C. To examine the latter observation further, 3H-progesteone was incubated with WB at 35C, followed by extraction and thin-layer chromatography (Experiment 3). Results generally supported RIA findings and revealed the presence of significant 17α-hydroxylase, 17–20 lyase and aromatase activity. Heretofore this has not been considered to occur outside major steroid metabolizing organs.
Microelectrophoresis of Biogenic Amines on Hypothalamic Thermosensitive Cells

The rat hypothalamus contains thermally insensitive, normally sensisitive, and highly thermosensitive cells. The responses of thermosensitive neurons to microelectrophoretically applied acetylcholine, norepinephrine, and 5-hydroxy-tryptamine were the same in both rats and cats. The firing rate of warm-sensitive interneurons was accelerated by acetylcholine and inhibited by norepinephrine. The firing rate of cool-sensitive interneurons was accelerated by norepinephrine and, in one case, was inhibited by 5-hydroxytryptamine. Thermodetector cells were relatively insensitive to these amines, but were sensitive to current flow. These results from the rat, but not from the cat, agree with the data for thermoregulatory responses following microinjection of these amines into the hypothalamus.
Evaluation of Nitrogen Doping of Tungsten Oxide for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

Thin films of tungsten oxide were fabricated by reactive RF magnetron sputtering for applications related to the direct solar splitting of water. To investigate band gap reduction by nitrogen doping, films were deposited with nitrogen introduced into the sputtering ambient at partial pressures in the range of 0−6 mTorr N2. For dilute doping (pN2 3 mTorr), the diffraction pattern shows the evolution of a new phase that shows an increase in scattering power relative to the pure WO3. For these samples, a reduction of the optical band gap to <2.0 eV is measured. However, the photocurrent density under AM1.5G illumination showed a degradation from 2.68 mA/cm2 for pure WO3 to 0.67 mA/cm2 for the nitrogen doped sample (6 mTorr). The poor photocurrent fo...
Minimizing instrumentation requirement for estimating crop water stress index and transpiration of maize

Research was conducted in northern Colorado in 2011 to estimate the crop water stress index (CWSI) and actual transpiration (Ta) of maize under a range of irriga- tion regimes. The main goal was to obtain these parameters with minimum instrumentation and measurements. The results confirmed that empirical baselines required for CWSI calculation are transferable within regions with similar climatic conditions, eliminating the need to develop them for each irrigation scheme. This means that maize CWSI can be determined using only two instruments: an infrared thermometer and an air temperature/relative humidity sensor. Reference evapotranspiration data obtained from a modified atmometer were similar to those estimated at a standard weather station, suggesting that maize Ta can be calculated based on CWSI and by adding one additional instrument: a modified atmometer. Esti- mated CWSI during four hourly periods centered on solar noon was largest during the 2 h after solar noon. Hence, this time window is recommended for once-a-day data acquisition if the goal is to capture maximum stress level. Maize Ta based on CWSI during the first hourly period (10:00-11:00) was closest to Ta estimates from a widely used crop coefficient model. Thus, this time window is recommended if the goal is to monitor maize water use. Average CWSI over the 2 h after solar noon and during the study period (early August to late September, 2011) was 0.19, 0.57, and 0.20 for plots under full, low-frequency deficit, and high-frequency deficit irrigation regimes, respectively. During the same period (50 days), total maize Ta based on the 10:00-11:00 CWSI was 218, 141, and 208 mm for the same treatments, respectively. These val- ues were within 3 % of the results of the crop coefficient approach.
Silicon/epoxy nanocomposites for capacitors as the energy storage element

Silicon/epoxy nanocomposites were synthesized in order to investigate potential improvement of electrical energy storage capability and mechanical properties of epoxy resin on addition of Si nanospheres. Nanospheres with mean diameter 130 nm were homogenized within epoxy monomers at 5 and 10 wt.%. The dielectric behavior of the resulting nanocomposites was investigated using broadband dielectric spectroscopy from 10-2 to 106 Hz at room temperature. The dielectric constant, e'r, of the composite with 10 wt.% Si loading is ~ 5.1 at 10-2 Hz, a 25% increase compared with the value for neat epoxy, whereas tan o remains low (<; 0.035). On the other hand, a 17% increase of storage modulus was shown in the composite with 5 wt.% Si loading, compared with that of neat epoxy, and Tg of the polymer matrix was slightly elevated with Si incorporation. The increases in both permittivity and storage modulus suggest that Si/epoxy nanocomposites are suitable for multifunctional application; e.g. as structural capacitors.
Tetra-μ-chloro-1:2κ4Cl;1 :3κ4Cl-bis(4,4'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridine)2κ2N, 3κ2N-lithium(I)dipalladium(II) tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)borate dichloromethane 1.196-solvate

In the crystal structure of the title compound, [LiPd(2)Cl(4)(C(12)H(12)N(2))(2)](C(24)F(20)B).1.196CD(2)Cl(2) or [[(Me(2)bipy)PdCl(2)](2)(micro-Li)](+).B(C(6)F(5))(4)(-).1.196CD(2)Cl(2) (Me(2)bipy is 4,4'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridine), an Li(+) cation is stabilized by complexation with two (Me(2)bipy)PdCl(2) units through weak Li-Cl interactions. This compound is thus a rare example of a complex that exhibits an arrested Cl(-) abstraction.
Energy Conservation and Second Law Efficiency

The second law efficiency addresses the quality of energy. There are discussions in literature that focus on second law efficiency. This paper contains development of second law efficiency, for processes and cycles, based on fundamental thermodynamic concepts which are familiar to practicing engineers. 6 refs.
Grouping individual independent BOLD effects - A new way to ICA group analysis

A new group analysis method to summarize the task-related BOLD responses based on independent component analysis (ICA) was presented. As opposite to the previously proposed group ICA (gICA) method, which first combined multi-subject fMRI data in either temporal or spatial domain and applied ICA decomposition only once to the combined fMRI data to extract the task-related BOLD effects, the method presented here applied ICA decomposition to the individual subjects' fMRI data to first find the independent BOLD effects specifically for each individual subject. Then, the task-related independent BOLD component was selected among the resulting independent components from the single-subject ICA decomposition and hence grouped across subjects to derive the group inference. In this new ICA group analysis (ICAga) method, one does not need to assume that the task-related BOLD time courses are identical across brain areas and subjects as used in the grand ICA decomposition on the spatially concatenated fMRI data. Neither does one need to assume that after spatial normalization, the voxels at the same coordinates represent exactly the same functional or structural brain anatomies across different subjects. These two assumptions have been problematic given the recent BOLD activation evidences. Further, since the independent BOLD effects were obtained from each individual subject, the ICAga method can better account for the individual differences in the task-related BOLD effects. Unlike the gICA approach whereby the task-related BOLD effects could only be accounted for by a single unified BOLD model across multiple subjects. As a result, the newly proposed method, ICAga, was able to better fit the task-related BOLD effects at individual level and thus allow grouping more appropriate multisubject BOLD effects in the group analysis.
Thyroid nodule mimicking cervical adenopathy on FDG positron emission tomographic imaging.

A 41-year-old man with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma had an F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) scan. The scan revealed abnormal superior mediastinal nodes and focal uptake in the medial inferior right neck initially thought to represent an abnormal cervical node. However, the patient had a computed tomographic scan that showed that the neck activity was a posterior right thyroid nodule. Thyroid nodules can mimic cervical adenopathy and should be considered when the activity appears to be located medially.