cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
β-Catenin/Tcf-regulated transcription prior to the midblastula transition

Following fertilization, the zygotic genome in many organisms is quiescent until the midblastula transition (MBT), when large-scale transcription begins. In Xenopus embryos, for example, transcription is believed to be repressed until the twelfth cell division. Thus, although dorsal-ventral patterning begins during the first cell cycle, little attention has been given to transcriptional regulation in pre-MBT development. We present evidence that regulated transcription begins during early cleavage stages and that the β -catenin—Tcf complex is required for the transcription of the Xenopus nodal genes Xnr5 and Xnr6 as early as the 256-cell stage. Moreover, inhibition of β-catenin/Tcf function can block dorsal development, but only if the inhibition begins early and is maintained throughout pre-MBT stages. Dorsal development can be rescued in ventralized embryos if Tcf-dependent transcription is activated prior to MBT, but activation of Tcf after MBT cannot rescue ventralized embryos, suggesting that β -catenin/Tcf-dependent transcription is required prior to MBT for dorsal-ventral patterning in Xenopus.
Demosaicing using optimal recovery

Color images in single-chip digital cameras are obtained by interpolating mosaiced color samples. These samples are encoded in a single-chip charge-coupled device by sampling the light after it passes through a color filter array (CFA) that contains different color filters (i.e., red, green, and blue) placed in some pattern. The resulting sparsely sampled images of the three-color planes are interpolated to obtain the complete color image. Interpolation usually introduces color artifacts due to the phase-shifted, aliased signals introduced by the sparse sampling of the CFAs. This paper introduces a nonlinear interpolation scheme based on edge information that produces high-quality visual results. The new method is especially good at reconstructing the image around edges, a place where the visual human system is most sensitive.
Role of dendritic cells in enhancement of herpes simplex virus type 1 latency and reactivation in vaccinated mice

Ocular infection with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) frequently leads to recurrent infection, which is a major cause of corneal scarring. Thus, the prevention of the establishment of latency should be a primary goal of vaccination against HSV-1. To this end, we have examined the contribution of dendritic cells (DCs) to the efficacy of a vaccine against ocular HSV-1 infection. Transgenic mice (expressing a CD11c-diphtheria toxin receptor-green fluorescent protein construct) with a BALB/c background were immunized with a vaccine consisting of DNA that encodes five HSV-1 glycoproteins or were immunized with vector control DNA. The vaccinated mice were then depleted of their DCs through the injection of diphtheria toxin before and after ocular challenge with HSV-1. Analyses of HSV-1 replication in the eye, blepharitis, corneal scarring, and the survival of the infected mice upon primary infection indicated that DC depletion neither promoted nor compromised the efficacy of the vaccine. In contrast, DC depletion was associated with an approximately fivefold reduction in the level of latent virus in the trigeminal ganglia (TGs) of latently infected mice, as well as a significant reduction in the reactivation rate of latent virus. The possibility that DCs enhance the latency of HSV-1 in the TGs of ocularly infected mice suggests for the first time that DCs, rather than acting as “immune saviors,” can exacerbate disease and compromise vaccine efficacy by enhancing viral latency and reactivation.
Fatigue: an overlooked determinant of physical function in scleroderma

Objectives. To examine the frequency and correlates of fatigue and its impact on physical and social functioning in patients with scleroderma, and to investigate whether fatigue mediates an association between pain and physical function. Methods. One hundred and seven scleroderma patients attending an academic scleroderma specialty centre completed measures of fatigue, sleep, pain, depressive symptoms, and physical and social functioning. Patients had received a comprehensive clinical assessment with a diagnosis of limited or diffuse scleroderma from their attending rheumatologist. Results. In this sample of scleroderma patients, 76% reported experiencing fatigue and 61% of these patients reported fatigue as one of their three most distressing symptoms. Patients endorsing greater pain had higher levels of self-reported fatigue, as did those reporting greater depression and poorer functioning. Multiple regression analyses indicated that global fatigue was a significant cross-sectional correlate of physical, but not social, functioning after controlling for depressive symptoms, level of education, poor sleep quality and disease subtype. However, global fatigue did not predict physical function when pain was included in the analyses. Conclusions. Our findings indicate that fatigue is common in scleroderma and that pain and fatigue are significant determinants of physical functioning for patients with limited and diffuse disease subtypes. Future research should investigate whether effective pain treatments reduce symptoms of fatigue, as well as identify other possible causes of fatigue in order to improve quality of life for scleroderma patients.
The infant’s mouth

Incidence and treatment of such oral conditions as natal and neonatal teeth, ankyloglossia, congenital epulis, thrush, and staphylococcus stomatitis are reviewed to familiarize the dentist with oral anomalies and diseases that occur in the infant’s mouth.
Bulimic and Depressive Symptoms: Self-Discrepancies and Acceptance

We tested 342 female undergraduate students to test predictions derived from self-discrepancy theory with the goal of distinguishing self-perceptions associated with commonly comorbid bulimic and d...
A Plug and Play GNC Architecture Using FPGA Components

The goal of Plug and Play, or PnP, is to allow hardware and software components to work together automatically, without requiring manual setup procedures. As a result, new or replacement hardware can be plugged into a system and automatically configured with the appropriate resource assignments. However, in many cases it may not be practical or even feasible to physically replace hardware components. One method for handling these types of situations is through the incorporation of reconfigurable hardware such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays, or FPGAs. This paper describes a phased approach to developing a Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) architecture that expands on the traditional concepts of PnP, in order to accommodate hardware reconfiguration without requiring detailed knowledge of the hardware. This is achieved by establishing a functional based interface that defines how the hardware will operate, and allow the hardware to reconfigure itself. The resulting system combines the flexibility of manipulating software components with the speed and efficiency of hardware.
Probing nano-structures using Rayleigh scattering with supercontinuum radiation

Rayleigh scattering using high-brightness sources provides a sensitive and general tool to probe the electronic properties of nano-sized structures. This capability is demonstrated by recording the electronic transitions of individual single-wall carbon nanotubes.
An Experimental Model for Dilated Cardiomyopathy after Rabbit Coronavirus Infection

A rabbit model for coronavirus-induced dilated cardiomyopathy is described. Acute rabbit coronavirus infection results in virus-induced myocarditis and congestive heart failure. Of the survivors of rabbit coronavirus infection, 41% had increased heart weight and heart weight-to-body weight ratios, biventricular dilation, myocyte hypertrophy, myocardial fibrosis, and myocarditis consistent with the development of dilated cardiomyopathy. These changes were also seen in the remaining 59% of the survivors, except that the degree of myocyte hypertrophy was reduced and only right ventricular dilation was present. In most survivors, myocarditis was usually mild (1-5 foci/transverse section), but in some cases it was severe (> 20 foci/transverse section). Interstitial and replacement fibrosis was more pronounced in the papillary muscles. These data suggest that rabbit coronavirus infection may progress to dilated cardiomyopathy.
The lateral paragigantocellular nucleus modulates parasympathetic cardiac neurons: a mechanism for rapid eye movement sleep-dependent changes in heart rate.

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is generally associated with a withdrawal of parasympathetic activity and heart rate increases; however, episodic vagally mediated heart rate decelerations also occur during REM sleep. This alternating pattern of autonomic activation provides a physiological basis for REM sleep-induced cardiac arrhythmias. Medullary neurons within the lateral paragigantocellular nucleus (LPGi) are thought to be active after REM sleep recovery and play a role in REM sleep control. In proximity to the LPGi are parasympathetic cardiac vagal neurons (CVNs) within the nucleus ambiguus (NA), which are critical for controlling heart rate. This study examined brain stem pathways that may mediate REM sleep-related reductions in parasympathetic cardiac activity. Electrical stimulation of the LPGi evoked inhibitory GABAergic postsynaptic currents in CVNs in an in vitro brain stem slice preparation in rats. Because brain stem cholinergic mechanisms are involved in REM sleep regulation, we also studied the role of nicotinic neurotransmission in modulation of GABAergic pathway from the LGPi to CVNs. Application of nicotine diminished the GABAergic responses evoked by electrical stimulation. This inhibitory effect of nicotine was prevented by the α7 nicotinic receptor antagonist α-bungarotoxin. Moreover, hypoxia/hypercapnia (H/H) diminished LPGi-evoked GABAergic current in CVNs, and this inhibitory effect was also prevented by α-bungarotoxin. In conclusion, stimulation of the LPGi evokes an inhibitory pathway to CVNs, which may constitute a mechanism for the reduced parasympathetic cardiac activity and increase in heart rate during REM sleep. Inhibition of this pathway by nicotinic receptor activation and H/H may play a role in REM sleep-related and apnea-associated bradyarrhythmias.
Sequence architecture within a low-accommodation setting: An example from the Permian of the Galilee and Bowen basins, Queensland, Australia

The coal-bearing, Upper Permian Betts Creek Beds (BCB) of the northeastern intracratonic Galilee Basin in north-central Queensland, Australia, record sedimentation within an alluvial-coastal plain in a low-accommodation basin-margin setting. Six third-order depositional sequences are preserved within the BCB and are characterized by a sequence architecture that is overall relatively thin (15 m; 49 ft), condensed, and top truncated. Sequences have a lowstand systems tract composed of extensive braided fluvial sheet sandstones, a transgressive systems tract characterized by tidally influenced fluvial sheet sandstones and bioturbated estuarine mudrocks, and a highstand systems tract composed of coastal-plain mudrocks and coals. Sequences can be correlated throughout the entire Galilee Basin and related to the lithostratigraphy established in the adjacent Bowen Basin, a foreland basin to the east. The overall Late Permian fill is considered a second-order sequence. The stacking patterns show an overall retrogradational to progradational architecture suggestive of relatively low accommodation space. Sequences show an extremely laterally continuous geometry (1000 km; 600 mi) and are relatively uniform in thickness. Sequences do not show evidence of onlap, toplap, or erosional truncation, but instead are thin in areas of low accommodation and expand into areas of higher accommodation. That these third-order sequences can be traced across basins with differing tectonic regimes, together with the persistent, sheetlike nature of the sequences, suggests that tectonic effects on the sequence architecture were minimal. The basin fill covers a time interval during which two glacial events occurred in the final stages of the late Paleozoic Ice Age, suggesting that changes in glacioeustasy may have been the dominant controls on the sequence architecture of the Late Permian succession in the Galilee Basin of northeastern Australia.
A Bargain for Clean Water

Many of our most important watersheds fail to meet the water quality goals of the Clean Water Act. Yet there is evidence that there is substantial public support for further progress toward those goals and that further progress can be made at relatively low cost. The regulatory system’s central focus on pollutant reductions by point source dischargers (as opposed to reductions by non-point sources) becomes increasingly inefficient with continued efforts to achieve water quality goals and also unfairly foists disproportionate costs on the point source sector. Existing subsidy and trading programs have failed to adequately engage the non-point source sector. This paper proposes incremental steps to address these failures: setting specific expectations and ultimately enforceable requirements for non-point as well as point source reductions; increasing the latitude for trading by point sources and integrating non-point sources into more effective trading regimes; and shifting toward a more performance-based, cost-effective allocation of subsidies for non-point source controls. The combination of subsidies, trading, and state and local controls should be integrated through watershed implementation plans that are monitored, reviewed and updated regularly and that draw on inclusive processes involving stakeholders within a watershed.
Non-Normally Distributed Predictor Scores:Effects on Expected Quality in Small Applicant Pools

Scullen & Meyer (in press) developed an average order statistic method for estimating expected new-hire predictor scores when applicant pools are small and people apply for multiple jobs simultaneously. They used simulations, based on the assumption that scores are normally distributed in the applicant population, to support the accuracy of the method. In this study, we use similar simulations to test whether the method works with scores that are distributed in any of five non-normal ways. Results suggest that the method is accurate despite non-normality in the data, but also that there are some significant inter-distribution differences. The most important differences between distributions appear to stem from the lengths of their right tails. We discuss a variety of implications these differences have for the science and practice of personnel selection.
Microchannel Voltammetry in the Presence of Large External Voltages and Electric Fields

The ability to perform electrochemistry in the presence of large voltages and electric field magnitudes without concern for the local potential has many possible applications in micro/nanofluidic assays and in capillary electrophoresis. Traditionally, electrochemistry in the presence of significant external electric fields has been dominated by end-channel detection for capillary and microchip electrophoresis detection. We describe novel instrumentation for potentiostatically controlled voltammetry that can be applied in the presence of high external voltages and electric fields. Cyclic voltammetry is demonstrated without significant shifts in the half-wave potential at working electrodes at local potentials of up to ∼1500 V and field strengths of up to 3000 V/cm, using a standard Ag/AgCl reference electrode.
A Process Model and Data Mining to Support Designing Families of Services

Product family design is a cost-effective way to achieve mass customization by allowing highly differentiated products to be developed from a common platform while targeting individual products to distinct market segments. Recent trends seek to apply and extend principles from product family design to new service development. In this paper, we extend concepts from platform-based product family design to create a novel methodology for module-based service family design. The new methodology helps identify a service platform along with variant and unique modules in a service family by integrating service-based process analysis, ontologies, and data mining. A function-process matrix and a service process model are investigated to define the relationships between the service functions and the service processes offered as part of a service. An ontology is used to represent the relationships between functional hierarchies in a service. Fuzzy clustering is employed to partition service processes into subsets for identifying modules in a given service family. The clustering result identifies the platform and its modules using a platform level membership function. We apply the proposed methodology to determine a new platform using a case study involving a family of banking services.© 2007 ASME
Construction on Evaluation Index System of Economic Responsibility for Head of Power Supply Eenterprise

Audit evaluation is an important part and the core content of economic responsibility audit assessment.Constructing a complete evaluation index system of economic responsibility audit can help improving the quality and effectiveness of economic responsibility audit.The paper constructed evaluation index system of economic responsibility audit for power supply companies in term of office,provides some reference for constructing evaluation index system of economic responsibility audit.
Oral Antibiotics as Anti-infectives

Chronic rhinosinusitis is a common condition that significantly impacts the lives of many patients. The indications for antibiotic use in chronic rhinosinusitis, aside from perhaps culture-directed treatment for acute exacerbations, are ill-defined and supporting evidence for their use is sparse. Despite this, there are several important factors to consider when prescribing oral antibiotics. These are discussed herein.
Institutional placement for patients with Alzheimer's disease. How to help families with a difficult decision.

Families of patients with Alzheimer's disease often want guidance from the patient's physician on whether to put the patient in an institution. When is institutional placement indicated? What types...
Performance of a Natural Language Processing (NLP) Tool to Extract Pulmonary Function Test (PFT) Reports from Structured and Semistructured Veteran Affairs (VA) Data

Introduction/Objective : Pulmonary function tests (PFTs) are objective estimates of lung function, but are not reliably stored within the Veteran Health Affairs data systems as structured data. The aim of this study was to validate the natural language processing (NLP) tool we developed—which extracts spirometric values and responses to bronchodilator administration—against expert review, and to estimate the number of additional spirometric tests identified beyond the structured data. Methods : All patients at seven Veteran Affairs Medical Centers with a diagnostic code for asthma Jan 1, 2006–Dec 31, 2012 were included. Evidence of spirometry with a bronchodilator challenge (BDC) was extracted from structured data as well as clinical documents. NLP’s performance was compared against a human reference standard using a random sample of 1,001 documents. Results: In the validation set NLP demonstrated a precision of 98.9 percent [d1] (95 percent confidence intervals (CI): 93.9 percent, 99.7 percent), recall of 97.8 percent (95 percent CI: 92.2 percent, 99.7 percent), and an F-measure of 98.3 percent for the forced vital capacity pre- and post pairs and precision of 100 percent (95 percent CI: 96.6 percent, 100 percent), recall of 100 percent (95 percent CI: 96.6 percent, 100 percent), and an F-measure of 100 percent for the forced expiratory volume in one second pre- and post pairs for bronchodilator administration. Application of the NLP increased the proportion identified with complete bronchodilator challenge by 25 percent. Discussion/Conclusion : This technology can improve identification of PFTs for epidemiologic research. Caution must be taken in assuming that a single domain of clinical data can completely capture the scope of a disease, treatment, or clinical test. Key words: asthma, bronchodilator challenge, natural language processing, pulmonary function
Investment Banking in 2008 (A): Rise and Fall of the Bear

Bear Stearns was founded with just $500,000 of capital in 1923. Originally conceived as an equity trading house to take advantage of a roaring 1920s bull market, Bear instead relied upon its trading in government securities to last through the Great Depression, managing not only to avoid layoffs but also to continue paying employee bonuses. The firm quickly developed a reputation as a maverick in the white-shoe culture of New York investment banking. In 1985, the firm diversified its operations, becoming a full-service investment bank with divisions in investment banking, institutional equities, fixed-income securities, individual investor services, and mortgage-related products. Beginning in the late 1990s, collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, grew to a peak of $421.6 billion in 2006 and $266.9 billion in 2007. However, the suddenly lucrative CDO market suffered from inherent limitations on the base of potential homebuyers. This causes the credit crunch in bank. Further, hedge fund failures aggravate the situation. Bear management had already begun searching for a white knight, hiring Gary Parr at Lazard to examine its options for a cash injection. Meanwhile, a battle raged within the firm, with factions pitted against each other on how to proceed with Bear's mortgage holdings, which were still valued at $56 billion despite steady price declines. Morale sunk to demoralizing lows as fall turned to winter, with bankers squabbling over a greatly diminished bonus pool and top Bear executives clamoring for Cayne's dismissal as CEO. Bear's $0.89 profit per share in the first quarter of 2008 did little to quiet the growing whispers of its financial instability. It seemed that every day another major investment bank reported mortgage-related losses, and for whatever reason, Bear's name kept cropping up in discussions of the by-then infamous subprime crisis. Subprime crisis was the last nail in coffin of Bear bank and ultimately it broke.
Yogic breathing when compared to attention control reduces the levels of pro-inflammatory biomarkers in saliva: a pilot randomized controlled trial

Self-report measures indicate that Yoga practices are perceived to reduce stress; however, molecular mechanisms through which YB affects stress are just beginning to be understood. While invasive sampling such as blood has been widely used to measure biological indicators such as pro-inflammatory biomarkers, the use of saliva to measure changes in various biomolecules has been increasingly recognized. As Yoga practice stimulates salivary secretion, and saliva is considered a source of biomarkers, changes in salivary cytokines before and after Yogic breathing exercise as specified in an ancient Tamil script, Thirumanthiram, were examined using a Cytokine Multiplex to compare to Attention Control (AC) group. Twenty healthy volunteers were randomized into two groups stratified by gender (N = 10 per YB and AC groups); The YB group performed two YB exercises, each for ten minutes, for a total of twenty minutes in a single session as directed by a trained Yoga instructor. The AC group read a text of their choice for 20 min. Saliva was collected immediately after YB training at 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 min and analyzed by Multiplex enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-8, and monocyte chemotactic protein −1 (MCP-1) were significantly reduced in YB group when compared to AC group. The level of reduction of IL-8 was significant at all time points tested, whereas IL-1β showed reduction at 15 and 20 min time points (p < 0.05), and MCP-1 level was marginally different at 5–20 min. There were no significant differences between YB and AC groups in the salivary levels of IL-1RA, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17, IP-10, MIP-1b, and TNF-α. These data are the first to demonstrate the feasibility of detecting salivary cytokines using multiplex assay in response to a Yoga practice. This study was registered in Clinical Trials.gov # NCT02108769.
A benign synthesis of alane by the composition-controlled mechanochemical reaction of sodium hydride and aluminum chloride

Solid-state mechanochemical synthesis of alane (AlH3) starting from sodium hydride (NaH) and aluminum chloride (AlCl3) has been achieved at room temperature. The transformation pathway of this solid-state reaction was controlled by a stepwise addition of AlCl3 to the initial reaction mixture that contained sodium hydride in excess of stoichiometric amount. As in the case of previously investigated LiH–AlCl3 system, complete selectivity was achieved whereby formation of unwanted elemental aluminum was fully suppressed, and AlH3 was obtained in quantitative yield. Reaction progress during each step was investigated by means of solid-state NMR and powder X-ray diffraction, which revealed that the overall reaction proceeds through a series of intermediate alanates that may be partially chlorinated. The NaH–AlCl3 system presents some subtle differences compared to LiH–AlCl3 system particularly with respect to optimal concentrations needed during one of the reaction stages. Based on the results, we postulate that high local concentrations of NaH may stabilize chlorine-containing derivatives and prevent decomposition into elemental aluminum with hydrogen evolution. Complete conversion with quantitative yield of alane was confirmed by both SSNMR and hydrogen desorption analysis.
The synthesis of titanium nitride and titanium carbonitride by self-propagating combustion

The self-propagating high-temperature synthesis of titanium nitride (TiN)1−x and titanium carbonitride (TiC x N1−x ) from Ti metal is investigated to provide insight into the mechanism of the reaction. For the synthesis of TiN, the extent of reaction, expressed as percent conversion or nitrogen uptake, is strongly dependent on the composition and porosity of the reacting pellets and the pressure of nitrogen gas. The total nitrogen uptake at 1 bar pressure is a maximum at about 58% relative density. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis shows that regardless of porosity, the surface of the samples is titanium nitride (TiN1−x ) of rock salt structure. The effects of nitrogen gas pressure and diluent (TiN) content on the synthesis of titanium nitride is investigated in the pressure range of 0.1 to 1.4 MPa. For the pure titanium samples, increasing the pressure of nitrogen leads to a decrease in nitrogen uptake. An increase in the conversion can only be achieved if the amount of diluent is above 40 wt%, with full conversion attained at 60 wt% diluent at nitrogen pressures of 0.5 MPa.
Commercial Online Social Network Data and Statin Side-Effect Surveillance: A Pilot Observational Study of Aggregate Mentions on Facebook.

Surveillance of the safety of prescribed drugs after marketing approval has been secured remains fraught with complications. Formal ascertainment by providers and reporting to adverse-event registries, formal surveys by manufacturers, and mining of electronic medical records are all well-known approaches with varying degrees of difficulty, cost, and success. Novel approaches may be a useful adjunct, especially approaches that mine or sample internet-based methods such as online social networks. A novel commercial software-as-a-service data-mining product supplied by Sysomos from Datasift/Facebook was used to mine all mentions on Facebook of statins and stain-related side effects in the US in the 1-month period 9 January 2017 through 8 February 2017. A total of 4.3% of all 25,700 mentions of statins also mentioned typical stain-related side effects. Multiple methodological weaknesses stymie interpretation of this percentage, which is however not inconsistent with estimates that 5–20% of patients taking statins will experience typical side effects at some time. Future work on pharmacovigilance may be informed by this novel commercial tool, but the inability to mine the full text of a posting poses serious challenges to content categorization.
Critically Reading Power, Landscapes, Documents, and Artifacts in Industrialized Society

Rather than seeking a singular definition of power, this research explores myriad forms of power found within industrialized society and particularly within bureaucracy, built environments, and conspicuous consumption. Here, power is envisioned as something that individuals or groups might employ or experience in social, political, or economic networks and in varied levels of consciousness. It can involve power over others and power to change one’s own life circumstances, as well as aspects of domination, resistance, coercion, hegemony, heterarchy, and collusion. This chapter initially focuses on theories of power as proposed by Marx, Gramsci, Weber, Foucault, and Bourdieu, as well as their application to subsequent studies of complex societies, industrialization, and the archaeology of historical-period industrial sites. The second half of the chapter summarizes theory and case studies addressing documents, landscapes, and artifacts as sources of data to be read critically.
Smart E-textile gloves for quantified measurements in movement disorders

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a motor disorder in which the individual has limited ability to make movements and is affected with stiffness and frequent tremors in the hands and feet. There currently exists no way to objectively determine the degree of mobility in PD or effectiveness of a symptom-easing prescription medication. Therefore, an e-textile device was fabricated as a glove, using a wireless microprocessor and a flex sensor in order to transmit motion data into a personal, patient-oriented app. A neoprene e-textile was constructed using: a flex sensor on the index finger to detect the range of motion, a BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) Nano for processing and wireless transmission of data and an IMU (Inertia Measurement Unit) to detect tremors. The circuitry was powered using a 3-volt battery and connections were made using conductive thread. The BLE Nano was programmed with Arduino software to convert Flex Sensor data into a meaningful graph. The main goal was not only to create a more accurate way for data collection of PD patients but also to make the process personal and comfortable without frequent visits to a physician. The data collected is evidence that the prototype works as intended. Future use of the glove can be projected towards diagnostic, rehabilitation and athletics.
Implicit-descriptor ligand-based virtual screening by means of collaborative filtering.

Current ligand-based machine learning methods in virtual screening rely heavily on molecular fingerprinting for preprocessing, i.e., explicit description of ligands’ structural and physicochemical properties in a vectorized form. Of particular importance to current methods are the extent to which molecular fingerprints describe a particular ligand and what metric sufficiently captures similarity among ligands. In this work, we propose and evaluate methods that do not require explicit feature vectorization through fingerprinting, but, instead, provide implicit descriptors based only on other known assays. Our methods are based upon well known collaborative filtering algorithms used in recommendation systems. Our implicit descriptor method does not require any fingerprint similarity search, which makes the method free of the bias arising from the empirical nature of the fingerprint models. We show that implicit methods significantly outperform traditional machine learning methods, and the main strengths of implicit methods are their resilience to target-ligand sparsity and high potential for spotting promiscuous ligands.
Morphology: Optimality Theory

Optimality Theory (OT) is a model of human linguistic competence based on the idea of ranked, violable constraints. This article explains how constraint violability and related properties of OT lead to a better understanding of morphology, the study of word formation. The phenomena discussed include reduplication, infixation, template morphology, phonologically conditioned allomorphy, haplology, polarity switching, and subtractive morphology.
The Effect of Erythrocytes and Hemoglobin on Sister Chromatid Exchange Induction in Cultured Human Lymphocytes Exposed to Aniline HC1

Erythrocytes [red blood cells (RBCs)] possess aniline hydrox ylase activity. When aniline interacts with ferrohemoglobin in the presence of molecular oxygen, oxidation of nitrogen and ring carbons occurs. Thus, apart from the liver, RBCs may represent an important site of aniline metabolism. Because 2 metabolites of aniline, o-aminophenol and phenylhydroxylamine, can induce sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs), we examined the ability of RBCs and hemoglobin to activate aniline to genotoxic intermediates as evidenced by SCE induction in human lymphocytes. Aniline HC1 (0.05–1.0 mM) induced significant concentration-related increases in the SCE frequency only in the whole blood cultures. Similarly, inhibition of cell cycle kinetics by aniline was observed only in the whole blood cultures, as shown by a concentration-dependent decrease in the percentage of third-(and later) division metaphases. Mitotic indices were not affected significantly at any concentration of aniline or hemoglobin. Hemoglobin (500 or 1,000 ug/ml) alone induced significant concentration-related increases in SCEs in the mononuclear leukocyte cultures. Therefore, human mononuclear leukocytes do not activate aniline to genotoxic intermediates capable of inducing SCEs during a 48-hr exposure. However, the inclusion of RBCs and granulocytes provides an activation system as demonstrated by a small, but statistically significant increase in the SCE frequency in the whole blood cultures. The weak genotoxicity of hemoglobin may be related to production of oxygen radicals during autoxidation to methemoglobin. Thus, a possible mechanism of aniline-induced splenic toxicity in rats may be the combined genotoxic effect of aniline metabolites generated or accumulated in the RBC-engorged spleen and hemoglobin released during phagocytosis of damaged RBCs.
A Case of Malaria Predisposing to Salmonella Bacteremia in a Returning Traveler from Nigeria

We describe a febrile adult returning to the U.S. from Nigeria. Malaria was diagnosed by rapid antigen testing, but recognition of invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella disease was delayed. While the moniker, "typhomalaria," once used to describe an illness with features of malaria and typhoid fever, has fallen out of favor, it may nevertheless be a helpful reminder to clinicians that both infectious diseases can arise in the same patient. Blood cultures should be obtained routinely in febrile returning travelers from malaria-endemic regions, including those in whom the diagnosis of malaria has already been established.
Reflux and the Voice: Getting Smarter About Laryngopharyngeal Reflux

Dysphonia is often blamed on laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) in the face of a normal flexible laryngoscopic examination. LPR remains primarily (and unfortunately) a diagnosis of exclusion rather than inclusion in the face of vague throat complaints and laryngeal signs attributed to reflux. LPR remains misdiagnosed and overdiagnosed as the cause of many identical, vague throat symptoms and laryngeal complaints. Despite LPR being commonly implicated as the cause of a myriad of nonspecific pharyngeal symptoms, LPR as a physiologic process is common. Whether or not it is a contributor to a patient's symptoms, especially dysphonia, is the focus of this article.
Comprehensive Identification of Amadori Compound-Modified Phosphatidylethanolamines in Human Plasma

Amadori compound modified lipids are the result of nonenzymatic glycation and play an important role in several physiological and pathological processes. However, glycation of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), the most abundant amine-containing lipid in blood plasma, is underexplored and so far only a few glycated PEs have been reported. Herein, we report comprehensive profiling of Amadori-PE and -LysoPE species in human plasma. Using synthetic standards, we first optimized the enrichment procedure for extracting Amadori-PE/LysoPE from plasma. On the basis of the characteristic neutral losses of 303 Da in positive and 162 Da in negative ionization mode, we then applied neural loss scanning-liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-NLS-MS) to identify potentially glycated PE and LysoPE, which was followed by targeted product ion scanning (LC-PIS-MS) to confidently confirm the fatty acyl substitutions of the modified lipids. A total of 20 Amadori-LysoPE and 62 Amadori-PE species, including diacyl, plasmanyl, and plasmenyl, were identified. Among them, the concentrations of 12 Amarodi-LysoPE and 54 Amadori-PE were also quantified in native human plasma, using stable isotope labeled Amadori lipids as internal standards.
Two paralogous znf143 genes in zebrafish encode transcriptional activator proteins with similar functions but expressed at different levels during early development

ZNF143 is an important transcriptional regulator protein conserved in metazoans and estimated to bind over 2000 promoter regions of both messenger RNA and small nuclear RNA genes. The use of zebrafish is a useful model system to study vertebrate gene expression and development. Here we characterize znf143a, a novel paralog of znf143b, previously known simply as znf143 in zebrafish. This study reveals a comparison of quantitative and spatial expression patterns, transcriptional activity, and a knockdown analysis of both ZNF143 proteins. ZNF143a and ZNF143b have a fairly strong conservation with 65% amino acid sequence identity, and both are potent activators in transient transfection experiments. In situ hybridization analyses of both znf143 mRNAs show that these genes are expressed strongly in regions of the brain at 24 h post fertilization in zebrafish development. A transient knockdown analysis of znf143 expression from either gene using CRISPR interference revealed similar morphological defects in brain development, and caused brain abnormalities in up to 50% of injected embryos. Although present in the same tissues, znf143a is expressed at a higher level in early development which might confer an evolutionary benefit for the maintenance of two paralogs in zebrafish. znf143a encodes a strong activator protein with high expression in neural tissues during early embryogenesis in zebrafish. Similar to its paralogous gene, znf143b, both znf143 genes are required for normal development in zebrafish.
‘A valuable man in the right place’: the untold story of Fritz Fenthol and the Belmonte letter

In June 1941, British intelligence agents claimed to have foiled a Nazi-orchestrated coup in South America by intercepting the so-called Belmonte letter from a German courier named Fritz Fenthol. Y...
Graphic News: How Sensational Images Transformed Nineteenth-Century Journalism: by Amanda Frisken, Champaign, University of Illinois Press, 2020, 273 pp.

It was 1897. Tensions were high between Spain and the United States as the two countries were on the edge of war over the future of Cuba. On February 12, 1897, William Randolph Hearst’s New York Jo...
Optical tunnels: long-range optical trapping and manipulation in aqueous media

In this study, we demonstrate an asymmetric counter-propagating beam system with engineered optical forces allowing for long-range particle trapping and manipulation. We achieved this by breaking the symmetry of the well-known counter-propagating optical trapping beams. By doing so, we extend the range of optical forces for particle confinement and transportation to significantly larger foci separations, creating an optical tunnel. These tunnels are capable of moving matter forward and back with controllable speeds for more than a millimeter length with the ability to bring them to a full stop at any point, creating a stable 3D trap. Our trap stiffness measurements for the asymmetric trapping system demonstrate at least one order of magnitude larger values with respect to the symmetric counter-propagating beams so far reported. Our system is quite versatile as it allows for single or multi trapping with flexible positioning of any size particle ranging from tens of nanometers to tens of microns with powers as low as a few milliwatts.
Theorizing in Perspective: Epistemic Pluralism

This article examines the claim that public administration theorizing can upgrade its language game, even in the short run, by a grand strategy of epistemic pluralism that includes perspectives like neuroscience. It indicates why public administration should care about neuroscience, and how public administration can evaluate whether epistemic pluralism has important benefits. It comments on myths that tend to impede the upgrading.
Human Health Risk Assessment

We often perform toxicological research to better understand the mechanism and associated health risk following exposure to hazardous agents. Risk assessment is a systematic scientific characterization of potential adverse health effects following exposure to these hazardous agents. Risk assessment activities are designed to identify, describe ,a ndmeasure qualities and quantities from these toxicological studies, which are often conducted with homogeneous animal models at doses and exposure duration not encountered in a more heterogeneous human population. Herein lie the challenge of risk assessment. The use of default assumptions because of some level of uncertainty in our extrapolations across species, doses, routes, and interindividual variability, the risk assessment process is often perceived as lacking scientific rigor. This chapter will cover traditional practices as well as new and novel approaches that utilize more of the available scientific data to identify and reduce uncertainty in the process. The advent of powerful computers and sophisticated software programs has allowed the development of quantitative models that better describe the dose-response relationship, refine biologically relevant dose estimates in the risk assessment process, and encourage departure from traditional default approaches (Conolly et al., 1999). Although the focus of this chapter is on current and novel risk assessment methods that are scientifically based, it is critical that the reader be aware of the differences between risk assessment and risk management, which are summarized in Table 24.1. Results from the risk assessment are used to inform risk management. The risk manager uses the risk information in conjunction with factors such as the social importance of the risk, the social acceptability of the risk, the economic impacts of risk reduction, engineering, and legislative mandates when deciding on and implementing risk management approaches. The risk assessment may be perceived as the source of a risk management decision, when in fact, social concerns, international issues, trade, public perception, or other non-risk considerations may be taken into consideration. Finally there is one activity known as risk communication that involves making the risk assessment and risk
Re-Viewing History: The Use of the Past as Negative Precedent in United States V. Virginia

" Our Nation has had a long and unfortunate history of sex discrimination."1 Twenty-five years ago, a plurality of the Supreme Court admitted a truth long known to many. Modem Americans must still struggle with this history of discrimination. Its effects continue to be felt, less obvious but ongoing. What role, then, does history play for the modem world? What role can it play in the ongoing effort to move towards a deeper realization of equality? There is, of course, no single answer.2 One way to approach these questions is to recognize that many of the standards used in equal protection jurisprudence-in race as well as sex discrimination cases-are designed in reference to a past that is now almost universally recognized to be "wrong." State actors may not depend on "overbroad" generalizations to make "judgments about people that are likely to... perpetuate historical patterns of discrimination."3 Qualified individuals may not be excluded from activities based on "fixed notions
A comics studies reader, edited by Jeet Heer and Kent Worcester

Book review, Jeet Heer and Kent Worcester, eds. A comics studies reader. Oxford: University Press of Mississippi, 2009. $25.00 (380p) ISBN 978-1-60473-1-088.
A Divided Political Elite: Why Congress Banned Multimember Districts in 1842*

This article challenges two assumptions commonly held by scholars of third parties and the American electoral system: That single-member congressional districts were established at the foundation of the United States, and that electoral reform is impossible because Democratic and Republican politicians have a unified interest against it. Examining the Apportionment Act of 1842, when Congress banned multimember districts, it demonstrates that significant reform becomes possible in odd moments when a majority of legislators see it as a way to protect themselves against challenges by other major party politicians. The article applies this finding to the current electoral reform movement by arguing that third party candidates should focus their campaign strategies on reducing the vote to incumbents and thereby increasing their reelection vulnerability. In these circumstances it would become in the interest of these legislators to support instant runoff, a system promoted by proponents of electoral reform that...
Current Considerations for Breast Reconstruction in Breast Cancer Patients

In the next year, approximately 250,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States [1]. The majority of these women will be recommended partial or total mastectomy as a component of their cancer treatment. The goal of breast reconstruction is to rebuild and/or reshape the breast mound to correct the mastectomy defect for physical and psychological reasons. There are a number of reconstructive options available to patients who desire breast reconstruction, including implant-based procedures, autologous tissue reconstructions, or a combination. Additionally, oncoplastic procedures are a recent advance in the field of breast-conserving therapies that further refines our ability to resect breast cancer while preserving the form of the breast. Because planning the reconstruction depends on the type of resection performed and the amount of tissue remaining after mastectomy, the breast surgeon, reconstructive surgeon, and the patient collectively should discuss reconstructive goals and how these can be achieved after the patient’s oncologic surgery.
Thermal expansion behavior of plasma sprayed cordierite

Abstract Bulk cordierite has unusually low thermal expansivity. We here report on a study of the thermal expansion behavior of cordierite formed by plasma spraying. It is found that the thermal expansivity is strongly influenced by crystal structure and that the thermal expansion coefficient of the high-cordierite structure is very low (1.84 × 10−6/°C). Furthermore, the as-sprayed cordierite expands 27% in volume when it is placed next to zirconia in a high-temperature furnace. This expanded structure results in even lower thermal expansivity in the later thermal cycling.
Manifestation of Berry's phase in Aharonov---Bohm oscillations in a 2D system with spin-orbit interaction

Fourier spectra of the Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, measured in GaAs two-dimensional holes with a strong spin-orbit interaction, reveal side peaks in addition to the center peak whose frequency corresponds to the radius of the ring. A comparison of the experimental data with results of simulations demonstrates that the origin of the side peaks is the Berry's phase.
Rethinking the rescue paradigm.

A little girl gets caught in a well and first responders spend hours trying to rescue her. Miners in Chile get trapped for months after a mining accident and are eventually saved. Both events rivet...