cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Bridging the gap between biological and clinical informatics in a graduate training program

Several training programs in biomedical informatics in the United States are attempting to integrate biological and clinical informatics. However, significant differences in the cultures underlying these two disciplines pose barriers to a uniform educational solution. This paper recounts the experience at Columbia University in adapting a graduate program with an initial focus on clinical informatics to train bioinformaticians. The analysis begins by considering the development of the medical and biological informatics cultures over a 17-year period. Then we review how two separate curricula evolved to serve the needs of each group. Interviews with bioinformatics students and faculty indicated some dissatisfaction with the curriculum that developed within clinical informatics. Their comments are considered in the light of an analysis of the relationship between the application domains of biomedical informatics as a discipline. In response, a new curriculum was developed in which bioinformatics and clinical informatics are regarded as subdivisions of the same subject. A key feature of this curriculum is a new course, Theory and Methods in Biomedical Informatics, which presents informatics principles in their general form, and illustrates their application with examples drawn from across the biomedical spectrum. The paper concludes with suggestions for integrating informatics training programs at other institutions.
A Pascal type triangle for the number of topologically distinct many-electron Feynman graphs

By expressing the Green function for a many-body system in terms of a perturbative expansion written as a sutra over all connected and topologically distinct Feynnian graphs, it is shown that the number of such diagrams can be iteratively obtained from a Pascal-type triangle, The key to the problem is to notice that it is possible to define on the set of graphs an equivalence relation, and that, from a well-known theorem of set theory, an equivalence relation on a set partitions it into disjoint classes.
Computational composite mechanics for aerospace propulsion structures

Specialty methods are presented for the computational simulation of specific composite behavior. These methods encompass all aspects of composite mechanics, impact, progressive fracture and component specific simulation. Some of these methods are structured to computationally simulate, in parallel, the composite behavior and history from the initial frabrication through several missions and even to fracture. Select methods and typical results obtained from such simulations are described in detail in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of computationally simulating: (1) complex composite structural behavior in general, and (2) specific aerospace propulsion structural components in particular.
Characterizing Metal-Insulator-Transition (MIT) Phase Change Materials (PCM) for RF and DC Micro-switching Elements☆

Abstract Metal-insulator transition (MIT) phase-change materials (PCM) are material compounds that have the ability to be either conductors or insulators depending on external stimuli. A micromachined test structure for applying external electric fields across MIT wire segments was designed and fabricated. Using this novel test structure, Germanium Telluride (GeTe) and Vanadium Oxide (VOx) were successfully transitioned from a conductor to an insulator. The resistivity of the GeTe wire segments increased three to five orders of magnitude with ∼40 V applied to the parallel plates of the test structure. The VOx wires exhibited an order of magnitude transition in resistivity with ∼20 V applied. Characterization of both RF and DC switching performance of these MIT wire segments was completed and GeTe and VOx appear to be viable materials for micro-switching.
Pulmonary effects of welding fumes: Review of worker and experimental animal studies†

Background Approximately one million workers worldwide perform welding as part of their work duties. Electric arc welding processes produce metal fumes and gases which may be harmful to exposed workers. Methods This review summarizes human and animals studies which have examined the effect of welding fume exposure on respiratory health. An extensive search of the scientific and occupational health literature was performed, acquiring published articles which examined the effects of welding on all aspects of worker and laboratory animal health. The databases accessed included PubMed, Ovid, NIOSHTIC, and TOXNET. Results Pulmonary effects observed in full-time welders have included metal fume fever, airway irritation, lung function changes, susceptibility to pulmonary infection, and a possible increase in the incidence of lung cancer. Although limited in most cases, animal studies have tended to support the findings from epidemiologic studies. Conclusions Despite the numerous studies on welding fumes, incomplete information still exists regarding the causality and possible underlying mechanisms associated with welding fume inhalation and pulmonary disease. The use of animal models and the ability to control the welding fume exposure in toxicology studies could be utilized in an attempt to develop a better understanding of how welding fumes affect pulmonary health. Am. J. Ind. Med. 43:350–360, 2003. Published 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
SP0011 Complement Activation and Antiphospholipid Syndrome

Pregnancy complications in women with the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) and/or SLE include recurrent miscarriage, preeclampsia, placental insufficiency, and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). The mechanisms leading to placental and fetal injury in vivo are incompletely understood and treatment remains sub-optimal. We have identified complement as an early effector in pregnancy loss and/or IUGR associated with placental inflammation in a mouse model of APS and shown that complement activation drives angiogenic imbalance, placental insufficiency and endothelial injury. In vivo murine studies also implicate activation of the classical complement pathway in thrombosis associated with APS. Activation of complement by antiphospholipid(aPL) autoantibodies generates C5a, which binds and activates neutrophils and endothelial cells. On the basis of murine studies, C3 and C5 have been proposed as possible therapeutic targets for treating obstetrical APS syndrome and case reports document the use of the C5 inhibitor eculizumab in patients with acute catastrophic APS. The PROMISSE Study ( P redictors of p R egnancy O utcome: bio M arkers I n antiphospholipid antibody S yndrome and S ystemic lupus E rythematosus) is a first-time effort to translate our novel findings in mice to humans and determine examine the role of complement as a mediator of complications in patients with aPL antibodies and/or SLE. The following discoveries from PROMISSE will be summarized (1) Activation of complement early in pregnancy can be detected in the blood of women destined to have preeclampsia and (2) Mutations in complement pathway genes that lead to uncontrolled complement activation are associated with preeclampsia in pregnant patients with SLE and/or aPL antibodies. Disclosure of Interest J. Salmon Grant/research support from: Hoffmann La Roche, Consultant for: Alexion, Novartis
Food Companies' Calorie-Reduction Pledges to Improve U.S. Diet

Abstract Heretofore, corporate voluntary pledges to improve the health of Americans have been linked neither to explicit measurable commitments nor to a framework for an independent evaluation. The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF), whose members include 16 of the nation's leading consumer packaged goods food and beverage manufacturers, voluntarily pledged to collectively remove 1 trillion calories from their products by 2012 (against a 2007 baseline), and 1.5 trillion calories by 2015. The pledge is designed to reduce the calorie gap commensurate with the HWCF companies' role in the U.S. diet. To date, no system exists for documenting the nutritional and public health impacts of industry-led changes in the food supply on individual diets. The current study represents a unique opportunity to understand how the consumer packaged goods food and beverage sector is changing and how these changes are associated with changes in the American diet. It presents data on national caloric sales from this sector, purchases of these goods by various subpopulations, and methods linking these to individual intakes of Americans. Findings show that HWCF companies accounted for approximately 25% of calories consumed in the U.S. in 2007 and that the 1.5 trillion–calorie pledge (about 14 calories/day/capita) accounts for 0.8% of the calories sold across all consumer packaged goods food and beverage brands in 2007. The authors hope that this evaluation will continue to create models and methods for demonstrating the effects of changes in the food supply on individual diets, particularly among those from vulnerable subpopulations.
Retention of Biologic Activity of Human Growth Hormone in Man After Reduction and Alkylation

ABSTRACT This study demonstrates the lipolytic, nitrogen-retaining, calciuric and insulinotropic capacities of reduced tetra-S-carbamidomethyl hGH (RCAM-hGH). hGH was reduced with dithiothreitol and alkylated with iodoacetamide to yield RCAM-hGH. Total reduction was confirmed by quantitative yield of 4 residues of S-carboxymethylcysteine per mole RCAM-hGH. After 8 days on a diet of known composition, 2 prepubertal males with growth hormone deficiency received 5 mg RCAM-hGH im daily for 5 to 6 days. Five to 7 days later, 5 mg hGH im daily, was given for 4 days. RCAM-hGH administration caused an average daily decrease in urinary nitrogen of 39% and increased urinary calcium to 150% of control value. The rise in plasma free fatty acids 4 hr after im injection of RCAM-hGH or of hGH was similar. Intravenous glucose disposal (Kg 1.55) on the 4th day of RCAM-hGH administration was unchanged from the control value. Fasting insulin (IRI) increased from 6 to 21 μU/ml and the area of IRI response to glucose rose to ...
Dynamic image modelling by neural networks

Sometimes an image can be characterized with the help of a dynamic system in terms of a first-order differential equation, e.g. when a scanner output contains additive noise and/or is degraded due to interaction between the sensing elements (the cameras) or by other phenomena. In this paper, an algorithm for image estimation from the noisy output of a scanner is hypothesized. Determination of the parameters A, B, and the C matrices of a dynamic system leads to the design of an estimator whose input is the output of a scanner with uniform speed. A portion of the overall algorithm using neural networks trained by a gradient descent learning algorithm is discussed in detail. In particular, the determination of A. B, C from states, time derivatives of states and inputs are highlighted. The details of implementation are included. The salient points regarding the development of the complete algorithm are discussed. It is hoped that the results achieved so far will give rise to new techniques for the application...
Cost-shifting under cost reimbursement and prospective payment

Cost-shifting is seen as a three-way phenomenon involving hospital interests as well as those of government and private patients. Without economies of scale, private patients are indifferent to government policies unless underpayment leads to hospital bankruptcy. In the presence of economies of scale, private patients benefit from reductions in government payment under either cost reimbursement or prospective payment. Their interest in a shift to prospective payment depends upon the hospital's location on its cost curve. Hospitals benefit from increases in payment rates in all cases, but benefit from a shift to prospective payment only if operating in a region of declining average costs. The conventional view of cost-shifting is inconsistent with profit maximization and may be inappropriate for many voluntary hospitals as well.
Gastrointestinal Disease in Simian Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Rhesus Macaques Is Characterized by Proinflammatory Dysregulation of the Interleukin-6-Janus Kinase/Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription3 Pathway

Gastrointestinal disease and inflammation are common sequelae of human and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms that lead to gastrointestinal dysfunction remain unclear. We investigated regulation of the interleukin (IL)-6-JAK-STAT3 pathway in jejunum and colon, collected at necropsy, from 10 SIV-infected macaques with diarrhea (group 1), 10 non-SIV-infected macaques with diarrhea (group 2), and 7 control uninfected macaques (group 3). All group 1 and 2 macaques had chronic diarrhea, wasting, and colitis, but group 1 animals had more frequent and severe lesions in the jejunum. A significant increase in IL-6 and SOCS-3 gene expression along with constitutive STAT3 activation was observed in the colon of all group 1 and 2 macaques and in the jejunum of only group 1 macaques compared to controls. Further, in colon, histopathology severity scores correlated significantly with IL-6 (groups 1 and 2) and SOCS-3 (group 2) gene expression. In jejunum, a similar correlation was observed only in group 1 animals. Phosphorylated STAT3 (p-STAT3) was localized to lymphocytes (CD3 + ) and macrophages (CD68 + ), with fewer CD3 + lymphocytes expressing p-STAT3 in group 1 macaques. Despite high SOCS-3 expression, STAT3 remained constitutively active, providing a possible explanation for persistent intestinal inflammation and immune activation that may favor viral replication and disease pro-gression.
Lysosomal membrane permeabilization as a key player in brain ischemic cell death: a "lysosomocentric" hypothesis for ischemic brain damage.

This is a speculative review of the role of the lysosome in ischemic cell death in the mammalian brain. In particular, it focuses on the role of the permeabilization of the lysosomal membrane to proteins (LMP) as a major mechanism of cell death in mild, but lethal, ischemic insults. The first section of the review outlines the evidence that this is the case, using the relatively few extant studies of mammalian brain. In the second section of the review, the mechanism by which an ischemic insult might lead to LMP is discussed. A metabolic sequence including NMDA receptor activation, activation of phospholipase A2 and production of free radicals, and also the activation of calpain are shown to be critical. The remainder of the section speculates on the actual agent(s) which may be causing the lysosomal membrane change, based on extensive literature references. There is currently no knowledge of the actual mechanism. The third section considers potential targets of the released lysosomal proteases and other proteins that might mediate the lethal effects of LMP, focusing largely on the mitochondria as the target. Again, this is speculative as the targets are not known. Finally, the fourth section addresses the level of importance that LMP has in the process of ischemic cell death and concludes that it may well play the major role during mild but lethal ischemic insults. This novel, so-called “lysosomocentric,” hypothesis is briefly critiqued. The therapeutic potential of this conclusion is then discussed.
Visceral mast cell tumour with eosinophilia and eosinophilic peritoneal and pleural effusions in a cat

Summary A cat with weight loss, pyrexia and recurrent lethargy and depression was found to have pleural and peritoneal eosinophilic effusions, peripheral eosinophilia, eosinophilic lymphadenitis and a massively enlarged mesenteric lymph node. Visceral mast cell neoplasia was diagnosed after histopathological examination of a biopsy of the mass. Palliative chemotherapy was attempted unsuccessfully and the cat was euthanased.
Some observations about the application of Fick's first law for membrane separation of multicomponent mixtures

Abstract According to Fick's first law of diffusion, permeation flux of a permeant through a pore-free dense polymeric membrane with respect to a fixed frame of reference is equal to the sum of the bulk and diffusional flux. Under ideal conditions and low downstream (permeate) pressure, membrane permeability, PA, of component A is equal to the product of the mobility coefficient, DA, and the solubility coefficient, SA. The definition of membrane permeability as stated above can be derived using Fick's first law of diffusion when the frame of reference (bulk flux) term is negligible. When analyzing the transport of permeant through pore-free dense polymeric membrane, the bulk flux contribution is usually assumed to be negligible when the sorption levels of the components are small. However, this assumption can be erroneous in the case of multicomponent mixtures when the permeation flux of one of the permeant is much higher than the others. Two examples will be discussed to demonstrate that neglecting the bulk flux contribution might lead researchers to incorrect conclusions on the material science aspects of the membrane separation. The first example is CO 2 CH 4 gas separation using a dense pore-free glassy polymeric membrane and the second example is the removal of traces of phenol from water using a polyether-block-polyamide polymer.
Forensic applications of mitochondrial DNA

Human mitochondrial DNA has become a useful tool in forensic investigations. Its polymorphic nature and maternal inheritance are characteristics that have, combined with its sequence information, enabled investigators to identify missing persons, war casualties and individuals involved in mass disasters and criminal cases. Various screening procedures have been developed to reduce the need to sequence samples that do not match, but DNA-sequence information is still necessary to verify a match. Even though several challenges remain before mitochondrial-DNA-sequence information can be used unambiguously, comparative mitochondrial-DNA-sequence analysis appears to be a reliable and powerful means for human identification.
The adolescent activities checklist: reliability, standardization data, and factorial validity.

This study was conducted to provide standardization data and information on the reliability and factorial validity of the recently developed Adolescent Activities Checklist (AAC). A total of 563 adolescents in grades 7 through 12 served as subjects. Significant main effects for gender, race, and grade were obtained in a multivariate analysis of variance. On the basis of this information, standardization data were established for these three variables. Further investigation indicated that the internal consistency of the AAC was high. In addition, results of a principal components analysis conducted on the frequencies of the Unpleasant and Pleasant Activities subscales revealed four and three factors, respectively. For unpleasant activities, the major dimensions were found to occur in three situations-namely, social interactions, family situations, and school situations. Stressful events also occurred as one of the four unpleasant activities dimensions. For pleasant activities, three dimensions appeared: heterosocial behavior, reinforcing interpersonal situations, and social reinforcement.
The capabilities approach and violence against women Implications for social development

EnglishThe capabilities approach attends to the unique situation of poor women in the context of social development, as exemplified in such concepts as household inequality and bodily integrity. Th...
Plans and situated actions: the problem of human-machine communication

Preface Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Interactive artefacts 3. Plans 4. Situated actions 5. Communicative resources 6. Case and methods 7. Human-machine communication 8. Conclusion References Indices.
Game-theoretical semantics for Peirce's existential graphs

In this paper, a game-theoretical semantics is developed for the so-called “alpha” part of Charles S. Peirce's System of Existential Graphs of 1896. This alpha part is that portion of Peirce's graphs that corresponds to propositional logic. The paper both expounds a game-theoretical semantics for the graphs that seems close to Peirce's own intentions and proves for the alpha part of the graphs that this semantics is adequate.
Dynamic Anchoring of PKA Is Essential during Oocyte Maturation

In the final stages of ovarian follicular development, the mouse oocyte remains arrested in the first meiotic prophase, and cAMP-stimulated PKA plays an essential role in this arrest. After the LH surge, a decrease in cAMP and PKA activity in the oocyte initiates an irreversible maturation process that culminates in a second arrest at metaphase II prior to fertilization [1]. A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs) mediate the intracellular localization of PKA and control the specificity and kinetics of substrate phosphorylation [2]. Several AKAPs have been identified in oocytes including one at 140 kDa [3, 4] that we now identify as a product of the Akap1 gene. We show that PKA interaction with AKAPs is essential for two sequential steps in the maturation process: the initial maintenance of meiotic arrest and the subsequent irreversible progression to the polar body extruded stage. A peptide inhibitor (HT31) that disrupts AKAP/PKA interactions stimulates oocyte maturation in the continued presence of high cAMP. However, during the early minutes of maturation, type II PKA moves from cytoplasmic sites to the mitochondria, where it associates with AKAP1, and this is shown to be essential for maturation to continue irreversibly.
Effects of Confinement on Small Water Clusters Structure and Proton Transport

Analyses of the structure of two to four water molecule clusters confined between two benzene and between two naphthalene molecules have been performed using ab initio methods. The water clusters tend to maximize the number of hydrogen bonds via formation of a cyclic network. The oxygen atoms locate approximately in the middle of the confined geometry, and the dipole vectors arrange either parallel or pointing to the surfaces. Energy barriers for proton transfer calculated for H3O+-(H2O) complexes in the same confined geometries suggest that there is a specific range of confinement that helps to lower the energy barriers of the proton transfer. When the walls are too close to each other, at a separation of 4 A, the energy barriers are extremely high. Confinement does not lower the barrier energies of proton transfer when the H3O+-(H2O) complexes are located further from each of the surfaces by more than approximately 8 A.
Determination of intermolecular energy transfer routes by PMDR spectroscopy

Abstract The determination of the mechanism for the intermolecular energy transfer from an excited singlet state of a host (donor) to a guest (acceptor) molecule in a mixed crystal by phosphorescence microwave double resonance (PMDR) methods has been demonstrated by monitoring the relative populations of the triplet sublevels of the acceptor.
Interfacial flow computations using adaptive Eulerian–Lagrangian method for spacecraft applications

Understanding the interfacial dynamics and fluid physics associated with the operation of spacecraft is important for scientific as well as engineering purposes. To help address the issues associated with moving boundaries, interfacial dynamics, and spatial-temporal variations in time and length scales, a 3-D adaptive Eulerian–Lagrangian method is extended and further developed. The stationary (Eulerian) Cartesian grid is adopted to resolve the fluid flow, and the marker-based triangulated moving (Lagrangian) surface meshes are utilized to treat the phase boundary. The key concepts and numerical procedures, along with the selected interfacial flow problems are presented. Specifically, the liquid fuel draining dynamics in different flow regimes, and the liquid surface stability under vertically oscillating gravitational acceleration are investigated. Direct assessment of experimental measurement and scaling analysis is made to highlight the computational performance of the present approach as well as the key fluid physics influenced by the given flow parameters. Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Formation of O(3P) atoms and epoxides from the gas- phase reaction of O3 with isoprene

The formation yields of 1,2-epoxy-2-methyl-3-butene and 1,2-epoxy-3-methyl-3-butene have been measured from the reaction of O3 with isoprene at room temperature and one atmosphere total pressure of N2 and air diluents, with and without cyclohexane to scavenge the OH radicals formed in this reaction system. In addition, a relative rate method was used to determine a rate constant for the gas-phase reaction of O3 with 1,2-epoxy-2-methyl-3-butene of (2.5 ± 0.7) x 10-18 cm3 molecules-1 s-1 at 296 ± 2 K. Our data show that the epoxide yields in N2 and air diluents are the same, with formation yields of 1,2-epoxy-2-methyl-3-butene of 0.028 ± 0.007 and of 1,2-epoxy-3-methyl-3-butene of 0.011 ± 0.004. These data further show that the epoxides arise from the primary O3 reaction with isoprene, and not via the formation of O(3P) atoms from the O3 - isoprene reaction followed by reaction of these O(3P) atoms with isoprene.
Investigation of chemically modified barium titanate beads as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) active substrates for the detection of benzene thiol, 1,2-benzene dithiol, and rhodamine 6G.

Abstract SERS active surfaces were prepared by depositing silver films using Tollen's reaction on to barium titanate beads. The SERS activity of the resulting surfaces was probed using two thiols (benzene thiol and 1,2-benzene dithiol) and rhodamine 6G. The intensity of the SERS signal for the three analytes was investigated as a function of silver deposition time. The results indicate that the SERS intensity increased with increasing thickness of the silver film until a maximum signal intensity was achieved; additional silver deposition resulted in a decrease in the SERS intensity for all of the studied molecules. SEM measurement of the Ag coated barium titanate beads, as a function of silver deposition time, indicate that maximum SERS intensity corresponded with the formation of atomic scale islands of silver nanoparticles. Complete silver coverage of the beads resulted in a decreased SERS signal and the most intense SERS signals were observed at deposition times of 30 min for the thiols and 20 min for rhodamine 6G.
Displacement Analysis of an Actively Articulated Wheeled Vehicle Configuration With Extensions to Motion Planning on Uneven Terrain

This manuscript presents a displacement analysis of actively articulated wheeled vehicles on uneven terrain. These vehicles are distinct from traditional wheeled systems since they have the ability to actively adapt to variations in the terrain and they can actively influence the forces at the wheel-terrain contact locations. They also possess special mobility capabilities such as obstacle climbing and self-recovery from an over-turn failure. The problem of solving for the configuration of these vehicles on uneven terrain has been addressed in detail. The displacement analysis leads to multiple solutions due to the inherent nonlinearity in the position kinematic equations. Geometric reasoning has been used to identify the particular configuration that represents the correct vehicle geometry on the terrain. Apllications of the displacement analysis algorithms to vehicle planning on uneven terrain have been discussed. An obstacle climbing maneuver of a three-module actively articulated wheeled vehicle has been described.
Ischemic stroke: Relation of age, lesion location, and initial neurologic deficit to functional outcome

Abstract Objective: Establish the relation between age, gender, initial neurologic deficit, stroke location, prior stroke, hemisphere of stroke, and functional outcome in ischemic stroke. Design: Single group, multivariate, repeated measures design with 327 persons having ischemic stroke recruited from 20 participating centers. Setting: Twenty European stroke centers. Patients: Consecutive admissions of men and women between the ages of 40 and 85yrs with a hemispheric stroke caused by middle cerebral artery ischemia and a Unified Neurological Stroke Scale score of 5 to 24. Interventions: Inpatients enrolled in the trial received traditional rehabilitation therapies including physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy when appropriate. Main Outcome Measures: Barthel Index computed at 7 to 10 days and 3 months poststroke. Results: Positive functional outcomes were significantly related to the absence of prior strokes, a younger age, a less severe initial neurologic deficit, stroke involving cortical structures, and dominant (left hemisphere) lesions. Conclusions: Despite some inconsistencies in existing literature, standardized prospective examination of outcome after stroke clearly demonstrated the effect of age, initial severity of stroke, and lesion location as predictors of functional outcome.
Parametric sensitivity in the analysis and control of permanent magnet synchronous machines

High performance operation of interior permanent magnet machines relies heavily upon machine characteristics or parameters. Thus the performance of the control is heavily tied to this determination of machine parameters, and any errors therein can degrade performance. Proper characterization can help towards the goal of the highest performance controller, but knowing the effects of parameter variation can allow the control designer to predict what variations will have the largest negative effect upon performance. This method uses the most accurate characterization methods to date, and finds the effects of variation of these found parameters. This analysis can be used to develop controllers sensitive to parametric change. Once the actual parameters are found, the effect of parameter variation upon output performance is determined.
The coefficient of thermal expansion of stroma

Abstract Rabbit stroma has a negative coefficient of thermal expansion. Upon raising the temperature of a bare stroma, 200 μm thick, from 1–37°C while bathed in isotonic saline and loaded to 53 mmHg swelling pressure the thickness decreases about 14 μm. An increase in thickness of about the same amount can be observed upon cooling a bare stroma. This purely physicochemical change in thickness is only a small part of the temperature reversal phenomenon observed for the whole cornea when an enucleated eye is raised from 4–37°C.
780 TEMPERATURE SENSITIVITY OF SUBACUTE SCLEROSING PANENCEPHALITIS (SSPE) VIRUS AND PERSISTENT INFECTION

Temperature sensitive (ts) mutant viruses are those which grow normally at a lower (permissive) temperature but less well at a higher (restrictive) temperature. Several investigators have suggested that is mutants play a role in the initiation and maintenance of persistent viral infection (PVI). Such mutants have been shown to be involved in the PVI of cultured animal cells in vitro, particularly in the case of veterinary viruses. It was therefore decided to determine whether a virus strain known to have caused PVI and degenerative brain disease in man did, in fact, have is properties and whether these properties could be related to the capacity of the strain to cause PVI of cultured human cells in vitro. The Halle strain of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) virus was found to contain a high proportion of clones that were ts. A wild-type strain of the closely related measles virus contained no such clones. HEp-2 cells were infected with both strains of virus at permissive temperature (32°C) and restrictive temperature (39°C). The SSPE virus was able to establish PVI at restrictive temperature but not at permissive temperature. The persistently infected cells exhibited virus-specific antigen and intermittently shed infectious virus into the overlay medium but could be passed and were not destroyed. The measles virus, which lacked is clones, could not establish PVI at either temperature.
Science [ne] imperialism: There are nontrivial constraints on color naming

Saunders & van Brakel's claim that Berlin and Kay (1969) assumed a language/vision correlation in the area of color categorization and disguised this assumption as a finding is shown to be false. The methodology of the World Color Survey, now nearing completion, is discussed and the possibility of an additional language/vision correlation in color categorization is suggested.
Trapping metallic Rayleigh particles with radial polarization

Metallic particles are generally considered difficult to trap due to strong scattering and absorption forces. In this paper, numerical studies show that optical tweezers using radial polarization can stably trap metallic particles in 3-dimension. The extremely strong axial component of a highly focused radially polarized beam provides a large gradient force. Meanwhile, this strong axial field component does not contribute to the Poynting vector along the optical axis. Consequently, it does not create axial scattering/absorption forces. Owing to the spatial separation of the gradient force and scattering/absorption forces, a stable 3-D optical trap for metallic particles can be formed.
Solubilization of membrane proteins by sulfobetaines, novel zwitterionic surfactants.

Abstract A homologous series of novel zwitterionic detergents, sulfobestaines (SB n ), was examined for its ability to emulsify a triglyceride model system and to extract proteins from 3T6 mouse fibroblast membranes. In both instances the solubilization efficiency of SB n s was found to improve with increasing alkyl chain length ( n ). The higher alkyl SB n s ( n ≥ 12) were shown to be superior to nonionic detergents of the polyoxyethelene type (e.g., Nonidet P-40) but inferior to the anionic SDS in their ability to solubilize 3T6 cell membrane proteins. However, unlike SDS, SB n s apparently do not denature either water-soluble or membrane proteins, as judged by retention of enzymatic activity.
Performance aspects of the adjustable bandwidth concept (ABC) predetection processor

There are a variety of domains in which signal channelization has proven to be useful, including the time, frequency, spatial and polarization domains. These partitioning techniques are necessary for the proper management and effective utilization of the overall channel resource. The term "multi-channel" is used to describe this partitioning of these domains. However, there are other "domains" in which channelization techniques can be employed. These include the coding domain (as in code-division multiple-access) and the less obvious steganographic domain. One can argue that these latter examples of domains lack the physical interpretation of their counterparts, or that they are each in fact a clever use of the standard domains. But from the view of the overall channel resource, very effective utilization and management tools can be developed, operated and described in these domains. In this paper, a technique is studied which is based upon a novel utilization of the signal bandwidth domain, for pre-processing prior to detection and parameter estimation. Experimental and theoretical results will be given for assessment of device performance. The studied technique is referred to as the Adjustable Bandwidth Concept (ABC) signal energy detector. When implemented digitally, this device is essentially a cepstral-based pre-processor for generating multiple channels for the analysis and detection of signal components of distinguishable bandwidths. The ABC device processes an input log-magnitude spectrogram and results in a multi-channel output. Each output channel contains information regarding the input spectrogram which is sorted or partitioned based on the bandwidth of signal components within the spectrogram. A primary application of such a device is as a pre-processing step prior to detection and estimation, for automated spectral survey and characterization.
Gold dispersed on TiO2 and SiO2: adsorption properties and catalytic behavior in hydrogenation reactions

Titania-supported Au catalysts were given both low temperature reduction and high temperature reduction at 473 and 773 K, respectively, and their adsorption and catalytic properties were compared to identically pretreated Pt/TiO2 catalysts and pure TiO2 samples as well as Au/SiO2 catalysts. This was done to determine whether a reaction model proposed for methanol synthesis over metals dispersed on Zn, Sr and Th oxides could also explain the high activities observed in hydrogenation reactions over MSI (Metal-Support Interaction) catalysts such as Pt/TiO2. This model invokes O vacancies on the oxide support surface, formed by electron transfer from the oxide to the metal across Schottky junctions established at the metal-support interface, as the active sites in this reaction. The similar work functions of Pt and Au should establish similar vacancy concentrations, and O2 chemisorption indicated their presence. However, these Au catalysts were completely inactive for CO and acetone hydrogenation, and ethylene hydrogenation rates were lower on the supported Au catalysts than on the supports alone. Consequently, this model cannot explain the high rate of the two former reactions over TiO2-supported Pt although it does not contradict models invoking specialinterfacial sites.
The expressive power of stratified logic programs

The study of negation in logic programming has been the topic of substantial research activity during the past several years, starting with the negation as failure semantics in Clark (1978), and Apt and van Emden (1982). More recently, a major direction of research has focused on the class of stratified logic programs, in which no predicate is defined recursively in terms of its own negation and which can be given natural semantics in terms of iterated fixpoints. Stratified logic programs were introduced and studied first by Chandra and Hare1 (1985), but soon attracted the interest of researchers from both database theory and artificial intelligence. Recent research work on stratified logic programs and their generalizations includes the papers by Apt, Blair, and Walker (1988), Van Gelder (1986) Lifschitz (1988), Przymusinski (1988), Apt and Pugin (1987) and others. At the same time, stratified logic programs became the choice for the treatment of negation in the NAIL ! system developed at Stanford University by Ullman and his co-workers (cf. Morris
Privacy-preserving publishing microdata with full functional dependencies

Data publishing has generated much concern on individual privacy. Recent work has shown that different background knowledge can bring various threats to the privacy of published data. In this paper, we study the privacy threat from the full functional dependency (FFD) that is used as part of adversary knowledge. We show that the cross-attribute correlations by FFDs (e.g., Phone->Zipcode) can bring potential vulnerability. Unfortunately, none of the existing anonymization principles (e.g., k-anonymity, @?-diversity, etc.) can effectively prevent against an FFD-based privacy attack. We formalize the FFD-based privacy attack and define the privacy model, (d,@?)-inference, to combat the FD-based attack. We distinguish the safe FFDs that will not jeopardize privacy from the unsafe ones. We design robust algorithms that can efficiently anonymize the microdata with low information loss when the unsafe FFDs are present. The efficiency and effectiveness of our approach are demonstrated by the empirical study.
Structure-Guided Design of A3 Adenosine Receptor-Selective Nucleosides: Combination of 2-Arylethynyl and Bicyclo[3.1.0]hexane Substitutions

(N)-Methanocarba adenosine 5′-methyluronamides containing known A3 AR (adenosine receptor)-enhancing modifications, i.e., 2-(arylethynyl)adenine and N6-methyl or N6-(3-substituted-benzyl), were nanomolar full agonists of human (h) A3AR and highly selective (Ki ∼0.6 nM, N6-methyl 2-(halophenylethynyl) analogues 13 and 14). Combined 2-arylethynyl-N6-3-chlorobenzyl substitutions preserved A3AR affinity/selectivity in the (N)-methanocarba series (e.g., 3,4-difluoro full agonist MRS5698 31, Ki 3 nM, human and mouse A3) better than that for ribosides. Polyaromatic 2-ethynyl N6-3-chlorobenzyl analogues, such as potent linearly extended 2-p-biphenylethynyl MRS5679 34 (Ki hA3 3.1 nM; A1, A2A, inactive) and fluorescent 1-pyrene adduct MRS5704 35 (Ki hA3 68.3 nM), were conformationally rigid; receptor docking identified a large, mainly hydrophobic binding region. The vicinity of receptor-bound C2 groups was probed by homology modeling based on recent X-ray structure of an agonist-bound A2AAR, with a predicted helica...
Mass spectrometric identification of the radical adducts of a fluorescamine-derivatized nitroxide.

The radical adducts of fluorescamine-derivatized 3-aminomethyl-2,2,5,5-tetrarnethyl-1-pyrrolidinyloxy free radical are readily identified by mass spectrometry employing a solid source probe and electron impact ionization.
Computational study of keto–enol equilibria of tropolone in gas and aqueous solution phase

Abstract Density functional theory calculations employing the B3LYP exchange-correlation functional, as well as Hartree–Fock computations, were performed on 2-hydroxy-2,4,6-cycloheptatrien-1-one (tropolone) and 3,5- and 3,6-cycloheptadiene-1,2-dione in gas and aqueous solution phases in order to determine the equilibrium constant for keto to enol interconversion of the isomers of C 7 H 6 O 2 . Two standard basis sets were used throughout, namely 6-311++G ∗∗ and aug-cc-pVDZ. Solvent effects were modelled using two different self-consistent reaction field approaches – the Onsager dipole and the polarizable continuum models (PCM). In addition, the G3 method was used for calculations on species in the gas phase. Molecular geometries were fully optimized at each model chemistry, and it was found that the two keto isomers are always higher in energy than the enol form. From the results of B3LYP/6-311++G ∗∗ calculations of the difference in Gibbs free energy in the gas phase and using PCM, the relative p K values for the 2-hydroxy-2,4,6-cycloheptatrien-1-one ⇆ 3,5- and 3,6-cycloheptadiene-1,2-dione system are 13.75 (g), 15.78 (g) and 13.05 (aq) and 13.45 (aq), respectively. That equilibrium is tilted almost exclusively in the direction of tropolone is due to resonance stabilization of the enol as a result of aromaticity, and is most easily understood on the basis of elementary Huckel theory.
Energy transport in high temperature and reacting gases

Abstract Methods presently available for estimating convective and conductive heat transfer in high temperature gases are reviewed, emphasizing the role of viscosity and thermal conductivity. Examination of engineering heat transfer correlations shows that large errors in thermal conductivity and viscosity lead to considerably smaller errors in heat transfer coefficient provided transport properties are obtained by techniques derived from rigorous kinetic theory. Because uncertainties in high temperature transport properties arise largely as a result of uncertainties in collision cross-sections, methods of estimating these cross-sections are considered; estimates show encouraging agreement with experiment for both stable and unstable species. Approximate formulas for viscosity and conductivity of mixtures are compared with rigorous formulas and with experiment. Heat conduction in reacting gases is then considered; in such mixtures the diffusional transport of chemical enthalpy may lead to thermal conductivities an order of magnitude greater than in similar, but nonreacting gases. Theoretical predictions of the equilibrium conductivity compare favorably with experimental data for the nitrogen tetroxide and hydrogen fluoride systems. When chemical reaction rates are not high enough to maintain chemical equilibrium locally in a temperature gradient, theory shows that the effective thermal conductivity is related to the ratio of a diffusion time to the chemical relaxation time; low pressure data for the nitrogen tetroxide system are in accord with this analysis. Finally it is shown that experimental convective heat transfer in practical systems can be treated by these methods. It is concluded that methods for calculating high-temperature heat transfer are in many respects well developed, so that rigorous calculations of the transport properties are often justified.
Applied Anthropology and the Grade Schools.

During the summer of 1970, 18 sixth-grade teachers in Iowa City were recruited and trained to teach "Man: A Course of Study" (MACOS). In order to test what kind of training experience is best for teachers using these materials we divided the group into three. One was given a three-week intensive workshop in anthropology, another was given a one-week intensive workshop in the use of the prepared materials, and the third group received both. During the academic year 1970-71, these 18 teachers introduced MACOS into 14 grade schools in Iowa City. Pretests and posttests were given the children in order to evaluate the amount of learning which occurred. In addition, video tapes were made of the teachers as they developed various themes in the course.We had expected that the combination of anthropology plus the one-week familiarization with MACOS materials would be the best preparation. However, we found that the teachers having anthropology alone did better than those with the combination course. This paper wil...
Think global, act local: A protocol analysis comparison of artists' and nonartists' cognitions, metacognitions, and evaluations while drawing.

Previous investigations of artists’ creative problem solving have mainly studied observable behaviors. To more richly examine artists’ thinking, concurrent verbal protocols from 23 artists and 23 nonartists creating original drawings were analyzed. Parsed clauses were reliably coded into categories representing cognitive processes (descriptions, plans, goals), metacognitive processes (comparing different points in time, considering hypothetical plans, monitoring progress, etc.), and evaluations (positive, negative, uncertain, neutral). Artists and nonartists were compared on the proportion of statements in each category, both prior to and while drawing. Overall, both groups’ protocols were dominated by descriptions, followed by plans, and more distantly by goals and metagoals. Evaluations were also common, comprising about 25% of statements in each group. During drawing, artists made more goal, more positive evaluations, and fewer negative evaluations than did nonartists. Artists also engaged in more metacognition having to do with monitoring the emerging progress of the drawing. Results are largely consistent with earlier findings in the expertise literature, suggesting it is a profitable framework for understanding artistic creativity.
650 DIFFERING PATTERNS OF INTESTINAL MOTILITY IN CHILDREN WITH CHRONIC CONSTIPATION AND ENCOPRESIS

Studies of colonic and rectal motility in children with constipation and encopresis have given conflicting results; the role of small intestinal motility has not been investigated. We studied mouth-to-colon transit time, colon transit time and the rectoanal reflex in 9 patients (2F, 7M age 8.8 ± .5 yr) with eneopresis. All had significant fecal retention by an x-ray scoring system (Barr et al. Clin Pediatr 18:674) compared to age-matched sibling controls (p 5 d). There were no differences between these 2 groups for resting sphincter pressure (95 ± 14 vs. 85 ± 11 mmHg) or anal sphincter length (2.9 ± .4 vs. 2.6 ± .4 cm). An inhibitory reflex in the proximal anal sphincter was present in all patients. 7/9 patients had a delayed (>5 sec) contractile reflex in the distal anal sphincter following proximal relaxation. CONCLUSIONS: (1) Children with constipation and encopresis have normal small intestinal transit time. (2) They are a diverse group with variable disorders of colonic motility. (3) Disordered external sphincter function may be an important mechanism in encopresis.