cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Integration of concurrent collection of plasma into a plateletpheresis program

We have reviewed our initial experience with a program of concurrent collection of plasma (CCP) during plateletpheresis, which was instituted to increase the number of units of fresh frozen plasma produced by our hospital-based donor service. Sixty percent of eligible donors (1,006 of 1,682) participated in CCP, and 21 donors subsequently dropped out of the program. Of these, only one of four first-time donors have returned, whereas the majority of established plateletpheresis donors (16 of 17) have continued to donate platelets. Additional plasma was collected at a minimum of 8-week intervals on the Fenwal CS-3000 Plus or COBE Spectra without a change in the requirements for donor testing or the collection procedure. The quality of these platelet products was compared to that of those donated without CCP. There was a small decrease in platelet yield for products with CCP on the CS-3000 Plus (mean yield 4.5 x 10(11) with CCP versus 4.9 x 10(11) without CCP, P < .01). No negative effects were seen on the percentage of products with a minimum yield of 3 x 10(11) platelets or on leukocyte contamination. In addition, there was no difference in the rate of adverse donor reactions. During a 12-month interval, CCP provided 34% (3,798 of 11,266 units) of all fresh frozen plasma for our hospital without additional staff or equipment. The results of this retrospective study suggest that CCP merits further evaluation.
Values, technologies, and epistemology

The aim of this paper is to make possible dialogue between those who claim that technologies are coded with social, political, or ethical values and those who argue that they are value-neutral. To demonstrate the relevance of this bridge-building project, the controversy regarding agrifood biotechnology will be used as a case study. Drawing on work by L. H. Nelson about the nature of human knowledge-building enterprises and E. F. Kittay’s account of the relationally-constituted self, the argument will be made that all technologies embody the values of the communities that created them.
Thermodynamics of simultaneous-excitonic-superconductivity condensate

Abstract We have obtained the relationship between T c and the total excitation gap Δ T evaluated at the Fermi surface. A two-step specific heat jump can be consistently explained by the model. A quantitative agreement to the observed second specific heat jump for YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7- x is obtained.
Evolution of clupeine Z, a probable crossover product.

BLACK and Dixon1 have presented an interesting and provocative view of the possible evolutionary history of three protamines of the Pacific herring, Clupea pallasi, the clupeines YI, YII and Z beginning with an archetypal pentapeptide. I wish to propose an alternative explanation.
Crystallization tendency of active pharmaceutical ingredients following rapid solvent evaporation—classification and comparison with crystallization tendency from undercooled melts

ABSTRACT In this study, the crystallization behavior of a variety of compounds was studied following rapid solvent evaporation using spin coating. Initial screening to determine model compound suitability was performed using a structurally diverse set of 51 compounds in three different solvent systems [dichloromethane (DCM), a 1:1 (w/w) dichloromethane/ethanol mixture (MIX), and ethanol (EtOH)]. Of this starting set of 153 drug-solvent combinations, 93 (40 compounds) were selected for further evaluation based on solubility, chemical solution stability, and processability criteria. These systems were spin coated and their crystallization was monitored using polarized light microscopy (7days, dry conditions). The crystallization behavior of the samples could be classified as rapid (Class I: 39 cases), intermediate (Class II: 23 cases), or slow (Class III: 31 cases). The solvent system employed influenced the classification outcome for only four of the compounds. The various compounds showed very diverse crystallization behavior. Upon comparison of classification results with those of a previous study, where cooling from the melt was used as a preparation technique 1 , a good similarity was found whereby 68% of the cases were identically classified. Multivariate analysis was performed using a set of relevant physicochemical compound characteristics. It was found that a number of these parameters tended to differ between the different classes. These could be further interpreted in terms of the nature of the crystallization process. Additional multivariate analysis on the separate classes of compounds indicated some potential in predicting the crystallization tendency of a given compound. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association J Pharm Sci 99:3826-3838, 2010.
Degradation of mutated bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor in the yeast vacuole suggests post-endoplasmic reticulum protein quality control

The rate-limiting step in protein secretion is folding, which occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) lumen, and almost all secreted proteins contain disulfide bonds that form in the ER and stabilize the native state. Secreted proteins unable to fold may aggregate or they may be subject to ER-associated protein degradation. To examine the fate of aberrant forms of a well characterized, disulfide-bonded secreted protein, we expressed bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor in yeast. Bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor is a single domain, 58-amino acid polypeptide containing three disulfide bonds, and yeast cells secrete the wild type protein. In contrast, the Y35L mutant, which folds rapidly but is unstable, remains soluble and is not secreted. Surprisingly, the proteolysis of Y35L is unaffected in yeast containing mutations in genes encoding factors required for ER-associated protein degradation and is stable if artificially retained in the ER. Rather, Y35L is diverted from the Golgi to the vacuole and degraded. Because only the mutant protein is quantitatively proteolyzed these data suggest that a post-ER quality control check-point diverts unstable proteins to the vacuole for degradation.
Neural network ensemble strategies for financial decision applications

Considerable research effort has been expended to identify more accurate models for decision support systems in financial decision domains including credit scoring and bankruptcy prediction. The focus of this earlier work has been to identify the "single best" prediction model from a collection that includes simple parametric models, nonparametric models that directly estimate data densities, and nonlinear pattern recognition models such as neural networks. Recent theories suggest this work may be misguided in that ensembles of predictors provide more accurate generalization than the reliance on a single model. This paper investigates three recent ensemble strategies: crossvalidation, bagging, and boosting. We employ the multilayer perceptron neural network as a base classifier. The generalization ability of the neural network ensemble is found to be superior to the single best model for three real world financial decision applications.
Evidence for sustained ATP release from liver cells that is not mediated by vesicular exocytosis

Extracellular ATP regulates many important cellular functions in the liver by stimulating purinergic receptors. Recent studies have shown that rapid exocytosis of ATP-enriched vesicles contributes to ATP release from liver cells. However, this rapid ATP release is transient, and ceases in ~30 s after the exposure to hypotonic solution. The purpose of these studies was to assess the role of vesicular exocytosis in sustained ATP release. An exposure to hypotonic solution evoked sustained ATP release that persisted for more than 15 min after the exposure. Using FM1-43 (N-(3-triethylammoniumpropyl)-4-(4-(dibutylamino)styryl)pyridinium dibromide) fluorescence to measure exocytosis, we found that hypotonic solution stimulated a transient increase in FM1-43 fluorescence that lasted ~2 min. Notably, the rate of FM1-43 fluorescence and the magnitude of ATP release were not correlated, indicating that vesicular exocytosis may not mediate sustained ATP release from liver cells. Interestingly, mefloquine potently inhibited sustained ATP release, but did not inhibit an increase in FM1-43 fluorescence evoked by hypotonic solution. Consistent with these findings, when exocytosis of ATP-enriched vesicles was specifically stimulated by 5-nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)benzoic acid (NPPB), mefloquine failed to inhibit ATP release evoked by NPPB. Thus, mefloquine can pharmacologically dissociate sustained ATP release and vesicular exocytosis. These results suggest that a distinct mefloquine-sensitive membrane ATP transport may contribute to sustained ATP release from liver cells. This novel mechanism of membrane ATP transport may play an important role in the regulation of purinergic signaling in liver cells.
Changes in spontaneous speech associated with therapy hiatus: a retrospective study:

Three single-subject case studies were used to determine if language skills regress following extended breaks from therapy. Language samples were elicited from three preschool language-impaired males following four alternating periods of therapy and no therapy. The samples, which were analysed for a variety of linguistic measures, indicated that regression usually did not occur following breaks from therapy. In fact, many measures evidenced substantial improvement.
Training an artificial neural network to discriminate between magnetizing inrush and internal faults

A feedforward neural network (FFNN) has been trained to discriminate between power transformer magnetizing inrush and fault currents. The training algorithm used was backpropagation, assuming initially a sigmoid transfer function for the network's processing units ("neurons"). Once the network was trained the units' transfer function was changed to hard limiters with thresholds equal to the biases obtained for the sigmoids during training. The off-line experimental results presented in this paper show that a FFNN may be considered as an alternative method to make the discrimination between inrush and fault currents in a digital relay implementation. >
Fibroblasts From Type 1 Diabetics Exhibit Enhanced Ca2+ Mobilization after TNF or Fat Exposure

The effects of cytokine and fatty acid treatment on signal transduction in dermal fibroblasts from type 1 diabetics and matched controls were compared. Chronic exposure to TNF, accentuated Ca2+ mobilization in response to bradykinin (BK) in cells from both controls and diabetics; responses were three-fold greater in cells from diabetics than in controls. Similarly, with chronic exposure to IL-1β, BK-induced Ca2+ mobilization was accentuated in cells from type 1 diabetics compared to the controls. Pretreatment with the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide or the protein kinase C inhibitor calphostin C prior to the addition of TNF completely abrogated the TNF-induced increment in peak bradykinin response. Ca2+ transients induced by depleting endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca2+ with thapsigargin were also greater in TNF treated fibroblasts than in untreated cells, with greater increases in cells from diabetics. Exposing fibroblasts for 48 hours to 2 mM oleate also increased both the peak bradykinin response and the TNF-induced increment in peak response, which were significantly greater in diabetics than controls. These data indicate that cells from diabetic patients acquire elevated ER Ca2+ stores in response to both cytokines and free fatty acids,and thus exhibit greater sensitivity to environmental inflammatory stimuli and elevated lipids.
Won with Blood: Archaeology and Labor’s Struggle

Traditionally when Americans went to work they expected that they would earn a reasonable wage, work in a safe environment, put in a 40 h week, collect paid vacation days, earn sick leave, have the right to organize and receive health and retirement benefits. Increasingly, however, fewer and fewer workers receive these rights and today only a minority of people in the United States work under these conditions. The decline in real wages, benefits, rights and safety experienced by twenty-first century American workers has correlated with a decline in organized labor. Corporations and the right have assailed unions to erode worker’s rights and “increase competitiveness” in a globalized, neo-liberal, capitalist, world. The attacks on unions spring from a monstrous lie, that politicians and corporations gave labor these benefits and thus workers no longer need unions. On the battlefield of public policy, these assaults on organized labor work in a fundamentally ideological way that calls the continued existence of unions into question. In this paper, I will discuss how archaeological studies of labor’s struggle can reveal that contrary to the monstrous lie, workers and their families won worker’s rights with blood and that solidarity and organization remain essential to maintain these rights. The paper begins with the present state of labor’s struggle and looks to the past to consider its preconditions. Archaeologists have studied strikes, the lived experience of working class life and class war to study history backwards and these studies contribute to the labor’s struggle for the future.
Mixed Alkali Halide Dilution Matrices for Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Spectrometry: Effect of Particle Size

Diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectra of coal diluted in two different alkali halide matrices were compared. Pure KBr and mixed CsI/KBr were tested for use as dilution matrices. When the variable of particle size was controlled, KBr was found to be the better diluent.
Interpretation of methane adsorption on activated carbon by nonisothermal and isothermal calculations

Experimental breakthrough curves for methane absorption on activated carbon are analyzed using isothermal and nonisothermal models. Interaction of heat and mass transfer effects vary from being almost negligible to being quite pronounced. Some rather large radial temperature gradients were measured in the bed. In spite of these, the fit of the experimental data to the nonisothermal model is reasonably good. Stability problems in the nonisothermal solution are discussed. On analyse les courbes experimentales de percee (breakthrough) pour l'adsorption du methane par du carbone active en utilisant des modeles isothermiques ou non. Les effets de l'action mutuelle entre la transmission de chaleur et celle de masse varient d'une valeur pratiquement nulle a une tres prononcee. On a mesure dans le lit certains gradients plutot eleves de temperature radiate; en depit de ceux-ci, l'adaptation des resultats experimentaux aux modeles non-isothermiques est assez bonne. On discute les problemes de stabilite dans la solution non-isothermique.
Influence of metabolic syndrome on biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation in obese adults.

Objective: Both obesity and the metabolic syndrome (MetS) have been independently linked with increased oxidative and inflammatory stress. This study tested the hypothesis that obesity with MetS is associated with greater oxidative and inflammatory burden compared with obesity alone. Research Methods and Procedures: Forty-eight normal-weight and 40 obese (20 without MetS; 20 with MetS) adults were studied. MetS was defined according to National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. Plasma concentrations of oxidized low-density lipoprotein, C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-18 were determined by enzyme immunoassay. Results: Plasma biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation were lowest in normal-weight controls. Of note, obese MetS adults demonstrated significantly higher plasma concentrations of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (62.3 ± 3.2 vs. 54.0 ± 4.0 U/L; p < 0.05), C-reactive protein (3.0 ± 0.6 vs. 1.5 ± 0.3 mg/L; p < 0.01), tumor necrosis factor-α (2.1 ± 0.1 vs. 1.6 ± 0.1 pg/mL; p < 0.05), IL-6 (2.8 ± 0.4 vs. 1.4 ± 0.2 pg/mL; p < 0.01), and IL-18 (253 ± 16 vs. 199 ± 16 pg/mL; p < 0.01), compared with obese adults without MetS. Discussion: These results suggest that MetS heightens oxidative stress and inflammatory burden in obese adults. Increased oxidative and inflammatory stress may contribute to the greater risk of coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease in obese adults with MetS.
Inflation : A graceful entrance from loop quantum cosmology

The evolution of a scalar field is explored taking into account the presence of a background fluid in a positively curved universe in the framework of loop quantum cosmology. Though the mechanism that provides the initial conditions for inflation extensively studied in the literature is still available in this setup, it demands that the initial kinetic energy of the field be comparable to the energy density of the background fluid if the field is initially situated at the minimum of the potential. It is found, however, that for potentials with a minimum such as the chaotic inflation model, there is an additional mechanism that can provide the correct initial conditions for successful inflation even if initially the kinetic energy of the field is subdominant by many orders of magnitude. In this latter mechanism the field switches direction when the Universe is still in the expanding phase. The kinetic energy gained while the field rolls down the potential is subsequently enhanced when the Universe enters the collapsing phase pushing the field one step up the potential. This behavior is repeated on every cycle of contraction and expansion of the Universe until the field becomes dominant and inflation follows.
Salience of Initial Ratings and Attitude Change in the "Forbidden Toy" Paradigm:

The effects of level of initial attitude salience and severity of threat on attitude change were assessed utilizing the forbidden toy paradigm. Second and third grade children were warned to refrain from playing with a preferred toy, using either a mild or severe threat. Initial attitude salience was varied by having a second experimenter either show the subjects their initial rating during the temptation period or not. A significant interaction between threat and salience was obtained when derogation scores were analysed. With mild threat, increased salience led to increased derogation of the forbidden toy. With severe threat, increased salience had no effect on derogation.
STEADY-STATE THERMAL STRESSES IN AN ELASTIC CONE

Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit der Bestimmung der stationaren Warmespannungen, die in einem elastischen Kreiskegel durch eine unstetige Verteilung der Oberflachentemperatur hervorgerufen werden. Die Temperatur der Mantelflache wird oberhalb und unterhalb einer festen Entfernung von der Kegelspitze konstant angenommen. Das zugehorige Warmeleitungsproblem wurde in einer fruheren Veroffentlichung unabhangig gelost. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird eine strenge Losung fur die gesuchten Warmespannungen mit Hilfe der Mellin-Transformation hergeleitet. Das hier benutzte Verfahren ist auch anwendbar auf das gewohnliche Randwertproblem fur einen elastischen Kegel, der durch eine entsprechende unstetige Oberflachenbelastung beansprucht wird.
Electron thermal propagator at p≫T: An entire function of p 0

The retarded electron propagator S_{R}(p_{0},p) at high momentum p>>T was shown by Blaizot and Iancu to be an entire function of complex p_{0}. In this paper a specific form for S_{R}(p_{0},p) is obtained and checked by showing that its temporal Fourier transform S_{R}(t, p) has the correct behavior at large t. Potential infrared and collinear divergences from the emission of soft photons do not occur.
Were Businessmen Afraid of FDR? A Comment on Mayer and Chatterji

where X equals one of six categories of investment spending and the S's are dummy variables representing the periods during which the political shocks were thought to have had their influence. The test of the importance of the political shocks consisted of examining the t-statistics for the dummy variables. They found that none of the five negative shocks had a statistically significant (at the 1 percent level) effect on any of the six categories of investment spending. The only result consistent with the hypothesis was that the sole positive shock-the 1938 election-had a statistically significant effect on one category of investment spending. Mayer and Chatterji rejected "[tihe hypothesis that political shocks were significant factors in generating the low level of investment in the 1930s."3 There are, however, several problems with their analysis. Their formulation of the political explanation for low investment specifies that it resulted from the shock of specific events during the New Deal period. A more common formulation has the low investment resulting more from a general political demoralization. Joseph Schumpeter provided the classic discussion:
Factors affecting the retention of Cs+ primary ions in Si

Abstract X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS), Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) along with MARLOWE and TRIM computer simulations were used to study the retention of Cs + primary ions in Si substrates during sputtering. Cs concentrations were found to depend on (a) primary ion energy, (b) primary ion incidence angle, and (c) sputtering time (within the transient region). With the exception of the XPS and RBS data collected as a function of Cs + impact energy, Cs concentration variations, Δ[Cs], appear to correlate with sputter yield variations, ΔSY, via Δ[Cs] ∝ 1/(ΔSY+1). Computer simulations reveal variations in Cs + scattering with impact energy, etc. This and/or self sputtering may explain the inconsistencies noted with impact energy.
Polarimetric measurements of long-wave infrared spectral radiance from water

Polarimetric measurements of the thermal infrared spectral radiance from water are reported and are compared with calculations from a recently published model over the spectral range of 600–1600 cm-1 (6.25–16.67-µm wavelength). In this spectral range, warm water viewed under a dry, clear atmosphere appears vertically polarized by 6–12%. The measured spectral degree of polarization agrees with calculations within the measurement uncertainty (∼0.5% polarization in spectral regions with high atmospheric transmittance and 1.5% polarization in spectral regions with low atmospheric transmittance). Uncertainty also arises from temporal changes in water and air temperatures between measurements at orthogonal polarization states, indicating the desirability of simultaneous measurements for both polarization states.
Policy Update: Biofuels: the future is in the air

Most of the research and press on biofuels has been on biofuels for on-road vehicles, particularly ethanol in automobiles. In fact, the development of the corn and sugarcane ethanol industry has di...
University–industry engagement: The formation of the Knowledge Integration Community (KIC) model at the Cambridge-MIT Institute

Abstract Many countries are seeking to strengthen global economic competitiveness by building a ‘knowledge economy’ capability. A popular approach is supporting university–industry knowledge exchange linkages. The purpose of this paper is to show how a model developed by the Cambridge-MIT Institute (CMI) for the UK offers a more effective approach to knowledge sharing, and to present the results from one of the first projects launched by CMI. CMI looked at the background literature and relevant government policy, benchmarked peer grant-making organisations, studied the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cambridge University institutions, and organized expert consultation through a strategic planning process including 27 stakeholder groups. Based on these inputs, CMI formulated its Knowledge Integration Community (KIC) model hypothesis. This paper describes the functional components, support mechanisms, organisational structure, review processes and mechanisms for knowledge exchange. Beginning in 2003, CMI built seven experimental KICs: five completely new, and two built up from existing, more traditional research projects. One of these is the Silent Aircraft KIC, which is presented as a case study. The paper makes an early analysis of the outcomes and additionalities of the KIC, and presents the lessons and future implications for the KIC. The paper concludes by describing the broader relevance of this approach for other institutions and countries, and suggests it is something other university-, government- and industry-based research institutions could embark upon.
The development of a mechanistic model to investigate the impacts of the light dynamics on algal productivity in a Hydraulically Integrated Serial Turbidostat Algal Reactor (HISTAR)

Abstract A deterministic model was developed to predict microalgal productivity within the Hydraulically Integrated Serial Turbidostat Algal Reactor (HISTAR). HISTAR consists of two turbidostats, which concomitantly inoculate the first of a series of CFSTRs. The CFSTRs function as a biomass amplifier of the inoculated culture. The model included an analysis of the internal light dynamics within each CFSTR and the effect of the instantaneous average irradiance ( I a n (PAR)) on the instantaneous growth rate ( μ n ) within CFSTR n . The latter effect was accomplished using Steele's equation. The instantaneous average irradiance was determined by integrating the Lambert–Beer Law over the depth of the culture within the CFSTRs. Fourier series analysis was used to model the biorhythms of the microalgae. The model was calibrated for biomass using four data sets collected at system dilution rates ( D s ) of 0.265 day −1 , 0.385 day −1 , 0.641 day −1 and 1.127 day −1 . The ability of the calibrated model to simulate daily volumetric productivity ( P v ) within HISTAR was determined through calculation of the percent standard error of prediction. The overall mean for the four data sets was 24.8%. The average predicted productivity for the data sets was 24.2 g m −3 day −1 (16.2 g m −2 day −1 ) and the average actual productivity of the data sets were 25.5 g m −3 day −1 (19.9 g m −2 day −1 ), resulting in only a 5.1% error. Simulations produced by the calibrated model were used to estimate the optimum D s (between 0.641 day −1 and 0.884 day −1 ). The model predicted a P v of 70.2 g m −3 day −1 ( P a = 46.8 g m −2 day −1 ) at optimum D s . The maximum P a observed in the model simulations was 39.9 g m −2 day −1 .
Energy spectrum of 20Ne using Hartree-Fock and Tamm-Dancoff wave functions

Abstract The energy spectrum of the excited 0+ band has been calculated by projecting out good angular momentum states from a Tamm-Dancoff intrinsic state. The admixture between the projected Tamm-Dancoff and Hartree-Fock states has also been calculated and its effect turns out to be negligible except for the 0+ and 4+ states.
Temperature dependence of high-resolution electron-energy-loss spectroscopy of the hole plasmon at heavily doped p-type GaAs(110) surfaces

The effect of the temperature on high-resolution electron-energy-loss spectroscopy of the valence-band hole plasmon has been studied at the cleaved (110) surface of heavily doped p-type GaAs (${\mathit{n}}_{\mathit{H}}$=2.2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{19}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}3}$). We observed significant changes of the energy position and width of the surface-hole-plasmon peak with temperature from 80 to 300 K. This temperature effect is reversible, and found to be correlated to the temperature dependence of surface scattering processes, in conjunction with the kinematic factor.
Interaction with Gβγ Is Required for Membrane Targeting and Palmitoylation of Gαs and Gαq

Peripheral membrane proteins utilize a variety of mechanisms to attach tightly, and often reversibly, to cellular membranes. The covalent lipid modifications, myristoylation and palmitoylation, are critical for plasma membrane localization of heterotrimeric G protein α subunits. For αs and αq, two subunits that are palmitoylated but not myristoylated, we examined the importance of interacting with the G protein βγ dimer for their proper plasma membrane localization and palmitoylation. Conserved α subunit N-terminal amino acids predicted to mediate binding to βγ were mutated to create a series of βγ binding region mutants expressed in HEK293 cells. These αs and αq mutants were found in soluble rather than particulate fractions, and they no longer localized to plasma membranes as demonstrated by immunofluorescence microscopy. The mutations also inhibited incorporation of radiolabeled palmitate into the proteins and abrogated their signaling ability. Additional αq mutants, which contain these mutations but are modified by both myristate and palmitate, retained their localization to plasma membranes and ability to undergo palmitoylation. These findings identify binding to βγ as a critical membrane attachment signal for αs and αq and as a prerequisite for their palmitoylation, while myristoylation can restore membrane localization and palmitoylation of βγ binding-deficient αq subunits.
Floating image device with autostereoscopic display and viewer-tracking technology

Now, numerous types of 3D display have been developed or under-developing. However, most of them present stereoscopic images in a space with limited distance from the physical screen. A display which can deliver stereoscopic images in the free space and satisfies the touching sense of viewers is always expected. As a result, we proposed a floating image device with auto-stereoscopic display and viewer tracking technology. The key technology includes that the optical projected lenses with wide view angle which exceeds 30 degrees, the optimized parameters of 2 views auto-stereoscopic display which fits the viewing specifications and the viewer tracking technology which can update the corresponding image of the particular view angle in real time. The novel display is the other choice for consumers especially for product exhibition, user interface of kiosk and a kind of apparatus of video conference, etc.
Neuroendocrine regulation of salt and water balance in the crayfish Procambarus clarkii.

Abstract 1. 1. The injection of brain extracts into eyestalk-ligated, nephroporeplugged crayfish prevents to some extent the rapid increase in weight found in eyestalk-ligated, nephropore-plugged animals. 2. 2. The injection of brain or eyestalk extract into eyestalk-ligated crayfish prevents the decrease in chloride concentration of the blood found in eyestalkless animals. 3. 3. The blood osmotic and sodium concentrations of eyestalk-ligated animals increase more rapidly than normal animals when placed in a hyperosmotic medium. 4. 4. There is a greater flow of urine in eyestalk-ligated animals as compared to normal animals. 5. 5. It is suggested that a brain-eyestalk neuroendocrine system is involved in the regulation of salt and water balance in crayfish.
Importance of substrate variability to enzyme polymorphism.

For several years geneticists have argued about the evolutionary role of natural variation at enzyme loci. Many hold that evolution at the molecular level involves a significant amount of random genetic variation, gene alternatives being selectively equivalent or nearly so1, 2. Others claim that existing data argue against this hypothesis3, 4. One critical prediction of the hypothesis is subject to objective evaluation: levels of genetically “neutral” variation at observed enzyme loci should be random with respect to the function of those loci, if the function of the loci is not affected by the variation. Gillespie and his colleagues5, 6 pointed out that some functional classes of enzymes seem to show far more polymorphic variation than others. Since then many more data have been published. Because the observation of Gillespie et al. argue strongly against the variation being selectively neutral, it is important that the much larger body of data now available be evaluated.
Enhanced defense against mitochondrial hydrogen peroxide attenuates age-associated cognition decline

Increased mitochondrial hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is associated with Alzheimer's disease and brain aging. Peroxiredoxin 3 (Prdx3) is the key mitochondrial antioxidant defense enzyme in detoxifying H2O2. To investigate the importance of mitochondrial H2O2 in age-associated cognitive decline, we compared cognition between aged (17-19 months) APP transgenic mice and APP/Prdx3 double transgenic mice (dTG) and between old (24 months) wild-type mice and Prdx3 transgenic mice (TG). Compared with aged APP mice, aged dTG mice showed improved cognition that was correlated with reduced brain amyloid beta levels and decreased amyloid beta production. Old TG mice also showed significantly increased cognitive ability compared with old wild-type mice. Both aged dTG mice and old TG mice had reduced mitochondrial oxidative stress and increased mitochondrial function. Moreover, CREB signaling, a signaling pathway important for cognition was enhanced in both aged dTG mice and old TG mice. Thus, our results indicate that mitochondrial H2O2 is a key culprit of age-associated cognitive impairment, and that a reduction of mitochondrial H2O2 could improve cognition by maintaining mitochondrial health and enhancing CREB signaling.
Red Fluorescing Phototrophic Picoplankton in the Laurentian Great Lakes: What Are They and What Are They Doing?

Epifluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry, and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the community of red fluorescing (emission > 665 nm when excited with blue light) phototrophic picoplankton (RFPP) in lakes Huron and Michigan. A population of coccoid to ovate eukaryotic cells with a mean size of 1.2 J.1.Ill dominated the RFPP community in both surface and deep water samples. Abundant prochlorophyte populations were not found in any samples. Com­ parisons of counts with epifluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry, revealed that RFPP were adequately enumerated with standard epifluorescence microscopy. These RFPP were significant contributors to total phototrophic picoplankton abundance in both lakes Michigan (24 %) and Huron (18 %), with maximum seasonal abundance during the May-June period (surface mixing layer temperatures, 3-9 °C). During thermal Stratification, maximum venical abundance was found in the metalimnion/hypolimnion at the 1-5% isolumes. RFPP were only minor contributors (1-7 %) to total primary production. Growth rates of RFPP measured with dilution· and small inocula growth experiments ranged from 0.05-1.0 d-1. Microzooplankton grazing rates on RFPP measured with dilution experiments were similar to estimated growth rates, accounting for 52-280% of growth on any given date.
A 16-Mbit/s adapter chip for the IBM token-ring local area network

The authors describe a 9.02*9.02-mm chip built in 1- mu m CMOS with two levels of metal and an additional mask level for fabricating capacitors. It contains both analog and digital circuits and has provisions for self-test. The function includes the transmitter, receiver, protocol handler, an microprocessor, as well as interfaces for RAM/ROM storage, IBM PC bus, IBM PS/2 bus, IBM 3174 bus, and Motorola 68000 bus. The physical design terrains are formed by 24K circuits of standard cell gates, a 10K-circuit equivalent hand-honed custom microprocessor, and an analog macro. The chip operates from a single 5-V supply, and the power consumption is 0.8 W nominal at 16 Mb/s. The chip can also be operated at 4 Mb/s. >
High-Density Lipoprotein NO Failure in Heart Failure

Despite numerous epidemiological studies demonstrating that high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels are inversely associated with cardiovascular risk,1–3 several lines of evidence now indicate that targeting HDL-C levels to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events is unlikely to be effective. Studies of pharmacological interventions to raise HDL-C, such as niacin4,5 and 2 cholesteryl ester transfer protein inhibitors,6,7 have shown no benefit in reducing cardiovascular events. In addition, data from a large Mendelian randomization study have shown that some genetic variants associated with HDL-C seem to have little relationship to coronary heart disease.8 As a result, there is currently skepticism about whether interventions specifically to raise HDL-C levels will decrease the risk of cardiovascular events. Article, see p 1345 This failure of the so-called HDL cholesterol hypothesis has been accompanied by a shift toward a more rigorous, basic understanding of HDL as a molecule with multiple functions that can be differentiated from simple measures of HDL cholesterol mass. One of the important functions of HDL is its role in promoting cellular cholesterol efflux and reverse cholesterol transport. Our group and others have shown that the capacity of HDL to promote cholesterol efflux from macrophages ex vivo is inversely related to the risk of coronary heart disease even after controlling for HDL-C levels.9,10 Furthermore, niacin therapy does not augment cholesterol efflux despite raising HDL levels in statin-treated patients,11 which could explain the lack of efficacy of niacin despite increased HDL-C levels. Although more studies are certainly warranted, one hypothesis is that therapies that improve cholesterol efflux capacity and reverse cholesterol transport, such as infusion of a reconstituted HDL12 composed of apolipoprotein A1 and phospholipids, may improve cardiovascular outcomes. Beyond promoting cholesterol efflux, HDL is known to have anti-inflammatory, …
Perturbation and candidate analysis to combat overfitting of gene expression microarray data

Analysis of gene expression microarray datasets presents the high risk of over-fitting (spurious patterns) because of their feature-rich but case-poor nature. This paper describes our ongoing efforts to develop a method to combat over-fitting and determine the strongest signal in the dataset. A GA-SVM hybrid along with Gaussian noise (manual noise gain) is used to discover feature sets of minimal size that accurately classifies the cases under cross-validation. Initial results on a colorectal cancer dataset shows that the strongest signal (modest number of candidates) can be found by a binary search.
The Ethnic Identity, Other-Group Attitudes, and Psychosocial Functioning of Asian American Emerging Adults from Two Contexts.

Drawing from two samples of Asian American emerging adults, one in an ethnicallyconcentrated context (n = 108) and the other in an ethnically-dispersed, mainly White context (n = 153), we examined (a) how ethnic identity and other-group attitudes were related to psychosocial functioning (i.e., depression, self-esteem, and connectedness to parents) and (b) how these relations were moderated by context. Results (direct effects) indicated that ethnic identity predicted more positive functioning in terms of self-esteem and connectedness to parents, whereas other-group attitudes predicted more positive functioning in terms of self-esteem and depression. Furthermore, moderated effects indicated that the links with other-group attitudes did not vary with context but that the links with ethnic identity did. Ethnic identity was linked to more positive functioning in terms of depression and connectedness to parents only for those in the ethnically-concentrated context. These findings demonstrate how different types...
Continental shelf surface thermal fronts in winter off the northeast US coast

Analysis of 12 years (1985–1996) of sea surface temperature (SST) imagery covering the shelf and slope off the northeast US coast has revealed the presence of persistent fronts in winter over the middle shelf. Ongoing work shows that similar fronts occur in other coastal regions, suggesting that these fronts are of more than regional interest. The satellite data from the US east coast make clear that these fronts, which are found with highest frequency in the vicinity of the 50 m isobath, separate cool water inshore from warmer outer shelf water. The temperature step across the fronts, a measure of the frontal strength, is negatively correlated with estimates of heat flux (latent plus sensible) indicating that winter surface cooling plays an important role in their formation. Although, generally, the fronts are oriented parallel to the bottom topography, the region around Nantucket Shoals is a location where fronts oriented in the crossisobath direction occur more often than elsewhere, suggesting that this area is one of enhanced crossisobath flow. The cross-isobath flow manifests itself in the form of cold tongues extending south and west from the shallowest part of the shoals. Historical hydrographic data from the shelf in winter indicate that the fronts typically have a salinity signal, with water on the inshore sides of the fronts having lower salinity and resulting lower density due to the controlling influence of salinity on density. Weak vertical stratification is often present inshore of the fronts suggesting that the fronts may represent the offshore edge of a freshened coastal zone. # 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Enzootic transmission of Babesia divergens among cottontail rabbits on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.

Specific ticks seem to locally serve as vector for characteristic microbial assemblages (guilds) comprising spirochetes, piroplasms, ehrlichiae, and arboviruses. Borrelia andersoni and Anaplasma phagocytophilum are intensely transmitted between cottontail rabbits. To test the hypothesis that a piroplasm may also be maintained in rabbits, we sampled these hosts from Nantucket Island, Massachusetts and tested their blood and tissues by a polymerase chain reaction for evidence of infection. Surprisingly, the agent of bovine redwater and of European human babesiosis, Babesia divergens, was detected in 16% of the rabbits sampled during 1998–2002 (>99% sequence similarity in the 18S ribosomal DNA). The vector of B. divergens on Nantucket appears to be Ixodes dentatus, a rabbit- and bird-feeding tick that may feed on humans. Although the risk of human infection appears to be minimal, an autochthonously acquired Kentucky case due to this rabbit agent was recently reported. Physicians should entertain the diagnosis of babesiosis due to B. divergens for severe hemolytic febrile syndromes in American patients exposed to sites where rabbits are common.
An experimental Mosaic interface to scientific information systems

The NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) information system, EOSDIS, is a key component for disseminating EOS instrument data. Within EOSDIS the Information Management System (IMS) provides access to products maintained at data archives distributed throughout the country. At the heart of the IMS graphical user interface is the widely accepted X11 display protocol. An important feature of X11 that has facilitated IMS prototyping is that it allows users to separate the host computer on which an application program runs from the host where the output is displayed. Running remote X11 applications in this manner is appealing to organizations that for one reason or another do not want to distribute and support software packages or release the source code for their applications. The drawback is the X11 network message traffic generated when an application is run remotely. The authors' work investigates the feasibility of eliminating X11 network traffic by using HTML+ and Mosaic to configure interfaces to information systems such as the NASA IMS. This approach offers advantages to both the information supplier and consumer. To the information consumer the system provides a single X11 software package which can communicate with any World Wide Web (WWW) information supplier. For the information supplier the approach will eliminate the need for X11 programming. >
The cardiomyocyte molecular clock, regulation of Scn5a, and arrhythmia susceptibility

The molecular clock mechanism underlies circadian rhythms and is defined by a transcription-translation feedback loop. Bmal1 encodes a core molecular clock transcription factor. Germline Bmal1 knockout mice show a loss of circadian variation in heart rate and blood pressure, and they develop dilated cardiomyopathy. We tested the role of the molecular clock in adult cardiomyocytes by generating mice that allow for the inducible cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of Bmal1 (iCSΔBmal1). ECG telemetry showed that cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of Bmal1 (iCSΔBmal1(-/-)) in adult mice slowed heart rate, prolonged RR and QRS intervals, and increased episodes of arrhythmia. Moreover, isolated iCSΔBmal1(-/-) hearts were more susceptible to arrhythmia during electromechanical stimulation. Examination of candidate cardiac ion channel genes showed that Scn5a, which encodes the principle cardiac voltage-gated Na(+) channel (Na(V)1.5), was circadianly expressed in control mouse and rat hearts but not in iCSΔBmal1(-/-) hearts. In vitro studies confirmed circadian expression of a human Scn5a promoter-luciferase reporter construct and determined that overexpression of clock factors transactivated the Scn5a promoter. Loss of Scn5a circadian expression in iCSΔBmal1(-/-) hearts was associated with decreased levels of Na(V)1.5 and Na(+) current in ventricular myocytes. We conclude that disruption of the molecular clock in the adult heart slows heart rate, increases arrhythmias, and decreases the functional expression of Scn5a. These findings suggest a potential link between environmental factors that alter the cardiomyocyte molecular clock and factors that influence arrhythmia susceptibility in humans.
Magnetic Gradient Sensor

In magnetic surveys it is often more useful to deal with the magnetic field gradients than with the field itself. This paper describes a device which measures magnetic field gradients directly and which is not influenced by uniform magnetic fields. Even if asymmetries exist in the device, the constant part of the magnetic field will appear as a signal with a frequency much different from the signal produced by the field gradients, and this can be easily filtered from the output. Test results on a research model are presented.
Repair of a Duplicate Mitral Valve in a Patient With Ascending Aortic Aneurysm and Bicuspid Aortic Valve

We present the case of a 48-year-old man presenting to the emergency department with acute onset of chest pain radiating to the back in the setting of a known ascending aortic aneurysm. Preoperative echocardiography revealed an incompetent duplicate mitral valve, with a medially directed eccentric 3+ jet of mitral regurgitation, and a bicuspid aortic valve. The patient was scheduled for aortic root and valve replacement with concurrent mitral valve repair. Intraoperative examination revealed an incompetent duplicate mitral valve separated from the physiologic mitral valve by a band of interatrial tissue. Successful repair was undertaken by oversewing the mitral valve. Postoperative echocardiography allowed for evaluation of this unique repair, which revealed no evidence of further mitral regurgitation and confirmed a successful repair of the mitral regurgitation without any need for an implantable device. Our goal is that this case and its positive treatment outcome, along with our three-dimensional echocardiographic images correlated with the intraoperative findings and photographs, will further the understanding of the diagnosis and treatment of this rare condition.