cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ethnicity, Comorbid Medical Conditions, and SARS-CoV-2 Test Cycle Thresholds in the Veteran Population.

It has been documented that African Americans have been significantly affected by COVID-19 infection due to systemic societal factors, which may lead to increases in comorbid medical history and subsequently vulnerability to having higher viral loads as measured by the cycle threshold/number (CT/CN) values by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Differences in CT/CN values by ethnicity and comorbid medical history could play an important role in public health research, particularly in elucidating the reasons for differential public health outcomes by ethnicity, as viral loads are known to correlate with disease severity. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding CT/CN values by ethnicity and comorbid medical history. Therefore, this study seeks to address this literature gap and its important implication for public health research. A retrospective review of all SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests collected at the regional Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) serving the Philadelphia area from March 17, 2020, to May 20, 2020, was performed to collect demographic information such as race, gender, and age. In addition, comorbid medical conditions, clinical course, and CT/CN values were obtained for the positive cases. There was a total of 1524 patients tested for SARS-CoV-2. A total of 713/1524 patients (46.8%) were African American. A total of 187/1524 patients (12%) had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 from which 139/187 (74%) were African American. African American patients required more intensive unit care. Both African Americans and other ethnicities had similar rates of comorbid medical conditions. On comparison of the ethnic groups, there were lower viral loads in African Americans on admission, though the difference was not statistically significant. African American Veterans tested positive at higher rates and require more ICU care, despite similar rates of comorbid illness and viral loads.
Adipose Stroma Accelerates the Invasion and Escape of Human Breast Cancer Cells from an Engineered Microtumor

Approximately 20–25% of human breast tumors are found within an adipose, rather than fibrous, stroma. Adipose stroma is associated with an increased risk of lymph node metastasis, but the causal association between adipose stroma and metastatic progression in human breast cancer remains unclear. We used micropatterned type I collagen gels to engineer ~3-mm-long microscale human breast tumors within a stroma that contains adipocytes and adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) (collectively, "adipose cells"). Invasion and escape of human breast cancer cells into an empty 120-μm-diameter lymphatic-like cavity was used to model interstitial invasion and vascular escape in the presence of adipose cell-derived factors for up to 16 days. We found that adipose cells hasten invasion and escape by 1–2 days and 2–3 days, respectively. These effects were mediated by soluble factors secreted by the adipose cells, and these factors acted directly on tumor cells. Surprisingly, tumor invasion and escape were more strongly induced by ASCs than by adipocytes. This work reveals that both adipocytes and ASCs accelerate the interstitial invasion and escape of human breast cancer cells, and sheds light on the link between adipose stroma and lymphatic metastasis in human breast cancer.
Six-Month Effectiveness of BNT162B2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine in a Large US Integrated Health System: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: Vaccine effectiveness (VE) studies have not differentiated the impact of Delta from potential waning immunity on recent observed reductions in effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infections. We evaluated overall and variant-specific effectiveness of BNT162b2 against SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19-related hospitalizations by time since vaccination among members of a large US healthcare system. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we analyzed electronic health records from Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) between Dec 14, 2020 – Aug 8, 2021 to assess BNT162b2 VE against SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19-related hospitalization. Effectiveness calculations were based on hazards ratios from adjusted Cox models. Findings: For fully vaccinated individuals, effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infections was 73% (95%CI: 72‒74) and against COVID-19-related hospitalizations was 90% (89‒92). Effectiveness against infections declined from 88% (86‒89) during the first month after full vaccination to 47% (43‒51) after ≥5 months. Among sequenced infections, VE against Delta was lower compared to VE against other variants (75% [71‒78] vs 91% [88‒92]). VE against Delta infections was high during the first month after full vaccination (93% [85‒97]) but declined to 53% [39‒65] at ≥4 months. VE against hospitalization for Delta for all ages was high overall (93%). Interpretation: Our results confirm high effectiveness of BNT162b2 against hospitalizations through roughly six months after being fully vaccinated, even in the face of widespread dissemination of Delta. Reductions in effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infections over time are likely primarily due to waning rather than Delta escaping vaccine protection. Trial Registration: NCT04848584 Funding: Pfizer Inc. Declaration of Interest: JMZ, SG, KP, FJA, LJ, and JMM are employees of and hold stock and/or stock options in Pfizer Inc. TBF holds stock in Pfizer Inc. SYT received research support from Pfizer during the conduct of this study. All other authors report no conflicts. Ethical Approval: The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the KPSC institutional review board, which waived requirement for informed consent (IRB#12816).
“I Felt It and I Let It Go”: Perspectives on Meditation and Emotional Regulation among Female Survivors of Interpersonal Trauma with Co-occurring Disorders

Emotional dysregulation poses significant challenges for women who have experienced trauma and can contribute to problems with substance use in an attempt to manage intense emotions and arousal. Various forms of meditation have shown benefits for improved awareness and management of emotions and offer a promising complementary treatment for women in residential substance use treatment who have histories of interpersonal traumas. This qualitative study explored lived experiences with meditation practice and emotional regulation among female trauma survivors with co-occurring substance use and mental disorders. Thirty-two trauma survivors participated in a six-week curriculum at their residential treatment program that included mindfulness, compassion, and loving-kindness meditations. Using an emergent design based on the constant comparative method, the study analyzed qualitative data from individual interviews and focus groups and identified common themes. The findings indicated a perceived pathway through which meditation promoted emotional regulation. This pathway started with increased awareness of their emotions, involved the ability to then accept and let go of their emotions, and ended with emotional growth and improved self-regulation. Though participants portrayed meditation as beneficial, several participants also described suppressed emotions and traumatic memories resurfacing during meditation and described the importance of support from program staff outside of group to help them process and cope. The participants’ perspectives support the appropriateness of meditation as an empowering complementary intervention for female trauma survivors with co-occurring disorders, but also indicate the importance of supervision and support at the start of meditation practice in case negative experiences arise.
Jamaat-Ud-Dawa: Converting Kuffar at Home, Killing Them Abroad

In this article, I mobilize key JuD publications to demonstrate that while the JuD preaches murderous jihad against non-believers outside of Pakistan, it collaborates with the state in trying to dissuade Pakistanis from undertaking violence within the state, whether against state or non-state targets, to include Pakistan’s various religious minorities. Unsurprisingly, some of JuD’s numerous publications deal with the Hindu and Christian minorities within Pakistan, which are the largest religious minorities in the country. In this essay, I exposit what JuD says about these non-Muslims who live among Pakistani Muslims, including Ahmadis, about which the organization is generally silent. I argue here that while it supports brutal slaughter of so-called kuffar (pl. of kafar, “nonbeliever”) abroad, it argues for the conversion of religious minorities at home through the provision of medical and other social services, emergency relief and extensive proselytization.
Patient Knowledge of Opioid Usage and Side Effects Prior to Surgery

BackgroundGiven the increasing morbidity and mortality related to prescription opioids in the United States, it is critical for patients to understand the risks and proper usage of opioid analgesics.MethodsWe surveyed 166 patients undergoing elective surgery at a single tertiary care facility preoperatively. We queried patients regarding aspects of prescription opioid use, side effects and adverse effects, and storage and disposal behaviors.ResultsOverall knowledge regarding prescription opioids was high (mean score = 8.05/12, range 0–12). The average number of questions answered correctly was not significantly different based on opioid use at the time of the survey (65% vs 67.5%, p = 0.52). Characteristics significantly associated with higher knowledge included young age (p = 0.01), female gender (p < 0.01), and white race (p = 0.01).ConclusionsPatient knowledge regarding prescription opioids is high preceding surgery, but gaps remain regarding side effects and adverse effects. Knowledge did not differ by prior or current opioid use, and these findings may help target important knowledge gaps to improve patient education regarding opioids during the preoperative period.
Fibrin-film stenting in a porcine coronary injury model: efficacy and safety compared with uncoated stents.

Abstract Objectives. This study was designed to test the efficacy and safety of a fibrin-film–covered stent compared with that of a bare metal stent in the porcine coronary injury model. Background. Biodegradable stents are a potential method of achieving total lesion coverage and delivering local, lesion-specific drug therapy. Methods. Two coronary arteries in each pig were randomly assigned to deployment of either a fibrin-film or a bare tantalum wire-coil stent. An oversized balloon injury, 1.15 to 1.30 times the reference vessel diameter, was induced in each coronary segment before stenting to simulate angioplasty injury. Thirty pigs were studied: group 1 for 28 days (15 pigs); group 2 for 90 days (5 pigs); group 3 for 6 months (5 pigs); group 4 for 1 year (5 pigs). Results. Two pigs died of occlusion of the bare stent and one of occlusion of the fibrin stent (p > 0.99). There were no significant differences between the fibrin-stented and bare-stented coronary segments with regard to arterial injury. In group 1 (28 days, 14 pigs), the mean neointimal thicknesses in the fibrin-stented and bare-stented groups were 0.57 ± 0.31 and 0.57 ± 0.27 mm, respectively (p = 0.89). In groups 2 to 4 (90 days, four pigs; 6 months, four pigs; 1 year, five pigs), the mean neointimal thicknesses for fibrin- and bare-stented coronary segments at the times studied were 0.48 ± 0.26 versus 0.50 ± 0.22 mm at 90 days; 0.35 ± 0.04 versus 0.35 ± 0.16 mm at 6 months; and 0.33 ± 0.14 versus 0.30 ± 0.14 mm at 1 year (p = 0.98). Conclusions. Fibrin-film stents appear to be an excellent candidate for local drug delivery because they can completely and safely cover the stented coronary segment while degrading slowly over 1 to 3 months. This result is important when compared with the poor results of previous studies of synthetic polymer stents.
A Dataflow-Oriented Atomicity and Provenance System for Pipelined Scientific Workflows

Scientific workflows have gained great momentum in recent years due to their critical roles in e-Science and cyberinfrastructure applications. However, some tasks of a scientific workflow might fail during execution. A domain scientist might require a region of a scientific workflow to be "atomic". Data provenance, which determines the source data that are used to produce a data item, is also essential to scientific workflows. In this paper, we propose: (i) an architecture for scientific workflow management systems that supports both provenance and atomicity; (ii) a dataflow-oriented atomicity model that supports the notions of commit and abort; and (iii) a dataflow-oriented provenance model that, in addition to supporting existing provenance graphs and queries, also supports queries related to atomicity and failure.
Topological obstructions to certain Lie group actions on manifolds

Given a smooth closed S 1 -manifold M, this article studies the extent to which certain numbers of the form (f* (x) P · C) [M] are determined by the fixed-point set M S1 , where f: M → K(π 1 (M), 1) classifies the universal cover of M, x ∈ H* (π 1 (M); Q), P is a polynomial in the Pontrjagin classes of M, and C is in the subalgebra of H* (M; Q) generated by H 2 (M;Q). When M S1 = O, various vanishing theorems follow, giving obstructions to certain fixed-point-free actions. For example, if a fixed-point-free S 1 -action extends to an action by some semisimple compact Lie group G, then (f(x) · P · C) [M] = 0. Similar vanishing results are obtained for spin manifolds admitting certain S 1 -actions.
As Historical Subjects: The African Diaspora in Colonial Latin American History

This article celebrates and explores the current historiography on colonial Afro-Latin Americans in the Spanish Americas to illuminate how scholars can continue to develop their methodological approaches to recuperating enslaved and free agency. Drawing on Michel-Rolph Trouillot's distinction between historical actors and purposeful subjects, the essay suggests that even within slavery, men and women of African descent were able to contest slaveholding, develop their own standards within racial hierarchies, claim subject positions as Catholics, and lay claim to freedom. By asking questions regarding African-descent defined objectives, scholars have begun to allow Africans and their descendants to articulate interior selves.
Observations on the Nature of Deaning: The Emerging Role of Dean in Academic Planning

(1979). Observations on the Nature of Deaning: The Emerging Role of Dean in Academic Planning. Journal of Physical Education and Recreation: Vol. 50, No. 1, pp. 44-44.
Maternal schooling and child health: preliminary analysis of the intervening mechanisms in rural Nepal*

This article provides evidence from a community-level study in rural Nepal of the mechanisms by which schooling affects maternal behaviour and infant and child health. Two hypotheses concerning the mechanisms are identified and tested. It was found that schooling equips women with specific skills and dispositions or identity which significantly predict two principal domains of health-care behaviour: use of medical services; and changes in household health behaviour. It was also found that women with schooling had healthier children using height-for-age as an indicator of health.
Computational intelligence: a tutorial

In this tutorial, a number of techniques in computational intelligence are discussed, as well as hybrid methods with applications in a variety of problems. The subject of feature extraction is also dealt with, since features are in most cases considered as inputs to neural networks. Parameter estimation and data normalization-two of the key problems in optimization-are also discussed. Some philosophical issues are raised in this paper.
Product of Staphylococcus aureus Responsible for the Scalded-Skin Syndrome

Certain Staphylococcus aureus strains of phage group 2 produced a protein distinct from the alpha and delta toxins which was capable of causing generalized exfoliation in neonatal mice and presumably is responsible for the scalded-skin syndrome in humans. This protein, named “exfoliatin,” was purified and found to have a molecular weight of approximately 24,000. Exfoliatin was acid-labile, rather heat-stabile, and antigenic.
The importance of course design, feedback, and facilitation: student perceptions of the relationship between teaching presence and cognitive presence

The Community of Inquiry framework has become a useful instrument for exploring learning in online classes; however, the interactions between the constructs of teaching presence and cognitive presence remain relatively unexplored. This study investigated student perceptions of cognitive presence as explained by three teaching presence elements; instructional design and course organization, direct instruction, and facilitated discourse, in both online and face-to-face classes. Results indicate that student perceptions of cognitive presence and teaching presence do not differ between face-to-face and online classes and that discourse facilitation is a key to engendering critical thinking or cognitive presence. Qualitative data indicated certain aspects of teaching presence that students felt related to critical thinking. Students felt critical thinking was positively influenced when an instructor designed an organized course with clear goals and relevant assignments, provided direct feedback that was encour...
Flatbed scanner simulation to analyze the effect of detector's size on color artifacts

Simulations of flatbed scanners can shorten the development cycle of new designs, estimate image quality, and lower manufacturing costs. In this paper, we present a flatbed scanner simulation a strobe RGB scanning method that investigates the effect of the sensor height on color artifacts. The image chain model from the remote sensing community was adapted and tailored to fit flatbed scanning applications. This model allows the user to study the relationship between various internal elements of the scanner and the final image quality. Modeled parameters include: sensor height, intensity and duration of illuminant, scanning rate, sensor aperture, detector modulation transfer function (MTF), and motion blur created by the movement of the sensor during the scanning process. These variables are also modeled mathematically by utilizing Fourier analysis, functions that model the physical components, convolutions, sampling theorems, and gamma corrections. Special targets were used to validate the simulation include single frequency pattern, a radial chirp-like pattern, or a high resolution scanned document. The simulation is demonstrated to model the scanning process effectively both on a theoretical and experimental level.
Teaching the Fundamentals of Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics Through an Integrated Systems Approach

The mechanical engineering faculty at the United States Military Academy recently implemented an integrated, two-course thermal-fluid systems sequence that presents fundamental thermodynamics and fluid mechanics topics. Instructors introduce students to these topics by exploring operational aspects of five complex systems: a helicopter, a power plant, a total air-conditioning system, an automotive system, and a high performance aircraft. Additionally, both courses incorporate laboratories, demonstrations and hands-on educational aids, design projects, and self-learning opportunities to reinforce understanding of fundamental concepts. Results from the first year the sequence was taught indicate students prefer learning topics from a global perspective and integrating thermodynamics and fluid mechanics topics reinforces student learning and retention of fundamental concepts. Challenges to teaching an integrated thermal-fluid systems sequence include lack of availability of textbooks that present thermodynamics and fluid mechanics topics in a truly integrated manner and establishing equivalency of courses within the integrated sequence with courses taught at other universities for those students on semester exchange programs.
MapHappy: A User-Centered Interface to Library Map Collections via a Google Maps “Mashup”

Providing users with the best possible access to the unique cartographic materials found in libraries has been a constant challenge for map librarians. In a Web 2.0 world, existing mapping APIs make it possible to extend the library OPAC past the text-based search and enable users to locate maps using a familiar interface, such as Google Maps. This article describes how librarians at the University of Minnesota developed MapHappy, a “mashup” of their existing map MARC records into a geospatial Web application providing unique access to the print maps in their collections. As expected, this project raised many questions and produced a new set of challenges and opportunities; two such problems, the issue of missing or faulty map coordinates and aligning the interface design with user expectations, are discussed. And while still in beta, a variety of future plans are considered for further development and improvement of MapHappy. This project demonstrates that the representation of library records in a geosp...
Some Effects of Regular Class Participation on the Social Contacts and Social Networks of High School Students with Severe Disabilities

We studied the effects of participating in regular education classes on the social life of three high school students with severe disabilities. Using a multiple baseline design across students (with an embedded ABAB withdrawal design), participants' social contacts and social networks were analyzed. Data were collected throughout the school day across 1 school year. Regular class participation, the independent variable, was introduced within a baseline focusing upon a community-based curriculum including access to peers without disabilities via peer tutoring and “friendship” programs. Our results indicate that regular class participation: (a) increased the frequency of social contacts students had with peers without disabilities, (b) was the locus for meeting half of the peers without disabilities contacted across the school year, and (c) was an important source for meeting peers without disabilities who subsequently became members of students' social networks. In addition, our results showed that: (a) du...
Are PSR 0656+14, PSR 0950+08, and PSR 1822-09 gamma-ray pulsars?

The possible discovery of three new gamma-ray pulsars PSR 0656+14, PSR 0950+08, and PSR 1822-09 (Ma, Lu, Yu, and Young, 1993) in data obtained with the COS-B experiment is reinvestigated using a refined technique for pulsar light curve analysis. The results of this study do not confirm the previously claimed gamma-ray pulsar nature of any of these pulsars. Even when using the standard epoch folding technique in conjunction with energy-dependent acceptance cones, we do not detect pulsed gamma-ray emission from these sources. We suspect that insufficient position accuracy is the cause for the discrepancy between our results and those of Ma et al. (1993). We do not rule out that any one of the three candidates, or all of them, is in fact a gamma-ray pulsar, but their spin properties must differ from those derived by Ma et al. (1993). More work is needed to determine the correct high-energy properties of these three sources.
Length of attending-student and resident-student interactions in the inpatient medicine clerkship.

Phenomenon: Changes in the medical education milieu have led away from the apprenticeship model resulting in shorter physician–student interactions. Faculty and student feedback suggests that supervisor/student interactions may now be more cursory with increasing numbers of supervisors per student, and shorter duration of interaction. This may affect both education and student assessment. Approach: We compared inpatient attending and resident daily schedules with those of 3rd- and 4th-year medical students rotating on medicine clerkships at Brigham and Women's Hospital during academic years 2009–11 to determine the number of days of overlap. We used evaluation forms to determine the extent of evaluator's self-reported knowledge of the student. Findings: We correlated the daily schedules of 199 students and 204 resident and 187 attending physicians, which resulted in 558 resident–student pairings and 680 attending–student pairings over 2 years. During a 4-week block, students averaged 3.7 attending physici...
Fragment angular distributions from neutron-induced fission of 242Pu

Abstract Fission fragment angular distributions were measured for the fission of 242 Pu induced by monoenergetic neutions of energies 500, 620, 730, 990 and 1230 keV. The fission fragments were detected by two independent methods, polycarbonate resin detectors and surface barrier solid-state detectors. The experimental data were analysed in terms of both a single-particle and statistical model of the intermediate transition nucleus.
A comparative study of the OSRC approach in electromagnetic scattering

A technique referred to as the on-surface radiation boundary condition (OSR) approach is applied to a variety of two-dimensional imperfectly conducting geometries. Specifically, analytical solutions and numerical data are presented for the scattering by elliptical and rectangular cylinders and restrictive strips. These are then compared with calculations using the traditional physical optics (PO) approximation and moment method (MM). Emphasis is on the accuracy afforded by using OSRC as opposed to the MM or PO formulations. >
Passive alteration and control of convective heat transfer utilizing alternate porous cavity-block wafers

Abstract Passive heat-transfer augmentation or alteration along an external boundary using alternately emplaced porous cavity-block wafers is analyzed in this work. The Brinkman-Forchheimer-extended Darcy Model, which accounts for the effects of impermeable boundary and inertia, is used to characterize the flow field inside the porous region. The present work constitutes an innovative way of altering and control of the flow and heat-transfer characteristics of an external surface. The formulation of the problem shows that flow and heat-transfer characteristics depend on seven dimensionless parameters, namely, the Reynolds number, Darcy number, the Prandtl numbers, inertial parameter, two pertinent geometric parameters, and the number of porous cavity-block obstacles. Solution of the governing equations is carried out using the steam function-vorticity formulation, and an in-depth discussion of the results for various physical interactions between the recirculating flows inside of the cavity and the external flow is presented. Several interesting phenomena such as the interactions between the blowing and displacement effects from the porous blocks and the vortices penetrating into the porous cavities are presented and discussed, and it is shown that altering some parametric values can have significant effects on the external momentum and thermal boundary-layer characteristics. The present investigation forms a pertinent and basic research investigation for altering the skin friction and heat-transfer characteristics of an external surface.
The Stanford Tissue Microarray Database

The Stanford Tissue Microarray Database (TMAD; http://tma.stanford.edu) is a public resource for disseminating annotated tissue images and associated expression data. Stanford University pathologists, researchers and their collaborators worldwide use TMAD for designing, viewing, scoring and analyzing their tissue microarrays. The use of tissue microarrays allows hundreds of human tissue cores to be simultaneously probed by antibodies to detect protein abundance (Immunohistochemistry; IHC), or by labeled nucleic acids (in situ hybridization; ISH) to detect transcript abundance. TMAD archives multi-wavelength fluorescence and bright-field images of tissue microarrays for scoring and analysis. As of July 2007, TMAD contained 205 161 images archiving 349 distinct probes on 1488 tissue microarray slides. Of these, 31 306 images for 68 probes on 125 slides have been released to the public. To date, 12 publications have been based on these raw public data. TMAD incorporates the NCI Thesaurus ontology for searching tissues in the cancer domain. Image processing researchers can extract images and scores for training and testing classification algorithms. The production server uses the Apache HTTP Server, Oracle Database and Perl application code. Source code is available to interested researchers under a no-cost license.
Activity in the quiet sun. I - Observations of macrospicules in H-alpha and D3

Macrospicules have been observed in Hα and He i D3, on the disk and above the limb. In 1975, a rate of 1400 (A⊙day)−1 is inferred, and the ratio of equatorial to polar rates ≲ 2. D3 intensities are a few × 10−3 of the disk center, and do not decrease in coronal holes. The ratio of Hα to D3 intensities is ≈ 10. The integral number of macrospicules with D3 intensity ≥I0 is proportional to I0−1.
Effects of Temperature on Evoked Electrical Activity and Anoxic Injury in CNS White Matter

Temperature is known to influence the extent of anoxic/ischemic injury in gray matter of the brain. We tested the hypothesis that small changes in temperature during anoxic exposure could affect the degree of functional injury seen in white matter, using the isolated rat optic nerve, a typical CNS white matter tract (Foster et al., 1982). Functional recovery after anoxia was monitored by quantitative assessment of the compound action potential (CAP) area. Small changes in ambient temperature, within a range of 32 to 42 degrees C, mildly affected the CAP of the optic nerve under normoxic conditions. Reducing the temperature to 37 degrees C had opposite effects. Functional recovery of white matter following 60 min of anoxia was strongly influenced by temperature during the period of anoxia. The average recovery of the CAP, relative to control, after 60 min of anoxia administered at 37 degrees C was 35.4 +/- 7%; when the temperature was lowered by 2.5 degrees C (i.e., to 34.5 degrees C) for the period of anoxic exposure, the extent of functional recovery improved to 64.6 +/- 15% (p 37 degrees C during anoxia, the functional outcome worsened, e.g., CAP recovery at 42 degrees C was 8.5 +/- 7% (p < 0.00001). Hypothermia (i.e., 32 degrees C) for 30 min immediately following anoxia at 37 degrees C did not improve the functional outcome. Many processes within the brain are temperature sensitive, including O2 consumption, and it is not clear which of these is most relevant to the observed effects of temperature on recovery of white matter from anoxic injury. Unlike the situation in gray matter, the temperature dependency of anoxic injury cannot be related to reduced release of excitotoxins like glutamate, because neurotransmitters play no role in the pathophysiology of anoxic damage in white matter (Ransom et al., 1990a). It is more likely that temperature affects the rate of ion transport by the Na(+)-Ca2+ exchanger, the transporter responsible for intracellular Ca2+ loading during anoxia in white matter, and/or the rate of some destructive intracellular enzymatic mechanism(s) activated by pathological increases in intracellular Ca2+.
Böttger stoneware from North America and Europe; are they authentic

Abstract In the early 18th century, Johann Friedrich Bottger, an alchemist recently arrived in Dresden, was assigned to ceramic experimentation under the orders of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. The Elector and his advisors hoped to discover the secret of making hard paste porcelain like the wares imported into Europe from China and Japan. In 1706–1707, Bottger produced his first ceramic body, a red stoneware similar to the wares produced in Yixing, China. The first objects were made following the forms of chinese prototypes or European metalwork of the period. Recently, the authenticity of a number of `Bottger' objects in various museums and private collections in North America and Europe has been questioned. To aide in resolving these questions several non-destructive analytical techniques have been employed, the most important being PIXE. This report is on an initial study of 25 objects with 16 elements from Al to Zr and Pb being analysed. The results strongly suggest three different groupings, one of objects from the Meissen factory during the 20th century, one from the work of Bottger himself early in the 18th century and one from an as yet unknown time period and site. The first two groups were previously identified by one of the authors (C.N.).
Changing Sociodemographic Factors and Teen Fertility: 1991-2009

This study analyzed the roles of trends in sociodemographic factors known to be related to the risk of a teen birth. The goal was to analyze the roles of these trends in maternal education, family structure and mother’s age at first birth in the likelihood of adolescents becoming teen mothers across multiple birth cohorts of women covering the years since 1991. Data are from the 1995, 2002, 2006–2010 and 2011–2013 National Surveys of Family Growth (NSFG). Consecutive birth cohorts of female respondents were constructed and retrospectively followed to estimate the risk of a teen birth for each cohort. Logistic regression models estimate the odds of a teen birth across cohorts and within strata of the predictors across cohorts. Maternal education rose across cohorts; the proportion who were non-Hispanic white declined. In general, the likelihood of an adolescent birth did not change within categories of the predictors that are considered at higher risk for a teen birth across birth cohorts. Specifically, there was no change in the odds of a teen birth among women whose mothers did not finish high school, those born to teen mothers and those not from two-parent families. The odds of a birth declined across cohorts for black women. The findings suggest that much of the decline in teen birth rates is due to declines in the proportion of teens in higher risk categories, rather than to declines within those categories.
NFAT signaling in vertebrate development

NFATc proteins transduce Ca(2+) signals to the nucleus and then pair with other proteins on DNA to generate NFAT complexes that activate transcription in response to both electrical and tyrosine kinase signaling. The four NFATc genes arose at the origin of vertebrates, implying that they have evolved for the development of vertebrate-specific functions, such as a complex nervous system, a recombinational immune system, and a vascular system with a complex heart. These speculations are borne out by studies of mice with null mutations in the different family members.
Quadrupedalism and the acquisition of bipedalism in human children

Abstract Twenty children were carefully observed by using videotapes during the first 18 months of life to study the successive stages recognized in the acquisition of quadrupedal and bipedal behaviour. The different stages for the acquisition of these two modes of locomotion were intermingled and each child had its own specific sequence. But when the stages leading to quadrupedal behaviour were separated from those leading to bipedal behaviour and were placed in two separate sequences, the order of acquisition of the different phases in each sequence was identical for all children. Also, quadrupedal phases at any age can be performed for no more than 1 min, while upright stages at similar ages are performed for much longer. In view of the heavy weight of the infant's head, it is suggested that it is easier to carry the head in equilibrium over the shoulders when upright than in front of the body when on all fours. Bipedalism is, therefore, energy saving, and is selected by the child as soon as there is enough neuromuscular development to perform it.
The relative metabolic rates of norepinephrine-7H3 and epinephrine-1-C14.

Ratten wurden gleichzeitig mit Noradrenalin-H3 und Adrenalin-C14 belastet und die Ausscheidung im Harn verfolgt. Die Analyse der Metabolite hat unter anderem ergeben, dass Noradrenalin-H3 zu Adrenalin-H3 verwandelt wird, und dass diese Reaktion irreversibel ist. Dasin vivo synthetisierte Adrenalin-H3 wird in geringerem Masse inaktiviert als das injizierte Adrenalin-C14. Ein neutrales Stoffwechselprodukt (wahrscheinlich ein Alkohhol) wurde aus dem Harn isoliert.
Molecular analysis of selected cell cycle regulatory proteins during aerobic and hypoxic maintenance of human ovarian carcinoma cells.

We have previously reported on the development of an in vitro model system for studying the effect of hypoxia on ovarian carcinoma cell proliferation and invasion (Krtolica and Ludlow, 1996). These data indicate that the cell division cycle is reversibly arrested during the G1 phase. Here, we have continued this study to include the proliferation properties of both aerobic and hypoxic human ovarian carcinoma cells at the molecular level. The growth suppressor product of the retinoblastoma susceptibility gene, pRB, appears to be functional in these cells as determined by SV40 T-antigen binding studies. Additional G1-to-S cell cycle regulatory proteins, cyclins D and E, cyclin-dependent kinases (cdks) 4 and 2, and cdk inhibitors p27 and p18, also appear to be intact based on their apparent molecular weights and cell cycle stage-specific abundance. During hypoxia, there is a decrease in abundance of cyclins D and E, with an increase in p27 abundance. cdk4 activity towards pRB and cdk2 activity towards histone H1 are also decreased. Co-precipitation studies revealed an increased amount of p27 complexing with cyclin E-cdk2 during hypoxia than during aerobic cell growth. In addition, pRB-directed phosphatase activity was found to be greater in hypoxic than aerobic cells. Taken together, a model is suggested to explain hypoxia-induced cell cycle arrest in SKA human ovarian carcinoma cells. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaign
Properties of low-temperature grown carbon nanotubes

The growth of carbon nanotubes was investigated using a hot filament assisted CVD system. The silicon and glass substrates coated with catalyst were kept in a CVD furnace tube and the carbon nanotubes were grown by a hot filament assisted decomposition of methane (CH4). Argon (Ar) was used as carrier for carbon. It was found that carbon nanotubes could be grown at as low as 400°C by the hot filament CVD system. The properties of carbon nanotubes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electronic microscopy (TEM), and Raman spectroscopy. Those carbon nanotubes have similar properties as grown at high temperature. This method has high reproducibility and controlling capability of nanotube growth at low temperature region.
Holocene environmental change and vegetation contraction in the Sonoran Desert

Abstract Two types of microtopographic features ( plant scar mounds and plant scar depressions ) on surfaces of barren desert pavements provide a unique record of the former presence of large perennial plants. Evidence of bioturbation by burrowing animals extends more than 1 m beneath each type of plant scar, indicating that both features originated as large bioturbation mounds. Formation of bioturbation mounds in desertscrub environments is generally restricted to areas beneath widely separated, large perennial plants. The contrasting forms of plant scars (mounds vs. depressions) represent time-dependent changes following disappearance of the large plants and eventual cessation of bioturbation. Plant scar mounds represent a geologically recent episode of plant mortality, whereas plant scar depressions represent the disappearance of plants at a considerably earlier time, possibly at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Contrasting spatial distributions of the two kinds of plant scars indicate that vegetation on alluvial fans has progressively contracted from a more diffuse, former vegetation cover, yielding the wide, barren pavement surfaces present today. In less arid portions of the Sonoran Desert, spatial distribution of recent plant mortality due to persistent, severe drought provides an analog of the progressive loss of plants from different parts of the landscape in the past.
The academic psychologist as a convener of information: Implications for the scholarship of integration and (online) teaching

Abstract Historically, the role of the academic psychologist has been fairly set. It has been general practice to emphasize the importance and role of empirical research within the history of psychology. As a means to convey information derived from this source, academic psychologists (like most other academics) have relied on the traditional method of face-to-face communication when teaching students. These means and methods still have considerable relevance and importance to the general field of psychology even though, as discussed in this paper, they have noticeable limitations. This paper aims to stimulate thinking about how and why academic psychology does not need to be rigidly bound by these traditions. In doing so, an alternative role for the academic psychologist is proposed, as a convener of information employing the scholarship of integration. Several examples of how integrative scholarship can be achieved and undertaken in psychology are presented along with a consideration of how the scholarship of integration advances psychological science and the teaching of it.
Estimates for negative eigenvalues of a random Schrödinger operator

where γ ≥ 0 for d ≥ 3, γ > 0 for d = 2 and γ ≥ 1/2 for d = 1. The estimate (1.1) is called the classical Lieb-Thirring inequality. One needs to remark that although for any V ∈ L the eigenvalue sum ∑ j |λj | converges for both V and −V , it follows from our results that the converse need not be true. The sum ∑ j |λj | can converge even for potentials that are not functions of the class L . In the present paper we study the question: how typical is the situation when the right-hand side of (1.1) is infinite, but nevertheless the series in the left-hand side converges? For that purpose, we introduce a certain class of potentials that either decay slower than L-functions or do not decay at all. Potentials in this class will depend on a parameter ω, which runs over a space with a probability measure, so that one can distinguish between typical and not typical ω (typical ω’s run over a set of measure one). Instead of a decay of the potential, our theorems require random oscillations of V = Vω, which ensure that E[Vω(x)] = 0 for all x. First, we establish the estimate
The epistemology of divine conceptualism

Divine conceptualism takes all abstract objects to be propositions in the mind of God. I focus here on necessary propositions and contemporary claims that the laws of logic, understood as necessarily true propositions, provide us with an epistemic bridge to theological predication—specifically, to the claim that God exists. I argue that when contemporary versions of DC say ‘G/god’ they merely rename the notion of necessary truth, and fail to refer to God. Given that God is incomprehensible, epistemic access to the state of propositions in the mind of God is extremely limited.
Internal X-ray photoemission in aluminum: Excitation of electrons from the valence band☆

Abstract Measurements are reported of Al valence-electron excitation by Ka 1,2 X-rays internally generated in evaporated specimens by electron bombardment. The X-ray photoelectron energy distribution is consistent with the u.v. distribution of Huen and Wooten. Weak structures are found in the energy distribution at positions corresponding to those in the calculated density of states.
Menopausal and Post-Menopausal Anatomic Changes in Uterus and Vagina

UNTIL recent years the simple concept which prevailed as to the hormonology of the menopause was that at this phase the ovaries cease to function, bringing about retrogressive and atrophic changes in the tubes, uterus and vagina. As regards the inauguration of the menstrual function at puberty, the general view was equally simple, namely that the awakening of estrogenic activity of the ovaries brings about hypertrophic and developmental changes throughout the genital tract. While there is no doubt as to the development or retrogression which in general parallels ovarian activity or inactivity, respectively, we have come to realize that neither the puberal nor the menopausal epoch is an abrupt one and that there are many individual variations and gradations in the hormonal and histologic phenomena encountered at the two extremes of menstrual life. To appreciate fully the phenomena of the menopause, it is well to contrast them with those which occur at the opposite end of menstrual life, namely puberty, whe...
Structure, subunit function and regulation of the coated vesicle and yeast vacuolar (H(+))-ATPases.

Abstract The vacuolar (H+)-ATPases (or V-ATPases) are ATP-dependent proton pumps that function to acidify intracellular compartments in eukaryotic cells. This acidification is essential for such processes as receptor-mediated endocytosis, intracellular targeting of lysosomal enzymes, protein processing and degradation and the coupled transport of small molecules. V-ATPases in the plasma membrane of specialized cells also function in such processes as renal acidification, bone resorption and pH homeostasis. Work from our laboratory has focused on the V-ATPases from clathrin-coated vesicles and yeast vacuoles. Structurally, the V-ATPases are composed of two domains: a peripheral complex (V1) composed of eight different subunits (A–H) that is responsible for ATP hydrolysis and an integral complex (V0) composed of five different subunits (a, d, c, c′ and c″) that is responsible for proton translocation. Electron microscopy has revealed the presence of multiple stalks connecting the V1 and V0 domains, and crosslinking has been used to address the arrangement of subunits in the complex. Site-directed mutagenesis has been employed to identify residues involved in ATP hydrolysis and proton translocation and to study the topology of the 100 kDa a subunit. This subunit has been shown to control intracellular targeting of the V-ATPase and to influence reversible dissociation and coupling of proton transport and ATP hydrolysis.
Influence of a single course of antenatal betamethasone on the maternal-fetal insulin-IGF-GH axis in singleton pregnancies.

Abstract Objective We examined the hypothesis that a single course of antenatal betamethasone influences the maternal–fetal insulin-IGF-GH axis. Design A prospective, observational, pilot study consisting of four groups of pregnant women: (I) received betamethasone and delivered 2 weeks post treatment; (III) untreated women who delivered 37 weeks (term controls). Maternal and mixed umbilical cord blood was collected at delivery and analyzed for insulin, glucose, IGF-I, IGF-II, IGFBP-1, IGFBP-3, GH, and GHBP. Results Betamethasone increased maternal insulin, glucose and IGF-I levels without affecting IGFBPs. In the fetal compartment, betamethasone treatment was associated with a delayed suppressive effect on GH and a sustained suppressive effect on IGF-II levels. There were no differences in infant size or neonatal morbidities between patients who delivered 2 weeks post betamethasone treatment. In Group IV, birth weight correlated positively with cord IGF-I levels ( r 2 = 0.41, p = 0.0098) and negatively with cord IGFBP-1 levels ( r 2 = 0.51, p = 0.0039), and ponderal index correlated negatively with cord IGFBP-1 levels ( r 2 = 0.27, p Conclusions A single course of antenatal betamethasone influences the maternal–fetal insulin-IGF-GH axis, particularly fetal IGF-II levels, without measurable anthropometric changes at birth. Whether these effects have implications beyond the neonatal period remains to be determined.