cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Behavioral effects of mefloquine in tail suspension and light/dark tests

Mefloquine hydrochloride has been used widely in the past few decades for malaria prophylaxis and treatment. However, in recent years, it has fallen out of favor due to reports of exposure being linked to numerous neuropsychiatric effects, including emotional disturbances. In this study we examined the effects of different doses (5, 25, or 100 mg/kg) of mefloquine relative to vehicle on male C57BL/6 J mice in two tests of emotional behavior, the light–dark box and the tail suspension test. It was found that mefloquine exposure reduced anxiety-linked behaviors in the light–dark box and reduced total immobility times in the tail suspension test, especially at higher doses. Our results lend support to the notion that mefloquine exposure could induce emotional disinhibition.
The history of institutional ethics at Baylor University Medical Center

(2004). The History of Institutional Ethics at Baylor University Medical Center. Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings: Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 73-82.
OR46 Using all your tools: Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patient and potential donors HLA-C ambiguity guide us to explore outside of the exons coding the peptide binding domain of HLA-C

Aim An MDS patient has become a candidate for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Samples from patient and five donors were received for HLA typing. HLA-C results were ambiguous in the presence of HLA-C*02:06. We investigated the reason for the variation observed. Methods HLA-Class I high resolution typing was performed by SBT using the group specific strategy (Protrans®S3 HLA-C), allowing most of the alleles to be amplified individually and sequenced as hemizygous. The S3 HLA-C kit sequences the complete exons 2 and 3 of all HLA-C alleles and exon 4 of some. The kit has a locus specific reaction including “all alleles” that we always sequence, since it provides useful data to resolve several relevant ambiguities within exon 4; with the exception of the alleles not having exon 4 data available. This case was unique because some family members were assigned as HLA-C*02:06, 07: AAGAJ (07:01/07:06/07:18/07:343), and others, including the patient, were HLA-C*02:06, 07: ADCTY (07:01/07:06/07:18/07:166/07:343). Upon data review, it was noticed that the multiple NMDP codes referring to the same allele were confusing the clinicians needing to make decisions based on the HLA typing results. We re-sequenced one SBT HLA-C reaction from patient and potential donors to obtain hemizygous data of HLA-C*02:06 exon 4. Results Lack of exon 4 data of HLA-C*02:06 has caused nucleotide position 623 to be ambiguous since only the HLA-C*07:01+ alleles had exon 4 data available. Position 623 was heterozygous on “all alleles” sequencing data of exon 4. We submitted the re-sequenced exon 4 data to IMGT/HLA for review. The submission, HWS 10025170, was confirmed by the WHO Nomenclature Committee for Factors of the HLA System on 02/28/2015. Upon having HLA-C*02:06 exon 4 sequencing data confirmed, we edited the HLA typing reports, the clinicians acknowledged our effort to reduce ambiguities, facilitating their donor selection process; and we made a contribution to the HLA community making exon 4 data of HLA-C*02:06 available at the IMGT/HLA. Conclusions Ambiguities, such as this one, caused by incomplete data of HLA alleles may be prevented when all HLA alleles have complete sequences available, until then, we will keep generating the best resolution results possible using wisely the methods and tools we have available.
Phase I trial of bevacizumab plus sunitinib in patients (pts) with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC)

5099 Background: Bevacizumab, an intravenous monoclonal antibody against VEGF, and sunitinib, an oral multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor of VEGF and PDGF receptors, both have activity in mRCC...
Exploring international differences in inflation dynamics

Abstract Standard closed-economy DSGE models have difficulty replicating the persistence of inflation. We use a multicountry dataset to establish some empirical regularities on persistence and volatility of aggregate consumer prices for 135 countries since 1993. We find both persistence and volatility to be low (high) in developed (developing) countries relative to the full sample average. This pattern is also observed in low (high) inflation countries. We then employ a two-country DSGE framework to investigate the extent to which structural open economy features, such as incomplete exchange rate pass-through, the existence of nontraded goods, and international financial market incompleteness, can help in replicating the persistence and volatility of consumer prices. Our simulation results indicate that the model can replicate the degree of inflation persistence seen in the data for both developed and developing countries, but cannot generate the low levels of volatility observed in developed economies.
Factor endowments, the rule of law and structural inequality

This paper provides an empirical test of the Engerman–Sokoloff hypothesis that factor endowments influenced the development of the rule of law, which in turn has perpetuated income inequality. Using a measure of the suitability of land for growing wheat relative to sugarcane as an instrument for the rule of law, as measured by area 2 of the Economic Freedom of the World index, we estimate the potential causal impact of the rule of law on the long-run net income inequality. Conditioning on geography, ethnolinguistic fractionalization and legal tradition, the rule of law exerts a negative impact on inequality that is both economically and statistically significant. The results are robust to additional control variables, two alternative measures of the rule of law, an alternative instrumental variable and the exclusion of strategic country samples and outliers.
Robust cuts over time: combatting the spread of invasive species with unreliable biological control

Widespread accounts of the harmful effects of invasive species have stimulated both practical and theoretical studies on how the spread of these destructive agents can be contained. Inpractice, a widely used method is the deployment of biological control agents, that is, the release of an additional species (which may also spread) that creates a hostile environment for the invader. Seeding colonies of these protective biological control agents can be used to build a kind of living barrier against the spread of the harmful invader, but the ecological literature documents that attempts to establish colonies of biological control agents often fail (opening gaps in the barrier). Further, the supply of the protective species is limited, and the full supply may not be available immediately. This problem has a natural temporal component: biological control is deployed as the extent of the harmful invasion grows. How can a limited supply of unreliable biological control agents best be deployed over time to protect the landscape against the spread of a harmful invasive species? To explore this question we introduce a new family of stochastic graph vaccination problems that generalizes ideas from social networks and multistage graph vaccination. We point out a deterministic (1 - 1/e,)-approximation algorithm for a deterministic base case studied in the social networks literature (matching the previous best randomized (1 - 1/e,) guarantee for that problem). Next, we show that the randomized (1 - 1/e,) guarantee (and a deterministic 1/2 guarantee) can be extended to our much more general family of stochastic graph vaccination problems in which vaccinations (a. k. a. biological control colonies) spread but may be unreliable. For the non-spreading vaccination case with unreliable vaccines, we give matching results in trees. Qualitatively, our extension is from computing "cuts over time" to computing "robust cuts over time." Our new family of problems captures the key tensions we identify for containing invasive species spread with unreliable biological control agents: a robust barrier is built over time with unreliable resources to contain an expanding invasion.
Epidemiologic studies on vitamin A and cancer.

Many observations have led epidemiologists to suggest that environmental factors, in the sense of those elements exogenous to the individual, are responsible for as much as 90% of cancer incidence. Recently, Doll and Peto (1981) attempted to define what proportion of cancer was “avoidable” because it is caused by exposures which might be controlled. The many causes of cancer they identified included tobacco, alcohol, food additives, reproductive and sexual behavior, occupation, pollution, medicines and medical procedures, and viral infections. They also specified a number of currently promising hypotheses regarding the ways that diet might affect the incidence of cancer: diet might contain carcinogens or their precursors; aspects of the diet might affect the formation, transport, activation or deactivation of carcinogens in the body; the diet might contain substances which promote or inhibit the. carcinogenic processes. Among this host of possible sources of environmental cancer risk and possible mechanisms whereby dietary factors may influence carcinogenesis, one aspect of diet, the intake of vitamin A, has been of considerable interest to laboratory scientists, epidemiologists, and nutritionists. We will review some of the bases for this interest and, in particular, examine the epidemiologic evidence which might link vitamin A to cancer in a protective role.
The Terminology of Community Health Workers.

Letters to the editor are presented in response to the article "Effects of community-based health worker interventions to improve chronic disease management and care among vulnerable populations: a systematic review," by K. Kim, J.S. Choi and E. Choi, which appeared in volume 106, number 4 during 2016.
Abstract 3905: Anti-tumor effect of combined irreversible electroporation and liposome-encapsulated NVP-BEZ235

Introduction Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a technique that uses electrical pulses to cause disruption in the lipid bilayer integrity by creating nanopores. Regions that are close to the probe will have a permanent, irreversible damage to the cells, while farther away regions will subject the cell membranes to re-seal (reversible). This reversible region provides opportunity for enhanced nanoparticle uptake. In this study, we tested the efficacy of combined IRE and nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery in vitro and in vivo in a hepatocellular carcinoma model. Methods Liposome-encapsulated NVP-BEZ235 (L-BEZ) was made from hydration-sonication, followed by an optional extrusion step. Particle size was tested via dynamic light scattering. BEZ concentration was quantified by fluorescence. Cytotoxicity of IRE and its drug combinations was tested on Hep3B cells using ECM 830 (BTX Harvard Apparatus) at 1600 V/cm field strength. In vivo efficacy was studied on nude mice bearing Hep3B xenografts with single dose of IRE, or drug alone (L-BEZ or BEZ at 4 mg/kg, intratumoral injection), and its combinations. Results and Discussion Liposomes range from 100-500 nm in hydrodynamic volume. Highest loading efficiency achieved was 90% (1.8 mg/mL of BEZ). To test the release of BEZ from the liposome, solution of L-BEZ was treated with IRE and the supernatant was tested against Hep3B cells. The extract from L-BEZ had a significantly higher cytotoxicity (51%) as compared to the empty liposome (20%) with a p-value Conclusion The use of minimally invasive IRE in combination with nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery treatment is a promising technique to achieve local disease control in hepatocellular carcinoma. Citation Format: Tian Li, Lucas Wang, Yang Qiao, Burapol Singhana, Marites P. Melancon. Anti-tumor effect of combined irreversible electroporation and liposome-encapsulated NVP-BEZ235. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 3905.
Headset design to accommodate four-pole galvanic vestibular stimulation

This paper discusses the development of a headset design that accommodates four-pole galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS), a process that stimulates the vestibular nerve via low current paths and interferes with the virtual perception of rotation about all three axes.
“This Is the Century of Light”: László Moholy-Nagy’s Painting and Photography Debate in i 10, 1927

ABSTRACT The emergence in the 1920s of the idea that photography could be a full-fledged form of artistic expression—rather than mere mechanical imaging—led artists and art experts alike to wrestle with the question: What exactly constitutes art? Photography now challenged painting, both figurative and abstract, and as photography’s many previously unsuspected potentials were revealed and explored, artists and experts felt an urgency to articulate photography’s relationship to the concept of art. Invested in photography and ever the advocate of a new innovative medium and genre, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy wanted to hear what some of the most respected artists and experts of the time had to say about photography, and so in 1927 he moderated a debate on the subject of “painting and photography” in the journal Internationale Revue i 10.
Managing risk in cataract surgeries performed by resident ophthalmologists.

A surgery resident’s early operations always carry more risk than those performed by more senior surgeons, a risk residents can work to offset by thorough attention to pre- and postoperative care and spending more time with patients. Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.
Self-reconfiguring robots: successes and challenges

We wish to create versatile robots by using selfreconfiguration: hundreds of small modules autonomously organize and reorganize as geometric structures to best fit the terrain on which the robot has to move, the shape of the obiect the robot has to manipulate, or the sensing needs for the given task. Self-reconfiguration allows large collections of small robots to actively organize as the most optimal geometric structure to perform useful coordinated work. A self-reconfiguring robot consists of a set of identical modules that can dynamically and autonomously reconfigure in a variety of shapes, to best fit the terrain, environment, and task. Selfreconfiguration leads to versatile robots that can support multiple modalities of locomotion and manipulation. Self-reconfiguring robots constitute large scale distributed systems. Because the modules change their location continuously they also constitute ad-hoc networks. This talk will discuss the challenges and successes of creating self-reconfiguring robots, ranging from designing hardware capable of self-reconfiguration to developing distributed controllers and planners for such systems that are scalable, adaptive, and support real-time behavior.
The Perinucleolar Compartment: RNA Metabolism and Cancer

The perinucleolar compartment (PNC) is a nuclear substructure associated with, but structurally distinct from, the nucleolus. The PNC contains several RNA processing proteins and several RNA pol III transcripts, which form novel complexes. As determined by cell culture experiments and human tumor samples, the PNC forms exclusively in cancer cells and the percentage of cancer cells in a population that have one or more PNCs directly correlates with the malignancy of that population of cells. Therefore, the PNC is being developed as a prognostic marker for several malignancies. PNC elimination in cancer cells has proven to be a useful as screening method to discover probe compounds used to elucidate PNC biology and to discover compounds with the potential to be developed as minimally toxic anti-cancer drugs.
Student Experiences in College

We review research on the “experiential core of college life” for contemporary students at four-year colleges in the United States. We argue that student academic and social experiences need to be understood in the context of broader historical and institutional factors that have structured these organizational settings. As sociologists, we focus attention on variation in college experiences for students from different socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups, as well as consider issues related to gender, which today include prominent attention to sexuality and sexual violence. We conclude our review by calling for additional research on topics including explicating the relationship between academic and social collegiate experiences, intersectionality, family influences, sexual violence, student political discourse, as well as increased attention to students at two-year colleges and other broad-access institutions.
Reversible Metalation and Catalysis with a Scorpionate-like Metallo-ligand in a Metal-Organic Framework.

The installation of metallo-ligands in metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) is an effective means to create site-isolated metal centers toward single-site heterogeneous catalysis. Although trispyrazolyborate (Tp) and tripyrazolylmethane (Tpm) form one of the most iconic classes of homogeneous catalysts, neither has been used as a metallo-ligand for the generation of MOFs thus far. Here, we show that upon in situ metalation with CuI, a tricarboxylated Tpm ligand reacts with ZrOCl2 to generate a new MOF exhibiting neutral scorpionate-like chelating sites. These sites undergo for facile demetalation and remetalation with retention of crystallinity and porosity. When remetalated with CuI, the MOF exhibits spectroscopic features and catalytic activity for olefin cyclopropanation reactions that are similar to the molecular [Cu(CH3CN)Tpm*]PF6 complex (Tpm* = tris(3,5-dimethylpyrazolyl)methane). These results demonstrate the inclusion of Tp or Tpm metallo-ligands in a MOF for the first time and provide a blueprint for...
Law, Expertise and Global Political Economy

Professor David Kennedy’s 2018 Montesquieu Lecture considers the role of expert legal knowledge in our political and economic life. As politicians, citizens, and experts engage one another on a technocratic terrain of irresolvable argument and uncertain knowledge, a world of astonishing inequality and injustice is born. Kennedy draws on his experience working with international lawyers, human rights advocates, policy professionals, economic development specialists, military lawyers, and humanitarian strategists to describe the conflicts, unexamined assumptions, and assertions of power and entitlement that lie at the center of expert rule. He explores how we can harness expert knowledge to remake an unjust world.
Undifferentiated carcinoma with osteoclast-like giant cells of the pancreas arising from an intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm

Abstract Undifferentiated carcinoma of the pancreas with osteoclast-like giant cells is a rare pancreatic tumor of unclear origin. This case reports a 72-year-old male with bloating and indigestion for about six years who was found to have a 5 cm laterally spreading ampullary mass and a 1.3 cm solid and cystic distal pancreas body mass on esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) and endoscopic ultrasound (EUS). Histological examination of the pancreatic mass showed an undifferentiated carcinoma with osteoclast-like giant cells, contiguous with and apparently arising from an IPMN. Rare areas of glandular morphology within the invasive carcinoma, as well as patchy expression of epithelial markers and close physical association with an IPMN, clearly support an epithelial origin of this neoplasm and also suggest neoplastic progression from a preneoplastic ductal lesion to an invasive carcinoma, similar to the histogenesis of ductal-type pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Molecular analysis of the invasive carcinoma revealed mutations typical of pancreatic ductal carcinoma. Identical mutations were then identified within the intraductal mucinous neoplasm, consistent with origin of this rare pancreatic carcinoma subtype from IPMN.
Performance of Growing-Finishing Swine Fed High Levels of Alfalfa Meal: Effects of Alfalfa Level, Dietary Additives and Antibiotics

Summary The response of growing-finishing swine to high levels of dietary alfalfa meal was examined. In trial 1, pigs were fed barley-based diets containing 0, 20, 40 or 60% alfalfa meal. Average daily gain (ADG) was reduced and feed/gain increased (P<.05) with each increment in alfalfa level. Voluntary feed intake was similar at each alfalfa level, but intake of digestible energy dropped with increasing dietary alfalfa. This suggests that, because of low palatability or other factors, pigs fed alfalfa-containing diets do not eat sufficient feed to meet their energy requirements. Dressing percentage and backfat thickness decreased with increasing alfalfa level. In trial 2, several additives (ASP-250 | bentonite, glutamic acid and wheat bran) were included in a diet containing 40% alfalfa. The ADG was increased (P<.05) only with the ASP-250| supplementation. In trial 3, ASP-250 | and Virginiamycin were compared as additives for growing-finishing diets containing 0 and 20% alfalfa. In the grower phase, ADG was higher (P<.05) when ASP-250| was included in the
Stabilizing Sets for Ziegler–Nichols Plants

In this chapter, we consider the PID stabilization of first-order plants cascaded with a time-delay. Such plants are called Ziegler–Nichols plants and there is a considerable interest in PID controller design for such plants. A complete solution to the problem of determining the stabilizing set for P, PI, and PID controllers was obtained in 2002. This solution is based on an extension of the classical Hermite–Biehler theorem for polynomials to quasipolynomials. Here, we summarize the results in the form of algorithms omitting the details of the extensive proofs. These appear in sources cited in the Notes and References section for the benefit of the interested reader.
Provenance and Disposition of Specimens Appearing in Color Plates of the Freshwater Mussels of Tennessee

A total of 260 specimens of native freshwater mussels and numerous specimens of three introduced bivalves were photographed and published in The Freshwater Mussels of Tennessee, but the provenance and disposition for these specimens were not included. All but nine of the 260 bookplate freshwater mussel specimens and all of the introduced bivalve specimens used in the figures were recently found. Information on length, catalogue number, collection locality, date of collection, and collector(s) is provided herein.
Performance Evaluation of Long-Life Pavements Using the Mechanistic-Empirical Asphalt Pavement Analysis (MEAPA) Web Application

The long-life pavements that last longer than 50 years without major structural rehabilitation and require only periodic surface renewal due to surficial distresses are known to have relatively low life cycle cost. The enhanced performances of such pavements (also known as perpetual pavements) are due to many factors such as improved structural design, better materials and construction practices. In Michigan, several long-life pavement sections were constructed in response to the Public Act 175 (2015) and the Roads Innovation Task Force (RITF) Report. The objective of this study was to evaluate the fatigue performance of one of the long-life pilot projects sections (US-131) and compare it with a standard design in Michigan. A new mechanistic-empirical analysis software (MEAPA) was used to predict the long-term performance of the pavements included in the study. The critical strains for bottom-up and top-down cracking, fatigue life (i.e., number of cycles to failure (Nf)) and predicted magnitudes of bottom-up and top-down cracking were compared. Even though it was observed that the long-life structure is expected to perform better than the standard section in terms of fatigue cracking, both sections are expected to perform well over 30-year design life.
Towards an ontology-based medication conversational agent for PrEP and PEP.

ABSTRACT: HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) can damage a human’s immune system and cause Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) which could lead to severe outcomes, including death. While HIV infections have decreased over the last decade, there is still a significant population where the infection permeates. PrEP and PEP are two proven preventive measures introduced that involve periodic dosage to stop the onset of HIV infection. However, the adherence rates for this medication is low in part due to the lack of information about the medication. There exist several communication barriers that prevent patient-provider communication from happening. In this work, we present our ontology-based method for automating the communication of this medication that can be deployed for live conversational agents for PrEP and PEP. This method facilitates a model of automated conversation between the machine and user can also answer relevant questions.
Development of rapid radiometric assays using the incorporation of [3H]uracil to determine susceptibility of slowly growing mycobacteria to antimicrobial agents

I compared three assay systems to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium. They were an agar dilution assay, an optical density measure­ ment assay, and a rapid radiometric assay. The rapid radiometric assay 3 I developed used the inhibition of incorporation of [ H]uracil into the mycobacterial RNA in the presence of antimicrobial agents to measure the susceptibility of the mycobacteria to antimicrobials. Twenty-seven antimicrobials were evaluated using the three assay systems. Long incubation periods of 12 to 16 weeks were a disadvantage in the agar dilution assay. Many of the antimicrobials evaluated are known to retain only partial activity or become inactive after several days to 4 weeks at 37°C. The optical density assay was unsatisfactory because the anti­ microbials frequently produced cloudy suspensions or dark—colored solutions which could not be measured accurately in a spectrometer. There was 83.3% agreement between the agar dilution and rapid radiometric assays of the susceptibility of M. avium and 69.2% agree­ ment for Mparatuberculosis. The rapid radiometric assay was com­ pleted in 3.5 days and circumvented problems associated with the two other assays. The technique did not determine minimum inhibitory concentrations.
Multi-wavelength, multi-distance, and multi-exposure time speckle contrast optical spectroscopy (3M-SCOS) for assessing deep tissue hemodynamics

We present a novel approach to speckle contrast optical spectroscopy that utilizes multi-wavelength, multi-distance and multi-exposure time datasets to simultaneously estimate the blood flow and optical properties in the underlying tissue. This approach offers improvements in depth penetration over existing techniques and provides additional information content regarding the hemoglobin concentration and oxygen saturation of the tissue. We demonstrate the accuracy of this approach through computational simulations at source-detector separations of 1~2 cm and compare performance with existing multi-distance and multi-exposure time approaches.
White matter abnormalities associated with ADHD outcomes in adulthood.

It remains unclear if previously reported structural abnormalities in children with ADHD are present in adulthood regardless of clinical outcome. In this study, we examined the extent to which focal—rather than diffuse—abnormalities in fiber collinearity of 18 major white matter tracts could distinguish 126 adults with rigorously diagnosed childhood ADHD (ADHD; mean age [SD] = 34.3 [3.6] years; F/M = 12/114) from 58 adults without ADHD histories (non-ADHD; mean age [SD] = 33.9 [4.1] years; F/M = 5/53) and if any of these abnormalities were greater for those with persisting ADHD symptomatology. To this end, a tract profile approach was used. After accounting for age, sex, handedness, and comorbidities, a MANCOVA revealed a main effect of group (ADHD < non-ADHD; F[18,155] = 2.1; p = 0.007) on fractional anisotropy (FA, a measure of fiber collinearity and/or integrity), in focal portions of white matter tracts involved in visuospatial processing and memory (i.e., anterior portion of the left inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and middle portion of the left and right cingulum angular bundle). Only abnormalities in the anterior portion of the left inferior longitudinal fasciculus distinguished probands with persisting versus desisting ADHD symptomatology, suggesting that abnormalities in the cingulum angular bundle might reflect “scarring” effects of childhood ADHD. To our knowledge, this is the first study using a tract profile approach to identify focal or widespread structural abnormalities in adults with ADHD rigorously diagnosed in childhood.
Spontaneous electromyographic potentials in chronic spinal cord injured patients: Relation to spasticity and length of nerve

Nine patients with complete cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) had their vastus medialis, tibialis anterior, and gastrocnemius muscles evaluated with an electromyographic (EMG) examination in the acute (four to eight weeks) and chronic (more than one year) phases. The hypothesis that spontaneous EMG activity changes with time was assessed. During the chronic phase evaluation, a conduction study was performed to rule out peripheral nerve damage, and the amount of reflex activity was assessed on a scale of 0 to 5 (0 = areflexia; 5 = greater than 5 beats of clonus) to estimate the amount of spasticity. Subjects demonstrated normal conduction through the sensory (sural nerve) and/or motor segments of the peroneal and tibial nerves. In the acute phase, each muscle had spontaneous activity with no significant variation between different muscles of the same patient. In the chronic phase, there was a positive correlation between the degree of spontaneous activity in a muscle and the length of its axon (p less than .01) and a negative correlation between the amount of spontaneous activity and the degree of reflex activity (p less than .01). Specifically, the lower motor neuron in the chronic phase of an SCI seems to behave much like an axonopathy where the degree of spontaneous EMG activity is dependent on the length of the axon, with the additional concept that spontaneous activity is inhibited by spasticity.
The Africa-China relationship: challenges and opportunities

The dramatic growth in the relationship between Africa and China is one of the great stories of the twenty-first century, part of the profound transformations taking place in the global political economy. It has been greeted with excitement, consternation, and confusion. To its cheerleaders, it represents the enduring partnership between Africa and China, spawned by the historical affinities of struggles against Western imperialism and humanistic aspirations for development. To its critics, it is reminiscent of European colonisation a century earlier, in which Africa serves as a cheap source of raw materials, a lucrative export market for Chinese manufactured goods, and an outlet for its surplus capital. Rather than a development partner, some see China as Africa's biggest development competitor, whose explosive growth and insatiable quest for global markets threatens Africa's industrialisation and competitiveness. This paper examines the factors behind the development of Africa-China relations, especiall...
Determining Possible Relationships between Yield and Yield-Related Components in Forage Maize (Zea mays L.) Using Correlation and Path Analyses

This study was carried out to determine the optimum plant density and nitrogen rate in maize (Zea mays L.) under the ecological conditions of the Southern Marmara Region. For this purpose, maize was grown at different plant densities and was fertilized with different rates of nitrogen during 2006 and 2007. The dry forage yield, plant height, first ear height, stem diameter, leaf number plant-1, ear number plant-1, leaf ratio, stem ratio, ear ratio, ear diameter, leaf area index, and light interception were measured for all the treatments applied. The values of each parameter mentioned above were reorganized without regard to treatments or with regard to the highest and lowest values of plant density and nitrogen rates and were evaluated to determine the relationships between the dry forage yield and yield-related components. For this purpose, the direct and indirect effects of the corresponding components on dry forage yield were determined by using correlation and path analyses methods. The data averaged over two years, regardless of the treatment effects indicated that the relationship between the dry forage yield and each yield component except for stem ratio was positively significant. Path analysis revealed that most of the yield components had direct effects on the dry forage yield. According to this study, greater priority must be given to first ear height, leaf ratio and light interception to optimize silage maize yield. When the highest and the lowest plant densities and nitrogen rates were considered, it was understood that the nitrogen application had a greater effect on the dry forage yield than the plant density did.
Methods for Determining the Energy Release in Hypothetical Fast-Reactor Meltdown Accidents*

Report and dissertation issued by the APDA over hypothetical reactor meltdown accidents. Methods for the determination of the energy release from reactor meltdowns are presented. This report includes tables, and illustrations.
A generalized method for correcting pulse-height spectra for the peak pile-up effect due to double sum pulses. Part II. The inverse calculation for obtaining true from observed spectra

Abstract In the present Part II paper a method is developed and demonstrated for performing the inverse calculation for obtaining true from observed pulse-height spectra utilizing the model for predicting spectral distortion due to peak pile-up.
Residual sleepiness after N2O sedation: a randomized control trial [ISRCTN88442975]

Nitrous oxide (N2O) provides sedation for procedures that result in constant low-intensity pain. How long do individuals remain sleepy after receiving N2O? We hypothesized that drug effects would be apparent for an hour or more. This was a randomized, double blind controlled study. On three separate occasions, volunteers (N = 12) received 100% oxygen or 20% or 40% N2O for 30 min. Dependent measures included the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT), a Drug Effects/Liking questionnaire, visual analogue scales, and five psychomotor tests. Repeated measures analysis of variance was performed with drug and time as factors. During inhalation, drug effects were apparent based on the questionnaire, visual analogue scales, and psychomotor tests. Three hours after inhaling 100% oxygen or 20% N2O, subjects were sleepier than if they breathed 40% N2O. No other drug effects were apparent 1 hour after inhalation ceased. Patients did not demonstrate increased sleepiness after N2O inhalation. We found no evidence for increased sleepiness greater than 1 hour after N2O inhalation. Our study suggests that long-term effects of N2O are not significant.
Breast dose in mammography is about 30% lower when realistic heterogeneous glandular distributions are considered

Purpose: Current dosimetry methods in mammography assume that the breast is comprised of a homogeneous mixture of glandular and adipose tissues. Three-dimensional (3D) dedicated breast CT (bCT) data sets were used previously to assess the complex anatomical structure within the breast, characterizing the statistical distribution of glandular tissue in the breast. The purpose of this work was to investigate the effect of bCT-derived heterogeneous glandular distributions on dosimetry in mammography. Methods: bCT-derived breast diameters, volumes, and 3D fibroglandular distributions were used to design realistic compressed breast models comprised of heterogeneous distributions of glandular tissue. The bCT-derived glandular distributions were fit to biGaussian functions and used as probability density maps to assign the density distributions within compressed breast models. The MCNPX 2.6.0 Monte Carlo code was used to estimate monoenergetic normalized mean glandular dose “DgN(E)” values in mammography geometry. The DgN(E) values were then weighted by typical mammography x-ray spectra to determine polyenergetic DgN (pDgN) coefficients for heterogeneous (pDgN{sub hetero}) and homogeneous (pDgN{sub homo}) cases. The dependence of estimated pDgN values on phantom size, volumetric glandular fraction (VGF), x-ray technique factors, and location of the heterogeneous glandular distributions was investigated. Results: The pDgN{sub hetero} coefficients were on average 35.3% (SD, 4.1)more » and 24.2% (SD, 3.0) lower than the pDgN{sub homo} coefficients for the Mo–Mo and W–Rh x-ray spectra, respectively, across all phantom sizes and VGFs when the glandular distributions were centered within the breast phantom in the coronal plane. At constant breast size, increasing VGF from 7.3% to 19.1% lead to a reduction in pDgN{sub hetero} relative to pDgN{sub homo} of 23.6%–27.4% for a W–Rh spectrum. Displacement of the glandular distribution, at a distance equal to 10% of the compressed breast width in the superior and inferior directions, resulted in a 37.3% and a −26.6% change in the pDgN{sub hetero} coefficient, respectively, relative to the centered distribution for the Mo–Mo spectrum. Lateral displacement of the glandular distribution, at a distance equal to 10% of the compressed breast width, resulted in a 1.5% change in the pDgN{sub hetero} coefficient relative to the centered distribution for the W–Rh spectrum. Conclusions: Introducing bCT-derived heterogeneous glandular distributions into mammography phantom design resulted in decreased glandular dose relative to the widely used homogeneous assumption. A homogeneous distribution overestimates the amount of glandular tissue near the entrant surface of the breast, where dose deposition is exponentially higher. While these findings are based on clinically measured distributions of glandular tissue using a large cohort of women, future work is required to improve the classification of glandular distributions based on breast size and overall glandular fraction.« less
Poverty alleviation and consumption insurance: Evidence from PROGRESA in Mexico☆

Abstract This study uses three rounds of panel data between October 1998 and November 1999 and covering 506 villages and 24,000 households in rural Mexico, to examine how the replacement of pre-existing subsidy programs by a conditional cash transfer program such as PROGRESA (the Health, Education and Nutrition Program) affects the consumption insurance of households. The results obtained are consistent with the prevalence of formal or informal insurance arrangements aimed at protecting household consumption from fluctuations in income. Yet, total consumption, as well as food and nonfood consumption, are significantly correlated with idiosyncratic changes in income suggesting that insurance is incomplete. A comparison of the results between villages covered and not yet covered by PROGRESA (treatment versus control villages) suggests that PROGRESA did not replace or reinforce any pre-existing risk sharing among households within villages or lead to any substantial changes in how households cope with shocks. The analysis also revealed that households eligible for the PROGRESA benefits in the treatment villages were able to insulate their consumption from fluctuations in income better than their counterparts in control villages. Thus, a poverty alleviation program providing cash transfers conditioned on households investing in their human capital is associated with a reduction of household vulnerability to risk.
Detecting axon damage in spinal cord from a mouse model of multiple sclerosis

In the current study, the feasibility and reproducibility of in vivo diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of the spinal cord in normal mice are illustrated followed by its application to mice with experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) to detect and differentiate axon and myelin damage. Axial diffusivity, describing water movement along the axonal fiber tract, in all regions of spinal cord white matter from EAE-affected C57BL/6 mice was significantly decreased compared to normal mice, whereas there was no statistically significant change in radial diffusivity, describing water movement across the fiber tract. Furthermore, a direct comparison between DTI and histology from a single mouse demonstrated a decrease in axial diffusivity that was supported by widespread staining of antibody against beta-amyloid precursor protein. Regionally elevated radial diffusivity corresponded with locally diminished Luxol fast blue staining in the same tissue from the EAE mouse cord. Our findings suggest that axonal damage is more widespread than myelin damage in the spinal cord white matter of mice with EAE and that in vivo DTI may provide a sensitive and specific measure of white matter injury.
Effects of sugars on the kinetics of drying and on the survival of partially dehydrated larvae of Anopheles mosquitoes.

Abstract The ability to cryopreserve a stage of Anopheles mosquitoes would facilitate the development of strains incapable of transmitting malaria. Cryopreservation requires that the freezable water in cell systems be removed or rendered incapable of undergoing ice formation. The present study was concerned with the rate at which water is removed from lst instar larvae of Anopheles gambiae by air-drying, with the extent of dehydration that the larvae will tolerate, and with the effect of trehalose and sucrose on both drying kinetics and survival. Eighty-one percent of the larvae are water. Air-drying removes 90% of that water in ~20 min. Survivals after partial dehydration are highest if the larvae are rehydrated in 1/2× isotonic saline (0.13 osm); they are poorest if rehydrated in water or 0.13 osm sucrose. In the former, about 34% survive the removal of half the water, but next to none survive the loss of >70% initial water. Prior exposure to 0.2 M trehalose for as little as 1 min slows the drying rate and increases the tolerance of the larvae to dehydration. With 30-min exposure, 88% survive the loss of 50% of their water and 63% survive the loss of 75%. Protection is abolished with 0.4 M trehalose. The results are similar with sucrose. It is substantially reduced if sugar-exposed larvae are briefly washed with water prior to drying. The protection appears not to be related to the decreased drying rate. Rather it appears related, by an unknown mechanism, to the presence of sugar on the outer surface of the larvae.
The Rocky Road to Implementation of Basel II in the United States

This paper contends that the problems US officials have encountered in their efforts to implement Basel II reflect inherent weaknesses in the structure of the approach. It begins with a brief overview of the original Basel Accord on Capital Adequacy (Basel I) and a summary of the Basel II approach, with emphasis on the Pillar I weights for credit risk. Next an analysis of the Fed’s bifurcated approach to implementation of Basel II is followed by an examination of three unanticipated obstacles: (1) perceived competitive inequities within the USA; (2) the surprisingly lower and variable capital charges revealed in the fourth quantitative impact study; and (3) the request by four leading banks for permission to implement the simpler, Standardized Approach rather than the Advanced Internal Ratings Approach (A-IRB). These reflect the erosion of several crucial predeal understandings as described by Kane (J Financ Serv Res 32(1):39–53, 2007a). The paper concludes with a consideration of whether it may have been possible to achieve equivalent improvements in risk management with lower compliance costs and less uncertainty about the impact on financial stability.
Effective Asymmetric Synthesis of 1,2,9,9a-Tetrahydrocyclopropa[c]benzo[e]indol-4-one (CBI)

A short, asymmetric synthesis of the 1,2,9,9a-tetrahydrocyclopropa[c]benzo[e]indol-4-one (CBI) analogue of the CC-1065 and duocarmycin alkylation subunits is detailed that employs an effective enzymatic desymmetrization reaction of prochiral diol 12 using a commercially available Pseudomonas sp. lipase. The optically active monoacetate (S)-13 is furnished in exceptional conversions (88%) and optical purity (99% ee) and serves as an intermediate for the preparation of either enantiomer of CBI. Similarly, the Pseudomonas sp. lipase resolved the racemic intermediate 19, affording advanced intermediates of CBI in good conversions and optical purity (99% ee), and provided an alternative approach to the preparation of optically active CBI derivatives.
An enzymic method for determination of inorganic pyrophosphate and its use as an assay for RNA polymerase

1. 1. An enzymic method for the determination of PP1 has been developed. PP1 can be quantitatively estimated from the amount of NADPH formed via the action of UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase, phosphoglucomutase, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. Neither P1 nor any of the organic phosphate compounds tested interfered in the PP1 determination. 2. 2. The method has been used for the assay of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase—by coupling the generation of PP1 by RNA polymerase with NADPH formation. The RNA polymerase catalyzed syntheses of RNA and polyriboadenylate have been assayed by this procedure.
Use of Tissue Disposition Data from Rats and Dogs to Determine Species Differences in Input Parameters for a Physiological Model for Perchloroethylene

Abstract Tissue disposition of perchloroethylene (PCE) was determined experimentally in two mammalian species of markedly different size in order to derive input parameters for the development of a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model, which could forecast the disposition of PCE in each species. Male Sprague-Dawley rats and male beagle dogs received a single bolus of 10 mg PCE/kg body wt in polyethylene glycol 400 by gavage. Serial samples of brain, liver, kidney, lung, heart, skeletal muscle, perirenal fat, and blood were taken for up to 72 hr following PCE administration. Blood and tissue PCE concentrations were analyzed using a gas chromatography headspace technique. Dogs exhibited considerably longer tissue and brood half-lives than did rats. The dogs also exhibited larger area under tissue concentration versus time curves for all tissues except the liver. Whole body clearance of PCE in the rat was greater than that in the dog. Model simulations indicated this could be attributed to more rapid and extensive PCE exhalation and metabolism by the rat. The in vivo blood:air partition coefficient determined for rats was similar to an in vitro value previously reported. In vivo tissue: blood partition coefficients, however, were 1.4 to 2.8 times greater than published in vitro values. The PCE in vivo blood:air partition coefficient for the dog was twice that of the rat, but tissue:blood partition coefficients were 1.5 to 3.0 times greater in the rat than in the dog. These results demonstrated the existence of significant differences in partition coefficients in two species commonly used in toxicity testing. The PBPK model was shown to have utility in predicting the impact of metabolism and exhalation on pharmacokinetics of PCE in different species of widely differing size.