cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
ARID1A, a component of SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complexes, is required for porcine embryo development

Mammalian embryos undergo dramatic epigenetic remodeling that can have a profound impact on both gene transcription and overall embryo developmental competence. Members of the SWI/SNF (Switch/Sucrose non-fermentable) family of chromatin-remodeling complexes reposition nucleosomes and alter transcription factor accessibility. These large, multi-protein complexes possess an SNF2-type ATPase (either SMARCA4 or SMARCA2) as their core catalytic subunit, and are directed to specific loci by associated subunits. Little is known about the identity of specific SWI/SNF complexes that serve regulatory roles during cleavage development. ARID1A, one of the SWI/SNF complex subunits, can affect histone methylation in somatic cells; here, we determined the developmental requirements of ARID1A in porcine oocytes and embryos. We found ARID1A transcript levels were significantly reduced in 4-cell porcine embryos as compared to germinal vesicle-stage oocytes, suggesting that ARID1A would be required for porcine cleavage-stage development. Indeed, injecting in vitro-matured and fertilized porcine oocytes with double-stranded interfering RNAs that target ARID1A, and evaluating their phenotype after seven days, revealed that the depletion of ARID1A results in significantly fewer cells than their respective control groups (p < 0.001).
Understanding and Raising Resources

The ability to understand, acquire, and manage financial resources is essential for electoral campaigns, advocacy efforts in nonprofit organizations, and political social work in the offices of elected officials or public agencies. This chapter and Chap. 12 serve as a pair to provide you the necessary information to begin raising and managing financial resources in political settings. Effective political strategies require political social workers to think carefully and strategically about money. As Mutch (2016) describes in regard to electoral campaigns: Money is necessary because campaigns are expensive, but money alone rarely wins elections. Think of running for elective office as like playing blackjack in Las Vegas. Having a lot of money is no guarantee that you will win, but without money you cannot even get into the game” (p. 5).
Performance and the Medical Body, edited by Alex Mermikides and Gianna Bouchard

Exploring the interface between performance and medicine, this volume brings together essays by practitioners and theorists mostly based in the United Kingdom, but with select contributions from Au...
Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) population history indicates important demographic changes near the mid-Pleistocene transition

The increased availability of genome sequences has provided remarkable advances in our understanding of the evolutionary history of non-model species. One important consideration in evolutionary studies is the role of demographic history in shaping contemporary levels and distribution of genetic variation. In green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas), a draft genome sequence has recently been made available, yet little is known regarding how past demographic events have shaped genomic variation in populations of this species. In this study, single nucleotide polymorphisms were identified in the green sea turtle’s genome and used to reconstruct past demographic events. It was found that this green sea turtle population, from the South China Sea, experienced a marked expansion ca. 0.8 million years ago near the mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT). Simulations revealed that the past demographic history can at least partially be explained by changes in population structure and gene flow; possibly associated with the climatic and geomagnetic events occurring since the MPT. The results demonstrate the importance in considering the effects of gene flow when reconstructing historical changes in population size and provide an extensive set of genomic resources for future evolutionary studies of green sea turtles.
Physiology and biochemistry of leaves under iron deficiency

Iron-deficiency induced leaf chlorosis is a widespread physiological disorder which has serious consequences for agricultural production. The study of the physiology and biochemistry of this disorder has provided reserachers with a unique experimental tool to study photosynthetic limitation in vivo. This article reviews the state of knowledge about the influence of iron deficiency on leaf growth, thylakoid formation and chlorophyll biosynthesis, light harvesting and photosynthetic electron transport, and photosynthetic CO2 fixation and reduction. The effects of iron deficiency-mediated reduction in photosynthetic electron transport capacity on photosynthetic rate is also considered.
Visual Display for the Acquisition of High Rate Pattern Reversal Electroretinograms

The Pattern Electroretinogram (PERG) is a biological potential that is evoked from the retina upon viewing a temporally modulated stimulus pattern of constant total luminance. Typically, PERG recordings are limited by the method of conveying the stimulus. This paper presents an alternative method to generate PERG stimuli utilizing Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and optical diffusing materials. The proposed stimulator will allow for the recording of PERG waveforms at much higher rates than are capable with conventional stimulators. Also, the proposed stimulator will be able to take advantage of advanced analysis techniques, such as the recently developed Continuous Loop Averaging Deconvolution (CLAD) algorithm.
Defense Responses of Plants

One of the most promising areas of research concerned with plants and their reaction to their environments is that of natural plant defense systems. Within these defense systems lies a variety of both constitutive and active defenses in which a broad spectrum of chemicals are involved. These chemicals are either present all the time as toxins of deterrents or are induced in response to signals that are released from the sites of pest attacks. In this latter category are two types of responses; (i) those that are localized, in which signals travel to only a relatively few cells within the vicinity of the attack site and, (ii) those that are distal response. In the latter case, signals travel throughout the plant to mobilize defense systems in cells many cm away. Many of the active defense responses can produce resistances that are very broad, and can include a variety of pathogens, including viruses, bacteria and fungi (see Kuc, 1982; Rhodes, 1980; Schultz, 1982). The biochemistry of the regulation of the induced defense compounds and the molecular biology of the signals and the genes that are regulated are generally not known.
Brown Is Not a Color: Introduction of the Term ‘Brown Dwarf’

This contribution provides a very brief, personal comment on the remarkable past five decades of progress in our understanding of small-mass objects that try, but do not succeed in stably fusing hydrogen. This article describes the origin of the term ‘brown dwarf’ as introduced by me in 1975.
2 + 2 Dimerization of cinnamylidene malonic acid: A structural and kinetic study

Abstract Cinnamylidene malonic acid was synthesized and its crystal structure obtained. The dicarboxylic acid hydrogen-bonding motif of this structure consists of catemer chains that lie along the c- glide plane. A photo induced 2 + 2 cycloaddition occurred upon exposure of the crystals to UV light which resulted in the destruction of the crystal. The structure of the photo products were determined by IR and NMR analysis. The regio- and stereo-chemistry of the photoproduct can be rationalized by examining the relative orientation and symmetry relating reacting molecules within the crystal structure. A kinetic study demonstrated first order reaction kinetics which is consistent with a reaction occurring under topochemical control.
Decreasing time to treat using visual management tools.

277Background: Time between positive cancer diagnosis and first treatment (TTT) has lengthened significantly nationwide over the last decade. Decreased TTT has been shown to positively impact patie...
Multi-column displacement chromatography for separation of charge variants of monoclonal antibodies

Native forms of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) coexist with various acidic and basic charge variants throughout process development and into drug product formulation. During downstream purification, a product's charge variant composition is controlled, as necessary, primarily through peak fractionation and pooling of elution fractions using cation-exchange chromatography (CEX). This can be a cumbersome process with poor resolution and it may result in a significant reduction in product yield. In the present work, separation and enrichment of the native form of a mAb and of basic and acidic variants is achieved using self-displacement chromatography in a multi-column continuous chromatography set-up. Basic mAb variants are more strongly retained in CEX owing to their higher charge, and can displace the native and the acidic variants. Similarly, the native variant can displace the acidic variants if the amount loaded exceeds the total resin capacity. To this end, we utilized a three-column continuous system to consecutively displace acidic, native and basic charge variants of a therapeutic mAb in the order of increasing binding strength during product loading. Using our optimized operating parameters, we were able to enrich the native variant from 65% to 90% while loading above the capacity of the column, with a process yield of above 90%. This method and approach will help to control and reduce in particular the charged variant heterogeneity, and, in general, aid in the separation of charged proteins at preparative scale.
Abstract P2-06-21: Endogenous expression of ERβ variants contributes towards chemotherapy-resistance in the triple negative breast cancer cell line HCC-1806

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) still remains a challenge to treat in the clinic due to a lack of good targets for treatment. Although TNBC lacks expression of ERα, the expression of ERβ and its variants are detected quite frequently in this cancer type and can represent an avenue for treatment. We show that the variants of ERβ, namely ERβ1, ERβ2, ERβ4, and ERβ5, contributes to aggressiveness of the TNBC cell line HCC1806 by affecting E-Cadherin expression and chemotherapy sensitivity. We have previously shown that the HCC1806 cell line expresses all the ERβ variants. To investigate their function we used the recently developed dCas9-KRAB system with Guide RNA for both ERβ promoters 0N and 0K, using 3 guide RNA9s for each promoter and we found that expression of panERβ decreased from a ct. of 28 to 33 indicating loss of total ERβ. Treatment of HCC1806 cells with chemotherapy in combination with an ERβ agonist, LY500307, is more effective in reducing cancer cell viability. Knockdown of total ERβ in HCC1806 cells using CRISPR-Cas9 technology, decreased the proliferation and increased chemo-sensitivity to docetaxel agent in cells with the 0K promoter knock down, while cells with the 0N promoter knock down were less affected. Furthermore, after ERβ knockdown, the cell morphology of HCC-1806 changed to a more epithelial phenotype and there was increase in the expression of the classical epithelial marker, E-cadherin. N-Cadherin was unchanged in the cells with the 0K promoter knock down, while E-Cadherin was slightly decreased in cells with the 0N promoter knock down. We also found that cells with the 0K promoter knock down migrated less than control cells in a migration assay, while cells with the 0N promoter knock down were less affected. These findings are in agreement with reports showing that the 0K promoter is responsible for expression of the variants ERβ2 and ERβ5, while the 0N promoter expresses more ERβ1. Furthermore, we have earlier shown that ERβ2 and ERβ5 increase aggressiveness of TNBC via several oncogenic signaling pathways. In conclusion, knockdown of ERβ variants in HCC-1806 indicated that the variants may be responsible for conferring oncogenic properties to TNBC such as EMT, cancer cell proliferation and chemo-resistance. Therefore, treating TNBC patients with combination therapy including ERβ agonists, may prove to be extremely beneficial for securing better treatment responses and future pre-clinical studies should design appropriate experiments to confirm these findings in vivo. Citation Format: Faria M, Gustafsson J-A, Strom A. Endogenous expression of ERβ variants contributes towards chemotherapy-resistance in the triple negative breast cancer cell line HCC-1806 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-06-21.
Interrupting Toxoplasma’s Regularly Scheduled Program of Egress

Although many cellular components of the Ca2+ signaling pathway dictating Toxoplasma gondii egress have been identified, whether the parasite secretes protein activators of this pathway remained unknown. Bisio et al. (Nat. Microbiol. 2019;4:420–428) identify a parasite-secreted diacylglycerol kinase as a key upstream activator of signaling for ‘programmed' egress from host cells.
Combined Monte Carlo Narrow Resonance-Intermediate Resonance Method for Testing Resonance Integral Calculations in Complex Geometries

The narrow resonance (NR) approximation has, in the past, been applied mainly to regular lattices with fairly simple unit cells. Attempts to use the NR approximation to deal with fine details of th...
Autologous Costal Cartilage Harvest for Rhinoplasty with Simultaneous Breast Surgery: A Safe and Efficient Technique.

BACKGROUND Autologous costal cartilage is frequently required for revision rhinoplasties and for challenging primary rhinoplasties. Patients undergoing a concomitant breast surgery can have costal cartilage harvested through their breast surgery incisions, thereby obviating an additional rib harvest scar. The safety and efficacy of this approach has yet to be described. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes, safety, and results of a new technique, described here, for harvesting costal cartilage during a concomitant breast operation. Specifically, the rates of capsular contracture and rhinoplasty revisions were of great interest. METHODS A retrospective review was performed evaluating the senior author's experience with this technique. Data collected included patient demographics, operations performed, operative time, perioperative morbidity, and postoperative complications. Rates of capsular contracture and rhinoplasty revisions were compared with national averages. RESULTS A total of 31 female patients were included. Ten (32.3%) breast complications occurred. There were 6 (19.4%) rhinoplasty complications, comprising 1 infection and 5 revisions. The capsular contracture rate was 6% and the rhinoplasty revision rate was 16%. Both of these rates are comparable to independent breast surgeries and rhinoplasties. There were no cases of perioperative mortality or major morbidity. CONCLUSIONS Combining breast surgery and rhinoplasty surgery allows for autologous rib harvest through the breast surgery incisions. This is a safe technique that results in outcomes similar to either procedure performed alone. In addition, the patient is spared an additional surgery and donor site scar. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4
Abstract P126: Comparing Cardiovascular Risk Factor Progression Between South Asian Men and Women With Diabetes: A Longitudinal Analysis From the Masala Study

Introduction: South Asians have a high incidence of type 2 diabetes(DM) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Women with DM may have greater CVD risk compared to men with DM and women without DM. No st...
Protecting Spin Coherence in a Tunable Heisenberg Model.

Using an ensemble of atoms in an optical cavity, we engineer a family of nonlocal Heisenberg Hamiltonians with continuously tunable anisotropy of the spin-spin couplings. We thus gain access to a rich phase diagram, including a paramagnetic-to-ferromagnetic Ising phase transition that manifests as a diverging magnetic susceptibility at the critical point. The susceptibility displays a symmetry between Ising interactions and $XY$ (spin-exchange) interactions of the opposite sign, which is indicative of the spatially extended atomic system behaving as a single collective spin. Images of the magnetization dynamics show that spin-exchange interactions protect the coherence of the collective spin, even against inhomogeneous fields that completely dephase the noninteracting and Ising systems. Our results underscore prospects for harnessing spin-exchange interactions to enhance the robustness of spin squeezing protocols.
A modal analysis of phenomenal intentionality: horizonality and object-directed phenomenal presence

In this article I argue that phenomenal intentionality fundamentally consists in a horizonality structure, rather than in a relation to a representational content or the determination of accuracy conditions. I provide a distinctive modal model of intentionality that conceives of phenomenal intentionality as the enjoyment of a plus ultra that points beyond what is actual. The directedness of intentionality on the world, thus, consists in “pointing ahead” to possibilities. The principal difficulty for the modal model is logical: the most obvious way of implementing such a structure results in an analogue of Russell’s paradox. However, this paradox can be avoided by fine-tuning the modal logic deployed in this setting. This way of fine-tuning the logic ultimately amounts to intuitive benefits. For, it captures the intensional character of intentionality, since the way that our mental states refer to things is conception-dependent. Moreover, the way I interpret the modal model leads to a conception of intentionality as a feature of dynamic, diachronic patterns in the way that mental acts subjectively appear, rather than as a synchronic property. We ought to think of intentionality as fundamentally a temporal, subjective determination. In a generalization on Sellars’ approach to concepts, I hold that phenomenally intentional mental presentations involve modal laws and are inconceivable without them.
The Application of Health Behavior Research

The great majority of the controllable risk factors associated with chronic diseases and traumatic injuries are behavioral in nature (National Center for Health Statistics, 1981; U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 1979). As a consequence, these risk factors, and the death and illness they cause, can be reduced by health promotion and health education interventions that apply the findings of behavioral research both to inform people about means to decrease behavioral risks, and to foster social and environmental changes that facilitate these behavioral changes. Health promotion and health education are based on knowledge generated by behavioral epidemiology as well as by basic health behavior research.
A Bluetooth App-based Self-estimated Infection Model for Airborne-based Epidemic Diseases

Knowing the infection status of surrounding people can be a huge advantage for both self-protection and spreading control in an epidemic outbreak or a flu season. Recently, Bluetooth-based mobile apps have been implemented to perform the contacting tracking. However, self-status estimation and tracking are of the same importance yet less investigated. Unfortunately, existing apps cannot enable users to establish the necessary relationship between others’ infection status and their own status. Meanwhile, traditional infection models are either used for statistics in the general population or have strong constraints that cannot be applied for such usage. In this paper, we propose BASE, a Bluetooth App-based Self-Estimated infection model, which can be integrated with this kind of app to calculate individual user’s own infection probability. BASE only requires basic inputs that are acquirable from any smartphone with Bluetooth 2.0 and above. More importantly, BASE can work under practical scenarios in terms of scalability, mobility, and sensing inaccuracy. Furthermore, a learning model is integrated to calibrate the model by studying the propagation characteristics of heterogeneous diseases. The merits of BASE are proved theoretically and validated against extensive simulations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that investigates the individual’s infection model based upon Bluetooth neighbor discovery techniques.
Comparison of pretreatment VMAT quality assurance with the integral quality monitor (IQM) and electronic portal imaging device (EPID)

The purpose of this study was to compare pretreatment volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) quality assurance (QA) measurements and evaluate the multileaf collimator (MLC) error sensitivity of two detectors: the integral quality monitor (IQM) system (iRT systems IQM) and the electronic portal imaging device (EPID) (Varian PortalVision aS1200). Pretreatment QA measurements were performed for 20 retrospective VMAT plans (53 arcs). A subset of ten plans (23 arcs) was used to investigate MLC error sensitivity of each device. Eight MLC error plans were created for each VMAT plan. The errors included systematic opening/closing (±0.25, ±0.50, ±0.75 mm) of the MLC and random positional errors (1 mm) for individual/groups of leaves. The IQM was evaluated using the percent error of the measured cumulative signal relative to the calculated signal. The EPID was evaluated using two methods: a novel percent error of the measured relative to the predicted cumulative signals, and gamma (γ) analysis (1%/1 mm, 2%/2 mm, 3%/3 mm and 3%/1 mm for Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy plans). The average change in maximum dose obtained from dose-volume histogram (DVH) data and change in detector signals for different systematic MLC shifts was also compared. Cumulative signal differences showed similar levels of agreement between measured and expected detector signals (IQM: 1.00 ± 0.55%; EPID: 1.22 ± 0.92%). Results from γ analysis lacked specificity. Only the 1%/1 mm criteria produced data with remarkable differences. A strong linear correlation was observed between IQM and EPID cumulative signal differences with MLC error magnitude (R = 0.99). Likewise, results indicate a strong correlation between the cumulative signal for both detectors and DVH dose (RIQM = 0.99; REPID = 0.97). In conclusion, use of cumulative signal differences could be more useful for detecting errors in treatment delivery in EPID than γ analysis.
Data-Driven Identification of Environmental Variables Influencing Phenotypic Plasticity to Facilitate Breeding for Future Climates: A Case Study Involving Grain Yield of Hybrid Maize

Phenotypic plasticity describes the ability of a genotype to produce different phenotypes in response to different environments. A key component for the quantification of phenotypic plasticity is the set of environmental variables that influence a particular phenotype. These variables are typically selected using domain-specific knowledge or, when the set of variables is suitably small, exhaustive search. Two factors complicate these strategies. First, environments are shifting and becoming more variable due to global climate change which may introduce novel stresses that are not yet captured by domain-specific knowledge. Second, environments are inherently infinite-dimensional not only in terms of the variables that can be measured and their temporal resolution but also on the timescales at which organisms perceive different environmental variables throughout development. This size makes exhaustive search unfeasible without potentially erroneous simplifying assumptions, especially when assessing the simultaneous influence of multiple environmental variables on a phenotype. To address these challenges, we propose the use of a genetic algorithm to efficiently identify informative sets of environmental variables for the quantification of phenotypic plasticity. We apply this procedure to a hybrid maize dataset and demonstrate its utility for characterizing phenotypic plasticity and identifying directions for future research into the biology of plastic responses.
LIN28B alters ribosomal dynamics to promote metastasis in MYCN-driven malignancy

High expression of LIN28B is associated with aggressive malignancy and poor survival. Here, probing MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma as a model system, we showed that LIN28B expression was associated with enhanced cell migration in vitro and invasive and metastatic behavior in murine xenografts. Sequence analysis of the polyribosome fraction of LIN28B-expressing neuroblastoma cells revealed let-7-independent enrichment of transcripts encoding components of the translational and ribosomal apparatus and depletion of transcripts of neuronal developmental programs. We further observed that LIN28B utilizes both its cold shock and zinc finger RNA binding domains to preferentially interact with MYCN-induced transcripts of the ribosomal complex, enhancing their translation. These data demonstrated that LIN28B couples the MYCN-driven transcriptional program to enhanced ribosomal translation, thereby implicating LIN28B as a posttranscriptional driver of the metastatic phenotype.
Military Versus Civilian Murder-Suicide

Previous studies have implicated significant differences between military members and civilians with regard to violent behavior, including suicide, domestic violence, and harm to others, but none have examined military murder-suicide. This study sought to determine whether there were meaningful differences between military and civilian murder-suicide perpetrators. Using data from the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), military ( n = 259) and civilian ( n = 259) murder-suicide perpetrators were compared on a number of demographic, psychological, and contextual factors using chi-square analyses. Logistic regression was used to determine which variables predicted membership to the military or civilian perpetrator groups. Military murder-suicide perpetrators were more likely to be older, have physical health problems, be currently or formerly married, less likely to abuse substances, and to exhibit significantly different motives than civilian perpetrators. Logistic regression revealed that membership to the military, rather than the civilian, perpetrator group was predicted by age, physical health problems, and declining heath motive-reflecting the significance of a more than 15-year difference in mean age between the two groups. Findings point to the need to tailor suicide risk assessments to include questions specific to murder-suicide, to assess attitudes toward murder-suicide, and to the importance of assessing suicide and violence risk in older adult military populations.
Toward an Understanding of the Metropolis: II. The Assignment of Activities to Areas in Urban Regions

Where do things "belong" in an urban area? 404. — Inadequacy of current analysis, 404. — Study of location trends in New York as a method of attacking the problem, 406. — Summary of trends in location of manufacturing and other economic activities, 407. — Complications caused by fluctuations in prosperity of groups studied, 414. — Advantages of discussing problem in terms of functions, 417. — Cohesion of functions, 417. — The problem of rating the functions, 419. — Accessibility and the costs of friction, 420. — Layout determined by the minimizing of the costs of friction; an hypothesis, 422, — The hypothesis explained and tested, 423. — Distorting and retarding factors, 429. — Primary and ancillary activities, 430. — The economic basis of zoning, 431.
The Relationship between Early Giftedness and Later Achievement

Although some prodigies grow up to become creative masters as adults, there is no necessary link between early signs of talent and ultimate achievement. Four possible relations between early and late achievement are explored here. The analysis draws upon two lines of evidence: (1) a new theoretical approach that posits the existence of multiple intelligences and examines the important role of the domains and fields in which individuals work; (2) case studies of seven highly creative individuals who lived at the turn of the century. A strong contrast emerges between the adult creator, who must discover the domain in which he or she can excel and the child prodigy, who must invent a creative personality.
Analysis of Hydrogen Absorption under Competitive Adsorption Conditions Effect of Hexamethylenetetramine

The original Iyer, Pickering, and Zamanzadeh (IPZ) analysis is extended to determine the coverage of a second adsorbate using only the hydrogen permeation data. Good agreement was obtained with the coverage determined by two other independent methods, The effect of hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) as the second adsorbate was studied on iron. HMTA has an inhibiting effect on the hydrogen evolution reaction at all concentrations, whereas it has a mixed effect on the hydrogen absorption reaction (HAR). HMTA enhances the HAR at low concentrations, and it inhibits the HAR at concentrations of more than 100 mM. This analysis is referred to as the IPZA analysis which considers also the surface coverage of the HMTA (θ HMTA ) was used to determine θ HMTA in addition to the usual parameters: hydrogen discharge (k l ) and recombination (k 2 ) rate constants, the hydrogen kinetic-diffusion constant (k), the hydrogen surface coverage (θ H ) and its concentration in the metal at the charging surface (C°).
Pacing, Product Complexity, and Task Perception in Simulated Inspection1:

This investigation examined potential performance or motivational differences between self-paced and machine-paced inspection tasks, and measured subject perceptions of inspection tasks. Twenty women served as inspectors in the investigation. Subjects in both self-paced and machine-paced conditions inspected simulated printed circuits varying in circuit complexity. Performance measures of defect detection rate, false alarm rate, and time required for decision were recorded. Self-paced subjects performed better, but both groups suffered performance decrements on the more complex circuits. Both groups found the task basically dull and uninteresting.
SPACE, TIME, FRAME, CINEMA

While some spatiotemporal effects have been explored by filmmakers, the search for new effects has not been systematized. Borrowing the notion of phase space diagrams from physics, this paper proposes a notation system for spatiotemporal effects which allows effects to be compared and described, and also provides a tool to allow filmmakers or theoreticians to explore the existing possibilities and discover new effects that have not been done yet.
Gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues inhibit leiomyoma extracellular matrix despite presence of gonadal hormones.

Objective To determine the effect of GnRH analogues (GnRH-a) leuprolide acetate (LA) and cetrorelix acetate on gonadal hormone-regulated expression of extracellular matrix in uterine leiomyoma three-dimensional (3D) cultures. Design Laboratory study. Setting University research laboratory. Patient(s) Women undergoing hysterectomy for symptomatic leiomyomas. Intervention(s) The 3D cell cultures, protein analysis, Western blot, immunohistochemistry. Main Outcome Measure(s) Expression of extracellular matrix proteins, collagen 1, fibronectin, and versican in leiomyoma cells 3D cultures exposed to E 2 , P, LA, cetrorelix acetate, and combinations for 24- and 72-hour time points. Result(s) The 3D leiomyoma cultures exposed to E 2 for 24 hours demonstrated an increased expression of collagen-1 and fibronectin, which was maintained for up to 72 hours, a time point at which versican was up-regulated significantly. Although P up-regulated collagen-1 protein (1.29 ± 0.04) within 24 hours of exposure, significant increase in all extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins was observed when the gonadal hormones were used concomitantly. Significant decrease in the amount of ECM proteins was observed on use of GnRH-a, LA and cetrorelix, with 24-hour exposure. Both the compounds also significantly decreased ECM protein concentration despite the presence of E 2 or both gonadal hormones. Conclusion(s) This study demonstrates that GnRH-a directly affect the gonadal hormone-regulated collagen-1, fibronectin, and versican production in their presence. These findings suggest that localized therapy with GnRH-a may inhibit leiomyoma growth even in the presence of endogenous gonadal hormone exposure, thereby providing a mechanism to eliminate the hypoestrogenic side effects associated with GnRH-a therapy.
Introduction to fusion based systems - contributions of soft computing techniques and application to robotics

Data/information fusion, as a methodology to integrate information stemming from different sources to get a more refined and meaningful knowledge, has gained a lot of interest within several communities as it sounds from the number of publications and successful applications in this area. This chapter is aimed to explore how the fusion methodology is decomposed into a set of primary subtasks where the elicitation and the architecture play a central role in the fusion process. Particularly the contributions of soft computing techniques at various levels of the fusion architecture are laid bare. Some exemplifications, through the use of serial and parallel architectures, employing both probabilistic and possibilistic approaches, have been carried out. Finally a robotics application consisting in a localization of a mobile robot has been performed and shows how the different steps of the fusion architecture have been handled.
The Identification of Factors Affecting the Development and Practice of School-Based Counseling in Different National Contexts: A Grounded Theory Study Using a Worldwide Sample of Descriptive Journal Articles and Book Chapters

A grounded theory methodology was used to analyze articles and book chapters describing the development and practice of school-based counseling in 25 different countries in order to identify the factors that affect development and practice. An 11-factor analytic framework was developed. Factors include: Cultural Factors, National Needs, Larger Societal Movements, Models of School Counseling, Laws and Educational Policy, Characteristics of the Public Education System, The Counseling Profession, Research and Evaluation, Related Professions, Community Organizations or NGO Coalitions, and Local Stakeholder Perceptions. The utility of this analytic framework in promoting understanding of the development and practice of school-based counseling in individual countries and in facilitating comparative analyses across countries is illustrated.
Measuring Network Structure

Networks have been a research issue in public administration for many years. Because of the difficulty of measuring networks, they have often been treated as a metaphor, a conceptual scheme, or a management technique (networking). The work on networks in public administration is almost all of the case study and rarely of the comparative case variety. This article presents the results of two studies of networks using social network analysis as a technique for studying structural relationships between organizations. This technique is utilized to show both the research and practical potential of network analysis as an evaluation methodology for organizations that jointly produce a service. In the first study, the network provides mental health services to seriously mentally ill adults. In the second study, the network attempts to prevent young people from abusing drugs and alcohol. The two studies were undertaken for different reasons. The first was an elaborate comparative study of four mental health networks and the relationship between network design and performance. The second was a much simpler consulting effort to help a local prevention partnership create linkages to other community organizations. However, in both of the studies the goal was to measure the structural ties in the network based on various types of relationships that exist in a given field of practice. These linkages are ties that bind the network together and become data that can be used to compare networks on their degree and type of integration. The article makes the argument that links in a network are one way that scholars can compare networks in similar or different policy domains. At the same time, the article argues that analysing linkages in an organization’s network is an effective and practical means of determining how well integrated any given organization is in a network.
Anthrax toxin receptor proteins

Anthrax toxin is a key virulence factor for Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax. Here we discuss what is known about the anthrax toxin receptor (ATR), the cellular receptor for anthrax toxin, and how this information is being used to develop treatments for anthrax as well as to understand aspects of cancer. ATR was identified recently as a type I transmembrane protein with unknown function that contains an extracellular integrin-like inserted (I) domain. The ATR I domain contains the toxin binding site, and a soluble form of this domain was shown to serve as an effective antitoxin to protect cultured cells from toxin action. ATR is encoded by the tumor endothelial marker 8 (TEM8) gene, which is selectively up-regulated during blood vessel formation and in tumor vasculature, raising the possibility that this protein normally functions in angiogenesis. Therefore, identification of the cellular receptor for anthrax toxin has made possible new avenues of research in the areas of anthrax pathogenesis, antitoxin development, and cancer biology.
Induction of the McCollough effect I: figural variables.

The effect of line orientation and line configuration on the induction of orientation-specific negatively colored aftereffects was investigated in three separate studies. In the first study, subjects viewed magenta-and-black vertical gratings with one eye, alternating with green-and-black vertical gratings to the other. Monocular tests revealed complementary aftereffects in each eye which disappeared when the test patterns were viewed with both eyes together. In Study 2, imposing a single colored bar against a black background induced negatively colored aftereffects in a white bar against a black background and in a black-and-white grating, while imposing a single black bar against a colored background was ineffective. In Study 3, presenting a magenta square outline elicited green aftereffects in vertical and horizontal bars and gratings as well as in outlines of squares and diamonds, while pairing the magenta square with a green cross had no effect. It was concluded that the induction mechanism responsible for the McCollough effect is sensitive to line orientation but not to shape. This specificity appears incompatible with a simple conditioning model.
Vapor-induced solid-liquid-solid process for silicon-based nanowire growth

Silicon-based nanowires have been grown from commercial silicon powders under conditions with dif- ferent oxygen and carbon activities. Nanowires grown in the presence of carbon sources consisted of a crystalline SiC core with an amorphous SiOx shell. The thickness of the SiOx shell decreased as the oxygen concentration in the precursor gases decreased. Nanowires grown in a carbon-free environment consisted of amorphous silicon oxide with a typical composition of SiO1.8. The growth rate of nanowires decreased with decreasing oxygen content in the precursor gases. SiO1.8 nanowires exhibited an initial discharge capacity of ∼1300 mAh g −1 and better stability than those of silicon powders. A vapor-induced solid-liquid-solid (VI-SLS) mechanism is proposed to explain the nanowire growth (including silicon and other metal-based nanowires) from powder sources. In this approach, both a gas source and a solid-powder source are required for nanowire growth. This mechanism is consistent with experimental observations and also can be used to guide the design and growth of other nanowires. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Epistemic Conditionals and Conditional Epistemics

There has been a murder in the mansion. There are, and we all know that this is so, only three suspects: the gardener, the driver, and the butler. We believe, and we have our reasons for so believing, that if the gardener did not do it, then the driver did. We share belief in this particular conditional, and this conditional is of a particular kind. It is what Quine calls an ‘‘ordinary indicative’’ conditional (so-called because such conditionals are typically expressed in the indicative mood). We could, just as well, call them ordinary epistemic conditionals since, intuitively anyway, they express some conditional connection about epistemic possibilities. Either way, these ‘‘ordinary’’ conditionals have proved to be rather extraordinary. 1 There are two kinds of obstacles to a satisfying theory about indicatives, and these two classes of obstacles mirror a distinction within the class of epistemic conditionals. A plausible pragmatic constraint on indicatives is that they carry a presupposition that their antecedents might be true. Let us call indicatives which meet this presupposition—i.e., indicatives whose antecedents are consistent with our picture of the world—open indicatives or open epistemic conditionals. But the pragmatic constraint on indicatives can be cancelled; some indicatives have antecedents the belief in which would require us to revise our epistemic states. The well-known example due to Ernest Adams (1975) illustrates this fact: I believe that Oswald killed Kennedy, but I also believe the indicative conditional If Oswald didn’t kill Kennedy, then someone else did. 2 Let us call indicatives of this latter sort belief-contravening indicatives or belief-contravening epistemic conditionals. The first kind of obstacle to a comprehensive understanding of indicatives is specific to the belief-contravening indicatives. Frank Ramsey (1931) suggested, in a famous footnote, that the basic structure to reasoning about
A succinate- and DPNH-reducible o-type cytochrome in mitochondrial preparations from tetrahymena pyriformis

Abstract The presence of an o -type cytochrome--a pigment previously observed in a number of bacteria, several yeasts, and a parasitic protozoon--was detected from reduced plus CO minus reduced difference spectra of mitochondrial preparations of Tetrahymena . The cytochrome was observed when the reducing agent was ascorbate-TMPD, succinate, DPNH or dithionite and showed absorption maxima at 572, 537, and 418 mμ. It is estimated that about 70–85% of the total cellular o -type cytochrome is located in the mitochondrial fraction, and based on dithionite reduction, its concentration ranges from 0.25–0.62 mμmole per mg. protein in the crude mitochondrial fractions of the several Tetrahymena strains studied.
SU-E-QI-18: QUATTRO: An Open-Source Software Package for Quantitative Imaging Applications in Assessing Treatment Response

Purpose: Quantitative imaging biomarkers are becoming increasingly utilized in early phase clinical trials as a means non-invasively monitoring treatment response. However, such techniques require extensive data pipelines (e.g., image quantitation, image registration, ROI definition, statistical analyses) to capture and model longitudinal parameter changes. The aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive open-source research software environment supporting such analyses with an emphasis on longitudinally assessing treatment response. Methods: Using the MATLAB programming environment, an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) and associated advanced programming interface (API) were developed, providing an imaging study environment collectively titled Quantitative Utility for Assessing TreaTment RespOnse or QUATTRO. Standard tools were incorporated for importing/exporting common data formats such as DICOM 3.0 and associated RT contours, Pinnacle contours, and for performing ROI and voxel-based modeling for a number of common quantitative MR imaging strategies (dynamic contrast-enhanced, diffusion weighted, and dynamic susceptibility contrast, in addition to T1/T2 relaxometry). Advanced features for preforming longitudinal analyses were also developed, including image registration (provided by directly linked Insight Toolkit executables), ordinal and logistic regression analyses (utilizing a link with R), and a scripting framework. Results: QUATTRO has been successfully implemented and employed in a number of longitudinal phantom studies and quantitative imaging applications. Moreover, the software has facilitated the development and associated feasibility studies of a voxel-by-voxel statistical response model capable of generating probabilistic response maps by incorporating multiparametric quantitative imaging data. Conclusion: An open-source software package, QUATTRO, has been developed for applications in assessing treatment response incorporating quantitative imaging. An intuitive GUI provides a front-end tool for utilizing built-in QUATTRO capabilities, while the API facilitates rapid prototyping of future applications, e.g., novel multimodality analyses, and links to the highly developed libraries of ITK and R enable development of advanced image processing and statistical tools, respectively.
ENT-labdane diterpenoids, tremetone and chromene derivatives and flavonoids from Ophryosporus heptanthus

Abstract From aerial parts of Ophryosporus heptanthus , one known and three new ent -labdane diterpenoids, four known tremetone and chromene derivatives and two known flavonoids were isolated. Their structures were established by spectroscopic methods.
Dietary factors and biomarkers involved in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase genotype-colorectal adenoma pathway.

Background & Aims: Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is involved in intracellular folate homeostasis and metabolism. We assessed 2 polymorphisms in the MTHFR gene (C677T and A1298C) in relation to colorectal adenoma recurrence and conducted analyses to investigate their joint effects with plasma and dietary markers of folate status. Methods: We prospectively analyzed data from 1598 individuals genotyped for the C677T polymorphism and 1583 with data on A1298C. Results: Among nonusers of multivitamin supplements, compared with wild-type carriage, higher odds of recurrence were observed for those with the 677 TT variant (odds ratio [OR], 1.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04–2.63) and a nonsignificant increase was observed among those with the 1298 CC variant (OR, 1.50; 95% CI, 0.93–2.40). Diplotype analyses among nonusers of multivitamins showed that individuals who carry the MTHFR 677TT_1298AA or 677CC_1298CC combination were significantly more likely to have a recurrence compared with those with the double wild-type (OR, 2.05 for TT_AA and 1.85 for CC_CC). Higher odds of recurrence were observed among participants with low folate intake or plasma folate and the 677 TT or 1298 CC variants compared with those with lower levels and the wild-type or heterozygous genotypes. Stronger associations were shown for the combination of high homocysteine and the 677 TT variant (OR, 2.29; 95% CI, 1.00–5.26) but not the 1298 CC variant (OR, 1.09; 95% CI, 0.39–3.01). Conclusions: We propose that the effect of the MTHFR genotypes on increasing risk of adenoma recurrence in the presence of a low folate status is through their increase in homocysteine concentrations, which in turn could result in DNA hypomethylation via pathways involving S-adenosylhomocysteine.
Structure and agency in the neoliberal university

edited by J.E. Canaan and W. Shumar, New York, Routledge, 2008, 328 pp., $125.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-415-95672-7, $39.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-415-89801-0 As a higher education scholar special...