cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effectiveness of a Coral-Derived Surfacing Material for Reducing Sediment Production on Unpaved Roads, Schoffield Barracks, Oahu, Hawaii

This study evaluated the effectiveness of two application rates of a coral-derived surfacing material for both traffic and nontraffic road conditions using simulated rainfall (110–120 mm h−1 for 30–90 min) on 0.75-m (wide) × 5.0-m (long) plots of similar slope (roughly 0.1 m m−1). The coral is a locally available material that has been applied to unpaved roads surfaces on Schoffield Barracks, Oahu, Hawaii (USA), where this experiment was conducted. The simulations show that compared with a bare control plot, the coral-based surface application rates of 80 and 160 kg m−2 (equivalent to only 10- and 20-mm thicknesses) reduced road sediment production by 75% and 95%, respectively, for nontraffic conditions. However, after two passes of the research vehicle during wet conditions, sediment production rates for the two coral treatments were not significantly different from those on the bare road plots. The overall effectiveness of the coral-derived surfacing material is unsatisfactory, primarily because the on-road surface thickness associated with the application rates tested was too small. These rates were selected to bracket those applied to training roads in the study area. Furthermore, the composition of the coral-based material does not facilitate the development of a sealed, erosion-resistant surface. When applied at the low rates tested, the coral material breaks down under normal traffic conditions, thereby losing its ability to counter shearing forces exerted by overland flow on long hillslopes where erosion measures are most needed. These simulations, combined with observations on roads in the study area, indicate that this material is not an appropriate road surfacing material for the site—at least for the low application rates examined. These results are preliminary; extended testing of higher applications rates at the hillslope scale under natural climate and traffic conditions is needed to better judge the effectiveness of this material over time.
(Re)Shaping the Neoliberal Leviathans: the Politics of Penality and Welfare in Argentina, Chile and Peru

Going beyond general depictions of convergence in penal and welfare policies targeted to manage the urban poor and the flexibilized working class in neoliberal regimes of Latin America, I address the political causes behind the distinct penal and welfare policies developed in Argentina, Chile and Peru since their neoliberal turn. To explain the initial differences of penal and welfare regimes among these cases and their evolution, I integrate Harvey’s and Wacquant’s perspectives on state policies under neoliberalism and complement them with an analysis of local political conditions and processes, following Portes. The differences in penal and welfare policies in each country result initially from the political regime that governed the transition to neoliberalism – authoritarian, semi-authoritarian or democratic. Their consolidation or modification resulted from the organizational features (technocratic or neo-populist) of the political parties that governed the aftermath of transition to neoliberalism and from the different reactions of marginalized urban sectors to neoliberal adjustments and policies. Resumen: (Re)modelando a los leviatanes neoliberales: la politica penal y social en Argentina, Chile y Peru Mas alla de las descripciones generales de la convergencia entre las politicas penales y sociales dirigidas a los pobres urbanos y a la clase obrera flexibilizada en los regimenes neoliberales de Latinoamerica, yo abordo las causas politicas que se esconden tras las distintas politicas penales y sociales elaboradas en Argentina, Chile y Peru desde su giro neoliberal. Para explicar las diferencias iniciales entre los regimenes penales y sociales de estos paises y su evolucion, integro las perspectivas de Harvey y Wacquant sobre las politicas estatales bajo el neoliberalismo y las complemento con un analisis de las condiciones y los procesos politicos locales, de acuerdo con Portes. Las diferencias entre las politicas penales y sociales en cada pais radican inicialmente en el regimen politico que goberno en la transicion hacia el neoliberalismo – autoritario, semiautoritario o democratico. Su consolidacion o modificacion fue el resultado de las caracteristicas organizativas (tecnocratas o neopopulistas) de los partidos politicos que gobernaron despues de la transicion al neoliberalismo y de las distintas reacciones de los sectores urbanos marginados ante los ajustes y las politicas neoliberales. Palabras clave: neoliberalismo, penal, politicas de bienestar, partidos, movilizacion urbana, Peru, Argentina, Chile.
Dexmedetomidine for opioid and benzodiazepine withdrawal in pediatric patients

Purpose The published literature on the use of dexmedetomidine as an adjunct to sedation and analgesia in the management of pediatric narcotic withdrawal was reviewed. Summary Pediatric narcotic withdrawal syndromes are reported to be increasingly frequent in pediatric intensive care units. A number of tools specifically designed for assessment of withdrawal in newborns and infants are in current use, including the widely used Finnegan Scoring System. A limited number of studies and case reports suggest that dexmedetomidine, an α2-receptor agonist with a mechanism of action similar to that of clonidine but with greater α2-receptor specificity, might have a role in the treatment of pediatric withdrawal (by blunting withdrawal symptoms without causing respiratory depression and by permitting shorter narcotic tapering schedules) and also in the prevention of pediatric narcotic withdrawal (by reducing narcotic requirements). Potential adverse effects associated with dexmedetomidine use in pediatric patients are generally associated with use of bolus doses and mainly involve central nervous system effects (e.g., hypotension, bradycardia), with no hemodynamic manifestations. When bolus doses are used, strategies described in published reports entail a loading dose of 0.5–1.0 μg/kg administered over 5–10 minutes, followed by a continuous infusion at 0.1–1.4 μg/kg/hr for a period of 1–16 days. More research is needed to define the optimal use of dexmedetomidine in the management of pediatric narcotic withdrawal. Conclusion A limited body of published evidence from retrospective studies and case reports suggests a potential role for dexmedetomidine as an adjunct therapy to provide sedation and analgesia to reduce narcotic withdrawal symptoms in pediatric patients.
Comparison of C-reactive protein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in the prediction of the presence and degree of carotid stenosis

Abstract Introduction: C-reactive protein (CRP) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) are associated with carotid stenosis. Few prospective data comparing these markers exist. Methods: Serum hs-CRP and LDL were measured in fifty-eight men referred for possible carotid stenosis. All underwent duplex ultrasound of their carotid bifurcations. We prospectively compared CRP vs. LDL in predicting disease. Results: CRP correlated with stenosis (r = 0.52, p Conclusions: CRP may be a stronger predictor of carotid stenosis than LDL, and may provide additional diagnostic value.
Power, Voice, and Hierarchy: Exploring the Antecedents of Speaking Up in Groups.

This study examined the effects of interpersonal power and social dominance orientation on individuals’ propensities to voice opinions in a group task. It was proposed that individuals high in power would tend to voice their opinions to a greater extent than individuals with less power and that this effect would increase with higher levels of social dominance orientation, that is, the degree to which individuals believe that social hierarchies are justified. This relationship was tested using moderated multiple regression. Significant results were found for the interactive relationship between power and social dominance orientation on voice. Implications and future directions are discussed. The implications of allowing group members to participate in group decision-making contexts have been a major topic in organizational behavior (e.g., Locke & Schweiger, 1979). Participation has been linked to satisfaction (Locke & Schweiger, 1979), goal commitment (Locke, Shaw, Saari, & Latham, 1981), superior customer service (Kizilos, Thomas, & Strickstein, 1994), and ultimately, job performance (Cotton, Vollrath, Froggatt, Lengnick-Hall, & Jennings, 1988; for a dissenting view, see Wagner, 1994). However, the formal right to participation is often not enough to secure effective, democratic group decisions. Several theories of group behavior, from Janis’s (1972) groupthink to threat rigidity (Staw, Sandelands, & Dutton, 1981), have shown that forces come into play that often limit the amount of input that is displayed in group situations. According to Bedeian (2002), leaders are often isolated from the day-to-day realities of their organization owing to employees’ unwillingness to speak candidly. What is at stake in these situations is the expression of voice, the behavioral corollary of the formal right to participate. The driving question behind the expression (or nonexpression) of voice amounts to the following: When people have the ability to voice their opinions and have something to gain from voicing their opinions, why do we so often see that they refrain from doing so?
A selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor, NS-398, enhances the effect of radiation in vitro and in vivo preferentially on the cells that express cyclooxygenase-2

It has been proposed that Cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitors may be able to enhance the effects of chemotherapeutic or radiation treatment; however, currently few studies have been reported that define the radiation-enhancing effect of COX-2 inhibitors. We conducted in vitro radiation survival experiments using rat intestinal epithelial cells which were stably transfected with COX-2 cDNA in the sense (RIE-S) and antisense (RIE-AS) orientations to investigate the potential radiosensitizing effect of the selective COX-2 inhibitor, NS-398. Apoptosis was measured using 7-aminoactinomycin-D with flow cytometry to investigate underlying mechanisms for the effect of NS-398 on radiosensitivity. The same experiments were repeated with NCI-H460 human lung cancer cells, which express COX-2 constitutively, and HCT-116 human colon cancer cells, which lack COX-2 expression. In vivo tumor growth delay assays were also performed with tumors formed by H460 and HCT-116 cells. No difference was observed in the intrinsic radiation sensitivity of RIE-S and RIE-AS cells exposed to radiation alone. However, 150-400 microM of NS-398 enhanced radiosensitivity in a concentration-dependent manner in RIE-S cells with dose enhancement ratios of 1.2-1.9 at a surviving fraction of 0.25. However, this effect was not shown in RIE-AS cells. NS-398 enhanced radiosensitivity in H460 cells with a dose enhancement ratio of 1.8 but protected HCT-116 cells from the effects of radiation. Radiation-induced apoptosis was enhanced by NS-398 in RIE-S and H460 cells but not in RIE-AS and HCT-116 cells. Additionally, this radiation-enhancing effect in RIE-S cells seemed to be attributable to some mechanisms other than the reversal of radioresistance induced by COX-2. NS-398 (36 mg/kg) enhanced the effect of radiation on H460 tumors in vivo by an enhancement factor of 2.5; however, it did not enhance the radiosensitivity of HCT-116 tumors (enhancement factor = 1.04). These in vitro and in vivo results suggest that selective COX-2 inhibitors enhance the effect of radiation on tumors that express COX-2 but not on COX-2-lacking tumors. This effect may be attributable to enhancement of radiation-induced apoptosis. Thus, selective COX-2 inhibitors may have potential as radiosensitizers for treatment of human cancers.
What Does Potency Actually Mean for Inhaled Corticosteroids

Inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) are the most effective anti-inflammatory agents currently available for the treatment of persistent asthma, irrespective of severity [1-5]. Although the potential for...
Synthesis of lanthanide-iron laves phases at high pressures and temperatures

Abstract High pressures and temperatures were used to synthesize the previously unknown compounds PrFe2, NdFe2 and YbFe2. These compounds have the cubic MgCu2-type structure with lattice parameters 7.467, 7.452 and 7.239 A respectively. The relative importance of 4f bonding and size effects in the formation of LFe2 compounds (L = lanthanide) is discussed.
Short preoperative treatment with erlotinib inhibits tumor cell proliferation in hormone receptor-positive breast cancers.

Purpose To administer the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib to patients with operable untreated breast cancer during the immediate preoperative period and to measure an antiproliferative and/or a proapoptotic effect in the post-therapy specimen and determine a biomarker profile associated with evidence of erlotinib-mediated cellular activity. Patients and Methods Newly diagnosed patients with stages I to IIIA invasive breast cancer were treated with erlotinib 150 mg/d orally for 6 to 14 days until the day before surgery. Erlotinib plasma levels were measured by tandem mass spectrometry the day of surgery. Drug-induced changes in tumor cell proliferation and apoptosis were assessed by Ki67 immunohistochemistry and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase–mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate-biotin nick-end labeling analysis, respectively, in biopsies from the pretherapy and surgical specimens. Biopsies were also evaluated for P-EGFR, P-HER-2, P-MAPK, P-Akt, P-S6, and S1...
Pathophysiology and treatment of inflammatory anorexia in chronic disease

Decreased appetite and involuntary weight loss are common occurrences in chronic disease and have a negative impact on both quality of life and eventual mortality. Weight loss in chronic disease comes from both fat and lean mass, and is known as cachexia. Both alterations in appetite and body weight loss occur in a wide variety of diseases, including cancer, heart failure, renal failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and HIV. An increase in circulating inflammatory cytokines has been implicated as a uniting pathogenic mechanism of cachexia and associated anorexia. One of the targets of inflammatory mediators is the central nervous system, and in particular feeding centers in the hypothalamus located in the ventral diencephalon. Current research has begun to elucidate the mechanisms by which inflammation reaches the hypothalamus, and the neural substrates underlying inflammatory anorexia. Research into these neural mechanisms has suggested new therapeutic possibilities, which have produced promising results in preclinical and clinical trials. This review will discuss inflammatory signaling in the hypothalamus that mediates anorexia, and the opportunities for therapeutic intervention that these mechanisms present.
Emergence of group rationality from irrational individuals

Evolutionary theory predicts that animal decision makers should be rational, meaning that they consistently choose fitness-maximizing options. Despite this, violations of rationality have been found repeatedly in humans and other animals. The significance of these violations remains controversial, but many explanations point to cognitive limitations that prevent animals from adequately processing the information needed for fully rational choice. Instead, they rely on heuristics that usually work well but yield systematic errors in specific contexts. Although past research on rationality has focused on individuals, many highly integrated groups, such as ant colonies, regularly make consensus choices among food sources, nest sites, or other options. These collective choices emerge from local interactions among many group members, none of whom take on the whole burden of decision making. We hypothesized that groups may evade the irrational consequences of individual limitations by distributing their decision making across many group members. We tested this in the well-studied case of collective nest-site selection by Temnothorax ants. We found that individual ants, but not colonies, strongly violated rationality when presented with a challenging nest-site choice. Specifically, isolated individuals irrationally switched their preference between 2 alternative nest sites based on their experience of an unattractive decoy. Given the same choice, intact colonies maintained consistent preferences regardless of the decoy's presence. Previous studies have stressed how distributed decision making can filter out random errors made by group members. Our results show that collectives can also suppress systematic errors that emerge from the decision heuristics of cognitively limited individuals. Copyright 2011, Oxford University Press.
QoS Provision for Remote Sensing and Control in Heterogeneous Environments

In a heterogeneous wireless network environment, the network nodes are equipped with both wireless local area network (WLAN) and cellular interfaces. It is desirable to combine the higher bandwidth of a WLAN and the ubiquitous nature of cellular networks to provide the transport service for QoS demanding applications, such as remote sensing and control systems. Common solutions exploit the diversity of cellular channels by recruiting multiple WLAN peers to work as proxies for a MANET node that needs to communicate through the cellular network. One important problem when utilizing channel diversity in a heterogeneous wireless network environment is to balance the trade-off of channel diversity gains with MANET peer contentions. A greater number of proxies will inevitably increase the MANET contention and possibly QoS degrading of the cell, and fewer proxies may not be able to provide sufficient diversity. This paper aims to build a dynamic mechanism to determine the appropriate number of proxies to use. The mechanism uses the MAC layer retransmission rate as an indicator of the contention level in MANET. Simulation using cellular channel fading models and prevalent cell scheduling policies indicate the scheme can provide better QoS through channel diversity by using the appropriate number of proxies.
Denaturation of DNA

Denatured DNA and RNA are disordered nonnative states brought about by any of the many means of disturbing noncovalent bonds supporting their native conformations: heat, nonaqueous denaturing solvents, low or high pHs, low ionic strengths. The denaturation process is generally reversible. Keywords: Degradation; Stacking Forces; Melting Curve; TM ; Helix–Coil Transition
Distributed strategies for making a digraph weight-balanced

A digraph is weight-balanced if, at each node, the sum of the weights of the incoming edges (in-degree) equals the sum of the weights of the outgoing edges (out-degree). Weight-balanced digraphs play an important role in a variety of cooperative control problems, including formation control, distributed averaging and optimization. We call a digraph weight-balanceable if it admits an edge weight assignment that makes it weight-balanced. It is known that semiconnectedness is a necessary and sufficient condition for a digraph to be weight-balanceable. However, to our knowledge, the available approaches to compute the appropriate set of weights are centralized. In this paper, we propose a distributed algorithm running synchronously on a directed communication network that allows individual agents to balance their in- and out-degrees. We also develop a systematic centralized algorithm for constructing a weight-balanced digraph and compute its time complexity. Finally, we modify the distributed procedure to design an algorithm which is distributed over the mirror digraph and has a time complexity much smaller than the centralized algorithm.
Phylogeny and Host Specificity of Psoroptic Mange Mites (Acarina: Psoroptidae) as Indicated by ITS Sequence Data

We used molecular phylogenetic techniques to study the systematic relationships and host specificity of Psoroptes mange mites, which are pests of numerous domestic and wild ungulates. Phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequence data from the internal transcribed spacer region 1 (ITS1) of nuclear ribosomal DNA indicated that populations of Psoroptes are not host specific. Furthermore, the currently used taxonomy of Psoroptes is not concordant with the phylogeny derived from ITS1. During the course of the study, we discovered apparent paralogous ITS sequences within individual mites as a result of varying polymerase chain reaction reaction conditions. This finding concords with other studies of ITS and suggests a cautious approach when interpreting data from ITS sequences. Host DNA contamination was also found to be a significant problem in data collection, and we report on the development of methods to overcome the problems of contamination in parasitic mites.
Determination of Tricyclic Antidepressants by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

A method is described for the determination of amitriptyline, nortriptyline, imipramine and desipramine at low nanogram concentrations in serum. Separation and quantitation are performed by reversed-phase, isocratic, high-performance liquid chromatography utilizing ultraviolet detection at 210 nm. An internal standard, chloramitriptyline, is used as an aid to quantitation. Recovery of all four tricyclics is greater than 84%. The relative standard deviation for the analysis of amitriptyline, nortriptyline, imipramine and desipramine is less than 6% at a concentration of 100 ng/mL.
The developmental anatomy of male genitalia in Melanoplus differentialis (acrididae) orthoptera)

An investigation has been conducted to ascertain the relationship of certain structures in the embryo of the grasshopper known as Melanoplus differentialis with reproductive organs in the adult male. The order of development of these structures was traced through the entire life history. It was determined that they are the rudiments of certain reproductive organs and that the knowledge obtained serves as an aid in more accurately classifying insects.
Earthquake Prediction by Animals: Evolution and Sensory Perception

Animals living within seismically active regions are subjected episod- ically to intense ground shaking that can kill individuals through burrow collapse, egg destruction, and tsunami action. Although anecdotal and retrospective reports of animal behavior suggest that although many organisms may be able to detect an impending seismic event, no plausible scenario has been presented yet through which accounts for the evolution of such behaviors. The evolutionary mechanism of ex- aptation can do this in a two-step process. The first step is to evolve a vibration- triggered early warning response which would act in the short time interval between the arrival of P and S waves. Anecdotal evidence suggests this response already exists. Then if precursory stimuli also exist, similar evolutionary processes can link an animal's perception of these stimuli to its P-wave triggered response, yielding an earthquake predictive behavior. A population-genetic model indicates that such a seismic-escape response system can be maintained against random mutations as a result of episodic selection that operates with time scales comparable to that of strong seismic events. Hence, additional understanding of possible earthquake precursors that are presently outside the realm of seismology might be gleaned from the study of animal behavior, sensory physiology, and genetics. A brief review of possible seismic precursors suggests that tilt, hygroreception (humidity), electric, and mag- netic sensory systems in animals could be linked into a seismic escape behavioral system. Several testable predictions of this analysis are discussed, and it is recom- mended that additional magnetic, electrical, tilt, and hygro-sensors be incorporated into dense monitoring networks in seismically active regions.
Identification of Therapeutic Benefit from Revascularization in Patients With Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction Inducible Ischemia Versus Hibernating Myocardium

Background— Although the recent surgical treatment of ischemic heart failure substudy reported that revascularization of viable myocardium did not improve survival, these results were limited by the viability imaging technique used and the lack of inducible ischemia information. We examined the relative impact of stress-rest rubidium-82/F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography identified ischemia, scar, and hibernating myocardium on the survival benefit associated with revascularization in patients with systolic dysfunction. Methods and Results— The extent of perfusion defects and metabolism-perfusion mismatch was measured with an automated quantitative method in 648 consecutive patients (age, 65±12 years; 23% women; mean left ventricular ejection fraction, 31±12%) undergoing positron emission tomography. Follow-up time began at 92 days (to avoid waiting-time bias); deaths before 92 days were excluded from the analysis. During a mean follow-up of 2.8±1.2 years, 165 deaths (27.5%) occurred. Cox proportional hazards modeling was used to adjust for potential confounders, including a propensity score to adjust for nonrandomized treatment allocation. Early revascularization was performed within 92 days of positron emission tomography in 199 patients (33%). Hibernating myocardium, ischemic myocardium, and scarred myocardium were associated with all-cause death ( P =0.0015, 0.0038, and 0.0010, respectively). An interaction between treatment and hibernating myocardium was present such that early revascularization in the setting of significant hibernating myocardium was associated with improved survival compared with medical therapy, especially when the extent of viability exceeded 10% of the myocardium. Conclusions— Among patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy, hibernating, but not ischemic, myocardium identifies which patients may accrue a survival benefit with revascularization versus medical therapy.
The future of hospital epidemiology.

It is not difficult to predict the future of hospital epidemiology. It will become increasingly important. The need to prevent and control hospital-acquired infections and to protect the staff from communicable diseases will grow. Hospitals will continue to be filled with patients, life-prolonging technical advances will continue to be introduced, resistance will emerge to the new antimicrobial agents, the number of patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) will increase and the population will continue to age. Concomitant increases in costs and demands for
LEAP: Localized Energy-Aware Prediction for data collection in wireless sensor networks

For many applications in wireless sensor networks, accurate data collection is a crucial problem. Users may want to continuously extract data from the networks for analysis after. Clustering and prediction techniques, which exploit spatial and temporal correlation among sensor data, provide opportunities for reducing the energy consumption of sensor data collection. We propose the LEAP (localized energy-aware prediction) approach. LEAP is clustering based. A cluster head represents all sensor nodes in the cluster, and collects data values from them. LEAP implements local prediction algorithms, and only data values not within a specified error bound are collected by a cluster head. By doing so, the cluster head maintains an accurate view of the sensor data, while the communication cost is reduced. In this paper, we present energy-aware prediction models used in LEAP, analyze the performance tradeoff between reducing communication cost and limiting prediction cost, and design algorithms to exploit the benefit of energy-aware prediction. We believe LEAP has broad applications. Our proposed models, analysis, and algorithms are validated via simulation.
Immigration and Social Policy in the United States

AbstractThe United States experienced a period of sustained large-scale immigration from the 1960s into the period of dramatic economic recession in 2008–2009. This article focuses on the impact of immigrants and immigration on social policy in the United States. I summarize the arguably, and surprisingly, scant research that specifically examines the political and policy (more than the social and/or economic) implications of immgration. I first look at the extent and nature of change within and across three minority groups over the past several decades, including evidence on their composition and geographic concentration or dispersion. Next considered are the implications of the American “racial order” as a context and its impacts on “racialization” of immigrants. Next examined are the consequences for immigrants in major arenas of American government—urban, state, and national. Although emphasis is given to issues of immigration, the importance of race/ethnicity as a social force in American politics is...
The lipid composition of normal mouse liver

SUMMARY The lipid composition of normal Swiss laboratory mouse liver has been determined by chromatography and infrared spectrophotometry. The neutral lipids were mainly triglycerides (80%) with cholesterol, cholesterol ester, and an unidentified hydrocarbon also present. No free fatty acids were isolated. The phospholipids were largely lecithin (58%)) with phosphatidyl ethanolamine, phosphatidyl serine, monophosphoinositol, sphingomyelin, and cardiolipin also present. A trace of lysolecithin was also detected, although it was impossible to determine whether or not it was an artifact of the isolation procedure. The fatty acid composition of the isolated lipid fractions was determined by gas-liquid chromatography. The neutral lipids contained mainly palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acid, while the phospholipids contained large quantities of Czo and Ca polyunsaturated acids and considerably more stearic acid than the neutral lipids. The cardiolipin fraction had a high content of linoleic acid. Mouse liver lipids have not been previously analyzed in detail with the chromatographic techniques now available. In older studies on the lipid composition of mouse liver, procedures were generally used that determined hydrolysis products from the various lipids and were not particularly sensitive to trace components (1-4). Lee et al. (5) and Beher and Anthony (6) have reported more recent values for the total cholesterol in mouse liver. In another recent study, Cornatzer and Reiter (7) have analyzed in detail the phospholipids of mouse liver by chromatography and also the incorporation of P32 into the individual phospholipids in mice of different ages. No reports on the fatty acid composition of the lipids in mouse liver could be found in the literature. In this study, gradient-elution silicic acid chromatography, thin-layer chromatography, infrared spectrophotometry, and gas-liquid chromatography were used to separate and analyze the lipids of the normal mouse liver.
Beta cell imaging: State of the art and knowledge gaps

1292 Learning Objectives 1. To review current methods in beta cell imaging and their effectiveness. 2. To learn about new horizons in molecular imaging for evaluation of islet transplantation. Diabetes mellitus is expected to affect 522 million around the world by 2030. Several methods have been used to quantify function and activity of pancreatic islet cells. Indirect means for assessing diabetes such as blood glucose, insulin and c peptide measurements have been widely used. Modern non-invasive methods including, but not limited to, magnetic resonance (MR), optical imaging, positron emission tomography (PET) or single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) have been explored to quantify pancreatic islet cell function in vivo. In this review we will discuss these topics: 1. Imaging of endogenous pancreatic islet cells i. PET and SPECT ii. Potential Targets a. Dopamine receptors b. Vesicular monoamine transporter type 2 (VMAT2) c. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) d. Beta-cell secretory granules e. Sulfonylurea receptor f. Plasma membrane ganglioside 2. Imaging of exogenous pancreatic islet(graft) cells i. Optical imaging a. Bioluminescence imaging (BLI) b. Fluorescence Imaging ii. PET and SPECT iii. PET/CT vs. PET/MRI iv. Multimodal imaging of microencapsulated islets v. Intramuscular vs. hepatic grafts 3. Challenges regarding beta cell imaging i. Size and density of islets ii. Anatomical location
Ethanol-Like Discriminative Stimulus Effects of Endogenous Neuroactive Steroids: Effect of Ethanol Training Dose and Dosing Procedure

A number of endogenous steroids exhibit rapid, nongenomic effects on the central nervous system and are called neuroactive steroids. The rapid mechanisms of action include modulation of γ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA A ) and N -methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, which are two receptors implicated in the behavioral effects of ethanol. It was hypothesized that neuroactive steroids that positively modulate GABA A receptors or negatively modulate NMDA receptors, analogous to the actions of ethanol, would produce discriminative stimulus effects similar to ethanol. Two groups of male Long-Evans rats ( n = 6–8/group) were trained to discriminate between 1.0 or 2.0 g/kg ethanol (i.g.) and water (i.g.). The neuroactive steroids allopregnanolone, pregnanolone, epipregnanolone, allotetrahydrodeoxycorticosterone, pregnanolone sulfate, epipregnanolone sulfate, dehydroepiandrosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, pregnenolone, and pregnenolone sulfate (PS), all administered i.p., were tested for substitution with acute and cumulative dosing procedures ( n = 4–8/steroid). The GABA A -positive modulatory steroids allopregnanolone, pregnanolone, and allotetrahydrodeoxycorticosterone substituted for ethanol, as did the low-efficacy steroid 3β,5β-P. GABA A -negative modulators, such as dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and PS, and all of the NMDA modulators tested, including PS, pregnanolone sulfate, and epipregnanolone sulfate, did not substitute for ethanol. These results show that certain endogenously occurring neuroactive steroids produce discriminative stimulus effects similar to those of ethanol.
An artificial burrow for the study of natural populations of small mammals

Presentation d'un terrier artificiel permettant l'etude de populations naturelles de petits mammiferes. Un exemple est traite et concerne Peromyscus maniculatus
Analysis of Applied and Approved Projects in Food Science Discipline of NSFC in 2010

Official statistics was reported on proposals and funding of general program projects,the young scientists fund,and fund for less developed regions in Food Science Discipline of National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) in 2010.The situation of the proposals and funding in Food Science Discipline,research fields distribution,type of the projects and the research institutes were also analyzed in this report.These results are helpful to the applicants for understanding the detailed information about application and funding in Food Science Discipline,and will provide application guidance for the next year,guide the development of the basic research in food science of China.
Investigation on Seroepidemiology of Citellus dauricus plague in Chifeng city

Objective To know the present situation of Citellus-dauricus plague and analyse development of plague epidemic and provide scientific basis for prevention and control. Methods IHA methods was adopted to test FI antibody of plague in the samples of Citellus-dauricus.serums and epidemicy method was used to analyze them. Resulst From 1995 to 2005,21 028 samples was tested,and positive is 29 copies,FI antibody is 1∶40 to 1∶2 560. Conclusions Citellus-dauricus plague epidemic is active in the foci.It is suggested to take comprehensive measures of prevention and control of plague.Method of investigation on Seroepidemiology can shorten cycle of plague surveillance.
Deep neural network based spectral feature mapping for robust speech recognition.

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems suffer from performance degradation under noisy and reverberant conditions. In this work, we explore a deep neural network (DNN) based approach for spectral feature mapping from corrupted speech to clean speech. The DNN based mapping substantially reduces interference and produces estimated clean spectral features for ASR training and decoding. We experiment with several different feature mapping approaches and demonstrate that a DNN trained to predict clean log filterbank coefficients from noisy spectrogram directly can be extremely effective. The experiments show that the ASR systems with these cleaned features perform well under joint noisy and reverberant conditions, and achieve the state-of-the-art results on the CHiME-2 corpus with stereo (corrupted and clean) data.
Ethnically bounded homeownership: qualitative insights on Los Angeles immigrant homeowners’ experiences during the U.S. Great Recession

AbstractImmigrant homeowners’ function within ethnic boundaries in the housing market may have helped or hindered them during the recent U.S. Great Recession. This research explores this theme through interviews with immigrant and non-immigrant homeowners from four ethnic communities in Los Angeles County and the non-profit organizations that tried to assist them. Immigrant homeowners turned to co-ethnics for advice and support and formed multigenerational households as a strategy to achieve and sustain homeownership. Language and cultural barriers primed them for risky loans and thwarted their pursuit of refinance and modification when they struggled to make mortgage payments. These findings conform to existing evidence of ethnic segmentation in the housing market and imply that analyses of home buying and homeownership in areas with significant immigrant populations should factor in the role of ethnicity.
The Ethics of Procreation and Adoption

It is widely assumed that people have a moral right to procreate. This article explores recent arguments in opposition to procreation in some or all contexts. Some such views are concerned with the risks and harms of life that procreation imposes on non-consenting children. Others articulate concerns for third parties – the environmental damage or opportunity costs that procreation poses to already existing people. The article then surveys arguments that favor procreation despite the risks to the children created and third parties. The best argument for procreation is based on the significant interest people have in forming the parent–child relationship. An important under-discussed middle ground is suggested – one that avoids the criticisms of the anti-natalist while fulfilling the best aims of procreation – viz. adoption. The duty to adopt is summarized and objections to it considered. Thoughtful people who deeply desire to become parents but do not wish to participate in the range of potential procreative harms should consider adoption as a first choice.
Post-Head Injury Functional Deficits

The functional outcome in 95 children (aged 5 to 15) at 1 year after hospitalization for head injury was evaluated at the Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, MD.
TRIPLE CORRELATIONS IN THE $sup 60$Ni(p,$gamma$$gamma$)$sup 64$Cu REACTION

Triple-directional-correlation measurements have been performed for the $^{60}\mathrm{Ni}(p, \ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\gamma})^{61}\mathrm{Cu}$ reaction in order to determine the following assignments for the low-lying states: the excitation energy (in MeV), the spin and probable parity, and the $\frac{E2}{M1}$ amplitude ratio (for the transition from the intermediate state to the ground state) as follows: 0.47, (${\mathrm{\textonehalf{}}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$), indeterminate; 0.95, ${\frac{5}{2}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$, 0.35\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.03; 1.37, ${\frac{5}{2}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$, ${3.78}_{\ensuremath{-}0.13}^{+0.15}$; 1.63, (${\frac{3}{2}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$), -0.29 to -1.68, or (${\frac{5}{2}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$), -0.61 to -3.01; 1.89, ${\frac{3}{2}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$, -0.08 to -0.42 or -1.19 to -2.48; and 2.07, (${\mathrm{\textonehalf{}}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$), indeterminate. Correlations for the first three excited states were observed at each of the resonances at proton energies of 1588-, 1599-, and 1620-keV, while those for the next three excited states were observed only at the 1620-keV resonance. The correlations were all in agreement with previously measured ${\frac{3}{2}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ assignments to each of these capturing levels and to the ground state of $^{61}\mathrm{Cu}$. In addition to the above, higher levels for which no spin assignments are made were observed at excitation energies (in MeV) of: (2.4), 2.64, 2.83, and 3.02. All energy measurements of this report are believed to be accurate to \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}30 keV. The double sum-coincidence arrangement which allowed the simultaneous measurement of up to 24 correlation functions and which is here described for the first time is discussed in some detail. The results of these experiments are compared with other experimental results and found to be in good agreement. The implications of a reported doublet at about 1.35 MeV are considered with relation to the unusually high quadrupole admixture observed for the 1.37-MeV state in the present experiment. It is shown that the other member of the doublet is not observed in the ($p, \ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\gamma}$) reaction at the resonances studied, and that the undetected presence of such transitions could not produce the results observed for the 1.37-MeV state. The results of the present experiment are compared with the reported structure of $^{63}\mathrm{Cu}$ and $^{65}\mathrm{Cu}$ and with the core-excitation model which has been applied to these nuclides. This model does not appear to adequately explain the observations for the 1.37-MeV state, if the observed large value of the quadrupole admixture is a proper index of a high degree of collective motion for this state.
Niacin intake and incident adult-onset atopic dermatitis in women

Supplemental nicotinamide, a derivative of niacin, has been reported to decrease transepidermal water loss. However, in this analysis including 67,643 women from the Nurses’ Health Study 2, niacin intake was not protective for atopic dermatitis.
Biodiversity: More Surprises from the Smallest Marine Eukaryotes.

Some of the most data depauperate eukaryotic lineages live in the ocean and many plankton are known only from environmental sequences. A recent study adds two novel plastid lineages to our expanding understanding of marine biodiversity.
PATTERNS OF RED BLOOD CELL TRANSFUSION AND ASSOCIATED OUTCOMES IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING TAVR: INSIGHTS FOR THE STS/ACC TVT REGISTRY

Background: Red blood cell (RBC) transfusion is common among cardiac surgery patients, yet there are few data available on RBC transfusion in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Methods: Using the STS/ACC TVT Registry we evaluated patients undergoing TAVR from 1/1/11
Vacuolar degradation of chloroplast components: autophagy and beyond

Chloroplast degradation during natural or stress-induced senescence requires the participation of both plastidic and extraplastidic degradative pathways. As part of the extraplastidic pathways, chloroplasts export stroma, envelope, and thylakoid proteins in membrane-bound organelles that are ultimately degraded in vacuoles. Some of these pathways, such as the formation of senescence-associated vacuoles (SAVs) and CV-containing vesicles (CCVs), do not depend on autophagy, whereas delivery of Rubisco-containing bodies (RCBs), ATI1-PS (ATG8-interacting Protein 1) bodies, and small starch-like granule (SSLG) bodies is autophagy dependent. In addition, autophagy of entire chloroplasts delivers damaged chloroplasts into the vacuolar lumen for degradation. This review summarizes the autophagy-dependent and independent trafficking mechanisms by which plant cells degrade chloroplast components in vacuoles.
Echocardiographic and Ultrasono-Tomographic Study of the Left Ventricular Dynamics in LBBB

Echocardiogram and ultrasono-cardiotomogram(UCTG) of 21 patients with complete LBBB were compared with those of 5 with right ventricular pacing, 7 with PVC induced by catheter tip in right ventricle(RV), 40 with myocardial infarction and 20 normal subjects. Cross sections were made through the long axis of the left ventricle at end-diastole, early systole and end-systole, respectively.
Evaluation of Fungicide and Insecticide Seed Treatments on Soybeans

Materials and Methods The experimental design was a randomized complete block with four replications. Asgrow AG3632 was planted on May 14, 2012. The control treatment was soybean seeds with no fungicide or insecticide applied as a seed treatment (untreated seed). Within each block there were four treatments that were also treated with foliar insecticide [Leverage 360 (2.8 oz/ac)] and fungicide [Headline (6 oz/ac)] on August 1, which was when soybeans were at the R3 growth stage. Upper canopy foliar disease was assessed on September 4 when soybeans were at the R5/R6 growth stage. No upper canopy foliar diseases were found above 1 percent severity in 2012, so no analysis of foliar diseases was completed. Plots were harvested on October 8. Total seed weight/plot and moisture was measured, seed weight was adjusted to 13 percent moisture, and yield was calculated.
Integrating Neurological, Neuroradiological, and Psychological Examinations in Neuropsychological Assessment

This chapter provides guidelines to help psychologists determine when to refer a child or adolescent for neuropsychological assessment, neurological examination, or other neurodiagnostic testing (e.g., CT scan or MRI). Children and adolescents often need neurological, neuroradiological, and/ or neuropsychological assessments. Although not every child seen for cognitive, academic, psychiatric, or behavioral problems requires further assessment apart from traditional psychoeducational evaluations, some disorders do need further attention by specialists to investigate the child’s neurological or neuropsychological status. Clinical and school psychologists should be apprised of conditions that typically require further attention. The nature of neurologic, neuroradiologic, and neuropsychological assessment will be discussed, along with guidelines for making referrals. Further, aspects of psychological, psychosocial, and academic functioning are discussed, as these areas may be seriously compromised by brain-related disorders of childhood. Integration of these various evaluation findings are discussed.
A novel three-dimensional microTAS chip for ultra-selective single base mismatched Cryptosporidium DNA biosensor

Abstract The development of new rapid and reliable detection technology of Cryptosporidium, a deadly waterborne pathogen, using a three-dimensional micro total analysis systems (3D μTAS) is the main goal of this work. An approach to enhance DNA detection on a patterned configurable 3D μTAS electrochemical DNA biosensor to human genotype of Cryptosporidium was successfully developed in present study. A novel 3D μTAS, comprising three layers, was fabricated to achieve better result comparing to the commercial SPE. The first layer was comprised of a circular gold coated area (gold dot) in the center of a PI sheet and the third layer consisted of a common homemade screen printed electrode (SPE). The second layer was included PDMS channels and reservoir for sample delivery. The biosensor was fabricated on the gold dot of the first layer and electrochemical signal was recorded using the differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and impedance methods on the third layer and the results were compared with biosensor fabricated on commercial SPE. The calibration curve of 3D μTAS DNA biosensor shows a detection limit of 1.8 ng/mL and a sensitivity of 12.844 μA/(μg mL−1) in a linear range of 2.5 ng/mL to 0.1 μg/mL, which are 6 times lower detection limit and 23 times higher sensitivity of commercial SPE in a similar linear range. The specificity of prepared DNA sensor was conducted by using non-complementary, single, three and five mismatches strands and the potential of the biosensor in discriminating single mismatch detection was experimentally appraised.