cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Writing an Effective Manuscript Review: The 6 “Be's” to Success

In the previous article in this series (1), I provided pointers on what questions to consider and what information to gather to perform a fair and thorough evaluation of all sections of a manuscript. Once you have completed your evaluation of the entire manuscript and identified its strengths and weaknesses, the time arrives to put pen to paper (or keystrokes to computer screen) and actually create the peer review report that will go back to the editor and authors. Unfortunately, peer reviewers cannot give, like Romans in the Colosseum, just a thumbs-up or thumbs-down or limit their responsibility to “yes” or “no.” As a peer reviewer, you must provide the criteria by which you judged the manuscript (i.e., documentation of its strengths and limitations). What you communicate to the authors and what you communicate to the editor will not be exactly the same, because these 2 stakeholders need different information and different types of feedback. Therefore, it is important as you write the manuscript review to understand that you are really writing 2 reports, although there may be overlap in what you convey to the editor and the author. Therefore, your review must be effective in giving each party the information they need. So, how do you write an effective peer manuscript review? In this article I hope to give you some pointers to achieve this goal. To help you remember what I consider the characteristics of an effective manuscript review, I have broken down the important points into the 6 “Be's” to success. As a peer reviewer, you have 2 important roles. The first is to inform the authors about the strengths and weaknesses of the submitted paper and to suggest ways that the study could be or could have been improved (1). The second role is to recommend …
THE LIFE HISTORY OF PIKEA CALIFORNICA HARV.1

SUMMARY Controlled environment culture studies have disclosed that Pikea californica has a life history with morphologically dissimilar gametangial and tetrasporangial phases. The effects of light intensity and photoperiod on tetrasporogenesis, cell division, and, cell elongation in the tetrasporangial phase of P. californica are discussed.
Control and persistence of native Opuntia on Nevis and St. Kitts 50 years after the introduction of Cactoblastis cactorum

Abstract Since Cactoblastis cactorum appeared in Florida in 1989, via importation of infested horticultural Opuntia plants and/or natural spread from the Caribbean, there has been a concern about the moth’s threat to native and economic North American and Mexican Opuntia. The moth’s occurrence in the Caribbean is due to its introduction to Nevis Island in 1957 for the control of native Opuntia that were pasture weeds. We assessed the abundance of C. cactorum in target and non-target Opuntia species and the persistence of these Opuntia species on the small islands of Nevis and St. Kitts 50 years after the moth’s introduction. C. cactorum occurred at 10/16 sites on the two islands and attacked 22.7% of total plants. Of the four Opuntia sensu lato species found, three were attacked, including the native targets Opuntia triacantha (with 15.6% of plants and 8.9% of pads attacked) and Opuntia stricta (with 44.4% plants and 8.1% pads attacked), and the non-target cultivated and naturalized Opuntia cochenillifera (with 19.1% plants and 1.2% pads attacked). The native nontarget tree pear, Consolea (= Opuntia) rubesens, was not attacked. Larger and wild plants had significantly higher percentages of attack. Based upon our data, it appears that biological control of O. triacantha and O. stricta persists and these natives have survived 50 years of C. cactorum attack on these small islands, despite fears that the moth could have caused their extinction. Our analysis of this historical biological control effort suggests that the potential impact of C. cactorum on native North American and Mexican Opuntia will be significant and variable, but not necessarily catastrophic.
The effects of interactive graphics and text on social influence in computer-mediated small groups

Computer-mediated small group research has focused efforts on the medium of electronically networked text-based messages. An experiment which instead combines a synchronous text-based messaging medium with two-dimensional interactive computer graphics is detailed. Three-person groups participated in a risk-taking choice-dilemma task involving a discussion of the dilemma and consensus attainment. The groups' prediscussion and postdiscussion opinions were collected. Two conditions, one where groups received graphics-based feedback of their individual prediscussion opinions, and a second, which included a graphical representation of the prediscussion average, were coupled with a text-based communication medium. The text-based medium, without interactive graphics, served as control. In the condition involving the graphical prediscussion opinions and average, groups sent proportionately more messages containing persuasive-style arguments and proportionately fewer messages containing normative-style arguments. In the graphical condition without the average, roughly the inverse was found to occur. In the control, the discussion parameters fell proportionately between the two graphics conditions. In both graphics conditions, the first discussant to advocate a decision proposal had a stronger influence on the group decision than in the control. The data suggests that the inclusion of two-dimensional graphics can either augment or inhibit normative and informational forms of social influence during the group decision-making process.
Conditioned excitation and conditioned inhibition are not mutually exclusive

Abstract Conditioned excitation and conditioned inhibition are commonly regarded as mutually exclusive with respect to a single stimulus. Using water-deprived rats in a conditioned lick suppression paradigm, we examined this assumption. In order to avoid associative summation of test context-US (unconditioned stimulus) associations with CS (conditioned stimulus)-US associations, we conducted all CS testing in a neutral context. In Experiment 1, subjects were given 30-s CS presentations reinforced with footshock on a 33% schedule and the absence of the CS was reinforced on either a 68% (negative contingency) or 0% (positive contingency) schedule. The CS trained with negative contingency passed retardation and summation tests for conditioned inhibition, whereas the CS trained with positive contingency did not. In Experiment 2, following exactly the same training that was administered in Experiment 1, a test for conditioned excitation found strong excitation following positive contingency training and weaker but significant excitation following negative contingency training. This demonstrated that a partially reinforced conditioned inhibitor can function as either an inhibitor or an excitor depending on the nature of the test. Experiment 3 examined the basis of excitation supported by the conditioned inhibitor of Experiment 2. Results indicated that this excitation is not evident if the CS is never reinforced, that is, after explicitly unpaired inhibitory training. Thus, a direct CS-US association, rather than second-order conditioning, appears to have been the basis of excitation in Experiment 2. Although the potentials for a CS to act as an excitor and as an inhibitor were found to coexist, the inhibitory value of the CS appeared to increase as a direct function of the excitatory value of the conditioning context, and excitatory value of the CS decreased as a direct function of the conditioning context.
Pollen with Viscin Threads from the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene, Mérida Andes, Western Venezuela

Abstract Fossil pollen exhibiting viscin threads are reported from Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene deposits in western Venezuela. The sediments were deposited in a marginal marine environment in an area presently occupied by the northern flank of the Venezuelan Andes. The palynofloras are well preserved and diverse and provide insight into the ancient vegetation of Venezuela. Pollen-bearing viscin threads from the Upper Cretaceous Mito Juan Formation are assigned to the genus Colombipollis Sarmiento Perez 1994. The pollen grains are tri(col)porate, normally quite smooth, and most often viewed in an oblate (flattened) state. The viscin threads are on the proximal and distal sides of the pollen and vary in length; they appear to have a simple morphology unlike the complex, ropelike threads seen on pollen of the Onagraceae and some other angiosperm families. All observations to date are made using a standard light microscope but more morphological detail could be revealed using scanning electron microscopy. T...
Alternatives to traditional mentoring in fostering career success

Abstract Researchers have called for an examination of the roles that alternatives to traditional mentoring play in individuals’ career success. This study tests how important, but less examined factors, such as employees’ direct leader, personal and work factors such as ability and the formality of the organization, and employees’ engagement in career management strategies relate to career outcomes. Mechanisms intervening in the relationship between mentoring alternatives and career success were examined, including the moderating effect of individual differences (e.g., proactive personality, career motivation, and career stage) and the mediating role of employees’ career self-efficacy. We discuss how our results continue the examination of alternative sources of mentoring and contribute to existing theory. Finally, we elaborate on the practical importance of our results for situations where alternatives to traditional mentoring are needed.
Frenotomy and frenuloplasty: If, when, and how

The challenge of frenotomy and frenuloplasty lies not in their technical difficulty, but rather, in appropriate case selection. The possible consequences of ankyloglossia include feeding and speech difficulties, as well as a number of other sequelae related to restricted tongue mobility. However, it is difficult to predict which patients will be affected either slightly, greatly, or not at all by their condition. Opinion varies regarding appropriate indications for surgical correction of ankyloglossia and the ideal timing for intervention. This article details the potential symptoms associated with tongue-tie, patient evaluation and indications for surgical repair, the technique of frenotomy and frenuloplasty, and expected surgical outcomes, based on currently available data.
MK-801 affects cardiovascular responses produced by GABAA agents in area postrema.

Abstract The cardiovascular effects of nanoliter microinfusions of muscimol, bicuculline, and MK-801 (dizocilpine) into area postrema (AP) were tested in urethane-anesthetized male Sprague-Dawley rats. Microinfusion of muscimol (10 nl/min/5min, 1 ng/nl) into the AP produced significant hypertension (+29 ± 8 mmHg), but no significant change in heart rate (HR). Microinfusion of bicuculline (10 nl/min/5 min, 1 ng/nl) into the AP produced significant hypotension (-27 ± 4 mmHg) and bradycardia (-53 ± 10 bpm). Treatment of the AP with MK-801 (20 nl/min/5 min, 6 ng/nl) produced no changes in mean arterial pressure or HR by itself, but it completely blocked the hypotension and bradycardia produced by bicuculline infusion, without affecting the hypertension produced by muscimol microinfusion into AP. Following pretreatment of AP with MK-801, microinfusion of muscimol into the AP produced significant tachycardia (+51 ± 16 bpm). The data suggest that 1. a) GABAergic neurotransmission in the AP affects its cardiovascular functions; 2. b) functional interactions between NMDA receptor-mediated neurotransmission and GABA A receptor-mediated neurotransmission within the AP modulate blood pressure and HR regulation.
File of Normalized Radar Cross Sections (FINRACS)-A Computer Program for Research of the Scattering of Radar Signals by Natural Surfaces

A user-friendly computer program has been developed that is useful in archiving and graphically plotting normalized radar cross sections (NRCS) of geophysical surfaces. The program, called FINRACS, utilizes a data base, which includes data obtained by the radar community during the past 30 years. Users can store and retrieve data according to frequency bands, polarization, incidence angle, or author name. They can compare data obtained by other investigators by overlaying the data on common plots. In addition, FINRACS accepts radar measurements read directly from a disc storage device. In this manner, we are able to compare our NRCS measurements with those made by others
Gastrennung mit Druckwechsel-Adsorptionsanlagen

Gas separation in pressure swing adsorption plant. In recent years gas separation in pressure swing adsorption plant has acquired considerable significance as an industrially implemented process. This is particularly true of plant for isolation of pure hydrogen from gas mixtures of various origins. Starting from the underlying principles, this contribution considers the various types of plant for hydrogen isolation, for obtaining carbon monoxide, for recovery of ethylene, for separation of oxygen or nitrogen from the air, and for ozone isolation.
Evidence of estrogen receptors in normal human osteoblast-like cells

In seven strains of cultured normal human osteoblast-like cells, a mean of 1615 molecules of tritium-labeled 17 beta-estradiol per cell nucleus could be bound to specific nuclear sites. The nuclear binding of the labeled steroid was temperature-dependent, steroid-specific, saturable, and cell type-specific. These are characteristics of biologically active estrogen receptors. Pretreatment with 10 nanomolar estradiol in vitro increased the specific nuclear binding of progesterone in four of six cell strains, indicating an induction of functional progesterone receptors. RNA blot analysis demonstrated the presence of messenger RNA for the human estrogen receptor. The data suggest that estrogen acts directly on human bone cells through a classical estrogen receptor-mediated mechanism.
Ramanujan, Taxicabs, Birthdates, ZIP Codes, and Twists

It is well known that G. H. Hardy travelled in a taxicab numbered 1729 to an English nursing home to visit his bedridden colleague S. Ramanujan. Hardy was disappointed that his cab had such a mundane number, but to his surprise when he mentioned this to Ramanujan, the brilliant Indian mathematician found 1729 to be quite interesting, for it is the smallest integer that has two distinct representations as a sum of two cubes:
Some chemical aspects of the evolution of the terrestrial atmosphere

At the time of formation of the solar system an almost quantative separation of gases from solids must have taken place. An upper limit for the amount of gas that could have followed the solids when they accumulated into the planet Earth can be derived from the amount of neon present in the terrestrial atmosphere. This upper limit shows immediately that most of the nitrogen and other volatiles have been derived from the solid matter during, or after, its accumulation. The relative amounts of rare gases show that most, if not all, of the rare gases have undergone a separation process prior to the formation of the Earth. The probable nature of this process is interesting from the point of view of a theory of the origin of the solar system. The free oxygen in the terrestrial atmosphere cannot have been present at the time when the Earth formed, but must have evolved during geologic time. The escape from the Earth of hydrogen, produced by photolysis of water vapor, was important for the formation of an atmosphere containing free oxygen. It has been shown experimentally that photolysis of water vapor yields hydrogen even in the presence of oxygen. Charged particle reactions in the ionosphere are probably also important for the maintenance of ?0.5 ppm of the H 2 present in the atmosphere. The amount of oxygen produced by photolysis was presumably increased by oxygen produced by plant photosynthesis combined with incomplete re-oxidation of the organic plant material formed by this process. The amount of oxygen produced over geologic time, and used up by the oxidation of surface material of the Earth, presents a fascinating geochemical problem that cannot yet be solved in an unambiguous way. DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1966.tb00227.x
Development and application of a validated stability-indicating Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC) method for the determination of dantrolene and its related impurities

A rapid, sensitive, and specific ultra-performance liquid chromatographic (UPLC) method was developed for the simultaneous determination of dantrolene and its potential degradation impurities. Chro...
A retrospective case series of the lipid effects of switching from omega-3 fatty acid ethyl esters to icosapent ethyl in hyperlipidemic patients.

AbstractBackground: Western New York is among the regions with the highest rate of heart disease and stroke in the United States. Multifactorial causes include hypertriglyceridemia and dyslipidemia, and additional therapies may be needed to reduce residual risk that remains even after treatment with statins or other lipid-lowering medications. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a switch from omega-3 fatty acid ethyl esters (OM3EE) to icosapent ethyl (IPE) on lipid profiles in patients with hyperlipidemia. Methods: This was a retrospective chart review of patient records extracted from multiple medical practices throughout Western New York (4 locations). Randomly selected patients (N = 15) were eligible if they were aged ≥ 18 years with diagnosis codes for high triglyceride (TG) levels or hyperlipidemia and were receiving OM3EE. They were switched from OM3EE to IPE, and lipid parameters were measured after ≥ 2 months. Results: The records of 15 patients were analyzed and lipid measure...
Flexible working and organisational change: the integration of work and personal life

Bram Peper, Anneke van Doorne-Huiskes and Laura den Dulk (Eds) Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, England, 2005, ISBN 1-84376-618-3 A simple Google search with the phrase “work life balance” brings over 6 m...
Metabolic correlates of the foraging and social behaviour of dart-poison frogs

Abstract The foraging and social behaviour of four species of Panamanian dart-poison frogs, Dendrobatidae, were recorded and that information was combined with an analysis of aerobic and anaerobic metabolism and with published information about food habits to test predictions about associations among behavioural, ecological and physiological characteristics of anurans. Several generalizations were supported by the data. The widely foraging species of frogs made more prey capture attempts in total and took more prey at each feeding station than did the sedentary species. The widely foraging species had higher capacities for aerobic metabolism and lower anaerobic capacities than did the sedentary species. Other generalizations were not supported. Dietary habits were only loosely related to foraging mode and neither aerobic capacity nor foraging mode was a good predictor of the frequency of vocalization or of agonistic behaviour. High aerobic capacity and widely foraging behaviour may be derived characters in the family Dendrobatidae, but the metabolic and behavioural requirements of territorial defence provide an alternate hypothesis for the association of some ecological and physiological characteristics of frogs.
Chaperonin filaments: their formation and an evaluation of methods for studying them.

Abstract Chaperonins are multisubunit protein complexes that can be isolated from cells as high-molecular-weight structures that appear as double rings in the electron microscope. We recently discovered that chaperonin double rings isolated from the hyperthermophilic archaeonSulfolobus shibatae,when incubated at physiological temperatures in the presence of ATP and Mg2+, stacked into filaments; we hypothesized that these filaments are related to filaments seen insideS. shibataecells and that chaperonins exist as filamentsin vivo(J. D. Trentet al.,1997,Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA94, 5383–5388). This paper elucidates the conditions under which we have observedS. shibataechaperonins to form filaments and evaluates native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), TEM, spectrophotometry, and centrifugation as methods for studying these filaments. We observed that in the presence of Mg2+combined with ATP, ADP, ATPγS, or GTP, native PAGE indicated that chaperonin subunits assembled into double rings and that the conformation of these double rings was effected by nucleotide binding, but we saw no indication of chaperonin filament formation. Under these same conditions, however, TEM, spectroscopy, and centrifugation methods indicated that chaperonin subunits and double rings had assembled into filaments. We determined that this discrepancy in the representation of the chaperonin structure was due to the native PAGE method itself. When we exposed chaperonin filaments to the electrophoretic field used in native PAGE, the filaments dissociated into double rings. This suggests that TEM, spectrophotometry, and centrifugation are the preferred methods for studying the higher-order structures of chaperonins, which are likely to be of biological significance.
Characterization of a PRL protein tyrosine phosphatase from Plasmodium falciparum.

Abstract Isoprenylated proteins have important functions in cell growth and differentiation of eukaryotic cells. Inhibitors of protein prenylation in malaria have recently shown strong promise as effective antimalarials. In studying protein prenylation in the malaria protozoan parasite Plasmodium falciparum , we have shown earlier that the incubation of P. falciparum cells with 3 H-prenol precursors resulted in various size classes of labeled proteins. To understand the physiological function of prenylated proteins of malaria parasites, that are targets of prenyltransferase inhibitors, we searched the PlasmoDB database for proteins containing the C-terminus prenylation motif. We have identified, among other potentially prenylated proteins, an orthologue of a PRL (protein of regenerating liver) subgroup protein tyrosine phosphatases, termed PfPRL. Here, we show that PfPRL is expressed in the parasite's intraerythrocytic stages, where it partially associates with endoplasmic reticulum and within a subcompartment of the food vacuole. Additionally, PfPRL targeting parallels that of apical membrane antigen-1 in developing merozoites. Recombinant PfPRL shows phosphatase activity that is preferentially inhibited by a tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor suggesting that PfPRL functions as a tyrosine phosphatase. Recombinant PfPRL can also be farnesylated in vitro . Inhibition of malarial farnesyltransferase activity can be achieved with the heptapetide RKCHFM, which corresponds to the C-terminus of PfPRL. This study provides the first evidence for expression of enzymatically active PRL-related protein tyrosine phosphatases in malarial parasites, and demonstrates the potential of peptides derived from Plasmodium prenylated proteins as malarial farnesyltransferase inhibitors.
Model molecular Hamiltonians

Abstract A generalization of the Wilson-Piech model to molecular systems is introduced. The idea is to exploit an analogy between the problem of critical phenomena and the molecular problem. There are several elements to the method. (a) Hamiltonian formulation on a lattice; (b) the reduction of the number of degrees of freedom of the exact Hamiltonian to a small finite number; (c) focusing on the valence electron properties by coarse graining the lattice degrees of freedom; (d) the qualitative determination of constants associated with kinetic and potential energy from the relation of the model Hamiltonian to the exact Hamiltonian; (e) the determination of the ground state energy of the molecular system by means of a minimum lattice configuration calculation. The model results in a small matrix to be diagonalized, and this matrix is solved by perturbation expansion. The theory is applied to several diatomic molecules. Finally, we explicitly construct a renormalization group transformation that integrates out the core degrees of freedom but retains information about the valence degrees of freedom.
Experimental Bacteremia Due to Pseudomonas in Agranulocytic Animals

The prominence of bacteremia due to Pseudomonas among neutropenic patients led us to search for an appropriate animal model. We devised such a model in rabbits by feeding them Pseudomonas aeruginosa in their drinking water and then rendering them agranulocytic with nitrogen mustard. As their counts of neutrophils fell, 82 of 91 animals died of overwhelming bacteremia. Of these 91 animals, 51 displayed a curious symptom complex of conjunctivitis, nasal stuffiness, massive facial swelling, and necrotic ulcers of the lip and buccal mucous membranes. The fact that we have never observed this syndrome in neutropenic animals with bacteremia due to Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae suggests that there are major pathogenetic differences between Pseudomonas and enteric organisms. This simple, realistic model should be useful in examination of the efficacy of antibiotics and immunotherapy against Pseudomonas in the compromised host.
Large-scale collection and sanitization of network security data: risks and challenges

Over the last several years, there has been an emerging interest in the development of wide-area data collection and analysis centers to help identify, track, and formulate responses to the ever-growing number of coordinated attacks and malware infections that plague computer networks worldwide. As large-scale network threats continue to evolve in sophistication and extend to widely deployed applications, we expect that interest in collaborative security monitoring infrastructures will continue to grow, because such attacks may not be easily diagnosed from a single point in the network. The intent of this position paper is not to argue the necessity of Internet-scale security data sharing infrastructures, as there is ample research [13, 48, 51, 54, 41, 47, 42] and operational examples [43, 17, 32, 53] that already make this case. Instead, we observe that these well-intended activities raise a unique set of risks and challenges.We outline some of the most salient issues faced by global network security centers, survey proposed defense mechanisms, and pose several research challenges to the computer security community. We hope that this position paper will serve as a stimulus to spur groundbreaking new research in protection and analysis technologies that can facilitate the collaborative sharing of network security data while keeping data contributors safe and secure.
Benzene toxicity: The role of the susceptibility factor NQO1 in bone marrow endothelial cell signaling and function

The homozygous NQO1*2 polymorphism results in a null NQO1 phenotype and is a susceptibility factor for occupational benzene poisoning. NQO1 plays an important role in detoxification of benzene-derived quinones but plays a role in numerous other non-metabolic cellular functions. NQO1 is expressed in endothelial cells of bone marrow which form the vascular stem cell niche important in stem cell homing and mobilization. We therefore employed a transformed human bone marrow endothelial cell (HBMEC) line to define the effects of compromising NQO1 on endothelial function. Either inhibition or knockdown of NQO1 led to decreased expression of the adhesion molecules E-selectin, VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 and decreased functional adhesion of CD34+ progenitor cells after TNFα stimulation. Suicide inhibition or knockdown of NQO1 decreased NFκB p105 precursor and NFκB p50 subunit levels as well as leading to decreased nuclear levels of NFκB phospho-p65. An additional function of endothelial cells is tube formation and angiogenesis which was inhibited by the benzene metabolite hydroquinone suggesting that endothelial function may be affected at multiple levels after exposure of NQO1*2 polymorphic individuals to benzene. These data demonstrate that NQO1 plays an upstream role in NFκB signaling and adhesion molecule expression in HBMEC and that NQO1 has important regulatory effects in its own right in addition to being a marker for Nrf-2 activation. Metabolic susceptibility factors such as NQO1 have roles in addition to detoxification of reactive intermediates and interrogation of these novel roles can inform both mechanisms of toxicity and human risk assessment.
A forensic investigation of a portable crib collapse

This article describes a forensic analysis of a portable crib that was involved in the death of a 17-month-old boy. The investigation included an event analysis, torque measurements, and observation of users. A three-factor approach that considered the interactions among users, the crib itself, and the contexts in which the crib is used yielded a broad understanding of the situation surrounding the use of the crib and helped identify a plausible series of events that could lead to a child fatality. The results illustrated the benefits of the three-factor approach in recognizing aspects of use that might be overlooked in the design of products.
Solubility of 4-Nitrotoluene, 2,6-Dinitrotoluene, 2,3-Dinitrotoluene, and 1,3,5-Trinitrobenzene in Pure Water and Seawater

The solubility of 2,6-dinitrotoluene (2,6-DNT), 2,3-dinitrotoluene (2,3-DNT), 4-nitrotoluene (NT), and 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene (TNB) was measured in seawater with ionic strength = (0.1662, 0.3352, 0.5071, and 0.6820) mol·L-1 and pure water at temperatures between (277 and 314) K. The pure water solubility values compare well with values reported previously. The solubility in seawater was lower than that in pure water. The average salting-out coefficients for NT, 2,6-DNT, 2,3-DNT, and TNB were (0.15, 0.12, 0.13, and 0.09) L·mol-1, respectively, which are consistent with measurements for other nitroaromatic compounds. The salting-out coefficients did not show any significant variation with temperature over the range examined.
Early Intracellular Events During Internalization of Listeria monocytogenes by J774 Cells

The gram-positive bacillus Listeria monocytogenes gains entry into host cells through a phagosome membrane that forms around entering bacteria. During the early stages of internalization the invading bacteria appear to modify the protein composition of the forming phagosome membrane in J774 cells. MHC class II molecules on the cell surface and exposed surface molecules available for biotinylation are excluded from the bacteria-host cell membrane interface and from the forming phagosome. This exclusion of MHC class II molecules from the early phagosome may partially help to explain previous reports suggesting that L. monocytogenes is able to interfere with antigen presentation. Inside the host cell, MHC class II molecules are delivered to the phagosome membrane. This is followed by delivery of LAMP 1, a marker of late endocytic compartments, and fusion with low-pH compartments. The bacteria then escape into the cell cytoplasm, possibly assisted by rapid delivery of this low-pH environment.
Legendary signs in infective endocarditis: revisited

A 65-year-old man presented to the emergency department complaining of 1-month history of back pain. He also noted fatigue, night sweats, blurry vision and 10 lb weight loss. He recalls dental cleaning recently, but denied any other medical history. He was afebrile and hemodynamically stable. Physical examination showed non-tender …
Transcriptional regulation of the rat Müllerian inhibiting substance type II receptor in rodent Leydig cells

Mullerian inhibiting substance (MIS) causes regression of the fetal Mullerian duct on binding a heteromeric complex of types I and II cell-surface receptors in the fetal urogenital ridge. The MIS type II receptor (MISRII), which provides specificity for MIS, is also expressed in the adult testis, ovary, and uterus. The rat MISRII promoter was cloned to study the molecular mechanisms underlying its temporal and cell-specific expression. The 1.6-kilobase (kb) promoter contained no recognizable TATA or CAAT box, but there was a consensus Sp1 site upstream of the transcription initiation site. Two binding sites for the orphan nuclear receptor steroidogenic factor-1 (SF-1) are occupied in vitro by using nuclear extracts from R2C cells, an MIS-responsive rat Leydig cell line that expresses endogenous MISRII, with differing affinities, indicating that the distal SF-1 site is bound more avidly than is the proximal SF-1 site. R2C cells transfected with MISRII promoter/luciferase reporter constructs show a 12-fold induction with the 1.6-kb fragment and deletion of sequences upstream of −282-bp lowered luciferase expression to one-third. Mutation of both SF-1 sites greatly inhibited luciferase expression, whereas mutation of either site alone resulted in continuing activation by endogenous SF-1, indicating redundancy. In vitro binding and transcriptional analyses suggest that a proximal potential Smad-responsive element and an uncharacterized element also contribute to activation of the MISRII gene. R2C cells and MISRII promoter regulation can now be used to uncover endogenous transcription factors responsible for receptor expression or repression.
The Role of Rotational Degrees of Freedom in Heavy-Ion Collisions

Abstract The degrees of freedom affected by the angular momentum are identified. The relevance of the equilibrium fluctuations in a diffusive evolution of the system is discussed. The statistical limit is described and chosen as a reference for comparing with experiment. The rigid rotation regime is shown to be reached in a variety of reactions. The fragment spin alignment is measured from γ-ray multiplicities and anisotropies as well as from sequential fission angular distributions. Good agreement is obtained with the statistical model for the P zz component of the polarization tensor. The P xy component seems also to reach the statistical limit at large Q-value. The effect of shells on the angular momentum transferred to the fragments and on its misalignment is discussed theoretically and specific predictions are made.
Determining the Appropriate Size of the Contracting Workforce: Yes We Can!

Abstract : The increasing pace of change in the federal acquisition environment, an emphasis on increasing contract management accessions, and intense pressure to cut operating budgets has increased the interest in the models available for use by the DoD to (1) measure contracting organization workload and (2) assign adequate resources to effectively manage the workload with an acceptable level of risk. An essential requirement for organizational success is to ensure that the correct number of resources, with the correct competencies, is available at the point of need at the correct time to accomplish the mission. In order to correctly train and assign resources, one must first understand the nature and amount of work to be accomplished. This paper finds that contracting workload assessment is not conducted in a consistent manner within DoD nor among the various individual Service components. In fact, in many organizations, it is not conducted at all. Seven steps that contracting organizations can take to identify contracting workload and manage it accordingly are presented.
Distinct germ line polymorphisms underlie glioma morphologic heterogeneity

Two recent genome-wide association studies reported that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in (or near) TERT (5p15), CCDC26 (8q24), CDKN2A/B (9p21), PHLDB1 (11q23), and RTEL1 (20q13) are associated with infiltrating glioma. From these reports, it was not clear whether the single nucleotide polymorphism associations predispose to glioma in general or whether they are specific to certain glioma grades or morphologic subtypes. To identify hypothesized associations between susceptibility loci and tumor subtype, we genotyped two case-control groups composed of the spectrum of infiltrating glioma subtypes and stratified the analyses by type. We report that specific germ line polymorphisms are associated with different glioma subtypes. CCDC26 (8q24) region polymorphisms are strongly associated with oligodendroglial tumor risk (rs4295627, odds ratio [OR] = 2.05, P = 8.3 × 10(-11)) but not glioblastoma risk. The opposite is true of RTEL (20q13) region polymorphisms, which are significantly associated with glioblastoma (rs2297440, OR = 0.56, P = 4.6 × 10(-10)) but not oligodendroglial tumor. The SNPs in or near CCDC26 (8q24) are associated with oligodendroglial tumors regardless of combined 1p and 19q deletion status; however, the association is greatest for those with combined deletion (rs4295627, OR = 2.77, P = 2.6 × 10(-9)). These observations generate hypotheses concerning the possible mechanisms by which specific SNPs (or alterations in linkage disequilibrium with such SNPs) are associated with glioma development.
A better picture of clearance in the nose.

mucociliary clearance plays a crucial host-defense role in both the upper and lower airways, providing protection from a wide variety of airborne hazards including allergens, pathogens, and environmental toxins. Proper function of the mucociliary clearance system depends on the structure and
Code cache management schemes for dynamic optimizers

A dynamic optimizer is a software-based system that performs code modifications at runtime, and several such systems have been proposed over the past several years. These systems typically perform optimization on the level of an instruction trace, and most use caching mechanisms to store recently optimized portions of code. Since the dynamic optimizers produce variable-length code traces that are modified copies of portions of the original executable, a code cache management scheme must deal with the difficult problem of caching objects that vary in size and cannot be subdivided without adding extra jump instructions. Because of these constraints, many dynamic optimizers have chosen unsophisticated schemes, such as flushing the entire cache when it becomes full. Flushing minimizes the overhead of cache management but tends to discard many useful traces. This paper evaluates several alternative cache management schemes that identify and remove only enough traces to make room for a new trace. We find that by treating the code cache as a circular buffer, we can reduce the code cache miss rate by half of that achieved by flushing. Furthermore, this approach adds very little bookkeeping overhead and avoids the problems associated with code cache fragmentation. These characteristics are extremely important in a dynamic system since more complex strategies will do more harm than good if the overhead is too high.
Developing a Dynamic Traffic Management Modeling Framework for Hurricane Evacuation

Evacuation is becoming increasingly difficult as the population of hurricane-prone regions continues to grow dramatically. In addition, development in coastal communities in the United States is expected to continue to greatly outpace new construction and improvements to the highway infrastructure. Consequently, there is a great need for hurricane evacuation models, which allow emergency response personnel to develop effective evacuation plans and management strategies. The development of a dynamic hurricane evacuation modeling framework is described, which can be used for long-term and short-term planning purposes as well as for real-time operational purposes.
Field Dependence or Cognitive Impairment in Alcoholics

The nature of the association of field dependence with alcoholism has been predominantly postulated as predispositional in most studies, but as consequential in others. Using the EFT measure and additional measures of cognitive impairment, a significant decrease in both field dependence and cognitive impairments was found to occur within a 3-week period of treatment for alcoholism. Significant moderate-level correlations between field dependence and cognitive measures support an interpretation of the alcohol-field dependence association as being mediated by alcohol-induced cognitive impairment. Methodological differences and differences in measurement instruments may account for the conflicting findings. These results support the hypothesis that field dependence in alcoholics is a consequence of cognitive impairment resulting from alcoholism.
Code compression techniques for embedded systems and their effectiveness

Code compression techniques have been used widely in embedded systems to decrease the amount of storage resources needed or to decrease power consumption, and in some cases, to improve performance too. This paper evaluates, using cache models, the performance, power and cost benefits that code compression can provide in an instruction memory hierarchy. It also compares several important code compression schemes on a common platform and using a common set of benchmarks to gauge their effectiveness.
Radiographic evaluation of INBONE total ankle arthroplasty: a retrospective analysis of 30 cases.

The objectives of this work were to retrospectively describe the radiographic assessment of INBONE total ankle arthroplasty in 30 patients using validated linear and angular measurements and to correlate these findings with the final surgical outcome over a 2-year follow-up period. Thirty consecutive patients (21 females, nine males; mean age, 64.8 years) underwent INBONE total ankle arthroplasty during 2007–2011. After IRB approval, a retrospective pre- and post-operative radiographic analysis was performed using validated linear and angular measurements. The pre- and post-operative assessment included the tibial angle, talar angle, tibial slope, and coronal deformity. Post-operative measurements also included the talocalcaneal angle, joint space height, talar height, lateral tibial component angle, lateral talar component angle, and anteroposterior tibial component angle. The post-operative bone loss, subluxation, positioning, and subsidence were also assessed. Statistical analysis was performed using two-sample t test and Fisher’s exact test. Out of 30 patients, 23 had a successful clinical outcome with intact prosthesis at a 2-year follow-up. The only variables with significant correlation (p < 0.05) to the post-surgical outcome were the lateral talar component angle (p = 0.002) and the mean difference between pre- and post-operative tibial slope (p = 0.001). The coronal deformity had significant mean difference between pre- and post-operative values (p < 0.001); however, it lacked a significant correlation to the final surgical outcome. None of the categorical variables had a significant correlation with post-surgical outcome. In our retrospective study, only the lateral talar component angle and the mean difference between the pre- and post-operative tibial slope had significant correlation with post-surgical outcome in INBONE ankle arthroplasty. These measurements may be helpful in radiographic assessment of the INBONE ankle arthroplasty.
Quantification of brain tissue volumes using MR/MR fusion

We propose in this article to compute White Matter (WM), Gray Matter (GM) and Cerebrospinal Fluid (CF) volumes from MR images of a human brain using possibilistic logic and a fusion scheme. The fusion process is divided into three steps: fuzzy tissue maps are first computed on all images using a possibilistic clustering algorithm. Fusion is then achieved for all tissues with a context based fusion operator. The final segmentation allows for the computation of brain tissue volumes. Applications on a brain model show a great agreement between the results and the true segmentation, thus affording a relevant tissue classification on clinical data.
Ultrastructure and Regulation of Lateralized Connexin43 in the Failing Heart

Rationale: Gap junctions mediate cell-to-cell electric coupling of cardiomyocytes. The primary gap junction protein in the working myocardium, connexin43 (Cx43), exhibits increased localization at the lateral membranes of cardiomyocytes in a variety of heart diseases, although the precise location and function of this population is unknown. Objective: To define the subcellular location of lateralized gap junctions at the light and electron microscopic level, and further characterize the biochemical regulation of gap junction turnover. Methods and Results: By electron microscopy, we characterized gap junctions formed between cardiomyocyte lateral membranes in failing canine ventricular myocardium. These gap junctions were varied in structure and appeared to be extensively internalizing. Internalized gap junctions were incorporated into multilamellar membrane structures, with features characteristic of autophagosomes. Intracellular Cx43 extensively colocalized with the autophagosome marker GFP-LC3 when both proteins were exogenously expressed in HeLa cells, and endogenous Cx43 colocalized with GFP-LC3 in neonatal rat ventricular myocytes. Furthermore, a distinct phosphorylated form of Cx43, as well as the autophagosome-targeted form of LC3 (microtubule-associated protein light chain 3) targeted to lipid rafts in cardiac tissue, and both were increased in heart failure. Conclusions: Our data demonstrate a previously unrecognized pathway of gap junction internalization and degradation in the heart and identify a cellular pathway with potential therapeutic implications.
The CASPER collaboration for high-performance open source digital radio astronomy instrumentation

The Collaboration for Astronomy Signal Processing and Electronics Research (CASPER) has revolutionized the cost and time scale for development of high performance radio astronomy signal processing instrumentation. We present open source designs (hardware, gateware, libraries, and software tools) for a variety of flexible high bandwidth instruments, including correlators, beamformers, spectrometers, VLBI, pulsar timing and transient search machines. The collaboration relies on a small number of modular, connectible, upgradable, hardware components and platform independent software libraries that can be reused and scaled as hardware capabilities expand.
Inferring Mental States from Neuroimaging Data: From Reverse Inference to Large-Scale Decoding

A common goal of neuroimaging research is to use imaging data to identify the mental processes that are engaged when a subject performs a mental task. The use of reasoning from activation to mental functions, known as "reverse inference," has been previously criticized on the basis that it does not take into account how selectively the area is activated by the mental process in question. In this Perspective, I outline the critique of informal reverse inference and describe a number of new developments that provide the ability to more formally test the predictive power of neuroimaging data.
Conventional Ties, Peer Influence, and the Fear of Apprehension: a Study of Adolescent Marijuana Use

This study examines the relationship between a belief in the certainty of apprehension and self-reported marijuana use; the relative importance of this belief and ties to conventional others as sou...
Critical care neurology: Five new things

Critical care neurology has generated interest both because of the urgency to understand acute brain injury and because acute interventions could improve outcomes. Unifying themes include intervention without delay and early recognition of the potential for deterioration of the patient. While monitoring devices offer useful prognostic indicators, conducting a thorough clinical neurologic examination is paramount in determining the most effective course of patient management. Recent progress has been made in acute brain injury monitoring, more effective reversal of anticoagulation after cerebral hemorrhage, use of hypothermia as a therapeutic intervention, and in the management of severe Guillain-Barre syndrome.
New economic perspectives for resource allocation in wireless networks

The economic approaches of potential game theory and bargaining theory are applied to the area of power control in CDMA wireless networks. These perspectives help identify suitable equilibrium points, and algorithms that can be shown to converge to them. The bargaining approach also suggests an iterative method for the simultaneous routing and resource allocation problem.