cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Murine Terminal Erythroid Differentiation and Early B Development Require the Sodium-Dependent Phosphate Import Protein, PiT1.

Abstract Abstract 2307 Phosphate is critical in multiple biological processes, including phosphorylation reactions, ATP production, and DNA structure and synthesis, and is likely an important determinant of cell growth. It remains unclear how individual cells initially sense changes in extracellular phosphate concentration and the cellular consequences of these changes. PiT1 is a constitutively expressed, high affinity sodium-dependent phosphate import protein and studies in nonhematopoietic cells suggest it plays a role in governing cellular proliferation. Recently, we reported that conditional deletion of Pit1 in neonatal mice causes a profound macrocytic anemia, characterized by a block in terminal erythroid differentiation, dyserythropoiesis, and increased apoptosis. The animals also have marked thrombocytosis and mild neutropenia. Importantly, the phenotype is intrinsic to the hematopoietic system (ASH Annual Meeting Abstracts, November 2011;118:681). Further characterization of their hematopoietic phenotype reveals equivalent numbers of marrow-derived hematopoietic progenitor cells (common myeloid, megakaryocyte-erythroid, and granulocyte-macrophage progenitors) compared to controls. Deleted mice demonstrate a relative expansion in Lin−c-KithighSca-1−CD16/CD32highCD34− cells, which is absent in control animals; morphology and additional flow cytometric characterization (high endoglin and CD150 expression) of this population suggest it includes early erythroid precursors (Pre CFU-E) with aberrant expression of the myeloid antigen CD16. Thus, erythroid differentiation is impacted by a lack of PiT1 from the early CFU-E through basophilic erythroblast stages. Additionally, we discovered that the animals have a marked B cell lymphocytopenia (0.4 K/uL ± 0.1 vs. 2.6 ± 0.5, p 0.5). We hypothesize that the profound anemia in mice lacking PiT1 reflects a unique vulnerability of proerythroblasts/basophilic erythroblasts to defects in cell cycle progression due to their high proliferative requirements and the unique coordinate control of cell cycle exit with terminal erythroid differentiation. Late, early pro-B cells may also be particularly vulnerable to perturbations in the cell cycle since they undergo a proliferative burst, likely dependent on the assembly and signaling of the pre-B cell receptor. Ongoing genomic and proteomic studies of flow-cytometrically sorted proerythroblasts/basophilic erythroblasts from Pit1-deleted and control mice are aimed at defining activated signaling networks to account for the anemia in mice lacking PiT1. Our work may offer further insight into how erythroid differentiation is intimately coupled with cellular proliferation, one possible mechanism of ineffective erythropoiesis in low grade acquired myelodysplastic syndromes, and the proliferative stresses shared between terminal erythroid differentiation and early B cell development. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Lactating dairy cows fed diets based on corn silage plus either brown midrib forage sorghum or brown midrib pearl millet silage have similar performance

ABSTRACT Objective Our objective was to evaluate the feeding value of brown midrib (BMR) pearl millet (PMS) with that of BMR forage sorghum (FSS) in diets fed to lactating dairy cows on intake, milk yield, and milk composition. Materials and Methods Thirty-two mid-lactation Holstein cows (139 ± 21 DIM) were used in an 8-wk randomized complete design trial. Cows were fed individually a common diet based on 37.2% corn silage and 18.3% ryegrass silage for the first 2 wk, and data collected were used as a covariate in the statistical analysis. At the end of the preliminary period, cows were abruptly switched to diets containing 32.6% corn silage and 20.6% of the total DM from either PMS or FSS for the following 6 wk. Data were subjected to repeated measures analysis. Results and Discussion No differences were observed in DMI among treatments, but there was a treatment × week interaction because cows fed PMS consumed slightly less DM during wk 5 compared with those fed FSS. Yield of milk and components and component concentrations were not different among treatments. However, cows fed diets supplemented with FSS had greater MUN concentrations compared with those fed PMS, and the differences were greater for FSS during wk 4 and 6 compared with PMS, resulting in a treatment × week interaction. No differences were observed in BW and BCS among treatments. Implications and Applications Results of the current trial indicate that either BMR pearl millet or BMR forage sorghum will support similar performance of mid-lactation dairy cows when fed along with corn silage. These results provides additional options for planning forage production for producers.
Experimental retracement of the origins of a protocell

Although Oparin used coacervate droplets from two or more types of polymer to model the first cell, he hypothesized homacervation from protein, consistent with Pasteur and Darwin. Herrera made two amino acids and numerous cell-like structures (“sulfobes”) in the laboratory, which probably arose from intermediate polymers. Our experiments have conformed with a homoacervation of thermal proteinoid, in which amino acid sequences are determined by the reacting amino acids themselves. All proteinoids that have been tested assemble themselves alone in water to protocells. The protocells have characteristics of life defined by Webster's Dictionary: metabolism, growth, reproduction and response to stimuli in the environment. The protocells are able also to evolve to more modern cells including the initiation of a nucleic acid coding system.
Long term outcomes of ureteroscopic management of upper tract urothelial carcinoma

Abstract Objectives Upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) is relatively rare. While nephroureterectomy is considered the gold standard for treatment, endoscopic nephron- sparing techniques have emerged for select cases with equivalent cancer specific survival (CSS). We present the largest series with longest follow-up to date of retrograde ureteroscopy as the primary treatment of UTUC. Methods A retrospective review was performed of 258 patients diagnosed with UTUC who were initially evaluated and managed by a single surgeon. Patients were followed from 1994 to 2017. Clinical records were evaluated for patient and tumor characteristics, operative parameters and outcomes. Statistical analysis was performed to identify risk of recurrence, progression, cancer and overall survival. Results Following exclusion criteria, 168 patients were evaluated. Average tumor size on initial excision was 16.8mm. Mean age of the cohort was 70 years, with mean follow-up of 5.53 years. The 5-year overall survival was 80.9%, but CSS was 92.6%. Recurrence free survival was 30% with average tumor size on recurrence of 6.39mm. Progression free survival was 75% with a renal preservation rate of 71.4%. Conclusions Ureteroscopic management of UTUC is a successful alternative to nephroureterectomy in select cases of UTUC. With strict surveillance protocols to manage frequent local recurrence rates, it is possible to achieve high renal preservation rates with acceptable CSS, even in the long-term.
Ultrafast and sensitive colorimetric detection of ascorbic acid with Pd-Pt core-shell nanostructure as peroxidase mimic

Abstract In recent years, nanostructures with peroxidase-like properties (i.e. peroxidase mimics) have attracted special interest due to their low costs, decent stabilities, and high catalytic activities. Herein, we demonstrate the use of Pd-Pt core-shell nanocubes (NCs) as efficient peroxidase mimics to achieve rapid and sensitive colorimetric detection of ascorbic acid (AA, which is commonly known as vitamin C). The color signal generated by the Pd-Pt NCs catalyzed oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) by H2O2 is quenched in presence of AA based on its antioxidant property. This colorimetric method attains a detection limit of 0.40 μM and a linear range of 0–15 μM, with good linearity. To the best of our knowledge, the method reported in this work presents the fastest AA detection among all the other reported colorimetric methods, with only a 3-min reaction time. Furthermore, this method features a simple procedure, cost-effectiveness, room temperature conditions and good stability.
Targeted Reading Intervention Teacher Certification: An Approach to Building and Sustaining Teacher Expertise in Rural Schools

This case study examined an approach for sustaining the Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI) in rural schools. Researchers, teachers, and district-level partners collaboratively implemented the TRI ...
HAWAD: Hand Washing Detection using Wrist Wearable Inertial Sensors

Hand hygiene is crucial in preventing the spread of infections and diseases. Lack of hand hygiene is one of the major reasons for healthcare associated infections (HAIs) in hospitals. Adherence to hand hygiene compliance by the workers in the food business is very important for preventing food-borne illness. In addition to healthcare settings and food businesses, hand washing is also vital for personal well-being. Despite the importance of hand hygiene, people often do not wash hands when necessary. Automatic detection of hand washing activity can facilitate just-in-time alerts when a person forgets to wash hands. Monitoring hand washing practices is also essential in ensuring accountability and providing personalized feedback, particularly in hospitals and food businesses. Inertial sensors available in smart wrist devices can capture hand movements, and so it is feasible to detect hand washing using these devices. However, it is challenging to detect hand washing using wrist wearable sensors since hand movements are associated with a wide range of activities. In this paper, we present HAWAD, a robust solution for hand washing detection using wrist wearable inertial sensors. We leverage the distribution of penultimate layer output of a neural network to detect hand washing from a wide range of activities. Our method reduces false positives by 77% and improves F1-score by 30% compared to the baseline method.
Educational leadership in the time of a pandemic: Lessons from two institutions

Over the course of a few weeks in March, COVID-19 upended the daily lives of Americans. Academic Medical Centers became a center-point for the response to the virus. Leaders within academic medical centers faced twin challenges of responding to the needs of the patients we serve while managing radical changes within their own institutions, including the educational mission. In this article, we describe some key themes identified and lessons learned as educational leaders during this time. We draw from the experiences of two institutions- one public and one private. These lessons learned fall into the broad categories of leadership decision-making and communication and included the importance of principled decision-making, a connected leadership team, and effective communication both within leadership and to the broader institutional community. The consequences of these responses resulted in a renewed recognition for us as educational leaders of the interdependence of our tripartide academic fates, the importance of academic medical centers as anchor institutions and advocates for our community, and the resilience and ingenuity of our students. We provide examples of these lessons and themes and make recommendations for how to approach educational decision-making in the "new normal" of living with COVID-19 for the immediate future.
Book Review: The Choice between Life and Death and Everything In Between

In his latest book, the Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz, a behavioral psychologist at Swarthmore College, says what some of us have been thinking all along: Too much choice is not a good thing. People fail to make good decisions and their tendency to err is only exacerbated by expanding choice. Accordingly, Professor Schwartz argues that, because of the abundance of options, markets are failing to do what markets are supposed to do: maximize individual welfare. A counterpoint to the plain-vanilla economic analysis, Schwartz posits that the increased number of options may actually reduce overall utility, not increase it.This review of Paradox of Choice comes in several parts. In Parts II and III, I review the most important parts of the Book. Professor Schwartz lays out a convincing case that too much choice can have dire consequences as people muddle along to make decisions and, once made, regret and second-guess those decisions. To alleviate the incessant pressure to choose, Schwartz points out some commonsense things we might all do better. In Part IV, I point out some minor quibbles with the book, since there are few real targets to swipe at in this extremely engaging work.In Part V, I analyze the book in light of President Bush's call for creating an ownership society, which essentially expands individual choice in wide-variety of traditionally no-choice venues, like health care and retirement. In this Part, I make the point that expanded choice may be bad for many of the behavioral characteristics of individuals that Schwartz discusses. But, additionally, in such venues expanded choice should be approached warily since the bad choices individuals make in certain venues produce significant negative repercussions or externalities for others.
Adapting participatory research methods for reflexive environmental management

This article discusses methodological adaptations to participatory methods for reflexive environmental management. Reflexive approaches to research methods as process, this article contends, can el...
Hysteresis with lonely stroke in artificial muscles: Characterization, modeling, and inverse compensation

Abstract Artificial muscles are inherently compliant actuators that exhibit high power density and impressive stroke and force outputs. They have found numerous applications in advanced mechatronic and robotic systems. Termed as lonely stroke, the first quasi-static input–output cycle of artificial muscles is inconsistent with subsequent cycles that are repeatable and exhibit hysteresis. The lonely stroke not only affects the behavior of artificial muscles, but also presents coupling with the subsequent repeatable hysteresis cycles. While lonely stroke has been reported in a number of artificial muscles, existing studies lack systematic experimental characterization procedure. Furthermore, no models or compensation schemes have been proposed. In this work, we propose the first study to systematically characterize, model, and compensate for the hysteresis with lonely stroke property in artificial muscles. The experimental procedure to characterize the hysteresis with lonely stroke behavior is presented. A modeling approach is developed through the expansion of the input range of the Preisach operator, a widely adopted hysteresis model, to physically infeasible region. The effects of such expansion on the model accuracy and computational cost are studied. An iterative algorithm is proposed to compensate for the hysteresis with lonely stroke by approximately inverting the proposed expanded Preisach operator. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is validated by comprehensive simulation and experimental results. While this study primarily considers super-coiled polymer (SCP) actuators, the proposed model is also validated for several popular artificial muscles.
Efficient Detection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from Exhaled Breath.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome–coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is transmitted through airborne particles in exhaled breath, causing severe respiratory disease, coronavirus disease–2019 (COVID-19), in some patients. Samples for SARS-CoV-2 testing are typically collected by nasopharyngeal swab, with the virus detected by PCR; however, patients can test positive for 3 months after infection. Without the capacity to assay SARS-CoV-2 in breath, it is not possible to learn the risk for transmission from infected individuals. To detect virus in breath, the Bubbler—a breathalyzer that reverse-transcribes RNA from airborne SARS-CoV-2 particles into a sample-specific barcoded cDNA—was developed. In a study of the accuracy of the Bubbler in 70 hospitalized patients, the Bubbler was both more predictive of lower respiratory tract involvement (abnormal chest X-ray) and less invasive than alternatives. Samples of exhaled air tested using the Bubbler were threefold more enriched for SARS-CoV-2 RNA than were samples from tongue swabs, implying that virus particles were being directly sampled. The barcode-enabled Bubbler was used for simultaneous diagnosis in large batches of pooled samples at a lower limit of detection of 334 genomic copies per sample. Diagnosis by sequencing can provide additional information, such as viral load and strain identity. The Bubbler was configured to sample nucleic acids in water droplets circulating in air, demonstrating its potential in environmental monitoring and the protective effect of adequate ventilation.
Investigating the underlying biomechanical mechanisms leading to falls in long-term ankle-foot orthosis and functional electrical stimulator users with chronic stroke

ABSTRACT Background Ankle-foot-orthoses (AFOs) and functional electrical stimulators (FES) are commonly prescribed to treat foot-drop in individuals with stroke. Despite well-established positive impacts of AFO and FES devices on balance and gait, AFO and FES-users still fall at a high rate. Objective The objective of this study was to investigate 1) the underlying biomechanical mechanisms leading to a fall in long-term AFO and FES-users with chronic stroke and 2) the impacts of AFOs and FES devices on fall outcomes and compensatory stepping response of long-term users with chronic stroke. Methods Fall outcomes as well as kinematics and kinetics of compensatory stepping response of 42 individuals with chronic stroke (14 AFO-users, 10 FES-users, 18 Non-users) were evaluated during trip-like treadmill perturbations. AFO and FES-users were evaluated with and without their device. Results Chronic AFO and FES-users fell 2.50 and 2.77 times more than Non-users. The most robust differences between AFO/FES-users and Non-users were 1) Reduced capacity to stabilize the trunk through reduction in forward whole-body angular momentum and 2) diminished capability to prepare and generate a second step using the paretic leg. Provocatively, the removal of AFO and FES devices did not decease/increase falls or change kinematics. Significance It is well-established that AFOs/FES devices have a positive impact on static balance and decrease community falls by increasing toe clearance thus preventing trips/stumbles. However, our results suggest that once a trip occurs, these devices do not adequately assist recovery of balance. Specifically, current AFO and FES devices do not assist with second step generation or trunk control. Future studies should explore new devices or training paradigms that target enhancing trunk control and paretic compensatory stepping to decrease falls in this population.
Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America's Wars in the Muslim World

Nir Rosen's Aftermath, an extraordinary feat of reporting, follows the contagious spread of radicalism and sectarian violence that the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the ensuing civil war have unleashed in the Muslim world. Rosen-who the Weekly Standard once bitterly complained has "great access to the Baathists and jihadists who make up the Iraqi insurgency"- has spent nearly a decade among warriors and militants who have been challenging American power in the Muslim world. In Aftermath, he tells their story, showing the other side of the U.S. war on terror, traveling from the battle-scarred streets of Baghdad to the alleys, villages, refugee camps, mosques, and killing grounds of Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, and finally Afghanistan, where Rosen has a terrifying encounter with the Taliban as their "guest," and witnesses the new Obama surge fizzling in southern Afghanistan. Rosen was one of the few Westerners to venture inside the mosques of Baghdad to witness the first stirrings of sectarian hatred in the months after the U.S. invasion. He shows how weapons, tactics, and sectarian ideas from the civil war in Iraq penetrated neighboring countries and threatened their stability, especially Lebanon and Jordan, where new jihadist groups mushroomed. Moreover, he shows that the spread of violence at the street level is often the consequence of specific policies hatched in Washington, D.C. Rosen offers a seminal and provocative account of the surge, told from the perspective of U.S. troops on the ground, the Iraqi security forces, Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents that were both allies and adversaries. He also tells the story of what happened to these militias once they outlived their usefulness to the Americans. Aftermath is both a unique personal history and an unsparing account of what America has wrought in Iraq and the region. The result is a hair- raising, 360-degree view of the modern battlefield its consequent humanitarian catastrophe, and the reality of counterinsurgency.
Friction Modeling and Control in Boundary Lubrication

It has been known for many years that stick-slip can often be eliminated from a system by stiffening it. More recently, it has been shown that for a negatively-sloped friction-velocity curve, a frictional lag must be present for machine stiffness to produce this stabilizing effect [2,10]. In this paper, experiments involving dry and lubricated line contacts of hardened tool steel are described and a state variable friction model possessing this lag is fit to the data. The model and associated parameter values provide a means for computing lower bounds on the PD gains necessary for steady motion in the boundary lubrication regime.
Observations on overlap: findings and implications for automatic processing of multi-party conversation.

We examine the distribution of overlapping speech in different corpora of natural multi-party conversations, including two types of meetings, and two corpora of telephone conversations. Analyses are based on forced alignment and speech recognition using an identical recognizer across tasks. Three results are discussed. First, all corpora show high overall rates of overlap, with similar rates for meetings and telephone conversations. Second, speech recognition performance in non-overlapped regions of meetings is no worse than that in single-channel telephone conversations, while recognition in overlap regions degrades considerably. Finally, interrupt locations are associated with endpoints of word-level events in a speaker’s turn, including backchannels, discourse markers, and disfluencies. Results suggest that overlap is an important inherent characteristic of conversational speech that should not be ignored; on the contrary, it should be jointly modeled with acoustic and language model information in machine processing of conversation.
Efectos de la deficiencia de hierro en el funcionamiento intelectual

The purpose of this paper is to present a comparative analysis of the results of six researches in which the author has participated, about the relation between iron deficiency and intellectual performance. The researches were carried out in Egypt. U.S.A., Guatemala, Indonesia and Thailand, with pre-school and school children. Iron deficiency with anemia are among the two nutritional deficiencies of major prevalence in the wodd and it must be expected that the same goes for Peru. One of the causes of the low consuming of food rich in iron is that these are too expensive for groupa of low socioeconomic level. The comparative analysis shows consistent resulta in the six studies and that iron deficiency affects achievernent in cognitive processes tests and academic tests. Resulta also show that the effects are revenible when appropriate treatment is given. At the same time, the analysis shows that there is not enough evidence to infer that iron deficiency without anemia affects the intellectual quotient.
Isolation and Properties of Intestinal Hexokinases, Fructokinase, and N-Acetylglucosamine Kinase

Abstract The nonspecific hexokinases of rat intestinal epithelium were isolated by diethylaminoethyl column chromatography. The major isoenzymes of hexokinase which were found were types I and II, but, in addition, the presence of types III and IV in small amounts was suggested. The nonspecific hexokinases were clearly separated from specific fructokinase and from N-acetylglucosamine kinase, an enzyme previously believed to be absent from intestine. Guinea pig intestine differed from rat intestine in three significant ways. (a) There was a relative increase of type II hexokinase compared to type I, and there was an absence of types III and IV; (b) guinea pig type II hexokinase was more sensitive to N-acetyl-glucosamine inhibition than was rat type II; and (c) hexokinase specific activity of guinea pig intestine was one-third that of the rat. Of the total hexokinase activity in both guinea pig and rat intestine, 50% was in a particulate form. Triton X-100 (0.5%) could solubilize 40% of this particulate hexokinase. The apparent solubilization of particulate hexokinase by 0.9 m KCl was counteracted by the marked inhibitory effect of KCl on both soluble and particulate hexokinases. KCl inhibition of hexokinase activity was proportional to KCl concentration and partly irreversible. The hexokinases of other rat organs were also inhibited by KCl. Purified intestinal epithelial microvilli had no demonstrable hexokinase activity.
Analogy-Making as a Complex Adaptive System

This paper describes a computer program, called Copycat, that models how people make analogies. It might seem odd to include such a topic in a collection of papers mostly on the immune system. However, the immune system is one of many systems in nature in which a very large collection of relatively simple agents, operating with no central control and limited communication among themselves, collectively produce highly complex, coordinated, and adaptive behavior. Other such systems include the brain, colonies of social insects, economies, and ecologies. The general study of how such emergent adaptive behavior comes about has been called the study of "complex adaptive systems". The Copycat program is meant to model human cognition, and its major contribution is to show how a central aspect of cognition can be modeled as the kind of decentralized, distributed complex system described above. In doing so it proposes principles that I believe are common to all complex adaptive systems, and that are particularly relevant to the study of immunology. Copycat was developed by Douglas Hofstadter and myself, and has been described previously in [3, 10, 11, 16, 17]. This paper summarizes these earlier works, and makes explicit links to the immune system.
Extreme Accruals, Earnings Quality, and Investor Mispricing

Extreme accruals are commonly viewed as tainted by earnings management, contributing to lower quality earnings. We refer to this presumption as the earnings management/quality hypothesis. We directly examine three aspects of the presumed relation between the level of accruals and earnings management/quality: (i) the implications of earnings management for earnings persistence, (ii) the implications of earnings management for accrual mispricing, and (iii) the likelihood of greater opportunistic management to achieve earnings targets. We find (i) no evidence that extreme income-increasing accruals have lower persistence for year-ahead earnings, (ii) no evidence that investors systematically overweight extreme accruals, and (iii) no evidence that extreme accrual firms fall into the interval of firms just avoiding losses or earnings decreases more than other firms. We do find evidence that extreme income-decreasing accruals have lower persistence, but the evidence suggests this results from poor economic performance rather than accrual manipulation. We also document that investors consistently underestimate the persistence of cash flows for all firms, and that predictable year-ahead abnormal returns to extreme total or abnormal accrual portfolios documented in prior work appear to be driven by cash flow mispricing rather than accrual mispricing. Overall, our findings cast doubt on using extreme accruals to proxy for earnings management and/or low earnings quality.
Web service-oriented enterprise architecture for mobility support in prescription management

This paper presents Web service-oriented enterprise architecture to support access of authorized physicians, pharmacists, and patients to prescription management system via mobile devices and Web browsers on a 24 /spl times/ 7 basis. The paper also presents our demonstration prototype of the prescription management system using J2ME Web services. The key functions implemented in the demonstration prototype include detecting drug interactions and issuing a warning to prescribing physician to prevent health-threatening drug interactions, validating prescriptions, processing prescriptions from prescribing physician's office to pharmacy of patient's choice, managing drug knowledge-base, managing drug inventory, and processing bills.
Characterization of insertion sequence IS892 and related elements from the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120.

IS892, one of the several insertion sequence (IS) elements discovered in Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 (Y. Cai and C. P. Wolk, J. Bacteriol. 172:3138-3145, 1990), is 1,675 bp with 24-bp near-perfect inverted terminal repeats and has two open reading frames (ORFs) that could code for proteins of 233 and 137 amino acids. Upon insertion into target sites, this IS generates an 8-bp directly repeated target duplication. A 32-bp sequence in the region between ORF1 and ORF2 is similar to the sequence of the inverted termini. Similar inverted repeats are found within each of those three segments, and the sequences of these repeats bear some similarity to the 11-bp direct repeats flanking the 11-kb insertion interrupting the nifD gene of this strain (J. W. Golden, S. J. Robinson, and R. Haselkorn, Nature [London] 314:419-423, 1985). A sequence similar to that of a binding site for the Escherichia coli integration host factor is found about 120 bp from the left end of IS892. Partial nucleotide sequences of active IS elements IS892N and IS892T, members of the IS892 family from the same Anabaena strain, were shown to be very similar to the sequence of IS892. Images
Influenza Vaccines: Present and Future

Publisher Summary Immunization is the most feasible method for preventing influenza. Three types of influenza viruses circulate and cause disease in humans: A, B, and C. The only influenza virus vaccine that is currently licensed in the United States is a trivalent formalin-inactivated (TIV) preparation that includes influenza A (H3N2), influenza A (HlNl), and influenza B virus components. Immune correlates of protection have been established, and a global network is in place to monitor the appearance and circulation of the antigenic variants of influenza viruses as well as the appearance of novel subtypes of influenza A. The most promising live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) candidate is the cold-adapted (ca) influenza vaccine. Experimental vaccines that elicit a mucosal antibody response and those that elicit a cellular immune response against cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) epitopes present on internal proteins may provide cross-protection against antigenically drifted strains. The current formulation of the ca vaccine is a trivalent preparation comprising reassortant ca viruses bearing the (hemagglutinin) HA and neuraminidase (NA) genes of the recommended influenza A (HlN1 and H3N2) and influenza B viruses. Various future developments in vaccines, such as adjuvant vaccines, cell culture-derived vaccines, vaccines against potential pandemic strains, DNA vaccines, and genetically engineered LAIV are discussed in this chapter.
Differential expression of chemokine receptors and their roles in cancer imaging

Chemokine/chemokine receptor interactions play diverse roles in cell migration and homeostasis. Emerging evidence suggests that cancer cells co-opt chemokine networks for survival, proliferation, immune evasion, and metastasis. Most of the chemokine receptors are reported to be involved in tumor progression. Given their extensive implication in cancer progression, several chemokine receptor/ligand axes are considered as potential therapeutic targets. This review provides a survey of chemokine receptor expression in cancer and evaluates the potential of chemokine receptor imaging as a tool for molecular characterization of cancer.
Chromosomal assignment of six muscle‐specific genes in cattle

Six genes expressed in skeletal or smooth muscle were assigned to bovine chromosomes using rodent, human or bovine cDNA probes. Myogenic determination factor (MYOD1) was 100% concordant with Bos taurus chromosome (BTA) 15, and myogenin (MYOG) was 95% concordant with BTA 16. Smooth muscle caldesmon (CALD1) and the skeletal muscle chloride channel gene (CLCN1) were 100% concordant with BTA 4. Myogenic factor 5 (MYF5) was 90% concordant with BTA 5; this assignment was confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization of a bovine genomic MYF5 probe to BTA 5 band 13 and the homologous band on river buffalo 4q. In some metaphases, specific hybridization signals were also observed on BTA 15 band 23, and the equivalent river buffalo homologue, with the MYF5 genomic probe. Because MYOD1 and MYF5 share both nucleotide and functional homology and because MYOD1 was mapped in somatic cell hybrids to BTA 15, we suggest that MYOD1 may be located at BTA 15 band 23. Herculin/myogenic factor 6 (MYF6) was assigned indirectly to BTA 5 by the hybridization of MYF5 and MYF6 probes to the same HindIII fragment in bovine genomic DNA. The assignment of MYF6 to BTA 5 is consistent with the tandem arrangement of MYF5 and MYF6 in human, mouse and chicken, where these tightly linked genes are separated by < 6.5 kb of DNA.
Separation of type III collagen from type I collagen and pepsin by differential denaturation and renaturation.

Abstract Types I and III collagens were solubilized from fetal human skin by limited digestion with pepsin and precipitated by dialysis against 0.02 M Na 2 HPO 4 . Heat denaturation of the collagens in 2 M guanidine-HCl, pH 7.5, resulted in the precipitation of the contaminant pepsin which could be removed by centrifugation. Renaturation of the denatured collagens by dialysis against deionized water at 22° for 2 hours selectively precipitated the type III collagen fibrils. Type I collagen remained in solution. The simplicity and high recovery (77%) make this a suitable approach for the rapid estimation of type III collagen in small tissue samples.
Chaotic Dynamics of Shallow Arch Structures under 1:2 Resonance

The global dynamics of a shallow arch structure subjected to a spatially and temporally varying force is investigated under the conditions of principal subharmonic resonance and one-to-two internal resonance near single mode periodic motions. We describe the mechanism leading to chaotic behavior in the class of systems under consideration. In this paper, a higher-dimensional, Melnikov-type perturbation method is used to analytically show that the arch structure, in the absence of any dissipation mechanism, may exhibit chaotic dynamics in the sense of Smale horseshoe for the one-to-two internal resonance case. These chaotic motions result from the existence of orbits heteroclinic to a normally hyperbolic invariant torus, which corresponds to the hyperbolic periodic orbit in the averaged system. In this case, the presence of small dissipation causes the phase flow to be attracted towards the trivial solution. Numerical simulations are also performed to confirm the theoretical predictions and hence the exist...
3.4: Sheet beam stick for low-voltage W-band extended interaction klystron (EIK)

The stable transport of high-perveance, low-voltage sheet electron beams is a key requirement for the successful development of compact, high-power sheet beam amplifiers. We describe a beam stick to demonstrate the transport of such a beam (19.5 kV, 3.5 A) in a solenoidal magnetic field of about 8.5 kG. The beam stick consists of a novel sheet beam gun having single-plane convergence of a factor of ∼30, a permanent magnet solenoid, a 1.8-cm-long × 5 mm wide × 0.4 mm high beam tunnel, and an isolated collector. The engineering design was based closely upon MICHELLE and MAGIC-3D simulations of a W-band extended interaction klystron.
TGF-α increases astrocyte invasion and promotes axonal growth into the lesion following spinal cord injury in mice

Astrocytes respond to environmental cues and play a multifaceted role in the response to trauma in the central nervous system. As the most prevalent contributors to the glial scar, astrocytes are targeted as barriers to regeneration. However, there is also strong evidence that astrocytes are vital for neuroprotection and metabolic support after injury. In addition, consistent with their role during development, astrocytes may be capable of supporting the growth of injured axons. Therefore, we hypothesized that with appropriate stimulation, the reparative functions of endogenous astrocytes could be harnessed to promote axon growth and recovery after spinal cord injury. Transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha) is a mitogenic growth factor that is active on astrocytes and is poised to contribute to such a strategy. Recombinant TGF-alpha was administered intrathecally to adult C57BL/6 mice for two weeks following a moderate mid-thoracic spinal cord contusion. By three weeks post-injury, TGF-alpha infusion had not affected locomotor recovery, but promoted extensive axon growth and altered the composition of the lesion site. The center of the lesion in the treated mice contained greater numbers of new cells and increased astrocyte invasion. Despite the expression of inhibitory proteoglycans, there was a marked increase in axons expressing neurofilament and GAP-43 immunoreactivity, and the new axons were closely associated with increased laminin expression within and beyond the astrocyte matrix. The results demonstrate that astrocytes are dynamic players in the response to spinal cord injury, and the growth-supportive role of these cells can be enhanced by TGF-alpha infusion.
THE EFFECTS OF LEAD-EXPOSURE ON RENAL FUNCTION OF YOUNG RATS

Renal function was studied in 30-50 day old rate exposed to Pb from birth. Dam's diet contained 4% lead carbonate until Day 16, and 0.4% thereafter. Post weaning pups were fed 0.4% lead carbonate. Lead fed pups had blood lead levels of 96 ± 24 μg Pb/100 ml whole blood compared to pair fed controls of 7 ± 1 μg Pb%*. As shown in the table certain indices of renal function were not affected by lead exposure. However, when challenged with 24-hour water restriction, Pb-fed rats had urine volumes of 5.05 ± 0.36 ml/24 hrs and urine osmolalities of 1216 ± 160 mOsmols/1 compared to 1.90 ± .33* and 1967 ± 93*, respectively, for controls. In addition, following extracellular volume expansion with saline, fractional Na excretion was greater in Pb fed animals (.091 ± .01) than in controls (.039 ± .006*). Thus, Pb exposure to newborn rats results in altered tubular function that limits the ability of the animal to respond to changes in water and Na intake. (Supported by NIH grants ES00972 and ES00159.) *p <.01
Mechanisms of fatigue hardening in copper single crystals

Abstract Copper single crystals were cycled in push-pull at a constant total shear-strain amplitude, γ t , of ±0.0075, which gave a fatigue life, N f , of 42,500 cycles. Dislocation arrangements were determined as a function of the number of elapsed cycles and were correlated with the fatigue-hardening curve. The cyclic stress-strain curve was determined over the range γ t = ±0.0016–0.016. Results have been compared with other recent fatigue-hardening studies. Dislocation bundles in dipole and multipole configurations are formed by a mutual-trapping mechanism during rapid hardening. The bundles contribute to rapid hardening by providing effective barriers to continued dislocation motion on the primary and secondary slip systems. Dislocation structures in the earliest stages of rapid hardening were found to be analogous to unidirectional dislocation structures; the similarity rapidly fades, however, with continued cycling and the progressive development of a cell structure, until at saturation hardening (≈0.5 per cent N f ), a dislocation structure uniquely characteristic of cyclic deformation is developed. Strain accommodation during saturation hardening can be accomplished by the cooperative movement of dislocations within cell walls (or loop patches) and by the traffic of dislocations across cells (or between loop patches), with ∼50 per cent of the dissipated energy estimated to be available for point-defect production. The present results lead to a unified view of fatigue hardening for high- and low-strain amplitudes. The dislocation structures in low-amplitude loop patches and in high-amplitude cell walls appear to be identical, each being a product of the early mutual-trapping mechanism. A correlation is suggested between the occurrence of the Bauschinger effect and the development of simple dislocation bundles (Stage I type dislocation structure). It is postulated that the Bauschinger effect is a result of the relaxation of dislocations within these dislocation bundles.
Financing local government in Indonesia

Considering the size and importance of Indonesia, remarkably little has been published in the West about the society and government of that country. With over 160 million people, it is the fifth most populous country in the world. It is an archipelago of some 13,000 islands, stretching over 5,000 kilometers from from east to west, and contains within it an amazing array of cultures, as well as ethnic, economic, and religious variations. Not surprisingly in view of the country's great size, vast regional differences, and cultural diversity, local government in Indonesia is on a massive scale. The task of managing and financing a system of local government is a troublesome one; the development needs of different regions are vast and the tasks facing local government are generally far beyond their limited resources. It is the purpose of this book not only to describe the existing system of local government but also to analyze it, identify weaknesses and problems with the present arrangement, and to propose realistic lines of reform. This collection of essays will provide a useful and constructive contribution to the discussion of issues central to the system of local government in Indonesia.
Multiple-grid convergence acceleration of viscous and inviscid flow computations

A multiple-grid algorithm for use in efficiently obtaining steady solutions to the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations is presented. The convergence of a simple, explicit fine-grid solution procedure is accelerated on a sequence of successively coarser grids by a coarse-grid information propagation method which rapidly eliminates transients from the computational domain. This use of multiple-gridding to increase the convergence rate results in substantially reduced work requirements for the numerical solution of a wide range of flow problems. Computational results are presented for subsonic and transonic inviscid flows and for laminar and turbulent, attached and separated, subsonic viscous flows. Work reduction factors as large as eight, in comparison to the basic fine-grid algorithm, have been obtained. Possibilities for further performance improvement are discussed.
Photocatalytic Activity of PbS Quantum Dot/TiO2 Nanotube Composites

PbS quantum dots (PbS QDs) were attached to TiO2 nanotubes on both the inside and outside surfaces of the nanotubes by using thiolactic acid, a bifunctional linker. The PbS QDs with diameters of 4−...
Effect of ECT treatment number on the ictal EEG

Recent evidence suggests that attributes of the ictal electroencephalogram (EEG) may be clinically useful for estimating the extent to which the electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) stimulus exceeds the seizure threshold (relative stimulus intensity). Such a tool could allow a practitioner, who chose, on the basis of expected therapeutic response and side effect rates, to implement stimulus dosing to maintain relative stimulus intensity over the treatment course, despite the uncertain rise in seizure threshold that occurs. One potential confounding factor is a possible systematic change in the ictal EEG over the treatment course that is not due to changes in seizure threshold. We explored the effect of treatment number by comparing ictal EEG data obtained at treatments across the ECT course that were delivered at the identical relative stimulus intensity. We found that the ictal EEG at treatment 1 was characterized by a greater mid-ictal amplitude and post-ictal suppression (trend) than subsequent treatments for barely suprathreshold unilateral ECT, but not for barely suprathreshold bilateral or moderately suprathreshold unilateral ECT, and that this change may affect therapeutic effectiveness. These findings suggest the importance of treatment-number effects for the clinical application of the ictal EEG and point to possible physiological differences between unilateral and bilateral ECT.
Pernicious anemia in a young girlassociated with idiopathic hypoparathyroidism, familial Addison's disease, and moniliasis**

A girl with familial Addison's disease, idiopathic hypoparathyroidism, and moniliasis developed pernicious anemia at the age of 10 years. Investigations of her gastrointestinal tract including peroral biopsy were performed. Because of the possible immunologic relationship of pernicious anemia and the endocrinopathies, antibody tests against human gastric mucosa and parietal cells were done and found to be negative. Five cases of pernicious anemia associated with one or the other of these endocrinopathies have been previously reported. At the present time the exact relationship between her hematologic and endocrinologic diseases has not been clarified.
Survival of Micro-Organisms in Space

Survival of Penicillium roqueforti Thom, Coliphage T-1, Bacillus subtilis and tobacco mosaic virus exposed to space on Gemini flights
Role of NO3 in sulfate production in the wintertime northern latitudes

[1] The production of sulfate via multiphase chemistry is usually assumed to be dominated by oxidation of S(IV) by O3 and H2O2. The former reaction is pH dependent and negligibly small for pH less than about 5, while oxidation via H2O2 is independent of pH. Another oxidant that may play a role in sulfate formation is NO3 [Sander et al., 1995; Mozurkewich, 1995; Rudich et al., 1998]. Although it is commonly assumed to be far less important than O3 and H2O2, it has been hypothesized that it may account for significant oxidation under certain conditions, such as relatively low mixing ratios of O3 and <150 pptv of H2O2. These conditions may be met in the nighttime Northern Hemisphere winters when H2O2 production is small and NOx concentrations are sufficient to produce adequate concentrations of NO3. We explore the importance of NO3 in multiphase sulfate production using a simple cloud model. It is shown that the relative importance of NO3 is very sensitive to the assumed value of the Henry's Law equilibrium constant of NO3 as well as the assumed catalytic chain length for NO3 oxidation of S(IV). Using the recently measured value of 0.6 M atm−1 [Rudich et al., 1996], and a catalytic chain length of 8, it is shown that NO3 enhances sulfate production by about 10–30% relative to calculations where NO3 is absent. It is noted that NO3 may contribute even more if additional sources of NOx are present and/or H2O2 is removed via precipitation.