cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Brain Evolution: New Light on Old Principles

The fossil evidence on the evolution of brains and bodies in mammals shows that there has been a progressive increase in relative brain size accompanied by and correlated with increased diversity among species in relative brain size. Small-brained species have also evolved, but more large-brained species have appeared in successive epochs.
Oxygen distribution in the retinal and choroidal vessels of the cat as measured by a new phosphorescence imaging method

The oxygen tension in the vessels of the retina and optic nerve head has been measured noninvasively with a new phosphorescence imaging method. A phosphorescent oxygen-dependent probe, injected into the bloodstream of cats, was excited with a flash of light and the phosphorescence lifetime of the probe was measured. A simple Stern–Volmer relationship was used to convert lifetime to oxygen tension, and two-dimensional maps of intravascular oxygen tension were produced. We describe the equipment and the methodology for obtaining oxygen maps.
Options for Prosthetic Pulmonary Valve Replacement

This article reviews current data on various prostheses utilized for pulmonary valve replacement. Durability data is reviewed and risk factors for deterioration are examined. Finally, the choice of prosthesis should be tailored to the specific clinical scenario based on existing data regarding durability and risk factors.
Two-Photon Interactions for Use in Quantum Computing

Nonlinear interactions between two photons would have many potential applications, including the implementation of quantum logic gates for use in quantum computing. We are investigating a new mechanism for nonlinear optics at the two-photon level that is based on the exchange of photons by pairs of atoms in a medium, such as an atomic vapor. The effect can be understood as being due to a factor of two increase in the probability of having two excited atoms in the medium compared to the case in which the two photons propagate in two separate media. These effects are expected to be sufficiently large that cavities and traps should not be required, which may eventually allow the construction of large numbers of simple quantum logic gates.
Wind Vulnerability Curves for Low-Rise Commercial-Residential Buildings in the Florida Public Hurricane Loss Model

Regional wind loss predictions depend on vulnerability curves. A state of the art approach for developing the vulnerability curves is presented in the paper. It is based on engineering models that estimate the building damage caused by wind pressures, debris impact, and water penetration. This approach is a substantial improvement over traditional approaches, which derive vulnerability curves for different kind of buildings through curve fitting of historical insurance loss data. This paper describes the engineering model used to develop vulnerability curves for commercialresidential buildings in the Florida Public Hurricane Loss Model.
Two-sample quantile tests under general conditions

Summary A simple, nonparametric two-sample test for equality of a given collection of quantiles is developed which can be applied to a variety of empirical distribution functions, including the Kaplan‐Meier estimator, a self-consistent estimator for doubly-censored data and an estimator for repeated measures data. The null hypothesis tested is that the quantiles are equal but other aspects of the distributions may diVer between the two samples. This procedure can also be applied to quantile testing in group sequential clinical trials with staggered patient entry. A simple simulation study demonstrates that the moderate sample size properties of this procedure are reasonable.
Honokiol inhibits androgen receptor activity in prostate cancer cells.

BACKGROUND We have shown previously that honokiol (HNK), a bioactive component of the medicinal plant Magnolia officinalis, inhibits growth of human prostate cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. However, the effect of HNK on androgen receptor (AR) signaling has not been studied. METHODS LNCaP, C4-2, and TRAMP-C1 cells were used for various assays. Trypan blue dye exclusion assay or clonogenic assay was performed for determination of cell viability. The effects of HNK and/or its analogs on protein levels of AR and its target gene product prostate specific antigen (PSA) were determined by western blotting. RNA interference of p53 was achieved by transient transfection. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was performed for mRNA expression of AR. Nuclear level of AR was visualized by microscopy. Apoptosis was quantified by DNA fragmentation assay or flow cytometry after Annexin V-propidium iodide staining. RESULTS HNK and its dichloroacetate analog (HDCA) were relatively more effective in suppressing cell viability and AR protein level than honokiol epoxide or biseugenol. Nuclear translocation of AR stimulated by a synthetic androgen (R1881) was markedly suppressed in the presence of HNK. Downregulation of AR protein resulting from HNK exposure was attributable to transcriptional repression as well as proteasomal degradation. HNK-mediated suppression of AR protein was maintained in LNCaP cells after knockdown of p53 protein. HNK-induced apoptosis was not affected by R1881 treatment. CONCLUSIONS The present study demonstrates, for the first time, that HNK inhibits activity of AR in prostate cancer cells regardless of the p53 status. Prostate 74:408–420, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Dispersion analysis of stabilized finite element methods for acoustic fluid interaction with Reissner–Mindlin plates

The application of stabilized finite element methods to model the vibration of elastic plates coupled with an acoustic fluid medium is considered. A complex-wavenumber dispersion analysis of acoustic fluid interaction with Reissner–Mindlin plates is performed to quantify the accuracy of stabilized finite element methods for fluid-loaded plates. Results demonstrate the improved accuracy of a recently developed hybrid least-squares (HLS) plate element based on a modified Hellinger–Reissner functional, consistently combined with residual-based methods for the acoustic fluid, compared to standard Galerkin and Galerkin gradient least-squares plate elements. The technique of complex wavenumber dispersion analysis is used to examine the accuracy of the discretized system in the representation of free waves for fluid-loaded plates. The influence of fluid and coupling matrices resulting from consistent implementation of pressure loading in the residual for the plate equation is examined and clarified for the different finite element approximations. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Evaluation of acute locoregional toxicity in patients with breast cancer treated with adjuvant radiotherapy in combination with bevacizumab.

Purpose Preclinical studies have shown that bevacizumab combined with radiotherapy (RT) induces a radiosensitizing effect. Published reports regarding the safety of combination therapy involving bevacizumab and RT are lacking. The purpose of this study was to analyze acute locoregional toxicity in patients with breast cancer receiving concurrent bevacizumab plus RT. Methods and Materials After institutional review board approval was obtained, patients with breast cancer who received bevacizumab were identified; these patients were then cross-referenced with patients receiving RT. Toxicity was scored by the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events. Patients were matched 1:1 with those who did not receive bevacizumab. Statistical analysis was performed to analyze toxicity between the two groups. Results Fourteen patients were identified to have received bevacizumab plus RT. All patients receivedbevacizumab during RT without delay or treatment breaks; there were no RT treatment breaks in all patients. No patient receiving bevacizumab plus RT experienced ≥Grade 3 toxicity; 3 matched control patients experienced a Grade 3 skin reaction. There was no difference in fatigue, radiation fibrosis, pneumonitis, or lymphedema between the two groups. Five patients (35%) developed reduction in ejection fraction; 2 with right-sided and 3 with left-sided treatment. Patients with left-sided treatment experienced a persistent reduction in ejection fraction compared with those receiving right-sided treatment. Conclusion Concurrent bevacizumab and RT did not increase acute locoregional toxicity in comparison with matched control patients who did not receive RT alone. The addition of concurrent RT when treating the intact breast, chest wall, and associated nodal regions in breast cancer seems to be safe and well tolerated.
Therapeutic applications of light: PDT — The killer; LLLT — The healer

Visible and near-infrared light can treat all human diseases. Light plus non-toxic dyes called photodynamic therapy (PDT) can kill cancer cells, pathogens and destroy unwanted tissue. In contrast light alone can reduce inflammation, stimulate healing and tissue repair.
A new perspective on mapping the inner Galaxy

Due to the very strong interstellar extinction in the inner Galaxy, the stellar complexities of this region have only recently begun to be explored, with many infrared surveys now taking advantage of the reduced extinction at longer wavelengths to study the geometry, chemistry, and dynamics of the Milky Way’s innermost kiloparsecs. The new approach presented here applies the RJCE extinction correction method and the longitude-magnitude visualization technique to an extensive near+mid-infrared database (2MASS + GLIMPSE), and we assess the usefulness of this approach in exploring large-scale Galactic structure. By deriving physical parameters of the long bar and central bulge, we demonstrate this approach’s efficacy in using archived data to trace large-scale structures previously only mapped by time-intensive, dedicated surveys.
THE CHIRONOMIDAE (DIPTERA) FOUND IN THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS ANEGADA, BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS

Larval forms of Chironomidae were collected on the U.S. Virgin Islands and Anegada, British Virgin Islands. A total of 16 species were found and seven of these were reared to the adult. The species represented 3 subfamilies, 4 tribes, and 12 genera. Species of the genus Chironomus were the most widespread and abundant. In addition, 4 species of Ceratopogonidae and 1 of Chaoboridae were collected.
PRICING NIKKEI PUT WARRANTS: SOME EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

The newly created Nikkei put warrants represent a recent innovation in security development. These privately issued puts enable investors to hedge or speculate on price movements in the Japanese market. Understanding the pricing behavior of these new securities provides U.S. investors and issuers with valuable information to assess potential benefits and costs. In this research two alternative pricing models are used to explain the observed prices of several privately issued Nikkei put warrants. While results from the two models indicate some pricing biases, pricing errors are very small overall.
A sensitive thyrotropin (TSH) bioassay based on iodide uptake in rat FRTL-5 thyroid cells: comparison with the adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate response to human serum TSH and enzymatically deglycosylated bovine and human TSH.

A sensitive in vitro assay based on the uptake of 125I by the FRTL-5 rat thyroid cell line has been applied to the measurement of TSH bioactivity from different sources. In this bioassay various human pituitary reference preparations showed similar potencies; the limit of detection and the half-maximal response were 1.60 ± 0.1 (±SE) and 9.70 ± 0.40 μJ/0.5 ml, respectively; however, when compared to pituitary TSH from other species, human TSH was 29- and 10-fold less biopotent than bovine and rat TSH, respectively. The iodide uptake response to TSH was inhibited by the presence of human serum in a dose-dependent fashion, but pretreatment of serum with 10% polyethylene glycol restored TSH activity. The iodide uptake response was compared to the stimulation of cAMP production in the measurement of serum TSH bioactivity from human samples after immunoaffinity purification. In the cAMP production bioassay, immunoaffinity-purified serum TSH showed increased bioactivity in patients with primary hypothyroidism an...
Low density lipoprotein receptor regulation and the cellular basis of atherosclerosis: Implications for nutritional and pharmacologic treatment of hypercholesterolemia

Blood levels of lipids and lipoproteins are prominent among the factors identified as contributing to the development of coronary artery disease. Studies have demonstrated that reduction of low density lipoprotein (LDL) levels lowers the risk of coronary events and retards the progression of atherosclerotic lesions. LDL receptors play a central role in the metabolism of LDL: they maintain cellular cholesterol homeostasis by effects on cholesterol synthesis, modulate the plasma level of lipoproteins by clearing LDL from the circulation and deliver cholesterol to the adrenal glands and gonads for steroid hormone synthesis and to the liver for bile acid synthesis. The 2 major strategies that have been developed so far to lower LDL levels involve the use of bile acid-binding resins, which bind cholesterol in the intestinal lumen, thereby leading to a decrease in intracellular cholesterol, which increases the rate of synthesis of LDL receptors and increases the rate of LDL clearance; and, more recently, the use of inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, the key enzyme in the biosynthesis of cholesterol. Further studies are required to assess whether HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, used alone or concomitantly with bile acid-binding resins, are safe and effective for long-term use in patients with elevated LDL levels.
Anxiety, Alexithymia, and Depression as Mediators of the Association between Childhood Abuse and Eating Disordered Behavior in African American and European American Women.

This study evaluated structural equation models of the associations among family functioning, childhood abuse, depression, anxiety, alexithymia, and eating disorder symptomatology in a sample of 412 European American and 192 African American female undergraduates. Additionally, the specific roles of anxiety, depression, and alexithymia as mediators were assessed. Each of these variables was a significant mediator of the association between childhood abuse and disordered eating. Finally, a test of invariance between the African American and European American subsamples was significant, highlighting the need for additional cross-cultural eating disorder research.
Diffusion And Flow In Gravel, Soil, And Whole Rock

Transport parameters (diffusion coefficients, D(θ), hydraulic conductivities, K(θ), and retardation factors, Rf were experimentally determined in unsaturated soil, gravel, bentonite, and whole rock over a wide range of water contents, fixed at desired levels using the Unsaturated Flow Apparatus (UFATM). Effective diffusion coefficients in all media were found primarily to be a function of volumeric water cintent (θ) and not material characteristics, except where the characteristics affect or determine water content. At high water contents, D(θ) gradually declines as water content decreases, from 10-5cm2/s at a θ of about 50% to 10-7cm2/s at a θ of about 5%, followed by a sharp decline as surface films become thin and discontinuous, and pendular water elements become very small, from 10-7cm2/s at a θ of about 5% to 10-10cm2/s at a θ of about 0,5%. The several whole rock cores studied behaved similary. In aggregate material such as gravel and soil where the particles themselves have significant porosity, only the surface water content, not the internal water of the particles, contributes to the diffusion coefficient and hydraulic conductivity under unsaturated conditions, although the internal water is very important in retardation and other chemical effects. Experimentally determined K(θ) compares favorably to van Genuchten/Mualem relationships calculated from laboratory-determined water retention versus matric potential data obtained on the same soils. Experimentally determined K(θ) for whole rock appears to validate capillary bundle theory.
Methods for the Quantitative Comparison of Molecular Estimates of Clade Age and the Fossil Record

Approaches quantifying the relative congruence, or incongruence, of molecular divergence estimates and the fossil record have been limited. Previously proposed methods are largely node specific, assessing incongruence at particular nodes for which both fossil data and molecular divergence estimates are available. These existing metrics, and other methods that quantify incongruence across topologies including entirely extinct clades, have so far not taken into account uncertainty surrounding both the divergence estimates and the ages of fossils. They have also treated molecular divergence estimates younger than previously assessed fossil minimum estimates of clade age as if they were the same as cases in which they were older. However, these cases are not the same. Recovered divergence dates younger than compared oldest known occurrences require prior hypotheses regarding the phylogenetic position of the compared fossil record and standard assumptions about the relative timing of morphological and molecular change to be incorrect. Older molecular dates, by contrast, are consistent with an incomplete fossil record and do not require prior assessments of the fossil record to be unreliable in some way. Here, we compare previous approaches and introduce two new descriptive metrics. Both metrics explicitly incorporate information on uncertainty by utilizing the 95% confidence intervals on estimated divergence dates and data on stratigraphic uncertainty concerning the age of the compared fossils. Metric scores are maximized when these ranges are overlapping. MDI (minimum divergence incongruence) discriminates between situations where molecular estimates are younger or older than known fossils reporting both absolute fit values and a number score for incompatible nodes. DIG range (divergence implied gap range) allows quantification of the minimum increase in implied missing fossil record induced by enforcing a given set of molecular-based estimates. These metrics are used together to describe the relationship between time trees and a set of fossil data, which we recommend be phylogenetically vetted and referred on the basis of apomorphy. Differences from previously proposed metrics and the utility of MDI and DIG range are illustrated in three empirical case studies from angiosperms, ostracods, and birds. These case studies also illustrate the ways in which MDI and DIG range may be used to assess time trees resultant from analyses varying in calibration regime, divergence dating approach or molecular sequence data analyzed. (angiosperm; calibration; divergence dating; ostracod; penguin; stratigraphic consistency metrics; Time tree.)
Gas-Mimetic Swarms for Surveillance and Obstacle Avoidance

In this chapter, we explore a swarm algorithm for a challenging coverage task in which there is no prior knowledge of the environment and there are too few robots to monitor the environment continuously without movement. We propose a physicomimetic solution to the problem inspired by fluid physics. We show that by modeling each robot in the swarm as a particle in a kinetic theory simulation we are able to accurately predict the aggregate behavior of the swarm and empirically demonstrate that the swarm performs well on the surveillance task, providing coverage comparable to the best biomimetic approach while requiring only one-third the time.
Development and Validation of a Hypertension Prevalence Estimator Tool For Use in Clinical Settings

Health systems are well positioned to identify and control hypertension among their patients. However, almost one third of US adults with uncontrolled hypertension are currently receiving medical care and are unaware of being hypertensive. This study describes the development and validation of a tool that health systems can use to compare their reported hypertension prevalence with their expected prevalence. Tool users provide the number of patients aged 18 to 85 years treated annually, stratified by sex, age group, race/ethnicity, and comorbidity status. Each stratum is multiplied by stratum-specific national prevalence estimates and the amounts are summed to calculate the number of expected hypertensive patients. The tool's validity was assessed by applying samples from cohorts with known hypertension prevalence; small differences in expected vs actual prevalence were identified (range, -3.3% to 0.6%). This tool provides clinically useful hypertension prevalence estimates that health systems can use to help inform hypertension management quality improvement efforts.
Early Experience of Novel Oral Anticoagulants in Catheter Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation: Efficacy and Safety Comparison to Warfarin.

Purpose Compared with warfarin, novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) are convenient to use, although they require a blanking period immediately before radiofrequency catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF). We compared NOACs and uninterrupted warfarin in the peri-procedural period of AF ablation.
The Cambridge Introduction to Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson is best known as an intensely private, even reclusive writer. Yet the way she has been mythologised has meant her work is often misunderstood. This introduction delves behind the myth to present a poet who was deeply engaged with the issues of her day. In a lucid and elegant style, the book places her life and work in the historical context of the Civil War, the suffrage movement, and the rapid industrialisation of the United States. Wendy Martin explores the ways in which Dickinson's personal struggles with romantic love, religious faith, friendship and community shape her poetry. The complex publication history of her works, as well as their reception, is teased out, and a guide to further reading is included. Dickinson emerges not only as one of America's finest poets, but also as a fiercely independent intellect and an original talent writing poetry far ahead of her time.
Applying attributes to improve human activity recognition

Activity and event recognition from video has utilized low-level features over higher-level text-based class attributes and ontologies because they traditionally have been more effective on small datasets. However, by including human knowledge-driven associations between actions and attributes while recognizing the lower-level attributes with their temporal relationships, we can learn a much greater set of activities as well as improve low-level feature-based algorithms by incorporating an expert knowledge ontology. In an event ontology, events can be broken down into actions, and these can be decomposed further into attributes. For example, throwing events can include throwing of stones or baseballs with the object being relocated from a hand through the air to a location of interest. The throwing can be broken down into the many physical attributes that can be used to describe the motion like BodyPartsUsed = Hands, BodyPartArticulation-Arm = OneArmRaisedOverHead, and many others. Building general attributes from video and merging them into an ontology for recognition allows significant reuse for the development of activity and event classifiers. Each activity or event classifier is composed of interacting attributes the same way sentences are composed of interacting letters to create a complete language.
Modifications of the fiber in adenovirus vectors increase tropism for malignant glioma models.

Modifications of the fiber in adenovirus vectors increase tropism for malignant glioma models
Arsenic concentrations in paddy soil and rice and health implications for major rice-growing regions of Cambodia.

Despite the global importance of As in rice, research has primarily focused on Bangladesh, India, China, and the United States with limited attention given to other countries. Owing to both indigenous As within the soil and the possible increases arising from the onset of irrigation with groundwater, an assessment of As in rice within Cambodia is needed, which offers a “base-case” comparison against sediments of similar origin that comprise rice paddy soils where As-contaminated water is used for irrigation (e.g., Bangladesh). Here, we evaluated the As content of rice from five provinces (Kandal, Prey Veng, Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, and Kampong Thom) in the rice-growing regions of Cambodia and coupled that data to soil-chemical factors based on extractions of paddy soil collected and processed under anoxic conditions. At total soil As concentrations ranging 0.8 to 18 μg g–1, total grain As concentrations averaged 0.2 μg g–1 and ranged from 0.1 to 0.37 with Banteay Meanchey rice having significantly hi...
Ocular findings associated with chromosome 22q11.2 duplication

We describe the ocular features of the chromosome 22q11.2 duplication syndrome and provide ophthalmologic examination recommendations for affected patients. The medical records of 19 children with chromosome 22q11.2 duplication who had undergone complete ophthalmological examination, including dilated fundus examination and cycloplegic refraction, were studied retrospectively. Over half of the children with 22q11.2 duplication syndrome were found to have visually significant ocular abnormalities, including 6 with strabismus, 2 with moderately high astigmatism requiring glasses, 1 with unilateral congenital cataract requiring surgery, 1 with optic disk drusen, 1 with bilateral megalocornea with normal eye pressures, 1 with nystagmus that resolved spontaneously, and 1 with delayed visual maturation. Because of the high incidence of conditions that could affect visual development, we recommend that children with 22q11.2 duplication syndrome have a complete ophthalmological examination on diagnosis and regular vision screenings by their primary care physician thereafter.
Multimorbidity and End of Life Care in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease

The care of patients with severe cardiovascular disease and multimorbidity entails complex medical decision-making especially at the end of life. Proven therapies must be incorporated into the context of patient preferences, values, and goals to achieve effective titration of medications and appropriate initiation and withdrawal of cardiac device therapies. As patients decline in the terminal stages, it is important to modify medical and device therapies in accordance with goals and values, and with hemodynamic changes, increasing multimorbidity, and accumulating symptom burden. The provision of effective end of life care for those with cardiovascular disease and multimorbidity requires cooperation between palliative care, specialty care, and primary care.
Telomerase RNA is more than a DNA template.

ABSTRACTThe addition of telomeric DNA to chromosome ends is an essential cellular activity that compensates for the loss of genomic DNA that is due to the inability of the conventional DNA replication apparatus to duplicate the entire chromosome. The telomerase reverse transcriptase and its associated RNA bind to the very end of the telomere via a sequence in the RNA and specific protein-protein interactions. Telomerase RNA also provides the template for addition of new telomeric repeats by the reverse-transcriptase protein subunit. In addition to the template, there are 3 other conserved regions in telomerase RNA that are essential for normal telomerase activity. Here we briefly review the conserved core regions of telomerase RNA and then focus on a recent study in fission yeast that determined the function of another conserved region in telomerase RNA called the Stem Terminus Element (STE).1 The STE is distant from the templating core of telomerase in both the linear and RNA secondary structure, but, no...
Evidence for altered receptor‐binding activity of serum follicle‐stimulating hormone in male infertility

It is generally assumed that the immunological activity of the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) molecule, as reported in the radioimmunoassay (RIA), is identical to the molecule's biological activity. To test the validity of this assumption, the receptor-binding and immunological activities of FSH in the serum of 35 infertile males and 11 fertile males were determined by radioreceptor assay (RRA) and by the standard RIA. The results were analyzed in terms of the ratio of binding (RRA) to immunological (RIA) activity x 100%, referred to as the B/I%, for each patient based on data from the RRA and RIA, respectively. The B/I% for fertile men ranged from 44% to 113% (mean of 80%). In the group of 11 infertile men with normal FSH levels by RIA (50 to 300 ng/mL), there was no significant difference in B/I% (range of 27% to 99%, mean of 59%) from the fertile controls. However, a statistically significant decrease in B/I% (range of 7% to 35%, mean of 18%) was noted in the 24 hypergonadotropic infertile men with RIA levels of serum FSH greater than 300 ng/mL. These significant discrepancies between receptor-binding and immunological activities of serum FSH raise the question of whether RIAs alone are valid parameters for the endocrine evaluation of infertile men with elevated serum FSH levels.
PL05.3 Hiv and syphilis: a syndemic with no end in sight

Syphilis rates are increasing in many parts of the world. HIV-infected persons, particularly men who have sex with men (MSM), have been affected disproportionately. In a recent study, 15% of patients attending New York City STD clinics who were diagnosed with syphilis subsequently became HIV-infected. Several questions about the optimal management of syphilis in HIV-infected persons remain unanswered and continue to elicit controversy, yet none of these are responsible for this persistent syndemic. There are, however, many questions whose answers may critically impact the control of these infections: What is the role of novel point-of-care syphilis tests? Is there a role for syphilis pre-exposure prophylaxis and male circumcision? How will PrEP impact the rates of syphilis? Seventy years following the introduction of a cure, and over 30 years after the discovery of HIV, syphilis continues to present formidable challenges to public health.
Culture behavior of healthy bovine gallbladder muscularis smooth muscle cells

In contrast to the extensive experience culturing vascular smooth muscle cells, little is known about the culture behavior of gastrointestinal smooth muscle cells. In this work, we have studied smooth muscle cells from bovine gallbladder muscularis in culture. Properties reflecting their state of differentiation, including cellular morphology, multicellular arrangements, intermediate filament protein expression, and content of contractile proteins, were studied after dispersed cell preparations were placed into short- and long-term culture on a variety of substrates. Immunocytochemical analysis of intact healthy gallbladder wall demonstrated that the muscularis smooth muscle cells express actin and the intermediate filament protein desmin, while being vimentin-negative. In this tissue they are, however, surrounded by sheets of vimentin-positive fibroblasts. Optimal microdissection of mucosa and serosa from the muscularis therefore still produced a combination of smooth muscle cells and fibroblasts; however, multiple strategies for enriching the yield and purity of muscularis smooth muscle cells for culture were partially successful. Like vascular smooth muscle cells in culture, these visceral smooth muscle cells rapidly underwent morphological dedifferentiation, losing their contactile phenotype. By 5 days in culture, the desmin-positive muscle cells took on a spread, fibroblast-like morphology, likely representing modulation to a proliferative, dedifferentiated state. After long-term culture, the muscle cells were observed to regain some markers of differentiation, but they were never observed to attain complete morphological and functional redifferentiation.
GIS as Spatial Decision Support Systems

This chapter discusses the use of geographic information systems (GIS) for spatial decision support systems (SDSS). It argues that the increased availability in spatial business data has created new opportunities for the use of GIS in creating decision tools for use in a variety of decisions that involve spatial dimensions. This chapter identifies visualization and analytical capabilities of GIS that make such systems uniquely appropriate as decision aids, and presents a conceptual model for measuring the efficacy of GIS-based SDSS. The discussions on the applications of SDSS and future enhancements using intelligent agents are intended to inform practitioners and researchers of the opportunities for the enhancement and use of such systems.
The Communication Behavior of Gulls and Other Seabirds

Any behavior can be communicative. That is to say, whatever an animal might be doing can tell you something about it. A gull dropping clams on a beach is manifestly trying to get food; a gull preening on a post is just as manifestly not. A tern making a harsh clicking call above you as you walk near its nest signals that it is about to dive at and possibly strike you, and the same tern parading with head held high and bill pointed skyward in front of another conveys the information that it is ready for sexual attachment.
Cryofibrinogenemia-Induced Cutaneous Ulcers: A Review and Diagnostic Criteria

Chronic skin ulcers are frequently encountered in clinical practice and are often due to very heterogeneous etiologies. Cryofibrinogenemia is an unusual cause of non-healing skin ulcers. It is a small-vessel occlusive vascular disorder that results from the precipitation of cryofibrinogens in plasma. The lack of definitive diagnostic criteria means cryofibrinogenemia remains an under-diagnosed entity that causes significant morbidity. One of the most common manifestations of cryofibrinogenemia is skin ulceration. The presence of non-healing ulcers in otherwise healthy patients with no evidence of large-vessel disease should raise the suspicion of essential cryofibrinogenemia. An important clinical feature is the presence of microlivedo, which represents short hyperpigmented linear streaks around the ulcer or even distally about the foot. Histopathologic findings are microthrombi in the dermis and not confined exclusively to the ulcerated area. Cryofibrinogenemia can be secondary to an underlying disorder, so careful investigation to exclude other etiologies is always necessary.
Economics of invasive species policy and management

This article examines the use of economic analysis to inform bioinvasion management, with particular focus on forest resources. Economics is key for understanding invasion processes, impacts, and decision-making. Biological invasions are driven by and affect economic activities at multiple scales and stages of an invasion. Bioeconomic modeling seeks to inform how resources can be optimally allocated across invasion management activities—including prevention, surveillance programs for early detection and management, and controlling invasion populations and spread—to minimize the long-term costs and damages. Economic analysis facilitates understanding of decisions by public and private decision-makers, gaps between these, and the design of policies to achieve socially desirable outcomes. Private decision-makers may undercontrol invasions relative to socially optimal levels, because they generally account for their own costs and benefits of control but less often for broader ecosystem impacts or future spread across the landscape. Economic analysis considers approaches for increasing private invasion management and evaluates feedbacks between ecological and economic systems that can affect policy outcomes. Future research should continue evaluation and design of control strategies across the biosecurity continuum and across species to enhance cost-effectiveness, better incorporate uncertainty into policy design, increase focus on incentives and behavioral tools to influence private behaviors that affect invasion spread, and incorporate invasive species consideration within broader systems-focused science. In addition, challenges in valuing biodiversity and ecosystem service impacts and the costs and effectiveness of control measures are key data gaps. Greater collaboration between decision-makers and researchers will facilitate development and communication of usable economic research.
Classroom Interactions around Problem Contexts and Task Authenticity in Middle School Mathematics.

ABSTRACTIt has been theorized that contextual tasks support student engagement and sense making. Yet, contradictory ideas exist about the role of these tasks in lessons, and further research is needed to explore how classroom interactions can help achieve their intended purposes. Through video observation of lessons in three eighth-grade classrooms using a problem-based curriculum, I investigated how teachers and students interact around problem contexts in written tasks. I found that they discussed contexts in multiple ways, falling into five general categories: referencing, positioning, elaborating, clarifying, and meta-level commentary. Using this framework, I considered how interactions around contexts related to the authenticity of tasks as written and enacted (Palm, 2006). In several lessons, these interactions led to higher authenticity as enacted than as written. These results offer a framework for interpreting context-related classroom interactions and suggest implications for instruction and res...
Expression, purification, and spectral tuning of RhoGC, a retinylidene/guanylyl cyclase fusion protein and optogenetics tool from the aquatic fungus Blastocladiella emersonii

RhoGC is a rhodopsin (Rho)-guanylyl cyclase (GC) gene fusion molecule that is central to zoospore phototaxis in the aquatic fungus Blastocladiella emersonii. It has generated considerable excitement because of its demonstrated potential as a tool for optogenetic manipulation of cell-signaling pathways involving cyclic nucleotides. However, a reliable method for expressing and purifying RhoGC is currently lacking. We present here an expression and purification system for isolation of the full-length RhoGC protein expressed in HEK293 cells in detergent solution. The protein exhibits robust light-dependent guanylyl cyclase activity, whereas a truncated form lacking the 17- to 20-kDa N-terminal domain is completely inactive under identical conditions. Moreover, we designed several RhoGC mutants to increase the utility of the protein for optogenetic studies. The first class we generated has altered absorption spectra designed for selective activation by different wavelengths of light. Two mutants were created with blue-shifted (E254D, λmax = 390 nm; D380N, λmax = 506 nm) and one with red-shifted (D380E, λmax = 533 nm) absorption maxima relative to the wild-type protein (λmax = 527 nm). We also engineered a double mutant, E497K/C566D, that changes the enzyme to a specific, light-stimulated adenylyl cyclase that catalyzes the formation of cAMP from ATP. We anticipate that this expression/purification system and these RhoGC mutants will facilitate mechanistic and structural exploration of this important enzyme.
Engaged Reading Through Creative Rewriting: An Innovative Approach to Making Literature Accessible

In a liberal arts education, literature is a central component of a student's required course of study. Literature appears on the syllabi of traditional English courses, interdisciplinary humanitie...
Treatment options for chorea.

Introduction: Chorea is defined as jerk-like movements that move randomly from one body part to another. It is due to a variety of disorders and although current symptomatic therapy is quite effect...
Lymphomas in IgG4-related disease: clinicopathologic features in a Western population

Lymphomas that occur in the setting of IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) are uncommon. Most reported cases derive from Asia and are MALT lymphomas occurring in orbital IgG4-RD. The spectrum of lymphomas among IgG4-RD patients in the Western world remains poorly defined. The aim of this study was to report our experience with lymphomas occurring in IgG4-RD. Eight cases were identified from the pathology and consultation files. The median age was 61 years (range 22–68) at IgG4-RD diagnosis and 63.5 years (range 33–79) at lymphoma diagnosis, with a M:F ratio of 4:4. The diagnosis of lymphoma and IgG4-RD was concurrent in three cases and asynchronous in five (interval 4.3–16.4 years). Concurrent cases included a MALT lymphoma and a diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) occurring with IgG4-related sialadenitis and a follicular lymphoma occurring with orbital IgG4-RD. Asynchronous cases included a lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma with large cell transformation and intervening IgG4-related pancreatitis, a MALT lymphoma after lacrimal IgG4-RD, two DLBCLs after multiorgan IgG4-RD, and a DLBCL after IgG4-related sialadenitis. Our findings suggest that lymphomas in IgG4-RD are more varied in location and type than the experience reported from Asia to date. Pathologists should be aware of the potential for lymphoma to develop in patients with IgG4-RD and should have a high degree of suspicion when lymphadenopathy or extranodal masses persist despite appropriate therapy for IgG4-RD. The co-occurrence of IgG4-RD and lymphoma that is reported here and previously suggests a possible etiologic association.
Nitric Oxide and Peroxynitrite in Ozone-Induced Lung Injury

One of the hallmarks of the inflammatory response associated with tissue injury is the accumulation of macrophages at sites of damage. These cell types release proinflammatory cytokines and cytotoxic mediators to destroy invading pathogens and initiate wound repair. However, when produced in excessive amounts, these macrophage-derived mediators may actually contribute to tissue injury. This process involves both direct damage to target tissues and amplification of the inflammatory response. One group of macrophage-derived mediators of particular interest are reactive nitrogen intermediates including nitric oxide and peroxynitrite which have been implicated in tissue injury induced by a variety of toxicants. Our laboratory has been investigating the role of reactive nitrogen intermediates in lung injury induced by oxidants such as ozone. Inhalation of ozone causes epithelial cell damage and Type II cell hyperplasia. This is associated with an accumulation of activated macrophages in the lower lungs which we have demonstrated contribute to toxicity. To analyze the role of macrophage-derived reactive nitrogen intermediates in ozone toxicity, we used transgenic mice lacking the gene for inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOSII). Treatment of wild type control animals with ozone (0.8 ppm) for 3 hr resulted in an increase in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid protein reaching a maximum 24–48 hr after exposure. This was correlated with increased expression of NOSII protein and mRNA by alveolar macrophages and increased production of nitric oxide as well as peroxynitrite. Ozone inhalation also resulted in the appearance of nitrotyrosine residues in the lungs, an in vivo marker of peroxynitrite-induced damage. In contrast, in NOSII knockout mice, BAL protein was not increased demonstrating that these mice were protected from ozone-induced epithelial injury. Moreover, alveolar macrophages from the transgenic mice did not produce nitric oxide or peroxynitrite even after ozone inhalation. There was also no evidence for the formation of nitrotyrosine in lung tissue. These data indicate that ozone-induced lung injury is mediated by reactive nitrogen intermediates.
Short-term Morbidity and Readmissions Increase With Skilled Nursing Facility Discharge After Total Joint Arthroplasty in a Medicare-Eligible and Skilled Nursing Facility-Eligible Patient Cohort.

Abstract Background The benefits of discharge to a skilled nursing facility (SNF) in Medicare-eligible patients after total joint arthroplasty (TJA) have recently been scrutinized. The purpose of this study was to determine short-term complication and readmission rates for SNF versus home discharge in patients eligible for Medicare and SNF discharge. Methods Patients who underwent TJA between 2012 and 2013 were identified in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Project database. Patients over 65 years and who discharged at or after postoperative day 3, and thus SNF eligible by Medicare rule, were included. Patient demographics and comorbidities were compared in the 2 cohorts (home versus SNF), and subsequent univariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine risk factors for short-term complications. Results We identified 34,610 Medicare- and SNF-eligible TJA patients; 54.8% discharged home. Patients with SNF discharge were older, had higher rates of comorbidities, and were more frequently American Society of Anesthesiologists class 3 or 4 (P Conclusions In a cohort of Medicare- and SNF-eligible patients, SNF discharge was the strongest predictor of 30-day complication after TJA. SNF discharge was also an independent predictor of readmission after TJA.
Overview of Speech Recognition with Privacy

Speech recognition is the task of identifying the spoken words from a given speech sample. The speech recognition system consists of an acoustic model that attempts to match the speech patterns and a language model that attempts to match the underlying linguistic structure of the speech. The acoustic model is typically represented using a probabilistic model such as a hidden Markov model (HMM). In most speech recognition systems, we assume that the entire set of words is typically available beforehand in the form of a dictionary. The language model is represented using a word-based n-gram model.
Diverse Capabilities of Microorganisms Introduction

This session, entitled “Diverse Capabilities of Microorganisms,” could serve equally well as the opening session or the closing session to the symposium.
The Meaning of Constructs

The purpose of this introductory chapter is to explain the meaning of constructs within a larger conceptual context heretofore called the “Systems Paradigm” (Emery 1969; L’Abate 2012c; Magnavita 2012a, b; Stanton and Welsh 2012). A psychological construct is an invented construction given value by its becoming or being a measurable variable. According to VandenBos (2007, p 221), a construct is a complex idea or concept formed of simpler ideas. Furthermore, according to VandenBos, a construct is an explanatory model based on empirically verifiable and measurable events or processes inferred from data but not directly observable. A construct, therefore, could also become a hypothetical model when based on the possibility that, when validated empirically, that construct may become a model. In spite of VandenBos equating constructs with models, we need to differentiate clearly between these two terms. Constructs become models when they are validated and become imbedded within a larger theoretical framework. Without such a connection, many constructs used in past psychological theories are orphan constructs destined to die of inevitably gradual decline and even disappearance from the psychological literature (L’Abate 2009d, 2013a).
A Pattern Problem, A Probability Paradox, and A Pretty Proof

If S is a finite set of nonnegative integers, we define mexS as the smallest nonnegative integer that is not a member of S. (mex is an abbreviation for minimum-excluded (Berlekamp, Conway, and Guy, Winning Ways).)
The Ethnography of Zora Neale Hurston: A Postmodern Writer Before Her Time

The recent trend in Anthropology has been to focus on new ways of representing ethnographic experience through the use of interpretive techniques in writing. Although these postmodern approaches are innovative, there are superlative examples of multi-vocality and the mixing of genres in early ethnographic writing. Zora Neale Hurston was one such writer. An African-American, she studied the rural blacks from the South, Haiti, Jamaica, and her home town of Eatonville, florida, and reconstructed their lives and folklore in her novels and ethnographies. We must question why such a gifted writer and ethnographer is rarely read by anthropologists, despite her re-emergence and recent fame in literary and popular circles. An examination of her work shows why her obscurity in anthropology should not continue.