cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Measurement of Oxidative Stress Markers In Vitro Using Commercially Available Kits

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) are highly reactive molecules, with significant effects in human diseases including cancer and cardiovascular disease. The ability to accurately and precisely detect the formation of free radicals within cells and tissues is crucial to developing proper treatments for the problems caused by ROS/RNS. Fluorescent probes have become widely available reagents of detecting ROS/RNS within cells. Several commercially available kits have shown their specificity toward detecting the formation of ROS and RNS. In this chapter, we discuss the principle behind each kit and the benefits and shortcomings of these kits, namely dihydroethidium (DHE), dichlorohydrofluoresin diacetate (DCF-DA), 4-amino-5-methylamino-2′,7′-difluorofluorescein diacetate (DAF-FM diacetate), and 10-acetyl-3,7-dihyrdroxyphenoxazine (Amplex red). DHE is used to specifically detect superoxide, while DCF-DA readily detects hydroxyl radicals. Amplex red is used to detect hydrogen peroxide, and DAF-FM is used for measuring nitric oxide. However, due to the nature of their reactivity, the probes are not absolutely specific for the noted ROS/RNS species, and will react with others. ROS measurement may need to be made in real time, and they are short-lived within the cell, especially superoxide and nitric oxide. This chapter explains the mechanism behind each chemical kit, the protocols used with the kit, and show typical results after imaging. Additionally, an assessment is made on the use of the kit, identifying the advantages and disadvantages of each probe.
Presuming competence, belonging, and the promise of inclusion: The US experience

This article examines the US experience with school inclusion, highlighting effective policies, practices, and school reform efforts. Specifically, it reveals how a case-by-case assessment of whether a child can be included works against the goal of full inclusion. Despite this policy limitation, inclusion is moving forward, especially when guided by the principles of presuming competence, belonging, and full citizenship, and informed by the experiences of students who have grown up within the change movement.
Obtaining transverse cooling with nonmagnetized electron beam

The first electron cooling with rf-accelerated electron bunches was recently demonstrated at the low energy RHIC electron cooler (LEReC) at BNL. Successful cooling requires that the electrons in the cooling section have a small angular spread and are well aligned with respect to the copropagating ions. LEReC puts into practice a nonmagnetized cooling of the ions at Lorentz factors of $\ensuremath{\gamma}=4.1$ and 4.9. Hence, unlike in previous coolers, in which the transverse electron dynamics is constrained by longitudinal solenoid fields, the ion-electron focusing and steering strongly contribute to the average angular spread of the electron beam. In this paper we discuss the factors that affect the electron angles and describe the process of tuning the electron beam to maximize the cooling of ion bunches in RHIC.
Observed changes in chronic and episodic acidification in Virginia mountain streams in response to the Clean Air Act and amendments

Abstract Reductions in acidic deposition following the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act have led to improvements in the acid/base status of many freshwater bodies in the eastern United States, but such recovery has not been as widespread in Virginia mountain streams. In the current analysis, water chemistry trends are determined for 63 streams within Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, and surrounding national forests, where water samples have been collected on a quarterly basis from 1987 to 2019. Over this timeframe, a majority of the most acid-sensitive streams – those with watersheds underlain by siliciclastic bedrock – have experienced reductions in acid neutralizing capacity (ANC). This outcome, which differs from the modest recovery predicted by earlier modeling studies, is likely due to further depletion of soil base cations and perhaps increases in organic acids. Meanwhile, stream water pH has increased for all watershed bedrock types, averaging between 0.05 and 0.10 pH units per decade. High-flow sampling was conducted at three sites from 1992 to 2019, revealing an assessment of episodic acidification that is more encouraging than that of chronic acidification. For two of these sites, pH during high-flow conditions increased much more rapidly than pH during low-flow conditions. Steep reductions in sulfur deposition over the three decades since the 1990 Amendments have led to a “flushing” of sulfate from shallow soils, which has contributed to the improved acid/base status during episodes of high flow. The findings suggest that continued low acidic deposition rates will lead to further improvements in stream water quality, with the timescales of recovery dependent upon bedrock geology of the watersheds.
Adolescent Stress Confers Resilience to Traumatic Stress Later in Life: Role of the Prefrontal Cortex

Abstract Background Stress during adolescence is usually associated with psychopathology later in life. However, under certain circumstances, developmental stress can promote an adaptive phenotype, allowing individuals to cope better with adverse situations in adulthood, thereby contributing to resilience. Methods Sprague Dawley rats (50 males, 48 females) were subjected to adolescent chronic variable stress (adol CVS) for 2-weeks at PND45. At PND 85, a group was subjected to single prolonged stress (SPS). After a week, animals were evaluated in an auditory-cued fear conditioning paradigm and neuronal recruitment during reinstatement was assessed by Fos expression. Patch clamp electrophysiology (17-35 cells/group) was performed in male rats to examine physiological changes associated with resilience. Results Adol CVS blocked fear potentiation evoked by SPS. We observed that SPS impaired extinction (males) and enhanced reinstatement (both sexes) of the conditioned freezing response. Prior adol CVS prevented both effects. SPS effects were associated with a reduction of infralimbic (IL) cortex neuronal recruitment after reinstatement in males and increased engagement of the central amygdala in females, both also prevented by adol CVS, suggesting different neurocircuits involved in generating resilience between sexes. We explored the mechanism behind reduced IL recruitment by studying the intrinsic excitability of IL pyramidal neurons. SPS reduced excitability of IL neurons and prior adol CVS prevented this effect. Conclusion Our data indicate that adolescent stress can impart resilience to the effects of traumatic stress on neuroplasticity and behavior. Our data provide a mechanistic link behind developmental stress induced behavioral resilience and prefrontal (IL) cortical excitability.
Evolution of standardization and dissemination of cryo-EM structures and data jointly by the community, PDB, and EMDB

Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) methods began to be used in the mid-1970s to study thin and periodic arrays of proteins. Following a half-century of development in cryo-specimen preparation, instrumentation, data collection, data processing, and modeling software, cryo-EM has become a routine method for solving structures from large biological assemblies to small biomolecules at near to true atomic resolution. This review explores the critical roles played by the Protein Data Bank (PDB) and Electron Microscopy Data Bank (EMDB) in partnership with the community to develop the necessary infrastructure to archive cryo-EM maps and associated models. Public access to cryo-EM structure data has in turn facilitated better understanding of structure–function relationships and advancement of image processing and modeling tool development. The partnership between the global cryo-EM community and PDB and EMDB leadership has synergistically shaped the standards for metadata, one-stop deposition of maps and models, and validation metrics to assess the quality of cryo-EM structures. The advent of cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) for in situ molecular cell structures at a broad resolution range and their correlations with other imaging data introduce new data archival challenges in terms of data size and complexity in the years to come.
Effect of Withdrawing Chronic Topical Immune Modulating Treatment on Schirmer Tear Test Values in Dogs with Dry Eye Disease: Relevance to Dry Eye Studies.

Purpose: To determine the effect of discontinuing chronic topical immune modulating (IM) treatment on Schirmer tear test (STT) values in dogs with dry eye disease (DED). Methods: Serial measurement...
Neoadjuvant treatment as a window to chemotherapy driven alterations to the genome and transcriptome of high-grade serous ovarian cancer

Objectives: The growing use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy to treat advanced stage high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) creates an opportunity to better understand chemotherapy-induced mutational and gene expression changes. A tumor's response to chemotherapy may provide prognostic information or allow prediction of future response to therapy. We performed a cohort study to assess changes in the tumor genome and transcriptome in women receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy and explored the role of the AP-1 pathway on chemotherapy response. Methods: In our single-institution study, we included 50 patients with stage IIIC or IV HGSOC who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy and had archived pre- and post-chemotherapy tumor samples. We performed whole exome RNA-sequencing and panel sequencing of 596 cancer-related genes from FFPE specimens. Significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between pre- and post-chemotherapy samples were identified using paired statistical analysis (GFOLD). An AP-1 inhibitor, SR 11302, was used to explore the in vitro role of AP-1 signaling on chemotherapy response. Results: Following tissue and sequencing quality control, the final patient cohort consisted of a total of 32 paired DNA and 20 paired RNA samples from pre- and post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Eighteen patients within the cohort had both DNA and RNA available. Mutations in TP53 were identified in 31/32 patients. There was a shift in mutational class after chemotherapy from C>G to C>T (p=0.035). Gene expression analyses found that most DEGs were upregulated by chemotherapy, primarily in the chemotherapy resistant specimens. Several genes were solely upregulated in chemotherapy resistant patients, including AP-1 transcription factor family genes (FOS, FOSB, FRA-1), genes implicated in chemotherapy resistance (DUSP1, SERPINE1, MEOX2, ERRFI1), and genes previously associated with cell survival (CCL14, HAS1, NR4A1). The in vitro role of AP-1 was demonstrated by observing an increase in c-Jun expression after treatment with paclitaxel, but not carboplatin. Combining paclitaxel or carboplatin with SR 11302 decreased the IC50 of both therapies. Pairing these therapies additionally demonstrated synergistic effects with a favorable combination index of 75% for paclitaxel and >90% for carboplatin. Additionally, favorable drug dose reduction indices were found at large effect sizes. These observations were most pronounced with the SR 11302 and paclitaxel combination. Conclusions: Genomic analysis of tumors before and after chemotherapy did not reveal any consistent mutations associated with chemotherapy response. Gene expression analysis suggested a link between upregulation of the AP-1 pathway in chemotherapy resistant patients after treatment. In vitro experiments indicated that AP-1 inhibition synergizes with standard cytotoxic agents, particularly paclitaxel, and might be a novel approach to overcome or delay paclitaxel resistance in HGSOC.
A p53-Phosphoinositide Signalosome Regulates Nuclear Akt Activation

The tumor suppressor p53 and the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-Akt pathway have fundamental roles in regulating cell growth, apoptosis and are frequently mutated in cancer. Here, we show that genotoxic stress induces nuclear Akt activation by a p53-dependent mechanism that is independent from the canonical membrane-localized PI3K-Akt pathway. Upon genotoxic stress a nuclear p53-PI3,4,5P3 complex is generated in regions devoid of membranes by a nuclear PI3K, and this complex recruits all the kinases required to activate Akt and phosphorylate FOXOs, inhibiting DNA damage-induced apoptosis. Wild-type p53 activates nuclear Akt in an on/off fashion upon stress, whereas mutant p53 stimulates high basal Akt activity, indicating a fundamental difference. The nuclear p53-phosphoinositide signalosome is distinct from the canonical membrane-localized pathway and insensitive to PI3K inhibitors currently in the clinic, underscoring its therapeutic relevance.
What Is the Role of Thalamostriatal Circuits in Learning Vocal Sequences

Basal ganglia (BG) circuits integrate sensory and motor-related information from the cortex, thalamus, and midbrain to guide learning and production of motor sequences. Birdsong, like speech, is comprised of precisely sequenced vocal elements. Learning song sequences during development relies on Area X, a vocalization related region in the medial striatum of the songbird BG. Area X receives inputs from cortical-like pallial song circuits and midbrain dopaminergic circuits and sends projections to the thalamus. It has recently been shown that thalamic circuits also send substantial projections back to Area X. Here, we outline a gated-reinforcement learning model for how Area X may use signals conveyed by thalamostriatal inputs to direct song learning. Integrating conceptual advances from recent mammalian and songbird literature, we hypothesize that thalamostriatal pathways convey signals linked to song syllable onsets and offsets and influence striatal circuit plasticity via regulation of cholinergic interneurons (ChIs). We suggest that syllable sequence associated vocal-motor information from the thalamus drive precisely timed pauses in ChIs activity in Area X. When integrated with concurrent corticostriatal and dopaminergic input, this circuit helps regulate plasticity on medium spiny neurons (MSNs) and the learning of syllable sequences. We discuss new approaches that can be applied to test core ideas of this model and how associated insights may provide a framework for understanding the function of BG circuits in learning motor sequences.
Collective Evidence in Drug Evaluation

Multiple doses, endpoints, and tests are used in several clinical studies to establish drug efficacy. Statistical evaluation relies heavily on multiplicity adjustments within one study to control the type I error rate. The use of multiplicity adjustment procedures (MAPs) sometimes leads to conclusions that may not seem logical. As drug efficacy evaluation involves aspects such as assessing efficacy, selecting optimal doses, and labeling claims, incorporating all the aspects under the umbrella of controlling type I error may not be an optimum strategy. Alternatively, a practical approach that uses collective evidence is proposed to evaluate multiple studies, doses, endpoints, and tests. Instead of controlling the type I error, specific types of errors are controlled, such as the error of wrongly approving an ineffective drug and the error of labeling false information. With the collective evidence approach, the need of MAPs in individual studies is debated when multiple studies are available.
Channels across Endothelial Cells

The evolution of multicellular organisms entailed the formation of biological compartments separated by epithelial cellular barriers. As a consequence, strategies have evolved to move/exchange materials between these compartments for nutrition, wastes removal and information exchange, while still maintaining their identity. These exchanges occur either across barrier cells (transcellular) or in between adjacent cells (paracellular). Among the strategies employed for transcellular exchange are the formation of physical patent channels/pores that cut through the cells and the formation of “functional channels” by shuttling vesicles during transcytosis. In this chapter, I will summarize the knowledge of the transcellular exchange systems using the vascular endothelium as a barrier model. We will focus on the components, structure and function of the endothelial organelles such as fenestrae, vesiculo-vacuolar organelles and transendothelial channels as well as the vesicular carriers involved in transcytosis (i.e., plasmalemmal vesicles or caveolae), which form either physical or functional channels across endothelial cells.
A Feminist Proposal to Bring Back Common Law Marriage

The dilemma of the "wife" in an informal marriage is reflected in the Illinois Supreme Court's well-known opinion in Hewitt v. Hewitt. Like Audrey, Victoria Hewitt had lived with Robert Hewitt for fifteen years in a union distinguished from marriage only by the absence of a license and ceremony. The Hewitts, who had three children, lived a traditional middle class life; Victoria was a homemaker, but entertained and supported Robert's professional advancement in a variety of ways. When the Hewitts decided to part, however, Victoria's initial petition for divorce was dismissed on the ground that no marriage existed? She brought an amended petition seeking to recover a share of the property accumulated by the couple during the fifteen years they were together based on an implied contract theory, which was also dismissed. The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of Victoria's claim, stating that to recognize her rights would in effect bring back common law marriage, an institution outlawed by the Illinois legislature in 1905, a conclusion that left Victoria Hewitt without any rights to the couple's jointly acquired property. Similarly, in our case, Audrey could allege no support or property rights under Illinois law, although she would clearly have qualified as a common law wife prior to 1905.From this beginning, I became curious about the history of common law marriage, its abolition, and the impact upon women of failure to recognize the doctrine. Indeed, the most prelimi­nary research showed that, with very few exceptions, the cases arguing for the recognition of common law marriages were all brought by women-a circumstance of note for a legal doctrine that is formally gender neutral. From my colleagues I began to learn, moreover, of other women among our clinic clientele­ mostly poor, many women of color-who had been harmed by Illinois's failure to recognize common law marriage: a common law "widow" unable to collect Social Security survivors' benefits after a relationship of very long standing and thus forced to rely upon public benefits providing much less income, another unable to collect damages for a wrongful death action, and the like. A colleague with experience at the Legal Assistance Foundation in­ formed me that it was common-almost universal-for women coming into neighborhood legal aid offices to believe that if they lived with someone for seven years, they were legally married to that person.6 All of this information reinforced my initial hunch that the institution of common law marriage had benefitted women-protected their welfare when they were vulnerable (widowed, abandoned), protected their reliance upon and investment in long-term relationships of trust, and recognized their contributions of labor and commitment that were not embodied in money, property, or title. I hypothesized that abolition of the doctrine had harmed women as a class.
Fidelity versus Vanguard: Comparing the Performance of the Two Largest Mutual Fund Families

This paper compares the risk and return of investing in equity mutual funds provided by the world's two largest mutual fund families: Fidelity and Vanguard over a long horizon. We believe this will help guide investors; this study is an example of the calculations that mutual fund companies should facilitate by being required to provide accurate, accessible and free data. Over the entire period 1977 through 2003 both Fidelity's (no load) and Vanguard's diversified U.S. funds out returned the Wilshire 5000 index; Fidelity's portfolio out returned Vanguard's portfolio by 0.62 % per year but under returned it by 0.39 % when risk adjusted.
Femtosecond Lasers and Ultrafast Processes in Semiconductors

Rapid progress has been made in the last few years1 on pico-second and femto-second lasers and related experimental techniques for studying ultrafast processes in various materials, including the dynamics of hot carriers in semiconductors. Of particular interest are GaAs and related compounds and structures, which are important for modern high-speed electronic devices, for example.
Inertial manifolds and linear multi-step methods

We determine the existence and C 1 convergence of an inertial manifold for a strongly A(α) stable, pth order, p≧1, linear multi-step method approximating a sectorial evolution equation that satisfies a gap condition. This inertial manifold gives rise to a one-step method that C 1 approximates the inertial form of the evolution equation and yields further approximation properties of the multi-step method.
Apparent Deviations from Keplerian Acceleration for Stars Around the Supermassive Black Hole at the Galactic Center

We show that the time-dependent Doppler effect should induce measureable deviations of the time history of the projected orbit of a star around the supermassive black hole in the Galactic center (SgrA*) from the expected Keplerian history. In particular, the line-of-sight acceleration of the star generates apparent acceleration of its image along its velocity vector on the sky, even if its actual Keplerian acceleration in this direction vanishes. The excess apparent acceleration simply results from the transformation of time between the reference frames of the observer and the star. Although the excess acceleration averages to zero over a full closed orbit, it could lead to systematic offsets of a few percent in estimates of the dynamical mass or position of the black hole that rely on partially sampled orbits with pericentric distances of ~100AU. Deviations of this magnitude from apparent Keplerian dynamics of known stars should be detectable by future observations.
Population momentum--a formulation based on a stochastic population process

Abstract The momentum of population growth is studied within a unifying framework based on a stochastic population process with time homogeneous laws of evolution. After setting down some general asymptotic formulas for mean functions in Section 2, which involve the Fisherian reproductive value, it is shown in Section 3 that a stable initial age structure leads to formulas describing exponential growth when the time variable t is sufficiently larger. An alternative derivation of Keyfitz's formula for mean asymptotic population size, under a regime of replacement fertility and a stable initial age structure, is given in Section 4. Described in Section 5 are six computer simulation runs designed to study the momentum of population growth under various conditions. An example is provided whereby a population would continue to grow for about 30 years even if there were an abrupt change to a fertility regime in which mean family size was one offspring. Among the intellectual lines of descent upon which this paper rests is one initiated by Richard Bellman, during the early fifties, in a stochastic process that subsequently became known as the Bellman-Harris process.
Cancer Incidence and Electromagnetic Radiation

A neighborhood pattern of cancer incidence was found in the city of Wichita, Kansas with the suggestion of a time element in its appearance. Cancer tended to occur on leading terrain crests relative to radar transmissions and was less frequent in the valleys. A formula is presented that relates the incidence of cancer, terrain, and the presence of microwave radiation.
The TI/R--Tree: a temporal--spatial access structure

In this paper, we propose a new indexing structure, called the TI/R-tree, which combines techniques used in temporal access structures with techniques used in spatial access structures to provide a suitable means for maintaining and retrieving the history of geographic data.The TI/R-tree uses features from both the time index [ElWK90, Kour94] and the R-tree [Gutt84]. It has a tree structure similar to the time index and maintains a set of linearly ordered indexing points on the time dimension. The leaf nodes of the TI/R-tree refer to logical buckets which are organized as incremental R-trees; that is, at certain time points only deltas are kept. This permits the reconstruction of R-trees at any time point by using a number of logical buckets.
Automatic Construction of Coarse, High-Quality Tetrahedralizations that Enclose and Approximate Surfaces for Animation

Embedding high-resolution surface geometry in coarse control meshes is a standard approach to achieving high-quality computer animation at low computational expense. In this paper we present an effective, automatic method for generating such control meshes. The resulting high-quality, tetrahedral meshes enclose and approximate an input surface mesh, avoiding extrapolation artifacts and ensuring that the resulting coarse volumetric meshes are adequate collision proxies. Our approach comprises three steps: we begin with a tetrahedral mesh built from the body-centered cubic lattice that tessellates the bounding box of the input surface; we then perform a sculpting phase that carefully removes elements from the lattice; and finally a variational vertex adjustment phase iteratively adjusts vertex positions to more closely approximate the surface geometry. Our approach provides explicit trade-offs between mesh quality, resolution, and surface approximation. Our experiments demonstrate the technique can be used to build high-quality meshes appropriate for simulations within games.
Vertically scaled 5 nm GaN channel enhancement-mode N-polar GaN MOS-HFET with 560 mS/mm g m and 0.76 Ω-mm R on

N-polar GaN field-effect-transistors (FETs) have the potential advantage in scaling to sub-50nm gate lengths because of the confinement provided by the wide bandgap back-barrier. High-performance enhancement-mode (E-mode) N-polar GaN devices with self-aligned source/drain have recently been demonstrated with a current gain cut-off frequency (ft) of 120 GHz at a gate length of 70 nm [1]. Further scaling of the gate length to sub-50nm dimensions would require vertical scaling of the GaN channel thickness to 5 nm and the incorporation of a high-k gate dielectric in order to maintain a high aspect ratio, and a positive threshold voltage. The proximity of the surface to the 2-DEG in the ultra-scaled channels lead to surface depletion, and reduced mobility which increase the parasitic access resistance. This problem becomes critical in the E-mode devices because of the lower modulation doping compared to D-mode devices. We report here a self-aligned N-polar GaN FET with a 5-nm GaN channel and atomic later deposited (ALD) Al2O3 gate dielectric with a peak Id of 1.2 A/mm and peak gm of 560 mS/mm. The Ron of 0.76 Ω-mm for this device is the lowest reported for E-mode GaN FETs [ 2, 3, 4].
Relationship of selected bacterial vaginosis-associated bacteria to Nugent score bacterial vaginosis among urban women early in pregnancy.

AbstractAmong urban, primarily African American pregnant women, 74% were identified with Nugent score bacterial vaginosis (BV). All BV-associated bacteria were more prevalent among women with Nugent score BV. Bacterial vaginosis–associated bacteria 3 (BVAB3) had the highest positive predictive value
Integrating assumptions about crime, people, and society: toward a unified criminology

Agnew, Robert. 2011. New York and London: New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-0508-7 (hbk), ISBN 978-0-8147-0509-4 (pbk). pp. 202. Integrating Assumptions about Crime, People, and Society: T...
Metabolism of astaxanthin in the rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri)

Abstract 1. 1. Astaxanthin, lutein, 3′-epilutein and zeaxanthin were isolated from rainbow trout fed racemic astaxanthin. 2. 2. The results showed that astaxanthin was converted to zeaxanthin but that it was not converted to vitamin A1 or A2 in vitamin A-sufficient trout. 3. 3. Fish fed a vitamin A and carotenoid-devoid diet in 35 days and then force-fed astaxanthin showed an increase in vitamin A. 4. 4. Strips of duodenum or everted sacks of trout intestines converted H3 astaxanthin to retinol (12.3% in the duodenum—3% in the ileum).
Activity of the alternative pathway of complementin the newborn infant

Levels of C3, properdin, factor B, and C3 to C9 activity were markedly reduced in cord sera taken from 94 normal newborn infants. Nevertheless, cord serum supported complete activation of its own alternative pathway by zymosan or CoF. Lysis of a target cell, however, was defective; nearly 75% of cord sera had reduced rabbit erythrocyte CH50 titers. These were partially increased by the addition of factor B and properdin, and totally restored by adding factor B, properdin, and C3 to C9. Therefore, although the alternative pathway of the neonate is intact, it appears to be limited in its ability to generate an adequate number of stable and active enzymatic sites on a target cell membrane.
A Survey of the Consanguine or Matrifocal Family

ANTHROPOLOGISTS have often used extreme examples as heuristic devices or as illustrations of general points. In this paper I will consider the matrifocal family, which is usually thought of as an extreme variant from the normal range of family types, in the hope that a discussion of this extreme form may lead to a more general understanding of the external variables affecting the structure of the family in human societies. I will first define my terms, then give a brief description of the archetype of the matrifocal family, and, finally, review some of the attempts which have been made to explain its existence. I will criticize theories which have been offered as explanations and attempt to describe, in as general terms as possible, the conditions in which the matrifocal family is to be found. In conclusion, I will attempt to indicate something of the general significance of this type of family for the comparative study of social organization.
Effects of low temperature and colchicine on regenerating sciatic nerve.

Abstract The sciatic nerves of adult cats were either crushed or transected and repaired, and studied histochemically at 1–14 days thereafter. Each type of injury was subjected to local administration of colchicine or to low temperature and changes in regeneration of nerve fibers were noted. Stains for DPNH-tetrazolium reductase and acid phosphatase, as well as general axon and connective-tissue stains, were used on alternate serial sections. Axonal regeneration was improved after cooling to 5 C, apparently influenced by the decreased fascicular swelling. Freezing (−35 C) also enhanced regeneration, apparently due to the increased breakdown of myelin and the release of hydrolytic enzymes. Colchicine inhibited early proliferation of the neurilemma cells, which reduced the axonal regeneration and myelination.
Implications of a weak termination shock

Recent observations from the Voyager spacecraft have suggested that the spectrum of the anomalous cosmic ray component is relatively steep at the termination shock, which is believed to be responsible for accelerating these particles. This conclusion argues that the termination shock must be weak, which in turn requires that the upstream Mach number in the solar wind must be quite low, ~2.4. It is pointed out that such conditions are unlikely to prevail at all locations along the shock front. However, it is possible for such conditions to exist at the interface between high speed streams at high heliographic latitudes and the region at low latitudes where high and low speed streams have interacted and come into equilibrium. This discussion suggests a preferred location for the injection of the anomalous component into the shock acceleration process.
The Solar Cycle 23 - 24 Minimum. A Benchmark in Solar Variability and Effects in the Heliosphere

Given the numerous ground-based and space-based experiments producing the database for the Cycle 23 – 24 Minimum epoch from September 2008 to May 2009, we have an extraordinary opportunity to understand its effects throughout the heliosphere. We use solar radiative output in this period to obtain minimum values for three measures of the Sun’s radiative output: the total solar irradiance, the Mg ii index, and the 10.7 cm solar radio flux. The derived values are included in the research summaries as a means to exchange ideas and data for this long minimum in solar activity.
Trends in knowledge of emergency contraception among women in California, 1999-2004.

Objective To examine trends in knowledge of emergency contraception (EC) and determine whether disparities in knowledge have persisted over time. Study Design This study is based on 6 years of the California Women’s Health Survey, a population-based telephone survey. We examine predictors of EC knowledge among 11,998 women age 18–44. Results Between 1999 and 2004, the percentage of women aware of EC increased from 40–57%. Despite this increase, disparities in EC knowledge based on women’s age, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status persist. Foreign-born Hispanic women, women whose income falls below the poverty level, and women who did not complete high school reported the lowest levels of EC knowledge in 2004. Conclusions Education efforts may increase overall knowledge of the method. However, efforts must tailor these messages to women who may be outside the reach of traditional media and remain unaware of EC.
Neurobiology of cocaine abuse

The recent escalation of cocaine abuse has increased awareness of the need to understand the behavioral effects of cocaine and the determinants of those effects. Cocaine alters both conditioned and unconditioned behavior, and has prominent reinforcing and subjective effects that are particularly relevant to its abuse. An increase in CNS dopamine neurotransmission, resulting from a competitive blockade of high-affinity dopamine uptake mediated by both D1 and D2 dopamine receptors, is a primary determinant of the behavioral effects of cocaine. Either tolerance or sensitization may develop with repeated administration of cocaine. Dependence also develops, although the behavioral changes associated with cocaine withdrawal are subtle. Although numerous CNS changes have been associated with repeated administration of cocaine, the neuropharmacological mechanisms that underlie the behavioral changes that occur with repeated administration remain to be firmly established. Bill Woolverton and Ken Johnson stress that continued collaboration between behavioral pharmacologists and neuroscientists is critical for a complete understanding of the effects of cocaine.
Polymer Materials for Electro-Optic and Optoelectronic Applications: Maximizing device performances by creating desirable intermolecular electrostatic interactions

In EO polymer materials, the second-order nonlinear optic chromophores must be oriented in one direction in order to be electro-optically active. Interchromophore electrostatic interactions, which encourages the formation of non-active and light-scattering crystalline domains through the antiparallel stacking of dipoles, have long been an obstacle to the translation of large molecular optical nonlinearity into corresponding bulk nonlinearity. Great progresses have been made in the design and synthesis of chormophores with reduced electrostatic interactions. New effort toward the complete elimination of the destructive effect of the electrostatic forces is on the way. On the contrary, strong intermolecular electrostatic interaction (e.g. the force responsible for π-π stacking of conjugated systems) is often desired in LED, transistor and photovoltaic (PV) devices since high mobilities of the charge carriers are the key to their high performances and often come from ordered stacking of pi-conjugated systems. For PV applications, bi-continuous "bulk heterojunction" of electron donor (D) and acceptor (A) is ideal for efficient charge carrier generation, transport and collection. Differential electrostatic interactions between D and A is the key to the formation of such morphology. We have synthesized a novel type of block copolymer having a basic unit of D-B-A (B is a non-conjugate bridge) for solar cell application. D and A can be designed in such a way that D-D and A-A interactions are stronger than the D-A interaction, and therefore, have a strong tendency to phase separate.
A non-Newtonian fluid model with an objective vorticity

Abstract Closed-form constitutive equations that explicitly correlate kinematic variables such as the strain rate tensor to the stress tensor are highly desired in modeling of polymeric flow of practical relevance. However, conventional fluid models of the Reiner–Rivlin type encounter a difficulty in differentiating flow types and predicting realistic elastic effects. In this paper, a constitutive model of type τ = τ ( L ‾ ) where L ‾ is an objective velocity gradient is presented to treat the objective rotation of a fluid-like material containing a conformational structure. Specifically, this model contains two different relaxation processes to separately tackle rotation and straining. The base model with three parameters is able to simultaneously model shear thinning and extensional thickening as well as normal stress differences in simple shear. Additional model accuracy is achieved by incorporating finite stretch and disentanglement effects.
A heuristic for inventory management of slow-moving items

Abstract Abstract. The traditional approach in the study of inventory systems is to give more importance to items whose demands are either large or very difficult to forecast, discounting the importance of inventory items with small demand. The objective of this paper is to present a simple and practical heuristic to the slow-moving items problem. First we provide insight into previous work in this area and also give a brief outline of classical models in stochastic inventory theory. Then we present the proposed approach and detail the heuristic. We summarize the paper with an analysis of the simulation results and finish with the conclusions that are drawn from the results.
Activation-flow coupling with forepaw stimulation in female and male rats.

Abstract Activation-flow coupling (AFC), the coupling of changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) with neuronal function, is the basis for many functional neuroimaging techniques. Prior studies have shown that females have higher cerebral blood flow levels than males and that estrogen may affect the mediators involved in AFC. No studies have compared AFC responses between males and females. We assessed the AFC responses to forepaw stimulation using signal-averaged laser Doppler (LD) measurements of CBF in α-chloralose anesthetized female and male rats. Results for various stimulus parameters were similar for both sexes except at 2 Hz where females had a higher blood flow response. These results suggest that the AFC responses in males and females are similar, but require further validation in humans.
Diagnostic frequency continuous ultrasonography directly mitigates venular ischemia reperfusion damage.

Background Our objective was to determine the effects of ischemia reperfusion (IR) treatment with continuous-mode diagnostic frequency ultrasonography exposure by assessing leukocyte−endothelial cell interactions, in terms of frequency and relative proportions of rolling and firmly attached leukocytes. Study Design Studies were carried out in the awake hamster chamber window preparation. Tourniquet ischemia was implemented by compressing a circular ring on the chamber window tissue for 4 hours, followed by reperfusion. Animals were randomly assigned into one of four groups as follows: IR; IR + ultrasonography; IR + N ω -nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME); and IR + l-NAME + ultrasonography. Venules were exposed to epi-illumination, videorecorded, and leukocytes were categorized as "rolling"; flowing with endothelial contact; or "immobilized" cells, and counted during digital video-playback in 100-μm length segments. Results Leukocyte interaction with venular endothelium substantially decreased, during longterm reperfusion (p Conclusions Venular function improvement, after IR damage, is a primary benefit derived from continuous-mode diagnostic frequency ultrasonography exposure. Although decreased interaction of adherent leukocytes can also be attributed to enhanced arteriolar flow, reduced interaction of rolling leukocytes is an immediate consequence of ultrasonography exposure.
Area postrema lesions cause overconsumption of palatable foods but not calories

Rats with lesions of the area postrema and immediately adjacent solitary nucleus consume greater amounts of highly palatable food during short exposures than do control rats. When a highly palatable substance (cookies or glucose solutions) is available continuously along with laboratory chow, lesioned rats exhibit average 24 hour calorie intakes which are not different from those of control rats. Nevertheless, the lesioned animals ingest a significantly greater proportion of total calories as the highly palatable substances than do control rats. The data suggest that lesions involving the area postrema and adjacent nucleus of the solitary tract enhance intake of highly palatable food without causing overconsumption of calories.
Investigation of sequential and enzymatic extraction of arsenic from drinking water distribution solids using ICP-MS.

A sequential extraction approach was utilized to estimate the distribution of arsenite [As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)] on iron oxide/hydroxide solids obtained from drinking water distribution systems. The arsenic (As) associated with these solids can be segregated into three operationally defined categories (exchangeable, amorphous and crystalline) according to the sequential extraction literature. The exchangeable As, for the six drinking water solids evaluated, was estimated using 10 mM MgCl2 and 10 mM NaH2PO4 and represented between 5–34% of the total As available from the solid. The amorphously bound As was estimated using 10 mM (NH4)2C2O4 and represented between 57–124% of the As available from the respective solid. Finally, the crystalline bound As was estimated using titanium citrate and this represented less than 1.5% of the As associated with the solids. A synthetic stomach/intestine extraction approach was also applied to the distribution solids. The stomach fluid was found to extract between 0.5–33.3 μg g−1 As and 120–2360 μg g−1 iron (Fe). The As concentrations in the intestine fluid were between 0.02–0.04 μg g−1 while the Fe concentration ranged from 0.06–0.7 μg g−1 for the first six drinking water distribution solids. The elevated Fe levels associated with the stomach fluid were found to produce Fe based precipitates when the intestinal treatment was applied. Preliminary observations indicate that most of the aqueous Fe in the stomach fluid is ferric ion and the observed precipitate produced in the intestine fluid is consistent with the decreased solubility of ferric ion at the pH associated with the intestine.
Application of the Shuffled Frog Leaping Algorithm for the Optimization of a General Large-Scale Water Supply System

A water supply system is a complex network of pipes, canals and storage and treatment facilities that collects, treats, stores, and distributes water to consumers. Increasing population and its associated demands requires systems to be expanded and adapted over time to provide a sustainable water supply. Comprehensive design tools are needed to assist managers determine how to plan for future growth. In this study, a general large-scale water supply system model was developed to minimize the total system cost by integrating a mathematical supply system representation and applying an improved shuffled frog leaping algorithm optimization scheme (SFLA). The developed model was applied to two hypothetical water communities. The operational strategies and the capacities for the system components including water transport and treatment facilities are model decision variables. An explicit representation of energy consumption cost for the transporting water in the model assists in determining the efficacy of satellite wastewater treatment facilities. Although the water supply systems studied contained highly nonlinear terms in the formulation as well as several hundred decisions variables, the stochastic search algorithm, SFLA, successfully found solutions that satisfied all the constraints for the studied networks.
A posteriori finite element method error estimates for fourth‐order problems

A posteriori error estimation for typical Euler-Bernoulli beam bending problems is developed using a recovery operator based on a smoothing technique that is applied in the context of one-dimensional fourth-order problems. The development exploits a discrete superconvergence property of the ‘bending moments’ of the trial space interpolant of a polynomial solution of sufficiently low degree at certain Gauss points, and the superconvegence property of the energy norm difference of the trial space interpolant (of the weak solution) and the finite element approximation. An asymptotically exact error estimator is developed.
The precordial acceleration tracing in hypertensive patients.

Abstract Precordial acceleration tracings of 120 hypertensive patients were analyzed. Incidence and timing of abormal patterns within the cardiac cycle were studied in correlation with blood pressure, electrocardiogram and clinical findings. The incidence of an abnormal pattern was significantly higher (nearly ten times) than in a previous series of nonhypertensive, noncardiac patients. The percentage of abnormal phases sharply increased in patients with a diastolic blood pressure over 100 mm. Hg and with electrocardiographic evidence of left ventricular “strain”. The percentage rose when arterial hypertension was associated with chronic heart failure, malignant hypertension or pheochromocytoma. The various pulsatory abnormalities were interpreted on the basis of previous animal experiments. The degree of the disturbance was expressed by the number of pulsatory abnormalities within one cardiac cycle. Grade 0 (no abnormality) labeled normal tracings; grade 1 applied to borderline tracings; grade 2 meant definite disturbance of the pulsatory mechanism. The majority of tracings in patients with noncomplicated essential or arteriosclerotic hypertension was classified as grade 2. The clinical significance of the pulsatory disturbance was related to the timing of the abnormality. Abnormalities in end systole and early diastole occurred in patients with clinically serious diseases. The precordial tracing is a sensitive indicator of hemodynamic and probably contractile disturbances. The study of the tracing offers a simple and practical way to detect, at an early stage, the presence and extent of the circulatory disturbance caused by arterial hypertension.
What’s in a Purse? Maybe a Woman’s Reputation

Does a woman’s reputation suffer when others discover condoms in her possession? Fifty-two male and female predominantly white undergraduates from a small, private, Catholic university in the northeast USA examined the contents of a purse to formulate an impression of its owner. Unflattering inferences were drawn about the character of the target when her purse contained condoms. A follow-up study with 55 comparable participants confirmed that these inferences were indeed uncomplimentary. The results are discussed in terms of the multi-dimensional price women pay when assuming responsibility for their sexual health.