cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 2483: NELFE modulates chromatin accessibility to amplify the transcription of MYC-associated genes in hepatocellular carcinoma

Global transcriptomic alterations are often observed in cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). How these large changes are modulated remain elusive. We have previously demonstrated that the overexpression of Negative elongation factor E (NELFE) contributes to the transcriptomic imbalance in HCC through MYC signaling, which regulates more than 15% of the genome. However, how NELFE modulates MYC to enhance the transcription of pro-oncogenic mRNAs is unknown. It is known that the status of the chromatin is essential for gene expression. Previous studies have shown that NELF-mediated stalling of Pol II can enhance gene expression by blocking promoter-proximal nucleosome assembly in Drosophila. Here, we propose that NELFE modulates the status of the chromatin to regulate gene expression to promote hepatocarcinogenesis. Accordingly, the overexpression of NELFE and MYC in the h-TERT immortalized hepatocyte cells, HHT4, significantly enhanced cancer associated phontypes, including proliferation and colony and spheroid formation. NELFE and MYC ChIP-PCR demonstrated that both NELFE and MYC co-occupy the promoter regions of two proliferative genes, cyclin E2 and PA2G4. Furthermore, the signals of MYC and H3K27ac, a histone marker associated with open and active promoter and enhancer elements, were decreased in these regions by NELFE-depletion. These results provide a possible mechanism whereby NELFE plays an essential role in modulating the status of the chromatin to regulate MYC-induced gene expression. Current studies include the use of CRISPR/Cas9 tools to generate NELFE mutants and ATAC-seq and ChIP-seq (MYC and NELFE) to explore NELFE9s role in chromatin modulation genome-wide. These assays will allow us to determine the dynamic function and pro-oncogenic roles of NELFE and their effect on the MYC targets, including cyclin E2 and PA2G4 transcripts. Key words: NELFE, chromatin, transcription, HCC, liver, MYC. Citation Format: Kai Zhang, Hien Dang, Anna Barry. NELFE modulates chromatin accessibility to amplify the transcription of MYC-associated genes in hepatocellular carcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 2483.
Suicide prevention and mood disorders: Self-exclusion agreements for firearms as a suicide prevention strategy

Suicide involves a complex set of behaviors and emotions that lead up to actions that may be based on planning and forethought or the result of impulse. While there are a host of antecedent circumstances the presence of a mood disorder, primarily depression, is the most common factor in suicide. While management of depression is recognized as important prevention strategy in depression, the means by which suicide occurs must be a critical element of prevention. Policies that lower access to the means for suicide will decrease the fatality. Guns are associated with half of suicides and the case fatality rate of gun associated suicide is over 90% compared to 7% for all other means. This emphasizes the importance of offering strategies that limit access to guns to those at higher risk for suicide. A declaration of formal self-exclusion for access to firearms (guns and ammunition) offers the individual at greater risk for suicide to place themselves on an official list that would prevent them from purchasing lethal weapons. A person with depression, when well, might wish to enroll voluntarily to prevent themselves, when ill, from procuring a weapon to harm themselves or others. This recognizes the autonomy of the person and protects both the individual, the family, and society.
Defining International Social Work for the Purpose of Strengthening Curricula in Social Work Graduate Schools

This paper examines some of the challenges the social work profession faces in expanding the field at the international level. Defining what we mean by international social work is a fundamental issue to provide greater recognition for the field in order to recruit new students and expand the presence of social workers in international organizations. One of the main avenues for pursuing these goals is to strengthen the international social work curricula at universities. The paper looks to social work values in defining the field’s strengths in international work and uses this as a base to provide suggestions for deepening international social work curricula.
Religiously Diverse Multicultural Literature for Early Childhood

Through culturally sustaining teaching, teachers can transform practice and pedagogy to challenge inequities and create a space for affirming students’ diverse religious backgrounds. Teacher educators and teachers must develop this pedagogy to understand diverse student populations and facilitate students becoming citizens who accept and empathize with others who have different religious beliefs and traditions. Our purpose was to explore and select multicultural literature that represents religious diversity for early childhood classrooms. Our search focused on major religions practiced in the U.S., which yielded 549 books. We obtained 436 books; 54 met the rubric criteria with a majority focusing on Judaism. We identified four themes: immigration and refugees, holidays, sharing memories and stories, building understandings and empathy. We offered examples of the themes and an example of implementation in the classroom. We recommended this sample that we believe can foster understanding and respect for diverse religious and cultural groups.
Rapid telehealth implementation into an otolaryngology practice during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Report outcomes of rapid implementation of telehealth across an academic otolaryngology‐head and neck surgery department during the COVID‐19 pandemic This is a retrospective, single‐institution study of rapid deployment of telehealth during the COVID‐19 pandemic Characteristics of patients were compared between those who agreed and those who declined telehealth care Reasons for declining telehealth visits were ascertained Characteristics of telehealth visits were collected and patients were asked to complete a post‐visit satisfaction survey There was a 68% acceptance rate for telehealth visits In multivariable analysis, patients were more likely to accept telehealth if they were being seen in the facial plastics subspecialty clinic (odds ratio [OR] 59 55, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2 21‐1607 52;P = 015) compared to the general otolaryngology clinic Patients with Medicare (compared to commercial insurance) as their primary insurance were less likely to accept telehealth visits (OR 0 10, 95% CI 0 01‐0 77;P = 027) Two hundred and thirty one patients underwent telehealth visits;most visits (69%) were for established patients and residents were involved in 38% of visits There was an 85% response rate to the post‐visit survey On a scale of one to ten, the median satisfaction score was 10 and 99% of patients gave a score of 8 or higher Satisfaction scores were higher for new patient visits than established patient visits (P = 020) Rapid implementation of telehealth in an academic otolaryngology‐head and neck surgery department is feasible There was high acceptance of and satisfaction scores with telehealth 3 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abstracts )
Fully automated radiosyntheses of the 18F-labeled amino acids MeFAMP and AFETP for oncologic imaging

636 Objectives: We aimed to devise reliable automated syntheses for the routine production of the amino acids MeFAMP and AFETP, a prerequisite for first-in-human studies. [18F]MeFAMP (3-[18F]fluoro-2-methyl-2-N-(methyl amino) propanoic acid) is system A amino acid PET tracer that has shown promising results for imaging brain tumors and other malignancies in preclinical models [1, 2]. The histidine analogue [18F]AFETP (2-amino-3-[1-(2-[18F]fluoroethyl)-1H-[1,2,3]triazol-4-yl]propanoic acid) is transported into cancer cells via cationic and neutral amino acid transporters, and preclinical studies have shown good tumor imaging properties and the potential to monitor response to arginine depletion therapy with PET [3-5]. Methods: An efficient fully automated method for the radiosynthesis of enantiomerically pure [18F]MeFAMP has been developed using a Synthra module via nucleophilic opening of cyclic sulfamidate precursor with [18F]fluoride. The α-methyl (N-methyl) serine is the major side product in this reaction, which was separated by semi-preparative HPLC on Chirobiotic TAG column using 0.2% formic acid in H2O as mobile phase. The synthesis of [18F]AFETP has also been developed on Synthra module using copper catalyzed click reaction. Radiochemical purity and specific molarity of the final products were confirmed using analytical chiral HPLC. Results: [18F]MeFAMP was produced in 46-50% decay corrected radiochemical yield with radiochemical and enantiomeric purity of >99% after 93 min of total radiosynthesis time including HPLC purification. [18F]AFETP was produced in 22-25% decay corrected radiochemical yield in 105 min total synthesis time including purification. The specific molarity was >1 Ci/μmol at the end of synthesis for [18F]MeFAMP and [18F]AFETP. The automated methods provided both 18F-labeled amino acids in a form suitable for use in preclinical studies, and these methods are being validated for first-in-human studies. Conclusions: The automated radiosynthesis provides high and reproducible yields suitable for routine production of [18F]MeFAMP and [18F]AFETP for oncologic imaging. Efforts to translate [18F]MeFAMP into first-in-human use are underway. References: (1) Yu, W.; McConathy, J.; Olson, J. J.; Goodman, M. M. Nucl. Med. Biol. 2015, 42, 8-18. (2) McConathy, J.; Martarello, L.; Malveaux, E. J.; et al. J. Med. Chem.2002, 45, 2240-2249. (3) McConathy, J.; Zhou, D.; Shockley, S. E.; et al. Mol. Imaging2010, 9, 329-342. (4) Prudner, B. C.; Sun, F.; Kremer, J. C.; et al. Theranostics2018, 8 , 2107-2116. (5) Zhou, D.; Chu, W.; Peng, X.; et al. Tetrahedron Lett.2015, 56, 952-954.
Religious Cycles of Government Responsiveness: Why Governments Distribute in Ramadan

In many Muslim societies, autocrats expand their distributive policies in the religious season of Ramadan. Why do autocrats distribute in Ramadan? And, who do they target? Focusing on Egypt (2014-2020), this paper argues that the regime distributes in Ramadan to contain political threats to its survival by co-opting areas where such threats are more credible. I test this argument using an original municipality-level dataset of government-reported provision of economic benefits. The findings show that the government reports more economic distribution in places where political threats are higher: more socioeconomically developed, more contentious, and more affected by unpopular austerity measures. Using survey data, I also find that distribution in Ramadan translates into reputational gains for the regime, particularly among its critics. The conclusions suggest that autocrats might adopt multiple targeting strategies to respond to different threats to their survival, sometimes rewarding threatening groups to buy their acquiescence.
Statistical Inference for Means

In this chapter we study selected problems of hypothesis testing and confidence regions in multivariate statistics. We will focus mostly on T 2-tests, or Hotelling’s T 2, after the statistician Harold Hotelling (1895–1973). In the spirit of this book, which emphasizes parameter estimation more than testing, we will give rather less attention to aspects of hypotheses testing than traditional textbooks on multivariate statistics. In particular, we will largely ignore problems like optimality criteria or power of tests. Instead, we will focus on a heuristic foundation to the T 2-test methodology, for which we are well prepared from Chapter 5.
Legal Determinants of World Cup Success

The "law matters" theory advanced in a series of empirical works by Rafael La Porta, Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes, Andrei Shleifer, and Robert Vishny ("LLSV"), has become a centerpiece of recent corporate law debate. Using LLSV methodology, this Article examines the relation between legal protections and soccer success, using as the dependent variable the number of points each country has in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings. The statistically significant findings reported herein may or may not have implications of momentous import for various aspects of the human experience.
Ion transport by heart mitochondria. IX. Induction of the energy-linked uptake of K+ by zinc ion.

Abstract The accumulation of K+ by isolated heart mitochondria suspended in isotonic sucrose is markedly stimulated by the addition of Zn++. The accumulation requires a source of energy, the presence of a permeant anion such as acetate, and the presence of either inorganic phosphate or arsenate. The reaction is inhibited and reversed by uncouplers of oxidative phosphorylation and by anaerobiosis. It is also inhibited by Mg++ and Na+ ions and by ethylenediaminetetraacetate and other Zn++ chelators. The Zn++-dependent accumulation is accompanied by increased respiration and extensive reversible swelling of the mitochondria. The extent of the observed swelling and the time course of swelling are dependent on the concentration of K+ and of Zn++. In the absence of added K+, Zn++ induces a rapid energy-linked expulsion of the endogenous K+ of the mitochondrion. These studies indicate that the addition of Zn++ under carefully defined experimental conditions is sufficient to induce the transport of K+ by heart mitochondria. This transport of K+ closely resembles that reported by other investigators in the presence of valinomycin, gramicidin, and parathyroid hormone.
Knowledge Discovery from Sensor Data For Scientific Applications

The current advances in sensors and sensor infrastructures offer new opportunities for monitoring the operations and conditions of man-made and natural environments. The ability to generate insights or new knowledge from sensor data is critical for many high-priority scientific applications especially weather, climate, and associated natural hazards. One example is sensor-based early warning systems for geophysical extremes such as tsunamis or extreme rainfall, which can help preempt disaster damage. Indeed, the loss of life during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami may have been significantly reduced, if not totally prevented, had sensor-based early warning systems been in place. One other example is high-resolution risk-mapping of insights obtained through a combination of historical and real-time sensor data, with physics-based computer simulations. Weather, climate and associated natural hazards have established history of using sensor data, such as data from DOPPLER radars. Recent advances in sensor technology and computational strengths have created a need for new approaches to analyzing data associated with weather, climate, and associated natural hazards. Knowledge discovery offers tools for extracting new, useful and hidden insights from data repositories. However, knowledge discovery techniques need to be geared towards scalable and efficient implementations of predictive insights, online or fast real-time analysis of incremental information, and solution processes for strategic and tactical decisions. Predictive insights regarding weather, climate and associated natural hazards may require models of rare, anomalous and extreme events, nonlinear phenomena, and change analysis, in particular from massive volumes of dynamic data streams. On the other hand, historical data may also be noisy and incomplete, thus robust tools need to be developed for these situations. This chapter describes some of the research challenges of knowledge discovery from sensor data for weather, climate and associated natural hazard applications and summarizes our approach towards addressing these challenges.
Harvard Law School Proxy Access Roundtable

This paper contains the proceedings of the Proxy Access Roundtable that was held by the Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance on October 7, 2009. The Roundtable brought together prominent participants in the debate - representing a range of perspectives and experiences - for a day of discussion on the subject. The day’s first two sessions focused on the question of whether the Securities and Exchange Commission should provide an access regime, or whether it should leave the adoption of access arrangements, if any, to private ordering on a company-by-company basis. The third session focused on how a proxy access regime should be designed, assuming the Securities and Exchange Commission were to adopt such an access regime. The final session went beyond proxy access and focused on whether there are any further changes to the arrangements governing corporate elections that should be considered. Speakers in the roundtable included Joseph Bachelder (The Bachelder Firm), Michal Barzuza (University of Virginia School of Law), Lucian Bebchuk (Harvard Law School), Robert Clark (Harvard Law School), John Coates (Harvard Law School), Isaac Corre (Eton Park Capital Management L.P.), Steven M. Davidoff (University of Connecticut School of Law), Jay Eisenhofer (Grant & Eisenhofer P.A.), Richard Ferlauto (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees [AFSCME]), Abe Friedman (Barclays Global Investors), Byron Georgiou (Of Counsel, Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP), Kayla Gillan (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission), Jeffrey Gordon (Columbia Law School), Edward Greene (Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP), Joseph Grundfest (Stanford Law School), Howell Jackson (Harvard Law School), Roy Katzovicz (Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P.), Stephen Lamb (Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP), Mark Lebovitch (Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP), Lance Lindblom (The Nathan Cummings Foundation), Simon Lorne (Millennium Management LLC), Robert Mendelsohn (formerly of Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance Group), Ted Mirvis (Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz), James Morphy (Sullivan & Cromwell LLP), Toby Myerson (Paul,Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP), Annette Nazareth (Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP), John F. Olson (Georgetown University Law Center), Mark Roe (Harvard Law School), Eric Roiter (Boston University School of Law), Leo Strine (Delaware Chancery Court), Daniel Summerfield (Universities Superannuation Scheme), Greg Taxin (formerly of Glass, Lewis & Co.) and John C. Wilcox (Sodali Ltd). Note: Lucian Bebchuk and Scott Hirst are the editors, not the authors, of this paper.
The physical origin of Kramers-Kronig self-phasing in coherent laser beam combination

The Kramers-Kronig self-phasing observed in coherently coupled fiber laser arrays is experimentally shown to originate from a change in the supermode intensity distribution. The conditions that lead to accurate self-phasing are modeled and experimentally confirmed.
From Bradycardia to Tachycardia: Complete Heart Block.

PRESENTATION Syncope in the setting of heart block is usually, but not invariably, due to bradycardia. This point was underscored when a patient’s telemetry data proved surprising. The patient, a 74-year-old man with no history of cardiac disease, initially presented to an urgent care facility after noting an elevated reading on his home blood pressure monitor. He described a 4-week history of dyspnea on exertion and poor exercise tolerance but denied dizziness, syncope, chest pain, orthopnea, lower-extremity edema, or other symptoms. His medical history included obstructive sleep apnea, prostate cancer in remission, and gastroesophageal reflux disease, for which his only medication was ranitidine. He denied any use of tobacco or illicit drugs. His brother died of sudden cardiac death before the age of 50 years. The patient was a resident of the Pacific Northwest, and he had recently travelled to South America. Upon arrival to the clinic, his blood pressure was 200/100 mmHg with a pulse of 37 beats per minute. His physical examination was otherwise unremarkable. A 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) showed complete heart block with a ventricular escape rhythm (Figure 1). Laboratory data revealed normal serum chemistry except for a creatinine level of 1.3 mg/dL. The complete blood count, iron studies, serum protein electrophoresis, and coagulation profile all returned normal results. A chest radiograph demonstrated an enlarged cardiac silhouette with evidence of mild pulmonary edema but no hilar lymphadenopathy.
A Fifty-Year Record of Historical Sedimentation at Deer Lake, North Carolina

Abstract Although many once-deforested areas of the eastern United States are now revegetated, impacts of this disturbance on watershed processes may persist. In this study, lake sediment stratigraphy and magnetism were used to assess the recovery of a small watershed in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains following abrupt reduction of human impacts. Average sediment yields were found to be higher than those of less disturbed basins nearby, and lower than those reported from the early twentieth-century Piedmont Province. Temporal trends in sediment yield appear to reflect both meteorological and land-use histories. Although most of the lake sediment is magnetically similar to bottomland sources, two instances of local upland sediment input, possibly related to human activities, are evident in the record. Interpreting relationships between sediment yield and changing environmental influences is impeded by poor temporal control in the methodology as well as by the intrinsic dynamics of the fluvial system. *I ...
Transport of Sugars and Amino Acids in Bacteria III. STUDIES ON THE RESTORATION OF ACTIVE TRANSPORT

Abstract Shocked cells have been examined with respect to their sensitivity to inhibitors of active transport. They behave similarly to unshocked cells except that their transport ability is reduced. The process of restoration of active transport has been studied. Metabolic energy appears to be necessary to restore the uptake ability of shocked cells. Evidence is presented which suggests that the galactose- and leucine-binding proteins can become reassociated with the shocked cells. The process shows saturation kinetics and results in an increase in transport ability. We speculate that there are specific sites capable of interacting with the binding proteins. In addition to binding protein, another nondialyzable factor in shock fluid is found to be active in restoration of transport. This factor is precipitated by low concentrations of ammonium sulfate and does not have binding properties. Its activity is substantial and restoration of transport to nearly the original level can be shown only when this factor is used in combination with binding protein.
Interpreting the Truncated Pentagonal Number Theorem using Partition Pairs

In 2012 Andrews and Merca gave a new expansion for partial sums of Euler's pentagonal number series and expressed \[\sum_{j=0}^{k-1}(-1)^j(p(n-j(3j+1)/2)-p(n-j(3j+5)/2-1))=(-1)^{k-1}M_k(n)\] where $M_k(n)$ is the number of partitions of $n$ where $k$ is the least integer that does not occur as a part and there are more parts greater than $k$ than there are less than $k$. We will show that $M_k(n)=C_k(n)$ where $C_k(n)$ is the number of partition pairs $(S, U)$ where $S$ is a partition with parts greater than $k$, $U$ is a partition with $k-1$ distinct parts all of which are greater than the smallest part in $S$, and the sum of the parts in $S \cup U$ is $n$. We use partition pairs to determine what is counted by three similar expressions involving linear combinations of pentagonal numbers. Most of the results will be presented analytically and combinatorially.
Mature cystic teratoma of the pancreas: Role of endoscopic ultrasound.

Abstract Cystic teratomas are a rare type of germ cell neoplasms derived from one or more germ layers. They can be classified as mature and immature teratomas based on the maturity of neuroectodermal elements within the tumor. Mature teratomas are benign, well-differentiated lesions, which may be solid or cystic. Mature cystic teratomas (MCTs) are also called dermoid cysts – a term likely coming from early surgical literature when the resected cysts resembled skin. Immature teratomas are malignant, undifferentiated tumors and generally solid. The most common location for MCTs is sacrococcygeus followed by ovaries and testes. MCTs in the pancreas are extremely rare with only few published case reports. Diagnosis of teratomas is challenging since there are no definitive preoperative diagnostic tests or pathognomonic findings. Even though EUS is commonly used for diagnosis of pancreatic cysts, the imaging features and cyst fluid characteristics of MCTs on EUS FNA have not been described. We describe a challenging case of a 65-year-old patient who had a 9 cm × 7 cm MCT in the body of the pancreas and discuss the role of EUS in diagnosis and management of these rare lesions. Complete surgical removal seems to be the current standard of care.
The teeth of the Neanderthal child from Gibraltar: A re-evaluation

A morphological re-evaluation of the dentition of the fossil child ex-cavated from Devil's Tower, Gibraltar, was undertaken in this study. A thorough inspection of the original remains consisting of a right maxilla and a mandible with the remaining deciduous dentition and unerupted teeth was made. X-rays were also taken for further examination. The significant morphological characters on the dentition of this juvenile Neanderthal appeared closer to the dentition of Modern Man, although primitive traits such as: sizes of cusps and arrangement of groove patterns, and crenulations were also observed on the occlusal surfaces of the teeth of this child.
A hybridized discontinuous Petrov–Galerkin scheme for scalar conservation laws

SUMMARY We present a hybridized discontinuous Petrov–Galerkin (HDPG) method for the numerical solution of steady and time-dependent scalar conservation laws. The method combines a hybridization technique with a local Petrov–Galerkin approach in which the test functions are computed to maximize the inf-sup condition. Since the Petrov–Galerkin approach does not guarantee a conservative solution, we propose to enforce this explicitly by introducing a constraint into the local Petrov–Galerkin problem. When the resulting nonlinear system is solved using the Newton–Raphson procedure, the solution inside each element can be locally condensed to yield a global linear system involving only the degrees of freedom of the numerical trace. This results in a significant reduction in memory storage and computation time for the solution of the matrix system, albeit at the cost of solving the local Petrov–Galerkin problems. However, these local problems are independent of each other and thus perfectly scalable. We present several numerical examples to assess the performance of the proposed method. The results show that the HDPG method outperforms the hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin method for problems involving discontinuities. Moreover, for the test case proposed by Peterson, the HDPG method provides optimal convergence of order k + 1. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Should patients with severe heart failure be treated with beta blockers

A recent major trial showed that a beta-blocker can indeed be beneficial in severe heart failure, if used cautiously.
Momentum distributions and Fermi surface in t-J model

Abstract The electron and hole momentum distributions are measured in the t-J model in one- and two-dimensional clusters. The electron momentum occupancy exhibits a clear Fermi surface while the hole momentum occupancy exhibits a clear tendency of the spin-down hole to occupy the same k-state as the one singly occupied by a spin-up electron. The Fermi surface remains unchanged in the entire metallic region and disappears in the insulating (phase-separated) region.
Social Presence in Service Failure: Why It Might not be a Bad Thing

The point of retail service delivery is crucial to a business as previous research shows that negative deviations from consumers’ service expectations often discourage customers to make referrals to others. Effective management of customer referral likelihood at the point of retail service delivery, however, remains an understudied area. In this research, we conduct three studies to demonstrate that social presence (vs. no social presence) during service failure helps alleviate the negative impact of service failure on referral likelihood. Study 1 identifies two parallel processes to explain this effect: an affective process (anger reduction) and a cognitive process (fewer other-directed negative cognitions). Studies 2 and 3 demonstrate the important moderating role of blame attribution and cognitive load on social presence effects and processes. Strategies that help retail managers effectively manage customer referral are recommended based on these findings.
Effects of hydroxyl radical scavengers on relaxation of supercoiled DNA by aminomethyl-trimethyl-psoralen and monochromatic UVA photons

The ability of scavengers of hydroxyl radical (OH radical) to modulate the photosensitized relaxation (induction of the first single-strand break) of supercoiled plasmid DNA with UVA photoactivated 4'-aminomethyl-4,5',8-trimethylpsoralen was examined by comparing the dose reduction factor (DRF: the ratio of fluence required to induce the same degree of relaxation in the absence to the presence of OH radical scavengers). The addition of mannitol, azide, acetate, or formate at concentrations inversely proportional to the value of the rate constants for the scavenging of OH radicals partially attenuated the supercoiled DNA relaxation. The degrees of protection afforded by the four scavengers in the presence of AMT photoactivated by either 334 nm or 365 nm monochromatic photons were similar, giving an average DRF of about 0.25 in all cases. Given the diverse chemical nature of the scavengers and their wide range of concentrations utilized, these findings are evidence for the involvement of a Type I photosensitization in the induction of DNA single-strand breaks by photoactivated AMT.
Heterogeneous nucleation of σ′ on dislocations in a dilute aluminum-lithium alloy

The nucleation of S on dislocations with small undercooling in binary aluminum-lithium alloys has been examined. The study of related microstructures was performed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which demonstrates that σ′ preferentially nucleates on dislocations with a strong edge character and locates at the side where the stress field is compressive without destroying the dislocation core structure. This qualitatively justifies the theoretical prediction by Larche on coherent heterogeneous nucleation on edge dislocations. Following the evaluation of the volume free energy change for the binary system by the ideal solution model and the mean-field model by Khachaturyan, the nucleation barrier and the nucleation rate were calculated and compared with experimentally determined data based on Larche's model. Specifically, the back-calculated interfacial energies from the experimentally determined nucleation rate data are in good agreement with the interfacial energy temperature dependence predicted by the related interfacial energy model. The effects of misfit strain, volume diffusion, interfacial energy, and nucleation sites are discussed.
GEOCHEMICAL HISTORY OF THE CRYSTALLINE BASEMENT AND THE SEDIMENTARY COVER OF THE RUSSIAN AND NORTH AMERICAN PLATFORMS—A DISCUSSION

Ronov and Migdisov (1971) very effectively document and explain the apparent compositional evolution of the shield and platform rocks of the world in terms of secular changes in source composition, the mode and intensity of weathering (in turn a reflection of secular variations in the composition of the biosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere), and compositional differentiation resulting from repetitious episodes of granitization, metamorphism, erosion, and sedimentation. Based on modifications of my own analysis of geosynclinal sediment compositions (Schwab, 1971), I suggest some additional comparisons and interpretations (Fig.1, Table I).
Intramolecular cyclization in the polymerization of ABx monomers: Approaches to the control of molecular weight and polydispersity in hyperbranched poly(siloxysilane)

Different approaches to control the molecular weight of hyperbranched poly(siloxysilane) have been explored. Because the intramolecular hydrosilylation competitively consumes the vinyl groups of the monomer and other oligomeric intermediates, the conventional single-batch bulk process generally affords polymer with a relatively low molecular weight (Mw = 5000) in ca. 60% yield. We have developed a progressive slow addition process that effectively increases the molecular weight of the final polymers and improves preparation yield by reducing the occurrence of cyclization. Using this gradual growth method, polymers with molecular weights in the range of 6–86,000 (Mw) and polydispersities in the range 2–15 were easily obtained in yields of ca. 70–80%. More importantly, both the molecular weight and the polydispersity could be controlled by changing the rate of addition or the amount of monomer fed. The slower the addition, or the larger the amount of monomer added, the higher the molecular weight and polydispersity of the resulting polymer. In seeded polymerizations, a similar trend was observed with a maximum Mw near 84,000 and a yield of 80%, values that are very significantly higher than those obtained by the single batch process described earlier. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 37: 3193–3201, 1999
Many new down- and up-regulatory signaling pathways, from known cancer progression suppressors to matrix metalloproteinases, differ widely in cells of various cancers

Previously we detected new signaling pathways, some downregulatory and others upregulatory, from seven known suppressors of cancer progression to the expression of eight cancer-promoting matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in breast cancer cells. The goals of the present study were to test whether the preceding observations occur only in breast cancer cells and, if not, whether the same downregulatory and upregulatory signaling pathways are active in cells of other human cancers, focusing on activator protein-2alpha, E-cadherin, fibulin1D, interleukin 4, p16(INK4alpha), p53, PTEN, and RKIP, and on MMP1, MMP2, MMP7, MMP13, MMP14, MMP16, MMP19, and MMP25. To this end, in the present study we tested the effects of raising the cellular levels of wild-type copies of these known suppressors of cancer progression on the expression of these MMPs. This study yielded several unexpected results. We have detected 53 new signaling pathways in cells of prostate, brain, lung, ovarian and breast human cancers, with an abundance of signaling pathways as high as approximately 40% of the cancer progression regulator/MMP pairs tested in cells of prostate and breast cancers. Cells of various cancers differed widely and sequence-specifically in the identity of their signaling pathways, so that almost 90% of the pathways were different in cells from one cancer to another. In each of 18 out of 51 signaling pathways, a known suppressor of cancer progression stimulated, rather than inhibited, the expression of a cancer-promoting MMP. Ten signaling pathways were upregulatory in cells of some cancers and downregulatory in cells of other cancers.
Interpretation of the Three-Parameter Testlet Response Model and Information Function:

The testlet response model is designed for handling items that are clustered, such as those embedded within the same reading passage. Although the testlet is a powerful tool for handling item clusters in educational and psychological testing, the interpretations of its item parameters, the conditional correlation between item pairs, and the testlet information function are not always clear. For example, the a-parameter in a testlet response model, which is sometimes referred to as the discrimination parameter and interpreted in the conventional way, is often directly compared to the a-parameter in standard item response models. In this article, it is argued that despite the deceptively similar forms of the a-parameters, such interpretation and comparison can be misleading. A marginalized version of the testlet model is introduced to derive quantities that are comparable to standard item response models. This mean (marginalization) of the function approach is contrasted with the temptingly simple but inapp...
Codon-based tests of positive selection, branch lengths, and the evolution of mammalian immune system genes

Using basic probability theory, we show that there is a substantial likelihood that even in the presence of strong purifying selection, there will be a number of codons in which the number of synonymous nucleotide substitutions per site (d S) exceeds the number of non-synonymous nucleotide substitutions per site (d N). In an empirical study, we examined the numbers of synonymous (b S) and non-synonymous substitutions (b N) along branches of the phylogenies of 69 single-copy orthologous genes from seven species of mammals. A pattern of b N > b S was most commonly seen in the shortest branches of the tree and was associated with a high coefficient of variation in both b N and b S, suggesting that high stochastic error in b N and b S on short branches, rather than positive Darwinian selection, is the explanation of most cases where b N is greater than b S on a given branch. The branch-site method of Zhang et al. (Zhang, Nielsen, Yang, Mol Biol Evol, 22:2472–2479, 2005) identified 117 codons on 35 branches as “positively selected,” but a majority of these codons lacked synonymous substitutions, while in the others, synonymous and non-synonymous differences per site occurred in approximately equal frequencies. Thus, it was impossible to rule out the hypothesis that chance variation in the pattern of mutation across sites, rather than positive selection, accounted for the observed pattern. Our results showed that b N/b S was consistently elevated in immune system genes, but neither the search for branches with b N > b S nor the branch-site method revealed this trend.
How status and stereotypes impact attributions to discrimination: The stereotype-asymmetry hypothesis

Past research suggests a status-asymmetry effect in attributions to discrimination such that people are more likely to make attributions to discrimination when the victim is from a lower status group than the perpetrator as compared to when the victim is from a higher status group than the perpetrator. The present studies test a stereotype-asymmetry effect, such that people are more likely to make attributions to discrimination when rejection occurs in a domain in which the victim is negatively rather than positively stereotyped. In Study 1 (observers) and Study 2 (victims), participants attributed rejection following a job interview to discrimination more when the victim was negatively stereotyped than when the victim was positively stereotyped. The stereotypicality of the domain was more important than the relative status of the victim and the perpetrator in determining judgments of discrimination. Thus stereotype-asymmetry is a key feature of the discrimination prototype.
Preventing coronary heart disease and stroke with aggressive statin therapy in older adults using a team management model.

Purposes: The purposes of this review were to highlight recent clinical trial results on the safety and efficacy of statin therapy in adults aged 65 years and older and to examine how nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) working together with physicians as a team can better serve the needs of this fastest growing subset of the U.S. population who are at high risk for cardiovascular events including stroke. Data sources: This report was compiled by reviewing the scientific literature on the safety and efficacy of statin therapy, including effects on cardiovascular, coronary, and stroke endpoints, with particular reference to clinical trial results in older patients. Conclusions: Recent guidelines emphasize that age alone is not a reason to withhold treatment with statin therapy in older adults. However, despite the evidence highlighted in this review demonstrating that older patients can safely achieve substantial benefit from statin therapy, studies have consistently shown an inverse relationship between age and treatment propensity. Often, older patients have multiple risk factors and many chronic comorbid conditions that seem to complicate and hinder treatment in many busy clinic practices. More extensive guidelines for the use of statin therapy in older patients, incorporating recommendations for treatment targets and developing a framework for the use of statins in stroke prevention, would assist care providers in the management of this high-risk population. Finally, NPs and PAs are both well educated and well placed to manage patients with chronic stable cardiovascular disease (CVD). Implications for practice: The implementation of a multidisciplinary team approach to identify at-risk individuals and provide them with education, counseling, and effective statin treatment will aid efforts to reduce the increased risk for morbidity and mortality associated with CVD in older adults.
Photon number-resolved detectors: prospects and applications

The Photon Number-Resolved (PNR) detectors are capable to distinguish between finite numbers n of photons (n = 1, 2, 3, ...) within an ultrafast (femtosecond or picosecond range) week radiation pulse. Recently, a great interest to such devices has been expressed by the quantum information sciences. In the nearest future, an interest to development of such devices can be significantly enhanced by emerging class of new nanophotonic and biological applications, such as single-molecule studies with fluorescent nanoparticles. As it was found recently, the multiexciton state achieved through fast pulse laser irradiation of individual nanoparticle lead to multiphoton character of light emission. The exact knowledge of the number of photons emitted by individual nanoparticle in colloids can provide us with deeper understanding of the interaction between single fluorescent nanoparticle and its environment. However, the development of PNR devices would be necessary to establish such novel photon number-resolved imaging technologies. In this article we briefly review some basic approaches to design and development of the future PNR detectors and electronic readouts.
High-Dimensional Screening Using Multiple Grouping of Variables

Screening is the problem of finding a superset of the set of non-zero entries in an unknown p-dimensional vector β* given n noisy observations. Naturally, we want this superset to be as small as possible. We propose a novel framework for screening, which we refer to as Multiple Grouping (MuG), that groups variables, performs variable selection over the groups, and repeats this process multiple number of times to estimate a sequence of sets that contains the non-zero entries in β*. Screening is done by taking an intersection of all these estimated sets. The MuG framework can be used in conjunction with any group based variable selection algorithm. In the high-dimensional setting, where p ≫ n, we show that when MuG is used with the group Lasso estimator, screening can be consistently performed without using any tuning parameter. Our numerical simulations clearly show the merits of using the MuG framework in practice.
Constraint on the Transformation of Characters, Objects, and Settings in Dream Reports

To extend the hypothesis that bizarre discontinuities in dreams result from the interaction of chaotic, "bottom-up" brainstem activation with "top-down" cortical synthesis, we have performed a detailed analysis of dream discontinuities using a new methodology that allows for objective characterization of this formal dream feature. Transformations of characters and objects in dream reports were found to follow definite associational rules. While there were 11 examples of character–character transformation and 7 of inanimate object–inanimate object transformation, transformations of characters into inanimate objects and vice versa were never observed. Judges′ scores on a transformation-matching task further showed that the nature of the transformed character or object is highly constrained by the features of the initial character or object (p < .00001). We conclude that despite the threat to dream coherence posed by bizarre discontinuities, significant coherence is maintained by associational constraints, especially in the case of object and character transformations.
Beyond “subjectivity”: The use of the self in social science

Insights about the observer's self can prove useful for understanding others who are the subjects of sociological inquiry. This organizational sociologist studied a midwestern lesbian community using participant observation and in depth interviewing. Subsequent problems with preparing the findings led to development of an analytic technique for dealing with the data. The argument here is that we have much to learn from close examination of the interrelationship between observer and observed.
Politically Motivated Reinforcement Seeking: Reframing the Selective Exposure Debate

This article seeks to reframe the selective exposure debate by demonstrating that people exhibit a preference for opinion-reinforcing political information without systematically avoiding opinion challenges. The results are based on data collected in a national randomdigit-dial telephone survey (n = 1,510) conducted prior to the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Analyses show that Americans use the control afforded by online information sources to increase their exposure to opinions consistent with their own views without sacrificingcontactwithotheropinions.Thisobservationcontradictsthecommonassumption that reinforcement seeking and challenge avoidance are intrinsically linked aspects of the selective exposure phenomenon. This distinction is important because the consequences of challenge avoidance are significantly more harmful to democratic deliberation than those of reinforcement seeking.