cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Chemotherapeutic intervention by inhibiting DNA polymerases

Abstract DNA replication is arguably the most important biological process associated with cancer progression. This is evident as the inhibition of DNA synthesis remains one of the key therapeutic strategies used to treat this disease. This chapter describes the biological process of DNA replication focusing primarily on the roles of DNA polymerases in cancer progression and chemotherapy. The function of human DNA polymerases in replication, repair, recombination, and translesion DNA synthesis (TLS) are discussed with a special emphasis on their biochemical, structural, and mechanistic features. The current arsenal of therapeutic agents used to inhibit DNA polymerase activity is described, paying particular attention to purine and pyrimidine nucleoside analogs. Preclinical and clinical applications of these nucleoside analogs are described with respect to mono- and combination therapy using DNA-damaging agents such as chlorambucil and cisplatin.
El porqué de un código de ética farmacéutica: Código Español de Ética Farmacéutica

The pharmacist profession needs its own code of conduct set out in writing to serve as a stimulus to pharmacists in their day-to-day work in the different areas of pharmacy, in conjunction always with each individual pharmacist´s personal commitment to their patients, to other healthcare professionals and to society. An overview is provided of the different codes of ethics for pharmacists on the national and international scale, the most up-to-date code for 2015 being presented as a set of principles which must guide a pharmacutical conduct from the standpoint of deliberative judgment. The difference between codes of ethics and codes of practice is discussed. In the era of massive-scale collaboration, this code is a project holding bright prospects for the future. Each individual pharmacutical attitude in practicing their profession must be identified with the pursuit of excellence in their own personal practice for the purpose of achieving the ethical and professional values above and beyond complying with regulations and code of practice.
Stratigraphic age determination from inversion of vitrinite reflectance data and sterane isomerization data: correlation at its best and worst

Thermal indicator data are used in an inverse mode to determine ages of stratigraphic horizons. Results from ‘blind’ tests on wells with horizon ages ranging from Ordovician through Carboniferous and Jurassic to Miocene indicate that thermal indicator inversions are capable of resolving such ages to within about 10% uncertainty. Confirmation of the inversion procedure with one thermal indicator (vitrinite reflectance) was achieved using another independent thermal indicator (sterane isomerization) in the same well, and the self-consistent activation energy for sterane isomerization was determined to be 30 ± 15 kJ mole-1. In addition: (a) it was possible to determine simultaneously the age of a stratigraphic horizon, the thickness of eroded sediments at an unconformity and the variation of palaeoheat flux with time by thermal indicator inversion in a single well; (b) two neighbouring wells, less than 10 km apart, provided essentially indentical ages for the same formation when tested using the inversion procedure.
Biography as method in International Relations: an approach towards Teaching

A pedagogia do ensino de Relacoes Internacionais no Brasil esta em um estagio incipiente. Este artigo busca dar uma contribuicao a esse campo ao apresentar o metodo biografico como uma forma oportuna de apresentar aos estudantes de graduacao os conceitos centrais da disciplina. The pedagogy of the lecture of International Relations in Brazil is at an incipient stage. This article main objective is to contribute to the field while presenting the biographical method as an opportune manner to show undergraduate students the key concepts of the discipline.
Endoscopic Endonasal Transsphenoidal Drainage of a Spontaneous Candida glabrata Pituitary Abscess.

Background Noniatrogenic pituitary abscess remains a rare clinical entity, and is the indication for surgery in Case Description A 33-year-old woman presented with headache, hypopituitarism, and vision loss in the setting of diabetic ketoacidosis, and was found to have multiple abscesses in the liver, lung, kidney, and uterus. Brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed a 15-mm cystic sellar mass with restricted diffusion. The patient underwent urgent evacuation of the abscess via an endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal route, with obvious purulent material filling the sella, later identified as Candida glabrata. Antimicrobial therapy was refined appropriately, and she exhibited significant improvement in neurologic function, although endocrinopathy has persisted. Conclusions With timely management, including a combination of surgical drainage and appropriate antimicrobial therapy, neurologic outcomes are good in most cases of pituitary abscess; however, endocrinopathy often does not improve. Although most reported cases with identified causative organisms speciate bacteria, some cases are of fungal etiology and require different antimicrobial agents. This further underscores the importance of identifying the causative agent.
Levees and the Making of a Dysfunctional Floodplain

Europeans colonists in Louisiana sought to detach their urban settlements from the invasive floodwaters of the Mississippi River. Early economic success of the French colony relied on cypress and rice – commodities that were reliant on annual inundations and wetland conditions – and thus regular flooding was beneficial across much of the landscape. With the turn toward sugar as the primary staple crop in the late eighteenth century, public policy and infrastructure investments fortified the levee system to reduce the risk of regular floods. With federal investment in the levee system in the late nineteenth century, structures increasingly severed the river from the floodplain wetlands. Even though a state scientist pointed out the value of interaction between the river and the floodplain, structural flood protection remained the dominant policy consideration through the twentieth century. Efforts are now underway to build sediment diversions to reactivate the connections between the river and the delta and will force those engaged in natural resource based to adapt to changing conditions.
Chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis and associated infections in a novel organotypic model

Oral mucositis is a common side effect of cancer chemotherapy, with significant adverse impact on the delivery of anti-neoplastic treatment. There is a lack of consensus regarding the role of oral commensal microorganisms in the initiation or progression of mucositis because relevant experimental models are non-existent. The goal of this study was to develop an in vitro mucosal injury model that mimics chemotherapy-induced mucositis, where the effect of oral commensals can be studied. A novel organotypic model of chemotherapy-induced mucositis was developed based on a human oral epithelial cell line and a fibroblast-embedded collagen matrix. Treatment of organotypic constructs with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) reproduced major histopathologic characteristics of oral mucositis, such as DNA synthesis inhibition, apoptosis and cytoplasmic vacuolation, without compromising the three-dimensional structure of the multilayer organotypic mucosa. Although structural integrity of the model was preserved, 5-FU treatment resulted in a widening of epithelial intercellular spaces, characterized by E-cadherin dissolution from adherens junctions. In a neutrophil transmigration assay we discovered that this treatment facilitated transport of neutrophils through epithelial layers. Moreover, 5-FU treatment stimulated key proinflammatory cytokines that are associated with the pathogenesis of oral mucositis. 5-FU treatment of mucosal constructs did not significantly affect fungal or bacterial biofilm growth under the conditions tested in this study; however, it exacerbated the inflammatory response to certain bacterial and fungal commensals. These findings suggest that commensals may play a role in the pathogenesis of oral mucositis by amplifying the proinflammatory signals to mucosa that is injured by cytotoxic chemotherapy.
Con Game : Bernard Madoff and His Victims

Bernard Madoff's financial fraud was global, an enormous amount of money was involved, and thousands of people and hundreds of institutions were swindled. Madoff's Con Game was a Ponzi scheme - an investment that pay returns to early investors from money acquired from subsequent investors. This case study looks at the effects of his crimes on the victims. Elements from a theoretical framework put forward by Erving Goffman provide a perspective for understanding the development and the aftermath of MadoffAEs con.
Analyzing the impact of reaction models on the production of hydrocarbons from thermally upgraded oil shales

Abstract Reaction parameters significantly affect oil production from shales by means of heating and in-situ upgrading. In this study, we perform numerical simulations of two chemical reaction models, which are mainly used in the research of kerogen pyrolysis and subsequent hydrocarbon decomposition in organic-rich porous media. They are the Braun and Burnham model and Wellington model. In these forward numerical simulations, we present the influence of the two reaction models on hydrocarbon production. The Braun and Burnham reaction model shows more vigorous kerogen and subsequent decomposition reactions and more hydrocarbon production than the Wellington model. A local sensitivity analysis identifies the reaction parameters with the highest influence on productivity, and the most sensitive outputs. A data-worth analysis identifies the most valuable observation data to be measured for the best prediction of total hydrocarbon production. We find that the most valuable observation data is the cumulative production of heavy oil in the Braun and Burnham model and of light oil in the Wellington model, respectively. Once we determine the maximum allowable prediction uncertainty and the expected measurement uncertainty, the observation data to be measured for the minimization of prediction uncertainty can be obtained.
Nullis in Verba: Advancing Research through Transparency and Openness

Nullis in verba was chosen as the motto of the Royal Society, as it embodied the culture of transparency and collaboration that were the hallmarks of the Royal Society and of the scientific method it promoted. Communication, using the tools of the day, was essential to this community of scientists as they created and shared new knowledge. Almost three hundred years later, libraries continue to advance principles relating to the importance of collaboration and transparency. This two-part article series, published jointly in International Information and Library Review and Technical Services Quarterly explores notions of transparency and collaboration in research and how these ideas are impacting the world of librarianship – from information creation, organization and access perspectives.
Chapter 13 Heterogeneity of schizophrenia: Diagnostic and etiological approaches

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the historical and current thinking on both clinical and etiological heterogeneity in schizophrenia. The diagnosis of schizophrenia is made solely on the basis of signs and symptoms; there are no laboratory tests or imaging techniques that can be used to establish the presence or absence of the disorder. Therefore, the signs and symptoms used to define schizophrenia play a critical role in clinical practice and research. Considerable variability has been observed in virtually any domain in which schizophrenia has been examined, including the age of onset, clinical characteristics, treatment response, and course. The traditional approaches to specifying subtypes of schizophrenia were based on clinical features and the course of illness. Langfeldt subdivided individuals with schizophrenia into process and reactive categories. Process (chronic) schizophrenia referred to individuals with a slow insidious onset and an unremitting course, whereas reactive (acute) schizophrenia referred to individuals with the rapid onset and periods of remission. Studies have also demonstrated that genetic factors play an important role in the etiology of schizophrenia, with an estimation of the broad heritability to be about 67%. The fact that no single genetic model provides a good fit to the observed patterns in families has also led to the suggestion that schizophrenia is etiologically heterogenous.
LASER PRODUCED PLASMA - STREAMER INTERACTION*+

One aspect of laser-plasma interaction which has received little attention is the effect of laser-produced ionization on streamer propagation. Vail, et al.,1 have shown spatial channeling of a streamer along a laser ionized path in air. Recently, using a pulsed nitrogen laser to produce ionization, we have demonstrated control of streamer velocity over orders of magnitude for N2 and SF6. Experimentally, a pulsed voltage was applied across a nonuniform field gap to launch a streamer. The laser-induced ionization was produced spatially ahead of the already propagating streamer. The streamer velocity was thereby controlled, this technique is currently being applied to provide subnanosecond jitter in megavolt switches; the process is different from the triggering method of Guenther, et al.2
Evaluation of Volatile and Gaseous Fission Product Behavior in Water Reactor Fuel Under Normal and Severe Core Accident Conditions

As the noble gases play a major role in establishing the interconnection of escape routes from the interior to the exterior of nuclear reactor fuel, a realistic description of the release of volati...
Pediatric Decision Making Requires Both Guidance and Intervention Principles.

In “The Harm Principle Cannot Replace the Best Interest Standard: Problems With Using the Harm Principle for Medical Decision Making for Children,” Bester argues that conceptual and normative diffi...
Promoting the Behavioral Health of Persons with Neurocognitive Disorders

It is projected that the number of individuals with dementia will continue to increase over the next several decades, with no cure in sight. Consequently, a greater understanding of how to promote behavioral health and quality of life for these individuals is becoming increasingly important. A common approach in the field is symptom management through pharmacologic approaches to cognitive enhancement and treatment of behavioral changes. Rather than a purely medical approach to dementia care, interventions to improve quality of life should involve comprehensive, integrated care. This chapter discusses literature that describes an integrated, contextual model of dementia care, in which comorbid conditions are appropriately treated, adaptive behaviors are supported, and excess disability is rectified or prevented. Within the context of this model of dementia care, the current chapter also describes the importance of family caregiver quality of life and neurocognitive education, in order to improve treatment for individuals suffering from this insidious disease.
Behavioral interventions for obesity in children and adults: Evidence base, novel approaches, and translation into practice

Obesity in adults has nearly doubled in the past 30 years and has risen similarly in children and adolescents. Obesity affects all systems of the body, and the serious health consequences of obesity include an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, such as Type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure, which are occurring at ever younger ages. The present article introduces traditional behavioral weight loss strategies designed to change energy-balance behaviors (i.e., dietary and physical activity behaviors) and the contexts within which these interventions have typically been delivered. The applicability of findings from behavioral economics, cognitive processing, and clinical research that may lead to more potent weight loss and weight loss maintenance interventions are also considered. Given the pervasiveness of obesity, this article concludes with a discussion of efforts toward wider scale dissemination and implementation of behavioral treatments designed to address obesity and to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
A multicenter phase II toxicity study of lung-sparing intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM).

7581 Background: Given the trend away from extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) towards pleurectomy/decortication (P/D), we are developing a technique to deliver radiation to the pleura in patients wit...
The Ethos of Gentility in Early Confucianism

The first part of this chapter discusses the decline of feudalism in ancient China, which constituted the backdrop for the birth of Chinese philosophy. Among the early schools, Confucianism stands out as the one which most directly concerned itself with genteel manners and mores. Indeed, the author argues that not only were most of the early Confucian thinkers members of the gentry, but that their thought largely represented a theory of gentility. The chapter includes a brief sociological comparison of the Chinese and Greek gentries.
Translational models of adaptive and excessive fighting: an emerging role for neural circuits in pathological aggression

Aggression is a phylogenetically stable behavior, and attacks on conspecifics are observed in most animal species. In this review, we discuss translational models as they relate to pathological forms of offensive aggression and the brain mechanisms that underlie these behaviors. Quantifiable escalations in attack or the development of an atypical sequence of attacks and threats is useful for characterizing abnormal variations in aggression across species. Aggression that serves as a reinforcer can be excessive, and certain schedules of reinforcement that allow aggression rewards also allow for examining brain and behavior during the anticipation of a fight. Ethological attempts to capture and measure offensive aggression point to two prominent hypotheses for the neural basis of violence. First, pathological aggression may be due to an exaggeration of activity in subcortical circuits that mediate adaptive aggressive behaviors as they are triggered by environmental or endogenous cues at vulnerable time points. Indeed, repeated fighting experiences occur with plasticity in brain areas once considered hardwired. Alternatively, a separate "violence network" may converge on aggression circuitry that disinhibits pathological aggression (for example, via disrupted cortical inhibition). Advancing animal models that capture the motivation to commit pathological aggression remains important to fully distinguish the neural architecture of violence as it differs from adaptive competition among conspecifics.
Fog Computing for Distributed Family Learning in Cyber-Manufacturing Modeling

Cyber-manufacturing systems (CMS) interconnect manufacturing facilities via sensing and actuation networks to provide reliable computation and communication services in smart manufacturing. In CMS, various advanced data analytics have been proposed to support effective decision-making. However, most of them were formulated in a centralized manner to be executed on single workstations, or on Cloud computation units as the data size dramatically increases. Therefore, the computation or communication service may not be responsive to support online decision-making in CMS. In this research, a method to decompose a group of existing advanced data analytics models (i.e., family learning for CMS modeling) into their distributed variants is proposed via alternative direction method of multipliers (ADMM). It improves the computation services in a Fog-Cloud computation network. A simulation study is conducted to validate the advantages of the proposed distributed method on Fog-Cloud computation network over Cloud computation system. Besides, six performance evaluation metrics are adopted from the literature to access the performance of computation and communication. The evaluation results also indicate the relationship between Fog-Cloud architectures and computation performances, which can contribute to the efficient design of Fog-Cloud architectures in the future.
Transit-oriented displacement: the role of transit access in the housing market

Abstract As urban neighborhoods are developing new appeal, based in part on the accessibility provided by rail transit, gentrification, and displacement are accelerating. Yet, an extensive literature fails to examine the role of transit, and often examines gentrification outcomes without also looking at impacts on housing affordability and household mobility. In this chapter, using regression analysis and data developed in a study conducted for the California Air Resources Board, we examine the role of rail transit in gentrification, displacement, and exclusion in the San Francisco Bay Area. We find that transit plays a significant role, especially if the rail station is well established. However, loss of affordability is more of an issue for transit station areas outside of the region’s core cities, perhaps because of the failure to build new subsidized housing nearby. This then suggests a need to address displacement at the regional scale. Regional transportation planning, particularly Sustainable Communities Strategies, present such an opportunity. We conclude with an examination of the different ways the Bay Area’s regional planning processes have addressed the needs of the housing market.
Ethical Perspectives in Forensic Anthropology and Museum Curation in the United States of America

This chapter explores the concept of repatriation as related to forensic anthropology and museum studies. Forensic anthropology is the study of human remains in a legal and medical setting. While repatriation, the return of human remains, associated artefacts, and sacred objects to a native group is discussed globally, this chapter mainly focuses on the issues within the United States. In the United States, a rich history of repatriation has formed and continues to develop. For example, within the late twentieth century, new laws and protocols affecting museums and their collections have been enacted. The repatriation process emphasises education and communication of the various groups involved.
Atmospheric transport into polar regions on Mars in different orbital epochs

Abstract The variation of the transport of air into Martian polar regions with obliquity is examined using a series of MarsWRF general circulation model simulations which include idealized age of air and exponential decay tracers. These show substantial changes in the circulation, polar vortex structure, and tracer transport with changes in obliquity. These changes are non-monotonic with respect to obliquity, as well as differing between the summer and winter polar regions. In particular, there is an increase in the rate of vertically-integrated transport of air to the winter pole as obliquity increases from 5° to 25° followed by a decrease from 25° to 55°, with generally the reverse trends for transport to the summer pole. This behavior suggests that the amount of dust transport into polar regions will vary with obliquity, and could contribute to the apparent cyclical deposition of dust in polar regions as expressed in the polar layered deposits. Furthermore, the non-monotonic variation with obliquity suggests that visible changes in the appearance of polar layering may vary on a cycle with half the period of the cycle over the full obliquity variation range.
Inflection and Scale Juxtaposition as Strategies of Interrelationships

In his book C + C and through his Learning From behaviour, Robert Venturi frequently calls into question the Inflection as a project strategy, explicitly or hidden, which connotes architecture as a participatory element of a vast relational structure. The structure holds together a single system where Architecture, Urban and Landscape dimensions coexist in relationships. A system whose identity lies mainly in the attitude towards comparison, towards being referential, towards evaluating super-adjacencies, according to a criterion of inclusiveness. Venturi likes to play with Scale. Inevitably the Scale Juxtaposition plays a fundamental role in the relational structure. The Juxtaposition is expressed in usual and/or unusual relationships which amplify the field of interrelational phenomena, never one-way, making them perceptually active. The Scale Juxtaposition, both in history and contemporary design, is materialized in a non-judgmental action to break aesthetic rules and meet functional and contemporary needs, to finally define the powerful and magnetic field of forces that releases complex potentialities of immediate and far links, never univocal. An open, extensible, inclusive and evolutionary system, an interdisciplinary reinvention and perpetual adjustment which unequivocally tends to carry urbanism inside buildings and to the tricky and paradigmatic terrain of The Difficult Whole.
Outlook for the Production of Butanol from Cellulolytic Strains of Clostridia

Abstract Long-term energy stability and environmental concerns have driven development toward the production of transportation fuels from renewable feedstocks such as sugars or lignocellulosic biomass. n-Butanol and isobutanol have emerged as prominent advanced transportation biofuels because of their favorable fuel properties, compatibility with current infrastructure, and ability to serve as chemical feedstocks. Microbial productions of such compounds from sugars have been demonstrated with reasonably encouraging yields and productivities. Ultimately, production of butanol from cellulosic materials will be the goal. To this end, cellulolytic Clostridium species are among the most promising organisms to serve a host because they provide an opportunity for consolidated bioprocessing. These microbes are natively equipped with robust cellulose-degrading machinery, but they require introduction and optimization of pathways for producing n-butanol or isobutanol. This chapter will describe the benefits of cellulolytic Clostridia for economical biomass degradation, outline pathways for microbial n-butanol and isobutanol production, and discuss progress and strategies for improving butanol production as well as the current status and future directions of clostridial butanol.
VI Experimental Studies of Intensity Fluctuations in Lasers

Publisher Summary This chapter deals with the fluctuations in the light emitted by various laser sources. It is useful to distinguish two general classes of laser fluctuations. The first class consists of fluctuation phenomena occurring in lasers with a single lasing mode because of the fact that a laser is a nonlinear oscillator perturbed by noise. The second class of laser fluctuations consists of those phenomena occurring in the observation of laser light containing more than one lasing mode. Intensity fluctuations in a single lasing mode are observed only in the vicinity of threshold and are explained by the details of the nonlinear oscillator. Photoelectron counting experiments are of three kinds. The laser intensity noise may be adequately described by the Van der Pol model for an oscillator including a noise driving term. The stabilization of the laser amplitude is caused by the non-linear nature of the gain mechanism. This stabilization acts to restore the laser amplitude each time it is perturbed by a spontaneous emission.
Initial performance and characteristics of the PBX-M pellet injector

The Princeton Beta Experiment-Modified (PBX-M) Pellet Injector Project, which provides for the fabrication, installation, and operation of a pellet-injector fueling system on the PBX-M tokamak experiment, is described and its operation is discussed. The system consists of an eight-barrel pellet gun, a pellet transport facility, and a control system. The gun is an eight-shot pneumatic assembly designed and fabricated at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The pellet transport and control facilities were designed, fabricated, and installed by the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). The integrated pellet-injector system has been installed on PBX-M and is operational for use in plasma experiments. Initial tokamak operation utilizing a single gun provided a high rate of successful pellet formation. >
Health and Labor Force Participation of the Elderly in Taiwan

Estimates are reported of the consequences of health on participation in the labor force of elderly men and women in Taiwan from 1989 to 1996. Three survey indicators of individual health are examined, and two are estimated by instrumental variables (IV), using as instruments parent longevity, birthplace, and childhood conditions. IV estimates of health's effect on participation are in most cases significant and always negative, and about twice the magnitude of the ordinary least squares estimates, and the hypothesis that health is exogenous and measured without error is rejected. Implementation in 1995 of a National Health Insurance (NHI) shifted to the state the growing cost of elderly health care, and reduced the incentive for elderly to work to receive employer-provided health insurance. But this change in health care financing does not appear to have contributed to a reduction in elderly participation rates in 1996.
The Physics of Protein Crystallization

This paper covers review of recent research on protein crystal properties, nucleation, growth and perfection. Mechanical properties of crystals built of molecules strongly exceeding the range of molecular forces are very different from conventional ones. Similar scaling is responsible for specificity of phase equilibrium for macromolecular systems of which thermodynamics is discussed. Nucleation and growth peculiarity and similarity in protein solutions as compared to inorganic solutions is addressed. Hypotheses on why and when microgravity (lack of convection) conditions may result in more perfect crystals are discussed.
Chaos in Hamiltonians with a Cosmological Time Dependence

This paper summarises a numerical investigation of how the usual manifestations of chaos and regularity for flows in time-independent Hamiltonians can be alterred by a systematic time-dependence of the form arising naturally in an expanding Universe. If the time-dependence is not too strong, the observed behaviour can be understood in an adiabatic approximation. One still infers sharp distinctions between regular and chaotic behaviour, even though ``regular'' does not mean ``periodic'' and ``chaotic'' will not in general imply strictly exponential sensitivity towards small changes in initial conditions. However, these distinctions are no longer absolute, as it is possible for a single orbit to change from regular to chaotic and/or visa versa. If the time-dependence becomes too strong, the distinction between regular and chaotic can disappear so that no sensitive dependence on initial conditions is manifest.
The "Informal Economy" of the Information University

In this essay, I want to explore what can be called the informatics of U.S. higher education—the managerial logic through which university administrators have transformed the academic workplace on the model of information, so that education (and the labor providing it) is increasingly “delivered” as data, flowing in a bitstream highly responsive to managerial direction.
Body Image: a Critical Psychosocial Issue for Patients With Head and Neck Cancer

Increasing attention is being given to evaluating and treating body image difficulties of patients undergoing cancer treatment. Head and neck cancer significantly alters physical appearance and bodily functioning and therefore directly impacts body image. Research involving body image in head and neck cancer patients is growing, and this review considers published findings from 2013 to 2014. Primary attention is given to discussing recent advancements in body image assessment, qualitative studies, descriptive research, and psychosocial intervention studies relevant to body image. Limitations and necessary advancements in this field are noted, and a commentary is provided on the state of the current literature.
Setting up on-line support groups using the palace software

Abstract This article describes the process of setting up on-line support groups using The Palace, an Internet software that establishes a graphical room for the group. Palace rooms include visual cues about the setting of the group, the identity of participants, and the proximity of members. The authors describe the process of installing the software and illustrate operating it during the group. Considerations for group planning including selection of leader, selections and orientation of members, and recommendations for pregroup training are discussed.
Does anomalous color vision imply color weakness

“Reduction” explanations of anomalous color vision imply that deuteranomalous systems are green-weak and protanomalous red-weak. An experimental test fails to confirm this interpretation, but is consistent with an alternative explanation that postulates opponent-response systems for color anomalies that are shifted relative to those of normal color vision.
Noninvasive diagnosis of renal artery stenosis by ultrasonic duplex scanning

We retrospectively studied the results of duplex scanning for evaluation of renal artery disease in 158 patients. Satisfactory examinations were achieved in 144 patients (90%). Arteriograms were available for 43 renal arteries. We used the ratio of the peak velocities in the renal artery and the aorta (RAR) to separate nonstenotic arteries (less than 60% diameter reduction) from stenotic arteries (greater than 60% diameter reduction). With an RAR of greater than 3.5 to indicate stenotic lesions, duplex scanning had a sensitivity of 91% (20 of 22 diseased arteries correctly identified) and specificity of 95% (20 of 21 normal or insignificantly diseased arteries correctly identified). One of four occluded arteries was incorrectly interpreted as patent because of misidentification of a collateral vessel. Prospective studies will be necessary to validate this test and establish other criteria for a more detailed classification of renal artery stenosis. The ratio of the end-diastolic to peak systolic velocities in the renal artery (EDR) tended to decrease with increasing serum creatinine levels, presumably because renal vascular resistance increases with end-stage parenchymal disease. EDR may prove useful in the detection of advanced parenchymal disease before renal artery revascularization is attempted.
Tomorrow's Horoscope for Today's Counselor Types.

It is salutary for us to view ourselves with tongue in cheek occasionally. Humor carries its own modicum of truth, so the reader is enjoined to play the game according to the rules. If you become offended, says the author, you either believe in astrology or take yourself too seriously—perhaps both. If you are amused, fine; but the author hopes this article will provoke a little thought as well.
Dynamics of polymer-dispersed cholesteric liquid crystals

We have studied the electrooptic properties of droplets of cholesteric liquid crystal dispersed in a polymer. Application of AC electric fields to the droplets leads to a conversion of the droplet from a nonreflecting to a selectively reflecting appearance. When the field is suddenly switched on, the switching times are found to decrease strongly with increasing field strength, with increasing temperature and with decreasing drop size. For the switching off process, both switching times and microscopic textures indicate that two different relaxation processes can occur, depending on the applied voltage and on the drop size.
Ribbon synapses in zebrafish hair cells

The basic architecture and functionality of ribbon synapses of mechanosensitive hair cells are well conserved among vertebrates. Forward and reverse genetic methods in zebrafish (Danio rerio) have identified components that are critical for the development and function of ribbon synapses. This review will focus on the findings of these genetic approaches, and discuss some emergent concepts on the role of the ribbon body and calcium in synapse development, and how perturbations in synaptic vesicles lead to a loss of temporal fidelity at ribbon synapses. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled .
Structural visualization of key steps in human transcription initiation

Eukaryotic transcription initiation requires the assembly of general transcription factors into a pre-initiation complex that ensures the accurate loading of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) at the transcription start site. The molecular mechanism and function of this assembly have remained elusive due to lack of structural information. Here we have used an in vitro reconstituted system to study the stepwise assembly of human TBP, TFIIA, TFIIB, Pol II, TFIIF, TFIIE and TFIIH onto promoter DNA using cryo-electron microscopy. Our structural analyses provide pseudo-atomic models at various stages of transcription initiation that illuminate critical molecular interactions, including how TFIIF engages Pol II and promoter DNA to stabilize both the closed pre-initiation complex and the open-promoter complex, and to regulate start--initiation complexes, combined with the localization of the TFIIH helicases XPD and XPB, support a DNA translocation model of XPB and explain its essential role in promoter opening.
A 35-year experience with the post-sophomore fellowship in pathology: Analysis of its effectiveness as a recruitment resource

Abstract Recent reports have indicated a shortage of pathologists coming out of training programs over the next few years. This is due, in part, to a decrease in the number of medical students entering pathology and an overall decline in the popularity of the field as a specialty choice. Medical students electing to spend a year in a post-sophomore fellowship in pathology would be expected to enter the field at a higher than average rate. In this study, the specialty choices of 140 former student fellows were analyzed. The students included in the study were enrolled in a year-long University of California, Los Angeles post-sophomore fellowship in pathology between 1953 and 1988. Twenty-seven of the 140 students (19.3%) ultimately chose pathology as a career. This represents a 9- to 10-fold increase over the average percentage of medical students entering pathology through the match (
Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Electron Beam Deposits of AISI 316L Stainless Steel

Electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF3 ) is a process that uses an electron beam and wire feedstock to fabricate metallic parts inside a vacuum chamber. In this study, single and multiple layer linear deposits of AISI 316L stainless steel were produced with the EBF3 machine at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC). EBF3 process parameters, including beam current, translation speed, and wire feed rate, were investigated in order to consider their effects on the resulting steel deposit geometry, microstructure and mechanical properties. Results indicate that the EBF3 process can produce pore-free, fully dense material within the range of process parameters used in this study. The electron beam deposited stainless steel has a solidification microstructure with fine columnar grains within most parts of the deposit due to the high cooling rate during the deposition, with some small homogeneous equiaxed grains at the top of the deposit. The mechanical properties of the deposits are comparable to those of wrought metal, which is attributed to the homogeneous fine-grained microstructure.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
The effect of inertia on the dispersion of particles in the flow around a two-dimensional flat plate

Abstract Wind tunnel experiments and a visualization procedure are described with the purpose of investigating the effects of inertia on the dispersion of particles in flows around a bluff body. Four different grits of narrowly graded aluminum oxide optical powders were used to generate the test aerosol, which was released from a point source upstream the obstacle. The resultant aerosols covered the range of median particle aerodynamic diameter from 14 to 47 μm . Measurements were taken for the residence time of the particles in the near-wake region of a long flat plate positioned perpendicularly to the free-stream after the aerosol injection had been suddenly interrupted. The experiments covered air velocity and particle size ranges corresponding to Reynolds’ number ( Re ) ranging from 1400 to 10,200 and Stokes’ number ( St ) from 0.02 to 1.8. Results for the dimensionless residence time H (defined as H = τU / D , where τ is the time constant for the concentration decay for particles in the near wake, and U and D are the free-stream velocity and characteristic dimension of the bluff obstacle, respectively) for the larger particles varied between about 5 and 13, while the H -values for small inertialess particles (obtained in previous experiments; Gomes, Vincent, and Pui (Aerosol Sci. Tech. 26 (1997) 269) had varied between about 7 and 10. This is in accordance with the general finding that the apparent diffusivity of the large particles may, depending on the flow and particle characteristics, be either smaller or larger than the diffusivity of the fluid, as has been proposed by several authors in recent years. An important result from the visualization of the particle trajectories was the identification of organized structures, or “particle vortices”. These appear as a consequence of centrifugal inertial effects acting on the large particles which are responsible for concentrating them in the outer regions of the large coherent eddy structures while keeping the center practically clear. The same phenomenon has also been discussed for several free shear flow configurations by Crowe (Proceedings of the 11th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR), Plenary Lecture, San Francisco, 1992), Tang et al. (Phys. Fluids A 4 (1992) 2244) and Yang, Crowe, Chung, and Troutt (Int. J. Multiphase Flow 26 (2000) 1583). Most notably, it was predicted numerically by Chein and Chung (Chemical Engineering Science 43 (1988) 1621) for particles in the near wake of the same two-dimensional flat plate configuration studied here.
Large kinetic isotope effects with unsymmetrical transition states

Abstract The results of a series of calculations for a wide, unrestricted variation in the force constants for the making and breaking bonds and their interaction constant are presented for the abstraction reactions of CH2D2 with Cl atoms. A wide range of asymmetrical force constants leads to a high kinetic isotope effect as has been pointed out by others for a more restricted range of consideration. These results pointedly contradict the assumed connection between a high kinetic isotope effect and a symmetrical transition state. It is found by examining the atomic displacements of the normal mode that the motion of the H or D atom in the real stretch of the transition state will often have little influence on the isotope effect because the mode can be dominated by end group motions. It is further found that a 3-center model multiplied by a constant factor to account for the contributions of the other vibrations is capable of very satisfactorily reproducing the more rigorous 6-center calculations.
Ketone body and phosphoenolpyruvate formation by isolated hepatic mitochondria from Squalus acanthias (spiny dogfish)

In elasmobranchs, triglycerides are stored in the liver, which appears to be the primary site for lipolysis and oxidation of fatty acids, a major product being ketone bodies. The objective of this study was to obtain comparative information about properties of ketone body and phosphoenolpyruvate formation by liver of Squalus acanthias (spiny dogfish, a representative elasmobranch) by using an isolated hepatic mitochondrial system we have previously described for studying respiration and glutamine-dependent citrulline synthesis. Acetate and palmitoyl-CoA are stoichiometrically converted to ketone bodies at a rapid rate. The capability of mitochondria to convert short-chain fatty acids to ketone bodies indicates that the previously reported inability of dogfish mitochondria to utilize short-chain fatty acids to support respiration is not due to absence of nucleoside monophosphate kinase activity. At least two acyl-CoA synthetase activities are present in mitochondrial extracts, one specific for acetate and another with specificity for longer-chain fatty acids. Utilization of palmitoyl-CoA is carnitine-dependent and is inhibited by low concentrations of malonyl-CoA. Pyruvate and alanine are also rapidly metabolized to ketone bodies. Phosphoenolpyruvate is formed at a significant rate from a number of substrates, including in particular aspartate and malate in the presence of α-ketoglutarate. The osmolytes urea and trimethylamine oxide activate and inhibit, respectively, phosphoenolpyruvate formation; in contrast, these osmolytes inhibit and activate, respectively, ketone body and citrulline formation by isolated mitochondria. The results are consistent with the reported unique functions of dogfish liver in lipid metabolism and indicate that the basic enzymatic processes at the level of mitochondria appear to be analogous to those present in mammalian species.
The reliability of medical student ratings of clinical teaching.

This study estimated the interrater reliability of medical student evaluations of clinical teaching. Data consisted of 1,570 ratings evaluating 147faculty over a 4-year period in a 3rd-year internal medicine clerkship. The number of ratings a typical faculty member receives in a year was also calculated and used to extrapolate the standard error of measurementfor data typically available to evaluatefaculty at different time intervals. The data available to evaluate afaculty member after I year was not adequate, but improved substantially at the 5-to 7-yearmark when a faculty member is typically evaluated for promotion and tenure.
Tissue pharmacokinetics of 2′,3′-dideoxyinosine in rats

Abstract The present study examined in rats the concentration-time profiles of 2′,3′-dideoxyinosine (ddI) in pharmacologically relevant tissues, including organs where drug effects are desired (brain, lymph nodes, spleen), organs with known drug toxicity (pancreas), and major eliminating organs (liver, kidney). ddI was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography and radioimmunoassay. In the liver, pancreas, spleen, brain and lymph nodes, the highest concentrations were reached between 4 and 7 min after drug administration. The concentrations subsequently declined in parallel with those in plasma, indicating that plasma and these tissues were in rapid equilibrium. The concentrations in these tissues were less or equal to that of plasma. In the kidney, the maximal concentration occurred at a later time of 14 min, after which concentrations also declined in parallel to those in plasma. The kidney concentrations were about 10-fold greater than plasma concentrations. The ratios of tissue-to-plasma concentrations and of areas under the tissue and plasma concentration-time profiles showed a 230- to 300-fold range with the rank order of kidney ≫ liver ≈ pancreas > lymph nodes > spleen ≫ brain, with respective values of 10.4, 1.09, 0.90, 0.75, 0.42, and 0.04. These data indicate no accumulation of ddI in brain, lymph nodes, spleen, pancreas and liver, and a significant accumulation in the kidney. The low tissue-to-plasma ratios in brain and spleen and a moderate ratio in lymph nodes indicate that further enhancement of the therapeutic effect of ddI requires improved drug delivery and entrapment in these tissues.