cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
When Pythons Bite

Python is a common used programming language in many environments, such as datacenter software, embedded programming or regular desktop computers, due to its dynamic and interpreted nature. Furthermore it is easy to write applications and test them because no recompilation is needed. At the heart of everything lies the Python interpreter which is responsible with converting input scripts into an platform-independent representation, called bytecode, and then executing them in a contained environment.
Laser Refrigeration of Rare-earth Doped Sodium Yttrium Fluoride Nanowires with Anti-Stokes Fluorescence

Using a single-beam near-infrared optical trapping, we report laser refrigeration of hydrothermally synthesized Yb3+-doped β-NaYF4 nanowires in aqueous media through the analysis of the nanowire’s cold Brownian motion.
Is the Effect of Preshock Treatment on Shock-Elicited Aggression Independent of Situational Stimuli?

During a 4-day Preshock Phase, rats were placed individually for 10 min. per day in either Chamber A (illuminated) or Chamber B (pine-scented, not illuminated). Half the Ss placed in each chamber received shock. During a 4-day Aggression Phase, pairs of Ss of the same preshock condition were placed in Chamber A and administered shock for 10 min. each day. Regardless of the similarity of preshock and aggression chambers, preshocked rats displayed less aggression than nonpreshocked rats. The preshock effect was interpreted as being mediated by the stimulus consequences of shock.
Rapid Isolation of Extracellular Vesicles from Blood Plasma with Size-Exclusion Chromatography Followed by Mass Spectrometry-Based Proteomic Profiling

The presented procedure allows rapid isolation of extracellular vesicles (EVs) from plasma using size-exclusion chromatography (SEC). Additionally, an approach for reducing the lipid and salt content of the EV isolate in preparation for mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomic analysis is presented. An example setup for proteomic profiling of the processed samples by nanoflow liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (nLC-MS/MS) is also presented. Approximately 1000 protein groups in blood plasma-derived EVs can be identified and quantitated following this procedure and using the described instrumentation.
Peer victimization and suicidal ideation: The role of gender and depression in a school-based sample.

Abstract The current study investigated the relations among traditional and cyber victimization, depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and gender in a school-based sample of 403 9th grade (13 to 16-year-old) adolescents. Path analyses indicated that both traditional victimization and cyber victimization were associated with suicidal ideation indirectly through depressive symptoms. Although there was little evidence of gender differences in the associations among peer victimization and depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation, the relation between depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation was found to be significantly stronger for girls than boys. The current investigation confirms the complexity of the association between peer victimization and suicidal ideation and that depressive symptoms, as well as gender, may play a role in this complex relation. Future research should continue to explore the associations among victimization, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation within a social ecological framework.
Can Analysis of Policy Decisions Spur Participation

Agencies are frequently required to analyze the impact of their decisions, particularly in the context of regulatory policy. Advocates of analysis have championed the transparency benefit of these requirements. But there has been very little attention paid to the effectiveness of analysis in spurring useful participation in practice. This article examines how analysis can hinder and motivate public participation. Interviews were conducted with 48 analysts (including economists, risk assessors, and environmental impact assessors). In addition I conducted a case study on a unique method for using analysis in partnership with participation, the use of panels of small business owners to evaluate a regulatory proposal by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). I find that participation in agency decisions as a result of traditional analytical requirements has been very uneven. Examples of success exist but so do cases where participation may be deterred by the density and complexity of analysis as well as cases of massive letter-writing campaigns ignored by decision-makers. I recommend a move toward simpler and earlier analysis, and the use of panels (such as described in the case study) to better take advantage of the potential synergy between analysis and participation.
Custom air puff-derived biomechanical variables in a refractive surgery screening setting: Study from 2 centers

PURPOSE To assess the ability of air puff-derived biomechanical variables to predict surgeon-perceived candidacy for laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK). SETTING Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, and Emory Eye Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. DESIGN Retrospective case series. METHODS Data were collected from refractive surgery screening examinations by 2 surgeons at 2 centers. Disqualified cases (19 eyes and 28 eyes from each surgeon) were judged not to be candidates based on available data including standard variables from the Ocular Response Analyzer. Controls consisted of LASIK candidates (n = 26 and 23). Three custom biomechanical variables not available during screening were calculated and compared by group and surgeon. RESULTS The hysteresis loop area was significantly different between disqualified cases and controls for both surgeons (Surgeon 1: controls, 121.50 ± 25.38 [SD], disqualified, 107.62 ± 18.50, P = .04; Surgeon 2: controls, 135.89 ± 22.47, disqualified, 106.11 ± 16.40, P < .001). The area under the curves of the receiver operating characteristics and the cutoff values were statistically significant for the concavity minimum and hysteresis loop area for Surgeon 1 and for all variables except concavity minimum for Surgeon 2. The hysteresis loop area had the highest odds ratio (Surgeon 1, 4.48, Surgeon 2, 20.00). Adjusted R2 in best-subsets regressions were 40.2% for Surgeon 1 and 62.9% for Surgeon 2. CONCLUSIONS The hysteresis loop area was predictive of which patients were disqualified for LASIK at different sites. Certain measures of the corneal dynamic response to an air puff might serve as correlates to clinically perceived ectasia risk.
Process and Services Fusion impact Assessment: SSME Findings from industry Collaboration and the need for Competency Centers

∗ Corresponding Author ABSTRACT Properly applied, services science, management and engineering (SSME) approaches coupled with service oriented architectures (SOA) are intended to support enterprise agility, but one of today’s most pervasive challenges deals with where and how organizations can start such a journey. So, how should a company begin assessing the real impacts of these paradigm shifts, and how could a company benefit from them if planning started today? We established an enterprise-directed, integrated exploration approach, “Process and Services Fusion Impact Assessment” (P&SFIA), for creating an organizational roadmap to realize visions of how to deliver reliable, scalable enterprise processes built upon SOA. From our collaborations with two local Fortune 100 organizations, we found that a chronology of eight lessons learned, a conceptual model and a generic reuse approach are relevant to viable P&SFIA. We propose that “Process & Services Fusion Competency Centers” be supported by IBM and others interested in advancing SSME/SOA.
Everyone Designs: Learner Autonomy through Creative, Reflective, and Iterative Practice Mindsets

Developing learner autonomy—or the ability to take charge of one’s learning—is a crucial element of teaching and learning and of design work. In this article, we argue that developing learner autonomy in students requires instructors to adopt a two-fold approach through a mindset rooted in creativity and reflective practice. We discuss the theoretical grounding for this mindset, and then situate our discussion by examining an award-winning hybrid-blended course about design thinking in an educational psychology and educational technology doctoral program. The course outcomes qualitatively demonstrated the ways in which students developed a perception of learner autonomy through their work in creating and implementing context-specific educational technology design solutions. We present and discuss evidence from our own formative reflective practice as instructors, along with evidence from students’ reflections, on how themes of learner autonomy emerged via our proposed pedagogical mindset.
English and Meaning.

Amid the ongoing tension between an authentic teaching/learning of English and the increasing encroachment of assessments, teachers might gain support for a “meaning-making” approach by dialoguing ...
It’s About Distributing Rather than Sharing: Using Labor Process Theory to Probe the “Sharing” Economy

The sharing economy has been examined from many angles, including the engagement of customers, the capabilities of the technological platforms, and the experiences of those who sell products or services. We focus on labor in the sharing economy. Labor has been regarded as one type of asset exchanged in the sharing economy, as part of the customer interface when services are sold, or as a party vulnerable to exploitation. We focus on labor as a position in relationship to owners of capital. While new typologies to characterize the sharing economy are emerging, we argue that a well-established framework that has been applied across historic types of work arrangements can offer a robust analysis of enduring and new labor issues. We draw upon labor process theory (LPT) from early formulations to recent applications to guide an analysis appropriate to the sharing economy. We use both central and less explored concepts from LPT (obscuring and securing surplus value, technology as control, invisibility of owners and managers, and possessive individualism) and use Uber as a case to illustrate application of the framework. By considering labor, capital, and the power dynamics between them, we draw attention to unequal exchange and distributive justice, fundamental for taking a business ethics approach to labor in the sharing economy.
α-K4R6I14Os (R = La, Pr): A Novel Iodine-Rich Structure with a Layered Network of Electron-Poor Clusters. An Incipient Delocalized System with Metal-like Conductivity

The title compounds are obtained from reactions of KI, RI3, R, and Os at 750−850 °C in sealed Nb or Ta containers. The structure was established by single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies (tetrago...
Early Recurrence of Myocardial Transthyretin Amyloid Deposition Three Years Post Heart Transplantation for Hereditary V40I Amyloidosis

Transthyretin (ATTR) amyloidosis is an increasingly recognized cause of heart failure. For ATTR patients who undergo isolated heart transplantation, recurrent amyloid deposition in the graft myocardium is uncommon. Introduction A 58 year old man presented with heart failure and severe concentric left ventricular hypertrophy consistent with infiltrative cardiomyopathy on cardiac MRI. He was diagnosed with hereditary ATTR amyloidosis (V40I variant) on endomyocardial biopsy and subsequent genotyping. Case Description The patient also had a history of coronary artery disease, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and spinal stenosis. He was enrolled in a tafamidis clinical trial, but developed stage D heart failure, and within two years required (isolated) cardiac transplantation, after which he was excluded from the tafamidis trial. Nine months post transplant, he required decompressive lumbar foraminotomies for spinal stenosis, and two years post transplant he developed worsening peripheral neuropathy. Routine echocardiograms, endomyocardial biopsies and coronary angiography did not suggest any recurrent infiltrative cardiomyopathy or allograft vasculopathy until 3 years post transplant, where the endomyocardial biopsy demonstrated subendocardial amyloid deposition. The patient was initiated on patisiran for the indication of amyloid neuropathy, with early follow up of clinical response pending. Discussion Recurrence of transthyretin cardiac amyloid deposition after heart transplantation is uncommon. Some patients undergo heart-liver transplantation which would obviate the source of ATTR production, but even in patients with isolated heart transplantation, development of cardiac amyloidosis within three years is uncommon. A previous case series of patients with the V40I variant (the “Wagshurst study”) reported that no patients who underwent isolated heart transplantation showed evidence of amyloid recurrence in the donor graft up to 8 years of followup. Conclusion In the era of increasing diagnosis and new treatments for ATTR amyloidosis, we report an early recurrence of cardiac amyloidosis, which raises questions for further study including surveillance and the potential role of new ATTR therapies in post heart transplant patients with hereditary amyloidosis.
Effectiveness of a bibliotherapy intervention for young adult women’s sexual functioning

This study examined the effectiveness of a bibliotherapy intervention (i.e., the reading of a book) among 50 women randomized to read the book (intervention group) or wait to receive the book (wait...
TREEZ - An educational data structures game

TREEZ is a planned educational software package in computer-game format. It is intended to reinforce knowledge of tree traversal techniques and to compare and contrast iterative and recursive traversal algorithms. This paper presents a description of the game, its design methodology, its underlying algorithms, implementation details, possible variations, and future enhancements.
Emotion and the Psychological Distance of Climate Change

Anchored by construal level theory and appraisal theories of emotion, this study examines whether discrete emotions vary along with perceived psychological distance of climate change impacts. We fo...
Respiratory Failure and Other Respiratory Conditions

Respiratory conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma are exceedingly common, with the prevalence expected to increase globally. As the severity of these illnesses increases, patients experience a rising amount of exacerbations requiring an escalating number of physician appointments, emergency room visits, and possible hospitalizations. These two pulmonary conditions alone represent significant global health and economic burdens. Unfortunately, more frequent hospitalizations often lead to poorer outcomes with respiratory failure and possible intubations with prolonged courses of mechanical ventilation. An often overlooked symptom in these patients is pain, particularly during periods of acute exacerbation (Maignan et al., PLoS One 14:1–13, 2019). Much of the initial management is focused on managing the presenting symptomatology, which might include dyspnea, coughing and wheezing; moreover, the patient may be intubated making the evaluation of pain more difficult. Adequately treating the pain of inpatients with pulmonary disease improves quality of life and reduces further morbidity and mortality. Quality of end of life care in patients with advanced lung cancer is frequently encountered in the hospital setting as their cancer pain progresses with the course of the disease.
Deep Learning-based MR-derived PET Prediction for Patient-Conforming PET Phantoms

1417 Introduction: Collecting abundant PET data from real patients for prototyping algorithm development has historically been prohibitive because it requires delivering a radiation dose. In this work, we demonstrate the prediction of zero-dose PET (zdPET) volumes from abundant and dose-free MRI volumes, without any a priori segmentation or manual annotation. These zdPET volumes can be used for pseudo-realistic synthetic-PET dataset generation, algorithm development and calibration. Methods: We assembled an anonymized dataset of 57 whole-body 18F-FDG-18 PET/MRI exams. After registering these exams to a common grid, we used a deep neural network, based on a fully-convolutional 3D residual U-net architecture, to perform the cross-domain mapping from T2-weighed MRI to PET. For training, MRI/PET volumes from 40 exams were fed respectively as input/groundtruth on a [32 px x 32 px x 16 px] patch-by-patch basis, without a priori location context or annotation. Stochastic gradient descent was used to optimize the deep neural network using an objective function that linearly-combines terms measuring the mean absolute error, the mean absolute error in high activity regions, and the mean relative error between predicted PET volumes and full-dose SUV-normalized PET volumes in the training dataset. The trained algorithm was subsequently applied to the 17 withheld (test) exams and the resulting images were compared both quantitatively in terms of absolute error, as well as qualitatively based on the predicted uptake patterns. Results: zdPET imagery derived from MR-based DNNs provide good patient-geometry-conforming prediction of physiologic activity patterns in tissues and organs that are exhibit consistent uptake across patients and patient exams (e.g. the liver). The developed algorithm, however, is unable to effectively predict physiologic activity in areas with variable uptake (e.g. myocardium). These observations are seen clearly in Figure 1a-c, by comparing differences in the maximum intensity projection (MIP) and absolute error between the predicted zdPET and full-dose PET volumes of a patient. A comparison of the predicted physiologic activity patterns across patient exams is shown in Figure 1d-f, where each row depicts slices from a different patient exam with different geometry and relative activity. Conclusions: Results indicate the viability of generating large realistic PET imagery datasets from abundant dose-free MRI volumes. Some issues related to consistent SUV-normalization, optimizing relative vs absolute error, patch size selection, and mitigating blocking artifacts remain. One option is to train a different network on each octant or for organ group of interest, as to enhance the context required to reproduce the nominal uptake patterns. Future work includes leveraging zdPET volumes to improve artifact-mitigating PET reconstruction algorithms (e.g. scatter, motion, low-SNR).
Natural history of inflammatory and non-inflammatory dry eye in thyroid eye disease.

The purpose is to understand the natural history and physical findings in thyroid eye disease (TED) patients with severe dry eye symptoms (DES). Prospective cohort study, studying DES in TED patien...
Quantum dot laser diodes

Recently, semiconductor quantum dot (QD) laser diodes have been successfully demonstrated. The emphasis in this paper is on the recent progresses at our institute, towards the understanding the physics of such zero-dimensional heterostructures and pointing out the benefits and challenges associated with incorporating these nanostructures in the active layers of practical devices such as laser diodes.
Fate of Environmental Proteins (eProteins) from Genetically Engineered Crops in Streams is Controlled by Water pH and Ecosystem Metabolism.

Environmental proteins (eProteins), such as Cry proteins associated with genetically engineered (GE) organisms, are present in ecosystems worldwide, but only rarely reach concentrations with detect...
Progression of pediatric celiac disease from potential celiac disease to celiac disease: a retrospective cohort study

A subset of patients with serology suggesting celiac disease have an initially negative biopsy but subsequently develop histopathologic celiac disease. Here we characterize patients with potential celiac disease who progress to celiac disease. We performed a retrospective analysis of children (0–18 years of age) with biopsy-confirmed celiac disease seen at St. Louis Children’s Hospital between 2013 and 2018. Three hundred sixteen of 327 (96%) children with biopsy-confirmed celiac disease were diagnosed on initial biopsy. The 11 children with potential celiac disease who progressed to celiac disease had lower anti-tissue transglutaminase (anti-TTG IgA) concentrations (2.4 (1.6–5) X upper limit of normal (ULN) vs. 6.41 (3.4–10.5) X ULN) at time of first biopsy. Their median anti-TTG IgA concentrations rose from 2.4 (1.6–5) X ULN to 3.6 (3.1–9.2) X ULN between biopsies. Four percent of biopsy confirmed celiac patients initially had a negative biopsy, but later developed histopathologic celiac disease. This is likely an underestimate as no surveillance algorithm was in place. We recommend repeat assessment in children whose serology suggests celiac disease despite normal small bowel biopsy.
Nevanlinna and algebraic hyperbolicity

Motivated by the notion of the algebraic hyperbolicity, we introduce the notion of Nevanlinna hyperbolicity for a pair (X,D), where X is a projective variety and D is an effective Cartier divisor o...
Risk Assessment, Enacting Roles, and Presenting Epidemiological Data

To characterize how we can reimagine the value of professionals with “interactional expertise” who are working alongside other professionals, Graham and Mol's praxiographic approach to risk communication analysis can be useful in determining the value of including different stakeholders in hybrid forums. This is examined in the competing representations of risk in two public health dashboards used in Florida to communicate the nature of the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wolves and Monogamy

In her recent article, Pat Shipman asserts that it is human involvement with and control over animals that has driven key factors in human evolution, such as tool making and language (Shipman 2010). There may be an additional factor. Male and female monogamy has been and is the dominant form of marriage among human beings. Among most individuals and cultures, it is the most common form of marriage, and even in societies allowing other forms of marriage, monogamy is the most common form. By contrast to this ideal, real human behavior is fairly promiscuous, as is the behavior of the close relatives of human beings, chimpanzees and bonobos. The origin of marriage has been a topic of interest to the earliest anthropologists as well as to contemporary anthropologists, at least as “pair-bonding.” C. Owen Lovejoy (White et al. 2009), for example, suggests that male provisioning of a particular female through pairbonding may have led to bipedalism among Ardipithecus species and their descendents. Pair-bonding, despite all its advantages, does not seem to have led to a “monogamy gene” as such. With the ability of humans to attach symbolic meanings, however, pair-bonding can be elevated to monogamy. Human beings’ abilities to attach intense symbolic meanings to things and behavior, however, are often inspired and sustained by strongly meaningful circumstances that affect survival. Such may be the case with monogamy. Dogs were domesticated tens of thousands of years before any plant or other animal was domesticated. In the hunt, as human companions, dogs compensated for humans’ lack of speed, sense of smell, sense of hearing, and tearing teeth and claws. The transition of some wolves into dogs must have had a profound effect on human survival. At the center of wolf pack social organization is the pair-bond of a dominant male and female who are the only breeding individuals in the pack. It would have been easy for humans to attribute part of dogs’ mystique to their “monogamy” and to seek that power by imitating the pair-bond of wolves.
High-Sensitivity Analytical Approaches to the Analysis of N-Glycans

Publisher Summary Identification and quantification of glycans from the physico-chemical viewpoint using analytical strategies, glycan release methods, and small-scale purification protocols are essential to address the difficulties of structural analysis in glycobiology at different degrees of complexity. This chapter addresses the contemporary analytical methodologies used in molecular profiling and mass spectroscopy (MS)-based structural elucidation of N-glycans cleaved from glycoproteins. The tasks and analytical attributes of these determinations in different aspects of glycobiology vary in terms of difficulty, complexity of materials, and the amounts of available glycoproteins. The glycomic analysis of asparagine-linked sugars is viewed as a more facile target of investigation than the analysis of O-glycans. This situation is largely due to the availability of endoglycosidase enzymes and uniform core structure with biosynthetic attributes. An array of new instrumental approaches and MS tools addresses the key structural and functional aspects of glycoconjugates in several ways. The new types of mass analyzers and tandem MS techniques work at unprecedented sensitivity and mass resolution to determine sugar sequences, chain branching, linkages, and additional aspects of the oligosaccharide structure. The approaches are primarily based on chemical/analytical measurements such as MS and laser-induced fluorescence detection following the use of a capillary separation technique. Recent advances in the use of MS tandem techniques are discussed in detail, reviewing important research avenues and potential directions.
Myocardial imaging with indium-113m- and technetium-99m-macroaggregated albumin: New procedure for identification of stress-induced regional ischemia

Abstract Regional coronary blood flow distribution was studied by myocardial imaging after intracoronary injection of technetium-99m- and indium-113m-macroaggregated albumin at rest and during coronary hyperemia induced by intracoronary injection of Hypaque-M, 75 percent. The four- to five-fold increase in coronary flow after injection of radio-graphic contrast material was similar in magnitude to that occurring with maximal exercise stress. Experimentally, resting coronary blood flow and regional distribution of radioactive particles remains normal in spite of coronary stenosis of up to 85 percent. Less severe stenosis causes flow and distribution abnormalities only during periods of increased flow, and the degree of maldistribution is directly related to the physiologic severity of the stenosis. Of 49 patients with suspected coronary artery disease, 10 had no significant lesions by coronary arteriography and all had normal images at rest and during coronary hyperemia. Thirty-seven of 39 patients with significant obstructive coronary artery disease had abnormal images at rest or during contrast agent-induced hyperemia, or both. Patients with significant coronary artery disease without previous infarction usually demonstrated abnormalities in flow distribution only during coronary hyperemia. Patients with previous infarction demonstrated resting perfusion abnormalities that often became more abnormal during hyperemia. This technique provides a new method for assessing the physiologic effects of coronary stenosis in conjunction with coronary arteriography
Cell Walls of Group D Streptococci II. Chemical Studies on the Type 1 Antigen Purified from the Autolytic Digest of Cell Walls

Autolysis of group D, type I cell walls by an indigenous autolytic enzyme results in the solubilization of the type I antigen. The antigen was purified from the autolytic digest by diethylaminoethyl cellulose chromatography. Chemical analysis of the purified type 1 antigen revealed glucose, glucosamine, galactosamine, rhamnose, ribitol, phosphorus, and residual peptoglycan components. This analysis suggested that the type I antigen is a heteropolymer which may contain a ribitol teichoic acid. The antigen purified by the procedure outlined here is higher in phosphorus content, lower in peptidoglycan, and more reactive serologically than the antigen prepared by methods previously described. Images
Mental Hospitals and Deinsitutionalization

The mental hospital has been the pivot around which the care of the seriously mentally ill has revolved (Dowdall, 1996). Its study has been a central concern of the sociology of mental health. This chapter reviews selectively the work of sociologists and social historians on the mental hospital, particularly the state mental hospital, where most patients have been cared for, including its origins, the deinstitutionalization of its patients, and its present status. For more than a century, the state hospital was the primary institutional response to serious mental illness, and for the past several decades, it has been at the center of attempts to redirect public policy.
The need for innovations in automobile technology

The need for research and development in the automobile industry is discussed, with particular reference to the experience at Volkswagen. Particular attention is given to the technical progress of VW/Audi automobiles, the drag coefficient of VW and Audi cars, the development of European emission laws, measures for fuel economy, the VW multifuel concept for methanol-gasoline operation, the storage characteristics of transportation energy, the electronic differential lock system, the Audi procon-ten system, and the VW Futura. >
Testicular function after local injection of 6-hydroxydopamine or norepinephrine in the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus)

Although there is evidence for the sympathetic innervation of the mammalian testis, the function of noradrenergic fibers is not understood. This in vivo and in vitro study in the adult golden hamster examines testicular function after unilateral intratesticular application of a single dose of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), a neurotoxic drug known to produce depletion of noradrenergic stores in nerve endings. The contralateral testis in each animal was injected with vehicle alone and served as the control. After 24 h, the content of norepinephrine (NE) in testicular parenchyma was reduced in most testes injected with 6-OHDA. At this time, concentration of luteinizing hormone receptors (LH-R) was significantly decreased in the 6-OHDA treated testis, compared with the vehicle-injected testes. This decrease was followed by a significant increase at 72 h. The concentration of LH-R was not significantly altered 10, 48, 144, or 168 h after 6-OHDA administration. Changes in testicular testosterone (T) concentrations paralleled the changes in LH-R at most time points. In the incubations of control vehicle injected testes, addition of NE did not affect T production but stimulatory action of hCG was significantly augmented by concomitant exposure to NE at most time points after injection of vehicle. In incubations of 6-OHDA-injected testes, a comparable pattern of T responses to NE and hCG was found only 48 h after injection. At 24 h post injection NE alone significantly stimulated T production; at 10 and 24 h the ability of NE to potentiate the action of hCG was significantly reduced, while at 72 and 144 h basal T production and the stimulatory hCG effect were significantly increased. Moreover, at 72, 144, and 168 h, the effect of NE & hCG on T production was significantly greater in 6-OHDA-injected testes than in the vehicle injected testes of the same animals. In incubations of untreated hamster testes, addition of 6-OHDA at doses similar to those used for injections did not affect T production. Weights of 6-OHDA injected testes were slightly but significantly reduced after 144 and 168 h. These changes were most likely due to degenerative changes of the germinal epithelium, which were clearly detectable 168 h post injection. Because 6-OHDA can release NE from nerve terminals, the observed effects of 6-OHDA might have been initiated by supernormal testicular NE concentrations. To examine this possibility, the authors have tested the effects of intratesticular NE injections. This treatment caused decrease of LH-R at 24 h followed by an increase at 72 h.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Classical Normal Modes in Asymmetric Nonconservative Dynamic Systems

Definition des principes des modes normaux classiques pour un systeme lineaire discret general. Extension du theoreme bien connu developpe par Rayleigh a une classe plus generale de systemes dynamiques, a savoir les systemes asymetriques a matrices de coefficients simples. Discussion de quelques resultats de Caughey et O'Kelly pour les modes normaux classiques dans les systemes symetriques ou asymetriques, et utilisation de ces resultats pour generer des resultats sur les modes normaux classiques, analogues a ceux disponibles pour les systemes symetriques du second ordre. Illustration par le modele discretise d'un arbre flexible amorti et un systeme hypothetique asymetrique a trois degres de liberte
Multiplexed Oil Level Meter Using a Thin Core Fiber Cladding Mode Exciter

This letter reports a multiplexed optical oil level meter using a thin core fiber (TCF) cladding mode exciter. Weak cladding mode reflection (<−75 dB) was employed to probe external refractive index discontinuity at an air-oil boundary. The insertion loss of one sensor is <3 dB. A linear relationship was evaluated between the measurement position and the absolute position during the oil-level test. System-level multiplexing capability was demonstrated and no crosstalk was found between the sensors. The system accuracy was 0.16 mm.
Free radicals and myocardial ischemia and reperfusion injury

There is a growing body of evidence for the role of free radicals in mediating myocardial tissue injury during myocardial ischemia and in particular during the phase of myocardial reoxygenation. Associated with myocardial ischemia and reperfusion is the generation of oxygen-derived free radicals from a variety of sources that include the mitochondrial electron transport chain; the biosynthesis of prostaglandins; the enzyme xanthine oxidase; and circulating elements in the blood, with the polymorphonuclear neutrophil assuming a primary focus of attention. Experimental studies have shown that free radical scavengers (e.g., N-[2-mercaptopropionyl]glycine) and enzymes that scavenge or degrade reactive species of oxygen (superoxide dismutase or catalase) can reduce the mass of myocardial tissue that undergoes irreversible injury. Additionally allopurinol, which inhibits the enzyme xanthine oxidase, reduces ultimate infarct size, putatively by reducing the xanthine oxidase generation of superoxide anion. Neutrophils that enter the ischemically injured myocardium under the influence of chemotactic attraction and activation of the complement system generate and release highly reactive and cytotoxic oxygen derivatives that are destructive to the vascular endothelium and to the cardiac myocytes. Studies have documented that neutrophil depletion or suppression of neutrophil function (ibuprofen, nafazatrom, BW 755C, or more recently with prostacyclin or iloprost) results in a significant salvage of myocardial tissue that is subjected to a period of regional ischemia followed by reperfusion. Our current understanding of the events associated with myocardial ischemia suggests that within the ischemic myocardial region or area at risk, there is a population of cells that are reversibly injured and that reperfusion within a specified period (less than 3 hours) of time is capable of restoring the majority of the jeopardized cells to a normal status, but that the act of reperfusion itself will lead to the sudden demise of a fraction of the cells because of the cytotoxic effects of reactive species of oxygen derived from one or more of the sources indicated above. The efforts to minimize the amount of tissue that undergoes cell death as a result of myocardial ischemia demand that early reperfusion be established. However, the reintroduction of molecular oxygen and the circulating elements of the blood will be associated with an "explosive" and self-limited destruction of some of the myocardial cells in the area at risk.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Microtubule flux : drivers wanted

While the metaphase spindle maintains a constant shape and size during cell division, its major component microtubules are continuously being polymerized, depolymerized and transported towards the two spindle poles in a process called microtubule poleward flux. This process has been observed in all metazoan cells. Recent studies have indicated that Kinesin-5s, which can drive the relative sliding of microtubules, and kinesin-13s, which regulate microtubule polymerization, are directly involved in microtubule poleward flux. The availability of molecular and chemical tools to perturb protein functions together with improvements in imaging and analytical methods have allowed the examination of these two kinesins' roles in poleward flux at high temporal and spatial resolution. These advances have shed some light on the molecular mechanisms that drive microtubule poleward flux.
Advances in antimicrobial therapy.

Despite several decades of improved therapy and prevention of infectious diseases, infectious pathogens remain major causes of morbidity and mortality in humans woridwide. Among the most complex and daunting problems facing medical science is the evolution of antibiotic resistance among many common and once easily-treated infectious agents. This review summarizes the status of newer antimicrobial agents that have utility against pathogens infecting the central nervous system.
DNA charge transport over 34 nm

Molecular wires show promise in nanoscale electronics but the synthesis of uniform, long conductive molecules is a significant challenge. DNA of precise length, by contrast, is easily synthesized, but its conductivity has not been explored over the distances required for nanoscale devices. Here we demonstrate DNA charge transport (CT) over 34 nm in 100-mer monolayers on gold. Multiplexed gold electrodes modified with 100-mer DNA yield sizable electrochemical signals from a distal, covalent Nile Blue redox probe. Significant signal attenuation upon incorporation of a single base pair mismatch demonstrates that CT is DNA-mediated. Efficient cleavage of these 100-mers by a restriction enzyme indicates that the DNA adopts a native conformation that is accessible to protein binding. Similar electron transfer rates are measured through 100-mer and 17-mer monolayers, consistent with rate-limiting electron tunneling through the saturated carbon linker. This DNA-mediated CT distance of 34 nm surpasses most reports of molecular wires.
Hispanic Immigration and Labor Market Segmentation

This paper investigates the wage and employment effects of Hispanic immigration on native-born, low-skilled urban workers. The study develops a multiquation model to counter simultaneity bias, isolates the impact of recent illegal aliens from that of settled immigrants and of native interstate movers, calculates separate estimates for female and male employees, subdivided by race and Spanish origin, and tests both conventional and dual labor market theories. The results indicate that recent immigration has not had substantial adverse wage or employment effects.
Ring-shaped FDG uptake in the right lower lung: is it always a tumor?

We present 2 patients with right lung cancer whose F-18 FDG PET images showed a ring-shaped lesion in the right lower lung, suggestive of neoplastic lung mass with central necrosis. Only after correlation with the patient's history, chest radiographs, and computed tomography was it found that the ring-shaped lesion was a false-positive as a result of normal myocardial activity (from mediastinal shift secondary to a previous right pneumonectomy) in 1 patient, while a true-positive lung lesion was seen in the other.
A.I.3

Protein aggregate and vacuolar myopathies encompass a spectrum of myopathies that are solely unified by their pathologic features. Because the phenotypic presentation of these myopathies can range from proximal to distal weakness and congenital to late onset it is difficult to categorize these myopathies by other criteria. These myopathies include myofibrillar myopathies, inclusion body myopathies and several distal myopathies; however, this list is not exhaustive. In many cases, the aggregated protein that accumulates within myofibers is indeed mutated for example desmin, myotilin and four and a half LIM domains 1 (FHL-1) leading to disease pathogenesis. Whereas in others, a genetic mutation is present in a member of the chaperone surveillance or protein degradation pathway for example BCL2-associated athanogene 3 (Bag3), DNAJB6 and valosin containing protein (VCP) resulting in the accumulation of aggregated proteins. More recently, it has become clear that in addition to protein aggregates, autophagic substrates such as p62/SQSTM1 and the autophagosome protein, MAP1LC3 also accumulate within muscle fibers. Whether this suggests activation of autophagy as a means of enhancing the degradation of protein inclusions or is instead indicative of a deficiency in autophagosome turnover is not understood. This conundrum is not inconsequential as therapies that facilitate autophagic degradation may be detrimental or beneficial depending upon the genetic basis of the myopathy. Using cell culture and animal models of protein aggregate and vacuolar myopathies, one can begin to evaluate the mechanism of autophagic function and dysfunction in these myopathies. Many therapeutic compounds are proposed to activate autophagy in cell culture and animals. Preclinical studies in mouse models can thus be utilized to test the therapeutic efficacy of these autophagy modulating therapies in protein aggregate myopathies.
Hyperfine Structure Formulas for LS Coupling

Formulas for the interval factor $A$ and the quadrupole coupling factor $B$ in the hyperfine structure formula, $W={W}_{J}+\frac{1}{2}AK+BK(K+1),$ are derived with Racah's tensor algebra. The results are directly applicable to light atoms ($Zl50$) that show good $\mathrm{LS}$ coupling. Data of White and Ritchl for manganese are analyzed, and an approximate value of the nuclear quadrupole moment in ${\mathrm{Mn}}^{55}$ of $Q=1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}24}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ is obtained. This confirms another approximate value of $Q=0.5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}24}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ recently obtained by microwave methods. An error in the calculation carried out by Brown and Tomboulian to evaluate the $Q$ of tantalum is noted. A relation satisfied by $X$ functions is derived, which simplifies their numerical evaluation.
Siberian River Run‐off in the Kara Sea: Characterisation, Quantification, Variability and Environmental Significance

After the end of the Cold War, the number of scientific publications dealing with Russian Arctic seas increased dramatically These include compilations of Soviet-era data sets, as well as new data collected by international expeditions since the early 1990s. Several large, multidisciplinary projects were organized through Russian-German research partnership focusing on the Laptev and Kara seas. Notably the Siberian River Run-off (SIRRO) project was aimed at investigating the effects of the discharge of western Siberian rivers on the Kara Sea. The importance of this topic is justified by the critical role of runoff in the formation and maintenance of the Arctic Ocean ice cover, and in controlling the deep-sea thermohaline convection in the Nordic seas. The Kara Sea receives more than one-third of the total runoff into the Arctic Ocean, predominantly from the Ob and Yenisey rivers, which drain a huge catchment area extending to the slopes of the Tibetan Plateau.
Science and policy in regulatory decision making: Getting the facts right about hazardous air pollutants

Hazardous air pollutants are regulated under Title III of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. The Amendments replace the risk-based approach mandated in the 1977 Amendments with a prescriptive, tech...
Expression in Escherichia coli of a Chemically Synthesized Gene for the Hormone Somatostatin

A gene for somatostatin, a mammalian peptide (14 amino acid residues) hormone, was synthesized by chemical methods. This gene was fused to the Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase gene on the plasmid pBR322. Transformation of E. coli with the chimeric plasmid DNA led to the synthesis of a polypeptide including the sequence of amino acids corresponding to somatostatin. In vitro, active somatostatin was specifically cleaved from the large chimeric protein by treatment with cyanogen bromide. This represents the first synthesis of a functional polypeptide product from a gene of chemically synthesized origin.
Teachers' perceptions of school violence issues: a case study

Although incidents such as Columbine focused the world's attention on school violence issues, research to date has generally focused on administrators' understanding of school problems. Teachers' perceptions have rarely been included in the literature. This is a glaring omission, as teachers play an integral role in creating a healthy school environment that can prevent or control violent disruptions. This paper presents results of focus group sessions conducted with high school teachers in a small, rural school district. It addresses their understanding of school violence, reactions to actual incidents or the fear of such occurrences, and their perceptions of the role of school climate.
Resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization of aromatic polymers in supersonic beam/mass spectrometry

A two-step laser vaporization/laser multiphoton ionization method is used to analyze and detect polymers. In this method a pulsed CO2 laser is used to vaporize the polymer for supersonic jet entrainment and then a second (UV) laser ionizes the desorbed species. The resulting ions are analyzed in a reflection time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer. The challenges here include selectively detecting an aromatic polymer in a polymer blend and studying molecular weight distributions.© (1990) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
The silica-alumina system: stable and metastable equilibria at 1.0 atmosphere.

Diffusion couples, consisting of sapphire and fused silica, which were annealed in the temperature range from 1678° to 2003°C and analyzed by electron beam microprobe, have provided data on the stable phase equilibrium of the silica-alumina system. Under stable equilibrium conditions, the intermediate compound of this system, mullite (3Al2O3 · 2SiO2), melts incongruently at 1828° ± 10°C and its solid solution field extends from 70.5 to 74.0 percent (by weight) alumina. The stable phase diagram is a composite of the two binary eutectic diagrams: silica-mullite in the absence of alumina and silica-alumina in the absence of mullite. Under metastable conditions, mullite melts congruently at ≈ 1890° ± 10°C and its solid solution field extends to ≈ 83.2 percent (by weight) alumina.
Acousto-Optic Photonic Switch: An Optical Crossbar Architecture

We describe a crossbar switch architecture based on acousto-optic beam deflection. The architecture has O(N) hardware complexity throughout, while exhibiting minimal insertion loss, low crosstalk, and fast reconfiguration. Because of the small amount of signal degradation imposed by this switch, it is suitable for nonregenerative applications within fiber-optic networks. By increasing hardware complexity, broadcasting can also be achieved within the framework of this architecture. We report experimental performance of a 1x4 switching element. Insertion loss ranges from 2 - 6 dB, worst-case signal-to-crosstalk ratios are in excess of 30 dB, and reconfiguration times are on the order of one microsecond.
Measurements of Photon Correlations in a Laser Beam near Threshold with Time-to-Amplitude Converter Techniques

A procedure for the measurement of intensity correlations of the type $〈:\stackrel{^}{I}(\mathrm{x}, t)\stackrel{^}{I}(\mathrm{x}, t+\ensuremath{\tau}):〉$ and $〈:\stackrel{^}{I}(\mathrm{x}, t)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\stackrel{^}{I}(\mathrm{x}, t+{\ensuremath{\tau}}_{1})\stackrel{^}{I}(\mathrm{x}, t+{\ensuremath{\tau}}_{2}):〉$ with the use of a time-to-amplitude converter is developed. The procedure is used to measure second- and third-order intensity fluctuation correlation functions of the optical field produced by a gas laser operated at various levels near its threshold of oscillation. The results are shown to be in agreement with the predictions of laser theories.