cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Killing of diverse eye pathogens (Acanthamoeba spp., Fusarium solani, and Chlamydia trachomatis) with alcohols.

Background Blindness is caused by eye pathogens that include a free-living protist (Acanthamoeba castellanii, A. byersi, and/or other Acanthamoeba spp.), a fungus (Fusarium solani), and a bacterium (Chlamydia trachomatis). Hand-eye contact is likely a contributor to the spread of these pathogens, and so hand washing with soap and water or alcohol–based hand sanitizers (when water is not available) might reduce their transmission. Recently we showed that ethanol and isopropanol in concentrations present in hand sanitizers kill walled cysts of Giardia and Entamoeba, causes of diarrhea and dysentery, respectively. The goal here was to determine whether these alcohols might kill infectious forms of representative eye pathogens (trophozoites and cysts of Acanthamoeba, conidia of F. solani, or elementary bodies of C. trachomatis). Methodology/Principal findings We found that treatment with 63% ethanol or 63% isopropanol kills >99% of Acanthamoeba trophozoites after 30 sec exposure, as shown by labeling with propidium iodide (PI) and failure to grow in culture. In contrast, Acanthamoeba cysts, which contain cellulose fibers in their wall, are relatively more resistant to these alcohols, particularly isopropanol. Depending upon the strain tested, 80 to 99% of Acanthamoeba cysts were killed by 63% ethanol after 2 min and 95 to 99% were killed by 80% ethanol after 30 sec, as shown by PI labeling and reduced rates of excystation in vitro. Both ethanol and isopropanol (63% for 30 sec) kill >99% of F. solani conidia, which have a wall of chitin and glucan fibrils, as demonstrated by PI labeling and colony counts on nutrient agar plates. Both ethanol and isopropanol (63% for 60 sec) inactivate 96 to 99% of elementary bodies of C. trachomatis, which have a wall of lipopolysaccharide but lack peptidoglycan, as measured by quantitative cultures to calculate inclusion forming units. Conclusions/Significance In summary, alcohols kill infectious forms of Acanthamoeba, F. solani, and C. trachomatis, although longer times and higher ethanol concentrations are necessary for Acanthamoeba cysts. These results suggest the possibility that expanded use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers in places where water is not easily available might reduce transmission of these important causes of blindness.
Building a Scope and Sequence for Early Childhood Mathematics

Educators and parents agree that some type of mathematical experience should be part of an early childhood curriculum. Nursery school and kindergarten teachers plan activities that reflect a mathematical focus, but they ask questions such as, "What mathematics is best for preprimaryaged children?" "What kinds of experiences should be offered?" "What nonnumber activities are recommended?" "When should I introduce number?" "Is there an approved scope and sequence to follow?" These and similar questions are the proper concern of teachers whose responsibility is to educate the very young child. This article attempts to offer some answers to the questions that teachers ask. It also develops a point of view and structures a model that outlines a scope and sequence for choosing experiences appropriate for children of about five years of age. Early childhood mathematics activities should be concrete , hands-on investigations. For young children, mathematics is a verb; it is something one does. Young children do not learn mathematics by being told about it; they invent mathematics as explanations for their experiences. Consider a child comparing the capacity of two containers. One is tall and narrow; the other is short and wide. The child pours from one to the other and dis-
Integrating Realities Through Immersive Gaming

In this chapter, alternate reality games (ARGs) are examined as an example of immersive and pervasive play, in which game play may escape a proscribed sphere and permeate into ‘ordinary’, non-ludic life. Particular attention is addressed to this genre of games’ dissimulative, ‘this is not a game’ rhetoric, which seemed to early critics to promise (or threaten) a compelling engagement with a deviously simulated reality. Using the 2007 game World Without Oil as a case study, the chapter examines the potential for ARGs to blur the boundaries between in- and out-of-game realities in a practical sense without resorting to the sort of seamless simulation or requiring the naive reception that early criticisms assumed were features of play.
Advancing the Representation of Women in HPC at Purdue University

We seek to describe the efforts that our research computing team at Purdue is pursuing to advance and support the representation and diversity of women in High Performance Computing (HPC).
Effluent Gas Flux Characterization during Pyrolysis of Chicken Manure

Pyrolysis is a viable option for the production of renewable energy and agricultural resources from diverted organic waste streams. This high temperature thermochemical process yields material with beneficial reuses, including bio-oil and biochar. Gaseous forms of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) are also emitted during pyrolysis. The effluent mass emission rates from pyrolysis are not well characterized, thus limiting proper evaluation of the environmental benefits or costs of pyrolysis products. We present the first comprehensive suite of C and N mass emission rate measurements of a biomass pyrolysis process that uses chicken manure as the feedstock to produce biochar and bio-oil. Two chicken manure fast pyrolysis experiments were conducted at controlled temperature ranges of 450–485 °C and 550–585 °C. Mass emission rates of nitrous oxide (N2O), nitric oxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and ammonia (NH3) were measured using trace gas analyzers. Based on the system mass bal...
Homogenization of food samples for gamma spectrometry using tetramethylammonium hydroxide and enzymatic digestion

We have developed a method of food sample preparation for gamma spectrometry involving the use of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) and/or enzymes such as α-amylase or cellulase for sample homogenization. We demonstrated the effectiveness of this method using food matrices spiked with 60Co, 131I, 134,137Cs, and 241Am radionuclides, homogenized with TMAH (mixed salad, parmesan cheese, and ground beef); enzymes (α-amylase for bread, and cellulase for baked beans); or α-amylase followed by TMAH (cheeseburgers). Procedures were developed which are best compromises between the degree of homogenization, accuracy, speed, and minimizing laboratory equipment contamination. Based on calculated sample biases and z-scores, our results suggest that homogenization using TMAH and enzymes would be a useful method of sample preparation for gamma spectrometry samples during radiological emergencies.
A feasibility study of trauma-sensitive obstetric care for low-income, ethno-racial minority pregnant abuse survivors.

Purpose This study evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of an integrated (psychological and obstetric) intervention for pregnant abuse survivors with posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTS) from low-income, ethno-racial minority backgrounds. Methods Trauma-sensitive obstetrics to promote control, anxiety-reduction and empowerment (TO-CARE) offers cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) coping skills delivered over six sessions by therapists, coupled with trauma-sensitive obstetric care from specially-trained obstetric physicians. Results Participants were 21 women who completed at least three sessions of CBT, totaling 51.2% of eligible participants. Participants received approximately one-third (M = 2.29; SD = 2.15) of their prenatal visits with obstetric residents trained in trauma-sensitive care. Nearly all participants (95%) reported that they benefited from the intervention. Although most participants demonstrated improvement in PTS, only four demonstrated reliable improvement, and two demonstrated reliable improvement in depression symptoms. These improvements appeared to be maintained at postpartum follow-up for two of the participants. Conclusions Our findings suggest that TO-CARE was acceptable to pregnant abuse survivors and may be a promising intervention to reduce symptoms of distress. Implications of the low retention rate for the CBT (51.2%) are discussed in the context of interventions for low-income minority pregnant women. Limitations regarding feasibility of the integrated intervention are discussed.
The Fight to Keep Evolution Out of Schools: The Law and Classroom Instruction

There are forces at the local, state, and national levels that have worked to delegitimize and obstruct the teaching of evolution and, in some cases, to legitimize the teaching of religious ideas. Despite scientific evidence, public opinion, and even legislation, these forces have continued to influence, and in some cases block, the teaching of evolution in public schools. Proponents for the teaching of aspects of religion in schools have been defeated in the courts many times but have continued to find new ways to insert their ideology into the U.S. education system. Strategies for avoiding controversy, confronting misinformation, and distinguishing science from non-science are provided.
The Spanish Question

At the opening of the Congress, a spirit of self-confidence and optimism animated Wellington, for he thought Metternich agreed completely with the cardinal points of Britain’s policy toward Spain: the observance of strict neutrality and the maintenance of diplomatic relations. The duke’s health improved and likewise his humor, as a host of adoring young ladies immediately surrounded him. To his Grace, “the political sky seemed bright and the war clouds rolled away.”2 He assured Canning that “all notion of what is called a European army, or any offensive operation against Spain, is at an end.”3 His optimism soon was shattered, however, as much by the clash of personalities as by conflict of policy. Metternich, he learned, had deliberately deceived him in order to retain his support in restraining the tsar.
Chronic Bullous Disease of Childhood: Linear IgA Dermatosis of Childhood

Chronic bullous disease of childhood is a unique childhood disease that has, until recently, been difficult to define as a distinct clinical entity. Resolution of the disease is a typical feature; therefore, therapy should be relatively conservative and mainly symptomatic. The disease is benign, and it is not chronic; therefore, the name "benign chronic bullous disease of childhood," though useful previously, should be replaced with the more specific name "linear lgA dermatosis of childhood."
EDUCATION Elementary and Secondary Education: Provide a Cause of Action for Improper Solicitation of High School Athletes and Require High Schools to Disclose the Names of All Student Athletes

The Act creates civil and criminal causes of action for colleges and universities against persons who violate college athletic recruitment rules and regulations by offering high school students money or other things of value to attend a particular college or university. The Act also requires high schools to release the names of all student athletes and to inform those athletes of college eligibility requirements.
The larval settling response of the lined chiton Tonicella lineata

The lined chiton Tonicella lineata (Wood, 1815) is found on enerusting coralline algae in the lower rocky intertidal zone of Oregon and San Juan Island, Washington, USA. An encrusting coralline alga is the major food item of this chiton. Experiments were performed to test the settling response of T. lineata larvae to various algae and other substrata. In these experiments, the larvae would settle only on pieces of encrusting coralline algae and piecesof ceramic roofing tile soaked in a coralline algal extract. The settling stimulus is probably chemical in nature, and is inactivated by boiling. In laboratory cultures, normal development stops at the trochophore stage (110 to 160 h, depending on the temperature). Metamorphosis and further development will take place only after stttlement on encrusting coralline algae.
Timely teaching moments.

The California Journal of Emergency Medicine VII:1, Jan-Mar, 2006 Page 21 REFLECTIONS Timely Teaching Moments Chip Kaplove, MD Department of Emergency Medicine San Francisco General Hospital San Francisco, California It was a Saturday evening at San Francisco General Hospital, and we had a momentary lull in the ED. My crew included two Stanford EM residents, two UCSF interns, and a fourth year rotating medical student. Wanting to take advantage of this calm before the inevitable storm, I decided to give a quick talk about shoulder dislocations. I brought out the loop of stockinet that I always carry and discussed my favorite reduction technique. With the patient sitting and the elbow held at 90 degrees, I drape a one foot diameter loop of stockinet over the proximal forearm on the injured side. I then put my foot into the loop and step down, using my weight to slowly pull the humeral head inferiorly. After a little external rotation, I release the weight of my foot and the shoulder slides back where it belongs. Using this technique most patients tolerate the reduction extremely well and do not need IV sedation. I had used the technique successfully at least 100 times before a group from the Snowbird Ski Resort described it as the “Snowbird Technique” (Westin et al. Am J Sports Med 1995;23:369-371). If only I’d had my act together, it could have had a different name. While I was demonstrating the technique on my “volunteer” medical student, one of the interns gasped. Coming through the door were paramedics with a football player straight from the field with full pads and his arm in a sling. The first words out of his mouth: “I just dislocated my shoulder.” This unfortunate 17 year old had already dislocated this shoulder three times. The Westin study of the Snowbird Technique claimed that 93% of their patients did not require narcotic analgesia and my experience supports that claim. Our patient reported no pain as we gently applied traction and the shoulder slipped easily back into place. We spent longer taking off his shoulder pads and multiple layers than we did accomplishing the reduction. Given our diagnostic certainty and the resolution of symptoms we did not order pre or post-reduction xrays. Our patient was registered and discharged about 20 minutes after his arrival, which may be a record for throughput time at the San Francisco General ED. The house staff were amazed at the timing of my talk and his presentation. One of the Stanford EM residents came over to me and asked, “Can we talk about ED thoracotomy?” CalJEM welcomes your essays. Submit to The Editor at caljem@gmail.com.
All-Cause Mortality Risk with Direct Oral Anticoagulants and Warfarin in the Primary Treatment of Venous Thromboembolism.

Oral anticoagulants used for the primary treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) include warfarin and the more recently introduced direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs), including rivaroxaban, apixaban, dabigatran and edoxaban. Information on the comparative safety of these medications in routine clinical practice is lacking. We identified patients with diagnoses for VTE and prescriptions for oral anticoagulants using claims data from a large U.S. insurance database from 2012 to 2017. Marginal structural logistic models were used to examine associations between type of oral anticoagulant and risk of all-cause mortality. Of 62,431 enrolees in this analysis, 51% were female and the mean age was 61.9 years. Initial oral anticoagulant prescriptions were for warfarin (n = 35,704), rivaroxaban (n = 21,064) and apixaban (n = 5,663). A total of 1,791 deaths occurred within 6 months of the initial oral anticoagulant prescription. Risk of all-cause mortality was not associated with having a prescription for warfarin versus any DOAC or between any head-to-head DOAC comparisons. Also, associations generally did not vary when stratified by VTE type, sex, age, co-morbidities (including renal disease) or anti-platelet medication use. In this observational study, the associations with all-cause mortality comparing DOACs versus warfarin agree with results from previous clinical trials and observational studies, while the associations for head-to-head DOAC comparisons provide new information on the comparative safety of DOACs. Our findings suggest that other criteria such as patient preference, cost, recurrent VTE risk or bleeding risk should be used when determining the choice of anticoagulant for the primary treatment of VTE.
More security may actually make us feel less secure

Even as the federal government increasingly deposits its surplus military supplies with local police departments and as Americans are more exposed to militarized police forces, study of its historical political development (1) or examination of its effects for American communities has mostly escaped scholarly attention. No national data source across the nation’s 18,000 police agencies tracks the incorporation of tactics, personnel, or gear traditionally used in military operations abroad. Without such a repository, scholars can neither measure the prevalence of police militarization and how it varies across American communities, nor develop empirical insights about how these developments affect the security of Americans. In his PNAS article, Jonathan Mummolo expands scholarly understanding of the consequences of increasingly militarized police forces in the United States, its politics, and its racial geography (2). Compiling detailed administrative data in one state of one kind of militarization, “special weapons and tactics” (SWAT) deployments, a national panel of which states acquired a special tactics team, and an original survey experiment of different levels of militarization, Mummolo examines whether militarization contributes to the safety of police officers, local crime reduction, and confidence in police among Americans. Militarized policing does not result in the anticipated public safety gains nor does it abet officer safety; it does impair confidence in police and elevate perceived crime. The logics and capacity of American police institutions have undergone a dramatic shift over the past half century (3, 4) spurring debate about the consequences of policing for public safety, trust, and other aspects of well-being. A prominent through-line of this work is that police interactions cause several negative outcomes: involuntary encounters with police have been linked to an increase in posttraumatic stress disorder (5), declining grades and test scores among American youth (6), legal estrangement (7), strategic avoidance of people, places, and … [↵][1]1Email: vesla{at}jhu.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Psychoanalysis as an Ethical Process: Ethical Intersubjectivity and Therapeutic Action

While psychoanalysis has come a long way towards recognizing the central role of ethics in human experience, there is still an overall skittishness about conceptualizing therapeutic change as essen...
Humanizing scholarly resistance: toward greater solidarity in social justice advocacy within the neoliberal academy

AbstractIn this article, the author highlights how systemic forces both fuel assaults on scholar-activists in the present day and how oppressive systems can lead to scholars responding in ways that...
Should clinical suspicion shift to ampicillin resistance organisms in certain preterm premature rupture of membranes scenarios?: Case of early-onset sepsis caused by E coli.

This case highlights the importance antibiotic stewardship, including reexamining current regimens use for intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis, which may be accountable for the shift in organism responsible for some cases of early-onset sepsis.
Fracture rate of 188695 lithium disilicate and zirconia ceramic restorations after up to 7.5 years of clinical service: A dental laboratory survey.

Abstract Statement of problem The use of ceramic materials has increased significantly because of high esthetic demands, low costs, and ease of fabrication. Long-term, clinically based evidence is scarce, and laboratory studies have limited relevance in determining clinical durability. Purpose The purpose of this dental laboratory survey was to evaluate the fracture rate of layered and monolithic lithium disilicate and zirconia single crowns and fixed partial dentures after up to 7.5 years of clinical service. Material and methods Two commercial dental laboratories with a database system that was able to track the number of remakes because of fracture only were identified. Lithium disilicate restorations (monolithic and layered) were categorized according to restoration type (single crown, fixed partial denture, veneer, and onlay). Zirconia restorations (monolithic and layered) were categorized according to type (single crown, fixed partial denture) and then into anterior or posterior restoration. Restoration remakes due to poor fit, shade, or marginal integrity were excluded from the evaluation. Data were analyzed, and statistical significance was evaluated with chi-square tests (α=.05). Results A total of 188 695 (51 751 lithium disilicate and 136 944 zirconia) restorations were included in the analysis, with an overall fracture rate of 1.35%. Lithium disilicate monolithic single crowns had a fracture rate of 0.96%, which was significantly lower than that of layered single crowns at 1.26% (P Conclusions Within the 7.5-year period, restorations fabricated with lithium disilicate and zirconia restorations had relatively low fracture rates. Monolithic restorations fractured at a lower rate than layered restorations.
Cannabis use disorder among veterans: Comorbidity and mental health treatment utilization

Cannabis use disorder (CUD) is the most common illicit substance use disorder in the United States and is related to a range of functional impairment. CUD is associated with comorbid mental health disorders and other substance use disorders, compounding impairment from either type of disorder alone. U.S. military veterans also experience CUD at high rates; however, less is known about comorbidity and its impact on service utilization among veterans. Better understanding of comorbidity in this group is important, given that the Veterans Health Administration is the largest U.S. healthcare provider and is uniquely positioned to potentially address the challenges of comorbid CUD. The current study aimed to examine rates of comorbidity among veterans with CUD and the impact of comorbidity on mental health service utilization. Data were obtained through national Veterans Health Administration administrative and clinical records from 2010 to 2016. 79.1% of veterans with CUD were also diagnosed with a mental health disorder, and 76.8% were diagnosed with another substance use disorder. Overall, veterans with CUD and a comorbid mental health disorder used more individual psychotherapy than those with CUD alone. These findings suggest that CUD among veterans is rarely diagnosed independent of other disorders and that comorbidity is associated with greater mental healthcare utilization. Improved screening for CUD and integration of its treatment within current models of care may be important to consider in large healthcare systems.
Co-Designing Checklists to Understand Organizational Challenges and Opportunities around Fairness in AI

Many organizations have published principles intended to guide the ethical development and deployment of AI systems; however, their abstract nature makes them difficult to operationalize. Some organizations have therefore produced AI ethics checklists, as well as checklists for more specific concepts, such as fairness, as applied to AI systems. But unless checklists are grounded in practitioners' needs, they may be misused. To understand the role of checklists in AI ethics, we conducted an iterative co-design process with 48 practitioners, focusing on fairness. We co-designed an AI fairness checklist and identified desiderata and concerns for AI fairness checklists in general. We found that AI fairness checklists could provide organizational infrastructure for formalizing ad-hoc processes and empowering individual advocates. We highlight aspects of organizational culture that may impact the efficacy of AI fairness checklists, and suggest future design directions.
Modulating Intra-Nuclear LC3 with Small Molecules Rescues Cells from a Docetaxel-Induced Phenotype

Abstract Nucleus-associated autophagy has been described as a cellular metabolic response by which nuclear material is actively degraded. This degradation occurs after stress, such as nuclear damage or the onset of tumorigenesis. Here we describe a nucleus-associated autophagic process distinct from other forms of selective autophagy in human cell lines. We found that although nuclear localization of MAP1LC3B (LC3) is not dependent on particular nuclear importins, knockdown of nuclear importins, which causes nuclear stress, can induce a nuclear autophagic response. Our characterization of this autophagic phenomenon was facilitated by chemical modulation of the process via two compounds discovered previously in a high content analysis. These small molecules bidirectionally regulate nuclear LC3 in human renal, pancreatic, and bladder cell lines. One molecule (NSC31762 or DTEP) enhances nuclear LC3 puncta and increases lysosomal targeting of LC3. This compound also decreases the nuclear envelope protein LaminB1. Another molecule (NSC279895 or DIHI) reduces the nuclear localization of LC3. Finally, we applied these chemical tools in the setting of mitotic-disruptor induced nuclear stress. The compound DIHI, shown to reduce nuclear autophagic puncta, diminished the mitotic disruptor effect. These new tools will allow for deeper exploration of nucleus-associated autophagies, and could serve as proof-of-principle in guiding new therapies for diseases involving nuclear stress.
Incorporating bounds from decision diagrams into integer programming

Decision diagrams have been successfully used to help solve several classes of discrete optimization problems. We explore an approach to incorporate them into integer programming solvers, motivated by the wide adoption of integer programming technology in practice. The main challenge is to map generic integer programming models to a recursive structure that is suitable for decision diagram compilation. We propose a framework that opportunistically constructs decision diagrams for suitable substructures, if present. In particular, we explore the use of a prevalent substructure in integer programming solvers known as the conflict graph, which we show to be amenable to decision diagrams. We use Lagrangian relaxation and constraint propagation to consider constraints that are not represented directly by the substructure. We use the decision diagrams to generate dual and primal bounds to improve the pruning process of the branch-and-bound tree of the solver. Computational results on the independent set problem with side constraints indicate that our approach can provide substantial speedups when conflict graphs are present.
The Role of Church Support Networks in the Relationship between Discrimination and Psychiatric Disorders among Older African Americans

Few studies have examined the effects of discrimination on mental health specifically among older African Americans despite it being a common experience in this population. Further, knowledge on social resources, such as social relationships, that could mitigate the effects of discrimination is limited in this population. Given the historical and contemporaneous importance of the Black church in African American communities, church members are important support network members and a major source of social support for older African Americans. To address these knowledge gaps, this study will (1) examine the association between racial discrimination and psychiatric disorders; and (2) determine whether church relationships moderate the impact of racial discrimination on psychiatric disorders. Data from African American respondents aged 55 and older were drawn from the National Survey of American Life (N = 837). Church relationship variables included receipt of emotional support from, frequency of contact with, and subjective closeness to church members. Regression analyses were used to test the study aims. Analyses indicated that more frequent experiences of racial discrimination were associated with meeting criteria for any DSM-IV disorder and a greater number of DSM-IV disorders. Significant interactions revealed that frequency of contact with and subjective closeness to church members mitigated the association between discrimination and meeting criteria for any 12-month disorder and number of 12-month disorders. Altogether, these findings support the literature on the detrimental effects of discrimination on the mental health of older African Americans and provide a more nuanced understanding of the role of church members in the lives of older African Americans. The study findings suggest that church relationships are effective stress coping resources for older African Americans dealing with discrimination. Given the importance and relevance of church members, initial clinical assessments should assess clients’ level of religious involvement and relationships with church members.
Motivational internalism

Cases involving amoralists who no longer care about the institution of morality, together with cases of depression, listlessness, and exhaustion, have posed trouble in recent years for standard formulations of motivational internalism. In response, though, internalists have been willing to adopt narrower versions of the thesis which restrict it just to the motivational lives of those agents who are said to be in some way normal, practically rational, or virtuous. My goal in this paper is to offer a new set of counterexamples to motivational internalism, examples which are effective both against traditional formulations of the thesis as well as against many of these more recent restricted proposals.
BROCA: a computer-mediated learning tool for teaching scientific reasoning and writing

This "work-in-progress" describes a computerized learning environment for teaching the conceptual patterns of scientific reasoning. BROCA (Basic Research, Observations, Critical Analysis) is theory-driven, combining two very powerful conceptual models of thinking. The first-drawn from cognitive psychology and information theory-focuses on the mental manipulations by which data becomes information and information becomes knowledge. The second theoretical construct comes from rhetoric and describes the intellectual activities carried out in prewriting, drafting, and revision by an expert writing. As an interactive "cognitive tool", BROCA provides scaffolding (through visual algorithms and adaptive prompting) to help a fledgling thinker practice the robust patterns of scientific reasoning.
Sensitization of ovarian cancer cells to cisplatin by gold nanoparticles.

// Xunhao Xiong 1,* , Rochelle R. Arvizo 2,* , Sounik Saha 1 , David J. Robertson 3 , Scott McMeekin 4,5 , Resham Bhattacharya 4,5 and Priyabrata Mukherjee 5 1 Department of Pathology, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 2 Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN 3 Department of Chemistry and University of Missouri Research Reactor, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 4 Obstetrics and Gynecology, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 5 Peggy and Charles Stephenson Cancer Center, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence: Priyabrata Mukherjee, email: // Keywords : gold nanoparticle; chemoresistance; cancer stem cell; EMT; NF-kappa B Received : May 22, 2014 Accepted : July 11, 2014 Published : July 11, 2014 Abstract Recently we reported that gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) inhibit ovarian tumor growth and metastasis in mice by reversing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Since EMT is known to confer drug resistance to cancer cells, we wanted to investigate whether anti-EMT property of AuNP could be utilized to sensitize ovarian cancer cells to cisplatin. Herein, we report that AuNPs prevent cisplatin-induced acquired chemoresistance and stemness in ovarian cancer cells and sensitize them to cisplatin. AuNPs inhibit cisplatin induced EMT, decrease the side population cells and key stem cell markers such as ALDH1, CD44, CD133, Sox2, MDR1 and ABCG2 in ovarian cancer cells. Mechanistically, AuNPs prevent cisplatin-induced activation of Akt and NF-kB signaling axis in ovarian cancer cells that are critical for EMT, stem cell maintenance and drug resistance. In vivo , AuNPs sensitize orthotopically implanted ovarian tumor to a low dose of cisplatin and significantly inhibit tumor growth via facilitated delivery of both AuNP and cisplatin. These findings suggest that by depleting stem cell pools and inhibiting key molecular pathways gold nanoparticles sensitize ovarian cancer cells to cisplatin and may be used in combination to inhibit tumor growth and metastasis in ovarian cancer.
Pasteurella pestis Bacteriophage H and Escherichia coli Bacteriophage φII Are Nearly Identical

Electron microscopy examination of phiII-H deoxyribonucleic acid heteroduplexes, together with polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic analyses of phage ribonucleic acid species and proteins labeled in phiII or H-infected cells, demonstrates that Pasteurella pestis phage H is nearly identical to coliphage phiII.
Nutritional Requirements of Arizona, Citrobacter, and Providencia

The nutritional requirements of Arizona, Citrobacter, and Providencia are compared, and chemically defined media in which these organisms may be grown are reported.
Photochemical Reduction of Blue Tetrazolium by Isolated Chloroplasts

THE use of oxidation-reduction colour indicators the solubility of which is unchanged during reduction in the Hill reaction of photosynthesis provides no information as to the site in the chloroplast in which the reaction occurs. Dyar1 used blue tetrazolium, which is colourless and soluble in the oxidized form in water but insoluble and highly coloured when reduced, to localize regions of dehydrogenase activity in plant cells. In chloroplasts reduction was apparently confined to grana-like bodies. In some materials the reaction was dependent on light, suggesting a relation to the Hill reaction. Since non-plastid cytoplasm may have contributed to the reaction, we were interested in whether isolated chloroplasts were capable of reducing the dye.
Green light emission from selectively grown InGaN multiple quantum well stripes oriented along [11-20] direction

InGaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) with green light emission have been grown on GaN stripes oriented along the [11-20] direction by selective metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). Several different window widths were designed in the SiO 2 mask. Completed pyramidal InGaN stripes with flat and smooth {1-101} sidewall were produced on 2-μm windows while trapezoidal stripes with both {1-101} sidewall and (0001) top surface were obtained on the 5-μm windows. The former has uniform CL emissions at 500 nm on the {1-101} sidewall and at 550 nm on the narrow ridge. The latter exhibits similar CL emissions at 500 nm on the sidewall and at 570 nm on the top surface. These wavelength shifts relative to the CL spectrum peak (450 nm) from the reference region are attributed to thickness enhancement and indium enrichment in selective MOVPE. The short-wavelength shoulder near 500 nm in the spectrum from the ridge of the completed pyramidal strip is attributed to overlapping excitation of the sidewall by the SEM incident beam.
Genome-Wide Microsatellite Identification in the Fungus Anisogramma anomala Using Illumina Sequencing and Genome Assembly

High-throughput sequencing has been dramatically accelerating the discovery of microsatellite markers (also known as Simple Sequence Repeats). Both 454 and Illumina reads have been used directly in microsatellite discovery and primer design (the “Seq-to-SSR” approach). However, constraints of this approach include: 1) many microsatellite-containing reads do not have sufficient flanking sequences to allow primer design, and 2) difficulties in removing microsatellite loci residing in longer, repetitive regions. In the current study, we applied the novel “Seq-Assembly-SSR” approach to overcome these constraints in Anisogramma anomala. In our approach, Illumina reads were first assembled into a draft genome, and the latter was then used in microsatellite discovery. A. anomala is an obligate biotrophic ascomycete that causes eastern filbert blight disease of commercial European hazelnut. Little is known about its population structure or diversity. Approximately 26 M 146 bp Illumina reads were generated from a paired-end library of a fungal strain from Oregon. The reads were assembled into a draft genome of 333 Mb (excluding gaps), with contig N50 of 10,384 bp and scaffold N50 of 32,987 bp. A bioinformatics pipeline identified 46,677 microsatellite motifs at 44,247 loci, including 2,430 compound loci. Primers were successfully designed for 42,923 loci (97%). After removing 2,886 loci close to assembly gaps and 676 loci in repetitive regions, a genome-wide microsatellite database of 39,361 loci was generated for the fungus. In experimental screening of 236 loci using four geographically representative strains, 228 (96.6%) were successfully amplified and 214 (90.7%) produced single PCR products. Twenty-three (9.7%) were found to be perfect polymorphic loci. A small-scale population study using 11 polymorphic loci revealed considerable gene diversity. Clustering analysis grouped isolates of this fungus into two clades in accordance with their geographic origins. Thus, the “Seq-Assembly-SSR” approach has proven to be a successful one for microsatellite discovery.
Tracking tagged fish with swarming Unmanned Aerial Vehicles using fractional order potential fields and Kalman filtering

Tracking fish using implanted radio transmitters is an important part of studying and preserving native fish species. However, conventional methods for locating the fish after they are tagged can be time consuming and costly. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)s have been used in general radio localization applications and can possibly be used to locate fish quickly and effectively. However, the methods developed for multi-UAV navigation and transmitter localization are complex and might not work well for practical and routine use. This work focuses on developing simple methods for multi-UAV navigation and transmitter localization. Swarm-like navigation methods (using potential fields) are used for multi-UAV navigation, and a simple Kalman Filter is used to estimate the location of the transmitter. Simulations are presented using one, two and three UAVs. The simulation results show the success with locating the transmitter with two or three UAVs. In addition, coordination between the UAVs is successful using the simple rules of their virtual magnetic fields. A clustering behavior is observed and contributes to the success of the localization.
Composition of ash from petroleum cokes in relation to quality of coker feedstock and original crude oil

1. The principal elements contributing to high ash contents of petroleum residual stocks and the cokes obtained from these stocks are sodium, iron, and magnesium, the contents of which increase with increasing content of chlorides in the crude oil. 2. The contents of silicon, nickel, vanadium, and manganese in the residual stocks and in the cokes are essentially independent of the salt content of the crude oil. 3. Thorough desalting of crude oil is a basic prerequisite in the production of low-ash cokes. 4. In order to produce low-vanadium coke, the coker feedstock must be selected very carefully.
Surgical adjuvant therapy in colon carcinoma: a human tumor spheroid model for evaluating radiation sensitizing agents.

HT-29 human colon tumor cells growing as spheroids have been evaluated as a model system for measuring the response of human colon tumor cell to antineoplastic agents. HT-29 cells have been capacity to form spheroids up to 1 mm or more in diameter when grown in spinner culture. The multicellular HT-29 spheroids develop hypoxic centers reflecting the cellular conditions found in human cancer treatment, i.e., nutritionally deficient hypoxic cells that are felt to be a significant source of both radiation and chemotherapy clinical treatment failures. Spheroids of increasing size were radiated and then dispersed into single cells for colony survival assay. Compared with irradiated single cell suspensions, the spheroid cells demonstrated a significant increase in radioresistance. Growing spheroids developed a complex radiation survival curve which was variable with respect to size of the spheroid. The drug 5-Fu was studied to examine in a preliminary fashion its interaction with these resistant cell fractions. In direct cytotoxicity assay, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) exhibited both cytotoxic and cytostatic effects when the drug was present at a concentration greater than 0.4 microgram/ml. The interaction of 5-FU with x-rays in the HT-29 spheroids was complex and dependent on the type of assay employed (spheroid size versus clonogenicity). The effect of allopurinol, an agent that protects cells from 5-FU toxicity was examined. Allopurinol at a concentration of 100 microgram/ml was found to protect these human colonic carcinoma cells from the cytotoxic effects of 5-FU under conditions resembling those found in vivo. Overall, this HT-29 spheroid system appears to b an interesting model for studying a variety of drug/x-ray interactions in vitro and may prove capable of answering specific questions of preclinical and clinical relevance.
THE TOLL GENE OF DROSOPHILA, REQUIRED FOR DORSAL-VENTRAL EMBRYONIC POLARITY, APPEARS TO ENCODE A TRANSMEMBRANE PROTEIN

The Toll gene of Drosophila, a maternal effect gene that plays a central role in the establishment of the embryonic dorsal-ventral pattern, has been cloned using P element tagging. A 5.3 kb poly(A)+ ovarian transcript from the cloned region was purified by hybrid selection with the cloned DNA. This purified transcript complements the Toll mutant phenotype when injected into Toll- embryos, which proves that it is the Toll transcript. The sequence of cDNAs suggests that the Toll protein is an integral membrane protein with a cytoplasmic domain and a large extracytoplasmic domain. The putative extracytoplasmic domain contains at least 15 repeats of a 24 amino acid, leucine-rich sequence found in both human and yeast membrane proteins.
Planning and Implementing a Successful Workshop

During the last five years, inservice education for foreign language teachers has focused on short-term workshops varying in length from a few days to two or three weeks. These workshops have focused on specific teacher needs and on the preparation of ready-to-use classroom materials. This article offers a working checklist designed to facilitate the planning and implementation of a workshop which is highly participant-oriented. The checklist is divided into three sections: program, publicity, and service. The program segment focuses on the cognitive aspects of the workshop, while the service segment provides suggestions for meeting the affective and psychomotor needs of the participants. The publicity segment offers suggestions for wide visibility and efficient preregistration procedures.
Emergency contraception: a “fire extinguisher” for unintended pregnancies ☆

Abstract The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defines emergency contraception, also known as post-coital contraception and the “morning after pill,” as “a therapy for women who experience an act of unprotected sexual intercourse.” It has been estimated that post-coital contraception could reduce the number of unintended pregnancies by 2 million and the number of induced abortions by 1 million. Several methods of emergency contraception are widely accepted including an estrogen-progestin combination, progestin only, mifepristone (RU486), and the copper intrauterine device (IUD). The major side effects of post-coital contraception include nausea, vomiting, and menstrual cycle abnormalities. Currently, the biggest obstacles to post-coital contraception in the United States are limited experience among practitioners and lack of awareness and accessibility among patients. Analogous to a fire extinguisher in homes, emergency contraception requires immediate access for success. There is a nationwide campaign, supported by major national medical organizations, to increase physician acceptability and to make hormonal emergency contraception available over-the-counter, thereby increasing visibility and patient convenience. Until the availability improves, it is prudent for physicians to prescribe emergency contraception as well as provide prevention counseling during routine visits.
Photoreversible Viscosity Changes and Gelation in Mixtures of Hydrophobically Modified Polyelectrolytes and Photosensitive Surfactants

The viscosity and gelation of mixtures of hydrophobically modified poly(acrylic acid) (HM-PAA) and a cationic photosensitive surfactant can be controlled reversibly by changing between UV and visible light irradiation of the sample. At the critical aggregation concentration (cac) of the surfactant, micellar aggregates form on the polymer and solubilize the alkyl side chains grafted on the HM-PAA, leading to physical cross-linking and gelation. The hydrophobic trans (visible light) form, with a planar azobenzene group in the surfactant tail, has a lower cac than the more polar cis (UV light) form, resulting in gelation at lower surfactant concentrations under visible light. Reversible viscosity changes of up to 2 orders of magnitude are observed upon exposure to UV or visible light. Observed viscosity maxima of 5.6 × 104 cPa for the trans form and 2.2 × 103 cPa for the cis form of the surfactant suggest that the trans-form surfactant micelles are more effective at solubilizing the alkyl side chains than ar...
Filopodial behavior is dependent on the phosphorylation state of neuronal growth cones.

Several lines of evidence suggest that phosphorylation events play an important role in transducing neurite outgrowth signals. Here we tested if such phosphorylation events altered filopodial dynamics on neuronal growth cones and thereby might affect pathfinding decisions. The general protein kinase inhibitor K252a caused an increase in the overall length of filopodia, thereby increasing the action radius of a growth cone. Application of specific kinase inhibitors demonstrated that myosin light chain kinase, Ca/calmodulin-dependent kinase II, and protein kinase A were likely not involved in this filopodial response. Inhibition of protein kinase C (PKC) with calphostin C or cerebroside, however, induced filopodial elongation similar to that seen with K252a. Activation of PKC with the phorbol ester PMA produced the opposite effect, namely filopodial shortening. Consistent with this finding, the protein phosphatase activator C(2)-ceramide resulted in a significant increase in filopodial length, whereas application of the protein phosphatase inhibitor okadaic acid caused the opposite effect, filopodial shortening. Lastly, the tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein also caused filopodial elongation, and this effect could be negated by the tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor sodium ortho-vanadate. Using the calcium indicator fura-2, we further showed that these drugs did not cause a measurable change in the free intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca(2+)](i)) in growth cones. Taken together, these results suggest that the action radius of a growth cone and its resulting pathfinding abilities could be rapidly altered by contact with extracellular cues, leading to changes in the activity of protein kinases and phosphatases.