cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Lipid Solubilization on the Performance of Doxorubicin-Loaded Nanobubbles

Microbubbles (MBs) have been recently studied as a drug-carrier for cancer theranostics. However, their effectiveness in vivo is limited by their large size (1–8 um). Drug-loaded nanobubbles (NBs), with a footprint of 100–600 nm, can facilitate extravasation, resulting in higher drug accumulation in tumors and improved efficacy. In this study, we report on the effect of lipid solubilization on drug loading and acoustic performance of doxorubicin-loaded NBs. Specifically, we evaluated the effects of a membrane additive, glycerol, and a pre-solubilizing agent, propylene glycol on the NBs. The results showed that the lipid solubilization method used affected the size, concentration and stability of the drug-loaded contrast agent. The addition of glycerol had negligible effect on initial echogenicity but affected the long-term stability of the bubble. Propylene glycol affected the initial echogenicity and loading efficiency of bubbles. Overall, this investigation shows that the shell composition and preparation methods used for lipid solubilization could influence the ultrasound response of NBs as well as the efficiency of incorporating drug into the bubbles. Both of these parameters can greatly impact the research and development of NBs for use as a theranostic agent.
Deregulation of a Network of mRNA and miRNA Genes Reveals That CK2 and MEK Inhibitors May Synergize to Induce Apoptosis KRAS-Active NSCLC:

KRAS-activation mutations occur in 25% to 40% of lung adenocarcinomas and are a known mechanism of epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor (EGFRI) resistance. There are currently no targeted therapies approved specifically for the treatment of KRAS-active non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC). Attempts to target mutant KRAS have failed in clinical studies leaving no targeted therapy option for these patients. To circumvent targeting KRAS directly, we hypothesized that targeting proteins connected to KRAS function rather than targeting KRAS directly could induce cell death in KRAS-active NSCLC cells. To identify potential targets, we leveraged 2 gene expression data sets derived from NSCLC cell lines either resistant and sensitive to EGFRI treatment. Using a Feasible Solutions Algorithm, we identified genes with deregulated expression in KRAS-active cell lines and used STRING as a source for known protein-protein interactions. This process generated a network of 385 deregulated proteins including KRAS and other known mechanisms of EGFRI resistance. To identify candidate drug targets from the network for further study, we selected proteins with the greatest number of connections within the network and possessed an enzymatic activity that could be inhibited with an existing pharmacological agent. Of the potential candidates, the pharmacological impact of targeting casein kinase 2 (CK2) as a single target was tested, and we found a modest reduction in viability in KRAS-active NSCLC cells. MEK was chosen as a second target from outside the network because it lies downstream of KRAS and MEK inhibition can overcome resistance to CK2 inhibitors. We found that CK2 and MEK inhibition demonstrates moderate synergy in inducing apoptosis in KRAS-active NSCLC cells. These results suggest promise for a combination inhibitor strategy for treating KRAS-active NSCLC.
A Case for Managed and Model-less Inference Serving

The number of applications relying on inference from machine learning models, especially neural networks, is already large and expected to keep growing. For instance, Facebook applications issue tens-of-trillions of inference queries per day with varying performance, accuracy, and cost constraints. Unfortunately, today's inference serving systems are neither easy to use nor cost effective. Developers must manually match the performance, accuracy, and cost constraints of their applications to a large design space that includes decisions such as selecting the right model and model optimizations, selecting the right hardware architecture, selecting the right scale-out factor, and avoiding cold-start effects. These interacting decisions are difficult to make, especially when the application load varies over time, applications evolve over time, and the available resources vary over time. If we want an increasing number of applications to use machine learning, we must automate issues that affect ease-of-use, performance, and cost efficiency for both users and providers. Hence, we define and make the case for managed and model-less inference serving. In this paper, we identify and discuss open research directions to realize this vision.
O7 More for Your Money? Understanding Campus Meal Plan Choice in Relation to Food Insecurity Risk at a Rural Liberal Arts Institution

Background Nationwide, college campuses have increased food insecurity awareness to provide solutions. However, few colleges have sought long-term systemic change in food insecurity prevention among students, especially with campus meal plans. Objective To examine food security prevalence among students with varying meal-plans at a rural liberal arts institution. Study Design, Settings, Participants This cross-sectional study utilized an online survey distributed near the end of term. Participants were full-time, undergraduate students. Five hundred and thirty two responses (16% of total enrollment) met inclusion criteria. Most respondents were female, Caucasian, living on-campus, and purchased some type of campus dining meal plan. Measurable Outcome/Analysis The survey inquired about demographics, financial and living status, food security, stress, and campus dining. The 6-item Household Food Security Survey (HFSS) was used to assess food security status both in the 30 days prior to the survey and over the entire semester. HFSS scores between two and six indicate food insecurity. ANOVA and t-tests were used to compare means. Results Based on HFSS scoring, 20.3% (n = 108) and 19.2% (n = 102) of participants reported low or extremely low food security over the semester, respectively. Upperclassmen respondents (n = 224) had significantly higher HFSS scores than underclassmen (2.47 + 2.42 and 1.28 + 1.88, respectively,= P Conclusion Most students at liberal arts colleges purchase a meal plan. Students on an unlimited-access meal plan are more likely to be food secure. However, many students cannot afford the cost of an unlimited meal-plan and that may play a contributing role to food insecurity risk. Funding Carneige Mellon “Becoming Community” Grant.
Symmetry. Saddle Points, and Global Optimization Landscape of Nonconvex Matrix Factorization

We propose a general theory for studying the geometry of nonconvex objective functions with underlying symmetric structures. In specific, we characterize the locations of stationary points and the null space of the associated Hessian matrices via the lens of invariant groups. As a major motivating example, we apply the proposed general theory to characterize the global geometry of the low-rank matrix factorization problem. In particular, we illustrate how the rotational symmetry group gives rise to infinitely many nonisolated strict saddle points and equivalent global minima of the objective function. By explicitly identifying all stationary points, we divide the entire parameter space into three regions: ( $\mathcal{R}_{1}$ ) the region containing the neighborhoods of all strict saddle points, where the objective has negative curvatures; ( $\mathcal{R}_{2}$ ) the region containing neighborhoods of all global minima, where the objective enjoys strong convexity along certain directions; and ( $\mathcal{R}_{3}$ ) the complement of the above regions, where the gradient has sufficiently large magnitudes. We further extend our result to the matrix sensing problem. This allows us to establish strong global convergence guarantees for popular iterative algorithms with arbitrary initialization.
Prenatal and postnatal MRI findings in open spinal dysraphism following intrauterine repair via open versus fetoscopic surgical techniques.

Purpose The purpose of the study is to examine MRI findings of the brain and spine on prenatal and postnatal MRI following intrauterine repair of open spinal dysraphism (OSD) by open hysterotomy and fetoscopic approaches. Materials and methods This study is a single-center HIPAA-compliant and IRB-approved retrospective analysis of fetal MRIs with open spinal dysraphism from January 2011 through December 2018 that underwent subsequent prenatal repair of OSD. Results Sixty-two patients met inclusion criteria: 47 underwent open repair, and 15 underwent fetoscopic repair, with an average gestational age of 22.6 ± 1.4 weeks at initial MRI. On postnatal MRI, spinal cord syrinx was seen in 34% (16/47) of patients undergoing open versus 33.3% (5/15) undergoing fetoscopic repair (P = 0.96). Postnatally, there was no significant difference in hindbrain herniation between the open versus fetoscopic repair groups (P = 0.28). Lateral ventricular size was significantly larger in the open (20.9 ± 6.7 mm) versus the fetoscopic repair (16.1 ± 4.9 mm) group (P = 0.01). Conclusion Though lateral ventricular size in the open repair group was larger than the fetoscopic repair group, this can likely be explained by initial selection criteria used for fetoscopic repair. Other postoperative imaging parameters on postnatal MRI were not significantly different between the two groups.
Gene expression and cytosine DNA methylation alterations in induced pluripotent stem-cell-derived human hepatocytes treated with low doses of chemical carcinogens.

The increasing number of man-made chemicals in the environment that may pose a carcinogenic risk emphasizes the need to develop reliable time- and cost-effective approaches for carcinogen detection. To address this issue, we have investigated the utility of human hepatocytes for the in vitro identification of genotoxic and non-genotoxic carcinogens. Induced pluripotent stem-cell (iPSC)-derived human hepatocytes were treated with the genotoxic carcinogens aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), the non-genotoxic liver carcinogen methapyrilene, and the non-carcinogens aflatoxin B2 (AFB2) and benzo[e]pyrene (B[e]P) at non-cytotoxic concentrations for 7 days, and transcriptomic and DNA methylation profiles were examined. 1569, 1693, and 2061 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected in cells treated with AFB1, B[a]P, and methapyrilene, respectively, whereas no DEGs were found in cells treated with AFB2 or B[e]P. In contrast to the profound cellular transcriptomic responses, exposure of iPSC-derived hepatocytes to the test chemicals resulted in minor random alterations in global DNA methylome, most of which were not associated with changes in gene expression. Overall, our results demonstrate that the major non-genotoxic effect of exposure to carcinogens, regardless of their mode of action, is a profound global transcriptomic response rather than global DNA methylome alterations, indicating the significance of transcriptomic alterations as an informative endpoint in short-term in vitro carcinogen testing.
Abstract TP247: Impact of Helicopter Emergency Medical Services Flights on Recombinant Tissue Plasminogen Activator (rtpa) Integrity

Introduction: Inter-hospital transfer of ischemic stroke patients by Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) is common in rural states. The administration of recombinant tissue plasminogen act...
Teriparatide Did Not Increase Adult Osteosarcoma Incidence in a 15-Year US Postmarketing Surveillance Study.

The Osteosarcoma Surveillance Study was initiated in the United States in 2003 to monitor for a potential association between the osteoporosis treatment teriparatide and osteosarcoma. Osteosarcoma occurs at a background incidence rate of approximately 2.5 cases per million per year in US adults aged 40 years or older. For this study, incident cases of osteosarcoma diagnosed between January 1, 2003, and December 31, 2016, were identified through participating cancer registries in the United States. Information on prior exposure to medications and possible risk factors was obtained by self-report (or proxy report) in telephone interviews. Exposure information was verified through medical record abstraction for a sample of patients. A standardized incidence ratio was estimated to compare the observed and expected numbers of osteosarcoma patients with a prior history of teriparatide treatment. Interviews were completed for 24% (1173) of patients diagnosed with osteosarcoma between 2003 and 2016; three reports of teriparatide use before diagnosis were identified. Based on the background incidence rate, the expected number of osteosarcoma cases among patients treated with teriparatide was 4.17. Given the three observed cases, the standardized incidence ratio was 0.72 (90% confidence interval [CI], 0.20 to 1.86). Demographic characteristics were similar for interviewed and noninterviewed patients. Agreement was >90% between self-reported and chart-recorded exposure to osteoporosis medications. Mean age of interviewed patients was 61 years; 53% of patients were male, 84% were white, and 5% were Hispanic. The prevalence of suspected risk factors for development of osteosarcoma among the osteosarcoma cohort was 19% for history of radiation and 4% for history of Paget's disease of bone. These findings showed that the incidence of osteosarcoma associated with teriparatide use during the 15-year surveillance period was no different than would be expected based on the background incidence rate of osteosarcoma. © 2020 The Authors. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).
Critique, Finitude and the Importance of Susceptibility: A Rossian Approach to Interpreting Kant on Pleasure

In this paper, I take Philip Rossi’s robust interpretation of critique as an interpretive guide for thinking generally about how to interpret Kant’s texts. I reflect first upon what might appear to be a minor technical issue: how best to translate the term Fahigheit when Kant utilizes it in reference to the human experience of pleasure and displeasure. Reflection upon this technical issue will, however, end up being a case study in how important it is when we are interpreting Kant’s texts to have Rossi’s focus on human finitude in the background. The terrain for these reflections on human finitude will be the realm of feelings of pleasure and displeasure. And the result will be that, counter to recent interpreters, like Elizondo (2014), who have suggested that Kant could welcome a thoroughly active conception of rational feeling, we must instead, as guided by Kant’s commitment to human finitude (and really his commitment to Transcendental Idealism itself), remember that every feeling for Kant—even the most rational of feelings, like the moral feeling of respect, or the pleasure he notes that we take in the proper functioning of one’s virtuous rational self—must be understood within the purview and constraints of the finite and sensibly-affected human being. I hope, then, that this brief reflection can be taken as one small piece of that larger story Rossi so aptly describes in his book, the story which answers the question of “What is critique?” in a way that insists upon but also simultaneously celebrates the centrality of finitude in human existence.
Mechanistic data-driven prediction of as-built mechanical properties in metal additive manufacturing

Metal additive manufacturing provides remarkable flexibility in geometry and component design, but localized heating/cooling heterogeneity leads to spatial variations of as-built mechanical properties, significantly complicating the materials design process. To this end, we develop a mechanistic data-driven framework integrating wavelet transforms and convolutional neural networks to predict location-dependent mechanical properties over fabricated parts based on process-induced temperature sequences, i.e., thermal histories. The framework enables multiresolution analysis and importance analysis to reveal dominant mechanistic features underlying the additive manufacturing process, such as critical temperature ranges and fundamental thermal frequencies. We systematically compare the developed approach with other machine learning methods. The results demonstrate that the developed approach achieves reasonably good predictive capability using a small amount of noisy experimental data. It provides a concrete foundation for a revolutionary methodology that predicts spatial and temporal evolution of mechanical properties leveraging domain-specific knowledge and cutting-edge machine and deep learning technologies.
Cosmic Evolution

Just as biological evolution is the heart of modern biology, cosmic evolution is the heart of modern cosmology. For instructors to be confident in teaching science, it is helpful for them to appreciate the current understanding of the composition and development of the universe, especially the revolutionary changes that have taken place in our understanding over the last two decades. Biological evolution requires the products of cosmic evolution—the elements of which life is composed were formed in the cores of stars—and the two areas of science are thus crucially, and even inspiringly, connected.
STING pathway and modulation for cancer immunotherapy

Abstract Cyclic GMP–AMP synthase (cGAS) and stimulator of IFN genes (STING) are cytosolic nucleic acid sensors that detect abnormal presence of cytosolic nucleic acids and hence elicit type I interferon (IFN) responses. The loss of immune homeostasis due to abnormal cGAS–STING signaling pathway is involved in cancer, infectious diseases, autoimmune disorders, as well as cell senescence. Upon cGAS–STING activation, the resulting antitumor and antiviral type I IFN responses have been leveraged for antitumor as well as antiviral therapy. In this chapter, we review the basic biology, current attempts of STING-targeted cancer drug development, as well as drug delivery systems for STING agonists in cancer immunotherapy.
Likelihood Ratio, Skull Roentgenograms, and Clinical Decision-Making

In Reply.— We appreciate the thoughtful comments of Leventhal and Lembo and concur with their conclusion that the clinician needs to know "the probability of skull fracture in a patient with head trauma." Unfortunately, their proposed "clinical likelihood ratio" (CR) will not further that end because it compares the predictive value (or, more precisely, the posterior probability) of a skull fracture after a positive clinical finding to the posterior probability after a negative finding. After the patient has been examined, the patient does not have both findings; thus, the CR cannot apply to the individual patient.
An Analysis of Long-Range Acoustic Propagation Fluctuations and Upper Ocean Sound Speed Variability

Abstract : The long-term goals of this research are to understand the predictability limits of long-range acoustic transmissions, and to delineate the important environmental factors contributing to predictability.
Timing of prophylactic hysterectomy-oophorectomy, mastectomy, and microsurgical breast reconstruction in BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers.

Background BRCA (breast cancer susceptibility gene) carriers are at high risk for breast and ovarian malignancies, and often undergo prophylactic total abdominal hysterectomy-bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (TAH-BSO), bilateral mastectomy, and microsurgical breast reconstruction. Our goal was to determine whether abdominal wall complications and flap choice are affected by the order of those procedures. Methods All BRCA carriers who underwent microsurgical breast reconstruction between 2007 and 2012 were studied. Abdominal wall complications and changes in the reconstructive plan were analyzed depending on the order of breast reconstruction and TAH-BSO. Results 442 patients underwent 612 microsurgical breast reconstructions, 47 of whom were BRCA carriers. TAH-BSO was not a predictor of requiring mesh for fascial closure (OR 1.1, P = 0.8), or of hernia/bulge (OR = 1.6, P = 0.65). In five patients, a DIEP flap was altered to another flap as a direct result of prior TAH-BSO. Robotic TAH-BSO after breast reconstruction took longer to perform than before breast reconstruction (4.48 ± 1.00 hours vs. 3.23 ± 0.70 hours, respectively, P = 0.023), due to abdominal wall tightness. However, none were converted to open. Full-muscle free TRAM flaps (compared to other flaps) and bilateral reconstructions (compared to unilateral) were the only predictors of mesh (OR = 9.85, P < 0.001 and 4.01, P < 0.001), and hernia/bulge (OR = 6.18, P < 0.001 and 2.13, P = 0.07). The order of TAH-BSO and breast reconstruction did not affect complications. Conclusions In BRCA carriers, the order of TAH-BSO and microsurgical breast reconstruction does not affect complication rates. However, prior TAH-BSO may make DIEP flaps unfeasible, and robotic TAH-BSO after breast reconstruction takes longer, but can still be performed safely. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microsurgery 34:271–276, 2014.
Incorporating the Fifth Standard of ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education into Information Literacy Curriculum

The American Library Association’s (ALA) Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL) established five information literacy standards for higher education to be used as a guideline by academic librarians and instructors covering all aspects of the research process, from defining information needs, understanding library policies, research skills, and proper citation. Many of these skills remain untaught at the university level. The fifth standard “The information literate student understands many of the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally” is vague and broad in scope and has proven to be the most difficult to incorporate into traditional information literacy sessions. This brief paper addresses the challenges faced by academic librarians in incorporating standard five and urges faculty and librarian collaboration in this aspect of information literacy instruction.
Development of a novel micromachined parylene membrane filter device for capture and characterization of circulating tumor cells from peripheral blood.

5147 Metastasis is probably the most important event determining clinical outcome in cancer patients. Sensitive detection of earliest metastatic spread of tumor in a minimally invasive and user-friendly manner will revolutionize the clinical management of caner patients. The current methodology for circulating tumor cell (CTC) capture and identification has significant barriers including multiple procedural steps, handling of relatively large volumes of blood, substantial human intervention, extremely high cost and importantly, the lack of reliability and standardization for the detection methods. We report here development, optimization and actual clinical application of a novel parylene membrane filter microdevice for capturing CTC from undiluted human peripheral blood. To our knowledge, this is the first micromachined membrane filter used for rare CTC detection. Even without much optimization, the device already demonstrates greater than 80% recovery with high enrichment factor, which out-performs most current methods used in the field. Moreover, less than 10 minutes are required for each CTC capture operation, compared to current multi-step processing requiring more than an hour. Data will be presented for the application of this tumor cell capture device in both model system using cultured cancer cells admixed in blood and cancer patient blood samples. This novel filter based CTC enrichment device will provide a cost effective method for CTC monitoring with higher recovery rate, faster processing time and more reliable results due to minimal human intervention.
Determination of the site of protonation of substituted benzenes in water chemical ionization mass spectrometry

The site of protonation of a substituted benzene may be determined using chemical onization mass spectrometry with D2O as a reagent gas. The observation of extensive exchange of the ring hydrogens for deuteriums is linked to protonation on the benzene ring. The lack of this exchange coupled with the formation of cluster ions (the association of the protonated species with one or more D2O molecules) is evidence of protonation on the substituent rather than the ring. Aniline, benzaldehyde and nitrobenzene are observed to protonate at the substituent while toluene, bromobenzene, biphenyl and iodobenzene protonate on the ring. The dimethylbenzenes protonate on the ring while the diaminobenzenes protonate at one of the substituents. The dihydroxybenzenes, as well as a number of other compounds in which an oxygen is attached directly to the ring, protonate predominantly at the substituent although a small amount of exchange of one ring hydrogen is observed.
Course 13 Superconducting qubits and the physics of Josephson junctions

This chapter discusses the physics of the Josephson junction because, being nonlinear, it is the fundamental circuit element that is needed for the appearance of usable qubit states. In contrast, linear circuit elements such as capacitors and inductors can form low-dissipation superconducting resonators, but are unusable for qubits because the energy-level spacings are degenerate. The nonlinearity of the Josephson inductance breaks the degeneracy of the energy level spacings, allowing dynamics of the system to be restricted to only the two qubit states. The Josephson junction is a remarkable nonlinear element because it combines negligible dissipation with extremely large nonlinearity - the change of the qubit state by only one photon in energy can modify the junction inductance by order unity. The chapter discusses the nonlinear Josephson inductance and three types of qubit circuits, and shows how these circuits use this nonlinearity in unique manners. It presents the derivation of the BCS theory, highlighting the appearance of the macroscopic phase parameter. The Josephson equations are derived using standard first and second order perturbation theory that describe quasiparticle and Cooper-pair tunneling. An exact calculation of the Josephson effect then follows using the quasiparticle bound-state theory. This theory is expanded to describe quasiparticle excitations as transitions from the ground to excited bound states from nonadiabatic changes in the bias. The chapter also describes quasiparticle tunneling with AC voltage excitations, as appropriate for the qubit state.
Varieties of Asian Capitalism and Federalism: Comparing the Politics of Indian and Chinese Securities Finance

This paper compares the development of securities finance (stocks and bonds) in India and China during the explosive years of global financial change in the 1990s. In what follows I evaluate some simple inferences about the causes of variation in these two countries’ patterns of financial change with particular reference to the politics of securities finance. My conclusions reveal how the institutional development of securities finance in the 1990s shaped the choices available to these countries’ leaders regarding the varieties of capitalism and federalism that are today taking shape in China and India. The paper draws on a larger study of the politics of an increasingly common global trend - the shift toward securities finance. It is a comparative and international political economy study of 'securitization.' Here 'securitization' refers not to the now well-known sale of tradable claims on sub-prime US housing mortgages, but instead, to the long-term structural shift from credit-based finance (banking) to securities-based finance (stocks and bonds) - using China and India as examples of developmental states in late industrialization. I propose a necessary revision to Gerschenkron’s thesis on finance and state power in late industrialization, accounting for the growing role of securities finance.
Theory of the P b center at the Si/ SiO 2 interface

We present a series of semiempirical calculations on threefold-coordinated silicon at the 〈111〉 Si/${\mathrm{SiO}}_{2}$ interface. These were performed on finite clusters of atoms with use of hydrogen terminators in an unrestricted Hartree-Fock formalism wherein we include lattice relaxations. We have calculated defect electrical levels as well as ESR hyperfine parameters. The agreement with Brower's principal hyperfine data is excellent. On the strength of this agreement, we assign the superhyperfine shoulders to spin density on three second-nearest-neighbor silicon atoms in the crystalline silicon. Our agreement with electrical data is good; we obtain a positive U of between 0.3 and 0.6 eV, depending upon the method of calculation. Finally, we predict the existence of a spin-dependent deep-level transient-spectroscopy signal at high pressure.
Hyperactive Wnt signaling changes the developmental potential of embryonic lung endoderm.

Studies in many model systems have shown that canonical signaling through the pathway downstream of ligands of the Wnt family can regulate multiple steps in organogenesis, including cell proliferation, differentiation, and lineage specification. In addition, misexpression of the Wnt-family member Wingless in Drosophila imaginal disc cells can lead to transdetermination of progenitors from one lineage to another. Conditional deletion of the β-catenin component of the Wnt signaling pathway has indicated a role for Wnt signaling in mouse lung endoderm development. The full range of effects of this pathway, which includes the transcription factor Lef1, has not been explored, however. To explore this issue, we expressed a constitutively active β-catenin-Lef1 fusion protein in transgenic embryos using a lung-endoderm-specific promoter from the surfactant protein C gene. Transgenic lungs appeared grossly normal, but internally they contained highly proliferative, cuboidal epithelium lacking fully differentiated lung cell types. Unexpectedly, microarray analysis and in situ hybridization revealed a mosaic of cells expressing marker genes characteristic of intestinal Paneth and goblet cells and other non-lung secretory cell types. In addition, there was strong ectopic expression of genes such as Cdx1 and Atoh1 that normally regulate gut development and early allocation of cells to intestinal secretory lineages. Our results show that hyperactive Wnt signaling in lung progenitors expressing a lung-specific gene can induce a dramatic switch in lineage commitment and the generation of intestinal cell types. We discuss the relevance of our findings to the poorly understood pathological condition of intestinal metaplasia in humans.
Variation in the Binding of 125I-labeled Interferon-βser to Cellular Receptors during Growth of Human Renal and Bladder Carcinoma Cells in Vitro

Abstract Studies of various established human bladder and renal carcinoma cell lines cultured in vitro demonstrated the presence of specific, saturable, high affinity binding sites for 125 I-labeled human interferon β ser (IFN-β ser ). This recombinant produced interferon labeled with approximately one atom of 125 I/molecule of IFN expressed minimal or no loss of antiviral activity. A single class of binding sites (1000–2000/cell) with an affinity constant of 10 10 –10 11 L/M was measured at 4°C for cells exhibiting widely different sensitivity to the antiproliferative effect of IFN-β ser . Major fluctuations in the binding of 125 I-labeled IFN-β ser to cellular receptors were observed during in vitro proliferation of four of five cell lines examined. A significant decrease ( P 125 I-labeled IFN-β ser were partially attributable to binding fluctuations during the mitotic cycle. The 2- to 3-fold decline 24 h following plating of ACHN cells corresponded to a 70% decrease in the number of cells in G 0 -G 1 . T24 (human transitional cell carcinoma) and ACHN cells, synchronized by serum starvation, demonstrated increased binding of 125 I-labeled IFN-β ser 4–16 h following serum replenishment. This increase in receptor binding occurred prior to the onset of DNA and protein synthesis and was followed by a decline immediately prior to cell division. Binding site analysis indicated that the increased binding prior to DNA synthesis was due to a 5- to 6-fold increase in receptor affinity for the radiolabeled ligand. After an initial 40% decline in receptors per cell following serum stimulation, receptor concentration remained essentially unchanged. Induction of 2′,5′-oligoadenylate synthetase in ACHN cells and antiproliferative activity in RT112, RT4, T24 (human transitional cell carcinoma), and ACHN cells by IFN-β ser decreased significantly 48 h following plating. These changes in the biological activity of this interferon corresponded to growth related fluctuations in the IFN-β ser binding.
A Review of “The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies”

The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies is a six-volume collection of scholarly articles. The individual titles of each of the six volumes provide a hint as to contents. Volume 1, “Media Hi...
vCap: adaptive power capping for virtualized servers

Power capping on server nodes has become an essential feature in data centers for controlling energy costs and peak power consumption. More than half of the server nodes are virtualized in today's data centers; thus, providing a practical power capping technique for consolidated virtual environments is a significant research problem. This paper proposes a power capping technique, vCap, which makes resource allocation decisions to maximize the Quality-of-Service (QoS) while meeting the power constraints in virtualized servers that run multi-threaded applications. For a given set of applications, vCap first decides which applications to co-schedule based on application scalability and then optimizes the QoS in an application-aware manner for each VM by adaptively adjusting the CPU resources. Experiments on real-life multi-core servers show that vCap provides 12% higher energy efficiency in comparison to the state-of-the-art power capping techniques, while adhering to the power cap 92% of the time within a 2W error margin.
Fast and Efficient Bandwidth Reservation Algorithms for Dynamic Network Provisioning

Large-scale collaborative e-science requires fast and reliable data transfer with guaranteed performance, which is made possible by reserving bandwidth as needed in advance in high-performance networks. In scientific applications, users typically know the data size, the data available time, and the deadline to finish the data transfer, and they always wish to achieve the earliest possible finish time or the minimum time duration for the data transfer. On the other hand, the network service provider wishes to serve as many users' bandwidth reservation requests (BRRs) as possible to maximize the network resource utilization without compromising their deadlines. Such multi-objective requirements and high system throughput call for a fast and efficient bandwidth reservation strategy that can quickly discover various reservation options in a time-varying network environment. We propose two bandwidth reservation algorithms with rigorous optimality proofs to compute the reservation options with the earliest completion time and with the shortest duration for a local BRR. Our algorithms aim to achieve the balanced resource utilization for the network system. Extensive simulation results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithms in terms of execution time, success ratio, success ratio of BRRs with different priorities and searched complexity of BRRs in comparison with similar scheduling algorithms.
Evaluation of cancer patient leukocyte responses in the presence of physiologic and pharmacologic pyridoxine and pyridoxal levels.

Peripheral blood samples from six cancer patients (five colon cancer, one lung cancer) and six healthy volunteers were tested in vitro for oxygen radical production by phagocytic cells and in assays of mitogen-induced lymphoblastogenesis at physiologic and pharmacologic concentrations of pyridoxine (PN, 1.8-96 nmol/ml) or pyridoxal (PL, 0.08-90 nmol/ml). Plasma levels of pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP), 4-pyridoxic acid (4PA), pyridoxamine phosphate (PMP), and PL were also determined. Phagocytic cells from three patients showed significantly increased capacity for oxygen radical production when incubated in PL-, but not PN-supplemented media. Oxygen burst capacity of cells from healthy subjects was significantly enhanced by PN-, but not PL-enriched media. Lymphocyte responsiveness to phytohemagglutinin or pokeweed mitogen (PWM) stimulation showed a modest increase in cell activation in three patients as the concentration of PN was increased; with concanavalin A, two showed enhanced responsiveness. On the other hand, PL-supplementation resulted in greater cell proliferation only with PWM. The cancer patients had significantly lower plasma PLP, 4PA, and PMP levels when compared with the healthy volunteers. These data indicate that in the cancer patients and in a majority of the healthy volunteers, vitamin 6-6 status was marginal or deficient and suggest that increasing PN or PL in vivo levels may augment functions related to cell-mediated immunity.
Luminosity generated by Shock Waves

LUMINOUS phenomena accompanying shock waves have been observed under extreme conditions by Michel-Levy, Muraour and Vassy1 through head-on collision of shocks generated by explosives, and by Perry and Kantrowitz2 at the point of convergence of a cylindrical shock wave. A related phenomenon is observed in the gas discharges of Fowler, Goldstein and Clotfelter3, although the creation of the shocks in this type of work is of an electrical nature and does not immediately allow a hydrodynamic interpretation.
Enhanced in vitro and in vivo toxicity of poly-dispersed acid-functionalized single-wall carbon nanotubes

Many potential applications in nanotechnology envisage the use of better-dispersed and functionalized preparations of carbon nanotubes. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were treated with 1:1 mixtures of concentrated nitric and sulfuric acids for 3 min in a microwave oven under 20 psi pressure followed by extensive dialysis to remove the acids. This treatment resulted in acid functionalized SWCNTs (AF-SWCNTs) that had high negative charge (Zeta potential −40 to −60 mV) and were well dispersed (98% of the particles <150 nm) in aqueous suspensions. In vitro and in vivo toxic effects of SWCNTs and AF-SWCNTs were compared. AF-SWCNTs exerted a strong cytotoxic effect on LA4 mouse lung epithelial cells in culture that could be blocked by prior treatment of the nanotubes with poly L-lysine which neutralized the electric charge and promoted re-agglomeration. AF-SWCNT, but not the unmodified SWCNT preparations, strongly inhibited cell cycling of LA4 cells. Both SWCNTs and AF-SWCNTS were however equally effec...
A new stereotactic X-ray knife

Abstract For many years, the irradiation of small volumes of tissue in the brain to necrotizing doses has been investigated as a “non-invasive” alternative to neurosurgery. We propose a new system in which a precisely machined helmet serves as a multi-port focussed X-ray collimator when it is itself irradiated by a conventional medical linear accelerator run in the electron mode. When the collimator is attached to a stereotactic frame, the geometric accuracy of delivering small radiation fields to the brain is limited primarily by the accuracy of the stereotactic localization, and is relatively independent of the positional stability of the accelerator. Field sizes as small as two millimeters are readily achievable. The problem of low dose rate associated with these small fields is overcome by the use of high electron beam currents.
Validation of a Method for Coregistering Scalp Recording Locations With 3D Structural MR Images

A common problem in brain imaging is how to most appropriately coregister anatomical and functional data sets into a common space. For surface-based recordings such as the event related opti- cal signal (EROS), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), event-related potentials (ERPs), and magnetoen- cephalography (MEG), alignment is typically done using either (1) a landmark-based method involving placement of surface markers that can be detected in both modalities; or (2) surface-fitting alignment that samples many points on the surface of the head in the functional space and aligns those points to the surface of the anatomical image. Here we compare these two approaches and advocate a combina- tion of the two in order to optimize coregistration of EROS and NIRS data with structural magnetic resonance images (sMRI). Digitized 3D sensor locations obtained with a Polhemus 1 digitizer can be effectively coregistered with sMRI using fiducial alignment as an initial guess followed by a Mar- quardt-Levenberg least-squares rigid-body transform (df 5 6) to match the surfaces. Additional scaling parameters (df 5 3) and point-by-point surface constraints can also be employed to further improve fit- ting. These alignment procedures place the lower-bound residual error at 1.3 6 0.1 mm (l 6 s) and the upper-bound target registration error at 4.4 6 0.6 mm (l 6 s). The dependence of such errors on scalp segmentation, number of registration points, and initial guess is also investigated. By optimizing align- ment techniques, anatomical localization of surface recordings can be improved in individual subjects. Hum Brain Mapp 29:1288-1301, 2008. V C 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Can pediatric dysfunctional voiding be treated with a short course of pelvic-floor-muscle training with biofeedback?

Can pediatric dysfunctional voiding be treated with a short course of pelvic-floor-muscle training with biofeedback?
Iodination of human thyroglobulin (Tg) alters its immunoreactivity. II. Fine specificity of a monoclonal antibody that recognizes iodinated Tg

In a previous investigation, we found that murine MoAb 42C3, raised against human Tg, recognized Tg differently depending upon its level of iodination of Tg. A possible explanation for this finding is that iodine is directly involved with the specific epitope recognized by MoAb 42C3. In the present study, we report that the binding of MoAb 42C3 to iodinated Tg is inhibited by T4, T3, reverse T3 (rT3), triiodothyroacetic acid (triac), diiodothyronine (T2), diiodotyrosine (DIT), but not by thyronine (T0) or tyrosine. The order of inhibition of these iodinated compounds is T4 > T3 > rT3 > triac > T2 > DIT. The MoAb 42C3 does not have the same specificity as the T3, T4-receptor since the order of binding of these iodinated compounds on the receptor differed from the order of their inhibition of this MoAb. Monoclonal antibody 42C3 also recognized non-iodinated Tg that was subsequently iodinated in vitro. It failed to recognize another protein, bovine serum albumin, that was iodinated in vitro by the same method. These results suggest that iodinated tyrosines and thyronines determine the binding specificity of MoAb 42C3. The inhibitory effects of these compounds on MoAb 42C3 depend on their iodine content as well as location of iodine in the aromatic ring.
Claiming in the Automated Environment

This article discusses the role of automation in journals claiming and explores ways of monitoring the effectiveness of claiming in the automated environment. Discussion covers the differences between using automated claims and system-generated claim reports and the possible implications of each for managing the claims work flow. Lastly, the article examines the experiences of serials managers who responded to a survey regarding claiming practices and results with the use of automated claims and claim reports.
Solving the puzzle of human warfare requires an explanation of battle raids and cultural institutions

Glowacki and Wrangham provide a valuable analysis of reproductive success and raiding among the Nyangatom pastoralists in Ethiopia (1). The authors divided raiding into low-risk stealth raids and high-risk battle raids and found that elder males reputed to participate in stealth raids as youths had more wives and offspring than other elder males. Glowacki and Wrangham (1) claim this result supports the “general proposition that warriors participating in small-scale warfare tend to receive fitness-enhancing benefits.” However, Glowacki and Wrangham’s analysis does not warrant such a general claim.
Chain elongation rate of messenger and polypeptides in slowly growing Escherichia coli.

Abstract The kinetics of completion of the polypeptide chains of β-galactosidase after addition of inducer to cultures of Escherichia coli were studied with an extremely sensitive and accurate fluorometric assay. The length of time after induction is initiated before the first polypeptide chains are completed (delay time) is essentially the same (95 ± 5 seconds) over a wide range of growth rates (50 minutes to 12.6 hours doubling time). Even during chemostat growth with a doubling time of 24 hours, the delay time is only slightly prolonged. From control experiments and the results of others it can be concluded that neither the chain elongation rate for transcription nor for translation is appreciably slowed in cells whose steady-state rate of production of β-galactosidase and most other proteins is slowed by the chemostat limitation. The average lag (the time until messenger RNA translation comes to steadystate) is also essentially invariant with growth rate. It follows that the life span of the messenger molecule is also not markedly altered by changing the growth rate. This is also shown by pulse induction experiments. It is shown in the Appendix that the shape of the induction curves when inducer is added and then quickly removed or when the inducer is added and not removed is consistent with either a model of messenger decay resulting from the first-order loss of capacity to initiate translation or a model of decay random in time and place on the messenger RNA chain. It is argued that induction experiments, when inducer is added and not removed, are decisive in excluding models in which each messenger molecule is read a fixed number of times, since in this case the conclusion does not depend on the assumption that internal inducer can be instantaneously removed by dilution or by removing external inducer, or that certain drugs affect only initiation.
Buffering of sublimation loss of subsurface ice by percolating snowmelt: a theoretical analysis.

Subsurface ice in cold hyperarid conditions retreats by sublimation and diffusion through the overlying soil layer. Here, it is shown that percolating meltwater, if present, can counterbalance sublimation loss effectively and thus increase the persistence time of subsurface ice. Time averaging of transport equations is used to evaluate the significance of percolation in an otherwise complex dynamical system. The reduction in sublimation loss is approximately given by the amount of meltwater multiplied by the percolation depth and divided by the depth to the ice table. It is plausible that percolation is even more effective during a warmer, wetter climate. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
CORROSION PROPERTIES OF ELECTRODEPOSITED THIN COATINGS OF POLYCRYSTALLINE SILVER

For polycrystalline silver coatings electrodeposited from electrolytes based on different Ag(I) coordination compounds such as [Ag(CN)2]−, [Ag(CN)3]2−, [Ag(SCN)4]3−, [Ag(CN)2(SCN)2]3−, and [Ag(SO3)2]3− at current densities of 2.5 to 75 mA⋅cm−2, we have established a relationship between the corrosion parameters of these deposits determined by the methods of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and voltammetry and their crystalline roughness (uniformity at the nanolevel). We have also established that, with decrease in the surface roughness of an electrolytic silver deposit (R a ∼ 40–80 nm), the corrosion resistance increases. In this case, as the surface roughness increases by 20 nm, the corrosion resistance is halved, and the resistance to a corrosive medium decreases noticeably, though the deposit is uniformly distributed over the thickness on the microprofile. For silver coatings with the same true surface area, the larger the mean roughness R a , the larger the corrosion rate, independently of the texture of the deposit and deposition conditions.