cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Antegrade Conduction Rescues Right Ventricular Pacing-Induced Cardiomyopathy in Complete Heart Block.

Abstract Background Right ventricular (RV) pacing-induced cardiomyopathy (PICM) occurs in ∼30% of patients with RV leads. This study evaluated the long-term effects of restoring antegrade conduction with a biological pacemaker in a porcine model of RV PICM. Objectives The goal of this study was to determine if antegrade biological pacing can attenuate RV PICM. Methods In pigs with complete atrioventricular (AV) block, transcription factor T-box 18 (TBX18) was injected into the His bundle region in either of 2 experimental protocols: protocol A sought to prevent PICM, and protocol B sought to reverse PICM. In protocol A, we injected adenoviral vectors expressing TBX18 (or the reporter construct green fluorescent protein) after AV node ablation, and observed the animals for 8 weeks. In protocol B, PICM was established by using AV node ablation and 4 weeks of electronic RV pacing, at which point TBX18 was injected into the His bundle region. Results In protocol A, TBX18 biological pacing led to superior chronotropic support (62.4 ± 3 beats/min vs. 50.4 ± 0.4 beats/min; p = 0.01), lower backup pacemaker utilization (45 ± 2.6% vs. 94.6 ± 1.4%; p = 0.001), and greater ejection fraction (58.5 ± 1.3% vs. 46.7 ± 2%; p = 0.001). In protocol B, full-blown RV PICM was evident 4 weeks after complete AV block in both groups; subsequent intervention led to higher mean heart rate (56 ± 2 beats/min vs. 50.1 ± 0.4 beats/min; p = 0.05), less backup pacemaker utilization (53 ± 8.2% vs. 95 ± 1.6%; p = 0.003), and a greater ejection fraction (61.7 ± 1.3% vs. 49 ± 1.6%; p = 0.0003) in TBX18-injected animals versus control animals. Conclusions In a preclinical model, pacemaker-induced cardiomyopathy can be prevented, and reversed, by restoring antegrade conduction with TBX18 biological pacing.
Cancer control is a key functionality underlying evolution of extended lifespan in mammals

Abstract The biological origin of life expectancy remains a fundamental and unanswered scientific question with important ramifications for human health, especially as the bulk of burden of human healthcare shifts from infectious to age-related diseases. The striking variability in life-span among animals occupying similar ecological niches1 and the numerous mutations that have been shown to increase lifespan in model organisms2–5 point to a considerable genetic contribution. Using mammalian comparative genomics, we correlate lifespan phenotypes with relative evolutionary rates, a measure of evolutionary selective pressure6. Our analysis demonstrates that many genes and pathways are under increased evolutionary constraint in both Long-Lived Large-bodied mammals (3L) and mammals Exceptionally Long-Lived given their size (ELL), suggesting that these genes and pathways contribute to the maintenance of both traits. For 3L species, we find strong evolutionary constraint on multiple pathways involved in controlling carcinogenesis, including cell cycle, apoptosis, and immune pathways. These findings provide additional perspective on the well-known Peto’s Paradox that large animals with large numbers of cells do not get cancer at higher rates than smaller animals with fewer cells7. For the ELL phenotype, our analysis strongly implicates pathways involved in DNA repair, further supporting the importance of DNA repair processes in aging8–12. Moreover, these correlations with lifespan phenotypes are consistent across the entire mammalian phylogeny, suggesting that additional constraint on these pathways is a universal requirement for long lifespan.
SUBYEK KEPEMIMPINAN TRANSFORMASIONAL PADA LEMBAGA PENDIDIKAN DASAR

This article discusses about transformational leadership. The main focus is the subject of transformational leadership in basic educational institutions. This study is important because the leaders in educational institutions are strategic positions to develop and make better changes. The method that used in this study is library research and then the data is interpreted with descriptive analysis, data is reduced, presented and verified, then concluded. The results of this study indicate that the main subject of transforma-tional leadership in basic educational institutions are headmasters. Headmasters or principals as leaders are become subjects who must transform through giving guidance or teachings to those who are led. Transformational leadership patterns can support the realization of system changes in basic education institutions, even able to bring changes in the quality of educational institutions to become more advanced and able to compete. Besides the headmaster or principal, the subject of transformational leadership in other basic educational institutions is the deputy head, teachers, parents and the community. These three elements must be able to synergize with the main subject of transformational leadership in the educational institution to achieve the goal. Keywords: Leadership, Transformational, Basic Education
A Feminine Advantage? Delineating the Effects of Feminine Trait and Feminine Issue Messages on Evaluations of Female Candidates

Current scholarship offers conflicting conclusions about whether female candidates have a feminine advantage or a disadvantage. Previous work does not consider whether voters respond similarly to all types of messages that might emphasize feminine stereotypes, such as feminine trait and feminine issue messages. I argue that voters will respond differently to trait-based feminine messages relative to issue-based feminine messages. I test the effects of trait-based and issue-based feminine messages through two survey experiments. The results consistently show that emphasizing feminine traits harms female candidates, whereas emphasizing feminine issues helps female candidates. I use role congruity theory to argue that feminine traits activate feminine stereotypes about women, and feminine issues do not activate these stereotypes. I also show that trait-based and issue-based feminine messages affect Democratic and Republican female candidates in very different ways. These results have implications for the ability of women to win elected office and reverse the pervasive underrepresentation of women in politics.
Somatic PRKAR1A mutation in sporadic atrial myxoma with cerebral parenchymal metastases: a case report.

Atrial myxomas are generally considered benign neoplasms. The majority of tumors are sporadic and less than 10% are associated with an autosomal dominant condition known as the Carney complex, which is most often caused by germline mutation in the gene PRKAR1A. Whether this gene plays a role in the development of sporadic myxomas has been an area of debate, although recent studies have suggested that some fraction of sporadic tumors also carry mutations in PRKARIA. Extra-cardiac complications of atrial myxoma include dissemination of tumor to the brain; however, the dissemination of viable invasive tumor cells is exceedingly rare. We present here a 48-year-old white woman who developed multiple intracranial hemorrhagic lesions secondary to tumor embolism that progressed to ‘false’ aneurysm formation and invasion through the vascular wall into brain parenchyma 7 months after resection of an atrial myxoma. Whole exome sequencing of her tumor revealed multiple mutations in PRKAR1A not found in her germline deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), suggesting that the myxoma in this patient was sporadic. Our patient illustrates that mutations in PRKAR1A may be found in sporadic lesions. Whether the presence of this mutation affects the clinical behavior of sporadic tumors and increases risk for metastasis is not clear. Regardless, the protein kinase A pathway which is regulated by PRKAR1A represents a possible target for treatment in patients with metastatic cardiac myxomas harboring mutations in the PRKARIA gene.
Interactions between Motivational and Discriminative Functions of Motivating Operations in the Renewal of Operant Responding in Mice

Renewal is a phenomenon in which a response that has been extinguished recovers when an organism is removed from the setting in which extinction occurred. In most renewal studies, context consists of exteroceptive stimuli (e.g., distinct visual, auditory, tactile, and/or olfactory stimuli). Nevertheless, a number of studies have shown that interoceptive stimuli such as those induced by drugs or food deprivation may come to exert discriminative control over behavior under the relevant contingencies. We investigated how interoceptive organismic conditions brought about through food deprivation and satiation motivating operations (MOs) can serve as contextual cues for the renewal of extinguished operant responding in mice. Three groups of mice received acquisition and extinction sessions under three different combinations of food deprivation and satiation. One group received acquisition sessions while deprived and extinction sessions while satiated. A second group received both acquisition and extinction sessions while satiated. A third group received both acquisition and extinction sessions while deprived. All groups were then tested for renewal under both deprivation and satiation conditions. ABA and AAB renewal were observed for the first two groups under deprivation conditions, but AAB renewal was not observed for the third group under satiation conditions. The results suggest that interoceptive stimuli elicited by MOs may serve as contextual stimuli that occasion the recovery of responding following extinction, but unlike exteroceptive contextual cues, the discriminative functions of these stimuli are accompanied by motivational functions that may affect the extent to which renewal is observed.
The effect of TGF-β on PD-L1 expression on PDAC TAMs.

764Background: Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has less than a 10% five year survival and will become the second leading cause of US cancer mortality in the next decade. Immunotherapy, such...
Influence of Rurality, Race, and Ethnicity on Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Incidence.

Abstract Introduction Exposure to lymphomagens vary by geography. The extent to which these contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) incidence is not well understood. We sought to evaluate the association between urban–rural status and racial and ethnic disparities in the 3 major NHL subtypes: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), follicular lymphoma (FL), and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Patients and Methods We used data on NHL incidence from 21 Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) population-based registries for the period 2000 to 2016. Population characteristics were compared by NHL subtype and urban–rural status, using rural-urban continuum codes from the US Department of Agriculture. Incidence rate ratios were calculated, and Poisson regression was used to assess the association between incidence and rurality. Results A total of 136,197 DLBCL, 70,882 FL, and 120,319 CLL incident cases aged ≥ 20 years were reported. The majority of DLBCL patients were non-Hispanic white (73.5%), with 11.9% Hispanic and 7.3% non-Hispanic black, with a similar distribution observed in FL and CLL. Adjusting for age, sex, and family poverty, we found increased DLBCL incidence among Hispanics in increasingly urban areas compared to rural areas (rural incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.00; nonmetropolitan urban IRR = 1.32, 95% CI 1.16, 1.51; metropolitan urban IRR = 1.55, 95% CI 1.36, 1.76). Among non-Hispanic blacks, urban areas, relative to rural areas, were associated with increased CLL incidence (IRR = 1.48; 95% CI 1.27, 1.72). Conclusion Urban–rural incidence patterns suggest that environmental exposures in urban areas associated with DLBCL and CLL pathogenesis may disproportionately affect Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks.
The Contemporary Presidency: Two Presidents, Two Crises: Bush Wrestles with 9/11, Trump Fumbles COVID‐19

This article compares the response of Presidents George W Bush and Donald Trump to the two largest crises since the Cuban missile affair: 9/11 and the COVID‐19 pandemic In examining how each president handled the early warnings, crisis communication, decision making, bureaucratic management, and the public response, we find a mixed picture Employing these five criteria, it seems at this juncture that while the Bush response ultimately had some successes and some troubling long‐term consequences, the Trump crisis response is destined, in the absence of some dramatic change in events, to be ranked as among the worst in presidential history Keywords: Trump, Bush, Covid‐19, 9/11, presidents, presidency, crisis management
Bronchoalveolar Lavage: Microbial Evaluation

Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) are one of the most common forms of infection in children. Bronchoscopy has become an invaluable tool for the diagnosis and treatment of children with complicated or recalcitrant infections. It allows for both visualization of airway and mucosal surfaces and local sampling that can facilitate identification of pathogens and histopathological changes that are indicative of an infectious process. The results of bronchoscopy can help simplify an antimicrobial regimen, limiting unnecessary antibiotic use and all of the attendant risks such as organ toxicities, allergic reactions, and the fostering of antibiotic resistance. Bronchoscopic evaluation with sampling by either bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) or biopsy may be considered in critically ill patients, high-risk patients (i.e., cystic fibrosis and immunocompromised), any child with high clinical suspicion for mycobacterial or fungal disease, and children who have failed to respond, worsened, or relapsed after empiric therapy. Although the diagnostic yield varies highly across patient populations, BAL with culture has become the gold standard for microbiological diagnosis of bacterial, mycobacterial, and fungal pneumonia, with specificity approaching 100% in some studies. Meanwhile, the use of molecular diagnostic techniques, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and nucleic acid amplification tests, enables detection of rare and difficult-to-culture organisms, such as viruses, atypical bacteria, and fungi. Despite major advancements in these identification/detection techniques, limitations persist in the ability to differentiate between colonization and infection. This chapter summarizes the pros and cons of available diagnostic techniques for various infectious causes of LRTI in children.
Abstract PO063: Transcriptomic analysis identifies changes in gene expression in Actinic Keratoses after treatment with imiquimod and differential gene expression

Background: The presence of actinic keratoses (AKs) increases a patient’s risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) by greater than six-fold. It is difficult to predict which AKs will progress to become SCC, and topical treatments such as imiquimod are used to treat the entire affected field indiscriminately, effectively eliminating AKs in 50% of patients but sometimes resulting in severe inflammation and pain. Defining biomarkers to predict response to treatment would be helpful to guide therapy. Objectives: To evaluate the effect of imiquimod on the tumor microenvironment by measuring transcriptomic differences in AKs before and after treatment in patients treated with imiquimod. Methods: Biopsies were collected prospectively from 21 patients with presumptive AK and examined histologically. All patients were treated with imiquimod 3.75% on a short cyclical treatment regimen. 19 patients had available pre-treatment AK biopsies and 14 patients had paired pre- and post-treatment biopsies. RNA was extracted and transcriptomic analyses of 788 genes were performed using the nanoString assay. Results: Imiquimod significantly decreased total number of AKs by study endpoint at week 14 (p Conclusions: NanoString analysis of AKs pre- and post-treatment with imiquimod shows downregulation of genes implicated in oncogenesis and immune suppression. Differences in gene expression were found between pre-treatment samples in CR versus IR, suggesting that higher levels of inflammation pre-treatment may play a part in regression of AKs. Further, presence of adverse effects in response to therapy was associated with an improved response to imiquimod. These findings show that the pre-treatment immune micro-environment impacts responsiveness of AKs to imiquimod and that clinical inflammation during treatment is associated with AK resolution. Further characterization of the immune micro-environment in AKs may help develop biomarkers predictive of response to topical immune modulators and may guide therapy in patients with high numbers of AKs at risk for SCC. Citation Format: Megan H. Trager, Emanuelle Rizk, Sharon Rose, Branden Lau, Ben Fullerton, Kuixi Zhu, Jaya Pradhan, Michael Moore, Ayush Chandra, Margaret Bogardus, Giselle Singer, Robyn Gartrell-Corrado, Rui Chang, Larisa Geskin, Yvonne Saenger, Gary Goldenbery. Transcriptomic analysis identifies changes in gene expression in Actinic Keratoses after treatment with imiquimod and differential gene expression [abstract]. In: Abstracts: AACR Virtual Special Conference: Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy; 2020 Oct 19-20. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2021;9(2 Suppl):Abstract nr PO063.
Production Implementation of Multiple Machine, High Speed Fiber Placement for Large Structures (2010-01-1877)

A two machine Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) cell capable of laying ½″ and ¼″ tow at rates up to 1800″/min (45.7m/min), including feeds and cuts, has been implemented for the manufacture of large primary aircraft structures. The control architecture of the cell is such that part programs are machine independent and can run on either machine or simultaneously on both machines at the same time. A Central Cell Controller pushes part programs to each AFP machine and coordinates the cell. Volumetric accuracy of the two machines is under 0.008″ (0.2mm) radial error in the entire compensated envelop, which is approximately 64′ × 21′ × 14′ (19.5m × 6.4m × 4.3m) for each machine. This is accomplished through optimization of volumetric kinematic compensation parameters using a linear numerical solver. The machines reference a common coordinate system which allows great flexibility in part programming. A detachable head design was implemented which allows each machine to swap between ¼″ and ½″ tow widths in 120 seconds. The creel is contained on the head which provides very short tow paths and isolates the AFP process to the detachable tool. This allows creel re-fills, AFP head maintenance, repair, and upgrade of AFP head to be performed off line without interrupting production.
The prediction profiler at 30

The prediction profiler as it is now called in the statistical software, JMP, was introduced at a talk with discussion entitled, “An Interactive Graph for Exploring Multidimensional Response Surfac...
Dockground scoring benchmarks for protein docking

Protein docking protocols typically involve global docking scan, followed by re-ranking of the scan predictions by more accurate scoring functions that are either computationally too expensive or algorithmically impossible to include in the global scan. Development and validation of scoring methodologies are often performed on scoring benchmark sets (docking decoys) which offer concise and nonredundant representation of the global docking scan output for a large and diverse set of protein-protein complexes. Two such protein-protein scoring benchmarks were built for the DO_SCPLOWOCKGROUNDC_SCPLOW resource, which contains various datasets for the development and testing of protein docking methodologies. One set was generated based on the DO_SCPLOWOCKGROUNDC_SCPLOW unbound docking benchmark 4, and the other based on protein models from the DO_SCPLOWOCKGROUNDC_SCPLOW model-model benchmark 2. The docking decoys were designed to reflect the reality of the real-case docking applications (e.g., correct docking predictions defined as near-native rather than native structures), and to minimize applicability of approaches not directly related to the development of scoring functions (reducing clustering of predictions in the binding funnel and disparity in structural quality of the near-native and non-native matches). The sets were further characterized by the source organism and the function of the protein-protein complexes. The sets, freely available to the research community on the DO_SCPLOWOCKGROUNDC_SCPLOW webpage, present a unique, user-friendly resource for the developing and testing of protein-protein scoring approaches.
Cannabis use outcomes by past-month binge drinking status in the general United States population.

Abstract Cannabis use and binge drinking are increasingly common in the United States, yet little is known about cannabis use patterns among people who engage in binge drinking. This study explored the relationship between several cannabis use outcomes and past-month binge drinking status. Pooled 2015–2018 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health data (N = 226,632) were used to explore the hypothesis that binge drinking is associated with higher prevalence of cannabis outcomes. Cannabis outcomes included past-month and past-year use, daily/almost daily use, and past-year DSM-IV/DSM-5 cannabis use disorder (CUD). Covariates included age, gender, race, total income, and study year. Separate weighted multivariable logistic regressions assessed associations between binge drinking and each cannabis outcome and provided adjusted prevalences of cannabis outcomes by binge drinking status. Past-month binge drinking was positively associated with past-month (OR: 3.72, 95 %CI: 3.56–3.93) and past-year (OR: 3.90, 95 %CI: 3.74–4.06) cannabis use in adjusted regressions. The adjusted odds of DSM-IV and DSM-5 CUD among people who used cannabis were 15 % and 12 % higher among people who engaged in binge drinking than those who did not, respectively (OR: 1.15, 95 %CI: 1.05, 1.26 and OR: 1.12, 95 %CI: 1.03, 1.21). Conversely, the odds of past-month daily cannabis use among people who used cannabis and reported binge drinking was 18 % lower than those who did not (OR: 0.82, 95 %CI: 0.74, 0.91). Our findings provide evidence of associations between binge drinking and cannabis use. Future studies should explore associations between cannabis and other alcohol use behaviors, including heavy drinking, and simultaneous alcohol and cannabis use.
Worsening sleep quality across the lifespan and persistent sleep disturbances in persons with opioid use disorder

Study Objectives:Individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) may experience worsening sleep quality over time, and a subset of individuals may have sleep disturbances that precede opioid use and do ...
Dental Hygienists’ Awareness and Support for Existing and New Oral Health Workforce Models

The study investigated dental hygienists’ scope of services and level of satisfaction as well as their awareness and support to the existing and proposed oral health workforce models: expanded function dental auxiliary (EFDA), dental therapist (DT), and advanced dental hygiene practitioner (ADHP). The study sample consisted of all 676 dental hygienists from Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Data were collected by a self-administered mail questionnaire that assessed hygienists’ scope of services, levels of satisfaction with the services, and their awareness as well as support for workforce models; the last two were assessed on a scale of 1–10. The effective response rate to the survey was 26 %. Respondents’ average ratings for the knowledge levels for DT, ADHP, and EFDA were as follows: 2.8 ± 2.6, 4.0 ± 3.4, and 8.1 ± 2.6. Hygienists were most supportive of the EFDAs (7.7 ± 2.9), followed by ADHP (7.0 ± 3.4), and DT (4.0 ± 3.4). Findings indicate a need to improve respondents’ awareness of the dental therapist position.
Judges, Family Law

This is a chapter in an encyclopedia put forth by Sage Publications. I am the sole author of this particular chapter; there are several hundred contributing authors to the encyclopedia as a whole. It is a multi-disciplinary work which details subjects related to divorce: legal, social, anthropological, religious, psychological, and historical. In this chapter, I describe the role of the family law judge in divorce proceedings.The role of the family law judge is a varied one. At its core, the position is one of authority. The lawyers, parties, and court staff all give the judge great deference in the courtroom, referring to the judge as “your honor.” This is further affirmed in the judge’s raised bench overlooking the entire courtroom, in the judge’s traditional gavel used to silence the courtroom and maintain order, and in the judge’s distinct formal clothing, usually consisting of long judicial robes. These formalities are designed to instill respect for the legal institution as a whole.
Smart scheduling of PHEVs in PV integrated charging facilities based on DC link voltage sensing

Coordination and scheduling the charging of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in parking lots integrated with photovoltaic (PV) system presents both unique opportunities and challenges. In most of the cases PHEVs are assumed to stay in the parking lot for several hours. To facilitate the maximum usage of PV power, the charging times of PHEVs have to be scheduled to coincide with the periods of high irradiation. In view of this, this paper presents a real-time smart scheduling algorithm (SSA) that uses a set of priority levels and the change in DC link voltage level to schedule the charging of PHEVs in a PV based charging facility. The priority levels are defined based on the arrival time, departure time, the initial state-of-charge and the battery capacity of the PHEVs. The developed SSA is aimed at reducing the overall cost of charging the PHEVs, mitigating their impact on the distribution network and also contributes to peak shaving. In order to validate the proposed SSA, simulations are carried out using the MATLAB/SIMULINK toolbox.
Brandenburg and the United States' War on Incitement Abroad: Defending a Double Standard

The United States has expressed justifiable pride over the protection Brandenburg v. Ohio extends to the speech of political dissidents. Nonetheless, the United States has actively called for the suppression of speech in foreign media that falls far short of the incitement standards set forth in Brandenburg. This Article explores whether the US should support censorship of incitement abroad that falls short of true incitement as defined by Brandenburg. More fundamentally, the Article attempts to show that Brandenburg both assumes the existence of, and helps constitute, a distinctively American marketplace of ideas that makes its standards unfit for export to many other countries.
Thermally Stable Nanostructured Magnesium Nanocomposites Reinforced by Diamantane

In nanostructured materials, the free energy associated with the large volume fraction of grain boundaries acts as the driving force for their thermal instability even at room temperature. In the present work, we report a significant thermal stability at temperatures ranging from 100°C to 400°C for different annealing times up to 100 h in bulk nanostructured Mg-10Al-1Diamantane (wt.%) nanocomposites processed by cryomilling and spark plasma sintering. Using x-ray diffraction and microcompression tests, we provide evidence of the thermal stability of nanostructured Mg nanocomposites reinforced by diamantane. The grain growth restriction that showed a remarkable effect on the strengthening of the nanocomposite was compared with the kinetic of grain growth in diamantane-free Mg-10Al alloys. We found that the grain growth ceased at ~60 nm while for the diamantane-free alloy grain growth proceeded steadily to values ≥100 nm. More importantly, yield strength ≥330 MPa was achieved in the nanocomposite after 100 h of annealing at 400°C, while for the diamantane-free alloy it dropped to 150 MPa. We believe that the extraordinary thermal stability in the nanocomposite is due to the role of diamantane on pinning grain boundaries.
A 102 base pair sequence of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor delta-subunit gene confers regulation by muscle electrical activity

Muscle electrical activity suppresses expression of the embryonic-type (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta) nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) genes. The molecular mechanism by which electrical activity regulates these genes is not known. One approach to this problem is to identify regions of the nAChR genes that mediate electrical regulation. Here we report results from such a study of the nAChR delta-subunit gene. We cloned the rat delta-subunit promoter region and created an expression vector in which this DNA controlled the expression of a down-stream luciferase structural gene. The effect that muscle electrical activity had on the expression from this promoter was assayed by introducing this expression vector into electrically stimulated and tetrodotoxin (TTX)-treated rat primary myotubes, and assaying for luciferase activity. These myotubes, when stimulated with extracellular electrodes, suppressed endogenous embryonic-type nAChR gene expression compared to those treated with TTX. Transfection of these cells with delta-promoter-luciferase expression vectors resulted in the delta-promoter conferring electrical regulation on luciferase expression. Additional experiments using deletions from the 5′ end of the delta-promoter region have identified an element between −677 and −550 bp that suppressed delta-promoter activity and a minimal 102 bp sequence that promotes and regulates luciferase expression in response to muscle electrical activity. This latter sequence also contains all the necessary elements to confer tissue and developmental stage-specific expression.
Selective Lumbar Nerve Root Blocks with CT Fluoroscopic Guidance: Technique, Results, Procedure Time, and Radiation Dose

CT fluoroscopy may be used as a rapid and effective means of guiding needle placement when performing selective lumbar nerve root blocks. In this set of patients, the average external radiation dose was 0.73 mrem per procedure, with an average of 2 seconds of CT-fluoroscopy time and four images per procedure. Average physician room time was 7 minutes. Use of intermittent CT fluoroscopy during lumbar selective nerve root blocks can result in minimal radiation dose levels and procedure times that are comparable to fluoroscopic guidance.
Public Policy Towards Science and Technology

The sections in this article are 1 American Science and Technology Institutions in the Nineteenth Century 2 Rise of Government Involvement in American Science 3 Vannevar Bush and the Linear Model 4 Deviating from the Linear Model: The Militarization of American Science and Technology 5 Health and Agricultural Research: A Digression 6 Instability in the Science Policy System: The 1970s 7 Competitiveness and National Security: The Reagan Years for R&D 8 Universities and Federal Science and Technology Policy 9 Corporate R&D and Federal Science and Technology Policy 10 Expert Advice and Politics: Change Over Time 11 Recent Issues in Science and Technology Policy
The Blacklisting Memory Scheduler: Balancing Performance, Fairness and Complexity

In a multicore system, applications running on different cores interfere at main memory. This inter-application interference degrades overall system performance and unfairly slows down applications. Prior works have developed application-aware memory schedulers to tackle this problem. State-of-the-art application-aware memory schedulers prioritize requests of applications that are vulnerable to interference, by ranking individual applications based on their memory access characteristics and enforcing a total rank order. In this paper, we observe that state-of-the-art application-aware memory schedulers have two major shortcomings. First, such schedulers trade off hardware complexity in order to achieve high performance or fairness, since ranking applications with a total order leads to high hardware complexity. Second, ranking can unfairly slow down applications that are at the bottom of the ranking stack. To overcome these shortcomings, we propose the Blacklisting Memory Scheduler (BLISS), which achieves high system performance and fairness while incurring low hardware complexity, based on two observations. First, we find that, to mitigate interference, it is sufficient to separate applications into only two groups. Second, we show that this grouping can be efficiently performed by simply counting the number of consecutive requests served from each application. We evaluate BLISS across a wide variety of workloads/system configurations and compare its performance and hardware complexity, with five state-of-the-art memory schedulers. Our evaluations show that BLISS achieves 5% better system performance and 25% better fairness than the best-performing previous scheduler while greatly reducing critical path latency and hardware area cost of the memory scheduler (by 79% and 43%, respectively), thereby achieving a good trade-off between performance, fairness and hardware complexity.
Duluth-WSI: SenseClusters Applied to the Sense Induction Task of SemEval-2

The Duluth-WSI systems in SemEval-2 built word co--occurrence matrices from the task test data to create a second order co--occurrence representation of those test instances. The senses of words were induced by clustering these instances, where the number of clusters was automatically predicted. The Duluth-Mix system was a variation of WSI that used the combination of training and test data to create the co-occurrence matrix. The Duluth-R system was a series of random baselines.
Evidence that three-regime kinetics is inherent to formation of a polymer brush by a grafting-to approach

Results are presented supporting the hypothesis that a three-regime kinetics profile, regardless of chemical structure of the polymer chains, molecular weight, type, of solvent and identity of the grafting surface, is inherent to polymer brushes formed by the grafting-to approach. However, the manifestation of the three-regime kinetics profile depends on grafting conditions, e.g., grafting temperature and concentration of free polymer in solution. Too high a temperature or solution concentration can lead to compression of the three distinct regimes on the time axis into what appears to be single-step brush formation, whereas low enough temperature and concentration leads to manifestation of all three regimes of kinetics. Also found was that, even when three regimes of kinetics were in evidence, grafting to a gold surface is much faster than grafting to a derivatized silica surface. Finally, the kinetics of the transition from mushroom to brush, denoted as the third regime, was found by fitting to a classical mathematical model of autocatalysis to be consistent with an autocatalytic process.
Effects of immobilizing agents and procedures on viability of cultured celery (Apium graveolens) cells

In an attempt to develop concurrent permeabilization/immobilization systems for the production of secondary plant metabolites, the effects of chitosan, alginate, carrageenan gel and carrageenan/chitosan copolymers as immobilizing agents and immobilization procedures on viability of culturedApiumgraveolens cells have been examined. Chitosan immobilization, ascorbic and succinic acid resulted in low viability of plant cells but use of carrageenan/chitosan copolymers enabled maintenance of viable cell lines providing the potential for concurrent immobilization/permeabilization of cells and elicitation of secondary metabolites by chitosan.
Observations of Uranus occultation events

An analysis of photometric data obtained during the Uranus appulse to SAO 158687 shows three occultation events which appear to coincide with portions of the Uranian ring system. Two occultation events were associated with the alpha ring and one with the beta ring of the planet; the alpha ring event suggests a ring model with a random distribution of occulting bodies of about 1 km diameter, and an areal density of about 50% over a band 10 km wide. Calculations indicate that neither the inner nor outer rings of the planet are truly concentric circles (to within their radius). In addition, determination of the ring centers can be used to locate the center of mass of the planet, and an upper limit of 26,300 km can be assigned to its radius.
Participation in a Multi-institutional Curriculum Development Project Changed Science Faculty Knowledge and Beliefs About Teaching Science

Despite significant pressure to reform science teaching and learning in K12 schools, and a concurrent call to reform undergraduate courses, higher education science content courses have remained relatively static. Higher education science faculty have few opportunities to explore research on how people learn, examine state or national science teaching standards for K12 schools, or learn and practice research-based instructional strategies. The contrast between what is expected of future and practicing teachers in their K12 classrooms and what they experience in content and instruction in typical college or university science courses can be striking. This paper describes a multi-institutional collaboration among content-area science faculty and K12 teachers to develop undergraduate content courses for future elementary teachers in life and Earth science. Using data from the project evaluation, we report evidence of change in faculty knowledge and beliefs about science teaching and learning, and how that this translated into pedagogical practice in their courses.
Geothermal Exploration in Imperial Valley: ABSTRACT

A study of the geothermal resources of Imperial Valley of Southern California was initiated by a group of researchers at the University of California, Riverside. The aims of the study program are twofold: (1) to map the areas of abnormal heat flow which may become potential geothermal-energy exploration targets, and (2) to study the fundamental geologic and geophysical factors affecting the abnormal heat-flow regime in the valley. In the first phase of the Imperial Valley project, shallow-hole temperature gradients of up to 0.78°C per meter were measured; the mean for all readings was 0.184°C per meter. These values are more than one order of magnitude greater than the average value for the entire earth, suggesting that vast amounts of geothermal energy are to be found in the valley at a relatively shallow depth. At least some of the geothermal highs correspond to the gravity highs in the valley, indicating that convective heat flow must have caused densification of the sediments. Deep electrical-resistivity exploration was useful in confirming the shallow-hole geothermal measurements and in identifying areas of high heat flow. Electrical resistivity proved very useful also in mapping an uncharted system of faults (named "the West San Andreas" system) running through Imperial Valley. From the preliminary findings it is concluded that the Imperial Valley can be classed as a significant source for geothermal energy in California. End_of_Article - Last_Page 560------------
The relationship of community quality to the health of women and men

Using a 1996 community survey of behavioral risk factors, this cross-sectional study of 804 residents in a rural community examines the relationship of community quality to the health status of women and men. We use two categories of community factors to assess community quality: measures of the social quality of community life, and measures of community quality that focus on the physical environment. Health status is assessed by four measures that examine perceived health status and functioning. Regression results indicate that there is a significant relationship between the quality of the community and health status for both women and men. Specifically, women's perceptions about the social quality of their community are positively associated with their perceived health status and functioning; furthermore, these relationships are significantly different from those of men. Men's perceptions of their physical environment are significantly related to their reported functioning and health, to a limited extent these relationships are different from women. These relationships support our hypothesis that gender differentially affects the relationship between community quality and health.
What does the future hold for patients infected with HIV

Remarks are offered on the future of the HIV-infected individual, the system's ability to care for more HIV-infected individuals, and our global ability to maintain our efforts to fight this disease. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Client perceptions of effective and ineffective therapeutic alliances during treatment for stuttering

Abstract The treatment components that contribute to and account for successful therapeutic outcomes for people who stutter are not well understood and are debated by many. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe in detail the underlying factors that contribute to a successful or unsuccessful therapeutic interaction between clients and their clinicians. Twenty-eight participants, 19 men and 9 women, who had received from 6 months to more than 12 years of therapy for stuttering were studied. The participants were asked to consider their experience with one or more speech-language pathologists with whom they had received fluency therapy and to describe the characteristics that made that individual effective or ineffective in promoting successful change in their ability to communicate. Analysis of these data resulted in 15 primary categories. Finally, the essential structure of an effective and ineffective therapeutic interaction was described. Results highlighted the importance for effective therapy of understanding the stuttering experience, forming a positive client–clinician, alliance, and being knowledgeable about stuttering and its treatment. Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (1) describe, from the perspective of a select group of adults who stutter, the themes associated with an effective therapeutic interaction, (2) describe, from the perspective of a select group of adults who stutter, the themes associated with an ineffective therapeutic interaction, and (3) describe the ways in which an effective or ineffective therapeutic interaction could impact a person who stutters.
A self-assembled room temperature nanowire infrared photodetector based on quantum mechanical wavefunction engineering

A novel electrochemically self-assembled semiconductor nanowire infrared photodetector is demonstrated. Its operation is based on excitation of electrons from shallow trap levels in the bandgap into the conduction band—a process which prefers photon-induced excitations over phonon-induced excitations because of the nature of the initial and final state wavefunctions. This preference results in a reasonable signal-to-noise ratio (ratio of current under illumination to current in the dark) at room temperature. The signal-to-noise is further increased by integrating the nanowire with a tunnel barrier. The normal detector without the tunnel barrier has a normalized detectivity exceeding 107 cm-Hz/W at room temperature (at 1 V bias), while the tunnel detector has a ∼36 times smaller detectivity but also ∼7500 times smaller standby power dissipation and a slightly higher signal-to-noise ratio.
Infection with Non-Lethal West Nile Virus Eg101 Strain Induces Immunity that Protects Mice against the Lethal West Nile Virus NY99 Strain

Herein we demonstrate that infection of mice with West Nile virus (WNV) Eg101 provides protective immunity against lethal challenge with WNV NY99. Our data demonstrated that WNV Eg101 is largely non-virulent in adult mice when compared to WNV NY99. By day 6 after infection, WNV-specific IgM and IgG antibodies, and neutralizing antibodies were detected in the serum of all WNV Eg101 infected mice. Plaque reduction neutralization test data demonstrated that serum from WNV Eg101 infected mice neutralized WNV Eg101 and WNV NY99 strains with similar efficiency. Three weeks after infection, WNV Eg101 immunized mice were challenged subcutaneously or intracranially with lethal dose of WNV NY99 and observed for additional three weeks. All the challenged mice were protected against disease and no morbidity and mortality was observed in any mice. In conclusion, our data for the first time demonstrate that infection of mice with WNV Eg101 induced high titers of WNV specific IgM and IgG antibodies, and cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies, and the resulting immunity protected all immunized animals from both subcutaneous and intracranial challenge with WNV NY99. These observations suggest that WNV Eg101 may be a suitable strain for the development of a vaccine in humans against virulent strains of WNV.
A Comparison of Lesbian, Bisexual, and Heterosexual College Undergraduate Women on Selected Mental Health Issues

Abstract Objective: To investigate selected mental health characteristics of lesbians and bisexual undergraduate college women as compared with heterosexual college women. Participants: Self-identified lesbians and bisexual and heterosexual female college students who took part in the American College Health Association National College Health Assessment II (ACHA-NCHA-II) in Fall 2008, Spring 2009, and Fall 2009. Methods: A secondary analysis of the ACHA-NCHA-II data set for 3 semesters was conducted. Comparisons of lesbians and bisexual and heterosexual female college students were made. Results: Bisexual women reported the worst mental health status in all areas studied including anxiety, anger, depressive symptoms, self-injury, and suicidal ideation and attempts. Both bisexual women and lesbians had a far greater likelihood of having these mental health issues when compared with heterosexual women. Lesbians and bisexual women utilized significantly more mental health services (with the exception of cle...
Building Faith: Religious Pluralism, Pedagogical Urbanism, and Governance in the Sathya Sai Sacred City

In November 2001, I stood outside the Ganesh Gate of Prasanthi Nilayam, the Sathya Sai Ashram (hermitage) in the town of Puttaparthi, in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. I had just fought my way down the Main Street, passing a tide of Sai devotees lining up for the afternoon darshan (sacred audience) of the charismatic guru and living god, Shri Sathya Sai Baba. The ashram was surrounded by high walls, and only the open gate gave a glimpse of the exciting world beyond; pastelcolored buildings in eggshell blue, pale pink and yellow, embellished with ornate pillars, lotus capitals, gold domes, painted ceilings, carved balconies, trellises, chejjas (window eaves) with painted garlands, and several brightly colored pavilions. But in the distance I saw a high, unadorned, grey wall that seemed incongruous in that pastel colored setting. It blocked my sightline further, and I wondered idly what was behind it. Prasanthi Nilayam (The Abode of Supreme Peace), Sathya Sai Baba’s one hundred-acre ashram, in the town of Puttaparthi, is thought to welcome roughly ten million Sai devotees annually. On the many occasions I visited I saw devotees present from all over India, as well as Chile, Germany, Taiwan, Australia, Hungary, The Netherlands, South Africa, Japan, and more (T. Srinivas 2002, 2010). It is a pilgrimage place, a gathering spot for people from different cultures, races, ethnicities and ways of being, a sacred “transnational space,” where “built forms and spatial transformations are produced” (Low and Lawrence-Zuniga 2003: 25) and in which “Social actors forge connections between localities across national borders that increasingly sustain new modes of politics, economics and culture” (M. Smith 2005: 5). Examining Puttaparthi’s spaces of devotion allows us to capture “emergent social relations which are situated in particular places yet operate across geographical distances” (M. Smith 2005: 6) and to move us towards an understanding of the transnational Sai faith. The main concern of this paper, therefore, is a questioning of