cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 488: Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 Links Metabolic Regulation With Innate Immune Signaling

Objective: Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) is well known for its ability to modulate post-prandial blood glucose by inactivation of incretin hormones. DPP4 is highly expressed on innate and adaptive immune cell populations and is recognized to be regulated upon inflammatory activation. We investigated the role of myeloid DPP4 in post-prandial glucose regulation and a role for TLR4-MyD88 in humans and mice. Methods and Results: We evaluated DPP4 expression on circulating immune cells in patients with atherosclerosis (ATH, n=20) and compared them with healthy controls without atherosclerosis using flow cytometry. ATH patients had increased DPP4 expression on peripheral blood monocytes (4.22 ± 0.44 vs. 5.76 ± 0.44, in control vs. ATH, p=0.037) as well as CD4+ T cells (27.46 ± 2.67 vs. 48.06 ± 1.96, control vs. ATH, p<0.0001). More importantly, DPP4 expression on T cells and monocytes correlated with plasma non HDL-Cholesterol level (R2=0.153, p=0.036 and R2=0.244, 0.012 respectively). Stimulation with LPS increased DPP4 expression on human peripheral blood monocytes by ~4-fold. DPP4 up-regulation by LPS was abrogated by Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4) knockdown using siRNA. Bone marrow monocytes deficient for MyD88, an adaptor protein for TLR signaling, displayed reduced expression of DPP4. Consistent with these findings, MyD88-/- mice also showed improved post-prandial glycemia in response to oral glucose challenge, a phenotype seen in DPP4-/- mice. Conclusions: Our results suggest a previously unrecognized role for TLR4-MyD88 as a critical regulator of DPP4 expression and post-prandial glucose control. ![][1] ![][2] [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif [2]: /embed/graphic-2.gif
Quadrupole sensitive pulse for signal filtering

A longstanding problem in quadrupolar NMR of semi-solids is the selection of signals originating from ordered nuclei, i.e. those that experience a non-vanishing quadrupolar coupling. Established techniques, such as for example multiple-quantum filters are not adequate in situations when the radio frequency power is on the order of the quadrupolar coupling or the quadrupolar relaxation rates, such as may be the case on an MRI scanner, or in ex situ applications. In this manuscript we show a new method for the selective excitation of ordered spin-3/2 nuclei, which produces the desired results when the radio frequency power is approximately equal or smaller than quadrupolar frequency. Using a combination of simulations and experiments with (23)Na in NaCl solution, Pf1-solutions, and bovine patellar cartilage samples we further show how the value of the quadrupolar frequency and global features of a quadrupolar coupling distribution can be extracted from these experiments.
Entomology in Michigan High Schools

The current use of entomology as a teaching medium in the public high schools of Michigan was surveyed in connection with an entomology problem course taken by the senior author at Michigan State University in the fall of 1955.A mimeographed questionnaire was sent to each of 200 high schools, distributed as evenly as possible in terms of location in the state and size of enrollment. Completed, or nearly completed, replies were received from 135 teachers. The replies came from schools well distributed in the state and in size of enrollment, but perhaps not well distributed in terms of interest in entomology, since teachers most interested might be most likely to reply. Error of this type is inherent in “voluntary reply” surveys, and must be kept in mind when interpreting the results. The replies received are summarized below. The percentage figures do not necessarily indicate percentage of the total of 135, but are based on the number of replies in the particular category under consideration.
Kinetics of HCN Decomposition on the Pt(111) Surface by Time-Dependent Infrared Spectroscopy

Time-dependent reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy has been used to investigate the kinetics of HCN decomposition on the Pt(111) surface over the temperature range of 120 to 135 K. At these low temperatures, HCN bonds at an atop site with the HCN axis perpendicular to the surface, which gives rise to an intense C–H stretch at ∼3300 cm–1. Further support for this HCN adsorption geometry is obtained through HCN/CO coadsorption experiments in which both molecules are seen to compete for the atop sites. The disappearance of the C–H stretch peak of HCN at low temperatures is indicative of dissociation to produce adsorbed H and CN. When the decrease in HCN coverage is followed for a sufficiently long time, the data deviate from the expected first-order rate law, and the temperature dependence of the rate constant deviates from the Arrhenius form. Over a more restricted coverage range, simpler behavior is observed, and an activation energy for HCN dissociation of 0.33 eV is obtained.
Distribution and Metabolism of a Juvenile Hormone Analogue within Colonies of the Red Imported Fire Ant

The distribution and metabolism of the juvenile hormone analogue (JHA), 1-(4′-ethylphenoxy)-6,7-epoxy-3, 7-dimethyl-2-octene (R-20458) was studied in Solenopsis invicta Buren. The JHA was formulated in once refined soybean oil and fed to adult workers of small colonies. Adult workers retained the largest amount of the JHA compared to other stages throughout the experimental period. The level of JHA in the larvae increased to 7% through 36 h and then slowly declined. Pupae, queen, and egg stages received only traces of the radiolabel, most of which were metabolic products. The half-life of the JHA in these colonies never exceeded 2 days. Experiments designed to study the distribution of JHA fed to adults within an individual ant revealed that through 11 days over ½ the radiolabel remained in the crop. This radioactivity consisted primarily of metabolic products of the parent compound.
The Expected Number of Components Under a Random Mapping Function

(1954). The Expected Number of Components Under a Random Mapping Function. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 61, No. 6, pp. 392-397.
Enantiomeric selectivity in adsorption of chiral β-blockers on sludge.

Adsorption of weakly basic compounds by sludge is poorly understood, although it has important implications on the distribution and fate of such micropollutants in wastewater effluent and sludge. Additionally, many of these compounds are chiral, and it is likely that their interactions with sludge is stereoselective and that the process may be further modified by surfactants that coexist in these systems. Adsorption of (R) and (S)-enantiomers of five commonly used β-blockers, i.e., acebutolol, atenolol, metoprolol, pindolol and propranolol, on sludge was characterized through batch experiments. Stereoselectivity in adsorption increased with decreases in hydrophobicity of the β-blockers. The enantiomeric fraction (EF) of the amount of acebutolol, atenolol and metoprolol sorbed on sludge were 0.27, 0.55 and 0.32, respectively. Thus, Kd values of the (S)-enantiomers of acebutolol and metoprolol were approximately twice that of the (R)-enantiomer, that is, 109 ± 11 and 57 ± 8 L/kg compared to 52 ± 13 and 22 ± 8 L/kg, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in Kd values of the enantiomers of pindolol and propranolol, suggesting stereoselectivity in adsorption was likely driven by specific polar interactions rather than hydrophobic interactions. The EF value of atenolol decreased from 0.55 ± 0.03 to 0.44 ± 0.04 after modifying the sludge with Triton X 100. These results suggested that surfactants altered adsorption of β-blockers to sludge, likely by forming ion pair complexes that promote hydrophobic interactions with the solid surfaces.
Research on the Fairness of Chinese Social Endowment Insurance System——An Analysis of Shenyang Data

In this paper, by adopting the methodology of Gini Coefficient as well as Variation Coefficient,the fairness of Shenyang social endowment insurance system is measured based on the detailed insurance payment and treatment data. It is concluded that the pension income is obviously unfair as a result of pension generation gap and pension contribution. One of the main causes is the independent civil servant pension system. Therefore, it is imperative to unify social endowment insurance system. In addition, the low level of substitution rate for urban and rural residents, which is far lower than that of other groups, will probably be the most significant acting factor of pension fairness.
Depressive symptoms in mothers after perinatal and early infant loss in rural Bangladesh: a population-based study.

Abstract Purpose We examined stillbirth and neonatal death as predictors of depressive symptoms in women experiencing these events during the first 6 months postpartum. Methods We performed secondary analyses using data from 41,348 married women aged 13–44 years, originally collected for the JiVitA-1 study (2001–2007) in northwest Bangladesh. Adjusted relative risk ratios were estimated to determine the associations between stillbirth and early infant death and women's risk of reported depressive symptoms (trichotomized 0, 1–2, 3–5) up to 6 months after the death. Adjusted risk ratios, comparing 0–2 versus 3–5 depressive symptoms, were used in stratified analyses. Results Women having fetal/infant deaths had elevated risk of experiencing 1–2 postpartum depressive symptoms (adj RRRs between 1.2 and 1.7) and of experiencing 3–5 postpartum depressive symptoms (adj RRRs between 1.9 and 3.3), relative to women without a fetal/infant death. Notably, those whose infants died in the early postneonatal period had over a three-fold risk of 3–5 depressive symptoms (adj relative risk ratio [RRR] = 3.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.6–4.3) compared to a two-fold risk for women experiencing a stillbirth (adj RRR = 1.9; 95% CI, 1.7–2.1). After early postneonatal deaths, women with higher levels of education were more likely to suffer 3–5 depressive symptoms (adj relative risk [RR] = 10.6; 95% CI, 5.2–21.7, ≥10 years of education) compared to women with lower levels of education (adj RR = 2.0; 95% CI, 1.6–2.4, no education; adj RR = 2.2; 95% CI, 1.6–2.9, 1–9 years of education). Conclusions Women's mental health needs should be prioritized in low-resource settings, where these outcomes are relatively common and few mental health services are available.
Development and regeneration of the escape reflex in the earthworm, Eisenia foetida

S (*Name of presenter) 1980 S. L. Pallas*, E. P. Vining and C. D. Drewes. Longitudinal Variation in Medial Giant Fiber (MGF) Mediated Escape Behavior In Intact Earthworms. Presented at the Third Midwest Neurobiologist Meeting. 1981 E. P. Vining", B. O'Gara and C. D. Drewes. Intracellular Electrical Activity in the Muscle Cells of the Blood Vessel in the Earthworm, Lumbricus terrestris. Presented at the Fourth Midwest Neurobiologist Meeting. 1982 E. P. Vining*, B. O'Gara and C. D. Drewes. Non-invasive Monitoring of Giant Nerve Activity in Developing Earthworms, Eisenia foetida (Savigny). Presented at the Regional Meeting of the Developmental Biologists, American Zoological Society.
Chemodectomas of the head and neck.

Chemodectomas occur more frequently about the head and neck than in other regions. The most common type is the carotid body tumor.
Global Distributive Justice

A theory of distributive justice explains why certain individuals have particularly stringent claims to certain relative or absolute shares, quantities or amounts of something whose distribution over certain people must be justifiable to them. Alongside distributive justice there is also rectiflcatory justice, and perhaps other kinds. Yet because our concern mostly is with distributive justice, justice refers to distributive justice unless otherwise noted. Among moral prescriptions, it is the demands of justice that are the hardest ones to overrule or suspend. Justice plays its central role in human affairs because it enables persons to present claims of such stringency. “We can’t leave it to insurance companies to deliver justice,” South African writer J. M. Coetzee has the protagonist of his novel Disgrace say (2000, p 137). This is amusing precisely because of the stringency of justice (which renders it rather obvious that, indeed, we cannot leave justice to insurance companies). We speak about justice in the family, at the workplace or in competitions. There is justice as a personal virtue, a constitution of character or disposition to help ensure others have, or are, what they should have or be. Domestic distributive justice is also called “social justice.”
Kenneth Brooke, An Introduction to Early New High German: Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1955. Pp. lxviii, 155.

(1957). Kenneth Brooke, An Introduction to Early New High German. The Germanic Review: Literature, Culture, Theory: Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 148-150.
Collective Remembering: Memory in the World and in the Mind

This interdisciplinary study explores collective memory as it is presented by official producers (such as textbooks and media) and reflected by consumers (group members). Focusing on a case study of Russians and Russian immigrants to the USA and their memories of seminal events in the twentieth-century Russian collective past, Isurin shows how autobiographical memory contributes to the formation of collective memory, and also examines how the memory of the shared past is reconstructed by those who stayed with the group and those who left. By bringing together historical, anthropological, and psychological approaches, Collective Remembering provides a new theoretical framework for memory studies that incorporates both content analysis of texts and empirical data from human participants, thus demonstrating that methodologies from the humanities and the social sciences can complement each other to create a better understanding of how memory works in the world and in the mind.
Discovery of Anagyrus schoenherri (Westwood, 1837) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) in the Nearctic Region, a parasitoid of the apple mealybug Phenacoccus aceris (Signoret, 1875) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) in Washington, U.S.A., with notes on the host.

Phenacoccus aceris (Signoret, 1875), the apple mealybug, is a vector of little cherry virus 2 (LChV2), a causal pathogen of little cherry disease. Sweet cherry (Prunus avium Linnaeus) (Rosaceae) trees infected with LChV2 produce cherries of small size, poor color, and poor flavor, making the fruit unmarketable. Little cherry disease was first observed in British Columbia, Canada in 1933, where it had a dramatic impact on sweet cherry production, and was recently detected in Washington, U.S.A. cherry orchards. In 2014–2016, a natural infestation of P. aceris was monitored in an apple orchard located in Washington State University's Sunrise Orchard near Rock Island, Washington (47°18′45.14″N 120°04′08.31″W). Heavy parasitism was observed on overwintering nymphs and ovipositing female P. aceris, followed by a reduction in P. aceris crawlers. The emerged wasps were identified as the encyrtid Anagyrus schoenherri (Westwood, 1837). This is the first report of A. schoenherri parasitizing P. aceris in a Washington apple orchard, which represents an extension of the geographic distribution of A. schoenherri to the Nearctic Region. Reduction in P. aceris densities, one of the key vectors of LChV2, is potentially important for the sweet cherry industry in the Pacific Northwest. Historically, declining P. aceris populations in British Columbia were attributed to the establishment of a platygastrid parasitoid Allotropa utilis Muesebeck, 1939, suggesting that biological control could play a major role.
Anesthetic Influences on the Pulmonary Circulation

Most current textbooks (1,2) conclude that general anesthetic agents, whether injectable or inhalational, have relatively little apparent effect on the pulmonary circulation. This conclusion is primarily based on measurements of pulmonary artery pressure or calculations of the overall pulmonary vascular conductance (or resistance), both of which are functions of so many variables that only gross changes are detectable. The available data concerning anesthesia has rapidly expanded in both quantity and sophistication and the work has established that general anesthetic agents alter lung mechanics, blood volume distribution, cardiac output, myocardial contractility, vascular tone, blood pH and carbon dioxide tension, pulmonary blood flow distribution and the effectiveness of the major active regulator of pulmonary blood flow, hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV). All of these factors influence the pulmonary circulation and, therefore, anesthesia could be expected to be accompanied by more or less profound changes. In the previous lecture concerning the regulation of the pulmonary circulation, some of these factors were discussed and a model was introduced that provides quantitative insight as to the outcome and mechanisms of multiple influences on the pulmonary circulation and gas exchange (3,4). With such an approach, it is possible to suggest which of the many changes introduced during general anesthesia have predominant effects.
Efficient Classification of Clinical Reports Utilizing Natural Language Processing

The recent emphasis on health information technology has highlighted the importance of leveraging the large amount of electronic clinical data to help guide medical decision-making. Developing such clinical decision aids requires manual review of many past patient reports in order to generate a good predictive model. In this research, we investigate classification of clinical reports using natural language processing (NLP). The proposed system uses NLP to generate structured output from computed tomography (CT) reports and then machine learning techniques to code for the presence of clinically important injuries for traumatic orbital fracture victims. Our results show that NLP improves upon raw text classification results.
Enterovirus Infection of Cultured Human Pancreatic Islets

The factors involved in viral tropism for pancreatic islets and islet response to infection can be studied in an experimental model utilizing pancreatic islets isolated from organ donors and cultivated as free-floating preparations. Enteroviruses, in general, have a tropism for human pancreatic islets in vitro. Both lytic and persistent enterovirus infections have been characterized under different experimental conditions and viruses have been detected in both insulin-producing and non-insulin-producing cells. Delayed (secondary) necrosis after initial pyknosis is the major mechanism of cell death during lytic enterovirus infection in cultured human pancreatic islets, whereas apoptosis appears to play only a minor role. Pancreatic beta-cell tropism and the ability to induce beta-cell dysfunction and death probably depends both on the genetic properties of the virus and on the host cell response to the infection. Viral properties are likely to affect the phenomenon since some enterovirus strains are highly cytolytic whereas others show progeny production with no apparent islet destruction in vitro. Even for highly destructive virus strains, there is a significant delay between viral progeny production and pancreatic islet destruction in vitro, suggesting a role for secondary, virus-induced, host factors in the process.
Acid Coagulation of Milk

The acid coagulation of milk is the basis for a wide diversity of cultured dairy products. Acidification directly impacts the stability of casein micelles, reducing their charge, dissolving some of the insoluble calcium phosphate crosslinks and modifying internal bonding between proteins. The formation of aggregates and ultimately gels occurs at some critical point when electrostatic repulsion is reduced and is not sufficient to overcome attractive forces, like hydrophobic interactions. Acid-induced milk gels increase in stiffness with time due to on-going bond formation between casein particles within the network. In gels made from heated milk, an increase in the loss tangent parameter is observed for a short period after gelation; this phenomenon is due to the loss of insoluble calcium phosphate crosslinks within the casein particles that are already forming the gel matrix. The texture and physical properties of acid-induced gels are dependent on the specific conditions used for gel formation including: the rate of acidification, temperature, extent of whey protein denaturation, protein content, and presence of polysaccharide stabilizers. On-going studies are still investigating the exact physicochemical mechanisms involved in the acid coagulation of milk including trying to gain a better understanding of how exopolysaccharides modify yoghurt properties.
Graph Generation with Prescribed Feature Constraints.

In this paper, we study the problem of how to generate synthetic graphs matching various properties of a real social network with two applications, privacy preserving social network publishing and significance testing of network analysis results. We present a simple switching based graph generation approach to generate graphs preserving features of a real graph. We then investigate potential disclosures of sensitive links due to the preserved features. Our algorithms on graph generation with feature range and feature distribution constraints are based on the Metropolis-Hastings sampling. This is of importance for significance testing of network analysis results.
Reactive Ductules Are Associated With Angiogenesis and Tumor Cell Proliferation in Pediatric Liver Cancer

While reactive ductules (RDs) have been observed in viral hepatitis, biliary atresia, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and adult hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), RDs in pediatric liver cancer remain uncharacterized. This study investigated the relationship of RDs with angiogenic paracrine factors, the extent of angiogenesis, and tumor cell proliferation in pediatric hepatoblastoma (HBL)/HCC livers. We quantified the extent of RDs and their expression of paracrine factors that include vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), vascular endothelial growth factor D (VEGFD), platelet-derived growth factor C, and angiopoietin 1 (ANGPT1). In addition, we performed immunohistochemical detection of the endothelial marker clusters of differentiation (CD)34 and the proliferation marker Ki67 followed by correlation analyses. In HBL, we found the percentage of RDs with Ki67 expression (% Ki67+ RDs) significantly correlated with intratumoral Ki67+ areas (r = 0.5138, P = 0.0349) and % ANGPT1+ RDs positively correlated with % Ki67+ RDs (r = 0.5851, P = 0.0136). In HCC, the high ANGPT1+ RDs group (i.e., cases with % ANGPT1+ RDs ≥50) exhibited high intratumoral Ki67+ areas compared to the low ANGPT1+ RDs group. In the combined HBL and HCC liver tumor group, there was a positive association between % platelet-derived growth factor C+ RDs and intratumoral Ki67+ areas (r = 0.4712, P = 0.0099) and the high VEGFD+ RDs group (≥50%) exhibited a high number of peritumoral CD34+ vessels compared to the low VEGFD+ RDs group. Conclusion: Paracrine factor-expressing RDs are associated with angiogenesis and proliferation of pediatric liver tumors.
An Innovative STEM Education Framework for a Changing Educational Landscape

This article describes features of NAUTeach, a secondary mathematics teacher preparation program that is modeled on the UTeach program at the University of Texas-Austin. NAUTeach is a research-based STEM program that develops the next generation of mathematics and science teachers by engaging them in rigorous content and methodology coursework specifically developed to provide a broad, cross-curricular framework of innovative instruction. NAUTeach has been specifically designed to serve the needs of preservice mathematics and science teachers as they embark on teaching a new generation of students in an ever changing world. The NAUTeach program focuses on the development of inquiry-based instructional methods, reflective practice, and peer collaboration through a carefully sequenced series of courses that consistently promote early and frequent field work and a learner-centered focus of teaching and learning. Though the NAUTeach program is a blended mathematics and science teacher preparation program, this article will focus on the preparation of secondary mathematics teachers by describing the cross-curricular (mathematics & science) methodological sequence of courses, along with the mathematics-specific pedagogical courses, that preservice mathematics teacher candidates take as part of this program. Connections between the NAUTeach program and guidelines for the content and pedagogical preparation of teachers will be made with specific attention paid to the development of reflective, innovative, flexible, and reform-oriented mathematics teachers.
Comprehensive assessment of targetable alterations in lung adenocarcinoma samples with limited material using MSK-IMPACT, a clinical, hybrid capture-based, next-generation sequencing (NGS) assay.

e22160 Background: Genotyping is central to the management of patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Complete assessment for all clinically relevant genomic alterations can be challenging given ...
You gotta fight for your right? Publicly assigned but privately enforced property rights

Abstract Establishment and enforcement of property rights is often seen as a key tenet of a productive society. Many argue that the absence of formal public institutions to establish and enforce property rights necessarily leads to conflict and violent private enforcement of property rights. By re-examining the decision problem of the “early entrants” into the property market, we argue that the mitigation of violent conflict begins when the property is first claimed though the claimants’ anticipation of the likelihood that their ownership will be challenged in the future. We perform a large-scale empirical test of the implications of this model (and of similar papers) by looking at the effect of the Homestead Acts—an exogenous increase in publicly assigned, but privately enforced, property rights—on the occurrence of violence on the American frontier. Exploiting variations in the assignment of homestead grants across states and time, we find that increases in homestead claims cause a statistically significant but economically insignificant increase in homicides. We conclude that there is no evidence that the assignment of privately enforced property rights meaningfully increases violence, and that settlers of the American West, as a whole, behaved in a manner consistent with rational conflict avoidance.
No-Show Rates in Employed Otolaryngology Practice:

Objective:To report baseline no-show rates in the hospital-employed otolaryngology practice setting and to identify factors that may affect clinic show rates that are targets for potential improvem...
A 2-in-1 Temperature and Humidity Sensor With a Single FLL Wheatstone-Bridge Front-End

This article presents a CMOS 2-in-1 relative humidity (RH) and temperature (Temp) sensor. A single analog front-end (AFE) interfaces two on-chip transducers and converts the resistance ( ${\propto }$ Temp) and capacitance ( ${\propto }$ RH) into a time-based signal. This conversion occurs with high linearity (±10 ppm error) across the industrial temperature range (−40 to +85 °C) through a frequency-locked loop (FLL). An incomplete-settling, switched-capacitor-based Wheatstone bridge is proposed to sense the ${R}$ and ${C}$ transducers in a power-efficient fashion. The FLL output is digitized by a low-power, time-to-digital converter (TDC) that has high resolution due to the inherent quantization noise shaping. Implemented in a 0.18- $\mu \text{m}$ CMOS process, this AFE consumes 15.6 $\mu \text{W}$ achieving a 2-mK temperature resolution over the industrial temperature range and 0.0073% RH resolution from 10 to 95 %RH. This is the first reported ${R}$ & ${C}$ -to-digital converter (RCDC) with a single, unified AFE and achieves excellent resolution figure-of-merits (FOMs) when normalized to temperature (62 fJ $\cdot \text{K}^{2}$ ) and RH [0.83 pJ $\cdot $ (%RH)2].
Ybx1 fine-tunes PRC2 activities to control embryonic brain development.

Chromatin modifiers affect spatiotemporal gene expression programs that underlie organismal development. The Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) is a crucial chromatin modifier in executing neurodevelopmental programs. Here, we find that PRC2 interacts with the nucleic acid–binding protein Ybx1. In the mouse embryo in vivo, Ybx1 is required for forebrain specification and restricting mid-hindbrain growth. In neural progenitor cells (NPCs), Ybx1 controls self-renewal and neuronal differentiation. Mechanistically, Ybx1 highly overlaps PRC2 binding genome-wide, controls PRC2 distribution, and inhibits H3K27me3 levels. These functions are consistent with Ybx1-mediated promotion of genes involved in forebrain specification, cell proliferation, or neuronal differentiation. In Ybx1-knockout NPCs, H3K27me3 reduction by PRC2 enzymatic inhibitor or genetic depletion partially rescues gene expression and NPC functions. Our findings suggest that Ybx1 fine-tunes PRC2 activities to regulate spatiotemporal gene expression in embryonic neural development and uncover a crucial epigenetic mechanism balancing forebrain–hindbrain lineages and self-renewal–differentiation choices in NPCs. Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) methylates H3K27 and suppresses RNA polymerase II transcription by promoting a closed chromatin. Here the authors identify the transcription factor Ybx1 as an interactor that regulates the binding of PRC2 to chromatin and H3K27 methylation to promote the genetic programs underlying neural lineages and neural progenitor self-renewal–differentiation choices.
Unreleased on-Chip Frequency-Shifting Optical Isolator

We demonstrate an unreleased acousto-optic frequency-shifting optical isolator on chip, that exhibits improved mechanical and thermal robustness compared to prior art. The system leverages traveling surface acoustic waves (SAW) to break the symmetry for light propagation via indirect intermodal scattering.
Approaches to reducing rotational ambiguity in receptor modeling of ambient particulate matter

Abstract Rotational ambiguity is a major problem in the application of factor analysis methods to the mixture resolution problem. However, self-modeling curve resolution of spectrochemical data is often able to achieve good separations given fixed spectral characteristics including true zero absorbance values and typically smaller measurement uncertainties. For air pollution mixture problems such as the identification and quantification of sources of ambient particulate matter (PM), there are problems of the lack of true zero values in either the source profiles or their contributions to the ambient concentrations, variability in the source profiles, and typically much larger measurement uncertainties. Recent work has provided several approaches to reducing rotational ambiguity and providing improved resolution including preprocessing the data to remove the meteorologically induced covariance, applying constraints based on a priori knowledge, and analysis of multiple site data. Examples of these applications to airborne PM have shown improved results.
On the design of Chant: a talking threads package

Lightweight threads are becoming increasingly useful for supporting parallelism and asynchronous control structures in applications and language implementations. However, lightweight thread packages for distributed memory systems have received little attention. We introduce the design of a runtime interface, called Chant, that supports communicating threads in a distributed memory environment. In particular, Chant is layered atop standard message passing and lightweight thread libraries, and supports efficient point-to-point and remote service request communication primitives. We examine the design issues of Chant, the efficiency of its point-to-point communication layer, and the evaluation of scheduling policies to poll for the presence of incoming messages.
A Topology of Twitter Tactics: Tracing the Rhetorical Dimensions and Digital Labor of Networked Publics:

This study draws from the broad range of cross-disciplinary theories examining digitally networked action (DNA) to offer a rhetorical topology that traces the repeated patterns of communication and...
Extracellular miRNA biomarkers in neurologic disease: is cerebrospinal fluid helpful?

Aim: The aim of our work is to aggregate data from publications of cerebrospinal fluid extracellular miRNA to identify candidate diagnostic biomarkers, and those warranting further study. Materials & methods: Data were pooled from nine studies, encompassing 864 patients across 16 diseases. Unsupervised clustering grouped patients by a broad category of diseases. Results & conclusion: Compared with healthy controls, in patients with Alzheimer's disease, hsa-miR-767-5p was overexpressed (p < 0.001) and in patients with Huntington's disease, hsa-miR-361-3p was underexpressed (p < 10-4). We also define a subset of extracellular miRNA as candidate biomarkers that are robustly detected across patients, studies and diseases; thereby, warranting further study.
SU-E-J-84: Quantitative Dosimetry Assessment of the Impact of Image Artifacts of Metal Implants in Spinal SABR Treatment

Purpose: Metal rods are frequently used to stabilize the spine in patients with metastatic disease. The high Z material causes imaging artifacts in the surrounding tissue in CT scans, which introduces dosimetric uncertainty when inhomogeneity correction is enabled for radiation treatment planning. The purpose of this study is to quantify the dosimetric deviations caused by the imaging artifacts and to evaluate the effectiveness of using Hounsfield units (HU) overwriting to reduce dosimetric uncertainties. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed treatment plans for 4 patients with metal implants who received stereotactic ablative radiation therapy (SABR) for metastatic disease to the spine on Tomotherapy HiArt. For all four patients, the region of imaging artifact surrounding the metal implants was contoured and the pixel HU’s were overwritten to be water equivalent. We then generated adaptive treatment plans for these patients using the MVCT pretreatment set up images and batched beamlets in the original treatment plans. The dosimetry deviation between the adaptive and original plans were compared and quantitatively analyzed. Results: For three out of four patient, the major OAR (spinal cord) dose (0.35cc or 10% according to protocols and fractionation) increased (2.7%, 5.5%, 0%, 3.9%, mean=3.0±2.3%, p=0.04), and the PTV dose (D90 or D95 asmore » per prescription) increased for all four patients ( 2%, 5%, 0.7%, 3.6%, mean=2.8±1.9%, p=0.03) in the adaptive plan with HU overwriting. The average point dose deviation of the Tomotherapy DQA for the same patients was −1.0±1.0%. For plans without HU overwriting, the dose deviation from the treatment plan will increase. Conclusion: The metal implant and the imaging artifacts may cause a significant dosimetric impact on radiation treatment plans for spinal disease. The dose to the PTV and the spinal cord was under-calculated in treatment plans without considering the imaging artifacts. HU overwriting can reduce the dosimetry un-certainty.« less
Terra Australis Incognita

This chapter discusses Terra Australis Incognita which means “exploring the unknown.” Terra Australis Incognita refers to an “unknown southern land.” Legends of Terra Australis Incognita fascinated societies, particularly in Europe, before cartographers began mapping the world. Some of the early cartographers included a southern continent on their world maps, centuries before it was even discovered. The claim by Chile was traced to its ‘‘indisputable’’ title, which was proclaimed in the Treaty of Tordessillas that gave to Spain all lands lying west of the 46th meridian. Then Argentina made its claim, based on both the Treaty of Tordesillas and the Papal Bull ( Intera Caetera ) as with all other claims, demonstrating the importance of priority. Moreover, Argentina and Chile jointly declared their ‘‘unquestionable rights over the South American Antarctic’’ and interests in developing a ‘‘harmonious plan of action for the better scientific knowledge of the Antarctic zone by means of explorations and technical investigations. Finally, the three overlapping claims in the Antarctic Peninsula sector have remained between Great Britain and Argentina.
Forces acting on free carriers in semiconductors of inhomogeneous composition I, II

An investigation shows that the extended Wannier-Slater theorem with its position-dependent effective mass m cannot be considered a viable description of a semiconductor with compositional changes. The correct description of the behavior of the electron or hole flow in semiconductors in which the chemical composition changes gradually from position to position is more difficult. It is necessary to find a model Hamiltonian. This model Hamiltonian is to some extent arbitry, but it must be representative of a homogeneous sample. The difference between the true and the model Hamiltonian should be small in the sense that this difference may be considered a perturbation. However, a Hamiltonian with the required specifications can always be found provided that the compositional inhomogeneities do not change drastically over the distances of interest.
Struggling to start over: human rights challenges for Somali Bantu refugees in the United States

Despite persistent challenges to successful refugee resettlement in the United States, migration from Somalia has attracted little widespread attention from human rights scholars. Utilising longitudinal data from qualitative interviews conducted at three points over the course of ten years, this study shows that resettled Somali Bantu refugees face a range of rights challenges, particularly related to financial concerns and family issues. Rather than solely focusing on cultural differences, interviews highlight the obstacles created by practical concerns and inadequacies – including those that threaten the full enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR). Recommendations include the extension of support services and the creation of mentorship programmes for adult refugees.
Experiment to Determine Properties of Packed Particle Beds and Regenerators at Cryogenic Temperatures

The testing of the properties of packed-partiele beds and regenerators at cryogenic temperatures as low as 4 K is an essential part of the magnetic refrigeration research and development program at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. We envision magnetic refrigeration and heat pump systems operating in various ranges from 4 K to ambient temperature and above. Only pressurized helium gas appears suitable as the heat exchange fluid for the low-temperature applications. Because published data on the properties of porous beds at low temperatures is sparse, we have found it necessary to develop an experimental test apparatus to study the properties of various configurations of beds and regenerators. Two of the well-known methods for such studies are the steady-enthalpy-flux method1 and the single-blow transient method.2 We have developed an experimental system in which gas flow can be suddenly switched to an alternate hotter (or colder) flow in step-function fashion at temperatures from 4 to 300 K. This apparatus will yield information on steady-state heat transfer and friction factors as well as on the transient behavior. Such information is very important to the design of high-efficiency magnetic refrigeration systems.
Activation of N-nitrosobis(2-oxopropyl)amine and N-nitroso(2-hydroxypropyl)-(2-oxopropyl)amine to mutagens for V79 cells by isolated hamster and rat pancreatic acinar cells.

Abstract A pancreatic acinar cell-mediated mutagenicity assay was developed as an in vitro model system to study the metabolism of N-nitrosobis(2-oxopropyl)amine (BOP) and N-nitroso(2-hydroxypropyl)(2-oxopropyl)amine (HPOP) into forms mutagenic for Chinese hamster V79 cells. Mutations at the hypoxanthine:guanine phosphoribosyltransferase locus and the Na/K ATPase locus were scored by resistance to 6-thioguanine and ouabain, respectively. The ability of both Syrian golden hamster and Fischer rat pancreatic acinar cells to convert BOP and HPOP to mutagens for V79 cells was investigated in order to examine the basis for species specificity. Acinar cells of both species were capable of activating BOP and HPOP to mutagens for V79 cells in a dose-dependent manner. In the 6-thioguanine resistance assay, rat acinar cells induced higher mutation frequencies than hamster acinar cells with both BOP and HPOP. In the ouabain resistance assay, both cell types induced equivalent levels of mutation with the respective nitrosamines. BOP was a considerably more potent mutagen than HPOP after activation by either cell type. This is consistent with the known in vivo specificity of BOP versus HPOP in the hamster pancreas and suggests that BOP may be activated to mutagenic metabolites by a pathway(s) independent from its enzymatic reduction to HPOP. The comparable abilities of rat and hamster acinar cells to convert BOP or HPOP to mutagenic forms imply that pancreatic metabolic activation alone cannot explain the difference in organotropism of BOP and HPOP in the two species.
Regulatory Forum Commentary* Counterpoint: Dose Selection for rasH2 Mouse Carcinogenicity Studies

Dose selection for the 6-month rasH2 mouse carcinogenicity studies depends heavily on the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) obtained from 1-month range-finding studies. A retrospective evaluation of range-finding studies and pivotal 6 month rasH2 mouse studies for 11 compounds demonstrated that the MTD based on at least a 10% decrease in body weight gain, mortality, and target organ toxicity in range-finding studies appropriately identified high doses for pivotal studies for 8 of 11 compounds. Two of the selected high doses were based on decreased body weight gain alone, while 7 were based on mortality at higher doses in shorter duration range-finding studies. High-dose selection was based on the maximum feasible dose for one study. The Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration Executive Carcinogenicity Assessment Committee often suggested different doses than those proposed by the sponsor. High mortality was observed in only one pivotal study and the high dose was lowered duri...
Health-related quality of life in childhood cerebral palsy.

Abstract Vargus-Adams J. Health-related quality of life in childhood cerebral palsy. Objective To describe the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of a cross-section of children with cerebral palsy (CP) using the Child Health Questionnaire. Design Survey of the parents or guardians of children with CP. Setting Outpatient clinics at a tertiary care children's hospital. Participants Children (N=177; 98 boys, 79 girls; mean age ± standard deviation [SD], 8.6±4.2y) with CP were enrolled as a convenience sample. Study subjects were stratified by severity of CP using the Gross Motor Function Classification System. Interventions Not applicable. Main outcome measure HRQOL scores, as determined by the Child Health Questionnaire–Parent Form 50. Results Parents reported reduced HRQOL for their children with CP. In the physical function domain, most children scored over 3 SDs below a normative sample, and scores in parental impact domains were at least 1 SD below the normative sample. Psychosocial domains were less impaired. Most of the effects on physical and parent impact domains were greater in children with more severe CP, although they were significant in most strata of severity. Conclusions Children with CP have reduced HRQOL and the degree to which it is reduced is related to the severity of their CP.
Diels-alder cycloadditions of 1,3,4,-oxadiazin-6-ones with electron rich pi systems

Abstract A study of the cycloaddition behavior of several 2,5-disubstituted 1,3,4-oxadiazin-6-ones with electron rich pi bonds has been carried out. trans -1-Propenylpyrrolidine was found to react with the oxadiazinone ring system to give rise to a ring opened diazatrienyl substituted carboxylic acid. Further heating of the acid results in decarboxylation, hydrolysis, cyclization and pyrrolidine elimination to produce a disubstituted pyrazole. Reaction with the trisubstituted enamine 1 - ( 2 - methyl-propenyl) pyrrolidine, was also studied in some detail. The cycloadditions encountered can be rationalized as proceeding by an initial Diels-Alder reaction followed by cheletropic extrusion of nitrogen to produce a ketoketene intermediate. The fate of the ketene is markedly dependent upon the overall pattern of substitution. Some of the products formed can be explained in terms of a competitive migration of the pyrrolidino group to the ketene and benzoyl groups. With one system the major cycloadduct is derived from the Diels-Alder reaction of a transient azaketene tautomer formed by an electrocyclic opening of the oxadiazinone ring.
Evaluation of the three-dimensional properties of Kevlar across length scales

In this study, nanoindentation was utilized to measure the local, three-dimensional properties of Kevlar 49 and Kevlar KM2 on the length scales of the fiber microstructure. First, atomic force microscopy-based methods were used to explore the extent of property changes with respect to radial position in the fibers’ axial and hoop planes. From these measurements, no significant change in response was found for Kevlar 49 fibers, consistent with transverse isotropy. However, a reduced stiffness “shell” region (up to;300–350 nm thick) was observed for KM2 fibers. Instrumented indentation was then used to evaluate fiber response with respect to orientation and contact size and establish a critical contact size above which the response is independent of indenter size (i.e., “homogeneous” behavior). A previously proposed analytical method for indentation of a transversely isotropic material was used to estimate the local material properties of the Kevlar fibers from the measured homogeneous response.
Astrogliosis limits the integration of peripheral nerve grafts into the spinal cord

Abstract Segments of peripheral nerve were grafted into the site of a spinal cord transection in mice. To determine the relationship of spinal cord astrocytes to graft derived Schwann cells, graft sites were examined with immunohistochemical as well as conventional histological techniques. Myelin derived from Schwann cells, as identified by immunoreactivity to antibodies against its major protein P0, was strictly confined to the graft. Astrocytes and astrocytic filaments, identified by immunoreactivity to antibodies against glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), predominated at the graft-spinal cord interface, bordering the most central penetration of Schwann cell myelin. Occasional GFAP-positive astrocytes were observed within the graft. It appears that astrocytes limit the penetration of Schwann cells from peripheral nerve grafts into the spinal cord.