cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cellular and humoral immunity in recurrent respiratory syncytial virus infections.

Summary: A study of humoral and cellular immune responses to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was carried out in a research day care center over a period of 10 years. To analyze the cumulative effect of recurrent RSV infections, children were grouped by years of potential RSV exposure. RSV epidemics were documented each year from 1967 through 1979. Most epidemics occurred in January and February, but occasional RSV isolations were made in December or as late as May. Neutralizing antibodies to RSV were assayed in serum obtained in the fall and spring of each year. These data indicate that the majority of children became infected in each of the first 3 years of life. Cellular immunity, expressed as RSV-stimulated lymphocyte blastogenesis, was assayed in fall and spring blood samples during the latter 4 years of the study. The mean lymphocyte stimulation index (SI) was near unity before the first infection and rose gradually during year 1, 2, and 3 to a level of approximately 4.0 thereafter. To determine whether in vitro measures of immunity to RSV correlated with resistance to subsequent infection, the effect of antibody level on infection rates was examined. The infection rate for children with pre-existing titers of <16 was significantly higher than those with titers of 16 or greater, but infections also occurred in children with high titers. The effect of pre-existing cell-mediated immunity, as expressed by antigen-stimulated lymphocyte blastogenesis, also was analyzed. More children with low stimulation indices (<3.0) were infected but the difference between low and high reactors was not significant. When the combined effect of antibody titer and SI on infection rates was examined, protection correlated with serum antibody but no added effect could be related to CMI. The relationship of lymphocyte SI and clinical illness was examined by grouping subjects according to clinical illness syndromes associated with proven RSV infection. SI were statisticaly similar regardless of age or illness syndrome. Similar comparisons with pre-illness antibody titers revealed an inverse relation between height of titer and severity of clinical illness. Data derived from this prospective study of RSV infection do not support the hypothesis that cell-mediated immunity contributes significantly to resistance to infection or to disease pathogenesis. Because neither systemic humoral nor cell-mediated immunity appear to act directly in modifying RSV infection and disease expression, it is speculated that local immune mechanisms within the respiratory tract may be involved.
An experimental concordance program

The Columbia University School of Library Service has been gradually building a considerable group of experimental computer programs for information handling. A set of programs for concordance production has recently been added to this group. Since this program set is unusual in some respects, a description of the way in which it was built may be useful to others. The Columbia series of experimental computer programs was undertaken for a number of purposes. One of these purposes has been, of course, the utilitarian one of using the computer as a tool in the study of the subject analysis of information. Another has been as part of a research effort to distinguish clearly defined unit operations in information handling, analogous to unit operations in chemistry. This has resulted in a procedures library and in modular program groups. A third, and very important, reason for creating programs has been to provide students with the opportunity to produce various types of indexes, bibliographies, and catalogs. For this use, it is important to have programs with a capability for easily testing the effect of changing a number of production variables. Pursuit of these goals has resulted in programs which are comparatively uneconomic of computer time, though they are often highly economic as part of overall systems for particular purposes. The School did not, until recently, have a concordancing program set, although a faculty member and a research associate had had the good fortune to be involved in an advisory capacity with the production of an excellent concordance to Milton's English prose undertaken by Laurence Stern. Although none of his programs were used in the system described here, Dr. Stern's ideas and experiences contributed significantly to our work.'
Fragrance Emulsion Evaporation versus Distillation: A Phase Diagram Approach

The phase diagram of an emulsion system was used to make a comparison between the calculated evaporation path of an emulsion during equilibrium under moderate relative humidity and during distillation under reduced pressure also under equilibrium conditions. The results showed a most significant difference, because the distillation under reduced pressure takes place into an atmosphere with highly reduced relative humidity and the level of relative humidity has a decisive effect on the evaporation path. A conclusion was reached that estimations about the evaporation path from distillation results should be complemented by information from the phase diagram.
Pegylated Phthalocyanines: Synthesis and Spectroscopic Properties

Abstract The syntheses and spectroscopic properties of a series of pegylated zinc(II)-phthalocyanines (Zn-Pcs) containing one, two, or eight tri(ethylene glycol) chains are described. The single molecular structure of a phthalonitrile precursor containing one hydroxyl and one PEG group, and its unique intermolecular hydrogen bonding are presented. The pegylated Pcs are highly soluble in polar organic solvents and have fluorescence quantum yields in the range 0.08–0.28.
Tobacco etch virus leader sequence enhances inducible indoleacetic acid-lysine synthetase activity in transgenic plants

This work was partially supported by Faculty Development Funds (FEAD) and Dean’s Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) from the College of Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY to MAS and by NIH grant GM47369-01 to ANB.
Experimentally produced sinusoidal fetal heart rate pattern in the chronically instrumented fetal lamb.

Abstract A sinusoidal fetal heart rate and elevated fetal arginine vasopressin levels were found in two bled fetal lambs. Arginine vasopressin was continuously infused intravenously in chronically instrumented fetal lambs at rates ranging between 1.0 and 90 mlU/kg/min. No sinusoidal heart rate occurred in 21 experiments on six control animals with intact vagal nerves. Atropine at doses 1.2 mg) resulted in sinusoidal heart rate (24 experiments on six animals). Twenty-three infusions were performed in five bilaterally vagotomized fetuses, and the sinusoidal heart rate was successfully induced in 17 experiments. The arginine vasopressin infusion rate was
SCISSORS: A Linear-Algebraical Technique to Rapidly Approximate Chemical Similarities

Algorithms for several emerging large-scale problems in cheminformatics have as their rate-limiting step the evaluation of relatively slow chemical similarity measures, such as structural similarity or three-dimensional (3-D) shape comparison. In this article we present SCISSORS, a linear-algebraical technique (related to multidimensional scaling and kernel principal components analysis) to rapidly estimate chemical similarities for several popular measures. We demonstrate that SCISSORS faithfully reflects its source similarity measures for both Tanimoto calculation and rank ordering. After an efficient precalculation step on a database, SCISSORS affords several orders of magnitude of speedup in database screening. SCISSORS furthermore provides an asymptotic speedup for large similarity matrix construction problems, reducing the number of conventional slow similarity evaluations required from quadratic to linear scaling.
Protecting Critical National Infrastructure Through Collaborative Cyber Situational Awareness

The paper describes the implementation of a cyber-security information sharing framework using a real world case study based on providers of critical national infrastructure, specifically air traffic management systems. The paper describes how disparate organisations deal with the unexpected through collaborative cyber situational awareness techniques. Results from the proof of concept demonstration are described, including the effect of using networks, distributed computing techniques and a trust framework to improve interpretation of cyber threats. The conclusions from the demonstration will be presented in light of UK government policy which identified cyber security as a Tier One risk to national security and the benefits or otherwise of adopting a collaborative approach to the problem.
Diversity and trophic structure of zooplankton communities in the California Current

Abstract The sources of species diversity in plankton samples take it non-clossing nets down to 140 m during two cruises in the southern part of the California Current were examined, and it was found that these sources were various : advection, by the mingling of originally separtmet separate plankton ecosystems, caused species assemblages to occur in the samples that were apparently more diverse than the original ecosystems; when the plankton net crossed ecological transitions the samples resembled those caused by the advective processes; however, these sources of diversity did not obscure the basic relationship between environmental and trophic stability of the ecosystems and their species diversity. The zooplankton of coastal upwelling situations was found to resemble that of oceanic situation in high lattidues by its very low diversity and its predominance of herbivorous forms.
Reply to Comment on “On the importance of opal, carbonate, and lithogenic clays in scavenging and fractionating 230Th, 231Pa and 10Be in the ocean”

We extend our analysis of the Chase et al. data [Earth and Planetary Science Letters 204 (2002) 215–229] to those other than from the equatorial Pacific and the Southern Ocean. The analysis offers support to our previous conclusion that Kd(Th) for carbonate is on the order of ∼1.0×106 g/g, or about two orders of magnitude smaller than that for open-ocean lithogenics. There is a lowering of Kd(Th) of lithogenics at high-lithogenic sites attributable to factors including the sediment remobilization from ocean-margin deposits. But the lowered Kd(Th) of lithogenics is still about one order of magnitude greater than that of carbonate at those high-lithogenic sites. Using an independent method, we estimate that Kd,l(Th) is >(2.2±0.9)×108 g/g at stations adjacent to our EqPac sites, reinforcing our conclusion that the major scavenger for 230Th is lithogenic, not carbonate particles, even in the low-lithogenic open ocean.
Symptomatic venous thrombosis of the upper extremity complicating permanent transvenous pacing: reversal with streptokinase infusion.

Symptomatic deep vein thrombosis of the upper extremity is an infrequently recognized complication of temporary or permanent transvenous cardiac pacing. When present, customary treatment includes elevation, rest, and systemic anticoagulation. We report such an occurrence, refractory to conventional management in whom dramatic improvement was observed subsequent to the institution of thrombolytic therapy with streptokinase. A 62-year-old white male factory worker was admitted to hospital with an acute 48-hour history of right arm edema, venous suffusion, and pain. Three months earlier he had undergone elective implantation of a permanent, transvenous silicone-rubber tined bipolar endocardial pacing catheter (Medtronic No. 6962) using the standard cephalic vein approach. There was no history of recent trauma, significant congestive heart failure, or prior documented thromboembolic phenomenon. On admission the patient was afebrile. The right arm was edematous and cyanotic with prominent superficial venous distention over the anterior deltoid area. The circumference of the arm at mid-bicep level was 5 cm greater than the opposite side. The right axilla was tender but without adenopathy. There was no evidence of cellulitis. The pacemaker incision site was unremarkable and pacemaker function was appropriate. An absolute platelet count and leukocyte count on admission were normal as was a prothrombin time of 11 seconds and a partial thromboplastin time of 27 seconds. A venogram of the involved extremity done on admission (Fig. 1, A) demonstrated complete obstruction of the axillary vein at its mid-point (arrows), with clot extending into the right brachiocephalic system and superior vena cava. Heparin therapy was instituted with a loading dose of 5,000 units followed by a continuous infusion of 1,000 unit&r with observed prolongation of the partial thromboplastin time to 55 seconds. In response to a lack of clinical improvement after 24 hours of heparin therapy, thrombolytic therapy with streptokinase was begun. The anticoagulant effect of heparin was reversed with protamine sulfate. A modified Ivy bleeding time, thrombin time, prothrombin time, partial thromboplastin, and fibrin split product level
Methods and techniques for measuring and improving data center best practices

Here we present a novel, measurement-based method for characterizing and improving the energy efficiency of a data center (DC). The technique not only yields a clear set of measurement-based best practices metrics, but also provides clear guidance to a DC manager to substantially improve the DC energy efficiency. We describe a technology which exploits the superiority of fast and massive parallel data collection using the Mobile Measurement Technology (MMT) [1] to drive towards quantitative, measurement-driven DC best practices implementation. A large representative raised-floor DC is mapped by the MMT methodology readily yielding the DC layout, very detailed 3D temperature distributions, flows and other relevant physical parameters of the specific facility. The data is used to calculate key metrics (horizontal and vertical hotspots, targeted air flow, plenum temperature, air conditioning unit utilization and flow levels). These metrics provide insights into the sources of energy inefficiencies of the current DC setup, and systematically guide DC managers to improve various best practice aspects in the specific DC. It is shown that significant energy reductions can be achieved utilizing the above described best practices methodology.
Histopathology and electron and immunofluorescence microscopy of gingivitis granulomatosa associated with glossitis and cheilitis in a case of Anderson-Fabry disease

Abstract A 17-year-old white boy with signs, symptoms, and family history of angiokeratoma corporis diffusum universale, Anderson-Fabry disease (AFD), developed recurrent and then persistent swelling of both lips, erythematous hyperplastic gingivae, and a pebbled tongue. Positive blood findings were raised serum IgE, decreased T-cell level, and increased B-cell level. Histopathology of the gingiva showed noncaseating granulomas with multinucleate giant cells containing Schaumann bodies and large plasma-cell infiltrates in which immunofluorescence demonstrated immune globulins of several classes. Electron microscopy and histochemistry demonstrated ceramide in the vasculature. No glycolipid was found in the macrophages or giant cells of the granulomas which, in contrast, resembled sarcoid reactions. Plasma cells with Russell bodies and immune reaction—induced degranulation of mast cells were also identified. The pathogenesis of the oral findings possibly relates to altered immune reactivity associated with damage to the microvasculature analogous to that in Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome.
Initiation of crazes in polystyrene

Abstract The initiation of crazes on surfaces of unoriented polystyrene, free of plastioizers, having controlled micro-roughness, has been studied under different combinations of deviatoric stress and negative pressure, in tension-torsion experiments, at both room temperature and – 20°C. These experiments show that the delay time for craze initiation decreases and the saturation craze density increases with increasing deviatoric stress or negative pressure. Experiments performed on individual polystyrene pellets free of entrapped foreign particles, and having microscopically featureless, smooth surfaces, have established an intrinsic crazing phenomenon distributed throughout the volume. A theoretical, micro-mechanical crazing model is presented which accounts satisfactorily for all the observed features of crazing under a multi-axial state of stress, and predicts the stress level for intrinsic crazing.
The Two Dimensions of Motivation and a Reciprocal Model of the Creative Process

Past research investigating the role of motivation in creativity has closely examined the role of intrinsic (i.e., process-focused) and extrinsic (i.e., outcome-focused) motivation. Results from th...
The long-term consequences of a temporary worker program: The US Bracero experience

Recent changes enacted by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) create the potential for two large temporary worker programs, one constructed from the existing H-2 program and the other an outgrowth of IRCA's amnesty provisions. Prior experience with guestworker programs in Europe and the United States suggests, however, that temporary labor migration ultimately will engender a flow of immigration substantially in excess of the number of temporary visas originally allocated. In this paper, we outline a theoretical rationale to explain this observation and test it using microdata gathered from former participants in the Bracero Program, a US-sponsored temporary worker program that ran from 1942 to 1964. Our results indicate that bracero migrants were very likely to make repeated trips, both with and without legal documents; that they were quite likely to introduce their sons and daughters into migratory careers; and that they were eventually likely to settle in the United States in substantial numbers. We argue that, in the long run, there is no such thing as a temporary worker program.
Systematic study of structures and stabilities of fullerenes

We describe a scheme to generate the ground-state network for carbon clusters. Combining this scheme with an accurate tight-binding potential for carbon, we have systematically studied the ground-state structures of fullerenes from ${\mathrm{C}}_{20}$ to ${\mathrm{C}}_{94}$. Clusters of sizes 60, 70, and 84 are found to be energetically more stable than their neighbors. The occurrence of the more abundant fullerene sizes is related to the fragmentation stability and chemical reactivity of the clusters obtained from our calculations.
Podocytes, Signaling Pathways, and Vascular Factors in Diabetic Kidney Disease

Alterations and injury to glomerular podocytes play a key role in the initiation and progression of diabetic kidney disease (DKD). Multiple factors in diabetes cause abnormalities in podocyte signaling that lead to podocyte foot process effacement, hypertrophy, detachment, loss, and death. Alterations in insulin action and mammalian target of rapamycin activation have been well documented to lead to pathology. Reduced insulin action directly leads to albuminuria, increased glomerular matrix accumulation, thickening of the glomerular basement membrane, podocyte apoptosis, and glomerulosclerosis. In addition, podocytes generate factors that alter signaling in other glomerular cells. Prominent among these is vascular endothelial growth factor-A, which maintains glomerular endothelium viability but causes endothelial cell pathology when generated at too high a level. Finally, circulating vascular factors (eg, activated protein C) have a profound effect on podocyte stability and survival. This cytoprotective factor is critical for podocyte health, and its deficiency promotes podocyte injury and apoptosis. Thus, the podocyte sits in the center of a network of paracrine and hormonal signaling systems that in health keep the podocyte adaptable and viable, but in diabetes they can lead to pathologic changes, detachment, and death.
Access privacy and correctness on untrusted storage

We introduce a new practical mechanism for remote data storage with access pattern privacy and correctness. A storage client can deploy this mechanism to issue encrypted reads, writes, and inserts to a potentially curious and malicious storage service provider, without revealing information or access patterns. The provider is unable to establish any correlation between successive accesses, or even to distinguish between a read and a write. Moreover, the client is provided with strong correctness assurances for its operations—illicit provider behavior does not go undetected. We describe a practical system that can execute an unprecedented several queries per second on terabyte-plus databases while maintaining full computational privacy and correctness.
Calcium salts of CLA improve availability of dietary CLA

Abstract Six sheep, fitted with ruminal and duodenal cannulae, were assigned by weight to two replications of a 3 × 3 Latin square design to compare the effects of dietary sources of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on availability of CLA and other long-chain fatty acids for absorption from the intestine. The control diet contained 45% alfalfa hay, 50% cracked corn, and 5% soybean meal. The CLA-supplemented diets were identical to the control diet, except they were either supplemented with 1% CLA as the free acid or with 1% CLA as the calcium salt. Each period lasted 3 weeks. Feed, rumen, duodenal, and fecal samples were collected during the final week of each period to determine apparent digestibility of dietary components, biohydrogenation of CLA in the rumen, and intestinal absorption of CLA and other long-chain fatty acids. Dietary supplementation of CLA did not affect digestibility of dry matter and crude protein, but CLA supplementation did increase lipid digestibility. Dietary CLA did not affect ruminal VFA distribution. Availability of CLA for intestinal absorption and the efficiency of intestinal absorption of CLA were increased by supplementing the diet with CLA. Ninety-seven percent of CLA fed as the free acid was biohydrogenated in the rumen, whereas 90% of CLA fed as the calcium salt was biohydrogenated in the rumen. Thus, although feeding the calcium salt of CLA approximately doubled the availability of CLA for intestinal absorption compared with feeding the free acid of CLA, in absolute terms, the increase was still only 0.66 g/day.
Null-plane quantization of fermions.

Massive Dirac fermions are canonically quantized on the null plane using the Dirac-Bergmann algorithm. The procedure is carried out in the framework of quantum electrodynamics as an illustration of a rigorous treatment of interacting fermion fields.
Depth profiling a III–V multilayered structure with an excimer laser

A multilayered structure of GaAs and AlGaAs was depth profiled using the technique of digital etching. A single excimer laser (KrF) was used to control the etch rate and to identify each layer by monitoring the Ga ions generated during the desorption process. The Ga ions were the only ions observed and were only generated when the photon flux was in the GaAs layer. The etch rate, 0.9 monolayers (2.5 A) per pulse, was constant with depth. The overall layer recognition resolution was 45 monolayers.
Investigation into scheduling for an interactive computing system

This paper describes a statistical evaluation of the performance of the swap scheduling algorithm of an interactive computer system and an investigation into foreground-background scheduling to improve system performance. Input traffic, computer service time demands, and system performance were statistically analyzed. Based on the results of these analyses performance enhancements for the system were determined and then evaluated through use of a validated simulation model.
The subjective experience of pain: Where expectations become reality

Our subjective sensory experiences are thought to be heavily shaped by interactions between expectations and incoming sensory information. However, the neural mechanisms supporting these interactions remain poorly understood. By using combined psychophysical and functional MRI techniques, brain activation related to the intensity of expected pain and experienced pain was characterized. As the magnitude of expected pain increased, activation increased in the thalamus, insula, prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and other brain regions. Pain-intensity-related brain activation was identified in a widely distributed set of brain regions but overlapped partially with expectation-related activation in regions, including the anterior insula and ACC. When expected pain was manipulated, expectations of decreased pain powerfully reduced both the subjective experience of pain and activation of pain-related brain regions, such as the primary somatosensory cortex, insular cortex, and ACC. These results confirm that a mental representation of an impending sensory event can significantly shape neural processes that underlie the formulation of the actual sensory experience and provide insight as to how positive expectations diminish the severity of chronic disease states.
Perceptual dialect categorization by an adult cochlear implant user: a case study

Abstract Research on the perception of indexical properties of speech in normal-hearing listeners has revealed that speech perception and spoken word recognition involve not only encoding of the linguistic message, but also processing and storage of talker-specific “indexical” properties of the speech signal, such as age, gender, and dialect. The perceptual processing of talker-specific information in speech has also been shown to affect the speech perception abilities of pediatric and adult cochlear implant users. In the current study, “Mr. S.”, a post-lingually deafened adult cochlear implant user with 8 years of implant experience participated in a six-alternative forced-choice perceptual dialect categorization task without training or feedback. Normal-hearing adults can categorize unfamiliar talkers by regional dialect of American English with about 30% accuracy in a six-alternative forced-choice task. While this performance is poor, it is statistically above chance. Like the normal-hearing listeners, “Mr. S.”'s performance was also statistically above chance and his scores were within one standard deviation of the mean performance of 30 normal-hearing controls. The present results suggest that “Mr. S.” was able to perceive and encode non-linguistic talker-specific information from the speech signal that he received through his implant and use that information in an explicit test of dialect categorization.
Crescentic Landforms along the Atlantic Coast of the United States

An uninterrupted series of hierarchically arranged crescentic coastal landforms occurs along the Atlantic coast. Dimensional analysis suggests a geometric relation between order, amplitude, and number. The processes responsible for these features also may be continuous in nature.
Circadian rhythms and seizure susceptibility: Effects of manipulations of light cycles on susceptibility to audiogenic seizures and on levels of 5-hydroxytryptamine and norepinephrine in brain

Abstract Susceptibility to audiogenic seizures was determined in 26-day-old DBA/2J mice raised under either normal (LD) or reverse-cycle (DL) lighting conditions. Reverse-cycle lighting conditions completely reversed the circadian rhythm of susceptibility to audiogenic seizures in these mice. In another experiment, mice were placed into either LD, DL, complete light (LL) or complete dark (DD) conditions at noon of either Days 21, 23, 25 or 26. These animals were then tested for susceptibility to audiogenic seizures at either 1700 or 2000 hr of Day 26. Reverse-cycle lighting conditions for 5 days almost reversed the audiogenic seizure susceptibility pattern, and both DD and LL conditions sharply increased susceptibility to audiogenic seizures. In a third experiment, DBA/2J mice were placed into either LD, DL, DD or LL conditions at noon of Day 21 and sacrificed at 1700 hr on Day 26. Levels of 5-hydroxytryptamine and norepinephrine were measured in cortex, diencephalon and brain stem of these mice. Increased susceptibility to audiogenic seizures was found to be directly related to lower levels of 5-hydroxytryptamine and norepinephrine in brain. The relation between susceptibility to audiogenic seizures and levels of these biogenic amines in brain is discussed.
Initiation of the Immune Response by Extracellular Hsp72: Chaperokine Activity of Hsp72

Heat shock proteins exert their beneficial effects via basically two modes of action depending on their relative location within the host. Intracellular heat shock proteins found within cells serve a cytoprotective role by chaperoning naive, misfolded and/or denatured proteins in response to stressful stimuli by a process known as the stress response. However, stressful stimuli also induce the release of intracellular heat shock proteins into the extracellular milieu and circulation. The extracellular heat shock protein proteins serve a cytostimulatory role by initiating immune responses designed to fend off microbial infection and destroy neoplastic transformed cells. This review will briefly cover recent advances into elucidating the mechanism(s) by which stress induces the release of heat shock proteins into the circulation, how it initiates immune responses and suggest the possible biological significance of circulating Hsp to the host.
Synthesis of blood and cuticular proteins in late pharate adults of the cecropia silkmoth

Abstract Incorporation of tritiated leucine into blood and cuticular proteins of male Hyalophora cecropia was monitored during the final third of pharate adult development. We found no changes in specific activity of the total blood proteins, but there were conspicuous alterations in the banding pattern obtained by acrylamide gel electrophoresis. The specific activity of the cuticular protein extract decreased with age, but the cause of this decline is not obvious. These final stages of exocuticle formation do not involve the appearance or synthesis of new blood or cuticular proteins.
A relationship between methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase variants and the development of invasive cervical cancer

Abstract Objective Low red blood cell folate levels have been associated with hypomethylation of DNA in dysplastic tissue and an increased risk for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in human papillomavirus (HPV)-infected women. Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is a critical enzyme regulating the metabolism of folate and methionine, the important components of DNA synthesis and methylation. Two common genetic polymorphisms, causing reduced MTHFR activity, have been identified. Therefore, the goal of this study was to evaluate these MTHFR variations as risk factors for invasive cervical cancer. Methods To overcome the failure to properly match cases and controls that can cause false-positive inferences due to population stratification and unrecognized variables in a traditional case–control study, a family-based transmission/disequilibrium test (TDT) was used. We obtained samples from nuclear families of 102 women with invasive cervical cancer (ICC). One polymorphism was typed by a PCR-RFLP method, while a template-directed dye-terminator assay was developed for the other. Results and conclusions We were unable to confirm a strong association of MTHFR polymorphisms and ICC using family-based controls and a transmission/disequilibrium test. The overall results of the TDT showed χ 2 (1 df) of 0.28 ( P = 0.60) for exon 4, χ 2 (1 df) of 0.81( P = 0.37) for exon 7, and χ 2 (3 df) of 2.56 ( P = 0.46) for the haplotype, meaning that there was no transmission of those alleles significantly in excess of Mendelian expectations to affected women. In addition, there was no effect of these variants with increased parity or infection with high-risk-type human papillomavirus.
Effects of disturbance at two spatial scales on macroinvertebrate and fish metrics of stream health

We analyzed macroinvertebrate and fish assemblage data collected from the upper southeastern coastal plain of the USA to (1) assess the relative sensitivities of bioassessment metrics to in-stream habitat quality, catchment scale land disturbance, and the presence of a reservoir in the catchment and (2) determine whether fish differ from macroinvertebrates in their responses to these variables. Fish and macroinvertebrates responded differently to anthropogenic disturbance: macroinvertebrates were affected most strongly by in-stream habitat quality and fish by the presence of a reservoir in the catchment. Neither taxonomic group were significantly affected by the catchment scale disturbance, probably because the proportions of disturbed land in the study areas were low. Fish may be particularly sensitive to the presence of reservoirs because of their need to cover relatively large distances to complete life cycles and maintain viable populations and because of their sensitivity to the effects of invasive r...
CAR might provide a survival signal for myocardial cells.

We read with great interest the Research Article by Dorner et al. ([Dorner et al., 2005][1]) describing their coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR)-deficient mouse, as we have previously published details of our own CAR-knockout mouse ([Asher et al., 2005][2]). Our findings of embryonic death
Apoptosis induced by dithiothreitol in HL-60 cells shows early activation of caspase 3 and is independent of mitochondria

Previous studies have shown that under certain conditions some thiol-containing compounds can cause apoptosis in a number of different cell lines. Herein, we investigated the apoptotic pathways in HL-60 cells triggered by dithiothreitol (DTT), used as a model thiol compound, and tested the hypothesis that thiols cause apoptosis via production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) during thiol oxidation. The results show that, unlike H2O2, DTT does not induce apoptosis via a mitochondrial pathway. This is demonstrated by the absence of early cytochrome c release from mitochondria into the cytosol, the lack of mitochondrial membrane depolarization at early times, and the minor role of caspase 9 in DTT-induced apoptosis. The first caspase activity detectable in DTT-treated cells is caspase 3, which is increased significantly 1–2 h after the start of DTT treatment. This was shown by following the cleavage of both a natural substrate, DFF-45/ICAD, and a synthetic fluorescent substrate, z-DEVD-AFC. Cleavage of substrates of caspases 2 and 8, known as initiator caspases, does not start until 3–4 h after DTT exposure, well after caspase 3 has become active and at a time when apoptosis is in late stages, as shown by the occurrence of DNA fragmentation to oligonucleosomal-sized pieces. Although oxidizing DTT can produce H2O2, data presented here indicate that DTT-induced apoptosis is not mediated by production of H2O2 and occurs via a novel pathway that involves activation of caspase 3 at early stages, prior to activation of the common ‘initiator’ caspases 2, 8 and 9. Cell Death and Differentiation (2000) 7, 1002–1010
Pesticides directly accelerate the rate of α-synuclein fibril formation: a possible factor in Parkinson's disease

Abstract Parkinson’s disease involves intracellular deposits of α-synuclein in the form of Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites. The etiology of the disease is unknown, however, several epidemiological studies have implicated environmental factors, especially pesticides. Here we show that several pesticides, including rotenone, dieldrin and paraquat, induce a conformational change in α-synuclein and significantly accelerate the rate of formation of α-synuclein fibrils in vitro. We propose that the relatively hydrophobic pesticides preferentially bind to a partially folded intermediate conformation of α-synuclein, accounting for the observed conformational changes, and leading to association and subsequent fibrillation. These observations suggest one possible underlying molecular basis for Parkinson’s disease.
Public acceptance of consumer energy conservation strategies

Abstract The policy of reducing consumer energy consumption can be implemented through several different strategies, or broad courses of action. Six alternative strategies for promoting energy conservation are investigated in this study: financial incentives, community programs, efficiency standards, land-use changes, consumption limits, and price increases. Public acceptance of these strategies varies widely, from 83 percent for financial incentives to 9 percent for price increases. The single best predictor of acceptance of these strategies is preference for a soft rather than hard energy policy path. The second best predictor is perceived seriousness of the energy problem. Seven predictor variables are used to construct a general path model for a Combined Strategies Index, which explains 20 percent of the variance on that index. In general, Americans can be described as supporting a diverse set of strategies for encouraging consumer energy conservation.
Emerging applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in community and local mental health research

Medical geography or the use of geography to study disease traces back to ancient times (Meade and Earickson 2005). After the late 17th-century, medical geography became more formalized with developments in cartography and the introduction of maps of disease distribution (Koch 2005). By the 20th-century, medical geographers developed sophisticated statistical methods of geographical epidemiology to create maps allowing the spatial analysis of health-related issues (Elliott et al. 1997). For example, in mental health research, spatial analysis of geographic patterns of mental disorders led to the correlation of urban environments with increased risk for severe mental disorders (Freeman 1984). During recent years, technological innovation in computer mapping referred to as geographic information systems (GIS) significantly enhanced the analysis of health questions in small local areas such as census blocks and neighborhoods. GIS analyses have shown superiority to classical geographic techniques in these small areas that eluded accurate investigation in the past. Language: en
The MathSigner: An Interactive Learning Tool for American Sign Language K-3 Mathematics

We present a new highly interactive program to teach American Sign Language (ASL) for K-3 mathematics by 3D animation. We aim at increasing: (1) the opportunity for deaf children to learn arithmetic via interactive media; (2) the effectiveness of (hearing) parents in teaching arithmetic to their deaf children; (3) the effectiveness of ASL K-8 mathematics teachers. Using state-of-the-art 3D computer animation technology we have created a learning tool to be used for K-8 classroom and home learning, and for closed captioning in interactive media and internet.
The Effects of Tactile Defensiveness and Tactile Discrimination on In-Hand Manipulation

The purpose of this study was to compare in-hand manipulation efficiency in children with and without tactile defensiveness and low tactile discrimination. Fifty children, aged 4 to 6 years, were tested with the use of three subtests of the Southern California Sensory Integration Tests (SCSIT) (Ayres, 1980), which measured tactile function, and three in-hand manipulation tasks. Tactile defensiveness was rated during performance of the selected SCSIT subtests. Nine of the children had mild developmental delays and 41 were without delays. Low correlations between scores on tactile defensiveness and tactile discrimination suggested that these two aspects of tactile function are separate but related phenomena. Children with both defensiveness and discrimination problems demonstrated the least efficiency on all of the in-hand manipulation tasks and had significantly higher time scores on the turn and translation in-hand manipulation tasks. Poor discrimination or tactile defensiveness alone did not relate to poor in-hand manipulation. The results suggest that a child's tactile function should be considered in therapy to improve manipulation skill. Strategies to decrease tactile defensiveness and improve tactile discrimination may facilitate achievement of higher levels of in-hand manipulation.
Pituitary stalk interruption syndrome and isolated pituitary hypoplasia may be caused by mutations in holoprosencephaly-related genes.

Context: Holoprosencephaly (HPE) is a developmental defect characterized by wide phenotypic variability, ranging from minor midline malformations (eg, single central incisor) to severe deformities. In 10–15% of HPE patients, mutations in specific genes have been identified (eg, SHH, TGIF, SIX3). Pituitary stalk interruption syndrome (PSIS) constitutes a distinct abnormality of unknown pathogenesis, whereas isolated pituitary hypoplasia (IPH) has been linked to various developmental genes. Objective: Three of our patients with PSIS had a single central incisor, a malformation encountered in some HPE cases. Based on this observation, we initiated a search for mutations in HPE-associated genes in 30 patients with PSIS or IPH. Design and Participants: The entire coding region of the TGIF, SHH, and SIX3 genes was sequenced in patients with combined pituitary hormone deficiency associated with either PSIS or IPH and in healthy controls. Results: Two novel mutations in the HPE-related genes were detected (ie, c....
Characterization of the major outer membrane antigens of Treponema hyodysenteriae.

Abstract Outer membrane extracts of Treponema hyodysenteriae were used to evaluate the antibody responses in immunized or convalescent pigs. Western blot (immunoblot) analysis identified antibodies in sera reactive with 14- to 19-kilodalton (kDa) antigens. Reactivity against these antigens could be removed only by absorption of sera with butanol-water-extracted endotoxin from the homologous strain of T. hyodysenteriae. Treatment of the outer membrane extracts with 0.1 M sodium meta-periodate, but not with proteinase K, abolished reactivity with both outer membrane and endotoxin antigens (14 and 19 kDa). These results indicate that swine vaccinated with the outer membrane extract of T. hyodysenteriae develop antibody responses to outer membrane antigens qualitatively similar to those of swine convalescing from active infection, especially antibodies against low-molecular-mass antigens. The nature of the 14- to 19-kDa antigens appears consistent with that of treponemal endotoxin and lipopolysaccharide.
Small U.S. Dairy Farms: Can They Compete?

The U.S. dairy industry is undergoing rapid structural change, evolving from a structure including many small farmers in the Upper Midwest and Northeast to one that includes very large farms in new production regions. Small farms are struggling to retain competitiveness via improved management and low-input systems. Using data from USDA’s Agricultural Resource Management Survey, we determine the extent of U.S. conventional and pasture-based milk production during 2003-2007, and estimate net returns, scale efficiency, and technical efficiency associated with the systems across different operation sizes. We compare the financial performance of small conventional and pasture-based producers with one another and with largescale producers. A stochastic production frontier is used to analyze performance over the period for conventional and pasture technologies identified using a binomial logit model. Large conventional farms generally outperformed smaller farms using most economic measures – technical efficiency, various profitability measures, and returns to scale.
Identification of suitable reference genes for hepatic microRNA quantitation

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short (~22 nt) endogenous RNAs that play important roles in regulating expression of a wide variety of genes involved in different cellular processes. Alterations in microRNA expression patterns have been associated with a number of human diseases. Accurate quantitation of microRNA levels is important for their use as biomarkers and in determining their functions. Real time PCR is the gold standard and the most frequently used technique for miRNA quantitation. Real time PCR data analysis includes normalizing the amplification data to suitable endogenous control/s to ensure that microRNA quantitation is not affected by the variability that is potentially introduced at different experimental steps. U6 (RNU6A) and RNU6B are two commonly used endogenous controls in microRNA quantitation. The present study was designed to investigate inter-individual variability and gender differences in hepatic microRNA expression as well as to identify the best endogenous control/s that could be used for normalization of real-time expression data in liver samples. We used Taqman based real time PCR to quantitate hepatic expression levels of 22 microRNAs along with U6 and RNU6B in 50 human livers samples (25 M, 25 F). To identify the best endogenous controls for use in data analysis, we evaluated the amplified candidates for their stability (least variability) in expression using two commonly used software programs: Normfinder and GeNormplus, Both Normfinder and GeNormplus identified U6 to be among the least stable of all the candidates analyzed, and RNU6B was also not among the top genes in stability. mir-152 and mir-23b were identified to be the two most stable candidates by both Normfinder and GeNormplus in our analysis, and were used as endogenous controls for normalization of hepatic miRNA levels. Measurements of microRNA stability indicate that U6 and RNU6B are not suitable for use as endogenous controls for normalizing microRNA relative quantitation data in hepatic tissue, and their use can led to possibly erroneous conclusions.
Achieving safety: a field study of boundary objects in aircraft technical support

Boundary objects are a critical, but understudied, theoretical construct in CSCW. Through a field study of aircraft technical support, we examined the role of boundary objects in the "achievement of safety" by service engineers. The resolution process of repair requests was captured in two compound boundary objects. These crystallizations did not manifest a static interpretation, but instead were continually re-interpreted in light of meta-negotiations. This suggests design implications for organizational memory systems which can more fluidly represent the meta-negotiations surrounding boundary objects.
Novel nonseparation sandwich-type electrochemical enzyme immunoassay system for detecting marker proteins in undiluted blood

A novel nonseparation electrochemical enzyme immunoassay (NEEIA) for detecting marker proteins in undiluted blood is described. The approach is based on preferential electrochemical measurement of surface-bound enzyme-labeled reporter antibody (E-Ab), relative to an excess of this reagent in the sample solution. NEEIAs are carried out on microporous membranes coated with a thin, circular area of gold. The gold serves simultaneously as a working electrode and solid phase for immobilized capture anti-protein antibodies. In the assay, analyte protein is incubated concurrently with the Ab-coated gold surface and excess E-Ab conjugate. Detection of bound E-Ab is achieved by introducing the substrate for the enzyme through the back side of the membrane. The product of bound E-Ab is detected immediately by oxidation or reduction at the gold electrode, and the resulting current is proportional to the concentration of protein in the sample. The feasibility of the NEEIA approach is demonstrated via the detection of prostate-specific antigen in undiluted plasma samples (n = 64), with alkaline phosphatase as the label. Use of multiple gold films deposited on the same porous membrane to perform simultaneous NEEIAs is also described.