cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Biowar Treaty in Danger

This month in Geneva the Biological Weapons Convention is facing its third review. The agreement, which was signed in 1972 by the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States, quickly gained widespread support, and nearly a decade passed without apparent violation. One reason for the ban's apparent success in the 1970s was the absence of any obvious military interest in biological warfare. In the 1980s, military interest in biological warfare reemerged first in the former Eastern and Western blocs, where efforts to develop defenses against biological warfare agents expanded, and later in the decade in other parts of the world - the Middle East and possible elsewhere - as part of a pattern of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. These trends are politically distinct, but they have a potential for reinforcing each other. If they do so, military establishments will intensify their attempts to turn the biological sciences and advances in biotechnology to military use. The restraints encoded in the Biological Weapons Convention, which has one important loophole and few enforcement mechanisms, will weaken further. The review conference presents an important opportunity to correct these flaws and strengthen the treaty.
Single Camera Structure and Motion Estimation

Two new continuous nonlinear observers are proposed for the problem of structure from motion (SfM) and structure and motion (SaM) of a stationary object observed by a moving camera. The observer for SfM, where full velocity feedback is available, yields global exponential convergence of the states for the structure. The SaM observer requires only one of the linear velocities as a feedback and identifies the states asymptotically. The linear velocity is used to derive the scene scale information. The observer gain conditions are derived to prove the stability of the proposed observers through a Lyapunov-based analysis.
Sea Turtles: Navigation and Orientation

The initial offshore migration of hatchling turtles can be accomplished with a suite of straightforward orientation steps involving visual cues, wave cues, and a magnetic compass sense. Later, a more complex series of inherited responses to magnetic waymarks help guide pelagic juveniles and keep them within their nursery habitat. As turtles mature, they gain experience with patterns of magnetic variation and learn to find goals based on magnetic positional information. Thus, coastal juveniles and adults can locate feeding grounds after seasonal absences and adults can return accurately to their nesting beaches. In addition, hatchlings may imprint on magnetic map information about their home beaches and use this information to return to their natal areas years later to nest.
Flash Groups/Group Work in Practice Members at Local “Y”

Over the past five years, I have been attending the local YMCA (Y) where I swim five mornings a week. Two years ago, I wrote a paper entitled the Ladies Water Aerobics Swim Group. This group had a profound impact upon me. Indeed, at the recent IASWG symposium in New York, I was approached by one participant who had read the paper which had been published in Groupwork and attended the presentation I gave at the symposium in North Carolina in 2015. Based on this and many other positive responses I had received regarding the first paper, I decided to write a second paper, which discussed the two groups I belonged to at the (Y). Both these groups have had numerous social and therapeutic benefits for myself. Although, they are not “formal groups,” the group work literature, talks about the unique qualities, forces of healing, social interdependence, “we-ness,” affiliative bonds, importance in our lives, and bringing about individual and social change in our lives. These two groups have had numerous positive outcomes for me personally and other members of the groups. Keywords: Social Interdependence, Importance of groups, informal groups, social groups, forces of healing, therapeutic benefits of groups, “we-ness.”
Mining and modeling complex leadership dynamics of movement data

Leadership is an essential part of collective decision and organization in social animals, including humans. In nature, leadership is dynamic and varies with context or temporal factors. Understanding dynamics of leadership, such as how leaders change, emerge, or converge, allows scientists to gain more insight into group decision-making and collective behavior in general. However, given only data of individual activities, it is challenging to infer these dynamic leadership events. In this paper, we focus on mining and modeling frequent patterns of leadership dynamics. We formalize a new computational problem, Mining Patterns of Leadership Dynamics, as well as propose a framework as a solution of this problem. Our framework can be used to address several questions regarding leadership dynamics of group movement. We use the leadership inference framework, mFLICA, to infer the time series of leaders from movement datasets, then propose the approach to mine and model frequent patterns of leadership dynamics. We evaluate our framework performance by using several simulated datasets, as well as using the real-world dataset of baboon movement to demonstrate the application of our framework. There are no existing methods to address this problem, thus, we modify and extend the existing leadership inference framework to provide a non-trivial baseline. Our framework performs better than this baseline in all datasets. Moreover, we also propose a method to perform statistical significance tests, comparing inferred frequent patterns of leadership dynamics with our proposed null hypotheses. Our framework opens the opportunities for scientists to generate scientific hypotheses that can be tested statistically regarding dynamics of leadership in movement data.
Mass manufacturing of high resolution and lightweight monocrystalline silicon x-ray mirror modules

Astronomical observations of distant and faint X-ray sources will expand our understanding of the evolving universe. These challenging science goals require X-ray optical elements that are manufactured, measured, coated, aligned, assembled, and tested at scale. The Next Generation X-ray Optics (NGXO) group at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is developing solutions to the challenges faced in planning, constructing, and integrating X-ray optics for future telescopes such as the Lynx Large Mission concept for the Astro2020 Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics, Probe Mission concepts AXIS, TAP, and HEX-P, the Explorer Mission concepts STAR-X and FORCE and the sub-orbital mission OGRE. The lightweight mirror segments, efficiently manufactured from blocks of commercially available monocrystalline silicon, are coated, aligned, and fixed in modular form. This paper discusses our first attempt to encapsulate our technology experience and knowledge into a model to meet the challenge of engineering and production of the many modules required for a spaceflight mission. Through parallel lines of fabrication, assembly, and testing, as well as the use of existing high throughput industrial technologies, ∼104 coated X-ray mirror segments can be integrated into ∼103 modules adhering to a set budget and schedule that survive environmental testing and approach the diffraction limit.
Thyroid Storm with Multiorgan Failure Treated with Plasmapheresis.

Background. Thyroid storm is a severe manifestation of thyrotoxicosis and can present with multiorgan failure. First line treatment of thyroid storm is directed towards decreasing thyroid hormone production and peripheral conversion of T4 to T3, and treating adrenergic symptoms. When medical therapy fails, plasmapheresis is an alternative treatment option. Here we present a patient with thyroid storm and multiorgan failure who was treated with plasmapheresis. Case. A 50-year-old male with a history of hyperthyroidism, hypertension, and congestive heart failure presented to another hospital with fever and altered mentation. He was found to have pneumonia on imaging and was started on antibiotics. He developed shock complicated by atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular rate which was treated with amiodarone. He was transferred to our hospital for further management. On arrival, TSH was 7 ng/dL and total T3 was 358 ng/dL. The endocrinology team determined he was in thyroid storm. His medical treatment of thyroid storm was aggressively titrated to maximal therapy. His hospital course was complicated by transaminitis, respiratory failure requiring intubation, shock requiring vasopressor support, kidney failure requiring continuous renal replacement therapy, and heart failure. Despite maximal anti-thyroid therapy, he had not improved clinically and T4 and T3 remained markedly elevated. A 4-day course of plasmapheresis was initiated resulting in marked lowering of T4 and T3 and clinical stability. Conclusion. While current guidelines for plasmapheresis for thyroid storm recommend individualized decision making, no further clarification is provided on who would be a good candidate for the procedure. We present a patient with thyroid storm and multiorgan failure who was treated with plasmapheresis after failing maximal medical therapy. Given the significant improvement seen with plasmapheresis, endocrinologists should consider this mode of treatment earlier in the course of thyroid storm when patients are not improving with medical therapy alone.
Are Natural Ingredients Effective in the Management of Hyperpigmentation? A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND: Hyperpigmentation disorders are commonly encountered in dermatology clinics. Botanical and natural ingredients have gained popularity as alternative depigmenting products. OBJECTIVE: We sought to review clinical studies evaluating the use of different natural products in treating hyperpigmentation so clinicians are better equipped to educate their patients. Specific ingredients reviewed include azelaic acid, aloesin, mulberry, licorice extracts, lignin peroxidase, kojic acid, niacinamide, ellagic acid, arbutin, green tea, turmeric, soy, and ascorbic acid. METHODS: Systematic searches of PubMed and SCOPUS databases were performed in March 2016 using the various ingredient names, "melasma"and "hyperpigmentation." Two reviewers independently screened titles, leading to the selection of 30 clinical studies. RESULTS: Review of the literature revealed few clinical trials that evaluated the treatment of hyperpigmentation with natural ingredients. Despite the limited evidence-based research, several natural ingredients did show efficacy as depigmenting agents, including azelaic acid, soy, lignin peroxidase, ascorbic acid iontophoresis, arbutin, ellagic acid, licorice extracts, niacinamide, and mulberry. CONCLUSION: The aforementioned ingredients show promise as natural treatments for patients with hyperpigmentation disorders. These agents might also provide clinicians and researchers with a way to further characterize the pathogenesis of dyschromia. However, the paucity of clinical studies is certainly a limitation. Additionally, many of the in-vivo studies are limited by the short length of the trials, and questions remain about the long-term efficacy and safety of the ingredients used in these studies. Lastly, we suggest a standardized objective scoring system be implemented in any further comparative studies.
Social Capital and Delinquency in Bagcilar, Turkey:

There is a growing literature on social capital and delinquency. Most research has been done in Western industrial countries, has used limited measures of delinquency, and has employed surveys deve...
America's deadly flirtation with antiscience and the medical freedom movement.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been exacerbated in the US by misinformation and disregard for public health recommendations. In this Viewpoint, Peter Hotez explores the anti-science movement in America, emphasizing our unique historical connections to health and medical freedom.
Abstract PS19-16: Utility of rapid autopsy in cancer research: Unexpected findings and lessons learned from warm autopsies of metastatic breast cancer patients

Metastatic disease is understudied largely because of inaccessibility to quality specimens for research use. The Legacy Project, a rapid or “warm”, autopsy program at City of Hope, seeks to overcome this challenge by collecting tissue from metastatic patients immediately (within 6 hours) after their death. This paradigm serves as a specimen resource to address many clinically relevant questions, such as disease heterogeneity and mechanisms driving disease progression. Using this model, we uncovered clinically relevant disease information that is normally unavailable while a subject is alive. In this study, 9 metastatic breast cancer patients and their families were approached and consented prior to death. The cohort includes a diversity of clinical presentations in terms of disease subtype, progression history, organ involvement, and final cause of death. A total of 533 specimens were collected across 9 subjects. The average time from death to specimen acquisition was 6.1 hours (range: 4.03 - 7.66 hours; median: 5.71 hours). Total number of specimens collected from each participant ranged from 38-75, with an average of 60 across all patients; the mean number of tumor-positive specimens collected was 29 (range 12-46); the mean number of non-cancer specimens collected was 31 (range 25-45). In patients with primary estrogen receptor (ER) positive disease, we observed variable heterogeneity in estrogen, progesterone, and ki67 status across metastatic lesions. Furthermore, we observed a profound shift in disease phenotype towards end of life, trending towards complete loss of hormone receptor expression and stark increase of Ki67 levels. At the time of procurement, one third of subjects exhibited clinically unidentified diseased sites in organs not commonly associated with breast cancer metastases a, including ovary, kidney, and pancreas. In two other instances, “resolved” bone specimens (as measured by absence of FTG uptake in PET/CT imaging) were later determined to be >30% tumor positive when assessed by HE 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS19-16.
Extracellular vesicle concentrations of glial fibrillary acidic protein and neurofilament light measured 1 year after traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is linked to long-term symptoms in a sub-set of patients who sustain an injury, but this risk is not universal, leading us and others to question the nature of individual variability in recovery trajectories. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a promising, novel avenue to identify blood-based biomarkers for TBI. Here, our aim was to determine if glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and neurofilament light (NfL) measured 1-year postinjury in EVs could distinguish patients from controls, and whether these biomarkers relate to TBI severity or recovery outcomes. EV GFAP and EV NfL were measured using an ultrasensitive assay in 72 TBI patients and 20 controls. EV GFAP concentrations were elevated in moderate and severe TBI compared to controls (p’s < 0.001) and could distinguish controls from moderate (AUC = 0.86) or severe TBI (AUC = 0.88). Increased EV GFAP and EV NfL levels were associated with lower 1-year Glasgow Outcome Scale–Extended (GOS-E) score (p’s < 0.05). These findings suggest that blood-derived EV concentrations of GFAP and NfL drawn even 1 year after injury are higher in TBI patients compared to controls, and are related to injury severity and poor recovery outcomes, suggesting that TBIs alter the activity of these biomarkers, likely contributing to individual variability in recovery.
Transfer Learning Model for Disrupting Misinformation During a COVID-19 Pandemic

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the world significantly, and it is critical to have reliable online information about this virus. However, disinformation can have a negative effect on public opinion and can put the lives of millions in danger by ignoring the crucial precautions. People worldwide post their ideas about the coronavirus every second and create a rich source of information. In this work, we introduce an advanced natural language processing model to classify public opinion about the virus, which can help health organizations to take immediate actions to stop the spread of the virus by removing misinformation from online platforms. We introduce a new model with high classification accuracy to extract deep contextual information from online coronavirus comments based on main COVID-19 topics and use a robust model for sentiment classification based on more than twenty different datasets to detect the tweet's text, which contains misinformation. The new model can generate reports about tweets that contain misinformation to the states requiring emergency precautions to stop the virus's spread by removing the detected comments from their online platforms. Also, The new model can detect misinformation and prevent fake news by increasing public awareness about COVID-19.
Office-Based Mechanical Procedures for Tendons

This chapter reviews mechanical in-office procedures used to treat recalcitrant tendinopathy. The background and theorized mechanisms of actions are discussed. Details of the procedures are described in a step-wise fashion. This chapter may be used as a guide to learn the ideology behind as well as how to perform these procedures. Procedures discussed in this article include: high-volume image guided injection, mechanical tendon scraping, percutaneous needle tenotomy, percutaneous ultrasonic tenotomy, biceps tendon release, and iliopsoas tendon release.
The top 100 cited articles in pediatric urology: A bibliometric analysis

Summary Introduction In the last 120 years, the field of pediatric urology has seen an exponential growth. In this time, there has not been a comprehensive review of top cited articles within the field. Objectives We aim to identify and categorize the top 100 most cited peer-reviewed articles in pediatric urology using citation analysis. Study design We searched for articles in the Web of Science™ Core Collection between 1900 and 2020 using terms specific to pediatric urology. We identified relevant pediatric urology articles and selected the top 100 most cited articles. We analysed trends over time for topics and categories and we evaluated the relatedness of these articles using citation analysis software. Results The top 100 most cited articles in pediatric urology were published between 1958 and 2016 in 26 countries, across 181 institutions, and in 46 journals. The median number of citations per article was 268 (IQR 225.75–394.25). Clinical manuscripts were the most common among the top 100 cited articles (n = 64) and the most common topic was genital conditions (e.g., penile, inguinal, or testis but not including hypospadias) (n = 19; 16.5%; total citations = 6591). When using bibliometric software to analyse relatedness among the top 100 articles based on citation of one another, we identified 11 clusters of 3 or more articles which corresponded to topics like those we defined a priori ( Summary Figure ). We found that a greater proportion of articles describing surgical techniques were published prior to 1987 (n = 6, 38%) as compared to after 1987 (n = 11, 13%), while the proportion of basic science articles has increased. Discussion This is the first study to analyse the most cited articles in pediatric urology. There was a lower median citation per article and fewer prospective studies in this list compared to other urologic sub-specialties. Similar to other clinical specialties, the focus has moved from describing and comparing operative techniques to exploring mechanisms of disease. This study is limited by using a single parameter (citation rate) and a single citation database. Conclusion The list of top 100 most cited articles in pediatric urology is an important resource for clinicians and trainees to understand the body of knowledge and trajectory of this field. It charts the evolution of the field and highlights areas of potential investigation. This objective approach to literature review can facilitate future research and education efforts. Download : Download high-res image (711KB) Download : Download full-size image Summary Figure . Network map of clustering by co-citations among the top 100 most cited pediatric urology publications. Clusters are generated based on the number of times each publication cites each other. 23 of the 100 publications are not shown here as they did not cite and were not cited by another article within the top 100 cited articles.
Computational modeling of virucidal inhibition mechanism for broad-spectrum antiviral nanoparticles and HPV16 capsid segments

Solid core nanoparticles coated with sulfonated ligands that mimic heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPG) can exhibit virucidal activity against many viruses that utilize HSPG interactions with host cells for the initial stages of the infection. How the interactions of these nanoparticles with large capsid segments of HSPG-interacting viruses lead to their virucidal activity has been unclear. Here, we describe the interactions between sulfonated nanoparticles and segments of the human papilloma virus type 16 (HPV16) capsids using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. The simulations demonstrate that nanoparticles primarily bind at interfaces of two HPV16 capsid proteins. Insertions of nanoparticles at these interfaces leads to increased separation in distances and angles between capsid proteins. As the time progresses, the nanoparticle binding can lead to breaking of contacts between two neighboring proteins. The revealed mechanism of nanoparticles targeting the interfaces between pairs of capsid proteins can be utilized for designing new generations of virucidal materials and contribute to the development of new broad-spectrum non-toxic virucidal materials.
Completing the Academic Leadership Fellows Program during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused the Academic Leadership Fellows Program to shift to a virtual format for Cohort 17. Major differences compared to previous years included changes in networking strategies among fellows, lack of in-person team building activities, and the preparation and delivery of the team debates. Adaptations in fellow peer interactions and learning approach proved strong relationships and collaborations can be formed in a virtual setting. Concurrent mentorship and leadership opportunities at the fellows home institution remains a fundamental component of the program to enhance personal growth. The ALFP program proved that it can still deliver a meaningful professional development opportunity for faculty leaders in a virtual setting.
Theoretical and experimental analysis of injection seeding a Q-switched alexandrite laser

Injection seeding is a method for achieving linewidths of less than 500 MHz in the output of broadband, tunable, solid state lasers. Dye lasers, CW and pulsed diode lasers, and other solid state lasers have been used as injection seeders. By optimizing the fundamental laser parameters of pump energy, Q-switched pulse build-up time, injection seed power and mode matching, one can achieve significant improvements in the spectral purity of the Q-switched output. These parameters are incorporated into a simple model for analyzing spectral purity and pulse build-up processes in a Q-switched, injection-seeded laser. Experiments to optimize the relevant parameters of an alexandrite laser show good agreement.
Eating Potato Salad On The Lawn Of The Damned

The very first Sunday that summer, I found out Zimmie wanted us to go to church with her. I moaned, kicked the stairwell. Kitty in the mirror threw a match on my funeral pyre, telling me Grandpa's coming with us. I moaned, flew back and forth in not-quite-circles. Grandpa usually just dropped Zimmie off at church, then cruised for an hour along right-handed black top lanes cleaving miles of gossiping cornfields. Although he was old and a smoker (living on borrowed time). But this Sunday he was going to put on a suit and come along; a terrible tragedy Zimmie couldn't drive. Kitty posed at the hall tree, its greeny mirror diseased by time. She raised one foot, then the other, trying on angles. It mattered: yesterday she'd broken in new flats, wore them all day around the farmhouse with a pair of Grandpa's red hunting socks. Said: I think after, we're going to visit Claudette. I moaned and flew, my hair a wild blonde flame throwing sparks across 122 the foyer. Church was all starch and lace, moist heat, moist sounds, programs adorned with doe-eyed Jesus fanning powdered-sugar faces slowly dissolving under delectable hats. Our grandmother Zimmie beamed and nodded all through the flydroning service. God was helium to Zimmie. Pumped her up every Sunday. She was light and happy most of the time anyway, although I have caught her, unawares, looking sucked up and airless, but I never let on; Zimmie rarely showed her hurts to the world. Basted and glazed her pain with happiness. Faked her way through life when she had to: fluent in bilingual body language. Sometimes hard to imagine she'd come out of a daredevil woman who'd stowed away from Ireland to America, ending up a suffragette, newspaper journalist, farm wife. Grandpa was always saying that only stupid people were happy all the time. Which makes you, Moms, as he called Zimmie, one of the happiest people I know. And she'd peal with laughter. Although I knew her hurt burned under her lovely skin. I'd stand where Grandpa couldn't see me and put a whammy on him, blade of my hand between my eyes. A neat trick I learned from my twin brother. He and I had been amputated that summer. It was our turn, we girls, to be farmed out, get sick on Black Cows, play Monopoly until we went blind or
15. Measurement of Oceanic Heat Flow

Publisher Summary Most oceanic heat flow measurements, like their land counterparts, have been made with simplifying assumptions. First, with a few exceptions, it is generally assumed that heat is transferred vertically by lattice conduction from the earth's interior, at least over the regime in which measurements are made. Second, steady-state boundary conditions are assumed, unless the measurements or other data demonstrate otherwise. Under these conditions, heat flow values are determined by the product of two measured quantities: the vertical temperature gradient and the thermal conductivity of material over which the gradient is measured. Improvements of instrumentation for oceanic heat flow measurements, as well as for data acquisition, have depended on technological advances as much as a desire for increased scientific understanding of the nature of ocean basins. To measure temperatures in both the ocean and seafloor, it is desirable to use a sensor which responds accurately and rapidly to temperature, but is insensitive to other environmental factors such as pressure and electrical conductivity. Almost all equipment designed for oceanic heat flow measurements now employs thermistors as sensor. Their small size, low cost, wide availability, high sensitivity, and good stability have made them the optimum choice.
Water relations of container-grown virus-tested and common apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) rootstocks

Abstract Water relations of ungrafted clonal apple rootstocks were compared using potted plants in the greenhouse. MM106, MM111, M2, M7, M9, M26 and EMLA27 that were free (virus tested) of the latent viruses, apple-stem pitting, apple-stem grooving and chlorotic leaf spot were used. Six additional rootstocks, MM106, MM111, M7a, M9, M13 and M26, were from common stock contaminated with the above apple viruses. Diurnal trends of stem xylem pressure potential and leaf conductance were measured on plants having either ample or limiting moisture. Water uptake rate was measured at three levels of suction, 40, 53 and 67 kPa, and at three temperatures, 0, 25 and 35°C. Neither leaf conductance nor stem xylem pressure potential differed between common and virus-tested rootstocks. Leaf conductance was higher in M26 than in other rootstocks; MM106 and M13 had greater midday plant moisture stress than other rootstocks. Plants watered on alternate days had significantly higher leaf conductance than plants watered every third day, but the watering regime had no effect on stem xylem pressure potential. Water uptake was equally sensitive in virus-tested and common rootstocks in response to varied suction. However, uptake rates at a given value of suction differed among rootstocks, with M26 highest and M7 generally lowest. There was evidence that water uptake rates in MM106 and MM111 were higher in virus-tested than in common clones. Virus-tested rootstocks showed significant increases in water uptake only between 25 and 35°C, with no significant change below 25°C. Highest uptake rates among tested clones were with M26 and MM106 while M7 rates were among the lowest. Among the common rootstocks, M9 and M26 had increased water uptake between 0 and 25°C, while M13 decreased. MM111 and M13 were the only common rootstocks with significant water uptake increases between 25 and 35°C.
Ecophysiological function of leaf ‘windows’ in Lithops species – ‘Living Stones’ that grow underground

Leaf temperatures were lower when light entry at the leaf tip window was prevented through covering the window with reflective tape, relative to leaf temperatures of plants with leaf tip windows covered with transparent tape. This was true when leaf temperatures were measured with an infrared thermometer, but not with a fine-wire thermocouple. Leaf tip windows of Lithops growing in high-rainfall regions of southern Africa were larger than the windows of plants (numerous individuals of 17 species) growing in areas with less rainfall and, thus, more annual insolation. The results of this study indicate that leaf tip windows of desert plants with an underground growth habit can allow entry of supra-optimal levels of radiant energy, thus most likely inhibiting photosynthetic activity. Consequently, the size of the leaf tip windows correlates inversely with habitat solar irradiance, minimising the probability of photoinhibition, while maximising the absorption of irradiance in cloudy, high-rainfall regions.
Frictional properties of metal insulator surfaces at cryogenic temperatures

Abstract When a superconducting material slides against an insulating material, frictional heat dissipation at the interface can be sufficient to drive the superconductor normal. An investigation of the sliding behaviour of various metal-insulator pairs has been carried out to discover which combinations will reduce or eliminate rapid slip events which lead to high local heating. The results indicate that desirable sliding behaviour can be achieved, at 4.2 K, when the hardness of the metal and insulator are well matched. To observe sliding behaviour, tests have been carried out at 4.2 K, 77 K and 295 K for a number of polymers, laminated composites, and coated pieces sliding against either copper or aluminum. To achieve a better understanding of the behaviour of each sliding combination, the friction coefficient has been measured as a function of sliding distance, sliding velocity, and temperature.
Stimulation of DNA polymerase activity by the combination of p-hydroxymercuribenzoate and dithiothreitol.

Summary The combination in reaction mixtures of 1 mM dithiothreitol and 1 mM p-hydroxymercuribenzoate resulted in a 10-fold stimulation in the activity of a 2.5S mouse myeloma DNA polymerase. The stimulation, first detected using poly(rA)·oligo(dT) as template-primer, was also observed with several other template-primers. In addition, a comparable stimulation was observed in the poly(rA)-directed activity of the 3.4S DNA polymerase from mouse liver, murine leukemia virus DNA polymerase and E. coli DNA polymerase I, whereas no stimulation was observed with the intracisternal A-particle DNA polymerase or the 7.9S mouse myeloma DNA polymerase. The stimulatory effect of dithiothreitol:p-hydroxymercuribenzoate appeared to be related to the mercurial portion of p-hydroxymercuribenzoate and the specific properties of dithiothreitol because HgCl2 substituted for p-hydroxymercuribenzoate whereas p-hydroxybenzoate did not, and because other chelating reagents and compounds containing monothiols, disulfides, or adjacent dithiols did not substitute for dithiothreitol whereas the isomer, dithioerythritol, did.
A rapid method for synchronization of Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis.

Summary The Mitchison-Vincent technique for cell sizing on linear sucrose gradients has been applied with some modifications to obtain synchronous cultures of Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis . Synchronous growth over two division cycles was observed with both organisms. In the modified procedures, successful development of synchrony was dependent on the centrifugal force used to harvest the cells, proper dispersal of the cell pellet before layering on the sucrose gradient, and resuspension in conditioned media.
Perpendicularly Aligned, Size-and Spacing-Controlled Nanocylinders by Molecular-Weight Adjustment of a Homopolymer Blended in an Asymmetric Triblock Copolymer

Perpendicularly arrayed and size-controlled nanocylinders have been prepared by simply blending an asymmetric polystyrene-block-polyisopireoe-block-polytyrene triblock copolymer with polystyrene (the minority component) homopplymers of different molecular weights. The preference ffor perpendicular orientation or hexagonal ordering of the nanocylinders over a large area in the asymmetric block copolymer can be controlled by adjusting the molecular weight of the blended homopolymer, and the prefection of hexagonal ordering of the perpendicular cylinders can be toned by using! a substrate whose surface tension is much different from that of the majority component of the block copolymer. Such highly controlled nanostructured block-co-polymer materials, which have been obtained by a simple method independent of film thicness and interfacial tension between the blocks and the substrates, have wide-ranging commercial potential, e.g., for use in membranes and nanotemplates with size-tunable pores, bandgap-controlled photonic crystals, and other nanotechnological fields demanding a specific nanosize and nanomorphology.
Advancements in identifying cirrus and multilayered cloud systems from operational satellite imagers at night

Radiances and brightness temperatures from three near-infrared/infrared channels that are available on most current and past satellite imagers were used to develop automated algorithms for identifying multilayered cloud systems (cloud overlap) and cirrus clouds at night. The cloud overlap algorithm uses information from the 3.75 micron, 11 micron, and 12 micron regions of the spectrum and the cirrus algorithm uses 3.75 micron and 11 micron channel data. The cloud overlap algorithm was developed assuming that a scene with cloud overlap consists of a semitransparent ice cloud that overlaps a lower cloud composed of liquid water droplets. Cirrus clouds are taken to be high ice clouds with a visible optical depth of 5.0 or less. The algorithms are applied to single satellite pixels that are already assumed to be cloudy based on cloud mask information. The utility of each algorithm was demonstrated on two different Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) scenes and the cloud overlap algorithm was validated against millimeter radar-derived cloud boundaries. Overall the results show that both algorithms have the potential to be very useful for nighttime cloud studies.
Forty years of medical genetics.

I AM often asked why I shifted from cardiology to medical genetics; I did not. In fact my activities in the two fields developed in parallel; it was a matter of phasing out cardiology and phasing in medical genetics. Indeed, my first published piece of clinical investigation was on a genetic topic, the syndrome of spots and polyps (1949), and my first book was Heritable Disorders of Connective Tissue (first published in 1956). In 1952 when I completed house-staff training there was no clinical discipline of medical genetics and no formal training program. So I trained in cardiology, which brought my attention to the Marfan syndrome because of the conspicuous cardiological complications. In the early 1950s, for 5 years after completing the chief residency at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md, I was a junior faculty person. I pursued the analysis of heart sounds and murmurs by a method called spectral
Reconceptualizing the Debate Over the General Education of Teachers

While recent higher education proposals call for widespread reform, teacher educa tion has undergone special scrutiny. Re form proposals vary from increasing the general education background of pro spective teachers to discontinuing the un dergraduate education major. Enlarging any discipline's share of the curriculum, however, is unlikely to prepare better teachers or graduates. What will make a difference, argue the authors, is an in tegrative general education curriculum and reform in the conduct of college teaching across the disciplines, with leadership emerging from schools, col leges and departments of education.
Covering systems in number fields

Abstract M. Filaseta, K. Ford, S. Konyagin, C. Pomerance and G. Yu proved that if the reciprocal sum of the moduli of a covering system is bounded, then the least modulus is also bounded, which confirms a conjecture of P. Erdős and J.L. Selfridge. They also showed that, for K > 1 , the complement in Z of any union of residue classes r ( n ) ( mod n ) with distinct n ∈ ( N , K N ] has density at least d K for N sufficiently large, which implies a conjecture of P. Erdős and R.L. Graham. In this paper, we extend these results to covering systems of the ring of integers of an arbitrary number field F / Q .
Pillared‐surface microstructure and soft‐tissue implants: Effect of implant site and fixation

Previous work with subcutaneous implants in a rat animal model has shown that pillarlike surface microstructure will reduce fibrosis and enhance blood vessel approximation to the implant surface when compared with nontextured controls. This study was designed to determine the effect of microtissue anatomy and implant site on the observed response, as well as the effect of implant fixation. The lateral posterior sites were found to contain a fat pad which produced a dramatically reduced fibrosis for the micro-structured implants compared with smooth controls. Although significant differences between pillar-micro-structured implants and controls were found for most sites, neither fascia nor muscle reduces the level of cellular response to the same degree as fat. Suture fixation of the implants did not produce a significantly different response in these tests. The occupation of the interpillar spaces by fat and moderation of interfacial shear forces is proposed as a mechanism to explain these results.
Netropsin and spermine conjugates of a water-soluble quinocarcin analog: analysis of sequence-specific DNA interactions.

Abstract Background: Quinocarcin is the simple of the bioxalmycin/naphthyridinomycin/tetrazomine/saframycin class of anti-tumor antibiotics, which damage DNA in a process that is inhibited by superoxide dismutase (SOD). The oxazolidine moiety of this class of anti-tumor antibiotics undergoes a redox self-disproportionation reaction of the Cannizzaro type. The reaction is proposed to proceed via an intermediate carbon-centered radical, which then reduces molecular oxygen to give superoxide. We set out to determine whether the DNA-cleavage properties of these anti-tumor antibiotics could be retained in less complex analogs of quinocarcin. Results: A totally synthetic, water-soluble analog of quinocarcin has been prepared. This analog produced superoxide, but had considerably reduced ability to cleave supercoiled circular DNA, compared to quinocarcin or tetrazomine. When conjugated to the DNA-binding molecule spermine, however, it cleaved DNA as effectively as quinocarcin at less than 110 the concentration. A conjugate with netropsin displayed selective cleavage around the sequence 5′-d(ATTT)-3′. Molecular modeling of the interaction between the conjugate and DNA, together with the pattern of cleavage, indicates that a non-diffusable oxidant is involved in sequence-selective DNA cleavage. The spermine conjugate displayed weak antimicrobial activity. Conclusions: Knowledge of the stereoelectronic requirements for superoxide production by quinocarcin has allowed us to design a structurally less complex analog which has many of the same physical properties, including water solubility, the ability to produce superoxide and the ability to cleave DNA. Covalently attaching known DNA-binding molecules to this analog gave a compound that produced sequence-specific DNA damage. Our results suggest that a mechanism other than superoxide production can mediate DNA damage by the netropsin conjugate.
Skin rash in meningitis and meningoencephalitis.

Skin rash and depigmentation are common in patients with meningitis and meningoencephalitis. Skin changes must always be evaluated in conjunction with the clinical symptoms, signs, brain imaging, and laboratory abnormalities, particularly the features of the CSF pleocytosis. The purpose of this montage is to help the clinician identify a specific etiologic agent as early as possible.
Isotype exclusion in λ1 transgenic mice depends on transgene copy number and diminishes with down-regulation of transgene transcripts

We have compared expression of the endogenous kappa and transgenic lambda 1 light chains in three lines of mice carrying one, four and eight copies of a lambda 1 transgene. We have found that in very young mice, even a single rearranged transgenic lambda allele excludes expression of the endogenous kappa loci. As the lambda 1 transgenic mice age, the proportion of lambda-positive cells decreases, as has been reported by others (Neuberger et al., Nature 1989, 338:350; Pettersson et al., Nature 1990. 344:165; Hagman et al., J. Exp. Med. 1989. 169:1911; Bogen and Weiss, Eur. J. Immunol. 1991. 21:2391). The decrease in lambda-positive B cells is accompanied by an increase in kappa-positive cells. We show that the decrease in B cells bearing surface lambda immunoglobulin depends on transgene copy number and occurs most rapidly in lower copy number lines. The decrease in surface lambda expression correlates with a dramatic decrease in the level of lambda mRNA in splenic B cells. Transgene down-regulation cannot be alleviated by stimulation of splenocytes with the mitogen lipopolysaccharide. These are the first data to establish that a single copy transgene can effect isotype exclusion. In addition, these results provide strong evidence that down-regulation of transgene expression is controlled at the level of transcription, and that it is the level of expressed light chain that regulates isotype exclusion.
Insights and Ideas Garnered from Marine Metabolites for Development of Dual-Function Acetylcholinesterase and Amyloid-β Aggregation Inhibitors

Due to the diversity of biological activities that can be found in aquatic ecosystems, marine metabolites have been an active area of drug discovery for the last 30 years. Marine metabolites have been found to inhibit a number of enzymes important in the treatment of human disease. Here, we focus on marine metabolites that inhibit the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, which is the cellular target for treatment of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. Currently, development of anticholinesterase drugs with improved potency, and drugs that act as dual acetylcholinesterase and amyloid-β aggregation inhibitors, are being sought to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Seven classes of marine metabolites are reported to possess anti-cholinesterase activity. We compared these metabolites to clinically-used acetylcholinesterase inhibitors having known mechanisms of inhibition. We performed a docking simulation and compared them to published experimental data for each metabolite to determine the most likely mechanism of inhibition for each class of marine inhibitor. Our results indicate that several marine metabolites bind to regions of the acetylcholinesterase active site that are not bound by the clinically-used drugs rivastigmine, galanthamine, donepezil, or tacrine. We use the novel poses adopted for computational drug design of tighter binding anticholinesterase drugs likely to act as inhibitors of both acetylcholinesterase activity and amyloid-β aggregation inhibition.
Early age-related maculopathy in the cardiovascular health study

Abstract Objective To describe the prevalence of early age-related maculopathy (ARM) and its relation to atherosclerosis, lipids, hypertension, and inflammatory factors in a population studied for cardiovascular disease risk factors and outcomes. Design Population-based cohort study. Participants A biracial population of 2361 adults (ranging from 69–97 years of age; 1998 whites and 363 blacks) living in four US counties (Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; Forsyth County, North Carolina; Sacramento County, California; and Washington County, Maryland) were examined during the interval from 1997 to 1998. Methods Drusen and other lesions typical of ARM were identified by examining a 45° color fundus photograph of one eye of each participant and classified by means of a modification of the Wisconsin Age-Related Maculopathy Grading System. Main outcome measures Early ARM. Results Early ARM was present in 15.5% and late ARM in 1.3% of the cohort. The overall prevalence of any ARM was lower in blacks (9.1%) compared with whites (18.2%). While controlling for age, race, gender, and total calories consumed in the diet, factors associated with ARM were cerebral white matter disease as detected by magnetic resonance imaging (odds ratio [OR], 1.50; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05, 2.16, P = 0.027), and lower serum total cholesterol (OR, per 10 mg/dl increase 0.95; 95% CI, 0.91, 0.98, P = 0.02). There were no associations between hypertension, blood pressure, common carotid artery plaque, or any systemic inflammatory factors studied and early ARM. Conclusions This population-based study documents the higher prevalence of ARM in whites compared with blacks. Although an association was found between signs of white matter disease and early ARM, there was no evidence of an association of ARM with either hypertension or inflammatory factors.
Determination of soil pH using a laboratory robot

A commercial laboratory robot has been programmed to prepare up to 144 soil samples for pH determination. The soils are manually scooped into tubes (as part of our receiving service), and loaded into racks capable of holding 40 tubes each. The robot determines the weight of soil in each tube (if required), picks up a pipette and adds water, vortex mixes, centrifuges, and finally picks up a pH probe and determines the pH of the supernatant. All weight and pH data are collected by the robot, and stored on a diskette ready for transfer to a LIMS. Fifteen (15) soil samples per hour can be processed in this way.
Edge detection using optical symbolic substitution

Abstract Optical symbolic substitution architectures based on phase-only hologram and content-addressable memory are used for digital- optical edge detection. Accordingly, symbolic substitution rules for phase-only hologram based optical computing system and reduced minterms for content-addressable memory based optical computing system are determined and compared for the cases of three different operators.