cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dealing with Alcohol: Indigenous Usage in Australia, New Zealand and Canada

Dealing with Alcohol: Indigenous Usage in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Sherry Saggers and Dennis Gray. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. vi + 240 pp., tables, bibliography, index.
L-histidine inhibits production of lysophosphatidic acid by the tumor-associated cytokine, autotaxin

Autotaxin (ATX, NPP-2), originally purified as a potent tumor cell motility factor, is now known to be the long-sought plasma lysophospholipase D (LPLD). The integrity of the enzymatic active site, including three crucial histidine moieties, is required for motility stimulation, as well as LPLD and 5'nucleotide phosphodiesterase (PDE) activities. Except for relatively non-specific chelation agents, there are no known inhibitors of the ATX LPLD activity. We show that millimolar concentrations of L-histidine inhibit ATX-stimulated but not LPA-stimulated motility in two tumor cell lines, as well as inhibiting enzymatic activities. Inhibition is reversed by 20-fold lower concentrations of zinc salt. L-histidine has no significant effect on the Km of LPLD, but reduces the Vmax by greater than 50%, acting as a non-competitive inhibitor. Several histidine analogs also inhibit the LPLD activity of ATX; however, none has greater potency than L-histidine and all decrease cell viability or adhesion. L-histidine inhibition of LPLD is not a simple stoichiometric chelation of metal ions but is more likely a complex interaction with a variety of moieties, including the metal cation, at or near the active site. The inhibitory effect of L-histidine requires all three major functional groups of histidine: the alpha amino group, the alpha carboxyl group, and the metal-binding imidazole side chain. Because of LPA's involvement in pathological processes, regulation of its formation by ATX may give insight into possible novel therapeutic approaches.
Jack of one trade, master of none: host choice by Drosophila magnaquinaria

Host selection by phytophagous insects is generally thought to be based on chemical or nutritional characteristics of the host. This is especially true for monophagous insects. However, many other factors may influence host choice. The present study examines host selection by Drosophila magnaquinaria, whose sole host is the yellow skunk cabbage, Lysichitum americanum. Utilization of skunk cabbage was tested relative to a set of alternative hosts. In the pre-alighting stage of host selection, skunk cabbage was found to be less attractive than tomato, cucumber, and commercial mushrooms. In pairwise oviposition tests, there were no differences among hosts. There were no differences in larval survivorship among skunk cabbage, tomato, cucumber, or Ramaria, and larvae developed into pupae earlier on tomato than on skunk cabbage. These results indicate that this monophagy is not based on characteristics of the host. We suggest that habitat selection is the more important factor in determining the association between D. magnaquinaria and skunk cabbage.
The evolution of bipedalism in hominids and reduced group size in chimpanzees: alternative responses to decreasing resource availability

Abstract One hypothesis for the evolution of hominid bipedalism is that bipedalism was more efficient than quadrupedalism for long-distance terrestrial locomotion, and was favored when resources became scarcer and more widely separated during the drying of African forests in the Miocene. Here we extend this scenario for the evolution of bipedalism based on principles of behavioral ecology of extant primates. Daily travel distance is not only an increasing function of resource scarcity, but also of group size (because of intragroup scramble competition). When faced with Miocene drying, hominoids were forced to evolve either energetically more efficient locomotory abilities or smaller group sizes. The cost of the latter strategy is that smaller groups are less successful than larger groups in intergroup contest competition (smaller groups are supplanted from limiting resources). Among the earliest hominids, bipedalism may have been favored over small group size as an alternative energetic response to decreased resource availability. The alternative was to maintain quadrupedal locomotion but evolve fission–fusion grouping to reduce daily travel distance for individuals and hence, their energetic costs of travel. We suggest that this strategy represents the evolutionary pathway taken by chimpanzees. This divergence of strategies may have been a result of inherent differences in feeding ecology, but could also have been enhanced by the pre-empting of niche space by the two closely related and presumably competing hominoid ancestors of humans and chimpanzees. If so, it could have been a potential factor in the speciation process that led to modern humans and chimpanzees.
Sorting out the tribes : The creation of racial identities in colonial Zanzibar's newspaper wars

The days are approaching when you will hear new things. Soon you will hear that an Arab is not an Arab, a Shirazi is not a Shirazi, and an African is not an African. You will hear this, and you will be told that you are all Zanzibaris.Al-Falaq, paper of the Zanzibar Arab Association, 1946Nani awezaye kumnyoosha Binaadamu pindi alitiwa kibyongo na Mungu? [Who can straighten out mankind, whom God has made a hunchback?]Afrika Kwetu, paper of the Zanzibar African Association, 1952STUDENTS of the history of African ethnicity will recognize in the second of these quotes a Swahili version of the aphorism from Kant with which Leroy Vail introduces his important volume on the creation of tribalism in modern Africa: ‘Out of the crooked timber of humanity nothing straight will ever be fashioned’. True to their spirit, both aphorisms can be interpreted in contradictory ways. Vail intended to point up a theme that runs throughout his volume: that ethnic categories are rarely as clear-cut as ethnic nationalists would have them seem, and that, where such clarity exists, it is only momentary, having arisen out of complex and messy historical processes. But the editors of Afrika Kwetu, the weekly newspaper of the Zanzibar African Association that published the Swahili proverb in 1952, drew less subtle implications. The immediate context was a plea against religious chauvinism, part of the newspaper's allegation that Zanzibar's Arab nationalist leaders had violated the Islamic injunction to respect other religions ‘of the book’. But the clear implication – elsewhere made explicit – was that God and nature had fashioned humankind into irreducibly separate races and nations, and that it was foolish and even blasphemous to mix or combine them, as (they charged) their Arab rivals were seeking to do.
Genetic hybridization at the unlinked thy and str loci of Streptococcus.

ABSTRACT The sanguis and pneumoniae species of Streptococcus were used as recipients in transformations from str + to str-r and from thy - to thy + . The str-r mutations in the two species had been previously shown to be allelic. Homology of the thy - mutations in the two species was demonstrated in the similar phenotypic properties they conferred (death in the absence of thymidine, lack of thymidylate synthetase). The str and thy loci are unlinked in each species.——When the two species are transformed by both homospecific and heterospecific DNA, the efficiency is always lower in the heterospecific cross. The efficiency of heterospecific transformation is considerably lower at the thy than at the str locus. DNA was extracted from recipients that had integrated markers of heterospecific origin. When such hybrid DNA is tested on the original recipient species, the heterospecific markers are usually as efficient as homospecific markers. When tested on the original donor species, however, the hybrid DNA is usually more efficient than heterospecific DNA. This is true for both thy and str transformations.——Forty independent thy + hybrids were obtained in the cross of sanguis thy - recipients with pneumoniae thy + DNA. These hybrids fall into a number of classes based upon the relative efficiency with which their extracted DNA9s are able to transfer the thy + marker into pneumoniae thy - cells. The most efficient of these DNA9s exhibits about 20% of the efficiency of homospecific pneumoniae thy + DNA and three orders of magnitude greater efficiency than heterospecific sanguis thy + DNA. Thus, very little of the inefficiency of heterospecific transformation of the thy locus is ascribable to a classic restriction mechanism. Rather, the wild-type thy + loci in the two species appear to differ at multiple sites, and independent heterospecific transfers result in differential extents of integration of these sites. On this basis, the thy + loci of the two species differ at a greater number of sites than do the respective str + loci.
Fate of vasopressin perfused into nephrons of Wistar and Brattleboro (diabetes insipidus) rats.

1. Iodinated vasopressin was microinjected into early proximal or distal tubules of Wistar and Brattleboro (diabetes insipidus) rats. Sites of infusion were determined by the lissamine green transit time method. 2. Urinary recovery of 125 I after proximal and distal injections was 89 ± se 1·7% and 94 ± 1·0% in Wistar rats (corrected for inulin) and 81 ± 20 and 92 ± 2·0% in Brattleboro rats (uncorrected); injection of hormone into vascular stars resulted in similar 125 I recoveries from punctured and contralateral kidneys. 3. Radioactive substances excreted after perfusing proximal and distal sites in Brattleboro animals, and 125 I-labelled hormone added to urine from the contralateral kidney, bound similarly to a specific arginine vasopressin antiserum and demonstrated similar radioactive elution profiles after passage through Sephadex G25 columns. 4. Incubation of labelled and unlabelled vasopressin with rat kidney homogenates resulted in similar and complete degradation of the hormone. 5. Results indicate that most of the vasopressin injected into either proximal or distal nephrons enters the urine intact, and no evidence of tubular secretion was found when perfusing vascular stars. Enzymes in rat renal tissue degrade labelled vasopressin, but the ability of the proximal tubule to hydrolyse the 125 I-labelled vasopressin is limited, especially when compared with that reported for several linear peptide hormones.
Accelerated Stochastic Block Coordinate Descent with Optimal Sampling

We study the composite minimization problem where the objective function is the sum of two convex functions: one is the sum of a finite number of strongly convex and smooth functions, and the other is a general convex function that is non-differentiable. Specifically, we consider the case where the non-differentiable function is block separable and admits a simple proximal mapping for each block. This type of composite optimization is common in many data mining and machine learning problems, and can be solved by block coordinate descent algorithms. We propose an accelerated stochastic block coordinate descent (ASBCD) algorithm, which incorporates the incrementally averaged partial derivative into the stochastic partial derivative and exploits optimal sampling. We prove that ASBCD attains a linear rate of convergence. In contrast to uniform sampling, we reveal that the optimal non-uniform sampling can be employed to achieve a lower iteration complexity. Experimental results on different large-scale real data sets support our theory.
Regulation of H-2 Class I Gene Expression in Virus Transformed and/or Infected Cells

Our group first documented that viral infections and virus-induced transformations can significantly affect class I gene expression. These virally-induced alterations in H-2 (class I) antigen expression were shown to play a striking role in resistance to neoplasia18. Similar observations which have recently been made by numerous investigators in a variety of other systems 6, 8, 12, 24, 26.
Abstract 1644: VX-970, the first-in-class inhibitor of the DNA damage repair enzyme ATR

Proficient repair of DNA damage is important for cancer cell survival and is a leading cause for the poor response many patients experience when treated with DNA-damaging drugs or ionizing radiation. The protein kinase ataxia telangiectasia mutated and Rad3 related (ATR) regulates an important DNA damage response pathway that is most commonly activated by replication stress (RS). RS arises during S-phase when the cell9s DNA replication machinery attempts to copy through an unresolved damage lesion. Such events are common after cells are treated with DNA-damaging agents. Unresolved RS often leads to double strand breaks, which in turn may cause DNA mutations, chromosomal rearrangements or cell death. Pre-clinical data suggests a reliance on ATR for survival is a common feature in cancer cells. This may occur when there are defects in other DNA damage repair pathways or high levels of background RS. VX-970 is the first potent (Ki VX-970 is currently in Phase 1 clinical studies as monotherapy and in combination with gemcitabine, cisplatin and carboplatin. Note: This abstract was not presented at the meeting. Citation Format: John Pollard, Philip Reaper, Julie Jones, Christopher Barnes, Scott Gladwell, Stuart Hughes, Adele Peak, Hakim Djeha, Amy Hall, David Newsome, Yuxin Wang, Diane Boucher, Brenda Eustace, Yong Gu, Brian Hare, Mac Johnson, Sean Milton, Cheryl Murphy, Darin Takemoto, Crystal Tolman, Mark Wood, Brinley Furey, Marina Penney, Howard Li, Christopher Defranco, Mohammed Asmal, Scott Fields. VX-970, the first-in-class inhibitor of the DNA damage repair enzyme ATR. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 1644. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-1644
Hypothesis-Testing Methods

In this chapter we examine general methods that can be used to define explicit rules for testing statistical hypotheses. In particular, the likelihood ratio, Wald, and Lagrange multiplier methods for constructing statistical tests are widely used in empirical work, and they provide well-defined procedures for defining test statistics and critical regions in given hypothesis- testing contexts. In addition, it is possible to find useful test statistics based entirely on a heuristic principle of test construction. None of these four methods is guaranteed to produce a statistical test with optimal properties in all cases. In fact, no method of defining statistical tests can provide such a guarantee. The virtues of these methods are that they are relatively straightforward to apply (in comparison to direct implementation of many of the theorems in Section 9.5), they are applicable to a wide class of problems that are relevant in applications, they generally have excellent asymptotic properties, they often have good power in finite samples, they are sometimes unbiased and/or UMP, and they have intuitive appeal.
Das F-Plasmid

Die Entdeckung der Konjugation war zwar an sich wichtig, aber auch deshalb von Bedeutung, weil sie die Existenz eines unerwarteten genetischen Elements, des F-Plasmids, zeigte. Dieses Plasmid, das das am besten untersuchte Plasmid und daher ein hervorragendes Beispiel fur diese interessante Gruppe von DNA-Molekulen ist, wird in diesem Kapitel behandelt. Spater wurden noch viele andere Typen an Plasmiden entdeckt, wovon ein reprasentatives Beispiel im Kap. 11 besprochen wird.
Eczema herpeticum in early pregnancy.

A 25 year-old woman with a history of atopic dermatitis presented to the emergency department with a generalized skin rash. She was at 12 weeks gestation in her first pregnancy. The skin lesions first appeared on her chest in an area where she had symptomatic eczema. These lesions were painful and
Mitigating distributed denial of service attacks at the application layer

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks on web applications have been a persistent threat. Existing approaches for mitigating application layer DDoS attacks have limitations such low detection rate and inability to detect attacks targeting resource files. In this work, we propose Application layer DDoS (App-DDoS) attack detection framework by leveraging the concepts of Term Frequency (TF)-Inverse Document Frequency (IDF) and Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI). The approach involves analyzing web server logs to identify popular pages using TF-IDF; building normal resource access profile; generating query of accessed resources; and applying LSI technique to determine the similarity between a given session and known good sessions. A high-level of dissimilarity triggers a DDoS attack warning. We apply the proposed approach to traffics generated from three PHP applications. The initial results suggest that the proposed approach can identify ongoing DDoS attacks against web applications.
The Cell Biology of Nematocysts

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the cell biology of nematocysts. Nematocysts, the most widely used term to describe the “stinging capsules” characteristic of the phylum Cnidaria, constitute the best-studied and most diverse group of cnidae, the secretory products of cnidocytes. All cnidae consist of a collagenous capsule containing an eversible tubule. The true diversity of cnida types may be higher due to the presence of distinct size classes of a single nematocyst type in different tissues of the animal. All cnidae discharge by everting the tubules to contact the target. Tubule eversion can be extremely rapid or fairly slow (seconds), depending on the cnida type. The tubules may be specialized for penetrating the target to permit injection of potent toxins into the target tissue, or for adhering to the surface of the target. Certain cells of the cnidarians exert a complex and sophisticated control over the utilization of nematocysts. In the end, the success of cnidarians as preditors can be attributed largely to the ingenuity of nematocysts and to the many forms of cellular control over their use.
Elevated Serum βhCG in a 34-Year-Old Woman with Breast Cancer.

A 34-year-old G5P4014 (5 pregnancies, 4 children born at term, 0 preterm, 1 abortion, and 4 living children) with stage IV triple-positive (ER+/PR+/Her2+) breast cancer was admitted to the medical oncology service for recurrent shortness of breath and right-sided pleuritic chest pain secondary to disease progression. The patient had widespread metastases to the bone, liver, and lungs and was being treated with docetaxel, trastuzumab, pertuzumab, and zoledronic acid. A gynecology consult was requested after the patient was incidentally noted to have a positive urine human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)4 (Beckman Coulter Icon 25) and serum βhCG of 102 mIU/mL (Beckman UniCel® DxI). There was no evidence of impaired renal function (estimated glomerular filtration rate levels all within normal limits), and no medications that can affect hCG concentration were noted in the patient's chart. The patient's last menstrual period was approximately 1 year ago. She experienced premature ovarian failure because of chemotoxic effects on the ovary. The patient last had unprotected sexual intercourse about 6 months before her presentation. She complained of chronic lower back pain and nausea, which were attributed to chemotherapy, but denied having any vaginal bleeding, spotting, lower abdominal pain, or cramping. There was no evidence of an intrauterine or ectopic pregnancy seen on transvaginal ultrasound. The βhCG …
Managing Supply Chains with Differentiated Service Requirements—Models and Applications

Coordination problems arise in supply chains characterized by multiple customer segments differentiated by their service requirement (in terms of product availability or fillrates) and their willingness to pay for such service. The purpose of this chapter is to study strategies and methodologies for managing service differentiated customer classes in a supply chain. Our research approach is to combine extensive field studies with rigorous analysis. We build model frameworks based on our experience with a leading manufacturer of semiconductor testers and a research project for a military service parts supply chain. We study two particular service differentiation strategies: (1) Service differentiation based on delivery lead times, and (2) Service differentiation based on inventory rationing. We draw practical conclusions of managerial interest from our models, which can have a significant impact on efficient management of service differentiated supply chains. Our analysis shows that service differentiation is an appropriate strategy for satisfying customer requirements in a cost effective fashion.
The shadow of life: psychosocial explanations for placenta rituals.

Culturally determined patterns of behavior associated with placenta disposal are characteristic of many modern and ancient societies. This paper defines this type of placenta disposal as a ritual event that delimits a “portion of reality”; explanations are provided leading to the conclusion that placenta rituals operate as anxiety releasing mechanisms that provide a means of control over the future health and welfare of mother, child, and community. The question of why the placenta figures so prominently in folk beliefs and practices has previously been attributed to its morphological and physiological properties; this paper argues that attributes associated with it from a psychosocial model are equally important. The data for this study were drawn from a compilation of ethnographic reports of post-partum practices in African, Asian, European, and Latin American societies. Additional information on placenta disposal was derived from interviews with 1,859 Peruvian informants. Analysis of the data obtained from the Peruvian studies show a significant difference between rural and semi-urban patterns of placenta disposal.
Integrating CAD files and automatic assembly sequence planning

In this research study, a fully automated assembly sequence planner was developed, which automatically extracts geometrical information directly from STEP CAD files and then generates feasible assembly sequences, with a minimum number of assembly direction reorientations. The effectiveness of using the planner to reduce assembly time was also verified. The research study was completed in three parts: (1) methods were developed for automatically extracting and translating geometric information contained in CAD files into matrices, (2) the capabilities developed in part 1 of the research study were integrated into a genetic assembly planner, which was used to select optimal or near-optimal assembly sequences automatically, with respect to a user-defined assembly sequence evaluation criterion, number of assembly direction reorientations, and (3) the effect of generated assembly sequences, with different numbers of reorientations, on overall assembly time was verified, for both robot assembly and human operator assembly. In the first part of the research study, algorithms and software were developed for extracting geometrical information contained in STEP CAD files and for detecting potential collisions between parts during assembly motions along principal-axis assembly directions, based upon the extracted geometrical information. The developed software directly takes a STEP CAD file of a designed product assembly, as input, and generates, as output, six interference-free matrices, which represent potential collision relationships between parts of an assembly, for assembly directions along the six principal axes. In the second part of the research study, the software developed in part 1 of the research study was integrated into a genetic algorithm-based assembly sequence planner. The
Coding of Complex Sounds in the Auditory Nervous System

Auditory research has for many years been dominated by the assumption that the ear is a frequency (or spectrum) analyzer. The origin of this assumption can be traced back to the formulation of the Place Theory of Hearing by von Helmholtz more than one hundred years ago. This hypothesis developed into one of the most successful theories in history and has influenced auditory research in a fundamental way. It has guided the design of innumerable experiments and has influenced the interpretation of results. Thus, studies of the ear using physiological methods have been aimed mainly at the determination of the ear’s frequency selectivity. In the auditory nervous system, recordings of the electrical events in single auditory nerve cells and fibers have been used in studies of frequency selectivity. These studies have generally confirmed that the ear possesses a frequency selectivity which is maintained throughout the ascending auditory pathways. In addition, the tonotopic arrangement of cells in the various nuclei of the ascending auditory pathway including the auditory cortex has been taken as a further indication of the importance of the ear’s frequency selectivity. Pure tones have been the dominant stimulus for such experiments.
Capturing Capecitabine Neurotoxicity: Delayed Clinical Manifestations of Capecitabine-Related Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (P6.124)

Objective: NA Background: Capecitabine (Xeloda), a 5-Fluoruracil (5-FU) pro-drug, is a chemotherapy commonly used in the treatment of breast, colorectal and pancreatic cancers. A limited number of case reports exist describing multifocal leukoencephalopathy resulting from capecitabine toxicity. The clinical manifestations, which can range from nausea and vomiting to seizures and coma, are known to occur as early as 3–7 days following drug initiation or as late as 1–2 months later. Diagnosis is based on characteristic MRI findings of diffusion restriction along the white matter tracts. Discontinuation of capecitabine is known to lead to resolution of both clinical and radiologic findings within days to weeks. Design/Methods: NA Results: CASE: A 26-year-old woman with metastatic breast cancer was treated with capecitabine for 6 days. At day 3, she was experiencing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and rash. By day 6, she also developed severe mucositis with dysphagia and odynophagia, requiring prompt hospitalization and eventual initiation of total parenteral nutrition. Her course was then complicated by febrile neutropenia, port-associated DVT and bacteremia, and massive hemorrhage from duodenal ulcers. By the sixth week of hospitalization, in spite of medical stabilization, she developed acute mental status changes with fluctuations in level of consciousness. MRI brain revealed diffusion restriction changes along the deep white matter tracts and splenium of the corpus callosum, consistent with the previously reported cases of both 5-FU and capecitabine-related neurotoxicity. CSF analysis showed normal cell count, glucose, and protein. Conclusions: The current literature describing capecitabine-related multifocal leukoencephalopathy suggests it occurs as an isolated neurologic syndrome, typically within days after treatment with capecitabine. In this case, manifestations of leukoencephalopathy were delayed until 7 weeks after last receiving capecitabine, and occurred in the setting of multiple other drug-related systemic toxicities. We suggest including an MRI brain in the evaluation of all capecitabine-treated patients who develop signs of an encephalopathy. Disclosure: Dr. Greenert has nothing to disclose. Dr. Katyal has nothing to disclose. Dr. Sung has nothing to disclose.
The Effect of Household Oxidizing Cleaners on Chemiluminescence of Blood Using Bluestar

This study tests the effect of three common oxidizing cleaners on the ability of the Bluestar Forensic® presumptive test for blood to identify the presence of blood on ceramic tile after cleaning. The cleaners tested were Lysol®, OxiClean®, and Arm & Hammer®. This study also tested which cleaner was the most effective at removing blood, measured by the intensity of chemiluminescence, which was quantified using RGB values in ImageJ. A "hasty" 1-min cleaning of a blood droplet was simulated using the three cleaners. The chemiluminescence of the Bluestar® reactions after cleaning the blood-treated region was compared to an untreated region of the same tile for each cleaner, as well as to the treated regions of tiles between the three cleaners. Results indicate that none of the three cleaners removed all of the blood (all p < 0.001) and that Lysol® removed more blood compared to the OxiClean® and Arm & Hammer®.
Resonant Multilevel Modular Boost Inverters for Single-Phase Transformerless Photovoltaic Systems

This paper presents two novel single-phase resonant multilevel modular boost inverters based on resonant switched capacitor cells and a partial power processed voltage regulator. Compared with other multilevel boost inverters applied in PV systems, one remarkable advantage of the proposed topologies is that the bulky AC filtering inductor is replaced by a smaller-size one in the partial power processed buck converter. Constant duty cycle PWM method is attractive for the multilevel inverter controller design. GaN Enhancement Mode Power Transistors help both the modular resonant switched capacitor cells and the full-bridge unfolder be realized in a small size with high power density. The clamp capacitors in the resonant switched capacitor cells effectively alleviate the switch voltage spikes. These two inverter topologies are analyzed and simulated in PLECS. Simulation results verify the validity of boost inverter function. Stress analysis shows that the inverter has relatively small total normalized switch conduction power stress and total normalized switch stress ratio. Relative total semiconductor chip area comparison results reflect that the proposed topology achieves more efficient semiconductor utilization compared with typical non-resonant multilevel modular switched capacitor boost inverters. Test results indicate that the proposed topology can be used for single-phase non-isolated PV boost inverter applications with small ground leakage current, high voltage conversion ratio, small volume and potential high efficiency.
Disentangling ecologically equivalent from neutral species: The mechanisms of population regulation matter

The neutral theory of biodiversity explored the structure of a community of ecologically equivalent species. Such species are expected to display community drift dynamics analogous to neutral alleles undergoing genetic drift. While entire communities of species are not ecologically equivalent, recent field experiments have documented the existence of guilds of such neutral species embedded in real food webs. What demographic outcomes of the interactions within and between species in these guilds are expected to produce ecological drift versus coexistence remains unclear. To address this issue, and guide empirical testing, we consider models of a guild of ecologically equivalent competitors feeding on a single resource to explore when community drift should manifest. We show that community drift dynamics only emerge when the density-dependent effects of each species on itself are identical to its density-dependent effects on every other guild member. In contrast, if each guild member directly limits itself more than it limits the abundance of other guild members, all species in the guild are coexisting, even though they all are ecologically equivalent with respect to their interactions with species outside the guild (i.e. resources, predators, mutualists). Hence, considering only interspecific ecological differences generating density dependence, and not fully accounting for the preponderance of mechanisms causing intraspecific density dependence, will provide an incomplete picture for segregating between neutrality and coexistence. We also identify critical experiments necessary to disentangle guilds of ecologically equivalent species from those experiencing ecological drift, as well as provide an overview of ways of incorporating a mechanistic basis into studies of species coexistence and neutrality. Identifying these characteristics, and the mechanistic basis underlying community structure, is not merely an exercise in clarifying the semantics of coexistence and neutral theories, but rather reflects key differences that must exist among community members in order to determine how and why communities are structured.
Inclusion of the Viral Pentamer Complex in a Vaccine Design Greatly Improves Protection against Congenital Cytomegalovirus in the Guinea Pig Model.

ABSTRACT A vaccine against congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) is a high priority. The guinea pig is a small-animal model for cCMV. A disabled infectious single-cycle (DISC) viral vaccine strain based on a guinea pig cytomegalovirus (GPCMV) capsid mutant was evaluated. A previous version of this vaccine did not express the gH/gL-based pentamer complex (PC) and failed to fully protect against cCMV. The PC is necessary for GPCMV epithelial cell/trophoblast tropism and congenital infection and is a potentially important neutralizing antigen. Here, we show that a second-generation PC-positive (PC+) DISC (DISCII) vaccine induces neutralizing antibodies to the PC and other glycoproteins and a cell-mediated response to pp65 (GP83). Additionally, a CRISPR/Cas9 strategy identified guinea pig platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRA) to be the receptor for PC-independent infection of fibroblast cells. Importantly, PDGFRA was absent in epithelial and trophoblast cells, which were dependent upon the viral PC for infection. Virus neutralization by DISCII antibodies on epithelial and trophoblast cells was similar to that in sera from wild-type virus-infected animals and dependent in part on PC-specific antibodies. In contrast, sera from PC-negative virus-infected animals poorly neutralized virus on non-fibroblast cells. DISCII-vaccinated animals were protected against congenital infection, in contrast to a nonvaccinated group. The target organs of pups in the vaccine group were negative for wild-type virus, unlike those of pups in the control group, with GPCMV transmission being approximately 80%. Overall, the DISCII vaccine had 97% efficacy against cCMV. The complete protection provided by this PC+ DISC vaccine makes the possibility of the use of this approach against human cCMV attractive. IMPORTANCE Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a leading cause of congenital disease in newborns, and an effective vaccine remains an elusive goal. The guinea pig is the only small-animal model for cCMV. Guinea pig cytomegalovirus (GPCMV) encodes a glycoprotein pentamer complex (PC) for entry into non-fibroblast cells, including placental trophoblasts, to enable cCMV. As with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), GPCMV uses a specific cell receptor (PDGFRA) for fibroblast entry, but other receptors are required for non-fibroblast cells. A disabled infectious single-cycle (DISC) GPCMV vaccine strain induced an antibody immune response to the viral pentamer to enhance virus neutralization on non-fibroblast cells, and vaccinated animals were fully protected against cCMV. Inclusion of the PC as part of a vaccine design dramatically improved vaccine efficacy, and this finding underlines the importance of the immune response to the PC in contributing toward protection against cCMV. This vaccine represents an important milestone in the development of a vaccine against cCMV.
Developing adaptive change leaders in child welfare

ABSTRACTThis is a time in the field of child welfare when extraordinary family challenges and dramatic changes in policy and funding impose intense pressure for evolution in child welfare agency po...
Preventing Post-Transplant Diabetes Mellitus Via Orchestration of the IL-33/ST2 Axis in Pancreatic Islets

Post-transplant diabetes mellitus (PTDM) occurs after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in over 50% of HCT recipients and will increase 3-fold their risk of death. Further, levels of soluble Stimulation-2 (ST2) are predictive of PTDM in adults and children. However, molecular pathology of PTDM remains poorly understood, and therapeutic strategies for PTDM are limited. PTDM is initiated by hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycemia, and the alarmin IL-33 has been found to contribute to the secretion of insulin in islets by activating innate lymphoid cells type 2 (ILC2s) via Stimulation2 (ST2), the IL-33 receptor (Dalmas E. et al, Immunity 2017). This ST2/IL-33 regulatory axis is also critical for regulating inflammation and the balance between cytopathic T effector cells (Teffs) and regulatory cells (CD4+FOXP3+ Tregs and ILC2s). Therefore, we explored the role of ST2/IL-33 in pancreatic islets post-HCT. First, neither fasting blood glucose nor glucose tolerance (time and area under the curve) was significantly different between syngeneic and allogeneic wild-type (WT) or ST2−/− recipients of minor mismatch HCT (B6→C3H.SW) (Fig. 1A, 1B). Total infiltrating CD90.2+ T cells in the pancreas were increased in the allogeneic groups but not different between WT or ST2−/− recipients (Fig. 1C). However, pancreatic IFNγ+ T cells were significantly decreased while total Tregs in ST2−/− recipient were increased (Fig. 1D, 1E). Second, using ST2 blockade with a neutralizing antibody from day -1 to day 9, 100 μg every over day for 6 doses), we showed significant improvement of survival in the treated group as compared to the isotype group (Fig. 2A), consistent with an increase in plasma IL-33 (Fig. 2B) as well as decreased plasma TNFα and IFNγ (Fig. 2C, 2D). Lastly, increased β-cell proliferation before immune cell invasion prevents progression of type 1 diabetes (Ercument. et al, Nature Metabolism 2019), and we found increase T cell infiltration. Thus, we specifically sought to analyze the ratio of β-cells/α-cells and both Teffs and regulatory cells in the pancreatic islets in anti-ST2 antibody treated vs. isotype groups. We found that the average ratio of β-cells/α-cells was decreased in the treated group in comparison to the isotype group (Fig. 3A). In addition, both frequencies of Tregs and ILC2s significantly increased while frequency of CD8+ Teffs decreased in the treated group as compared to the isotype group (Fig. 3B, 3C, 3D). We conclude that the effects of PTDM on glucose tolerance in the acute preclinical HCT model are not immediate while the effects on β-cells and immune cells are. Our data also suggest that PTDM display both type 1 and 2 diabetes phenotypes. Importantly, blockade of the IL-33/ST2 axis protected islet endocrine cells by regulating Teffs/ regulatory Tcells and ILC2s balance, and may provide an attractive approach for PTDM prevention.
Drivers of opioid use in Appalachian Pennsylvania: Cross-cutting social and community-level factors.

Abstract Background Four Appalachian states including Pennsylvania (PA) have the highest drug overdose rates in the country, calling for better understanding of the social and economic drivers of opioid use in the region. Using key informant interviews, we explored the social and community drivers of opioid use in a non-urban Appalachian Pennsylvania community. Methods In 2017, we conducted qualitative interviews with 20 key stakeholders from a case community selected using the results from quantitative spatial models of hospitalizations for opioid use disorders. In small town located 10 miles outside Pittsburgh, PA, we asked participants to share their perceptions of contextual factors that influence opioid use among residents. We then used qualitative thematic analysis to organize and generate the results. Results Participants identified several contextual factors that influence opioid use among residents. Three cross-cutting thematic topics emerged: 1) acceptance and denial of use through familial and peer influences, community environments, and social norms; 2) impacts of economic shifts and community leadership on availability of programs and opportunities; and 3) the role of coping within economic disadvantage and social depression. Conclusion Uncovering multi-level, contextual drivers of opioid use can benefit the development of future public health interventions. These results suggest that social and community-level measures of structural deprivation, acceptance and/or denial of the opioid epidemic, community engagement and development, social support, and social depression are important for future research and programmatic efforts in the Appalachian region.
Werkgruppe IV.B: Größer besetzte Kammermusik mit Klavier

Trio ǀ per ǀ il piano forte ǀ un Violino ǀ e ǀ un Violoncello. ǀ Da me Beecke Majore ǀ 1793.
Biochemistry and Endocrine Regulation of Sex Pheromone Production in the Housefly and German Cockroach

There has been a dramatic increase of interest in the biosynthesis of insect sex pheromones over the last decade (Prestwich and Blomquist, 1987). It now appears that many of the rather novel compounds that are components of insect sex pheromones are produced by the addition of a few ancillary enzymes to those of “normal” metabolism. For example, the carbon skeletons of many lepidopteran sex pheromones are produced from common fatty acids by a novel delta-ll desaturase and highly specific chain-shortening reactions (Bjostad et al., 1987). In the Coleoptera, sex pheromones are often produced by the use of one or two highly specific enzymes that convert dietary material, usually isopreniod, to active pheromones (Vanderwel and Oehlschlager, 1987). By using one or a few ancillary enzymes to alter the products of the usual lipid metabolic pathways or to alter dietary constituents, the insect requires much less genetic material than would be necessary to code for a complete set of enzymes that would be expressed only in the pheromone-producing tissue. This phenomenon appears to exist in the housefly, Musca domestica, and the German cockroach, Blattella germanica, as hormone control of several enzymes could account for alteration of the products of cuticular lipid biosynthesis to produce the female-specific sex pheromone components.
TRMM Microwave Imager Emissive Reflector Correction for GPM V07 Reprocessing

This paper presents TRMM microwave imager (TMI) main reflector new physical temperatures (Tphy) look-up tables to produce next version of TMI brightness temperature products (GPM V07 Tbs). A modified and improved radiative transfer theory (RTM) based approach was used to determine the new physical temperatures (Tphy) for entire TRMM lifetime. New brightness temperatures (Tbs) were derived using new Tphy tables, and 13-month of reprocessed TMI Tbs were validated with GMI Tbs using XCAL Double Difference (DD) technique. Intercalibration results are presented, which show that new tables significantly reduce the emissive signal present in TMI V8 Tbs.
Short-Term Effects of Thin-Layer Sand Placement on Salt Marsh Grasses: A Marsh Organ Field Experiment

Payne, A.R.; Burdick, D.M.; Moore, G.E., and Wigand, C., 2021. Short-term effects of thin-layer sand placement on salt marsh grasses: A marsh organ field experiment. Journal of Coastal Research, 37(4), 771–778. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Salt marshes can build in elevation with sea-level rise through accumulation of inorganic sediment and organic matter, but marshes worldwide are under threat of drowning due to rapid rates of sea-level rise that outpace natural marsh building rates. The application of a thin layer of sediment to the marsh surface (thin-layer placement [TLP]) is a tool to build elevation and decrease flooding stress, but its effects on marsh plants are understudied, especially in New England. In a novel application of a marsh organ experiment (i.e. rows of pots at different elevations), the addition of 10 cm of sand to pots planted with Spartina alterniflora and Spartina patens resulted in fewer stems than controls for S. patens but not S. alterniflora after 2 months. However, total biomass and root mass were not significantly impacted for either species, suggesting plants will fully recover from TLP over longer timescales. Effects of TLP on biomass and stem density did not vary significantly by elevation. Although long-term research is still needed, short-term equivalency in biomass between TLP treatments and controls suggests TLP of 10 cm is a promising strategy to enhance the ability of marshes to build vertically as sea level rises in New England.
Deep Convolutional Neural Network With Adversarial Training for Denoising Digital Breast Tomosynthesis Images

Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) is a quasi-three-dimensional imaging modality that can reduce false negatives and false positives in mass lesion detection caused by overlapping breast tissue in conventional two-dimensional (2D) mammography. The patient dose of a DBT scan is similar to that of a single 2D mammogram, while acquisition of each projection view adds detector readout noise. The noise is propagated to the reconstructed DBT volume, possibly obscuring subtle signs of breast cancer such as microcalcifications (MCs). This study developed a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) framework for denoising DBT images with a focus on improving the conspicuity of MCs as well as preserving the ill-defined margins of spiculated masses and normal tissue textures. We trained the DCNN using a weighted combination of mean squared error (MSE) loss and adversarial loss. We configured a dedicated x-ray imaging simulator in combination with digital breast phantoms to generate realistic in silico DBT data for training. We compared the DCNN training between using digital phantoms and using real physical phantoms. The proposed denoising method improved the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and detectability index (d’) of the simulated MCs in the validation phantom DBTs. These performance measures improved with increasing training target dose and training sample size. Promising denoising results were observed on the transferability of the digital-phantom-trained denoiser to DBT reconstructed with different techniques and on a small independent test set of human subject DBT images.
Understanding the Importance and Timing of Panic Buying Among U.S. Households During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract The surge in panic buying during the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic led to a temporary shortage of several staples and basic supplies in grocery stores, thus limiting the public’s access to basic needs and exacerbating stress and anxiety. The negative societal consequences of panic buying highlight the importance of understanding and planning for such behavior. This study investigates the main factors that correlate with the perceived importance and timing of panic buying decisions in the US. In doing so, we provide a breakdown of the importance of panic buying across a list of common food and non-food grocery items and show a considerable variation based on product type. We also uncover heterogeneities in the importance and timing of panic buying based on demographic and behavioral characteristics, including residence area, household size, presence of children and elderly in the household, household income, ethnicity, and specific views about COVID-19. Finally, we analyze correlations between the importance of panic buying and various motivations that are believed to underlie this behavior. Results show that the perceived importance of panic buying is most heavily associated with the need for control, belief that it is the smart thing to do, and urge to minimize number of trips to grocery stores.