cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ingestion rate decrease as the stimulus for sexuality in populations of Moina macrocopa1

The stimulus for the switch from asexual to sexual reproduction in populations of Moina macrocopa americana is an abrupt decrease in ingestion rate caused by a rapid reduction in the amount of available food. When nearly constant ingestion rates are maintained, through the addition of either nutritive or nonnutritive particles, asexual females do not produce any male or sexual female progeny. The stimulus seems to be physical in nature. Sexuality in the Cladocera can be attributed to a varietv of environmental variables, all of which can significantly reduce ingestion rates. A precise understanding of the biological and physical factors responsible for the population dynamics of a zooplankton species is difficult to attain. Experimental techniques have often been lacking by which a biotic factor could be kept constant while an abiotic factor was modified or vice versa. The inability to evaluate individually the effects of physical and biological variables has caused confusion in identifying the factors responsible for the switch from asexual to sexual reproduction in many species of freshwater Cladocera and Rotifera. The appearance of males and sexual females in field and laboratory populations has invariably been associated with dense populations and maximum biomass. As a result, investigators have suggested that the stimuli for the switch to sexuality are factors associated with crowding such as starvation, accumulation of excretory metabolites, or increased intraspecific encounter. Other biotic factors implicated include the chemical quality of food or a change in food type. Physical factors previously associated with the reproductive switch include photoperiod and temperature.
A comparison of period finding algorithms

This paper presents a comparison of popular period finding algorithms applied to the light curves of variable stars from the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey, MACHO and ASAS data sets. We analyse the accuracy of the methods against magnitude, sampling rates, quoted period, quality measures (signal-to-noise and number of observations), variability and object classes. We find that measure of dispersion-based techniques – analysis of variance with harmonics and conditional entropy – consistently give the best results but there are clear dependences on object class and light-curve quality. Period aliasing and identifying a period harmonic also remain significant issues. We consider the performance of the algorithms and show that a new conditional entropy-based algorithm is the most optimal in terms of completeness and speed. We also consider a simple ensemble approach and find that it performs no better than individual algorithms.
Maturation of Frataxin Within Mammalian and Yeast Mitochondria: One-Step Processing by Matrix Processing Peptidase

Friedreich's ataxia is a neurodegenerative disease caused by mutations in the nuclear gene encoding frataxin (FRDA). FRDA is synthesized with an N-terminal signal sequence, which is removed after import into mitochondria. We have shown that FRDA was imported efficiently into isolated mammalian or yeast mitochondria. In both cases, the processing cleavage that removed the N-terminal signal sequence occurred in a single step on import, generating mature products of identical mobility. The processing cleavage could be reconstituted by incubating the FRDA preprotein with rat or yeast matrix processing peptidase (MPP) expressed in Escherichia coli. We used these assays to evaluate the import and processing of an altered form of FRDA containing the disease-causing I154F mutation. No effects on import or maturation of this mutated FRDA were observed. Likewise, no effects were observed on import and maturation of the yeast frataxin homolog (Yfh1p) carrying a homologous I130F mutation. These results argue against the possibility that the I154F mutation interferes with FRDA function via effects on maturation. Other mutations can be screened for effects on FRDA biogenesis as described here, by evaluating import into isolated mitochondria and by testing maturation with purified MPP.
An additional report on some of the uses of cutis graft material in reparative surgery

Abstract After this clinical experience with the uses of cutis (derma) in repair surgery, I am convinced that cutis is the most useful auto-plastic repair material that we have; that it is superior in strength to fascia lata and of much easier availability; that success in its use can be expected in a large percentage of cases; and that it is of especial value in the surgical repair of many types of traumatic injury.
OLego: fast and sensitive mapping of spliced mRNA-Seq reads using small seeds

A crucial step in analyzing mRNA-Seq data is to accurately and efficiently map hundreds of millions of reads to the reference genome and exon junctions. Here we present OLego, an algorithm specifically designed for de novo mapping of spliced mRNA-Seq reads. OLego adopts a multiple-seed-and-extend scheme, and does not rely on a separate external aligner. It achieves high sensitivity of junction detection by strategic searches with small seeds (~14 nt for mammalian genomes). To improve accuracy and resolve ambiguous mapping at junctions, OLego uses a built-in statistical model to score exon junctions by splice-site strength and intron size. Burrows-Wheeler transform is used in multiple steps of the algorithm to efficiently map seeds, locate junctions and identify small exons. OLego is implemented in C++ with fully multithreaded execution, and allows fast processing of large-scale data. We systematically evaluated the performance of OLego in comparison with published tools using both simulated and real data. OLego demonstrated better sensitivity, higher or comparable accuracy and substantially improved speed. OLego also identified hundreds of novel micro-exons (<30 nt) in the mouse transcriptome, many of which are phylogenetically conserved and can be validated experimentally in vivo. OLego is freely available at http://zhanglab.c2b2.columbia.edu/index.php/OLego.
Prevention of Catheter-Related Infections: The Skin

Abstract Although intravascular devices have become indispensable tools in the care of seriously ill patients, the morbidity and mortality resulting from catheter-related infections and the high cost of managing such complications may offset the benefits derived from these devices. A scientific understanding of the pathogenesis, microbiology, and risk factors involved in catheter-related infection is the cornerstone of any effective preventive approach. Prevention of vascular catheter-related infection mostly centers around inhibiting the adherence to the catheter of microorganisms originating from either the skin or the catheter hub. Two general approaches can be used nonexclusively for successful prevention of vascular catheter-related infection. The first approach does not use antimicrobial agents and includes measures such as placement and maintenance of vascular catheters by a skilled infusion therapy team and use of maximal sterile barriers. The second approach uses antimicrobial agents and involves the application of topical disinfectants such as chlorbexidine, use of silver-impregnated subcutaneous cuffs (for short-term central venous catheters), flushing catheters with a combination of antimicrobial and antithrombotic agents, and coating of catheters with either antiseptic (chlorhexidine and silver sulfadiazine) or antimicrobial agents (minocycline and rifampin).
An efficient Euclidean distance computation for vector quantization using a truncated look-up table

Vector quantizer (VQ) encoders generally use Euclidean distance measure to encode the vectors. The major computation in the Euclidean distance is square (multiplication operation) of the difference between the vector components. This article explores Euclidean distance computation and introduces a new technique which uses a truncated look-up table (LUT) to store a small set of repeatedly generated scalars. Specifically, for numbers represented by m bits, this technique requires to store only 2/sup m/ product terms instead of 2/sup m//spl times/2/sup m/ product terms needed to store in a conventional LUT. >
Information, trading, and volatility

We examine the effects of trading and information flows on the short-run behavior of stock prices by comparing the behavior of stock return volatility during trading and nontrading periods. We define nontrading periods as periods when exchanges and businesses are open but traders endogenously choose not to trade. After correcting for the bid/ask bounce and stickiness in quotes, we find that a large proportion of daily stock return volatility occurs without trades, especially for large firms. Furthermore, we provide new evidence that public (versus private) information is the major source of short-term return volatility.
Effects of Parental Education Level on Fluid Intelligence of Philippine Public School Students

This study examines the effect of parental education levels (PELs) on the fluid intelligence of Filipino public school students. The data were drawn from a normative study of a nonverbal intelligence test involving more than 2,700 students sampled across the country. As expected, PELs have a significant impact on fluid intelligence as measured through a nonverbal intelligence test. The results indicate that PELs account for an increase of roughly three IQ points for every increment in PEL. Students with college-graduate parents scored significantly higher (d ratio = .66) compared to those with parents who never graduated from elementary. However, a comparison of mean scores between PELs that are adjacent (i.e., high school graduate vs. college graduate) shows relatively small differences (d ratio = .23 to .25).
F-statistics algorithm for gene clustering evaluation

An enormous amount of microarray data has been generated and archived for a large variety of biological studies such as gene expression. In order to analyze gene expression data, many clustering algorithms have been proposed, but very few techniques have been developed to evaluate those clustering algorithms. A clustering evaluation method is used to find the degree of similarity between members of the same clusters and members of different clusters. We propose a new clustering evaluation technique F-Statistics Algorithm for Clustering Evaluation (FACE), which uses both inter-cluster and intracluster distances, and can be used to improve performance of clustering methods. We describe and evaluate FACE in the context of bioinformatics clustering by comparison with existing evaluation measurements on a set of yeast data. Results show that FACE is more stable and makes better conclusions.
In Vivo Characterization of Dimethylsulfoniopropionate Lyase in the Fungus Fusarium lateritium

A fungus, Fusarium lateritium, with dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) lyase activity was isolated from both seawater and a salt marsh due to its ability to grow on DMSP (with the evolution of dimethyl sulfide) as the sole source of carbon. This is the first reported case of DMSP lyase activity in a fungus. Several other common fungal genera tested did not have DMSP lyase activity. DMSP was taken up more rapidly by F. lateritium than it was utilized, leading to its intracellular accumulation. Inhibitor studies with nystatin and cyanide indicated that DMSP uptake was an energy-dependent process. The lyase was inducible by its substrate, DMSP (Km, 1.2 mM), and by the substrate analogs choline and glycine betaine. During induction, DMSP lyase activity increased with time and then dropped rapidly. This loss of activity could be prevented by spiking the culture with fresh DMSP or choline. The Vmax for DMSP lyase was 34.7 mU · mg of protein−1. The inhibitory effects of nystatin, and p-chloromercuriphenylsulfonate on DMSP lyase activity suggested that the enzyme is cytosolic. Because plants like Spartina (a marsh grass) and marine algae contain high concentrations of DMSP, we speculate that DMSP-utilizing fungi may be involved in their decay.
Performance of NAS parallel application-benchmarks on IBM SP1

We present the performance of three application benchmarks (BT, LU, and SP) from the NAS Parallel Benchmark suite on the IBM scalable POWERparallel 1 (SP1) system. We present performance results on both Class A and Class B problem sets. We compare the performance of two communication protocols, MPL and MPL/p, and also present results on a cluster of workstations called PPP. We describe the implementation of one of the benchmarks (SP) in some detail. >
Perspectives on Reperfusion-induced Damage in Rodent Models of Experimental Focal Ischemia and Role of γ-Protein Kinase C

Ischemic stroke represents the leading cause of death and disability among elderly people. Most stroke survivors are left with lifelong disability. With the exception of tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA), no effective therapy exists for the management of acute stroke. Understanding the role of various extrinsic and intrinsic pathogenic factors of ischemic damage represents a prime objective of ongoing stroke research. An important variable affecting stroke outcome is the presence or absence of reperfusion (recanalization of the occluded vessel) following an ischemic event. It appears that early reperfusion after a stroke is beneficial and capable of reversing the majority of ischemic dysfunctions. However, in some instances, late reperfusion may contrarily trigger deleterious processes and lead to more ischemic damage. Examples of ischemia/reperfusion damage using an experimental model of focal ischemia in rodents are provided, along with evidence that the brain-enriched gamma-isoform of protein kinase C may represent an important mediator of reperfusion-induced brain injury in mutant mice.
Metamorphic Belts of Europe

There is a wide Precambrian craton, called the East European Platform (or Fennosarmatia), extending from the Ural Mountains to central England (Bogdanoff, Mouratov and Schatsky, 1964). Precambrian granitic and associated metamorphic rocks are widely exposed in the north-western part of the Platform, called the Baltic Shield (or Fennoscandia). Smaller exposures occur in the Ukrainian massif (fig. 14–1). The rest of the Platform is covered by a nearly horizontal layer, commonly 1–3 km thick, of unmetamorphosed sediments ranging from late Precambrian to Cenozoic age. This region is called the Russian Plate.
Failure of Hancock Xenograft Valve: Importance of Valve Position (4- to 9-Year Follow-up)

Abstract To evaluate long-term durability of Hancock valves, we reviewed our results in 107 hospital survivors (120 valves) who were operated on during 1974 through mid-1979. Mitral valve replacement was done in 63 patients, aortic valve replacement in 20, and mitral valve replacement combined with other procedures in 24. The 7-year survival was 84 ± 4% (standard error of the mean) for 91 patients and 97 valves. During a follow-up of 590 patient-years, 15 (12 mitral and 3 aortic) of 120 valves at risk (87 mitral, 32 aortic, 1 tricuspid) were removed from 14 patients. Six valves (3 mitral and 3 aortic) were removed because of bacterial endocarditis. One mitral valve was removed because of thromboembolism. Eight mitral valves were removed because of valve structural failure, which occurred at a mean follow-up of 42 months. These valves showed extensive calcification, leaflet perforation, or cusp tear. Structural failure was unrelated to valve size, year of implantation, or valve shelf-life. Structural failure was not seen after aortic valve replacement. Results show that structural failure of the Hancock xenograft valve in the mitral position is related primarily to valve position. After aortic valve replacement, valve failure is predominantly due to endocarditis. Although medium-term (mean, 6-year) durability of this xenograft valve compares satisfactorily with prosthetic valves, its high failure rate in the mitral position indicates the necessity for improvement in valve mounting, design, and preservation.
Optical Control of Metamaterial Unit Cells at Microwave Frequencies

We have developed metamaterial unit cells whose properties can be controlled dynamically using near-infrared light. The structures consist of split ring resonators (SRRs) operating at microwave frequencies that contain a piece of low-doped silicon in their gap. We show that the SRR response strongly depends on the silicon resistivity and exploit this property to modulate the amplitude or tune the frequency of the SRR resonance by photodoping the semiconductor with an 815 nm laser diode. We present several designs and experimental demonstrations of elementary active photonic devices based on this approach.
Activities and Conformational Fitting of 1,4-Naphthoquinone Derivatives and Other Cyclic 1,4-Diones Tested In Vitro against Pneumocystis carinii

Atovaquone is a chemotherapeutic agent used to treat pneumonia caused by Pneumocystis carinii in some immunocompromised patients. A set of cyclic 1,4-diones were tested in vitro for ability to inhibit growth of P. carinii, including 22 variously substituted 1,4-naphthoquinones, one bis-1,4-naphthoquinone, and three other quinones. For comparison, the antipneumocystic primaquine and its 5-hydroxy-6-desmethyl metabolite were also tested. At 1.0 μg/ml, seven compounds inhibited growth by at least 39%, with atovaquone at 92%; of these seven, five are 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinones, while one is a 2-chloro- and another is a 2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone. At 0.1 μg/ml, however, the most active compound tested was the primaquine metabolite, which inhibited growth by more than 42% at this concentration. To ascertain a structure-activity relationship, all 1,4-naphthoquinones were compared conformationally by means of computer-based molecular modeling (Spartan) incorporating the Sybyl force field. Without exception, for all 21 monomers tested, the substituent at position 3 of the 1,4-naphthoquinone favored activity most strongly when it simultaneously occupied (i) space centered at about 3 A from position 3, without projecting steric bulk from the area encompassed by atovaquone's cyclohexyl ring, and (ii) roughly planar space at about 7.3 A from position 3, without projecting steric bulk perpendicularly. This structure-activity relationship may prove useful in the rational design of better antipneumocystis agents.
Time-optimal feedback control for small disturbances

This paper introduces a new technique for the analysis of time-optimal systems having multidimensional inputs. The method provides a cellular decomposition of the controllable set for small response times for a new generic class of systems called "minimally controllable systems." The decomposition permits a complete study of the time-optimal flow near the origin and forms the basis for the synthesis of closed-loop optimal control. The method, while generally applicable, is restricted here to the simplest, nontrivial case of third-order systems with two-dimensional controls.
Inorganic, isotopic, and organic composition of high-chloride water from wells in a coastal southern California aquifer

Abstract Chloride concentrations were as high as 230 mg/L in water from the surface discharge of long-screened production wells in Pleasant Valley, Calif., about 100 km NW of Los Angeles. Wells with the higher Cl− concentrations were near faults that bound the valley. Depending on well construction, high-Cl−water from different sources may enter a well at different depths. For example, Cl− concentration in the upper part of some wells completed in overlying aquifers influenced by irrigation return were as high as 220 mg/L, and Cl− concentrations in water sampled within wells at depths greater than 450 m were as high as 500 mg/L. These high-Cl− waters mix within the well during pumping and produce the water sampled at the surface discharge. Changes in the major ion, minor ion, trace element, and δ34S and δ13C isotopic composition of water in wells with depth were consistent with changes resulting from SO4 reduction, precipitation of calcite, and cation exchange. The chemical and isotopic composition of high-Cl− water from deep wells trends towards the composition of oil-field production water from the study area. Chloride concentrations in oil-field production water present at depths 150 m beneath freshwater aquifers were 2200 mg/L, and Cl− concentrations in underlying marine rock were as high as 4400 mg/L. High-Cl− concentrations in water from deeper parts of wells were associated with dissolved organic C composed primarily of hydrophobic neutral compounds believed to be similar to those associated with petroleum in underlying deposits. These compounds would not be apparent using traditional sampling techniques and would not be detected using analytical methods intended to measure contamination.
A Mechanism for "False" Inhibition of Demand Pacemakers

Certain variations in discharge rate of demand pacemakers may be associated with intermittent fractures and resulting resistance changes in the electrode-lead system. These variations in rate are related to inhibition of the demand circuit of the pacemaker. Most pacemakers produce a biphasic output pulse which results in a low amplitude current during the interval between stimuli. Therefore, sudden changes of resistance in the electrode-lead system will produce a potential change at the pacemaker terminals which is of sufficient magnitude to be interpreted as spontaneous ventricular depolarization and inhibit the demand pacemaker. Such inhibition may occur in the absence of other signs of lead fracture and present a difficult differential diagnostic problem of pacemaker malfunction.
Production of hypernuclei by the (γ, K) reaction

Abstract Photo- and electro-production of kaons on nuclei are discussed as means for reaching a wide variety of hypernuclear states, including both lambda and sigma hypernuclei. The estimated cross sections are seen to be very promising, with counting rates under typical conditions of order few × 10 2 /hr/MeV. The great advantage of the (γ, K) reaction is that the kaon does not interact very strongly with the nucleons in the final state and so one has an excellent mechanism for studying nuclear-hypernuclear structure. Indeed these distortions appear to be sufficiently weak that such information can be obtained throughout the whole periodic table for a wide variety of hyperon shells (and not just substitutional valence shell occupations). The present results appear to indicate a bright future for strangeness-changing photonuclear physics.
GENERAL ASPECTS OF NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE IN SOLIDS

It is a great honour to be invited to lecture at NATO Summer School on NMR in solids. I have done so before — many of today’s prominent resonators were in the class. I look on this summer school as the start of both a personal and professional acquaintance.
Reaction of Glutathione with 4-Nitrosobiphenyl

It has been shown that exposure to 4-aminobiphenyl (4-ABP) can be monitored by measurement of covalent hemoglobin (HB) adducts. The mechanism of HB binding is believed to be hepatic N-hydroxylation followed by HB-catalyzed oxidation of N-OH-4-ABP to 4-nitrosobiphenyl (4-NBP) which then binds to a cysteine group on HB. Since the reaction of 4-NBP with endogenous thiols such as glutathione (GSH) may be important in relating HB aducts as an index of 4-ABP exposure, we have investigated the reaction of GSH with 4-NBP. [3H]4-NBP (15 μM) was incubated with 10 mM GSH (ph 7.3) at 37° C for up to 1 hr. HPLC analysis of the reaction indicated that multiple products were formed. The major produci. was isolated and identified by a combination of MS and 1H-NMR spectroscopy to be N-(glutathion-Sуl)-4-ABP S-oxide. A time course indicated that disappearance of 4-NBP was rapid (app. 80% at 1 min). Concomitant with this disappearance was formation of the GSH conjugate (38.5%) and of N-OH-4-ABP (20.2%). Reaction with 3H-GSH also indicated a minor GSH conjugate was formed; however, insufficient amounts were formed for conclusive identification.
Mirrha-Catarina de San Juan: From India to New Spain

Catarina de San Juan appears in the narratives of seventeenth century New Spain as a revered Catholic visionary who was born in India. By the end of the nineteenth century, she is portrayed not only as a famous visionary but also as one of the most important and passionately debated symbolic figures of contemporary Mex-ico, the China Poblana, the young woman from Puebla.Mirrha, Myrrha or Mirra-as Catarina de San Juan's Indian name is presented to us by her seventeenth-century New Spain biographers in their Romanized orthography-was born in India around 1606. She was brought as a slave from India to New Spain when she was a young girl circa 1619. She died in Puebla in 1688, renowned by many as a healer and a Catholic visionary and reviled by some as "una perrita" from far, distant heathen lands, a slave unworthy of any reverence.
Advances in Phylogenetic-based Stemma Construction

An ultimate goal of traditional textual criticism is the reconstruction of the archetype of a given work. By comparing differences and similarities among multiple versions of the work, the interrelations among existing and hypothetical ancestral versions can be naturally presented as a tree, in which a branch represents derivation of a new version. We will present our investigation into the generation of phylogenetic trees with extant manuscripts at both leaves and internal nodes of the tree, and discuss algorithms for promoting leaf nodes to ancestral positions while optimizing the tree construction objective, based on the maximum parsimony criterion.
Cultures of bovine cornea and conjunctiva epithelial cells for use in a bacterial adherence assay

Methods to culture bovine cornea and conjunctiva epithelial cells in suspension are described. Fetal, newborn, and adult corneas and conjunctivas are obtained from animals killed just before culture, or from packing-plant sources. Excised corneas are dissected mid-stroma, and the anterior stroma and attached epithelial layer are affixed onto plastic flasks. Dissected conjunctival mucosa fragments are likewise attached. Growth medium containing fetal bovine serum and supplemented with cholera toxin, epidermal growth factor, insulin, transferrin, selenium, triiodothyronine, and hydrocortisone is added to cover the explants. Epithelial cells grow in suspension and can be recovered for use in bacterial adherence assays. For this purpose, radiolabeled bacteria are incubated with epithelial cells in suspension, and the mixture is subjected to a discontinuous gradient using Percoll. Nonadherent bacteria can be separated from bacteria attached to epithelial cells, and estimates of the number of bacteria attached per epithelial cell can be made.
Epidemics of HIV/AIDS in Mianyang City,2012

Objective To investigate the HIV/AIDS epidemic characteristics of Mianyang city in 2012.Methods Data were analyzed by descriptive epidemiological method.Results Altogether 352 HIV/AIDS cases were reported in 2012 in Mianyang,with 50 deaths.The reported cases increased by 2.33% compared with 2011,and by 60.73% compared with 2010.The HIV/AIDS cases detected by medical pre-operation examination and other medical examination accounted for 53.41% of the total.The majority cases distributed in Fucheng district,Jiangyou city,Santai county and Youxian district,which altogether accounted for 67.61% of the total.Cases with age from 20 to 50 accounted for 76.72%.Occupation distribution was diversity and farmers accounted for 41.48%.The three routes of transmission were coexisted and route of sexual contact accounted for 96.59%.Conclusion The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Mianyang in 2012 is characterized with hypoendemic,significant differences in regional distribution,sexual contact as the main route and diversified occupations of the infected.
A 61-year-old woman develops polyuria after hip revision.

A 61-year-old previously healthy woman developed progressive hearing and visual loss over a period of 2–3 months prior to admission. Her medical/surgical history was remarkable for a left hip arthroplasty 11 years ago requiring revision approximately 6 months prior to admission. After dislocating the revised hip, she re-presented to her surgeon and underwent a closed reduction. Several weeks following the reduction, the patient began having polyuria and symptoms of hearing and vision loss along with numbness in her extremities and abdominal region.
Developmentally regulated kallikrein enzymatic activity and gene transcription rate in maturing rat kidneys

Kinins are paracrine vasoactive and growth-modulating peptides. Kidney maturation is accompanied by enhanced accumulation of the mRNA encoding tissue (renal) kallikrein, a serine protease, and a key component of the kallikrein-kinin system. To further delineate the developmental regulation of renal kallikrein, we measured tissue kallikrein activity and gene transcription rate during the latter stages of metanephrogenesis. Active tissue kallikrein was measured in renal homogenates by the amidolytic assay using the fluorogenic substrate D-Val-Leu-Arg-7-amino-4-methylcoumarin (D-VLR-AMC) in the presence or absence of soybean trypsin inhibitor (SBTI). Kallikrein activity was detectable at very low levels in the near-term fetal metanephros. Postnatally, renal kallikrein activity peaked immediately after birth and again at the time of weaning (P < 0.05 vs. other age groups) and remained high in the adult. Mature female rat kidneys contained 30% more active kallikrein than male kidneys (P < 0.05). The SBTI-sensitive D-VLR-AMC hydrolytic activity (due to serine proteases other than tissue kallikrein) accounted for 36-53% of the total renal amidolytic activity. Compared with the 5-day-old newborn, steady-state renal kallikrein mRNA levels increased threefold by day 12 and sixfold by adulthood. Run-on transcription analysis of renal cell nuclei revealed a significant increase in kallikrein gene transcription rate of 80% on day 12 (P < 0.05) and 480% in the adult (P < 0.001). The presence of active kallikrein in the developing kidney and the upregulation of its synthesis at specific time points during postnatal development implicate intrarenal kinins as potential modulators of renal growth and functional maturation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Copper and Zinc Runoff from Land Application of Composted Poultry Litter.

Regions with long-term animal manure applications based on nitrogen (N) requirements have concerns regarding elevated nutrient levels. Most attention has focused on phosphorus (P), but heavy metal accumulation has received attention due to perceived environmental concerns. Composting is a potential management practice that can reduce total manure mass and volume while creating a stabilized product that has less odor and fewer pathogens. However, composting animal manures can lead to high N loss via ammonia volatilization and increased concentrations of nonvolatile nutrients. The objective of this study was to measure copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) concentrations in runoff water from plots fertilized with composted and fresh poultry litter. Seven treatments were evaluated in the first year: (i) unfertilized control, (ii) fresh poultry litter, (iii) normal compost (no amendment), (iv) composted litter with alum, (v) composted litter with phosphoric acid, (vi) composted litter with a microbial mixture, and (vii) composted litter with alum + microbial mixture. Six of these treatments were evaluated in Year 2 (alum + microbial mixture was not evaluated in Year 2). Rainfall simulators were used to produce a 5 cm h⁻¹ storm event sufficient in length to cause 30 min of continuous runoff. Concentrations of Cu and Zn were elevated in compost compared with fresh poultry litter. However, metal concentrations in compost did not correlate well with metal concentrations in runoff water and may have been affected by compost maturity and amendment. Total Cu and Zn concentrations in runoff water did not differ between alum-amended compost and fresh poultry litter in each year.
The Trade Unions

For the West German unions, events in the mid- and late 1970s brought to an end a kind of ‘golden era’. This period was even worse for unions in most other European countries. Gone were the days of virtual full employment, annual increases in real wages, and extension of social and workplace benefits that had been first won, and then extended during the 1960s and early 1970s when sympathetic Labour and Social Democratic parties were in government throughout Northwestern Europe. In the course of the last decade, however, various internal and external challenges profoundly changed labour’s world both in the Federal Republic and the rest of Europe. These changes centred first and foremost on the altered states of solidarity for the unions both in the labour market and the political arena. Throughout Western Europe one could unmistakably detect major challenges to the solidarities of labour and the ‘old’ left which had dominated progressive politics since the beginning of the century when the dual development of mass production in the industrial sphere and large-scale political participation in the political realm created what we have come to know as modern society.
A 72 dB-DR 465 MHz-BW Continuous-Time 1-2 MASH ADC in 28 nm CMOS

This paper presents a continuous-time (CT) multi-stage noise-shaping (MASH) ADC in 28 nm CMOS. The MASH ADC uses a first-order front-end stage to digitize the input signal and a second-order back-end stage to digitize the quantization noise of the coarse flash ADC inside the front-end. An RC lattice filter and a current-steering DAC are utilized to extract the front-end coarse quantization residue. The prototype MASH ADC chip built in a 28 nm CMOS process is clocked at 8 GHz with an OSR of 8.6, providing a signal bandwidth of 465 MHz. The ADC achieves a DR of 72 dB and an average small-signal NSD of −160 dBFS/Hz. The peak SNR is 68 dB and the peak SNDR is 67 dB. The IM3 is −88 dBFS with two −9 dBFS tones at the band edge. The ADC consumes 890 mW of power from +1.8/1.0/-1.0 V supplies and achieves a thermal noise FOM of 159 dB.
Finding unsatisfiable cores of a set of polynomials using the Gröbner basis algorithm

Finding small unsatisfiable subformulas (unsat cores) of infeasible propositional SAT problems is an active area of research. Analogous investigations in the polynomial algebra domain are, however, somewhat lacking. This paper investigates an algorithmic approach to identify a small unsatisfiable core of a set of polynomials, where the corresponding polynomial ideal is found to have an empty variety. We show that such a core can be identified by employing extensions of the Buchberger’s algorithm. By further analyzing S-polynomial reductions, we identify certain conditions that are helpful in ascertaining whether or not a polynomial from the given generating set is a part of the unsat core. Our algorithm cannot guarantee a minimal unsat core; the paper describes an approach to refine the identified core. Experiments are performed on a variety of instances using a computer-algebra implementation of our algorithm.
Recent developments of the fixation of atmospheric CO2 by transition metals and lanthanide complexes

T chemical fixation and activation of CO2 by metal complexes may lead to certain devices that can eliminate the CO2 present in the air and hence controlling its concentration and reducing the environmental problems due to the greenhouse effect and global warming. This can be achieved by designing “inexpensive inorganic compounds” that rapidly and effectively catalyze the atmospheric CO2 fixation. In slightly basic solutions, the atmospheric fixation of CO2 by metal complexes, through hydroxo-species, afford the carbonato metal complexes. A number of simple N-donor ligands and multi-dentate Schiff bases containing two or three N-atoms, phenolic and alkoxy groups are to used synthesize a series of 3d(M(II) = Ni, Cu, Zn) and 4f(Ln(III) = lanthanides) complexes. The incorporation of lanthanide (III) ion into the skeleton of3d complexes to produce 3d-4f heteronuclear metal complexes should increase the affinity of the compounds for CO2 fixation into the Ln (III) pocket (Ln3+ ion is a hard Lewis acid which strongly bound to hard Lewis bases; O-donor species such as CO32ion). The carbonato complexes are not only interesting from the structural and geometrical points of view, but alsomay result in the discovery of interesting Single Molecular Magnets (SMM’s) which can be used to increase the memory of the computers. The resulting carbonato-bridged compounds can also be used to prepare some useful organic compounds. Recent developments concerning synthesis and structure characterization of different coordination carbonato-bridged compounds, magnetic properties and their potential applications will be addressed.
Anemia and Acute Coronary Syndrome: Time for Intervention Studies.

Originally characterized as “globules of his blood” in 1675 by the Dutch microscopist van Leeuwenhoek, the crucial role of erythrocytes, or red blood cells, in regulating normal human physiology was not appreciated until centuries later.[1][1] In contemporary medical taxonomy, the construct of
How Readable Is BPH Treatment Information on the Internet? Assessing Barriers to Literacy in Prostate Health.

Information about benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) has become increasingly accessible on the Internet. Though the ability to find such material is encouraging, its readability and impact on informing patient decision making are not known. To evaluate the readability of Internet-based information about BPH in the context of website ownership and Health on the Net certification, three search engines were queried daily for 1 month with BPH-related keywords. Website ownership data and Health on the Net certification status were verified. Three readability analyses were performed: SMOG test, Dale–Chall readability formula, and Fry readability graph. An adjusted SMOG calculation was performed to reduce overestimation from medical jargon. After a total of 270 searches, 52 websites met inclusion criteria. Mean SMOG grade was 10.6 (SD = 1.4) and 10.2 after adjustment. Mean Dale–Chall score was 9.1 (SD = 0.6), or Grades 13 to 15. Mean Fry graph coordinates (173 syllables, 5.1 sentences) corresponded to Grade 15. ...
Evaluation of K-means data clustering algorithm on Intel Xeon Phi

Intel Xeon Phi is a processor based on MIC architecture that contains a large number of compute cores with a high local memory bandwidth and 512-bit vector processing units. To achieve high performance on Xeon Phi, it is important for programmers to explore all the software features provided by the Intel compiler and libraries to fully utilize the new hardware resources. In this paper, we use the K-Means algorithm to study the performance of various Intel software settings available for Xeon Phi and their impacts to the performance of K-means. At first we examine different memory layouts for storing data points using Intel compiler-intrinsic functions. During distance calculation, the computational kernel of K-means, when the size of individual input data points is not vector-friendly, we pad the data points to align with the VPU width. At last, we implement a parallel reduction to increase memory access parallelism and cache hits. These techniques enable us to successfully take advantage of thread-level parallelism and data-level parallelism on Xeon Phi. Experimental results demonstrate large performance gains over the default auto-vectorization approach. The K-Means implemented with the proposed techniques achieves up to 68.65% and 56.14% performance improvements for aligned datasets and unaligned datasets, respectively. For high-dimensional aligned datasets, we achieved up to 53.49% performance improvement on a large-scale parallel computer.
Evaluation of a Model of Integrated Care for Patients With Chronic Medical and Psychiatric Illness.

Background Chronic illnesses are prevalent in general medical and psychiatric practices, causing significant disease burden to care givers and providers. Systems of care that treat individuals with mental illness are often separate from general medical systems of care. Objective This study sought to compare the quality of life, satisfaction with care, and utilization of care in patients with comorbid chronic medical and mental illnesses. Methods A total of 64 participants from an integrated medicine and psychiatry clinic (med/psych), were compared with 52 patients from separate internal medicine and psychiatry clinics (within the same institution) for quality of life, satisfaction with care, and utilization of care. Result Patients receiving integrated care reported being more satisfied with care compared with patients treated separately. There were no differences in quality of life between the groups. A nonsignificant trend toward fewer emergency room visits and fewer hospital stays for the integrated care group compared with the separate care group was observed. Conclusion This study demonstrated that integrated care for psychiatric and medical disorders improved the patients׳ experience of care and therefore may have positively affected the outcome of care. Further work is needed to compare medical and psychiatric comorbidities and costs of care and quality measures in these 2 groups.
Pretreatment Patient Characteristics Associated with Achieving Bone Marrow Minimal Residual Disease-Free Status with Frontline Fludarabine, Cyclosphosphamide, Rituximab (FCR) Chemoimmunotherapy for CLL,

Abstract 3902 Chemoimmunotherapy (CIT) is highly effective treatment and standard of care for patients (pts) with CLL. Response to treatment by NCI-WG/IWCLL criteria correlates with outcome; pts who achieve complete remission (CR) have superior progression-free and overall survival compared to pts who achieve partial remission (PR); and pts who fail therapy have the poorest outcome. Emerging data indicate improved outcomes for pts who achieve minimal residual disease (MRD)-free status in blood or bone marrow (BM) by end of treatment. We are conducting a clinical trial to prospectively evaluate pretreatment pt characteristics and prognostic factors and correlations with NCI-WG response, MRD-free status, and time to event outcomes with standard frontline fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab (FCR) CIT. A total of 197 pts have been registered, 160 have completed treatment and are evaluable for response by NCI-WG criteria, and 127 have BM MRD status evaluated by standard 4-color flow cytometry at Course 3 and/or end of treatment. We report on pretreatment characteristics associated with MRD-free status at end of treatment. For the 160 pts evaluable for response by NCI-WG criteria, 63% were male; the median (range) age, β2M, and absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) were 58 yrs (38–84), 3.6 mg/l (1.3–14.1), and 78.7 K/μl (.8–394), respectively. The percent pts with Rai high-risk disease, unmutated IGHV status, ZAP70 + by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and CD38 + (30% cutoff) was 35%, 60%, 63%, and 37%, respectively. According to the hierarchical categorization, FISH demonstrated 17p del in 9%, 11q del in 18%, +12 in 17%, 13q del in 36%, and no abnormality in 20% of pts. The median number of FCR courses given was 6; 57% received all intended 6, 21% received 4–5, and 23% received ≤3. Of the 160 pts, 63% achieved CR, 12% nodular PR (nPR), 23% PR and 3% did not respond. Of 127 pts with BM evaluated by 4-color flow cytometry at end of treatment, 56% were MRD-free. Of 71 MRD-free pts, 27 were negative at end of course 3, 33 converted to negative after course 3, and 11 were negative at end of treatment but did not have a course 3 evaluation. Univariable Chi-square analyses demonstrated pretreatment β2M, IGHV mutation status, 17p del, and +12 correlated with MRD-free status at end of treatment (Table). The following did not correlate: age, Rai stage, WBC, ALC, HGB, PLT, ZAP70, CD38, or number of FCR courses received. Multivariable logistic regression model identified β2M≥4 mg/l (odds ratio=.78; p=.007) and unmutated IGHV (odds ratio=.77; p=.006) as independently associated with lower likelihood to achieve MRD-free status. In conclusion, mutated IGHV and β2M Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Immune profiling of NF1-associated tumors reveals histologic subtype distinctions and heterogeneity: implications for immunotherapy.

// Kellie B. Haworth 1, 2 , Michael A. Arnold 3, 4 , Christopher R. Pierson 3, 4, 5 , Kwangmin Choi 6 , Nicholas D. Yeager 1 , Nancy Ratner 6 , Ryan D. Roberts 1, 2 , Jonathan L. Finlay 1 and Timothy P. Cripe 1, 2 1 Division of Hematology, Oncology, Blood and Marrow Transplant, Department of Pediatrics, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA 2 Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases, The Research Institute, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA 3 Division of Anatomic Pathology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA 4 Department of Pathology, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio, USA 5 Division of Anatomy, Department of Biomedical Education and Anatomy, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio, USA 6 Division of Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA Correspondence to: Kellie B. Haworth, email: kellie.haworth@nationwidechildrens.org Keywords: NF1, MPNST, neurofibromas, immunotherapy, immunophenotype Received: December 14, 2016 Accepted: April 16, 2017 Published: May 30, 2017 ABSTRACT Successful treatment of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1)-associated tumors poses a significant clinical challenge. While the primary underlying genetic defect driving RAS signaling is well described, recent evidence suggests immune dysfunction contributes to tumor pathogenesis and malignant transformation. As immunologic characterizations, prognostic and predictive of immunotherapeutic clinical response in other cancers, are not fully described for benign and malignant NF1-related tumors, we sought to define their immunologic profiles. We determined the expression of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A/-B/-C, β-2-microglobulin (B2M), and T cell inhibitory ligands PD-L1 and CTLA-4 by microarray gene analysis and flow cytometry. We examined HLA-A/-B/-C, B2M, and PD-L1 expression on thirty-six NF1-associated tumor samples by immunohistochemistry, and correlated these with tumoral CD4 + , CD8 + , FOXP3 + , CD56 + , and CD45RO + lymphocytic infiltrates. We evaluated several tumors from a single patient, observing trends of increasing immunogenicity over time, even with disease progression. We observed similarly immunogenic profiles for malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST) and nodular and plexiform neurofibromas, contrasting with diffuse neurofibromas. These studies suggest that while immunotherapies may offer some benefit for MPNST and nodular and plexiform neurofibromas, tumor heterogeneity might pose a significant clinical challenge to this novel therapeutic approach.
The Examination of Psychological Factors and Social Norms Affecting Body Satisfaction and Self‐Esteem for College Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of exercise self-efficacy, weight concerns, self-fulfillment, and social norms on college students’ body satisfaction and self-esteem. Also, the study examined the relationship between body satisfaction and self-esteem. An online survey was used, and 187 college students participated in the study. The findings revealed that exercise self-efficacy positively influenced college students’ body satisfaction, while weight concerns negatively influenced college students’ body satisfaction. Exercise self-efficacy and self-fulfillment positively influenced self-esteem while social norms negatively influenced self-esteem. Exercise self-efficacy had the most significant positive effect on body satisfaction while social norms had the most significant negative effect on self-esteem. The results could help exercise facilities learn what to include in their programs to increase college students’ psychological well-being, including body satisfaction and self-esteem.