cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A light and electron microscopic study of the rat superior cervical ganglion cells by intracellular HRP-labeling

Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was injected intracellularly into single neurons of the isolated rat superior cervical ganglia. Intracellular iontophoresis of HRP did not seem to damage the sympatheticneurons or to affect synaptic transmission. Under the light microscope, 9 of the 27 HRP-labeled sympathetic neurons exhibited varicosities in their dendrites, but not in their axons; the varicose dendrites came into close contacts with adjacent non-labeled neurons. With the electron microscope, the varicose dendrites of 3 separate neurons lightly stained with HRP, morphological features of synapses could be identified at the contact site: clusters of vesicles in the varicose dendrites, intercellular space of about 20 nm separating the apposed membranes, and an intermediate density on the postjunctional membrane. These findings suggest at the ultrastructural level the occurrence of dendrodendritic and dendro-somatic synapses in mammalian sympathetic ganglia.
Sonic Hedgehog gene delivery to the rodent heart promotes angiogenesis via iNOS/netrin-1/PKC pathway.

BACKGROUND We hypothesized that genetic modification of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) transgene, a morphogen during embryonic development and embryonic and adult stem cell growth, improved their survival and angiogenic potential in the ischemic heart via iNOS/netrin/PKC pathway. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS MSCs from young Fisher-344 rat bone marrow were purified and transfected with pCMV Shh plasmid ((Shh)MSCs). Immunofluorescence, RT-PCR and Western blotting showed higher expression of Shh in (Shh)MSCs which also led to increased expression of angiogenic and pro-survival growth factors in (Shh)MSCs. Significantly improved migration and tube formation was seen in (Shh)MSCs as compared to empty vector transfected MSCs ((Emp)MSCs). Significant upregulation of netrin-1 and iNOS was observed in (Shh)MSCs in PI3K independent but PKC dependent manner. For in vivo studies, acute myocardial infarction model was developed in Fisher-344 rats. The animals were grouped to receive 70 microl basal DMEM without cells (group-1) or containing 1x10(6) (Emp)MSCs (group-2) and (Shh)MSCs (group-3). Group-4 received recombinant netrin-1 protein injection into the infarcted heart. FISH and sry-quantification revealed improved survival of (Shh)MSCs post engraftment. Histological studies combined with fluorescent microspheres showed increased density of functionally competent blood vessels in group-3 and group-4. Echocardiography showed significantly preserved heart function indices post engraftment with (Shh)MSCs in group-3 animals. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE Reprogramming of stem cells with Shh maximizes their survival and angiogenic potential in the heart via iNOS/netrin-1/PKC signaling.
Parametric study on the variability of opening load determination

Abstract In this paper, the scatter in the opening load, P op , values due to the numerical analysis of the experimental load–displacement data is studied. The most commonly used approaches are investigated, namely the ASTM standard, modified two tangent lines and the parabola and line methods. In these methods, the relevant parameters are varied independently within the recommended intervals in order to assess the scatter in the crack opening load. Comparisons among different methods of analyses are discussed together with the implications on fatigue crack growth correlations. Also, a new line–parabola–line procedure for P op determination is discussed and evaluated.
The acoustic characteristics of the cry of an infant with unilateral vocal fold paralysis.

Abstract We have previously shown the acoustic similarity among well, full-term infants of the same post-conceptional and post-partum ages (Int. J. Pediat. Otorhinolaryngol., 10 (1985) 1–8). The objective of that research was to provide a template against which the cries of any given infant may be compared. This paper shows a more detailed analysis of both the normal infants' cries and the cry of an infant with a unilateral vocal fold paralysis. It is evident from this analysis that this infant's cry is not normal as it displays a spectrum not found in the cries of normal infants. What this research shows is that a technique is available with which it is possible to make a screening identification of those infants who merit further investigation. It is an objective of such research to determine if the cry of a given infant is abnormal in specifiable, and therefore diagnostic, ways. In this instance, we can conclude that the cry of this infant differs from that of one with a normal airway.
Diagnostic value of fasting plasma peptide concentrations in patients with chronic diarrhea.

To evaluate the utility of screening for multiple gastrointestinal peptides in the evaluation of patients with chronic diarrhea, we studied 193 patients referred for evaluation of chronic diarrhea and eight patients with known peptide-secreting tumors as a reference group. Fasting plasma samples were assayed for motilin, neurotensin, pancreatic polypeptide, somatostatin, substance P, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, gastrin-releasing peptide, and calcitonin during a protocol evaluation for causes of chronic diarrhea. Although none of the referred patients were found to have tumors, abnormal levels of one or more peptides were found in 86 of 193 patients (45%). Abnormal plasma peptide levels were sometimes as high in these patients as in patients with known peptide-secreting tumors and would have led to mistaken diagnoses of tumors much more often than they would have led to correct diagnoses. The positive predictive value of elevation of any assayed peptide was 99%, but much of this was due to the rarity of these tumors. Patients with chronic diarrhea should not be screened routinely with a panel of plasma peptide assays in an effort to detect tumors; instead, peptide levels should be ordered selectively. Elevated fasting concentrations of the plasma peptides measured in this study are most likely epiphenomena due to diarrhea and should not be the sole basis for invasive diagnostic or surgical management of these patients.
CHEMICAL STUDIES OF PHYTOESTROGENS AND RELATED COMPOUNDS IN DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS : FLAX AND CHAPARRAL

High-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) and mass spectrometric (MS) procedures were developed to determine lignans in flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum) and chaparral (Larrea tridentata). Flaxseed contains high levels of phytoestrogens. Chaparral has been associated with acute nonviral toxic hepatitis and contains lignans that are structurally similar to known estrogenic compounds. Both flaxseed and chaparral products have been marketed as dietary supplements. A mild enzyme hydrolysis procedure to prevent the formation of artifacts in the isolation step was used in the determination of secoisolariciresinol in flaxseed products. HPLC with ultraviolet spectral (UV) or MS detection was used as the determinative steps. HPLC procedures with UV detection and mass spectrometry were developed to characterize the phenolic components, including lignans and flavonoids, of chaparral and to direct fractionation studies for the bioassays.
Ultrastructural immunocytochemical localization of the dopamine D2 receptor within GABAergic neurons of the rat striatum

Classical antipsychotics, which block dopamine (DA) D2 receptors, show intrastriatal variation in their effectiveness in modulating GABAergic function. To determine the cellular basis for such differences, we examined the electron microscopic immunocytochemical labeling of D2 receptors and GABA in the dorsolateral caudate-putamen (CPn) and the nucleus accumbens (Acb) shell. In both regions, peroxidase reaction product and gold-silver deposits representing D2 receptor immunoreactivity (D2-IR) and GABA immunoreactivity (GABA-IR), respectively, were detected in dendrites and perikarya having characteristics of either spiny projection neurons or aspiny interneurons. Some perikarya in both regions were dually labeled with D2-IR and GABA-IR. Numerous axon terminals in each region also contained one or both markers. However, there were notable regional differences in the immunolabeling patterns. In the CPn, D2-IR was more commonly seen in dendrites/spines than in axon terminals, and proportionally more dendrites were dually labeled than in the Acb. In the Acb shell, D2-IR was detected with similar frequency in terminals and dendrites/spines, but more terminals co-localized D2-IR and GABA-IR in this region compared with the CPn. These results provide the first ultrastructural evidence for direct D2-mediated effects of DA on striatal GABAergic neurons. They further suggest that modulation of GABAergic neurons by DA acting at D2 receptors may be relatively more postsynaptic in the CPn, but more presynaptic in the Acb shell.
Z-Z' mixing and bounds on new neutral gauge bosons from SN 1987A data.

Recently obtained bounds on the mass of the new neutral gauge bosons in E{sub 6} models using data from SN 1987A are reexamined and improved by the incorporation of {ital Z}-{ital Z}{prime} mixing effects and radiative corrections. The sensitivity of these bounds to the various model parameters, e.g., the ratio of Higgs vacuum expectation values (tan{beta}), is examined and, in some models, the value of tan{beta} can change the resulting {ital Z}{prime} mass bound by more than 400--600 GeV.
Late Paleozoic deformation of the cratonic carbonate cover of eastern North America

Paleozoic carbonates that cover the eastern half of the North American craton preserved a bedding-parallel shortening fabric up to 800 km away from the Appalachian-Ouachita orogenic front as recorded by mechanical twins in calcite. A strain fabric is present in 29 of 31 samples from three traverse within the flat-lying cratonic cover sequence: Jasper, Arkansas, to Minneapolis, Bluefield, West Virginia, to Madison, Wisconsin; and Albany, New York, to Hamilton, Ontario. Twinning is found only in Paleozoic carbonates and is absent in Cretaceous limestones. In the two southernmost traverses, the orientation of the principal shortening axis (e1) is perpendicular to the thrust front and parallel to the thrusting direction of the southern Appalachians and the Ouachitas. The magnitude of calcite shortening strain (<6%) and the calculated differential stress (<90 MPa) decrease exponentially away from the orogenic front until twinning is absent. The northernmost traverse shows greater complexity, probably because of its location in the bend of the Appalachian trend. The authors conclude that the regional strain fabric preserved in the cratonic cover sequence of eastern North American was produced by late Paleozoic orogenic stresses of the Appalachian-Ouachita orogeny, and that compressive stresses were transmitted over distances greater than 1200 km awaymore » from the active plate margin.« less
Combining brain diagnosis and therapy in a single strategy: the safety, reliability, and cost implications using same-day versus separate-day stereotactic procedures.

Background: A therapeutic radiosurgery procedure usually follows a separate diagnostic stereotactic procedure after days or weeks. Objectives: To define the clinical reliability, safety, and cost implications of same-day diagnostic stereotactic biopsy and therapeutic radiosurgery. Methods: During an 8-year interval, 26 patients underwent stereotactic brain biopsy followed by immediate therapeutic stereotactic radiosurgery in a single-day combined procedure. The intraoperative diagnosis was determined using standard histopathological techniques. Diagnostic accuracy, hospital costs, and contribution margins associated with this treatment strategy were compared to those of 26 case-matched patients (controls) who underwent a stereotactic diagnostic procedure followed by a separate-day outpatient SRS procedure within 6 weeks during the same time interval. Results: The intraoperative diagnosis correlated with the final histopathological diagnosis in 96% of the patients. Biopsy-related morbidity did not occur in this series. The mean total costs of same-day patients was significantly lower than the costs of patients who had two-stage procedures (USD 9,077 ± 2,366 vs. 11,284 ± 3,025; p = 0.008). The net contribution to the hospital margin of USD 13,736 was not significantly different between the two management strategies. Conclusions: The advantages of the same-day approach included a single stereotactic head frame application, reduced total admission time, consecutive histopathological diagnosis and therapy in a single hospital admission, and reduced total hospital costs. For patients who are highly suspected to have a brain tumor for which SRS is likely to be an effective therapeutic strategy, same-day diagnostic stereotactic biopsy followed by therapeutic SRS proved to be a safe, reliable, and cost-effective management strategy.
Recurrent seminomas: Clinical features and biologic implications

Abstract Objectives Certain patients with seminoma and clinically atypical phenotypes—visceral metastases, elevated levels of β human chorionic gonadotropin (βHCG), and/or recurrent disease—have a poor prognosis. The primary goal of this pilot study was to characterize the clinical characteristics and treatment profile of these rare patients. We also wished to test whether these tumors expressed any specific biomarkers that might distinguish them as a unique subtype of seminoma. Materials and methods We retrospectively identified 25 patients with a history of seminoma plus visceral metastases, βHCG levels >200 mU/ml, and/or recurrent disease. We reviewed these patients' histories for treatment efficacy and clinical outcome. Tissue samples were available from 6 of those patients, and we studied them for expression of the markers OCT 3/4, PLAP, CD30, TRA-1-60, c-kit, and gp200. We compared our results with the expression of those markers in tissue samples from mixed seminoma/embryonal carcinomas and classic seminomas. Results Our analysis suggested that certain chemotherapeutic regimens (such as ifosfamide, paclitaxel, and cisplatin) are efficacious for the treatment of patients with these atypical seminomas. Further, specimens from the atypical seminomas generally had staining profiles that resembled those of classic seminomas and the seminoma components in mixed germ-cell tumors, but the profiles differed from those of the embryonal carcinoma components in the same mixed germ-cell tumors. Conclusions Although these atypical seminomas tend to be resistant to chemotherapy, they may still respond to certain chemotherapeutic regimens. Our pilot immunohistochemical study also suggested that the unique phenotypes associated with these atypical seminomas do not result from any relationship with embryonal carcinomas. More study is needed to confirm these initial findings.
Intrinsic Raman Spectroscopy Improves Analyte Concentration Measurements in Turbid Media

We present a new technique, intrinsic Raman spectroscopy, which utilizes diffuse reflectance to correct sample turbidity-induced distortions in Raman spectra. This technique allows for improved analyte concentration measurements in turbid media.
Hopping in exponential band tails

Hopping of photoexcited carriers directly between localized, band-tail states gives rise to a new regime of energy relaxation which is manifested at low temperatures: For times shorter than a characteristic "segregation time," carriers hop directly to lower-energy states; at longer times, thermal excitation---resulting in multiple trapping---is more important. Even in the multiple-trapping regime, however, the current is carried at a transport energy within the band tail. We present a simple description which includes both of these processes in a single, self-consistent model, and estimate the segregation time.
T-cell co-stimulatory pathways in autoimmunity

T-cell activation and differentiation depend on the signal strength received by the T-cell receptor and on signals provided by co-stimulatory molecules. The most prominent co-stimulatory molecule is CD28, which controls the activation of naive and memory T cells by antigen presented on professional antigen-presenting cells. Blocking of the CD28-CD80/86 pathway has been an appealing strategy for inducing tolerance in autoimmune diseases where the disease-inducing autoantigens are not known. Although CD28 has maintained its unique position, the past decade has witnessed the recognition that a large number of regulatory molecules on T cells must be stimulated to generate a fully protective immune response. These regulatory receptors differ in their preferential expression on T-cell subsets, in the ligands that they recognize, and in the signaling pathways that they trigger. They have in common the fact that they provide information on the cellular environment in which the T-cell response occurs. By intercepting these signals, we may be able to influence disease-relevant T-cell responses in autoimmune diseases while potentially minimizing broad immunosuppression.
X-ray scattering studies of liquid surfaces

Abstract X-ray reflectivity experiments on the structure of the liquid-vapor interface that were recently carried out by our group will be described. Systems that were studied include thin wetting layers adsorbed onto a solid substrate, the interfacial electron density profile of superfluid 4He, and preliminary measurements of the roughness of the surface of liquid gallium. The fundamental theoretical background to these experiments will be reviewed.
Making up for losses: The workings of gender in William Harvey's de generatione animalium

(1998). Making up for losses: The workings of gender in William Harvey's de generatione animalium. Women's Studies: Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 131-162.
Stromal interaction molecules as important therapeutic targets in diseases with dysregulated calcium flux.

Calcium ions have important roles in cellular processes including intracellular signaling, protein folding, enzyme activation and initiation of programmed cell death. Cells maintain low levels of calcium in their cytosol in order to regulate these processes. When activation of calcium-dependent processes is needed, cells can release calcium stored in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) into the cytosol to initiate the processes. This can also initiate activation of plasma membrane channels that allow entry of additional calcium from the extracellular milieu. The change in calcium levels is referred to as calcium flux. A key protein involved in initiation of calcium flux is Stromal Interaction Molecule 1 (STIM1), which has recently been identified as a sensor of ER calcium levels. STIM1 is an ER transmembrane protein that is activated by a drop in ER calcium levels. Upon activation, STIM1 interacts with a plasma membrane protein, ORAI1, to activate ORAI-containing calcium-selective plasma membrane channels. Dysregulation of calcium flux has been reported in cancers, autoimmune diseases and other diseases. STIM1 is a promising target in drug discovery due to its key role early in calcium flux. Here we review the involvement and importance of STIM1 in diseases and why STIM1 is a viable target for drug discovery. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Calcium signaling in health and disease. Guest Editors: Geert Bultynck, Jacques Haiech, Claus W. Heizmann, Joachim Krebs, and Marc Moreau.
Breakdown of the phase rule for proton inelastic scattering

Abstract The phase rule of Blair, which has been shown to work very well for the inelastic scattering of composite particles from single-phonon states of nuclei, does not work so well for the inelastic scattering of protons from the same states. It is shown by means of a simple model and by a distorted wave calculation that this is due to the less simple properties of proton optical model wave functions, rather than to any unknown interaction effects.
Multiple functions of context during conditioning: a developmental analysis.

Contextual stimuli may influence conditioned behavior in at least two ways (e.g. Bouton & Bolles, 1985). By becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus (US), context cues can acquire excitatory strength that facilitates responding to a phasic conditioned stimulus (CS). The context also can function to clarify the meaning of an ambiguous CS. Data obtained with an appetitive Pavlovian conditioning paradigm suggest that the processes mediating these two influences of context are dissociated during development. Evidence of context-US associations was observed in rats that began training on Postnatal Day 17, but no evidence for a disambiguation function was found until pups were 20- to 23-days-old. Evidence for a context-US association was obtained by demonstrating that US alone presentations in the training context restored conditioned responding to an extinguished CS. Evidence for a disambiguation function was obtained by demonstrating that a context shift, concurrent with extinction of responding to a phasic CS, preserved responding to the CS when the subjects were subsequently tested in the training context. These findings were discussed in relation to (a) the development of the rat's ability to use relational representations, and (b) Nadel and Zola-Morgan's (1984) hypothesis linking hippocampal maturation to the role of context during development.
Neonatal Borna disease virus infection in the rat causes a loss of Purkinje cells in the cerebellum

Viral insults that occur during early postnatal periods, can affect neuronal systems which exhibit significant postnatal development, such as the cerebral cortex and cerebellum. Borna disease virus (BDV) is a single-strand RNA virus which replicates in the nervous system of many species after experimental inoculation and causes acute neurological disease. Neonatal rats infected with BDV do not mount an aggressive response to the virus like their adult counterparts, but instead develop a persistent BDV infection with less overt clinical sequelae. Recently, the cerebellum, a neural structure associated with regulation of motor behavior, and perhaps with higher cognitive functions, has been demonstrated to be a target of neonatal BDV infections in rats (Bautista et al, 1995). In the present study neonatal rats were infected with BDV and their cerebella were analyzed histologically and immunohistochemically at 7 months of age. The cerebella of infected animals were reduced in size but normal foliation and laminar organization was present. However, as visualized with immunohistochemistry for the Purkinje cell-specific antigen calbindin, there were numerous gaps within the Purkinje cell layer and in the molecular layer which contains the Purkinje cell dendritic trees. We estimated the number of Purkinje cells and found there was an approximately 75% loss of PC in adult rats neonatally infected with BDV. These results suggest that neonatal BDV infection may either (1) target the PC and cause the death of these cells directly or (2) acts indirectly by triggering an immune response which is then responsible for the loss of these cells.
N-methyl-d-aspartate Excitotoxicity: Relationships among Plasma Membrane Potential, Na+/Ca2+ Exchange, Mitochondrial Ca2+ Overload, and Cytoplasmic Concentrations of Ca2+, H+, and K+

A high cytoplasmic Na+ concentration may contribute to N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)-induced excitotoxicity by promoting Ca2+ influx via reverse operation of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NaCaX), but may simultaneously decrease the electrochemical Ca2+driving force by depolarizing the plasma membrane (PM). Digital fluorescence microscopy was used to compare the effects of Na+ versus ions that do not support the NaCaX operation, i.e., N-methyl-d-glucamine+ or Li+, on: PM potential; cytoplasmic concentrations of Ca2+, H+, and K+; mitochondrial Ca2+ storage; and viability of primary cultures of cerebellar granule cells exposed to NMDA receptor agonists. In the presence of Na+ or Li+, NMDA depolarized the PM and decreased cytoplasmic pH (pHC); in the presence of Li+, Ca2+ influx was reduced, mitochondrial Ca2+ overload did not occur, and the cytoplasm became more acidified than in the presence of Na+. In the presence ofN-methyl-d-glucamine+, NMDA instantly hyperpolarized the PM, but further changes in PM potential and pHC were Ca-dependent. In the absence of Ca2+, hyperpolarization persisted, pHC was decreasing very slowly, K+ was retained in the cytoplasm, and cerebellar granule cells survived the challenge; in the presence of Ca2+, pHC dropped rapidly, the K+concentration gradient across the PM began to collapse as the PM began to depolarize, and Ca2+ influx and excitotoxicity greatly increased. These results indicate that the dominant, very likely excitotoxic, component of NMDA-induced Ca2+ influx is mediated by reverse NaCaX and that direct Ca2+ influx via NMDA channels is curtailed by Na-dependent PM depolarization.
Clinical Prediction Rules in Trauma Imaging: Who, How, and Why?

Clinical prediction rules are multifactorial tools used to aid in clinical decision making. In radiology, clinical prediction rules are an important method for determining who should undergo imaging and, in combination with cost-effectiveness analysis, how imaging should be performed. To be useful, clinical prediction rules should be clinically important, have face validity, be reproducible and easy to use, be clinically relevant, and suggest a course of action. To insure generalizability, clinical prediction rules should also be validated in subjects distinct from those used to develop the rule. In this review, several examples from trauma imaging are used to demonstrate the development, validation, and use of clinical prediction rules.
Power Distribution Strategy of Fuel Cell Vehicle System with Hybrid Energy Storage Elements Using Triple Half Bridge (THB) Bidirectional DC-DC converter

A triple-half-bridge (THB) multiple-input bidirectional dc-dc converter was proposed recently to interface battery and ultracapacitor. This paper presents a power distribution control to coordinate the power partitioning among fuel cell, battery, and ultracapacitor when this THB converter is applied to the fuel cell vehicle system. A particular goal is to obtain both a peaking load control and state of charge control of battery and ultracapacitor. In order to analyze and verify the control strategy in the fuel cell system, some essential subsystem models were developed including small signal model of THB bidirectional dc-dc converter, simplified dynamic model of fuel cell, battery and ultracapacitor. The simulation results confirmed that the load leveling and state of charge control are effectively implemented. A 6 kW prototype was built in the laboratory and preliminary experimental results were obtained.
Neo-liberalism, Markets and Accountability: transforming education and undermining democracy in the United States and England

Education in both England and the United States has undergone a profound change over the last two decades as part of neo-liberal and neoconservative political reforms. The reforms have been charact...
Similarities in Object and Event Segmentation: A Geometric Approach to Event Path Segmentation

Abstract Events, like objects, can be decomposed into parts. Path, the spatiotemporal trajectory of an object during an event, is the most commonly labeled event feature across the world's languages, provides important social information, and is increasingly central to theories of general event segmentation. However, little is understood about how adults visually segment paths. We apply theories developed for object segmentation to help understand path segmentation. Overall subjects segmented equivalent object shapes and event paths in similar ways following patterns predicted by Singh and Hoffman's (2001) geometric analysis of object parts. There were two notable differences between object and event segmentation: (1) event parsing occurred at points of negative curvature minima and positive curvature maxima as opposed to simply negative curvature minima; and (2) event parsing was more frequent and variable than object parsing. Implications of these results for event perception and categorization are disc...
Interpretation and evaluation of combined measurement techniques for soil CO2 efflux: Discrete surface chambers and continuous soil CO2 concentration probes

[1] Soil CO2 efflux is a large respiratory flux from terrestrial ecosystems and a critical component of the global carbon (C) cycle. Lack of process understanding of the spatiotemporal controls on soil CO2 efflux limits our ability to extrapolate from fluxes measured at point scales to scales useful for corroboration with other ecosystem level measures of C exchange. Additional complications are introduced by the effects of soil water content seasonality and rainfall on the performance of measurement techniques. In this paper we present measurements of soil CO2 efflux made at two contrasting sites within a characteristic subalpine forest of the northern Rocky Mountains. Comparison of measurements between the soil respiration chamber technique and the soil CO2 profile technique over daily and seasonal time scales indicated that soil water content plays a major role in the magnitude and seasonality of soil CO2 efflux, especially after snowmelt or following summer rainfall. Agreement between both techniques was limited during high soil water content conditions and after summer rainfall. Differences in diel hysteresis patterns of soil CO2 efflux between sites were controlled by the effects of canopy cover and temporal differences in photosynthetic activity of vegetation. Our results indicate that an accurate parameterization of soil water content heterogeneity in space and time must be a critical component of realistic model representations of soil CO2 efflux from heterogeneous landscapes.
Characterizing the MTF in 3D for a Quantized SPECT Camera Having Arbitrary Trajectories

The emergence of application-specific 3D tomographic small animal and dedicated breast imaging systems has stimulated the development of simple methods to quantify the spatial resolution or modulation transfer function (MTF) of the system in three dimensions. Locally determined MTFs, obtained from line source measurements at specific locations, can characterize spatial variations in the system resolution and can help correct for such variations. In this study, a method is described to measure the MTF in 3D for a compact SPECT system that uses a 16 times 20 cm2 CZT-based compact gamma camera and 3D positioning gantry capable of moving in different trajectories. Image data are acquired for a novel phantom consisting of three radioactivity-filled capillary tubes, positioned nearly orthogonally to each other. These images provide simultaneous measurements of the local MTF along three dimensions of the reconstructed imaged volume. The usefulness of this approach is shown by characterizing the MTF at different locations in the reconstructed imaged 3D volume using various (1) energy windows; (2) iterative reconstruction parameters including number of iterations, voxel size, and number of projection views; (3) simple and complex 3D orbital trajectories including simple vertical axis of rotation, simple tilt, complex circle-plus-arc, and complex sinusoids projected onto a hemisphere; and (4) object shapes in the camera's field of view. Results indicate that the method using the novel phantom can provide information on spatial resolution effects caused by system design, sampling, energy windows, reconstruction parameters, novel 3D orbital trajectories, and object shapes. Based on these measurements that are useful for dedicated tomographic breast imaging, it was shown that there were small variations in the MTF in 3D for various energy windows and reconstruction parameters. However, complex trajectories that uniformly sample the breast volume of interest were quantitatively shown to have slightly better spatial resolution performance than more simple orbits.
Direct measurement of the sensitivity distribution of magnetoresistive heads by the SXM technique

The sensitivity distribution of a magnetoresistive (MR) head was obtained by using a scanning probe microscope (SXM) technique. This technique made it possible to map with submicron resolution the sensitivity distribution on the air-bearing surface of the MR head in relation to the head structure. It was observed that the shape and location of the sensitivity distribution varied with changes in the sense current. Comparison with microtrack measurements showed qualitatively good agreements. >
Power analysis and optimal design of op amps for oversampled converters

In this paper, we address three issues related to the design of op amps for oversampled converters: the theoretical minimum-power bound for an ideal op amp, the best op amp choice in terms of power dissipation, and the best design strategy to reduce power dissipation. To be able to do so, we develop a model that captures the dynamics of the integrator inside the modulator. Based on this model, power dissipation for various op amp topologies is computed and compared with each other. We show that class-A op amps can consume one to six times the current consumed by an idealized class-AB op amp, though the savings for practical class-AB op amps is likely to be lower. For high-resolution applications, class-A topologies are most optimal, while for lower resolution lower power applications, class-AB op amps may be more suitable. We further demonstrate a design strategy with the help of an example that can be used to minimize the power dissipation for class-A op amps.
Expert‐Based Information and Policy Subsystems: A Review and Synthesis

This article reviews and synthesizes the uses of expert-based information in policy subsystems. The review begins by summarizing the different uses of information in the multiple streams theory, the punctuated equilibrium theory, the social construction theory, and the advocacy coalition framework. Three uses of expert-based information are identified as instrumental, learning, and political. The three uses of expert-based information are then compared across unitary, collaborative, and adversarial policy subsystems. This article synthesizes the findings in a set of propositions about the use of expert-based information in policy subsystems and about the factors that contribute to shifts from one policy subsystem to another.
Attributions in Pediatric Asthma Self-Management Success and Failure An Exploratory Study

“Lack of effort” attributions for failure (behavioral self-blame) have been associated with a greater sense of control over illness outcomes because the failure is attributed to internal (ie, subject to personal factors), unstable (ie, amenable to different outcomes on future occasions), and controllable (ie, subject to personal intent) causes. This study examines the causal attributions (locus, stability, control) used by children and their parents to explain success and failure in 3 asthma self-management domains: symptom monitoring, medication adherence, and environmental trigger avoidance. Participants included 65 children (9-13 years) diagnosed with asthma and their primary caregivers, recruited from urban specialty and community clinics and schools. Responses to a structured interview presenting 18 scenarios of self-management success and failure were coded along causal dimensions and causal labels using the Coding Scheme of Perceived Causality. Children attributed self-management success and failur...
Analysis of unsteady viscous flow past an airfoil. I - Theoretical development

An analysis is presented for the two-dimensional unsteady flow of a viscous incompressible fluid past a finite thickness airfoil at angle of attack. Using techniques commonly employed in ideal-fluid aerodynamic analyses, the airfoil surface is represented by bound-vortex singularities y distributed over the outline of the airfoil. These coexist with the free vorticity to in the boundary layer and wake. Using standard procedures, the integral equation for y is cast into a Fred holm equation of the second kind. This differs from that found in inviscid analyses because of the contribution of to to the induced velocities at the airfoil surface, thus coupling the two vorticity fields. A further coupling arises when the no-slip condition is enforced at the airfoil surface, the enforcement of which causes free vorticity to be produced. The production of free vorticity is modeled by equating the local instantaneous value of y to the amount of free vorticity produced locally and impulsively at the airfoil surface. This free vorticity enters the fluid stream by diffusion, thus giving rise to the essential boundary condition which must be imposed on the transport equation governing the distribution of free vorticity in the fluid. The formulation is developed in detail for the case where the airfoil is impulsively set into translational motion. The analysis makes explicit use of the requirement that the total vorticity of the fluid must remain zero, thus removing any ambiguities in the solution for y. This also insures that the pressure distribution on the airfoil remains single-valued. The numerical formulation and results for a particular airfoil are presented in Part II of the paper.
Can imazapic and seeding be applied simultaneously to rehabilitate medusahead-invaded rangeland? Single vs. multiple entry.

It has recently been proposed that the cost of rehabilitating medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae [L.] Nevski)–invaded rangelands may be reduced by concurrently seeding desired vegetation and applying the preemergent herbicide imazapic. However, the efficacy of this ‘‘single-entry’’ approach has been inconsistent, and it has not been compared to the multiple-entry approach where seeding is delayed 1 yr to decrease herbicide damage to nontarget seeded species. We evaluated single- and multiple-entry approaches in medusahead-invaded rangelands in southeastern Oregon with seeding for both approaches occurring in October 2011. Before seeding and applying herbicide, all plots were burned to improve medusahead control with imazapic and prepare the seedbed for drill seeding–introduced perennial bunchgrasses. Both approaches effectively controlled medusahead during the 2 yr postseeding. However, almost no seeded bunchgrasses established with the single-entry treatment
Effect of Exercise on 24-Month Weight Loss Maintenance in Overweight Women

Results: Weight loss did not differ among the randomized groups at 6 months’ (8%-10% of initial body weight) or 24 months’ (5% of initial body weight) follow-up. Posthoc analysis showed that individuals sustaining a loss of 10% or more of initial body weight at 24 months reported performing more physical activity (1835 kcal/wk or 275 min/wk) compared with those sustaining a weight loss of less than 10% of initial body weight (P.001). Conclusions: The addition of 275 mins/wk of physical activity, in combination with a reduction in energy intake, is important in allowing overweight women to sustain a weight loss of more than 10%. Interventions to facilitate this level of physical activity are needed. Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00006315.
Gene Replacement Therapy for Sickle Cell Disease and Other Blood Disorders

Previous studies have demonstrated that sickle cell disease (SCD) can be corrected in mouse models by transduction of hematopoietic stem cells with lentiviral vectors containing anti-sickling globin genes followed by transplantation of these cells into syngeneic recipients. Although self-inactivating (SIN) lentiviral vectors with or without insulator elements should provide a safe and effective treatment in humans, some concerns about insertional mutagenesis persist. An ideal correction would involve replacement of the sickle globin gene (betaS) with a normal copy of the gene (betaA). We recently derived embryonic stem (ES) cells from a novel knockin mouse model of SCD and tested a protocol for correcting the sickle mutation by homologous recombination. Animals derived after gene replacement produced high levels of normal human hemoglobin (HbA), and the pathology associated with SCD was corrected. These experiments provided a foundation for similar studies in which our group collaborated with Rudolf Jaenisch's laboratory to correct SCD by gene replacement in iPS (induced pluripotent stem) cells derived by direct reprogramming of sickle skin fibroblasts. Corrected iPS cells were differentiated into hematopoeitic progenitors that were transplanted into irradiated sickle recipients. The transplanted animals produced high levels of normal human HbA, and the pathology of SCD was corrected. These proof-of-principle studies provide a foundation for the development of gene replacement therapy for human patients with SCD and other blood disorders.
'Benign' Familial Neonatal Convulsions

Nine family members over five generations are described in whom convulsions occurred in the first week of life. Routine studies, including cranial computed tomography and electroencephalography, failed to reveal an etiology in the proband, nor was a specific etiology ever found in other affected family members. All affected individuals developed normally. Three had recurrent seizures outside the first year of life. This condition is of particular importance to those who care for infants with seizures. An appropriate family history should obviate the need for unnecessary diagnostic tests as well as prolonged anticonvulsant therapy, but counseling regarding the increased risk of subsequent seizures should be provided to affected individuals.
Electromigration Failure in Hieavily Doped Polycrystalline Silicon

Electromigration induced failures have been observed in both n & p doped polycrystalline silicon conductors. The location of the failure sites was found to depend upon the sign of the charge carrier. Migration of the dopant was identified as the failure mechanism.
Kinetics of thermal degradation of poly(vinyl chloride)

Extensively studied thermal degradation of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) occurs with formation of free hydrogen chloride and conjugated double bonds absorbing light in visible region. Thermogravimetric monitoring of PVC blends degradation kinetics by the loss of HCl is often complicated by evaporation and degradation of plasticizers and additives. Spectroscopic PVC degradation kinetics monitoring by absorbance of forming conjugated polyenes is specific and should not be affected by plasticizers loss. The kinetics of isothermal degradation monitored by thermal gravimetric analysis in real time was compared with batch data obtained by UV/Visible absorption spectroscopy. Effects of plasticizer on kinetics of polyene formation were examined. Thermal degradation of PVC films plasticized with di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and 1,2,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid, tri-(3-ethylhexyl) ester (TOTM) was monitored by conjugated double bonds light absorption at 350 nm at 160, 180, and 200 °C. Plasticizer-free PVC powder degradation kinetics and that of plasticized films were also obtained thermogravimetrically at temperatures ranging from 160 to 220 °C. Plasticizer-free PVC powder degradation and spectroscopically monitored degradation of plasticized PVC films occurred with the same apparent activation energy of ≈150 kJ mol−1. No difference in degradation kinetics of films plasticized with DEHP and TOTM was detected.
Branch and bound based feature elimination for support vector machine based classification of hyperspectral images

Feature selection (FS) is a classical combinatorial problem in pattern recognition and data mining. It finds major importance in classification and regression scenarios. In this paper, a hybrid approach that combines branch-and-bound (BB) search with Bhattacharya distance based feature selection is presented for classifying hyperspectral data using Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers. The performance of this hybrid approach is compared to another hybrid approach that uses genetic algorithm (GA) based feature selection in place of BB. It is also compared to baseline SVMs with no feature reduction. Experimental results using hyperspectral data show that under small sample size situations, BB approach performs better than GA and SVM with no feature selection.
The Architecture of Markets: An Economic Sociology of Twenty-First-Century Capitalist Societies

The article reviews the book “The Architecture of Markets: An Economic Sociology of Twenty-First-Century Capitalist Societies,” by Neil Fligstein.
The VA's sorry, the army's silent

Fifty years after the fact, the U.S. government is slowly moving to compensate World War II victims of mustard gas tests. Although the U.S. Department of Veterans attests to readiness to compensate the U.S. servicemen, a fog of military secrecy still makes the veteran's fight for recognition and compensation far from over. The Florida veterans, like most of the others, had been unable to get disability benefits because their service records did not document their participation in the secret tests and did not list the chemicals to which they had been exposed.
Social network analysis of children with autism spectrum disorder: Predictors of fragmentation and connectivity in elementary school classrooms

Although children with autism spectrum disorder are frequently included in mainstream classrooms, it is not known how their social networks change compared to typically developing children and whether the factors predictive of this change may be unique. This study identified and compared predictors of social connectivity of children with and without autism spectrum disorder using a social network analysis. Participants included 182 children with autism spectrum disorder and 152 children without autism spectrum disorder, aged 5-12 years in 152 general education K-5 classrooms. General linear models were used to compare how age, classroom size, gender, baseline connectivity, diagnosis, and intelligence quotient predicted changes in social connectivity (closeness). Gender and classroom size had a unique interaction in predicting final social connectivity and the change in connectivity for children with autism spectrum disorder; boys who were placed in larger classrooms showed increased social network fragmentation. This increased fragmentation for boys when placed in larger classrooms was not seen in typically developing boys. These results have implications regarding placement, intervention objectives, and ongoing school support that aimed to increase the social success of children with autism spectrum disorder in public schools.
Role of extrinsic noise in the sensitivity of the rod pathway: rapid dark adaptation of nocturnal vision in humans.

Rod-mediated 500 nm test spots were flashed in Maxwellian view at 5 deg eccentricity, both on steady 10.4 deg fields of intensities (I) from 0.00001 to 1.0 scotopic troland (sc td) and from 0.2 s to 1 s after extinguishing the field. On dim fields, thresholds of tiny (5′) tests were proportional to √I (Rose–DeVries law), while thresholds after extinction fell within 0.6 s to the fully dark-adapted absolute threshold. Thresholds of large (1.3 deg) tests were proportional to I (Weber law) and extinction thresholds, to √I. Conclusions: rod thresholds are elevated by photon-driven noise from dim fields that disappears at field extinction; large spot thresholds are additionally elevated by neural light adaptation proportional to √I. At night, recovery from dimly lit fields is fast, not slow.