cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Diffusional constraints on energy metabolism in skeletal muscle

Aerobic metabolic flux depends on the diffusion of high-energy phosphate molecules (e.g., ATP and phosphocreatine) from the mitochondria to cellular ATPases, as well as the diffusion of other molecules (e.g., ADP, Pi) back to the mitochondria. Here, we develop an approach for evaluating the influence of intracellular metabolite diffusion on skeletal muscle aerobic metabolism through the application of the effectiveness factor (η). This parameter provides an intuitive and informative means of quantifying the extent to which diffusion limits metabolic flux. We start with the classical approach assuming an infinite supply of substrate at the fiber boundary, and we expand this model to ultimately include nonlinear boundary and homogeneous reactions. Comparison of the model with experimental data from a wide range of skeletal muscle types reveals that most muscle fibers are not substantially limited by diffusion (η close to unity), but many are on the brink of rather substantial diffusion limitation. This implies that intracellular metabolite diffusion does not dramatically limit aerobic metabolic flux in most fibers, but it likely plays a role in limiting the evolution of muscle fiber design and function.
Characterization of a variant of human T-lymphotropic virus type I isolated from a healthy member of a remote, recently contacted group in Papua New Guinea.

Abstract We report the characterization of a variant of human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) isolated from an interleukin 2-dependent, CD8+ T-cell line derived from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of a healthy member of a remote, recently contacted hunter-horticulturalist group (Hagahai) in Madang province of Papua New Guinea. Antigenic characterization of this variant, designated PNG-1, by immunofluorescence, indicated no expression of gag-encoded proteins p19 and p24 (even after incubation with 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine), using monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies against HTLV-I gag gene products. Virus-specific proteins of 15, 19, 46, 53, and 61/68 kDa were demonstrated by Western blot analysis, using sera from patients with serologically and/or virologically confirmed HTLV-I myeloneuropathy, sera from HTLV-I-infected rabbits, and antibodies prepared against the C terminus of the major envelope glycoprotein gp46. Restriction endonuclease maps of PNG-1 proviral DNA differed from that of a prototype strain of HTLV-I (MT-2), but, as verified by polymerase chain reaction, PNG-1 was definitely HTLV-I, not HTLV-II. Nucleotide sequencing and further molecular genetic studies of this variant may provide insights into the origin and evolution of HTLV-I.
A very fast substring search algorithm

This article describes a substring search algorithm that is faster than the Boyer-Moore algorithm. This algorithm does not depend on scanning the pattern string in any particular order. Three variations of the algorithm are given that use three different pattern scan orders. These include: (1) a “Quick Search” algorithm; (2) a “Maximal Shift” and (3) an “Optimal Mismatch” algorithm.
Clonal diversity among strains of Escherichia coli incriminated in turkey colisepticemia.

Abstract The extent of genetic differentiation among 80 Escherichia coli isolates collected from turkeys with acute colisepticemia was assessed based on allelic variation at 20 enzyme-encoding loci detected by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis. Isolates were polymorphic at 117 loci and were classified into 32 multilocus genotypes, delineating clones, that differed on average at 36% of the loci. In the total sample, 29 (36%) of the isolates belonged to one of two closely related clones, differing only in a single electromorph, and 11 of these isolates were serogroup O78. Most isolates fell into one of 4 genetically distinct clusters of strains. Three of these clusters represent E. coli clone complexes that have been previously identified in avian diseases and a fourth cluster which is specific to coliseptecimia in turkeys. Most (73%) isolates produced aerobactin, whereas none produced hemolysins. Assays for detecting K1 capsules. including the use of polyclonal antisera, monoclonal antibodies, and K1-specific bacteriophages, gave variable resutls, but showed that overall 18% of the strains from colisepticemia were K1 encapsulated with most of the K1+ isolates found in one clone cluster. The results show that many cases of colisepticemia in turkey flocks are caused by a small number of pathogenic clones representing at least three distinct clone complexes.
Primary resonance of multiple degree-of-freedom dynamic systems with strong non-linearity using the homotopy analysis method

A homotopy analysis method (HAM) is presented for the primary resonance of multiple degree-of-freedom systems with strong non-linearity excited by harmonic forces. The validity of the HAM is independent of the existence of small parameters in the considered equation. The HAM provides a simple way to adjust and control the convergence region of the series solution by means of an auxiliary parameter. Two examples are presented to show that the HAM solutions agree well with the results of the modified Linstedt-Poincare method and the incremental harmonic balance method.
The role of mating preferences in shaping interspecific divergence in mating signals in vertebrates

Vertebrates represent one of the best-studied groups in terms of the role that mating preferences have played in the evolution of exaggerated secondary sexual characters and mating behaviours within species. Vertebrate species however, also exhibit enormous interspecific diversity in features of mating signals that has potentially led to reproductive isolation and speciation in many groups. The role that sexual selection has played in interspecific divergence in mating signals has been less fully explored. This review summarizes our current knowledge of how mating preferences within species have shaped interspecific divergence in mate recognition signals among the major vertebrate groups. Certain signal modalities appear to characterize mating signal diversification among different vertebrate taxa. Acoustic signals play an important role in mating decisions in anuran amphibians and birds. Here, different properties of the signal may convey information regarding individual, neighbor and species recognition. Mating preferences for particular features of the acoustic signal have led to interspecific divergence in calls and songs. Divergence in morphological traits such as colouration or ornamentation appears to be important in interspecific diversity in certain groups of fishes and birds. Pheromonal signals serve as the primary basis for species-specific mating cues in many salamander species, most mammals and even some fishes. The evolution of interspecific divergence in elaborate courtship displays may have played an important role in speciation of lizards, and particular groups of fishes, salamanders, birds and mammals. While much research has focused on the importance of mating preferences in shaping the evolution of these types of mating signals within species, the link between intraspecific preferences and interspecific divergence and speciation remains to be more fully tested. Future studies should focus on identifying how variation in mating preferences within a species shapes interspecific diversity in features of mating signals in order to better understand how sexual selection may have led to speciation in vertebrates.
Structural Requirements for Cocaine‐Sensitive and ‐Insensitive Uptake of Phenethylamines into the Adrenal Chromaffin Cell

The adrenal medullary chromaffin cell is a commonly used model for the adrenergic neuron. Although much work has been done to study the transport system in the adrenal chromaffin vesicles, relatively little is known about cellular transport, especially with regard to structural features of phenethylamines required for intracellular accumulation. We have now investigated the structural requirements of phenethylamine-related compounds for their accumulation into cultured adrenal chromaffin cells. We find that two types of cellular uptake, previously described only for dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine, are also present for [ 3 H]tyramine. Although two types of accumulation occur, tyramine accumulation occurs mainly via a cocaine-insensitive process, whereas dopamine accumulation occurs predominantly via a cocaine-sensitive process. The accumulation of [ 14 C]-phenethylamine and p-methoxyphenethylamine is not affected by cocaine, suggesting that a ring hydroxyl substituent is necessary for cocaine-sensitive accumulation. The compounds p-hydroxyphenylpropylamine and p-hydroxyphenyl-2-aminoethyl sulfide accumulate in the cell only via a cocaine-insensitive process, indicating that lengthening of the aminoalkyl side chain prevents cocaine-sensitive accumulation. We have performed conformational analyses of this series of compounds to determine whether the conformation of these compounds can be related to the kinetic data. For dopamine, tyramine, phenethylamine, and p-methoxyphenethylamine, two groups of energy-minimized conformers were found. We find that there is an approximately linear relationship between the K m values for these phenethylamines and the differences in minimized energies between the low- and highest energy conformer groups of each compound. A similar correlation was found for p-hydroxyphenyl-2-aminoethyl sulfide. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that these compounds undergo a conformational change from the low-energy conformer to the highest energy conformer before their cocaine-insensitive accumulation.
Effects of sample storage on microbial Fe-reduction in tropical rainforest soils

Abstract Many biogeochemical investigations of soil processes require temporary and/or long-term sample storage, which may alter soil biogeochemistry and impact the outcome of laboratory experiments. This study examines the influence of storage conditions on soil iron (Fe) reduction. We subjected soil samples from the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico to: (a) 2-mm sieving/homogenization within an anoxic environment, and storage at 4 °C or (b) 22 °C; (c) air-drying at 30 °C followed by 2-mm sieving/homogenization and storage at 22 °C; and (d) storage at 22 °C with no sieving/homogenization (control). We assessed changes in Fe-reduction after one week, six months and 12 months of storage by incubating soils in a 95% N 2 :5% H 2 headspace for 7–15 days. After one week of storage, Fe II production was linear with time yielding similar Fe-reduction rates (ave. 2.8 mmol kg −1 d −1 ) in all treatments except the unhomogenized controls, which exhibited only slightly lower rates (2.2 mmol kg −1 d −1 ). Storage for a duration of 12 months at 4 °C decreased Fe II production following 7 days of anoxic incubation, while air-drying soils maintained similar Fe II production levels. Most probable number counts of Fe-reducing microbes were comparable in the air-dried and 4 °C stored soils, but bacterial isolates from the air-dried soils exhibited higher net Fe II production over a one week incubation in pure culture media than strains isolated from soils stored at 4 °C. When microbial activity was not limited by low temperature (e.g., during the 22 °C storage treatment), homogenization slowed Fe II production. The observed Fe II production and cell counts in these tropical soils suggest that storage at cold temperatures, as well as homogenization when microbial activity is not suppressed during storage, reduced the resilience of the resident Fe reducing microbial communities, a finding consistent with studies on other microbial processes in tropical soils. Overall our results suggest air-drying tropical soils maintains their capacity for Fe III reduction during long-term sample storage more effectively than cold-storage.
Multiplexed, High- And Low-Sensitivity Fiber-Optic Strain/Temperature Sensor

An intrinsic, wavelength-division-multiplexed, high- and low-sensitivity fiber-optic sensor is proposed and analyzed as a possible alternative to the existing optical fiber-sensing methods used in real-time temperature and strain evaluations. The sensor unites two existing technologies: (1) the dual core, single-mode, cross-talk phenomena exhibiting relatively low sensitivity and (2) the Fabry-Perot interferometric sensing phenomena that is known for its high sensitivity. The sensor uses the wavelength sensitivity of fused, tapered, single-mode couplers as a method of multiplexing the two widely exploited sensors outlined above. The sensor configuration consists of two independent coherent sources of differing wavelengths, a wavelength division multiplexer/demultiplexer, a center-cleaved, fused, biconnically tapered, single-mode coupler/splitter, and partially reflective, mirrored surfaces at designated locations along the fiber. Thus, a unique sensing arrangement having two independent (high- and low-sensitivity) sensors functioning simultaneously is realized.
An end of innocence: African-American high school protest in the 1960s and 1970s

This paper considers African-American student protests in secondary schools during the 1960s and early 1970s. Taking a national perspective, it charts a growing sense of independence and militancy among black students as they made the schools a focal point of activism. Activist students challenged established civil rights organisations on a variety of questions. They also engaged in an escalating series of protest activities to make schools change. Much of this focused on curricular change, particularly adding black history courses and hiring African-American teachers and principals. Generally, these protests proved quite successful. Black students also protested against conditions encountered in integrated schools, where they often met hostility from whites. Distinct regional patterns characterised such activities, with more protest over school issues in the North and greater conflict regarding desegregation in the South. By the mid-1970s the era of black secondary student protest concluded, although its...
Detrimental effects of acute nicotine on the response-withholding performance of spontaneously hypertensive and Wistar Kyoto rats

Rationale Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with a higher prevalence of smoking, which may be related to potential therapeutic effects of nicotine on ADHD symptoms. Whereas nicotine offers robust improvements in sustained attention, the effects of nicotine on impulsivity are unclear.
Neocortical plasticity deficits in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: Lessons from barrel and visual cortex

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is characterized by a constellation of behavioral and physiological abnormalities, including learning and sensory deficits. There is growing evidence that abnormalities of neuronal plasticity underlie these deficits. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which prenatal alcohol exposure disrupts neuronal plasticity remain elusive. Recently, studies with the barrel and the visual cortex as models to study the effects of early alcohol exposure on neuronal plasticity shed light on this subject. In this Mini-Review, we discuss the effects of ethanol exposure during development on neuronal plasticity and suggest environmental and pharmacological approaches to ameliorate these problems.
Cell membrane antigen-antibody complex dissociation by the widely used glycine-HCL method: an unreliable procedure for studying antibody internalization

Methods following the process of binding and internalization of antibodies to cell surface antigens have often employed low pH isoosmolar buffers in order to dissociate surface antigen-antibody complexes. One of the most widely used buffers is a 0.05 M glycine-HCL buffer pH 2.8. Since the efficacy of action of this buffer was critical to a series of internalization experiments employing monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) to carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) expressing cancer cell lines in this laboratory, we tested its performance in a number of different assays. Our results indicate that this buffer only partially dissociates antigen-antibody bonds and therefore can introduce major inaccuracies in internalization experiments.
Novel approach for assessing uncertainty propagation via information-theoretic divergence metrics and multivariate Gaussian Copula modeling

With all of the new remote sensing modalities available, with ever increasing capabilities, there is a constant desire to extend the current state of the art in physics-based feature extraction and to introduce new and innovative techniques that enable the exploitation within and across modalities, i.e., fusion. A key component of this process is finding the associated features from the various imaging modalities that provide key information in terms of exploitative fusion. Further, it is desired to have an automatic methodology for assessing the information in the features from the various imaging modalities, in the presence of uncertainty. In this paper we propose a novel approach for assessing, quantifying, and isolating the information in the features via a joint statistical modeling of the features with the Gaussian Copula framework. This framework allows for a very general modeling of distributions on each of the features while still modeling the conditional dependence between the features, and the final output is a relatively accurate estimate of the information-theoretic J-divergence metric, which is directly related to discriminability. A very useful aspect of this approach is that it can be used to assess which features are most informative, and what is the information content as a function of key uncertainties (e.g., geometry) and collection parameters (e.g., SNR and resolution). We show some results of applying the Gaussian Copula framework and estimating the J-Divergence on HRR data as generated from the AFRL public release data set known as the Backhoe Data Dome.
Characteristics of Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Partial Nitrification Process Treating High Ammonium Wastewater

Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas, and biological nitrogen removal leads to nitrous oxide generation and emissions. In this study, the emission of nitrous oxide from partial nitrification process was investigated in two intermittently aerated SBRs (IASBRs). Activated sludge floc and aerobic granular sludge were feed into two IASBRs, respectively. In the steady state, partial nitrification was successfully achieved under intermittent aeration control strategy. Nitrous oxide emissions were 6.5% and 8.9% of the total influent nitrogen loading rate in IASBR1 and IASBR2, respectively. Nitrous oxide was mainly generated in non-aeration periods, but aeration period contributed to 91.8% and 90.6% of nitrous oxide emissions in two IASBRs, respectively. PHB can be used as the carbon source for heterotrophic denitrification, causing more nitrous oxide generated in IASBR2 which was seeded with aerobic granular sludge.
Liposomes, a potential immunoadjuvant and carrier for a cryptococcal vaccine.

Abstract □ Mice immunized with a cryptococcal culture filtrate antigen (CneF) emulsified in complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) develop an anticryptococcal cell-mediated immune response (CMI). CMI is detected by delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reactions and by enhanced clearance of Cryptococcus neoformans from infected tissues. The objective of this research was to evaluate anticryptococcal DTH reactivity and clearance of cryptococci from groups of mice immunized with CneF encapsulated into liposomes (CneF–liposome) and compare the results to results from mice immunized with CneF–CFA. CBA/J mice were injected subcutaneously with vaccines or control formulations (saline–liposome or saline–CFA). Six days later the mice were footpad tested to assess their DTH response to CneF or the animals were challenged intravenously with 10 5 viable C . neoformans to determine clearance of infection. Clearance was evaluated 7 days later by enumeration of cryptococcal colony forming units (CFU) in lungs, spleens, livers, and brains of the infected mice. The CneF–liposome formulation induced a positive anticryptococcal DTH response and elicited increased clearance of C . neoformans from tissues as compared to mice treated with saline–liposome. Even though the CneF–liposome preparation did not induce as strong of a DTH response or as much protection as did CneF–CFA, our results indicate that liposomes are promising carriers for immunization with cryptococcal antigen and that such immunization can provide some protection to subsequent infection with C . neoformans .
Diverse Pliocene-Quaternary tectonics in a transform environment, San Francisco Bay region, California

The San Francisco Bay region occupies part of the diffuse transform boundary zone between the Pacific and North American plates. Although dextral strike-slip faulting is dominant, the plate motion is expressed in a variety of ways. Some strike-slip faults are parallel with the plate boundary, but some are slightly oblique. The major strike-slip faults are zones in which an interplay occurs between strands, some of which are en echelon. This interplay may be responsible for some apparent pull-apart basins and presumed normal faults along the Calaveras fault zone. In extensive areas between strike-slip fault zones, there are many compressional structures—folds and reverse faults—that are Pliocene-Quaternary in age, hence largely coeval with the strike-slip faults. Some of the compressional structures are oblique to, and others are parallel with, the major strike-slip faults. We have divided the San Francisco Bay region into domains on the basis of the types, orientations, and relationships of structures, or, in one case, lack of strong deformation. Each domain has responded in its own way to the regional northwest-southeast dextral shear imposed by the relative plate motion. In an attempt to understand the origin of various structures and the interrelationships among them, we compared established models with our observations. Some observed geometric relationships agree quite well with classical Coulomb-Anderson and simple shear models, but others require further explanation. Models based on fault interaction seem to apply to certain cases. For example, the East Bay Hills domain, which is between the left-stepping Calaveras and Hayward–Rodgers Creek fault zones, is under compression resulting from interaction between the two strike-slip zones.
Glucosamine therapy for knee osteoarthritis: pharmacokinetic considerations.

Knee osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis. Given the aging of the world’s population, the burden of this disease is expected to increase significantly over the next few decades. As a pharmacological agent, glucosamine has been investigated for the treatment of symptoms and progression of knee osteoarthritis, demonstrating symptomatic and disease-modifying effects. However, among the glucosamine studies conducted to date in knee osteoarthritis, there have been conflicting results due to differences and/or weaknesses in study design and sample size, in addition to product formulation, salt and quality. This review describes the current knowledge regarding the pharmacokinetics of glucosamine to provide a means for the interpretation of the pharmacodynamic and clinical efficacy results obtained in the different clinical trials.
Iterative design and evaluation of an event architecture for pen-and-paper interfaces

This paper explores architectural support for interfaces combining pen, paper, and PC. We show how the event-based approach common to GUIs can apply to augmented paper, and describe additions to address paper's distinguishing characteristics. To understand the developer experience of this architecture, we deployed the toolkit to 17 student teams for six weeks. Analysis of the developers' code provided insight into the appropriateness of events for paper UIs. The usage patterns we distilled informed a second iteration of the toolkit, which introduces techniques for integrating interactive and batched input handling, coordinating interactions across devices, and debugging paper applications. The study also revealed that programmers created gesture handlers by composing simple ink measurements. This desire for informal interactions inspired us to include abstractions for recognition. This work has implications beyond paper - designers of graphical tools can examine API usage to inform iterative toolkit development.
Thermoregulatory and metabolic phenotypes of mice lacking noradrenaline and adrenaline

Adrenaline and noradrenaline, the main effectors of the sympathetic nervous system and adrenal medulla, respectively, are thought to control adiposity and energy balance through several mechanisms. They promote catabolism of triglycerides and glycogen, stimulate food intake when injected into the central nervous system, activate thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue, and regulate heat loss through modulation of peripheral vasoconstriction and piloerection. Thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue occurs in response to cold and overeating (diet induced), and there is an inverse relationship between diet-induced thermogenesis and obesity both in humans and in animal models. As a potential model for obesity, we generated mice that cannot synthesize noradrenaline or adrenaline by inactivating the gene that encodes dopamine beta-hydroxylase. These mice are cold intolerant because they have impaired peripheral vasoconstriction and are unable to induce thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue through uncoupling protein (UCP1). The mutants have increased food intake but do not become obese because their basal metabolic rate is also elevated. The unexpected increase in basal metabolic rate is not due to hyperthyroidism, compensation by the widely expressed uncoupling protein UCP2, or shivering.
Apoptosis and therapy

The dogma that antineoplastic treatments kill tumour cells by damaging essential biological functions has been countered by the notion that treatment itself initiates a programmed cellular response. This response often produces the morphological features of apoptosis and is determined by a network of proliferation and survival genes, some of which are differentially expressed in normal and malignant cells. Correspondingly, mutations that interfere with the initiation or execution of apoptosis may produce tumour-cell drug resistance. Remarkably, many of the genes that modulate apoptosis in response to cytotoxic drugs also affect apoptosis during tumour development; hence, the process of apoptosis provides a conceptual framework for understanding how cancer genes can influence the outcome of cancer therapy. Although the relative contribution of apoptosis to radiation and drug-induced cell death remains controversial, clinical studies have associated anti-apoptotic mutations with treatment failure. While careful preclinical and clinical studies will be necessary to resolve this point, our current understanding of apoptosis should facilitate the design of rational new therapies.
Mathematical analysis of oxygen concentration in a two dimensional array of capillaries

An approach is presented for modeling transport and exchange in skeletal muscle that can be used to analyze vascular beds consisting of a large number of interacting capillaries. First the oxygen concentration is determined in a functional unit consisting of a single capillary surrounded by a region of tissue in which a flux is prescribed on the outer boundary of the region. This flux, which is a result of the interaction among all of the capillaries comprising the vascular bed, is then found by matching the concentration along the borders between adjacent units. This leads to a system of ordinary differential equations for the oxygen concentration in the capillaries coupled with a system of algebraic equations for the fluxes. The method is illustrated by obtaining the oxygen concentration within an array of capillaries for the case when each capillary has a different initial concentration and for the case when each capillary has a different flow rate.
Federal and state grants to education: Are they stimulative or substitutive?

Abstract This paper offers some evidence on the extent of substitution by local educational agencies of federal and state revenue for local revenue. Employing data for all school districts in South Carolina for 1978 and 1982, it is shown that each additional dollar of federal aid reduces local avenues (on average) by between 25 and 35 cents, implying that while local revenues are stimulated by federal aid, some of the latter is used in the form of tax relief. State aid appears to be more stimulative, especially for 1978 and 1982, although preliminary data for 1985 indicate some local substitution. The stability of the regression coefficients from 1978 to 1982 is also explored.
Unusual presentation of intradural endodermal cysts in young children under 2 years of age. Report of two cases

Spinal endodermal cysts are congenital maldevelopmental lesions usually presenting in early adulthood. Whereas the diagnosis is rare in newborns and it is usually led by cardiopulmonary distress or other associated malformations, no characteristic clinical findings associated with these entities have been described in older patients where spinal endodermal cysts usually behave as intraspinal space occupying lesions. The authors report on two children under 2 years of age affected by cervical endodermal cysts that presented with a history of acute motor deficit following a laryngitis. The hypothesis about the pathogenesis is that the upper respiratory tract infection might have stimulated the secretion of the cyst lining, inducing growth of the cyst and the sudden appearance of the motor deficit. Because of the apparent lack of relation between the benign laryngitis and the motor deficit, the occurrence of such an association might have been underestimated in some of the previously reported cases.
Parametric excitation of an axially moving band by periodic edge loading

Simple torsion parametric resonance and combination torsion-bending parametric resonance can be excited in an axially moving band by an in-plane periodic edge loading that is normal to the longitudinal axis of the band. The model simulates band saws, belts, magnetic tapes and like systems under edge forces. Sum combination instabilities, in particular, permit the excitation of low frequency resonances by higher frequency edge forces. Simple bending, combination torsion-torsion, combination bending-bending and difference type parametric instabilities are not excited by periodic normal edge forces. The space of band parameters leading to parametric instability shrinks with increasing axial tension and with increasing band velocity.
The mass spectra of four‐membered alicyclic sulfur compounds

The mass spectra of thietane, trimethylene sulfoxide, and trimethylene sulfone are reported. The major competing reactions are four-center fragmentation, heteroatom group elimination and rearrangement. The oxidation state of the sulfur atom has a profound effect upon the competition among these reaction channels. As the oxidation state of the sulfur increases the molecular ion becomes increasingly less stable and consequently the amount of rearrangement decreases. Elimination of the heteroatom increases as its oxidation state increases, while the amount of four-center fragmentation decreases.
Autoradiographic analysis of [35S]t-butylbicyclophosphorothionate binding in kindled rat hippocampus shows different changes in CA1 area and fascia dentata

We studied the binding of (35S)t-butylbicyclophosphorothionate to the GABA, receptor- mediated chloride channel in the CA1 area and fascia dentata of control and Schaffer collateral kindled rats, by means of semi-quantitative autoradiography. The (35S)t-butylbicyclophosphorothionate binding was determined at three stages during kindling aquisition: (i) after six afterdischarges, (ii) after 14 afterdischarges and (iii) after the induction of fully kindled seizures. Furthermore, the binding was studied at the long-term stage, 28 days after the last generalized tonic-clonic seizure (Racine R. J. (1972) Electroenceph. din. Neurophysiol. 32, 281-2941. The binding was investigated at three (35S)t-butyl- bicyclophosphorothionate concentrations, 4, 47.5 (&, value) and 180 nM (B,,,_ value). A significant decrease in (35S)t-butylbicyclophosphorothionate binding in the CA1 area ( - 6 to - 20%) and hilar formation (- 17 to - 37%), in one or more of the three (35S)t-butylbicyclophosphorothionate concentrations tested at the six and 14 afterdischarges and fully kindled stages was observed, but no significant changes at the long-term kindling stage were found. In contrast, the granular and molecular layers of the fascia dentata presented a significant increase in (35S)t-butylbicyclophosphorothionate binding (+ 15 to +38%) at the 14 afterdischarges, fully kindled and long-term kindled stages. These changes in r5S)t-butylbicyclophosphorothionate binding are in line with the previously observed changes in the (3H)muscimol lTitulaer M. N. G. et al. (1993) Neuroscience 59, 817-826 and ('Hlfluni- trazepam pitulaer M. N. G. et al. (submitted)) binding, indicating that Schaffer collateral kindling stimulation is accompanied by changes of all three main GABA, receptor binding sites: (i) the "cage" convulsant site associated with the chloride channel, (ii) the GABA, agonist binding site and (iii) the benzodiazepine receptor agonist binding site. We hypothesize that this modification of GABA,/ benzodiazepine receptor complex binding may underlie the changes in GABA-mediated inhibition in the kindled rat hippocampus, as previously indicated in el&rophysiological studies, (Kamphuis W. et al. (1988) Brain Rex 440,2052151, consequently contributing to the establishment of a kindling stimulation induced epileptogenic focus.
Dispute resolution and e-government

Dispute resolution is a core governmental activity and one that occurs not only in courts but in almost all administrative and regulatory agencies. At times, a government agency will be a party to a dispute and at other times the agency will attempt to resolve conflicts between citizens, businesses or groups. As more governmental processes go online, there is a clear need for dispute resolution processes and procedures that are also online and that are transparent, efficient and effective. This panel will explore current progress in government-based online dispute resolution.
Electrodeposition of solar silicon

Abstract A review is presented of experimental data on the electrodeposition of silicon from molten salt and organic solutions, with emphasis on studies reported in the last three years. The potential of this method for photovoltaic applications is considered. Electrodeposition of silicon at temperatures above its melting point is a promising method of producing inexpensive silicon to be recrystallized by pulling or casting crystals. Deposition of layers onto graphite by electrowinning or electrorefining requires a relatively slow deposition rate but has the advantage of eliminating several processing steps.
Impact of reconfiguration characteristics for capacity investment strategies in manufacturing systems

Abstract The increasing frequency of new product introductions force today's companies to continuously upgrade their production capacities. The frequent revision of production capacities and the capacity loss during the reconfiguration period increase the importance of ramp up duration in evaluating capacity investments. This paper aims to explore how a firm should optimally allocate its capacity investments among dedicated manufacturing systems (DMSs), flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) and reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) considering the capacity evolution in ramp up period. The proposed model addresses a firm making multiple products for which demand is deterministic and has a specific life cycle. Furthermore, the duration of reconfiguration period is modeled as a function of the amount of capacity change.
My first 50 years of orthopaedic surgery.

My career has spanned not only one half century but, more specifically and more importantly, the most spectacular half century in the history of medicine. After World War II, an astonishing confluence of remarkable resources created a unique environment for progress in medicine that had never occurred before. These resources included the flowering of scientific capabilities and personnel in remarkable ways, the influx of massive funding for patient care and research, and a social environment that placed major emphasis on medicine in Western civilization.
Exploring the benefits of using redundant responses in crowdsourced evaluations

Crowd sourcing can be an efficient and cost-effective way to evaluate software engineering research, particularly when the evaluation can be broken down into small, independent tasks. In prior work, we crowd sourced evaluations for a refactoring technique for web mashups and for a source code search engine, both using Amazon's Mechanical Turk. In the refactoring study, preference information was gathered when comparing a refactored with an unrefactored pipe, in addition to a free-text justification. In the code search study, information was gathered about whether a code snippet was relevant to a programming task and why. In both studies, we used redundant metrics and gathered quantitative and qualitative data in an effort to control response quality. Our prior work only analyzed the quantitative results. In this work, we explore the value of using such redundant metrics in crowd sourced evaluations. We code the free-text responses to unveil common themes among the responses and then compare those themes with the quantitative results. Our findings indicate high similarity between the quantitative and free-text responses, that the quantitative results are sometimes more positive than the free-text response, and that some of the qualitative responses point to potential inadequacies with the quantitative questions from the studies.
Immunophenotypical Switch versus Tumor Heterogeneity in a Patient with HIV-Associated Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

Patients with HIV/AIDS have a higher risk of developing aggressive B-cell lymphomas, such as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Lymphomas are rather heterogeneous in nature and in a few cases can switch their genetic or immunohistochemical phenotype, transform into other lymphomas or carry more than one malignant clone. In this report, we present the case of a 47-year-old man with HIV infection who was diagnosed with an apparent low-risk, early-stage DLBCL, but became refractory to therapy while undergoing treatment with rituximab-containing chemotherapy. We postulate that the development of his refractory disease occurred in the context of an immunohistochemical switch or the surge of a clone refractory to therapy. This phenomenon was not associated with a superinfection with EBV or HHV-8.
Optically enhanced blood-brain-barrier crossing of plasmonic-active nanoparticles in preclinical brain tumor animal models

Nanotechnology provides tremendous biomedical opportunities for cancer diagnosis, imaging, and therapy. In contrast to conventional chemotherapeutic agents where their actual target delivery cannot be easily imaged, integrating imaging and therapeutic properties into one platform facilitates the understanding of pharmacokinetic profiles, and enables monitoring of the therapeutic process in each individual. Such a concept dubbed “theranostics” potentiates translational research and improves precision medicine. One particular challenging application of theranostics involves imaging and controlled delivery of nanoplatforms across blood-brain-barrier (BBB) into brain tissues. Typically, the BBB hinders paracellular flux of drug molecules into brain parenchyma. BBB disrupting agents (e.g. mannitol, focused ultrasound), however, suffer from poor spatial confinement. It has been a challenge to design a nanoplatform not only acts as a contrast agent but also improves the BBB permeation. In this study, we demonstrated the feasibility of plasmonic gold nanoparticles as both high-resolution optical contrast agent and focalized tumor BBB permeation-inducing agent. We specifically examined the microscopic distribution of nanoparticles in tumor brain animal models. We observed that most nanoparticles accumulated at the tumor periphery or perivascular spaces. Nanoparticles were present in both endothelial cells and interstitial matrices. This study also demonstrated a novel photothermal-induced BBB permeation. Fine-tuning the irradiating energy induced gentle disruption of the vascular integrity, causing short-term extravasation of nanomaterials but without hemorrhage. We conclude that our gold nanoparticles are a powerful biocompatible contrast agent capable of inducing focal BBB permeation, and therefore envision a strong potential of plasmonic gold nanoparticle in future brain tumor imaging and therapy.
Protein-tyrosine Phosphatase SHP-1 Is Dispensable for FcγRIIB-mediated Inhibition of B Cell Antigen Receptor Activation

The inhibitory Fc receptor, FcγRIIB, provides a signal that aborts B cell antigen receptor activation, blocking extracellular calcium influx. Because the protein-tyrosine phosphatase SHP-1 binds tyrosyl phosphorylated FcγRIIB and FcγRIIB-mediated inhibition is defective in motheaten (me/me) mice, which do not express SHP-1, it was proposed that SHP-1 mediates FcγRIIB signaling in B cells (D'Ambrosio, D., Hippen, K. L., Minskoff, S. A., Mellman, I., Pani, G., Siminovitch, K. A., and Cambier, J. C. (1995) Science 268, 293–297). However, SHP-1 is dispensable for FcγRIIB-mediated inhibition of FceRI signaling in mast cells (Ono, M., Bolland, S., Tempst, P., and Ravetch, J. V. (1996) Nature 383, 263–266), prompting us to re-examine the role of SHP-1 in FcγRIIB signaling in B cells. We generated immortalized sIgM+, FcγRIIB+ cell lines fromme/me mice and normal littermates. Co-ligation of FcγRIIB and the sIgM antigen receptor inhibits calcium influx in both cell lines. Inhibition is reversed by preincubation with anti-FcγRIIB antibodies, indicating that it is mediated by FcγRIIB. The inositol 5′ phosphatase SHIP is recruited to tyrosyl-phosphorylated FcγRIIB in both cell lines. FcγRIIB-mediated CD19 dephosphorylation also occurs in the presence or the absence of SHP-1. Our results establish that SHP-1 is dispensable for FcγRIIB-mediated inhibition of sIgM antigen receptor signaling.
Molecular characterization of the tumor microenvironment in breast cancer

Here we describe the comprehensive gene expression profiles of each cell type composing normal breast tissue and in situ and invasive breast carcinomas using serial analysis of gene expression. Based on these data, we determined that extensive gene expression changes occur in all cell types during cancer progression and that a significant fraction of altered genes encode secreted proteins and receptors. Despite the dramatic gene expression changes in all cell types, genetic alterations were detected only in cancer epithelial cells. The CXCL14 and CXCL12 chemokines overexpressed in tumor myoepithelial cells and myofibroblasts, respectively, bind to receptors on epithelial cells and enhance their proliferation, migration, and invasion. Thus, chemokines may play a role in breast tumorigenesis by acting as paracrine factors.
Federal Grants To the States Who Governs

The nature of the American federal system has changed dramatically during the 20th century. The traditional view of the American system as a "layer cake" was replaced with a "marble cake" representation. In the 1960's and 1970's a metaphoric "picket fence" was constructed to better describe relations between governments. However, little empirical study has tested the accuracy of this widely accepted explanation of intergovernmental relations. This article assesses the adequacy of the "picket fence model" and suggests that state agencies are relatively autonomous decision-making units-operating much like private businesses with little oversight by state or federal officials. Therefore, a regulatory model is proposed as a more realistic representation of the intergovernmental system.
Characteristics of 100 consecutive patients presenting with orthostatic hypotension.

OBJECTIVE To elucidate the demographic and clinical characteristics of a consecutive series of patients who presented for evaluation of orthostatic hypotension. PATIENTS AND METHODS From January 1, 1997, through September 30, 2001, we assessed retrospectively the demographic and clinical characteristics, antihypertensive medication use, and blood pressure variability in 100 consecutive patients with orthostatic hypotension who underwent 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (OH group) and in a convenience sample of 100 age-matched patients who underwent 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring for evaluation of hypertension (HTN group). RESULTS The OH group had a mean ± SD age of 71.6±9.4 years, and 42% were women. The most common symptoms were light-headedness and weakness. Comorbid conditions included neurologic diseases (38%), preexisting hypertension (36%), hyperlipidemia (31%), cardiac arrhythmias and coronary artery disease (45%), and neoplasm (28%). During ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, postprandial decreases in blood pressure were noted in 83% of the OH group, supine or sleep hypertension in 84%, and noncompensatory heart rate variability in 75%. Findings on autonomic testing were abnormal in 99% of patients, serum creatinine value was increased in 30%, proteinuria was present in 27%, and left ventricular hypertrophy was present in 20%. CONCLUSIONS Orthostatic hypotension is present in a heterogeneous group of disease states, is usually symptomatic, and is often associated with an abnormal blood pressure profile of reversal of circadian pattern, postprandial hypotension, and noncompensatory heart rate variability. Consequent target organ (kidney) damage can be as frequent as in patients who undergo 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring for evaluation of hypertension.
Development of a simulator to investigate pilot decision making in free flight

In response to the deterioration of ATC technology, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has initiated a program of study to determine the implications of a distributed control structure, 'free-flight', in which pilots would be given authority for navigation and routing decisions. This paper discusses a simulator developed to define constraints on safe and effective pilot decision-making in the proposed 'free-flight' structure. The simulator's design goals were the detailed reproduction of cockpit navigation displays, real-time updating of airspace information, and the flexibility to support dynamic manipulations of the environment. The simulator is housed in the fuselage of a single engine aircraft and supports modern glass-cockpit instrumentation including a primary flight display, a navigation display with proximity warning system, a flight management system display with keyboard input device, and numerous control switches. Unique software abilities includes data collection, data analysis, and data playback. A console control workstation also allows the dynamic manipulation of drone aircraft in simulated air traffic scenarios. At runtime the simulator captures pilot control actions and the location of all traffic.© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Light diffraction: studies on striated muscle

Abstract Through the use of light diffraction the average length of sarcomeres in a region of striated muscle can be rapidly and accurately determined. Changes in sarcomere length accompanying shortening or those occurring during an isometric tetanus can be precisely resolved.