cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Influenza Vaccines: From Surveillance Through Production to Protection

Influenza is an important contributor to population and individual morbidity and mortality. The current influenza pandemic with novel H1N1 has highlighted the need for health care professionals to better understand the processes involved in creating influenza vaccines, both for pandemic as well as for seasonal influenza. This review presents an overview of influenza-related topics to help meet this need and includes a discussion of the burden of disease, virology, epidemiology, viral surveillance, and vaccine strain selection. We then present an overview of influenza vaccine—related topics, including vaccine production, vaccine efficacy and effectiveness, influenza vaccine misperceptions, and populations that are recommended to receive vaccination. English-language articles in PubMed published between January 1, 1970, and October 7, 2009, were searched using key words human influenza, influenza vaccines, influenza A, and influenza B.
A protein containing conserved RNA-recognition motifs is associated with ribosomal subunits in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract Using PCR cloning techniques, we have isolated a Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene encoding a protein that contains two highly conserved RNA-recognition motifs. This gene, designated RNP1, encodes an acidic protein that is similar in sequence to a variety of previously isolated RNA binding proteins, including nucleolin, poly (A) binding protein, and small nuclear ribonucleoproteins. The RNP1 gene maps to the left arm of chromosome XIV centromere distal to SUF10. Haploid yeast containing a null allele of RNP1 are viable, indicating that RNP1 is dispensible for mitotic growth. However genomic Southern blot analysis indicated that several other loci in the S. cerevisiae genome appear to contain sequences similar to those in the RNP1 gene. The majority of the Rnp1 protein is cytoplasmic. Extra copies of RNP1 cause a decrease in levels of 80S monoribosomes. A fraction of Rnp1 protein cosediments on sucrose gradients with 40S and 60S ribosomal subunits and 80S monosomes, but not with polyribosomes.
A COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE “TOOTHKEEPER’ AND A TRADITIONAL DENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAM

A study was made of the effectiveness of two dental health education programs in an elementary school in Flint, Michigan. Following stratification by grades, random assignments of students were made by classrooms to either the Toothkeeper group or a "Traditional" group. No control groups were employed. Separate in-service training workshops were attended by the classroom teachers according to the education program to which they had been randomly assigned. An intensive 16-week program was conducted by the classroom teachers following the guidelines of the two programs. Dental examinations which included an assessment of plaque and gingivitis scores were conducted on all participants at baseline, at the end of 16 weeks, and at the conclusion of the school year, some seven months after the initiation of the program. Only minimal reductions in plaque scores were observed with either program and little comparative difference was found in the two programs at the end of the evaluation period. The Toothkeeper group experienced a somewhat greater reduction in plaque scores than the "Traditional" group during the intensive 16-week phase of the study, but these scores worsened from this time to the end of the school year. Gingivitis scores demonstrated more improvement than the reductions in plaque scores would indicate and may be related to the confounding factor of large numbers of children receiving dental treatment, especially prophylaxes during the course of this study. Differences in reductions in gingivitis between the two programs were not meaningful clinically.
Partial splenic embolization for hypersplenism before and after liver transplantation

Partial splenic embolization (PSE) has been demonstrated to be an effective alternative to splenectomy for patients with hypersplenism. Splenectomy in these patients can be associated with an increased risk of perioperative complications, overwhelming post-splenectomy sepsis (OPSS) and mortality. Partial splenic embolization has the advantages of non-operative intervention and resolution of the complications of hypersplenism. We report the use of this technique in patients with portal hypertension and hypersplenism awaiting liver transplant and patients that have undergone othotopic liver transplantation (OLTx) with persistent hypersplenism post-transplant. Six patients - three awaiting liver transplantation and three patients with persistent hypersplenism status post-OLTx - were treated during the period of 1993-99 at the LSUHSC/Willis Knighton Regional Transplant Center in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three patients were male and three female. All six patients had concomitant thrombocytopenia and neutropenia with platelet counts below 50 000. Patients underwent selective arterial catheterization and embolization via a percutaneous approach with Cook microcoils or PVA particles. The lower pole of the spleen was selectively embolized in all patients to achieve a 30-50% reduction in flow as determined by angiography. Patients were followed with routine computed tomography (CT) scans, platelet and WBC counts for a mean of 26 months in the pre-transplant and 37 months in the post-transplant group. In both groups, all patients had persistent resolution of thrombocytopenia and neutropenia after embolization. In the post-transplant group, one patient had persistent splenomegaly and required splenectomy for pain control. No procedure-related complications occurred in any patient. In this limited review, PSE appears to be a safe and effective treatment of persistent hypersplenism in patients with portal hypertension and those who have undergone OLTx.
Optical coupling mechanisms in quantum well infrared photodetectors

Light coupling systems, such as gratings are required because quantum well infrared photodetectors do not respond to normal incident light due to the quantum mechanical selection rules associated with intersubband transitions. The resolution of the photolithography and accuracy of the etching become key issues in producing smaller grating features sizes especially in shorter wavelengths. An enhancement factor of three due to 2D periodic grating fabricated on a QWIP structure was observed. Variation of the enhancement factor with groove depth and feature size of the grating can be theoretically explained.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Student and Principal Perceptions of School Tobacco Policy

Abstract Background: Enforcement of no-tobacco policies is critical to providing a safe, healthy environment for students. Purpose: The purposes of the study were to: (1) describe and compare student and principal perceptions of enforcement of school tobacco policy in a school district with a tobacco-free policy, and (2) explore perceived barriers to enforcement and factors related to enforcement beliefs and perception of smoking. Methods: Students (N = 774) in five high schools in a southeastern city completed a survey. Administrators from those schools were interviewed. Results: Student and principal perceptions varied dramatically concerning tobacco policy enforcement. Only 8% of students said students followed the rules about smoking all/most of the time. Many students reported problems with secondhand smoke. The percentage of smokers was overestimated by nearly three-quarters of students (73%). Predictors of beliefs about number of tobacco rules were: smoking status, number of places students were se...
Testing on the Common Mean of Normal Distributions Using Bayesian Method

Meta-analysis is performing statistical analysis utilizing results from multiple sources. An application of meta-analysis is inference on a common mean when independent random samples are available from different normal populations with unknown and possibly unequal variances. This is an extension of the classical Behrens–Fisher problem. Chang and Pal [Testing on the common mean of several normal distributions, Comput. Statist. Data Anal. 53 (2008), pp. 321–333] described several methods that can be used to test hypotheses concerning this common mean. They proposed four methods which are the likelihood ratio test, two tests based on the Graybill-Deal estimator of the common mean, and a parametric bootstrap test based on the maximum-likelihood estimator. This paper proposes several Bayesian procedures to test the hypotheses of interest. Simulation studies investigating the size, power, and robustness of the new tests as well as the tests in Chang and Pal [1] are performed and discussed. Some of the results ...
Directional wave data during ARSLOE using side looking airborne radar

The Atlantic Remote Sensing Land Ocean Experiment (ARSLOE) held 6 October to 30 November 1980 near Duck, North Carolina, provided a large data base of wave measurements for wave sensor intercomparison. The primary experiment site was a 30 by 36 kilometer rectangle centered on the CERC Field Research Facility and extending from the shore to a depth of about 40 meters. Three Side Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR) data sets during a major storm were compared with a directional buoy and show general wave directional agreement.
Improving contact resistance in MoS 2 field effect transistors

MoS 2 is a material of interest for two-dimensional (2D) field effect transistors (FETs) [1-3], however contact resistance (R c ) remains a key limiting factor. Here we present a systematic study of contact resistance to MoS 2 using various metals with different deposition conditions, compared to detailed simulations. We find that decreasing the metal deposition pressure improves the metal-MoS2 interface and brings R c for Au contacts to <;1 kΩ-μm, which is lower than previous reports with Ni, Sc, or Au [1,4]. Comparison to simulations suggest that while the contact resistivity is reasonably good (ρc ≈ 5·10 -7 Ω·cm 2 ), the lateral access resistance limits Rc in MoS 2 FETs. This study is crucial for scalability of MoS 2 devices, also suggesting methods to further improve Rc.
Penetration of the electric and magnetic velocity fields of a nonrelativistic point charge into a conducting plane

The electric and magnetic fields of a point charge moving with constant velocity outside and parallel to a conducting wall of finite conductivity are studied within classical electrodynamics for a nonrelativistic particle and a good conductor. Results are obtained through first order in the particle velocity for a wall with permeability $\ensuremath{\mu}=1$, dielectric constant $\ensuremath{\epsilon}=1$, and resistivity $\ensuremath{\eta}$. Calculations show the following: (i) There is no skin-depth behavior for the fields $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{E}$ or $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{B}$ or for the currents $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{J}}$ inside the conductor. (ii) The fields $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{B}$ and $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{E}$ fall off with distance as ${r}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ and ${r}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$, respectively, inside the conductor. (iii) The magnetic field $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{B}$ and the current density $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{J}}$ inside the conductor are independent of the resistivity $\ensuremath{\eta}$, although the electric field $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{E}$ inside the conductor is suppressed by a factor of $\ensuremath{\eta}$. (iv) In the limit of many point charges moving so as to form a steady current outside the conductor, the magnetic field $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{B}$ penetrates the conductor as though it were not present while the electric field $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{E}$ and current density $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{J}}$ vanish inside the conductor. The results obtained here are quite different from those of the familiar calculations involving radiation fields where the penetration depth and the size of the fields inside the conductor are governed by the resistivity. The new results run contrary to the expectations of some physicists and contradict some earlier work in the literature. The calculations arose in connection with the Aharonov-Bohm effect where electrons moving with approximately constant velocity pass very close to a conducting solenoid.
Meta-representation: an introduction

Abstract This paper presents an introduction to Project MaRC. The goal of Project MaRC is to study, in very broad terms, what students know about scientific representations and what is possible for them to learn. We use the term meta-representational competence (MRC) to describe the full range of capabilities that students (and others) have concerning the construction and use of external representations. As part of our project, we are engaging in an analysis of the nature of MRC, and we have begun to explore instructional implications. This introductory paper provides an overview of that work, including its goals and results, and it also provides an introduction to the four following papers in the issue.
Recent Bereavement from Suicide and Other Deaths: Can People Imagine It As It Really Is?

To assess whether nonbereaved people could accurately imagine the experience of recent bereavement, especially following different causes of death, ninety-two undergraduates (36 men, 56 women), hal...
Wellness of Counselor Educators: An Initial Look

This study with 180 counselor educators showed that, overall, educators appeared to have high levels of wellness. However, differences related to academic rank, children in the home, gender, and marital status were found. Perceived stress and number of children were found to have a negative impact on wellness. Implications for wellness are discussed.
Framework For A Multi-Level Evolutionary Algorithm For Construction Optimization.

In large-scale non-linear construction optimization problems, the capability of an algorithm to find the optimal solution is usually limited by the inability to evaluate the effect of change in the value of each decision variable on the overall outcome of the objective function. Current optimization algorithms evaluate the quality of generated solutions based only on the value of fitness/objective function. As such, these algorithms are limited in their ability to robustly reach optimal solutions. This paper presents a framework for an innovative evolutionary algorithm that mimics the behavior of electrons moving through electric circuit branches with the least resistance. In the proposed algorithm, solutions are evaluated on two levels: a global level against the objective function; and a local level by evaluating the potential of the generated value for each decision variable. This paper presents (1) the philosophy behind this work; (2) the concept adopted in developing the algorithm; and (3) the basic steps of the algorithm. The new algorithm is expected to enhance the optimization of complex large-scale optimization problems.
Vitamin B-12 and Folate Status in Relation to Decline in Scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination in the Framingham Heart Study

Objectives: To investigate the cognitive significance of low to low-normal plasma vitamin B-12 concentrations and to shed light on the role that folate status plays in the association between vitamin B-12 status and cognitive decline. Design: Associations between plasma vitamin B-12 and folate and 8-year cognitive decline were evaluated, and the effects of interactions between vitamin B-12 status and folate status and supplemental folate use on cognitive decline were assessed. Setting: The Framingham Heart Study ? a prospective epidemiological study. Participants: Five hundred forty-nine community-dwelling individuals aged 74.8 ± 4.6. Measurements: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), plasma folate, vitamin B-12, methylmalonic acid, homocysteine, demographic factors, and body mass index. Results: MMSE scores declined by 0.24 points per year over the 8-year follow-up period. Decline was significantly faster in cohort members in the bottom two plasma vitamin B-12 quintile categories, and no apparent cognitive advantage was associated with plasma vitamin B-12 from 187 to 256.8 pmol/L over less than 186 pmol/L. In cohort members with plasma vitamin B-12 less than 258 pmol/L, having a plasma folate concentration greater than 20.2 nmol/L was associated with an approximate 1-point per year decline, as was use of supplemental folate. Conclusion: Plasma vitamin B-12 levels from 187 to 256.8 pmol/L predict cognitive decline. Furthermore, having plasma vitamin B-12 levels in this range or below in conjunction with high plasma folate or supplemental folate use predicts especially rapid cognitive decline.
Four hundred years of instinct controversy.

Most issues of the instinct controversy were defined in the seventeenth century. Eighteenth-century French enlightenment was vigorous in rejecting the instinct concept but Reimarus demonstrated its validity. The advance of natural theology, and later of Darwinism, led to wide acceptance of instinct in the nineteenth century, but the twentieth witnessed a revival of anti-instinct attitudes on the eighteenth-century model. Extraneous influences still impede recognition of scientific evidence for the importance of innately determined behavior.
New NMR probe designs for neonatal, immature and adult heart research. With a brief review.

We present three new radiofrequency probes for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) research with perfused rabbit hearts at different maturational ages. The objective of the double-tunable, cylindrical-window probe design was to achieve a highly homogeneous magnetic field throughout the 16, 25 or 30 mm diameter usaole volume for consistency of comparison of measurements obtained from neonate, immature and adult rabbit hearts, respectively. This probe design tunes to 23-Sodium for rapid shimming and then, to 31-Phosphorus for measurements of pH and high energy phosphate metabolites. All three probes yielded excellent signal-to-noise ratios and radiofrequency operating characteristics. We introduce these new probes here in the context of a brief review of other state-of-the-art designs for in vitro and in vivo cardiovascular research.
Three-dimensional measurements of traveling ionospheric disturbances with the Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar

[1] In this paper, we present results from the Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar (AMISR) installed at the Poker Flat Research Range near Fairbanks, Alaska, the Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar (PFISR), that focus on the ability of the system to make three-dimensional, simultaneous measurements of ionospheric parameters. We present observations from PFISR where we were able to resolve the three components of the k vector of a traveling ionospheric disturbance (TID), as well as the period. These measurements give insight into the atmospheric gravity wave (AGW)-TID relationship, allowing us to apply a recently developed dispersion relation for AGWs that includes the role of kinematic viscosity and thermal diffusivity, important effects in the upper atmosphere, without assumptions about horizontal wavelengths. The analysis indicates that for this particular case, the wave must have been propagating against a background wind of ∼125 m/s. PFISR will be a powerful tool for studying the sources and propagation of waves in the upper atmosphere.
The 100-mile run: preparation, performance, and recovery: A case report

This study analyzed the training methods and racing techniques of 12 athletes who have completed 100-mile runs. It showed that use of aspirin during the race can be dangerous if the run takes place in hot weather. No other consistent correlation was evident, however, between the variables examined and the finishing times. The findings suggest that an average marathoner can finish the 100-mile run without modifying his training program.
Intraparenchymal vs extracranial ventricular drain intracranial pressure monitors in traumatic brain injury: less is more?

Background Management of severe traumatic brain injury has centered on continuous intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring with intraparenchymal ICP monitors (IPM) or extracranial ventricular drains (EVD). Our hypothesis was that neurologic outcomes are unaffected by the type of ICP monitoring device. Study Design We reviewed 377 adult patients with traumatic brain injury requiring ICP monitoring. Primary outcome was Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) 1 month after injury. Secondary outcomes included mortality, monitoring-related complications, and length of ICU and hospital stay. Results There were 253 patients managed with an IPM and 124 with an EVD. There was no difference in Glasgow Outcome Score (2.7 ± 1.3 vs 2.5 ± 1.3, p=0.45), mortality (30.9% vs 32.2%, p=0.82), and hospital length of stay (LOS) (15.6 ± 12.4 days vs 16.4 ± 10.7 days, p=0.57). Device-related complications (11.9% vs 31.1%, p Conclusions Use of EVDs in adult traumatic brain injury patients is associated with prolonged ICP monitoring, ICU LOS, and more frequent device-related complications.
Raphe magnus stimulation-induced antinociception in the cat is associated with release of amino acids as well as serotonin in the lumbar dorsal horn

Stimulation in the nucleus raphe magnus (NRM) inhibits transmission of nociceptive information within the spinal cord through activation of bulbospinal pathways. This study used microdialysis in combination with high pressure liquid chromatography to measure the release of serotonin (5HT) and several amino acids, including glutamate, aspartate and glycine, from the lumbar dorsal horn during electrical stimulation within the NRM in the alpha-chloralose anesthetized cat. Observed release of putative neurotransmitters was correlated with inhibition of nociceptive projection neurons recorded from sites within 800 microns rostral or caudal to the dialysis fiber. NRM stimulus parameters considered to preferentially activate myelinated fibers caused inhibition of nociceptive evoked activity, and increased the release of excitatory amino acids and glycine within the spinal cord, with no detectable release of 5HT. When pulse widths were lengthened and unmyelinated fibers were also activated, increases in 5HT in the spinal dialysate were observed as well. Strychnine administered through the dialysis fiber (0.02-1 mM) antagonized NRM-induced inhibition when 5HT release was not detected. Inhibition produced by stimulation that increased 5HT concentrations was relatively strychnine resistant. These results point to a raphe-spinal inhibitory pathway that is not dependent on 5HT, the activation of which results in the spinal release of glycine.
Azido Push−Pull Fluorogens Photoactivate to Produce Bright Fluorescent Labels†

Dark azido push-pull chromophores have the ability to be photoactivated to produce bright fluorescent labels suitable for single-molecule imaging. Upon illumination, the aryl azide functionality in the fluorogens participates in a photochemical conversion to an aryl amine, thus restoring charge-transfer absorption and fluorescence. Previously, we reported that one compound, DCDHF-V-P-azide, was photoactivatable. Here, we demonstrate that the azide-to-amine photoactivation process is generally applicable to a variety of push-pull chromophores, and we characterize the photophysical parameters including photoconversion quantum yield, photostability, and turn-on ratio. Azido push-pull fluorogens provide a new class of photoactivatable single-molecule probes for fluorescent labeling and super-resolution microscopy. Lastly, we demonstrate that photoactivated push-pull dyes can insert into bonds of nearby biomolecules, simultaneously forming a covalent bond and becoming fluorescent (fluorogenic photoaffinity labeling).
Minor and trace elements in some meteoritic minerals

Despite the information available (Mason, 1971) on trace elements in different types of meteorites, relatively little is known about the distribution of these elements among the individual mineral phases. The mineral phases including olivine, orthopyroxene, clinipyroxene, troilite, nickel-iron, plagioclase, chromite, and the phosphates were separated from several meteorites. The purified minerals were analyzed for trace and minor elements by spark source mass spectrometry and instrumental neutron activation analysis. The elements are classified as siderophile, lithophile, and chalcophile.
Infrared spectroscopy of CH4, CH2D2 and CD4 adsorbed on sodium chloride films

Abstract The structure and properties of CH4, CH2D2 and CD4 adsorbed on NaCl films are explored through adsorption isotherms and infrared spectroscopy. The heat of adsorption is found to be 13 ± 1 kJ mol−1. Disordered and ordered phases in adsorbed methane are revealed by their IR spectra. The ordered phase consists of methane locked into a site of C6 symmetry on a monolayer over the NaCl (100) surface of the crystallites making up the film. Rotational freedom is restricted, and the ν3 and ν4 degeneracies of CH4 and CD4 are partially lifted with relatively sharp features produced. The disordered phase giving rise to diffuse bands is characterized by hindered rotation of methane in multilayers. For CH2D2, the ordered phase results in conformers which can be distinguished in the infrared spectra. Comparisons are made between alkali halide film spectroscopy and matrix isolation spectroscopy for the methanes. We show that the two techniques are complementary and film methods like matrix isolation may find use in the future for the study of interesting molecules.
On the constructive solution of nonlinear functional equations

In the recent development of the theory of nonlinear operators in Banach spaces, a number of general existence theorems have been established for various classes of mappings by the use of compactness, convexity, or topological arguments that do not give a constructive procedure for the generation of the solutions thus proved to exist. Even in cases when the solutions are unique and one obtains them as limits of a precisely determined sequence of approximants, they often fail to satisfy an important and useful principle of constructivity in that the procedures have no effective control provided for the error at each state of the approximation. This is particularly the case for the Galerkin approximations used in the theory of operators of monotone type and for various fixed-point methods used in the theory of nonlinear accretive operators. About a decade ago, the writer developed existence results which satisfied these principles of constructivity for the case of a broad class of continuous monotone mappings in Hilbert spaces, and more generally, for continuous accretive mappings in Banach spaces X whose conjugate spaces X* are uniformly convex. These results were stated in the rather inaccessible paper [l] and developed in detail in the middle of a lengthy treatment of accretive operators in the writer’s paper [2]. It is our object here to develop these results explicitly and in detail in connection with the problem of constructivity. Our renewed interest in this question was stimulated by the recent paper by Bruck [3], who has developed an iteration procedure to obtain the solution of the equation (I + T)(u) = 0 for a continuous, bounded monotone operator T on a Hilbert space H with explicit control of the error. Bruck’s result has the curious feature that it depends on the assumption of the prior existence of the solution. Although the procedure we give is not an iteration procedure it corresponds to a simpler intuitive picture of the situation in the general context of accretive operators and the error control does not depend upon the assumption of the existence of a solution.
A new hierarchical technique for the multiscale modeling of carbon nanostructures

We present a new hierarchical modeling technique called the Consistent Atomic-scale Finite Element (CAFE) method [1]. Unlike traditional approaches for linking the atomic structure to its equivalent continuum [2-7], this method directly connects the atomic degrees of freedom to a reduced set of finite element degrees of freedom without passing through an intermediate homogenized continuum. As a result, there is no need to introduce stress and strain measures at the atomic level. This technique partitions atoms to masters and salves and reduces the total number of degrees of freedom by establishing kinematic constraints between them [5-6]. The Tersoff-Brenner interatomic potential [8] is used to calculate the consistent tangent stiffness matrix of the structure. In this finite element formulation, all local and non-local interactions between carbon atoms are taken into account using overlapping finite elements (Figure 1b). In addition, a consistent hierarchical finite element modeling technique is developed for adaptively coarsening and refining the mesh over different parts of the model (Figure 2a, 2b). The stiffness of higher-rank elements is approximated using the stiffness of lower-rank elements and kinematic constraints. This process is consistent with the underlying atomic structure and, by refining the mesh, molecular dynamic results will be recovered. This method is valid across the scales and can be used to concurrently model atomistic and continuum phenomena so, in contrast with most other multiscale methods [4-7], there is no need to introduce artificial boundaries for coupling atomistic and continuum regions. Effect of the length scale of the nanostructure is also included in the model by building the hierarchy of elements from bottom up using a finite size atom cluster as the building block (Figures 2a, 2b). In this method by introducing two independent field variables, the so-called inner displacement is taken into account (Fig. 3b). Applicability of the method is shown with several examples of deformation of carbon nanostructures such as graphene sheet, nanotube, and nanocone, subjected to different loads and boundary conditions.Copyright © 2005 by ASME
Feeding and drinking elicited by central injection of neuropeptide Y: Evidence for a hypothalamic site(s) of action

Neuropeptide Y (NPY), which exists in very high concentrations in the brain, has been shown to elicit a powerful feeding response and a small drinking response in satiated rats. In order to delineate the brain sites sensitive to these effects, NPY was injected through chronic guide cannulas into seven different brain regions, and the food and water intake of satiated rats was measured one hr postinjection. Injection of NPY (78 pmoles) into hypothalamic areas, namely the paraventricular nucleus (PVN), ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH), and lateral hypothalamus (LH), elicited a strong feeding response; in contrast, injections into extra-hypothalamic areas, namely the amygdala, thalamus, and periaqueductal gray, were completely ineffective. Administration of NPY into the PVN and VMH also elicited a small drinking response; however, all other areas, including the LH, were insensitive to this effect. The findings that NPY was effective in the hypothalamus, as opposed to sites anterior, posterior, lateral or dorsal to this structure, suggest a hypothalamic site(s) of action for this neuropeptide.
Effects of Maternal Ingestion of Aroclor 1254 (PCB) on the Developmental Pattern of Oxygen Consumption and Body Temperature in Neonatal Rats

Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) is an environmental pollutant that has been implicated in depression of reproductive success in Great Lakes gulls, production of congenital deformities in humans, and increased incidence of carcinogenesis in laboratory mice. PCB has also been shown to be a thyrotoxin in both adult and developing animals. Most recently, the hypothyroid effects of PCB exposure have been reported to elicit effects similar to those of hypothyroidism caused by other methods. This study was done to determine the effects of PCB ingestion in pregnant and lactating rats on the development of thermoregulation in neonatal animals. Body temperature and rate of oxygen consumption was evaluated in rat puts on days 4 through 14 after birth. Because the major thermomregulatory hormones are thyroid hormones, thyroid hormone status and thyroid weights were evaluated at the end of the study on postnatal day 15. 19 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.
Influenza and hepatitis B vaccine acceptance: A survey of health care workers

To assist in the nonrequired vaccine program evaluation at Valley Hospital and Medical Center in Spokane, Washington, a survey of all employees (n = 379) was conducted, with a 63.3% return rate. The most common reasons for not accepting influenza vaccine were wish to avoid medications whenever possible (47%, 96/203), concern about getting influenza from the vaccine (45%, 89/199), and concern about severe reactions such as Guillain-Barre syndrome (37%, 73/196). The most common reasons for not accepting hepatitis B vaccine were not enough exposure to hepatitis B to get vaccinated (52%, 57/110), wish to avoid medications whenever possible (44%, 51/117), and concern about side effects (43%, 50/117). Twelve percent (22/177) of the respondents who reported potential exposure identified the belief of "not enough exposure" as a reason to refuse hepatitis B vaccine. It was also noted that health care workers who rejected hepatitis B vaccine indicated that fear of "getting AIDS from the vaccine" did not influence them (96%, 108/113).
Autonomous Objectively Optimized Observing Systems

This paper describes one vision for future Earth observing systems. New in this vision is the desire for symbiotic communication to dynamically guide an Earth observation system. An Earth observation system which is not just a single satellite acting on its own but a constellation of satellites, and sub-orbital platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles, and ground observations interacting with computer systems used for modeling, data analysis and dynamic observation guidance. An autonomous Objectively Optimized Observation Direction System (OOODS) is of great utility for Earth observation. In particular, to have a fleet of smart assets that can be reconfigured based on the changing needs of science and technology. The OOODS integrates a modeling and assimilation system within the sensor web allowing the autonomous scheduling of the chosen assets and the autonomous provision of analyses to users. The OOODS operates on generic principles that could easily be used in configurations other than the specific examples described here. Metrics of what we do not know (state vector uncertainty) are used to define what we need to measure and the required mode, time and location of the observations, i.e. to define in real time the observing system targets. Metrics of how important it is to know this information (information content) are used to assign a priority to each observation. The metrics are passed in real time to the sensor web observation scheduler to implement the observation plan for the next observing cycle. The same system could also be used to reduce the cost and development time in an Observation Sensitivity Simulation Experiment (OSSE) mode for the optimum development of the next generation of space and ground-based observing systems.
Measurement of fluid turbulence based on pulsed ultrasound techniques. Part 1. Analysis

The pulsed ultrasonic Doppler velocimeter has been used extensively in transcutaneous measurement of the velocity of blood in the human body. It would be useful to evaluate turbulent flow with this device in both medical and non-medical applications. However, the complex behaviour and limitations of the pulsed Doppler velocimeter when applied to random flow have not yet been fully investigated.In this study a three-dimensional stochastic model of the pulsed ultrasonic Doppler velocimeter for the case of a highly focused and damped transducer and isotropic turbulence is presented. The analysis predicts the correlation and spectral functions of the Doppler signal and the detected velocity signal. The analysis addresses specifically the considerations and limitations of measuring turbulent intensities and one-dimensional velocity spectra.Results show that the turbulent intensity can be deduced from the broadening of the spectrum of the Doppler signal and a mathematical description of the effective sample-volume directivity.In the measurement of one-dimensional velocity spectra at least two major complicacations are identified and quantified. First, the presence of a time-varying, broad-band random process (the Doppler ambiguity process) obscures the spectrum of the random velocity. This phenomenon is similar to that occurring in laser anemometry, but the ratio of the level of the ambiguity spectrum to the largest detected velocity spectral component can be typically two to three orders of magnitude greater for ultrasonic technique owing to the much greater wavelength.Secondly, the spatial averaging of the velocity field in the sample volume causes attenuation in the measured velocity spectrum. For the ultrasonic velocimeter, this effect is very significant.The influence of the Doppler ambiguity process can be reduced by the use of two sample volumes on the same acoustic beam. The signals from the two sample volumes are cross-correlated, removing the Doppler ambiguity process, while retaining the random velocity. The effects of this technique on the detected velocity spectrum are quantified explicitly in the analysis for the case of a three-dimensional Gaussianshaped sample-volume directivity.
Elevated blood pressure causes larger hematoma in a rat model of intracerebral hemorrhage

Hypertension has been recognized as an independent risk factor for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). The objective of this study was to assess the effect of chronically elevated blood pressure on amount of hematoma in a rat model of ICH. A total of 46 rats were divided into two groups-normotensive group (n = 18) and spontaneously hypertensive group (n = 28). To induce ICH, we delivered 2 μL of collagenase solution (0.1 U/1 μL normal saline) into the striatum. Each animal's brain was removed 24 h post-surgery for spectrophotometric hemoglobin assay. Equal or unequal variance t tests were performed to assess changes in variables between the hypertensive and normotensive groups. Tissue analysis revealed a statistically significant difference in optical density percent change at 540-nm wavelength for the hypertensive vs. the normotensive group (261.47 ± 103.68 and 133.33 ± 58.53, p < 0.0001, respectively). As compared to the normotensive rats, hypertensive rats exhibited a higher neurological deficit, loss of balance and coordination, and loss of motor function. Our results demonstrated that hypertensive rats had significantly higher amounts of hemorrhage in comparison to normotensive ones. These findings support the need for further adequately powered studies to investigate differences in amount of hematoma and corresponding functional impairments due to ICH among hypertensive vs. normotensive rats.
Automatic Abstraction Techniques for Propositional µ-calculus Model Checking

An abstraction/refinement paradigm for the full propositional μ-calculus is presented. No distinction is made between universal or existential fragments. Necessary conditions for conservative verification are provided, along with a fully automatic symbolic model checking abstraction algorithm. The algorithm begins with conservative verification of an initial abstraction. If the conclusion is negative, it derives a “goal set” of states which require further resolution. It then successively refines, with respect to this goal set, the approximations made in the subformulas, until the given formula is verified or computational resources are exhausted.
Effects of temperature variation on the SLC linac RF system

The RF system of the Stanford Linear Collider in California is subjected to daily temperature cycles of up to 15/spl deg/C. This can result in phase variations of 15/spl deg/ at 3 GHz over the 3 km length of the main drive line system. Subsystems show local changes of the order of 3/spl deg/ over 100 meters. When operating with flat beams and normalized emittances of 0.3*10/sup -5/ m-rad in the vertical plane, changes as small as 0.5/spl deg/ perturb the wakefield tail compensation and make continuous tuning necessary. Different approaches to stabilization of the RF phases and amplitudes are discussed.
Improvement of immunomagnetic separation for Escherichia coli O157:H7 detection by the PickPen magnetic particle separation device.

Conventional immunomagnetic separation (IMS) procedures, which use an external magnetic source to capture magnetic particles against the side of a test tube, are labor-intensive and can have poor sensitivity for the target organism because of high background microflora that is not effectively washed away during the IMS process. This report compares the conventional IMS procedure to a new IMS procedure with an intrasolution magnetic particle transfer device, the PickPen. The IMS target for the majority of these studies is Escherichia coli O157:H7 in various types of samples, including cattle feces, hides, carcasses, and ground beef. Comparison of the two IMS methods showed a significant difference (P 0.05) in E. coli O157:H7 detection was observed when the PickPen IMS procedure was used to isolate this pathogen from ground beef samples. Use of the PickPe...
Heavily-melanized variants of the sexual Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici are non-pathogenic and indistinguishable from the asexual, Phialophora state

Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici is the aetiologic agent of take-all disease of wheat and barley. Heavily-melanized variants of a lightly pigmented, virulent wild-type strain were isolated and characterized. These variants were phenotypically similar to Phialophora sp., the proposed anamorph of Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici. Unlike the wild-type G. graminis strain, Phialophora-like variants produced conidia and lost their ability to reproduce sexually after serial transfer. Some ascospores from initial self-crosses of the Phialophora-like variants regained the G. graminis phenotype, and these derivatives could again produce Phialophora-like variants. As with Phialophora isolates from the field, Phialophora-like variants produced in this study were non-pathogenic and produced less extracellular protein.
City Life: Rankings (Livability) Versus Perceptions (Satisfaction)

I investigate the relationship between the popular Mercer city ranking (livability) and survey data (satisfactions). Livability aims to capture objective quality of life such as infrastructure. Survey items capture subjective quality of life such as satisfaction with city. The relationship between objective measures of quality of life and subjective measures is weak (correlation of about 0.4). Trust is highly correlated with both, objective livability (0.8) and subjective satisfaction with city (0.65). I postulate to pay more attention to subjective indicators of quality of life. After all, what matters is what we perceive, not what is out there.
MaxMin allocation via degree lower-bounded arborescences

We consider the problem of MaxMin allocation of indivisible goods. There are m items to be distributed among n players. Each player $i$ has a nonnegative valuation pij for an item j, and the goal is to allocate items to players so as to maximize the minimum total valuation received by each player. There is a large gap in our understanding of this problem. The best known positive result is an ~O(√ n)-approximation algorithm, while there is only a factor 2 hardness known. Better algorithms are known for the restricted assignment case where each item has exactly one nonzero value for the players. We study the effect of bounded degree for items: each item has a nonzero value for at most D players. We show that essentially the case D = 3 is equivalent to the general case, and give a 4-approximation algorithm for D = 2.The current algorithmic results for MaxMin Allocation are based on a complicated LP relaxation called the configuration LP. We present a much simpler LP which is equivalent in power to the configuration LP. We focus on a special case of MaxMin Allocation-a family of instances on which this LP has a polynomially large gap. The technical core of our result for this case comes from an algorithm for an interesting new optimization problem on directed graphs, MaxMinDegree Arborescence, where the goal is to produce an arborescence of large outdegree. We develop an ne-approximation for this problem that runs in nO(1/e) time and obtain a a polylogarithmic approximation that runs in quasipolynomial time, using a lift-and-project inspired LP formulation. In fact, we show that our results imply a rounding algorithm for the relaxations obtained by t rounds of the Sherali-Adams hierarchy applied to a natural LP relaxation of the problem. Roughly speaking, the integrality gap of the relaxation obtained from t rounds of Sherali-Adams is at most n1/t. We are able to extend the latter result to a more general class of instances. Along the way, we prove a result about the existence of a perfect matching in a probabilistically pruned graph which may be of independent interest.
Towards FFT-based direct numerical simulations of turbulent flows on a GPU

The accurate simulation of turbulence and the implementation of corresponding turbulence models are both critical to the understanding of the complex physics behind turbulent flows in a variety of science and engineering applications. Despite the tremendous increase in the computing power of central processing units (CPUs), direct numerical simulation of highly turbulent flows is still not feasible due to the need for resolving the smallest length scale, and today's CPUs cannot keep pace with demand. The recent development of graphics processing units (GPU) has led to the general improvement in the performance of various algorithms. This study investigates the applicability of GPU technology in the context of fast-Fourier transform (FFT)-based pseudo-spectral methods for DNS of turbulent flows for the Taylor–Green vortex problem. They are implemented on a single GPU and a speedup of unto 31x is obtained in comparison to a single CPU.
The Role of Calmodulin in the Regulation of Osteoclastogenesis

Calmodulin plays an important role in regulating the function of mature osteoclasts. However, its role in osteoclastogenesis has not been investigated. In the present study, we examined the role of calmodulin in osteoclastogenesis using in vivo and in vitro systems. Calmodulin antagonists, trifluoperazine (TFP), W7, and tamoxifen, dose-dependently inhibited osteoclast formation, which occurred only in the last 24 h of a 4-d osteoclastogenesis culture using mouse bone marrow macrophages. Inhibitory effects were quantitated by measuring tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase activity and counting osteoclast numbers. In contrast, bis indolylmaleimide, a protein kinase C inhibitor, showed no such inhibitory effect even when applied at a concentration that was 10-fold greater than its IC50. Overexpressing calmodulin by recombinant retrovirus reversed the inhibitory effect of TFP on osteoclast-like differentiation in RAW264.7 cells. Furthermore, administration of TFP to mice was as effective as estrogen in abolishing the ovariectomy-induced increment of osteoclastogenesis as determined by quantitative assessment of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase activity in tibias, which led to the recovery of the ovariectomy-induced decrement in trabecular bone volume. To investigate potential cellular and molecular mechanisms by which calmodulin antagonists inhibit osteoclastogenesis, Z-VAD-FMK, a broad caspase inhibitor, failed to block the inhibitory effect of TFP on mouse osteoclast formation, indicating that apoptosis is not the underlying mechanism. Pretreatment of RAW264.7 cells with different concentrations of TFP dose-dependently inhibited receptor activator of nuclear factor B ligand-stimulated phosphorylation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase and inhibitory B but not that of p38. Taken together, our data indicate that calmodulin mediates osteoclast differentiation, possibly via modulating specific receptor activator of NF-B-signaling pathways. (Endocrinology 144: 4536 – 4543, 2003)