cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Anti-chromatin antibodies drive in vivo antigen-specific activation and somatic hypermutation of rheumatoid factor B cells at extrafollicular sites

A dominant type of spontaneous autoreactive B cell activation in murine lupus is the extrafollicular generation of plasmablasts. The factors governing such activation have been difficult to identify due to the stochastic onset and chronic nature of the response. Thus, the ability to induce a similar autoreactive B cell response with a known autoantigen in vivo would be a powerful tool in deciphering how autoimmune responses are initiated. We report here the establishment and characterization of a system to initiate autoreactive extrafollicular B cell responses, using IgG anti-chromatin antibodies, that closely mirrors the spontaneous response. We demonstrate that exogenously administered anti-chromatin antibody, presumably by forming immune complexes with released nuclear material, drives activation of rheumatoid factor B cells in AM14 Tg mice. Anti-chromatin elicits autoreactive B cell activation and development into antibody-forming cells at the T zone/red pulp border. Plasmablast generation occurs equally in BALB/c, MRL/+ and MRL/lpr mice, indicating that an autoimmune-prone genetic background is not required for the induced response. Importantly, infused IgG anti-chromatin induces somatic hypermutation in the absence of a GC response, thus proving the extrafollicular somatic hypermutation pathway. This system provides a window on the initiation of an autoantibody response and reveals authentic initiators of it.
Therapy related acute myeloid leukemia in breast cancer survivors, a population-based study

The aim of this study was to determine the association between age and stage at diagnosis of breast cancer with the subsequent development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program were analyzed for incidence of second malignancies by age and stage at diagnosis of breast cancer. 420,076 female patients were identified. There was an age dependent risk of a subsequent diagnosis of AML in women younger than 50 years old (RR 4.14; P < 0.001) and women 50–64 years old (RR 2.19; P < 0.001), but not those 65 and older (RR 1.19; P = 0.123) when compared with the expected incidence of AML. A similar age dependent pattern was observed for second breast and ovarian cancers. There was also a stage dependent increase in risk of subsequent AML in younger women with stage III disease when compared with stage I disease (RR 2.92; P = 0.004), and to a lesser extent in middle age women (RR 2.24; P = 0.029), but not in older women (RR 0.79; P = 0.80).Younger age and stage III disease at the time of breast cancer diagnosis are associated with increased risk of a subsequent diagnosis of AML. This association maybe explained by either greater chemotherapy exposure or an interaction between therapy and genetic predisposition.
Gate Control Theory and Beyond

T he gate control theory of pain25 has had an enormous impact on pain research and treatment during its so-year history. Indeed, for many scientists in my generation (those born within a few years of its publication), it represents the very beginning of modern pain research. As with all great theories, the gate control theory's strengths lay not in the novelty of its individual elements, but in its ability to unify and popularize a number of emerging concepts of pain processing in a single, well-defined, well-named theory. Furthermore, its publication in Science exemplified the shift of pain research from a predominately clinical field to an area driven by basic research.
Arsenic trioxide (As2O3) induces apoptosis and necrosis mediated cell death through mitochondrial membrane potential damage and elevated production of reactive oxygen species in PLHC-1 fish cell line

Several environmental pollutants, including metals can induce toxicological effect on aquatic animal species. Most studies to understand the toxicity of arsenic compounds were performed in mammalian cells; however, the study of the arsenic toxicity to the aquatic animals' species, including fish, is limited. So the objective of this study was first to investigate the effects of As(2)O(3) induced toxicity particularly on apoptosis and necrosis mediated cell death in fish cell PLHC-1 as compared to the mechanism of toxicity from known mammalian cell lines, secondly to relate in vitro effects in fish to those demonstrated by in vivo systems. To conduct this study, PLHC-1 cells were exposed to various concentrations of As(2)O(3) (0-100 μM) for 10, 20 and 40 h. The results indicate that As(2)O(3) exposure promoted apoptotic and necrotic mediated cell death in a concentration and time dependent manner. Cell death (apoptotic and necrotic) induced by As(2)O(3) was further confirmed by changes in various phases of cell cycle, DNA fragmentation (necro- comet and apo-comet) in the comet assay, alteration in mitochondrial membrane potential and formation of increased reactive oxygen species (ROS). Apoptotic mediated cell death was confirmed further by observing the increased caspase-3 activity and elevated expression of p53, cytochrome c and Bax proteins levels in the same experimental conditions. PLHC-1 cells were shown to be a good model for evaluating biochemical/cytotoxic effects following exposure to various reference chemicals and environmental contaminants. In vitro data obtained from this study provides a comprehensive approach for the elucidating the actual molecular mechanism for As(2)O(3) induced toxicity particularly apoptosis and necrosis mediated cell death in PLHC-1 cell line.
Family Disruption and Academic Functioning in Urban, Black Youth.

The purpose of this study was to examine from an ecological perspective the relationships between multiple levels of family disruption and children's academic functioning in a sample of 390 urban, Black adolescents at age 14. Subjects in this cohort have been followed longitudinally since before their birth. Data from previous assessments at birth and age 7 years allowed for control of important correlates in this analyses. Examination of this unique sample, using multisource data collection procedures, provides important information about the many family disruptions among urban, low-income families and the effects of these disruptions on academic outcomes. Results revealed several consistent findings, the most notable of which is that, when parents were married, adolescents demonstrated significantly higher grades, mediated through paternal involvement. Of all variables studied, the role of fathers in the lives of these adolescents was the most influential on academic outcomes. In this unique sample, even variables such as involvement with child protective services were not significantly related to outcomes after important control variables were factored into analyses. Results of this study have important implications for future research and for prevention and intervention efforts in urban, at-risk samples. Emphasis is made for work in the school context, particularly for school psychologists. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Colloquium: Stars, planets, and metals

The discovery in 1995 of the first planet orbiting another Sun-like star stimulated renewed interest in planet formation and evolution processes. A number of trends among the properties of the planets have become evident in the years since. An interesting pattern began to emerge in 1997---stars hosting planets tend to be more metal rich (i.e., have more abundant elements with $Zg2)$ than the average nearby star. Other, more subtle, trends are beginning to appear as the sample size continues to grow; for example, the masses of stars hosting planets are found to correlate with their metallicities. The author reviews the state of our knowledge concerning the observed trends, their possible causes, and their possible implications for astrophysics and astrobiology.
Fracture Site Motion and Infection

Treatment of open fractures is often complicated by the development of infection. The wound in these cases is generally contaminated and extensive irrigation and debridement is needed to cleanse the area. Despite these attempts at cleansing, the more severe fractures carry a high infection rate (1). In addition to the problem of the highly contaminated tissue in the wound, the fractures are often extensive and difficult to align, the patient usually has multiple injuries complicating the nursing care, and patient management would be better if the fracture were internally fixed. However it is well known that the insertion of a foreign body such as a suture or internal fixation device into a contaminated area greatly increases the risk of infection. The advantages of fracture alignment and stabilization which will minimize the movement of bony fragments and lessen tissue damage need to be considered against the disadvantages imposed by the presence of a foreign body. Many orthopaedic surgeons feel that the advantages of internal fixation outweigh the disadvantages of the wound infections and osteomyelitis which occur and recommend internal fixation of open fractures (1–3). It is difficult when evaluating the situation in the human patients with open fractures to distinguish what are the important variables. No two patients arrive in the emergency room with the same type of fracture, the same level of microbial contamination, and the same level of underlying disease or multiple trauma. Thus it is necessary to use an animal model to investigate the role of internal fixation in the development of infection in open fractures.
Echocardiographic characteristics of perimembranous ventricular septal defects associated with aortic regurgitation

Development of aortic regurgitation (AR) can complicate an isolated perimembranous ventricular septal defect (VSD). The objective of this study was to identify echocardiographic features of perimembranous VSDs associated with AR. Echocardiograms were evaluated for the presence of aortic cusp override, aortic cusp movement abnormality, and presence of color flow mapping across the ventricular septum in a standard, parasternal long-axis view. Echocardiograms of 26 patients with isolated VSDs were included in the study, 13 had AR and 13 had no evidence of AR. Aortic cusp override in the apical 5-chamber and subcostal coronal views were correlated with the presence of AR, with high sensitivity and low specificity. Flow across the septum in the parasternal long-axis view was associated with AR, with moderate sensitivity and specificity. Aortic cusp movement abnormalities had high sensitivity and low specificity. Our data indicate that these findings may identify patients with perimembranous VSD susceptible to AR.
Parameterization of particle transport at submesoscales in the Gulf Stream region using Lagrangian subgridscale models

Abstract Ocean model fields are being routinely used for forecasting the spreading of pollutants, oil spills, and for biogeochemical transport. Recent observations and advances in our understanding of ocean processes indicate there is an explosion of flow instabilities in the submesoscale range. While submesoscale flows have a significant impact on transport at their own scales, they require much more extensive data sets and numerical computations. Therefore, transport carried out by submesoscale flows is quite challenging to approach deterministically. In this study, we put forward a hybrid approach by combining deterministic Lagrangian coherent structures (LCS) to compute transport over the mesoscale range with statistical Lagrangian subgridscale (LSGS) models for the underresolved submesoscale motions. We apply this approach to particle transport in the Gulf Stream region, which exhibits indications of submesoscale activity from both models and observations. We consider HYCOM solutions at two resolutions. In the 1/12° computation, mesoscale features are well resolved but submesoscales are not resolved, while the 1/48° computation captures some of the submesoscale flow instabilities as well. By using metrics of relative dispersion, we investigate three LSGS models and demonstrate that they can be useful in correcting the underestimation of submesoscale dispersion in the 1/12° solution, with respect to relative dispersion obtained from the 1/48° solution and an observational result.
Production and design of more effective avian replication-incompetent retroviral vectors.

Retroviral vectors have been invaluable tools for studies of development in vertebrates. Their use has been somewhat constrained, however, by the low viral titers typically obtained with replication-incompetent vectors, particularly of the avian type. We have addressed this problem in several ways. We optimized the transient production of avian replication-incompetent viruses in a series of cell lines. One of the optimal cell lines was the mammalian line 293T, which was surprising in light of previous reports that avian viral replication was not supported by mammalian cells. We also greatly increased the efficiency of viral infection. Pseudotyping with the vesicular stomatitus virus G (VSV-G) protein led to an over 350-fold increase in the efficiency of infection in ovo relative to infection with virus particles bearing an avian retroviral envelope protein. To further increase the utility of the system, we developed new Rous sarcoma virus (RSV)-based replication-incompetent vectors, designed to express a histochemical marker gene, human placental alkaline phosphatase, as well as an additional gene. These modified retroviral vectors and the VSV-G pseudotyping technique constitute significant improvements that allow for expanded use of avian replication-incompetent viral vectors in ovo.
Toward a Systems Approach to Health Literacy Research

Implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires a new commitment to “person-centeredness” as a central feature of health care. Person-centered health care means people have both the knowledge r...
Individual autonomy in organizations

Abstract This paper attempts to quantify the notion of an individual's desire for autonomy in an organization. It is shown that the basis for this concept can be formulated axiomatically, and a numerical function constituting the “degree” of autonomy can be derived. The relations between the individual's basic preferences, his/her feelings of autonomy, and the individual's performance as an organization member, are also studied. In this connection the loyalty of the member to the organization becomes important, and this notion is also developed axiomatically.
An experimental investigation of the low Reynolds number performance of the Lissaman 7769 airfoil

A Lissaman 7769 airfoil, used on the Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross human-powered aircraft, was tested in a low turbulence subsonic wind tunnel. Lift and drag data were collected at chord Reynolds numbers of 100,000, 150,000, 200,000, 250,000, and 300,000; at angles of attack from -10 to +20 deg by using an external strain gage force balance. Lift curves, drag curves, and drag polars were generated from both uncorrected data and data corrected for wind tunnel blockage effects. A flow visualization study was performed to correlate with the force data. The results of the investigation have shown that the airfoil exhibits a significant degradation in performance for chord Reynolds numbers below 150,000.
Double-Blind Evaluation of Plasmapheresis in Schizophrenic Patients: A Pilot Study

Interest in the effects and possible mechanisms of hemodialysis on schizophrenic patients has led to a double-blind evaluation of the effects of plasmapheresis on symptoms of schizophrenia. Also, plasmapheresis was felt to be an invaluable tool for investigating the autoimmune theory of schizophrenia. Patients (n = 10) in the study fulfilled Research Diagnostic Criteria for schizophrenia and were randomly assigned to either sham or active plasmapheresis. They were blindly assessed by staff psychiatrists and nurses. Evaluation of the behavioral ratings revealed no significant decrease in psychosis for either the active or sham group. Also, no individual responding patient was identified. This finding complements our group's early negative results of a hemodialysis experiment and casts doubt on a simple autoimmune hypothesis of schizophrenia.
The Association between the Directional Accuracy of Self‐Efficacy and Accounting Course Performance

This study examines how accounting students' ability to assess their course standing mid‐way through the term is associated with their success in the course. Drawing on the paradigm of self‐efficacy, we explicitly assess mid‐way through the course how aware students are of (1) their exam performance, having taken an exam but before receiving feedback, and (2) their final course grade. Path analysis results for a sample of 214 students suggest that the more conservative a student's self‐efficacy (that is, the less optimistic or more pessimistic the self‐assessment), the higher the second exam score and final course grade. This relationship holds even after controlling for cumulative GPA in accounting courses, average exam performance during the term, trajectory of achievement, number of accounting classes already completed, and the extent of involvement in extracurricular activities. Path analysis results also support the notion that student characteristics are associated with performance, both directly an...
Into the Heart of Whiteness

(2003). Into the Heart of Whiteness. The American Journal of Bioethics: Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 29-31.
Properties of ganglioside GM1 in phosphatidylcholine bilayer membranes.

Gangliosides have been shown to function as cell surface receptors, as well as participating in cell growth, differentiation, and transformation. In spite of their multiple biological functions, relatively little is known about their structure and physical properties in membrane systems. The thermotropic and structural properties of ganglioside GM1 alone and in a binary system with 1,2-dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) have been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and x-ray diffraction. By DSC hydrated GM1 undergoes a broad endothermic transition TM = 26 degrees C (delta H = 1.7 kcal/mol GM1). X-ray diffraction below (-2 degrees C) and above (51 degrees C) this transition indicates a micellar structure with changes occurring only in the wide angle region of the diffraction pattern (relatively sharp reflection at 1/4.12 A-1 at -2 degrees C; more diffuse reflection at 1/4.41 A-1 at 51 degrees C). In hydrated binary mixtures with DPPC, incorporation of GM1 (0–30 mol%; zone 1) decreases the enthalpy of the DPPC pretransition at low molar compositions while increasing the TM of both the pre- and main transitions (limiting values, 39 and 44 degrees C, respectively). X-ray diffraction studies indicate the presence of a single bilayer gel phase in zone 1 that can undergo chain melting to an L alpha bilayer phase. A detailed hydration study of GM1 (5.7 mol %)/DPPC indicated a conversion of the DPPC bilayer gel phase to an infinite swelling system in zone 1 due to the presence of the negatively charged sialic acid moiety of GM1. At 30–61 mol % GM1 (zone 2), two calorimetric transitions are observed at 44 and 47 degrees C, suggesting the presence of two phases. The lower transition reflects the bilayer gel --> L alpha transition (zone 1), whereas the upper transition appears to be a consequence of the formation of a nonbilayer, micellar or hexagonal phase, although the structure of this phase has not been defined by x-ray diffraction. At > 61 mol % GM1 (zone 3) the calorimetric and phase behavior is dominated by the micelle-forming properties of GM1; the presence of mixed GM1/DPPC micellar phases is predicted.
A bilateral comparison between NIST quantum-based power standard and NRC current-comparator-based power standard

The results of a bilateral comparison on active/reactive power meter calibrations between the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Research Council (NRC) will be presented. The comparison was implemented using a transfer standard consisting of a highly stable commercial sampling-type power/energy meter. The measurements were made at 120 V, 5A, 50 Hz and 60 Hz, at power factors of 1.0, 0.5 lead and lag, and 0.0 lead and lag.
Judgments and definitions of sexual harassment by high school students

This study considers how high school students perceive incidents of possible sexual harassment toward students and how they define sexual harassment. Thirty-five male and 38 female high school seniors (44% Asian-American; 40% white, non-Hispanic; 6% Indian-American; 4% African-American; 3% Hispanic; and 3% other ethnic groups) evaluated scenarios that varied the type of sexual harassment, the status of the initiator (either teacher or student), and the gender composition of the dyad (either male toward female or female toward male). As predicted, type of harassment influenced ratings of severity. Compared to male respondents, female respondents rated the scenarios as more severe. Teachers were judged more critically than students. Differences in status were more apparent at less severe levels of harassment. In defining harassment, students relied on four factors: the behavior itself, the target's reaction to the behavior, the perpetrator's intentions, and the relationship that existed between the two people. Overall, the findings underline the importance of examining high schools as a locale for harassment.
Feminism (s)/Postmodernism (s): MTV and alternate women's videos and performance art

(1993). Feminism (s)/Postmodernism (s): MTV and alternate women's videos and performance art. Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory: Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 55-76.
Seasonal variation of presentation for headache in a pediatric emergency department.

OBJECTIVES Headache is a common pediatric complaint. Our experience indicated that there was a seasonal variation in children seeking emergency department (ED) care for headache. We hypothesized that visits to the ED would be more common during the school year compared with that during the summer months. METHODS Electronic medical record data were reviewed from January 1, 2008 through June 30, 2010. All patients age 4 years and older with a chief complaint of headache were examined. Patients with ventriculoperitoneal shunts, intracranial mass, trauma, or stroke were excluded. The following data were accumulated: date of visit, birth date, sex, race, and diagnosis. Visits were grouped by month of occurrence and school year (September through May) and non-school year (June through August). Cumulative binomial probabilities were used to determine the likelihood of experiencing the observed number of occurrences or fewer in each period. RESULTS A total of 2731 visits met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Girls were older, more likely to be white, and more likely to be diagnosed with migraine. There is a clear nadir in May and June and a peak in September, October, and November that is statistically significant (P< 0.001) across age groups, sex, race, and headache type. These findings persisted when comparing the groups based on school year versus non-school year. CONCLUSIONS Visits to the ED for headache were less common in May and June and more common during the fall. This remained true across headache type, age, sex, and racial groups.
Diabetes self-management: using the Colored Eco-Genetic Relationship Map to assess social support.

Background: The positive association between individual social support and diabetes health outcomes is well established. However, most tools for assessing social support are highly structured and are rarely used in clinical settings and/or clinical outcomes research. A novel tool that has been shown to engage patients in the identification and use of their social networks is the Colored Eco-Genetic Relationship Map (CEGRM). Objective: The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the feasibility of using the CEGRM adapted for eliciting information about how individuals with diabetes use their social networks to support their self-management efforts. Methods: A sample of 18 adult patients with diabetes completed the newly created diabetes-CEGRM (D-CEGRM) alongside structured questions regarding social support for diabetes self-management. Results: Whereas structured questions elicited information about participants’ use of social networks, the D-CEGRM expanded on answers from structured questions by identifying both positive and negative aspects of social support, additional individual and community-based resources, and nuanced interpersonal information about the individuals involved. Discussion: The D-CEGRM appears to be feasible and useful in assessing the social networks of adults with diabetes and how they are used to support tasks related to self-management. The information elicited by completing the D-CEGRM expanded on information collected through structured questions about social support in a way that might better address research questions and inform clinical decision making.
Duality for General Lipschitz Classes and Applications

As shown by the author in {\em Proc.\ Amer.\ Math.\ Soc.} 115 (1992) 345–352, for every metric space $(\mbox{lip}\,\varphi(K))^{**} = \mbox{Lip} \,\varphi (K),$ is any majorant (that is, non-decreasing function on ) such that Here with respect to the metric is the corresponding ’little‘ Lipschitz space of functions vanishing ’at infinity‘, and ’=‘ means ’canonically isometrically isomorphic‘. The main idea of the proof consisted of finding a normed space $M^c = (\mbox{lip}\,\varphi(K))^*,$‘ stands for the completion, and identifying equipped with the Kantorovich norm. In the present paper, this argument is carried over to generalized Lipschitz spaces on defined in terms of higher order differences. For an integer $\lim_{t \rightarrow 0}\varphi(t)/t ^k = +\infty,$ to be the space of all bounded functions such that for some constant , where $\lambda ^k_\varphi$ which consists of functions vanishing at ’infinity' and such that We introduce an appropriate analogue of the Kantorovich norm on the space with compact support. The properties of this norm for are significantly different from those of the Kantorovich norm () which reflects the difference in analytic nature of generalized Lipschitz spaces versus classical ones. However, the core of the duality theory survives, and it is shown that $(M, \Vert\cdot \Vert _{k, \varphi})^* = \Lambda ^k _\varphi,\ \ (M, \Vert \cdot \Vert _{k,\varphi})^c = (\lambda ^k _\varphi)^*(\lambda ^k _\varphi )^{**} = \Lambda ^k _\varphi$. Several applications of these results are discussed, and a few open problems are formulated. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification: 46E15, 46E35.
Modeling Workers' Daily Nonwork Activity Participation and Duration

This paper presents a mathematical model used to determine jointly a worker's decision to participate in a nonhome and nonwork activity and the decision on how long to participate. With the household interview survey data from the New York City area, the workers' participation and duration decisions were estimated for each of five periods in a worker's day: before morning commute, morning commute, midday, evening commute, and after evening commute. To account for the censored nature of the duration data (i.e., a large number of observations clustered at zero), Heckman's sample selection model was used together with the full information maximum likelihood estimation method. To enhance the behavioral basis for the models, extensive statistical tests were given to the model specifications and the assumptions underlying the model structure. The empirical results provide useful insights into the effects of socio-demographics, land use-transportation measures, and activity duration characteristics on workers' d...
Aging, task complexity, and efficiency modes: the influence of working memory involvement on age differences in response times for verbal and visuospatial tasks.

ABSTRACT We examined the information-processing functions (response-time × load) of younger and older adults for two verbal and one visuo-spatial task; each task was implemented in a baseline and a high-complexity condition. Heightened complexity transformed the baseline functions in either an additive or a multiplicative fashion. The processing efficiency of older adults was defined as the old-young ratio of the slopes of the load functions. Three levels of efficiency could be distinguished. The first level, with an age-related slowing factor of about 1.2, consisted of low-complexity verbal processing and additive-complexity verbal processing. The second level, associated with a slowing factor of about 1.6, consisted of a mixture of verbal-high-multiplicative-complexity processing and visuo-spatial-low-complexity processing. The third level, with a slowing factor of about 4, consisted of visuo-spatial processing of high multiplicative complexity. The results go against any common factor theory of aging. ...
Lipases of blood and tissues. II. Kinetic studies on heparin-induced plasma lipase.

Abstract The kinetic properties of a purified preparation of heparin-induced plasma lipase have been studied. The optimum pH of this enzyme preparation is 7.9–8.1; the optimum temperature is 37–40 °C.; the energy required for activation is approximately 10,000 cal.; the Michaelis-Menten constant is 1.98 × 10 −3 M . The heparin-induced plasma lipase hydrolyzed the triglycerides of an olive oil emulsion and of human chylomicra at approximately equal rates but did not hydrolyze tributyrin or triacetin.
Effect of metals on β-actin and total protein synthesis in cultured human intestinal epithelial cells

Abstract Introduction As an important structural protein, β-actin is associated with anchoring of tight junctions (TJs) to the cell scaffold. Caco-2 cells, an immortal intestinal epithelial cell line, rely on β-actin to form intact monolayers with high transepithelial electrical resistance in cell culture inserts. Methods We examined the effect of six metals on expression of β-actin mRNA and β-actin synthesis, on total and net production of newly synthesized proteins, on paracellular transport of TJ markers, and on cell viability in confluent monolayers. [ 3 H]-glycine and [ 3 H]-tyrosine were used as indicators of newly synthesized proteins in the absence or presence of increasing concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, copper, manganese, mercury and nickel. The monolayers were exposed to 24-h single exposures as well as continuous daily repeated doses of metals for 48-h and 96-h. Results Results suggest that decreases in newly synthesized proteins, in which β-actin represents about 10%, correlated with 2- to 5-fold higher expression of β-actin mRNA for the higher concentrations of metals. Interestingly, IC 50 s calculated for each chemical for 24-h acute and 48- and 96-h repeated dosing experiments, using the MTT viability assay and paracellular permeability markers, decreased newly synthesized and total proteins to 10% and 40% of control, respectively. Discussion Overall, the results indicate that, at equivalent concentrations, the metals affect β-actin mRNA and newly synthesized proteins before cell viability and paracellular permeability are compromised. Consequently the results help in elucidating mechanisms of metal cytotoxicity that lead to understanding the relationship between tight junction integrity, paracellular transport, and cell viability.
Interaction of α2-hs-glycoprotein with immobilized triazine dyes

Abstract We studied the interaction of α2-HS-glycoprotein with immobilized Cibacron blue F3-GA (Blue A) and Procion red HE-3B (Red A). When whole plasma was applied on the Blue A, α2-HS-glycoprotein remained unbound, together with other plasma proteins. In contrast, when this fraction was applied on the Red A, α2-HS-glycoprotein was shown to bind tightly and was eluted with a linear sodium chloride gradient between 0.5 and 0.8 M. This proved to be a useful two-step technique for the purification of α2-HS-glycoprotein. Further characterization revealed that the protein appeared homogeneous by immunoelectrophoresis and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with yields greater than 30%. A small (
Matching image feature structures using shoulder analysis method

ABSTRACT The problems of imagery registration, conflation, fusion and search require sophisticated and robust methods. An algebraic approach is a promising new option for developing such methods. It is based on algebraic analysis of features represented as polylines. The problem of choosing points when attempting to prepare a linear feature for comparison with other linear features is a significant challenge when or ientation and scale is unknown. Previously we developed an invariant method known as Binary Structural Division (BSD). It is shown to be effective in comparing feature structure for specific cases. In cases where a bias of structure variability exists however, this method performs less well. A new method of Shoulder Analysis (SA) has been found which enhances point selection, and improves the BSD method. This paper describes the use of shoulder values, which compares the actual distance traveled along a feature to the linear distance from the start to finish of the segment. We show that shoulder values can be utilized within the BSD method, and lead to improved point selection in many cases. This improvement allows images of unknown scale and orientation to be correlated more effectively. Keywords : data fusion, imagery conflation, algebraic invariants, geospatial feature, polyline match, measure of correctness, structural similari ty, structural interpolation
Aging and effects of ultraviolet A exposure may be quantified by fluorescence excitation spectroscopy in vivo.

The fluorescence properties of skin chromophores such as tryptophan and collagen cross-links might be useful markers of aging and photoaging. As the fluorescence of pepsin-digestible collagen cross-links was found to increase with aging and decrease with photoaging we investigated the characteristics of this dependence. In vivo fluorescence excitation spectra (emission at 380 nm) of SKH hairless mouse model skin are characterized by two bands centered near 295 nm and 335 nm due, respectively, to epidermal tryptophan moieties and pepsin-digestible collagen cross-links. Several groups of hairless mice were followed over a period of 18 mo to document changes in skin fluorescence with aging. Other groups of animals were exposed to either broad band or narrowband ultraviolet A radiation to determine the effects of ultraviolet A exposure on the fluorescence of the dermal collagen cross-links and to determine an action spectrum for the induced changes. We also found that the intensity of pepsin-digestible collagen cross-links in vivo increases linearly with age and that the fluorescence of epidermal tryptophan decreases linearly with age. We found that the fluorescence of pepsin-digestible collagen cross-links decreases immediately following exposure to ultraviolet A whereas epidermal tryptophan fluorescence increases. Both changes were dose dependent but the increase in tryptophan fluorescence occurred exclusively in young animals (2–6 mo old). We found that the ultraviolet-induced fluorescence decrease of pepsin-digestible collagen cross-links is wavelength specific. The action spectrum for the ultraviolet A effect on the in vivo fluorescence of pepsin-digestible collagen cross-links shows a distinct maximum at 335 nm that corresponds to the maximum in the fluorescence excitation spectrum due to pepsin-digestible collagen cross-links. Our results seem to indicate that in vivo fluorescence of epidermal tryptophan moieties and collagen cross-links in the dermal matrix may serve as markers for skin aging, for photoaging, and for immediate assessment of exposure to ultraviolet A radiation.
Assembly of 63,66-Pillared Metal−Organic Bilayers and Diamondoid Lattices Using Molecular Li2O2 Ring Dimers as Secondary Building Units

The lithium aryloxide [4-Br-2,6-Me2C6H2OLi] forms solvated molecular Li2O2 ring dimers in both 1,4-dioxane and 1,3-dioxolane solutions, as determined by NMR spectroscopic and cryoscopic studies. In turn, the geometry of these aggregates controls the architectures of the resulting extended networks upon crystallization from these solvent systems. Specifically, the tetrasolvated dimers act as novel tetrahedral or trigonal nodes to produce the unprecedented 63,66 pillared bilayer polymer [{(ArOLi)2·(μ-diox)2}·{(ArOLi)2·(diox)·(μ-diox)1.5}]∞ (2) and the three-dimensional diamondoid framework [(ArOLi)2·(μ-dioxol)2]∞ (3). The structure of 2 is particularly noteworthy, being composed of two fused hexagonal sheets to form an interrupted diamondoid net.
Treatment of Acute Migraine in the Pediatric Population

The recognition of the diagnosis of migraine in the pediatric population is increasing. Early and aggressive treatment of migraine in children and adolescents with the use of over-the-counter medications has proven effective. In addition, the off-label use of many migraine-specific medications is often accepted in the absence of sufficient evidence-based trials. Mild to severe cases of migraine should be treated with NSAIDs, with triptans used for moderate to severe headaches that are unresponsive to over-the-counter therapy. Rescue medication including dihydroergotamine (DHE) should be used for intractable migraines, preferably in the hospital setting. In patients with associated symptoms of nausea and vomiting, antiemetics with antidopaminergic properties can be helpful through their action on central migraine generation. Furthermore, patients and families should be educated about nonpharmacologic aspects of management such as preventing episodic migraine through lifestyle modification and avoidance of triggers.
High‐Temperature Energy Relations in Borates: Alkaline‐Earth and Lead Borate Compounds and Their Glasses

The high-temperature energy relations in some alkaline-earth and lead borate glasses and compounds of the same compositions are reported. The data obtained with a continuous high-temperature calorimeter and by solution calorimetry in 2N nitric acid were combined to give heat content versus temperature curves from 25° to 1100°C. The heats of fusion, entropies of fusion, entropy changes vs. temperature, and the free-energy changes from crystal to glass at 25°C are given. Previously unavailable X-ray diffraction data for strontium diborate and calcium diborate are reported.
Computed Tomography: Revolutionizing the Practice of Medicine for 40 Years

Computed tomography (CT) has had a profound effect on the practice of medicine. Both the spectrum of clinical applications and the role that CT has played in enhancing the depth of our understanding of disease have been profound. Although almost 90 000 articles on CT have been published in peer-reviewed journals over the past 40 years, fewer than 5% of these have been published in Radiology. Nevertheless, these almost 4000 articles have provided a basis for many important medical advances. By enabling a deepened understanding of anatomy, physiology, and pathology, CT has facilitated key advances in the detection and management of disease. This article celebrates this breadth of scientific discovery and development by examining the impact that CT has had on the diagnosis, characterization, and management of a sampling of major health challenges, including stroke, vascular diseases, cancer, trauma, acute abdominal pain, and diffuse lung diseases, as related to key technical advances in CT and manifested in Radiology.
A Note on Determining Optimal Selling Price and Lot Size Under All‐Unit Quantity Discounts

A recent study conducted by Abad [1] described a method of determining the optimal price and lot size when the supplier offers all-unit quantity discounts. The author developed a procedure using centralized and decentralized approaches. According to the author's suggestion, further study is necessary to determine if the decentralized approach always provides an optimal solution. In the present study, an attempt is made to investigate the uniformity between the centralized and decentralized approaches and to verify whether the decentralized approach always yields optimal solutions.
Success Stories: Use of Patient Vignettes to Assess the Ability of Physicians to Predict Extubation Success

Safely returning intubated, mechanically ventilated patients to independent breathing requires 3 steps.[1][1],[2][2] First, clinicians must recognize when respiratory failure has resolved or improved enough to allow a spontaneous breathing trial (SBT). Second, a 30–120 min SBT should be used to
A novel herpesvirus in 3 species of pheasants: mountain peacock pheasant (Polyplectron inopinatum), Malayan peacock pheasant (Polyplectron malacense), and Congo peafowl (Afropavo congensis).

The mountain peacock pheasant (Polyplectron inopinatum), the Malayan peacock pheasant (Polyplectron malacense), and the Congo peafowl (Afropavocongensis) are all listed as vulnerable to extinction under the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. Here the authors report fatal infection with a novel herpesvirus in all 3 species of birds. DNA was extracted from the livers of birds with hepatocellular necrosis and intranuclear eosinophilic inclusions consistent with herpesvirus infection. Based on degenerate herpesvirus primers and polymerase chain reaction, 220– and 519–base pair products of the herpes DNA polymerase and DNA terminase genes, respectively, were amplified. Sequence analysis revealed that all birds were likely infected with the same virus. At the nucleotide level, the pheasant herpesvirus had 92% identity with gallid herpesvirus 3 and 77.7% identity with gallid herpesvirus 2. At the amino acid level, the herpes virus had 93.8% identity with gallid herpesv...
Transcutaneous ultrasound measurements of carotid flow to monitor for cerebral malperfusion during type-A aortic dissection repair.

HE REPAIR OF TYPE-A aortic dissection often requires alternative sites for arterial cannulation for cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The risks of cannulation of the femoral artery for the institution of CPB are well known and include retrograde perfusion of the false lumen with potential worsening of the dissection with compromise of organ perfusion, and retrograde embolization. Some techniques, including axillary artery, 1 transapical aortic, 2 and central aorta cannulation, have been described to minimize this complication.3 Some of these techniques require more time and may not be appropriate for all patients. Monitoring the adequacy of cerebral perfusion is of vital importance in all aortic surgical cases and even more whenever the femoral artery is used for CPB. Different methods have been described, including bilateral radial arterial monitoring in addition to transesophageal echocardiographic (TEE) imaging of the descending aorta, 4 right radial artery with left femoral artery monitoring, 5 cerebral oximetric monitoring using nearinfrared spectroscopy, 6,7 transcranial Doppler ultrasonography, 8 ophthalmic artery Doppler ultrasonography, 9 and color-flow Doppler transcutaneous carotid artery ultrasound imaging.10 The authors describe a case of chronic type-A dissection requiring surgical repair in which axillary artery cannulation for the institution of CPB was impossible, requiring femoral artery cannulation. They illustrate a method to quantify carotid artery flow velocity and monitor for intraoperative cerebral malperfusion using transcutaneous Doppler ultrasound of the carotid arteries.
A three-dimensional variational data assimilation system for multiple aerosol species with WRF/Chem and an application to PM 2.5 prediction

Abstract. A three-dimensional variational data assimilation (3-DVAR) algorithm for aerosols in a WRF/Chem model is presented. The WRF/Chem model uses the MOSAIC (Model for Simulating Aerosol Interactions and Chemistry) scheme, which explicitly treats eight major species (elemental/black carbon, organic carbon, nitrate, sulfate, chloride, ammonium, sodium and the sum of other inorganic, inert mineral and metal species) and represents size distributions using a sectional method with four size bins. The 3-DVAR scheme is formulated to take advantage of the MOSAIC scheme in providing comprehensive analyses of species concentrations and size distributions. To treat the large number of state variables associated with the MOSAIC scheme, this 3-DVAR algorithm first determines the analysis increments of the total mass concentrations of the eight species, defined as the sum of the mass concentrations across all size bins, and then distributes the analysis increments over four size bins according to the background error variances. The number concentrations for each size bin are adjusted based on the ratios between the mass and number concentrations of the background state. Additional flexibility is incorporated to further lump the eight mass concentrations, and five lumped species are used in the application presented. The system is evaluated using the analysis and prediction of PM2.5 in the Los Angeles basin during the CalNex 2010 field experiment, with assimilation of surface PM2.5 and speciated concentration observations. The results demonstrate that the data assimilation significantly reduces the errors in comparison with a simulation without data assimilation and improved forecasts of the concentrations of PM2.5 as well as individual species for up to 24 h. Some implementation difficulties and limitations of the system are discussed.
Vitamin E and Atherosclerosis: Beyond Prevention of LDL Oxidation

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the arterial wall. Observational and experimental studies indicate that dietary vitamin E supplementation is associated with reduced risk of atherosclerosis. Evidence indicates that vitamin E, in addition to inhibition of oxidative modification of LDL, may inhibit atherogenesis through several other mechanisms at the molecular and cellular levels, which also include its nonantioxidant functions.
Independent but coordinated trials: insights from the Practice-based Opportunities for Weight Reduction Trials Collaborative Research Group

Background The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) funded three institutions to conduct effectiveness trials of weight loss interventions in primary care settings. Unlike traditional multi-center clinical trials, each study was established as an independent trial with a distinct protocol. Still, efforts were made to coordinate and standardize several aspects of the trials. The three trials formed a collaborative group, the ‘Practice-based Opportunities for Weight Reduction (POWER) Trials Collaborative Research Group.’Purpose We describe the common and distinct features of the three trials, the key characteristics of the collaborative group, and the lessons learned from this novel organizational approach.Methods The Collaborative Research Group consists of three individual studies: ‘Be Fit, Be Well’ (Washington University in St. Louis/Harvard University), ‘POWER Hopkins’ (Johns Hopkins), and ‘POWER-UP’ (University of Pennsylvania). There are a total of 15 participating clinics with ~1100 part...
COMPUTER MODELS OF EARLY LAND PLANT EVOLUTION

▪ Abstract Computer models are used to mimic the early evolution of ancient vascular plants (tracheophytes). These models have three components: (a) an N-dimensional domain of all mathematically conceivable ancient morphologies (a morphospace); (b) a numerical assessment of the ability (fitness) of each morphology to intercept light, maintain mechanical stability, conserve water, and produce and disperse spores; and (c) an algorithm that searches the morphospace for successively more fit variants (an adaptive walk). Beginning with the most ancient known plant form, evolution is simulated by locating neighboring morphologies that progressively perform one or more tasks more efficiently. The resulting simulated adaptive walks indicate that early tracheophyte evolution involved optimizing the performance of many tasks simultaneously rather than maximizing the performance of one or only a few tasks individually, and that the requirement for optimization accelerated the tempo of morphological evolution in the ...