cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Assessing the Archaeoparasitological Potential of Quids As a Source Material for Immunodiagnostic Analyses

In the present study, quids from La Cueva de los Muertos Chiquitos (CMC) were subjected to ELISA tests for 2 protozoan parasites, Toxoplasma gondii (n=45) and Trypanosoma cruzi (n=43). The people who occupied CMC, the Loma San Gabriel, lived throughout much of present-day Durango and Zacatecas in Mexico. The known pathoecology of these people puts them into at-risk categories for the transmission of T. gondii and T. cruzi. Human antibodies created in response to these 2 parasites can be detected in modern saliva using ELISA kits intended for use with human serum. For these reasons, quids were reconstituted and subjected to ELISA testing. All test wells yielded negative results. These results could be a factor of improper methods because there is no precedence for this work in the existing literature. The results could equally be a simple matter of parasite absence among those people who occupied CMC. A final consideration is the taphonomy of human antibodies and whether or not ELISA is a sufficient method for recovering antibodies from archaeological contexts. An additional ELISA test targeting secretory IgA (sIgA) was conducted to further examine the failure to detect parasite-induced antibodies from quids. Herein, the methods used for quid preparation and ELISA procedures are described so that they can be further developed by future researchers. The results are discussed in light of the potential future of quid analysis.
Understanding the Asymmetric MipZ Gradient in Caulobacter Crescentus

Caulobacter crescentus is a freshwater α-proteobacterium that divides into two asymmetric daughter cells. These curved, rod-shaped cells differ in their chromosome replication fates and in their cell length at division. C. crescentus divides into a replication-competent ‘stalked’ cell and a smaller, replication-quiescent ‘swarmer’ cell. The site of cell division is dictated by the polymerization of the eukaryotic tubulin homologue, FtsZ. MipZ is an essential ATPase and inhibitor of FtsZ polymerization. MipZ forms an intracellular bipolar gradient that directs FtsZ to the lowest concentration of MipZ, which is found slightly towards the new pole as opposed to the exact mid-cell. This localization bias leads to two differently sized daughter cells. To better understand how MipZ directs FtsZ to this off-center location, we employed single-particle tracking photoactivated localization microscopy (sptPALM) to characterize the diffusive states and transition state kinetics of MipZ. We then used deterministic and stochastic simulations with these biophysical parameters to recreate the asymmetric MipZ gradient in silico. These simulations produce a distribution of cell lengths after cell division similar to that observed in vivo. These studies provide more insight into the asymmetric division of C. crescentus, but further questions remain regarding the nature of the asymmetric division.
Evaluate the Effect of pH on the Mixed Brine and Chemical Solutions

The purpose of this study is to observe the effects of a superabsorbent polymer (SAP) when it is introduced to brine solutions containing Calcium ions at varying pH values. When injected into an oil well, a superabsorbent polymer will swell, blocking high permeability zones. The swelled polymer will decrease reservoir heterogeneity, diverting injected water to oil rich zones/areas of the formation. Understanding the kinetics of an SAP is crucial to its proper employment. However, when the polymer is introduced to brine solutions containing calcium, reactions involving the ionization of the sodium crosslinker of the polymers result in the destruction of the polymers and the formation of a precipitate. In an attempt to solve this problem, pH values of various concentrations of Calcium Chloride and Sodium Chloride in deionized water solutions will be varied and introduced to polymer samples to determine if lowering the pH can prevent precipitation. The procedure includes first introducing hydrochloric acid to brine mixtures, mixing and agitating the polymer with the brine solution, and lastly recording the results. The measurements to be recorded will include the volume of the polymers before, during, and after the swelling process. From this data, the swelling ratios of the polymer samples will be calculated, graphed, and contrasted appropriately according to time intervals and the pH of each sample. By following this procedure, the data shows that a very low pH can significantly inhibit the extent to which the polymer precipitates out with Calcium ions. Temperature tends to decrease polymer volume in brines with pH values above the 1–2 pH range, while pH values in or below said range increase in volume substantially.Copyright © 2016 by ASME
RNA Interference (RNAi) as a Potential Tool for Control of Mycotoxin Contamination in Crop Plants: Concepts and Considerations

Mycotoxin contamination in food and feed crops is a major concern worldwide. Fungal pathogens of the genera Aspergillus. Fusarium, and Penicillium are a major threat to food and feed crops due to production of mycotoxins such as aflatoxins, 4-deoxynivalenol, patulin, and numerous other toxic secondary metabolites that substantially reduce the value of the crop. While host resistance genes are frequently used to introgress disease resistance into elite germplasm, either through traditional breeding or transgenic approaches, such resistance is often compromised by the evolving pathogen over time. RNAi-based host-induced gene silencing of key genes required by the pathogen for optimal growth, virulence and/or toxin production, can serve as an alternative, pre-harvest approach for disease control. RNAi represents a robust and efficient tool that can be used in a highly targeted, tissue specific manner to combat mycotoxigenic fungi infecting crop plants. Successful transgenic RNAi implementation depends on several factors including (1) designing vectors to produce double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) that will generate small interfering RNA (siRNA) species for optimal gene silencing and reduced potential for off-target effects; (2) availability of ample target siRNAs at the infection site; (3) efficient uptake of siRNAs by the fungus; (4) siRNA half-life and (5) amplification of the silencing effect. This review provides a critical and comprehensive evaluation of the published literature on the use of RNAi-based approaches to control mycotoxin contamination in crop plants. It also examines experimental strategies used to better understand the mode of action of RNAi with the aim of eliminating mycotoxin contamination, thereby improving food and feed safety.
Early Detection of Cancer in Blood Using Single-Cell Analysis: A Proposal

Here, we explore the potential of single-cell genomic analysis in blood for early detection of cancer; we consider a method that screens the presence of recurrent patterns of copy number (CN) alterations using sparse single-cell sequencing. We argue for feasibility, based on in silico analysis of existing single-cell data and cancer CN profiles. Sampling procedures from existing diploid single cells can render data for a cell with any given profile. Sampling from multiple published tumor profiles can interrogate cancer clonality via an algorithm that tests the multiplicity of close pairwise similarities among single-cell cancer genomes. The majority of common solid cancers would be detectable in this manner. As any early detection method must be verifiable and actionable, we describe how further analysis of suspect cells can aid in determining risk and anatomic origin. Future affordability rests on currently available procedures for tumor cell enrichment and inexpensive methods for single-cell analysis.
ISO-Space: Annotating Static and Dynamic Spatial Information

An understanding of spatial information in natural language is necessary for many computational linguistics and artificial intelligence applications. In this chapter, we describe an annotation scheme for the markup of spatial relations, both static and dynamic, as expressed in text and other media. The desiderata for such a specification language are presented along with what representational mechanisms are required for such a specification to be successful. We review the annotation development process, and the adoption of the initial specification ISOspace, as an ISO standard, renamed ISOspace. We conclude with a discussion of the use of ISOspace in the context of the shared task SpaceEval 2015.
Threaded Introductory Chemistry for Prepharmacy: A Model for Preprofessional Curriculum Redesign

Introductory chemistry courses are required as part of the undergraduate preparation necessary for entry into an array of professional programs. Given the varied priorities of the student population in these courses, it can be difficult to present the material such that students see their individual future academic priorities represented in each course. At St. Louis College of Pharmacy, introductory chemistry classes serve a singular population with a declared interest in pursuing further education in the professional pharmacy curriculum. As part of a campus-wide prepharmacy curriculum restructure, the chemistry curriculum was redesigned to take advantage of this focused audience. The result is a new, four semester Threaded Curriculum that merges topics taught in general and organic chemistry with filtering for relevance to prepharmacy. To compare student performance in the new curriculum to the traditional, students were evaluated on 245 common multiple choice exam items as the relevant topics were cover...
Exergaming with a pediatric exoskeleton: Facilitating rehabilitation and research in children with cerebral palsy

Effective rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy (CP) requires intensive task-specific exercise but many in this population lack the motor capabilities to complete the desired training tasks. Providing robotic assistance is a potential solution yet the effects of this assistance are unclear. We combined a novel exoskeleton and exercise video game (exergame) to create a new rehabilitation paradigm for children with CP. We incorporated high density electroencephalography (EEG) to assess cortical activity. Movement to targets in the game was controlled by knee extension while standing. The distance between targets was the same with and without the exoskeleton to isolate the effect of robotic assistance. Our results show that children with CP maintain or increase knee extensor muscle activity during knee extension in the presence of synergistic robotic assistance. Our EEG findings also demonstrate that participants remained engaged in the exercise with robotic assistance. Interestingly we observed a developmental trajectory of sensorimotor mu rhythm in children with CP similar, though delayed, to those reported in typically developing children. While not the goal here, the exoskeleton significantly increased knee extension in 3/6 participants during use. Future work will focus on utilizing the exoskeleton to enhance volitional knee extension capability and in combination with EMG and EEG to study sensorimotor cortex response to progressive exercise in children with CP.
Using Marketing to Implement a Strategic Plan: Reflection of Practiced Literature

Close to 75% of marketing and promotional campaigns globally fail to meet their purpose. Marketing campaigns fail due to pitfalls, which sink promotional projects. Strategic planning is significant in overcoming these pitfalls hence increasing the chances of business being successful in their promotional campaigns. However, a lot of businesses are experiencing issues with integrating strategic planning into their daily operations and promotional campaigns. This article is intended at discussing the pitfalls, which may sink a promotional campaign and suggests how strategic planning can solve these issues. In addition, this article also discusses approaches which can be adopted by organizations to enable them to successfully integrate strategic planning into the marketing projects. In conclusion, it suggests some approaches that organizations may adopt to ensure that they are successful in their future projects.
Multicenter mortality and morbidity associated with pulmonary hypertension in the pediatric intensive care unit.

Despite advances in the diagnosis and management of pediatric pulmonary hypertension (PH), children with PH represent a growing inpatient population with significant morbidity and mortality. To date, no studies have described the clinical characteristics of children with PH in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). A retrospective multicenter cohort study of 153 centers in the Virtual PICU Systems database who submitted data between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2015 was performed. A total of 14,880/670,098 admissions (2.2%) with a diagnosis of PH were identified. Of these, 2190 (14.7%) had primary PH and 12,690 (85.3%) had secondary PH. Mortality for PH admissions was 6.8% compared to 2.3% in those admitted without PH (odds ratio = 3.1; 95% confidence interval = 2.9–3.4). Compared to patients admitted to the PICU without PH, those with PH were younger, had longer length of stay, higher illness severity scores, were more likely to receive invasive mechanical ventilation, cardiopulmonary resuscitation,...
Homeless Mentally Ill Women: A Special Population

Homeless mentally ill women clearly constitute what the President’s Commission on Mental Health (1978) in the Carter years termed a “special population”—a subpopulation of American citizens who experience extraordinary and often unremitting barriers to care. Indeed, several areas of “specialness” converge to affect the access of homeless mentally ill women to needed services.
Electron at High Fields

Electrons at high fields are discussed, including tunneling through barriers of different shape; band to band tunneling, tunneling in a three dimensional lattice. Tunneling currents are calculated. Tunneling spectroscopy is introduced. Tunneling with phonon assistance. and with trap assistance is evaluated. Tunneling with photon assistance, the Franz-Keldysh effect is defined. The influence of the electric field on defect levels is shown as Stark effect. Field effect in superlattices are identified. The ionization via energetic particles is discussed.
Less is More: With a 280-character limit, Twitter Provides a Valuable Source for Detecting Self-reported Flu Cases

People in social media post massive amounts of different types of data including text messages, photos, and links. They share their personal opinions, feelings, and even their health status. The high volume of health-related tweets can be used as a tool to track the activities of different infectious diseases. In this paper, we describe our work to process Twitter data to detect self-reported cases of the flu using supervised machine learning methods. The results obtained on a large set of tweets posted in English during the winter season prove that machine learning classifiers are effective in detecting possible self-reported flu cases.
Vibrio parahaemolyticus VopA Is a Potent Inhibitor of Cell Migration and Apoptosis in the Intestinal Epithelium of Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT Animal models have played a key role in providing an understanding of the mechanisms that govern the pathophysiology of intestinal diseases. To expand on the repertoire of organisms available to study enteric diseases, we report on the use of the Drosophila melanogaster model to identify a novel function of an effector protein secreted by Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which is an enteric pathogen found in contaminated seafood. During pathogenesis, V. parahaemolyticus secretes effector proteins that usurp the host’s innate immune signaling pathways, thus allowing the bacterium to evade detection by the innate immune system. One secreted effector protein, VopA, has potent inhibitory effects on mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways via the acetylation of critical residues within the catalytic loops of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases (MAPKKs). Using the Drosophila model and cultured mammalian cells, we show that VopA also has potent modulating activity on focal adhesion complex (FAC) proteins, where VopA markedly reduced the levels of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) phosphorylation at Ser910, whereas the phosphorylation levels of FAK at Tyr397 and Tyr861 were markedly increased. Cultured cells expressing VopA were also impaired in their ability to migrate and repopulate areas subjected to a scratch wound. Consistently, expression of VopA in Drosophila midgut enterocytes disrupted the normal enterocyte arrangement. Finally, VopA inhibited apoptosis in both Drosophila tissues and mammalian cultured cells. Together, our data show that VopA can alter normal intestinal homeostatic processes to facilitate opportunities for V. parahaemolyticus to prolong infection within the host.
Matrix-induced transformation of arsenic species in seafoods

Abstract The paper presents a study on the matrix-induced transformation of arsenic (As) species spiked into seafoods. Sixteen arsenicals were individually spiked into samples of finfish, crustaceans and molluscs. The spiked samples were subjected to hot water extraction at 90 °C, and extracts were analyzed by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) interfaced with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Arsenate (As5+), arsenobetaine (AsB), arsenocholine (AsC), dimethylarsinate (DMA), monomethylarsonate (MMA), tetramethylarsonium ion (TMA) and trimethylarsoniopropionate (TMAP) remained intact in all the matrices. Whereas arsenite (As3+), dimethylarsinoyl acetate (DMAA), dimethylarsinoyl ethanol (DMAE), dimethylarsinoyl propionate (DMAP), trimethylarsine oxide (TMAO) and glycerol-, sulfonate-, sulfate- and phosphate-arsinoylribosides (arsenosugars 328, 392, 408 and 482, respectively) were transformed to other forms in most finfish and crustaceans. The transformation of the arsenicals was discovered to be induced by matrix thiols. While As3+ was bound to sulfhydryl groups, DMAA, DMAE, DMAP, TMAO and arsenosugars 392, 408 and 482 were thiolated through conversion of their arsinoyl (As=O) functionalities to arsinothioyl (As=S). The newly formed arsinothioyl compounds were characterized by HPLC-ICP-MS and electrospray ionization high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-HR-MS/MS) paired with HPLC. The observed matrix-induced transformation of the arsenic species could be prevented by treating the samples (prior to spiking) with a thiol-selective blocking agent, N-ethylmaleimide (NEM).
Conservatism and Constitutionalism in the United States

This paper inquires whether conservative political philosophy provides intellectual resources that might be expected to prevent judges from yielding to the temptation to impose their own strong moral beliefs about how society should be improved. The question emerges from the fact that for more than four decades a Supreme Court dominated by relatively conservative appointees has continued to produce decisions mandating radical social changes that cannot be convincingly traced to conventional sources of legal authority. The paper examines a range of ideas about what conservatism is and rejects the possibility that most of these can be expected to discipline the temptation to impose personal moral visions and aspirations. However, one strand of conservative thought is identified that can provide the necessary self-restraint. This strand is found in the writings of Burke on tradition and of Oakeshott on practical knowledge and in Scalia’s defense of the practice of defining traditions at the narrowest level of generality.
Social competence of bilingual and monolingual native English speaking preschoolers: a comparison of parent and teacher perspectives

ABSTRACTEffective peer interaction is fundamental to social development, cognitive development, and academic success. Young children’s early exposure to and development of social competence begins ...
Efficient soft decoding of reed-solomon codes based on sphere decoding

A novel soft-decision decoding method motivated by the idea of sphere decoding is proposed for Reed–Solomon (RS) codes. Sphere decoding reduces the complexity of finding the closest lattice point to a given point by confining the search to points that fall inside a sphere around the given point. In the authors’ proposed scheme, in order to reduce the search even further, the search effort is concentrated on the most probable lattice points. To do so, they first find the most reliable positions of the codeword. Then a sphere decoder is used to select symbol values for these positions. The proposed sphere decoder chooses the acceptable symbol values for each position from a pre-determined ordered set of most probable transmitted symbols. Each time the most reliable code symbols are selected, they are used to find the rest of RS symbols. If the resulting codeword is within the search radius, it is saved as a candidate transmitted codeword. The ordering used in the algorithm helps finding the candidate codewords quickly resulting in an efficient decoding method. Simulation results indicate considerable coding gains over hard decision decoding with a feasible complexity. The performance is also superior to the soft decision Koetter–Vardy method.
Natural Balancing of Flying Capacitor Multilevel Converters at Nominal Conversion Ratios

This work explores the mechanisms and limitations of natural voltage balancing in flying capacitor multilevel (FCML) DC-DC converters. A simple discrete-time state space model is used to explore the fundamental conditions that will lead to (or prevent) natural balance of flying capacitor voltages, along with the balancing dynamics. The treatment is used to highlight straightforward ways to alleviate problems with natural imbalance by adjusting the switching scheme. The model is compared against circuit simulations and the proposed switching scheme is verified in a hardware prototype.
Recent advance in SERS techniques for food safety and quality analysis: a brief review

Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has shown a wide array of applications in food safety and quality to detect and analyze chemical and microbiological hazards. SERS technique offers advantages over traditional analytical techniques as a rapid, sensitive ‘fingerprinting’ and field-deployable analytical tool. However, SERS technique still faces challenges when applied for analysis of complex food matrices. Recent advance in SERS techniques for food safety and quality application has been focusing on developing enhanced SERS substrates and methodologies 1) to enhance the sensitivity and selectivity and reduce matrix interferences, 2) to enable non-destructive sampling and in situ detection. Chemical modifications have been conducted on SERS substrates to immobilize molecular capturing agents (e.g. functional ligands, molecular imprinted polymers (MIPs), aptamers) and to enhance analytical sensitivity. Enrichment methodologies (filtration, microfluidic, MIPs, thin-layer chromatography) have been incorporated with SERS to separate and concentrate target analytes from matrices. SERS active in situ sampling substrates (e.g. SERS tape, SERS fiber, SERS needle) were developed to enable non-destructive sampling and in situ analysis. In this brief review, we will summarize some recent development and application of SERS techniques for food safety and quality analysis and our perspective for future development.
Comparative Study of Ketone and Surfactant for Enhancement of Water Imbibition in Fractured Porous Media

This paper presents a comparative study of two wettability modifiers with different characteristics for enhancing water imbibition from a fracture into the surrounding matrix. One is 3-pentanone, a...
Bias on the web and beyond: an accessibility point of view

The Web is the most powerful communication medium and the largest public data repository that humankind has created. Its content ranges from great reference sources such as Wikipedia to ugly fake news. Indeed, social (digital) media is just an amplifying mirror of ourselves, good or bad. Indeed, as all people has their own cultural and cognitive biases (e.g., confirmation bias, see Figure 1), web content as well as our web interactions are tainted with them. Data bias includes redundancy and spam, while interaction bias includes activity and presentation/exposure bias. In addition, sometimes algorithms add bias, particularly in the context of search and recommendation systems. As bias generates bias, we stress the importance of debiasing data as well as using the context and other techniques such as explore & exploit, to break filter bubbles.Our main goal is to make people aware of the different biases that affect all of us on the Web as well as stress that we should design inclusive content such that we help people with learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia) or vision problems (e.g., daltonism), among others. This makes the Web more accessible for all people. Finally, we have to remark that awareness is the first step to be able to fight and reduce the vicious cycle of web bias. For more details see my article on this topic [1].
Urinary cell-free DNA analysis for tumor mutation detection in patients with oligometastatic colorectal cancer.

e15545Background: Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) analysis from blood is a useful liquid biopsy strategy. However, it requires phlebotomy and moderate volumes of plasma. Here, we explored the feasibility of ...
Younger ages at risk of Covid-19 mortality in communities of color

More than 85% of Covid-19 mortality in high income countries is among people 65 years of age or older. Recent disaggregated data from the UK and US show that minority communities have increased mortality among younger age groups and in South Africa initial data suggest that the majority of deaths from Covid-19 are under 65 years of age. These observations suggest significant potential for increased Covid-19 mortality among younger populations in Africa and South Asia and may impact age-based selection of high-risk groups eligible for a future vaccine.
A simple graphical method for calculating the standing wave frequencies on a rectangular membrane

10.1119/10.0001299.1In introductory physics courses, simple arguments based on traveling waves on a string are used to relate the frequency of standing waves to boundary conditions, e.g., the fixed ends of the string. Here, we extend that approach to two-dimensional waves such as the oscillations of a rectangular membrane with edges fixed at the boundary. This results in a graphical method that uses only simple geometry and is suitable for explaining two-dimensional standing-wave oscillations to non-science majors, e.g., in a physics of sound and music class.
Towards a taxonomy of conversational discourse types: An empirical corpus-based analysis

Abstract Scholars from several research traditions have explored the ways in which speakers sometimes employ larger coherent discourse units within a conversational interaction. For most scholars, conversation is normally structured as local sequences of turns; larger discourse units are atypical, used for special culturally-recognized speech genres embedded in the regular flow of conversation. However, Bakhtin (1979/1986) suggests a different possibility: that conversational talk is normally organized in terms of larger discourse units representing different speech genres. The present paper -- at the intersection of the sub-disciplines of conversation analysis, discourse pragmatics, corpus linguistics, and register analysis -- reports on a major corpus-based investigation that empirically explores this theoretical possibility raised by Bakhtin. Based on analysis of 2.3 million words of conversational interactions, taken from the British National Corpus 2014, we show that 1) most conversational talk consists of sequences of coherent discourse units that have identifiable communicative goals, and that 2) such discourse units can be categorized into conversational discourse types that have distinct communicative purposes but do not usually conform to a conventional genre structure. That is, while conversational discourse units rarely realize conventional genre structures like personal narratives or jokes, they can be categorized into discourse types that serve distinctive combinations of communicative purposes. Based on our corpus analysis, we identify and describe 16 conversational discourse types associated with combinations of 9 general communicative purposes. Not surprisingly, discourse types focused on the expression of personal stance, feelings, and evaluations are especially common in conversation. However, the study reveals a second pattern that is more surprising: that discourse types focused on conveying information are as common in conversation as personal stance discourse types.
PHOTONEUTRON CROSS SECTIONS FOR $sup 23$Na AND $sup 25$Mg.

Nearly monochromatic photons from positron annihilation in flight have been used to measure photoneutron cross sections for $^{23}\mathrm{Na}$ and $^{25}\mathrm{Mg}$ in the giant-resonance region. The shape of the giant resonance of each of these nuclei is rather broad, with less striking intermediate structure than in most neighboring $\mathrm{sd}$-shell nuclei. In $^{23}\mathrm{Na}$ the total cross section rises to approximately 10 mb at 17.5 MeV and remains essentially constant up to 25 MeV. In $^{25}\mathrm{Mg}$ the total cross section reaches a peak of 28 mb at 23.1 MeV and falls to approximately half that magnitude at the upper energy limit of the experiment (29 MeV). In both nuclei the ($\ensuremath{\gamma},2n$) cross section appears to rise slowly above threshold but does not exceed 1 mb within the energy limits of the experiment. The integrated cross sections for $^{23}\mathrm{Na}$ and $^{25}\mathrm{Mg}$ are 119 and 249 MeV mb, respectively; the bremsstrahlung-weighted integrated cross sections are 5.7 mb for $^{23}\mathrm{Na}$ and 11.7 mb for $^{25}\mathrm{Mg}$.
Characterizing the Community Collaborations of a Community-Based Student-Run Clinic.

IntroductionCommunity-based student-run free clinics (SRCs) can advance health on a community level by reaching populations not served by other organizations and serving as an access point to the h...
Differences between Politically Connected and Nonconnected Firms: A Cross‐Country Analysis

Evidence from firms in 47 countries shows that companies with political connections have higher leverage and higher market shares, but they underperform compared to nonconnected companies on an accounting basis. Differences between connected and unconnected firms are more pronounced when political links are stronger. Differences also vary depending on the level of corruption and the degree of economic development in individual countries.
Reply: From Mice to Humans: The Exocrine Pancreas Does Not Matter in Human GLP-1 Receptor Imaging.

REPLY: I want to thank Gotthardt and colleagues for bringing this important clinical question to the forefront of discussion—the independent measurement of β-cell mass and β-cell function. Indeed, this distinction has major implications for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes research. Their group
Engendering the Anti-Social Thesis: The Queerness of Pregnancy in Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts

The vexed debate within the field of queer theory over what it means to be queer in the social world—the anti-social thesis—serves as this article’s conceptual and theoretical starting point, but a...
A Tight Max-Flow Min-Cut Duality Theorem for Non-Linear Multicommodity Flows.

The Max-Flow Min-Cut theorem is the classical duality result for the Max-Flow problem, which considers flow of a single commodity. We study a multiple commodity generalization of Max-Flow in which flows are composed of real-valued k-vectors through networks with arc capacities formed by regions in \R^k. Given the absence of a clear notion of ordering in the multicommodity case, we define the generalized max flow as the feasible region of all flow values. We define a collection of concepts and operations on flows and cuts in the multicommodity setting. We study the mutual capacity of a set of cuts, defined as the set of flows that can pass through all cuts in the set. We present a method to calculate the mutual capacity of pairs of cuts, and then generalize the same to a method of calculation for arbitrary sets of cuts. We show that the mutual capacity is exactly the set of feasible flows in the network, and hence is equal to the max flow. Furthermore, we present a simple class of the multicommodity max flow problem where computations using this tight duality result could run significantly faster than default brute force computations. We also study more tractable special cases of the multicommodity max flow problem where the objective is to transport a maximum real or integer multiple of a given vector through the network. We devise an augmenting cycle search algorithm that reduces the optimization problem to one with m constraints in at most \R^{(m-n+1)k} space from one that requires mn constraints in \R^{mk} space for a network with n nodes and m edges. We present efficient algorithms that compute eps-approximations to both the ratio and the integer ratio maximum flow problems.
Novel treatment of endobronchial inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor in a child

Isolated endobronchial inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors (IMT) are rare, accounting for about 1% of primary endobronchial tumors in children. The mainstay of treatment for this tumor has been surgical resection. Recently, the identification of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene mutations in half of IMTs and promising results of treatment with ALK inhibitors in other ALK-positive tumors have opened the possibility of alternative approaches. We present a 4-year-old child with an ALK-positive endobronchial IMT, treated with endoscopic resection and neoadjuvant therapy with crizotinib, without evidence of tumor recurrence 2 years after the initial resection.
Using GPS-enabled mobile phones to evaluate the associations between human mobility changes and the onset of influenza illness

Abstract Due to the challenges in data collection, there are few studies examining how individuals’ routine mobility patterns change when they experience influenza-like symptoms (ILS). In the present study, we aimed to assess the association between changes in routine mobility and ILS using mobile phone-based GPS traces and self-reported surveys from 1,155 participants over the 2016-2017 influenza season. We used a set of mobility metrics to capture individuals’ routine mobility patterns and matched their weekly ILS survey responses. For a statistical analysis, we used a time-stratified case-crossover analysis and conducted a stratified analysis to examine if such associations are moderated by demographic and socioeconomic factors, such as age, gender, occupational status, neighborhood poverty and education levels, and work type. We found that statistically significant associations existed between reduced routine mobility patterns and the experience of ILS. Results also indicated that the association between reduced mobility and ILS was significant only for female and for participants with high socioeconomic status. Our findings offered an improved understanding of ILS-associated mobility changes at the individual level and suggest the potential of individual mobility data for influenza surveillance.
Carrot Ⓧ Tobacco Somatic Cell Hybrids Selected by Amino Acid Analog Resistance Complementation

Protoplast fusion methodology has been used to produce inter and intraspecific heterokaryons from a large number of plant species. Although this is a potentially useful tool for the transfer of genetic information, the selection of heterokaryons from the homologous fusions and unfused protoplasts which are also present is a frequent problem (1). One successful method has employed the use of amino acid analog resistance complementation in the selection of fusion hybrids.
Zwei-Personen-Nullsummenspiele

Ein Spiel Г heist Nullsummen-Spiel, wenn die Auszahlungsfunktion fur jeden Endpunkt die Beziehung $$\sum\limits_{i = 1}^n {{p_i} = 0}$$ (2.1.1) erfullt. Allgemein stellt ein Nullsummenspiel ein abgeschlossenes System dar, bei dem jeder Gewinn eines Spielers notwendig den gleichgrosen Verlust anderer Spieler bedeutet. Die meisten Gesellschaftsspiele sind vom Nullsummen-Typ. Zweipersonen-Nullsummen-Spiele werden gelegentlich auch Spiele bei vollstandiger Konkurrenz genannt.
Protein Turnover in Skeletal Muscle II. EFFECTS OF DENERVATION AND CORTISONE ON PROTEIN CATABOLISM IN SKELETAL MUSCLE

To determine the mechanism by which denervation leads to atrophy of skeletal muscle, the fate of previously labeled protein was studied in denervated and contralateral control muscles of hypophysectomized rats. To label muscle proteins, a single injection of 3H-leucine was given to the animals 2 days prior to section of the sciatic nerve. On subsequent days, the animals received unlabeled leucine and a high protein diet. Protein degradative rates were estimated from the disappearance of radioactivity from muscle proteins. Protein synthetic rates were estimated from the decrease in specific activity of these proteins, caused by the dilution of labeled proteins with newly synthesized (unlabeled) material. Ten days after denervation, atrophic muscles contained less total radioactivity than contralateral controls. This result suggests increased protein degradation. Nevertheless, the specific activity of muscle proteins remained unchanged. Protein synthesis therefore must also have decreased following nerve section. The loss of muscle weight following denervation appeared to be directly proportional to the increase in protein degradation. The increase in catabolism of myofibrillar proteins was especially marked, and this finding accounts for the relative loss of myofibrillar material in the denervated muscles. Analogous experiments were carried out to determine the mechanisms through which cortisone induces muscle atrophy. Two days after injection of labeled leucine, animals received daily injections of cortisone acetate (10 mg per day) or 0.9% sodium chloride solution. Cortisone caused marked atrophy of the plantaris muscle. Although the hormone decreased appreciably the amount of labeled proteins per muscle, it did not alter their specific activity. Thus cortisone both increased protein degradation and decreased protein synthesis. In contrast to denervation atrophy, cortisone-atrophy affected the breakdown of myofibrillar and soluble proteins similarly. Cortisone did not cause appreciable loss of weight of the soleus muscle, in which the hormone did not significantly increase protein degradation. However, upon denervation the soleus became susceptible to cortisone-induced atrophy, and in the denervated soleus cortisone further accelerated protein catabolism and reduced protein synthesis.
Using Web-enabled Landsat Data time series to analyze the impacts of urban areas on remotely sensed vegetation dynamics

Earth is currently experiencing rapid urban growth with >50% of global population living in urban areas. Urbanization occurs as cities expand to meet the demands of increasing populations and socioeconomic growth. Consequently, there is a need for remote sensing research to detect, quantify, and monitor urbanization and subsequent impacts on the environment. Here we used Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data products derived from the Web-enabled Landsat Data (WELD) project to (1) characterize the response of vegetation to urban land cover change and (2) analyze the impacts of urban areas on land surface phenology across rural to urban gradients for two cities located on the United States Great Plains. Here we fit the decade (2003–2012) of NDVI observations as a quadratic function of thermal time to calculate land surface phenology (LSP) metrics and characterize vegetation dynamics on an urban-rural gradient. We found croplands to exhibit greater variation in NDVI at half thermal time to peak compared to forest and developed land cover types. We found a linear relationship between modeled peak height NDVI and NDVI at half thermal time to peak in forest and developed pixels, as well as pixels that experienced a land cover change from cropland to developed. In general, duration of season decreased with distance from the city center in deciduous forest pixels for both cities. Developed pixels had lower modeled peak height NDVI, longer duration of season and greater variation compared to forest pixels.
Intestinal Microvascular Exchange in the Rat During Luminal Perfusion With Formyl-Methionyl-Leucyl-Phenylalanine

Formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP), a peptide released from bacteria in the gut lumen, is known to both attract and activate neutrophils. The aim of this study was to determine whether luminal perfusion with 1 microM FMLP alters microvascular permeability, blood flow, and neutrophil migration in the small intestine of control rats and rats treated with antineutrophil serum. Microvascular permeability to total plasma proteins was determined from an analysis of lymphatic protein fluxes. Myeloperoxidase activity was used as an index of tissue neutrophil count. Intestinal blood flow was measured using radiolabeled microspheres and the reference blood sample method. In control rats, luminal perfusion with FMLP caused significant increases in blood flow, lymph flow, lymph protein clearance, and microvascular permeability, but it did not alter tissue myeloperoxidase activity. In rats treated with antineutrophil serum, tissue myeloperoxidase levels were reduced by approximately 55%, and the FMLP-induced changes in lymph flow, lymph protein clearance, and microvascular permeability were significantly attenuated. In vitro experiments with isolated rat neutrophils revealed that 1 microM FMLP elicits significant chemotaxis and degranulation yet minimally enhances superoxide production. The results of this study indicate that peptides produced by microorganisms in the gut lumen can increase intestinal microvascular permeability. The FMLP-induced alterations in microvascular exchange appear to be mediated by activated neutrophils.
Interactions between glia, the immune system and pain processes during early development

Pain is a serious problem for infants and children and treatment options are limited. Moreover, infants born prematurely or hospitalized for illness likely have concurrent infection that activates the immune system. It is now recognized that the immune system in general and glia in particular influence neurotransmission and that the neural bases of pain are intimately connected to immune function. We know that injuries that induce pain activate immune function and suppressing the immune system alleviates pain. Despite this advance in our understanding, virtually nothing is known of the role that the immune system plays in pain processing in infants and children, even though pain is a serious clinical issue in pediatric medicine. This brief review summarizes the existing data on immune-neural interactions in infants, providing evidence for the immaturity of these interactions.
Neutron capture cross section of Ni 62 at s -process energies

The neutron capture cross section of {sup 62}Ni has been measured in the energy range relevant to the astrophysical s-process and Maxwellian-averaged cross sections (MACS) were extracted. The experiment was performed with an enriched {sup 62}Ni sample at a white neutron source using a 160 segment BaF{sub 2} detector array. The experimental results: 31.5{+-}2.5{sub stat}{+-}2.2{sub sys} mb (MACS at kT=25 keV) and 25.8{+-}1.8{sub stat}{+-}1.9{sub sys} mb (MACS at kT=30 keV) resolve a previous discrepancy between recent experiments.
Inhibition of Bacillus cereus spores and vegetative cells by fatty acids and glyceryl monododecanoate

Abstract Fatty acids and glyceryl monododecanoate (monolaurin) inhibited cell growth from Bacillus cereus spores and vegetative cells. The inhibitory activity decreased according to: stearic Lauric acid (0·075 to 0·5 mM) inhibited cell multiplication, oleic acid (0·885 to 1·060mM) affected solely spore germination, whereas monolaurin (0·073 to 0·109 mM), linoleic (0·178 to 0·321 mM) and linolenic acids (0·036 to 0·054 mM) inhibited both spore germination and outgrowth. The effects of stearic and oleic acids were reversible whereas linoleic (0·885 to 1·065 mM) totally and irreversibly inactivated spores. Other inhibitors partially affected spores and vegetative cells. Starch neutralized the inhibitory activity of fatty acids except for lauric acid 1 mM and oleic acid. Starch antagonism decreased as fatty acid concentration increased.
The effect of fiber pre-stress on residual stresses and the onset of damage in symmetric laminates

Abstract Stresses and deformations caused by fiber pre-stress are analyzed in symmetric elastic laminates that are loaded by uniform in-plane tractions, temperature changes, and uniform eigenstrains induced by various physical processes in symmetrically located pairs of plies. The pre-stress is applied to all fibers of selected symmetric pairs of plies prior to matrix cure, and is released after cooling to room temperature. The effect of the pre-stress on residual stress distribution is illustrated by failure maps constructed in overall stress planes of ply strength branches, derived from the computed local stresses and the maximum stress criterion. Examples are presented for 9-ply (0/90) 2s and (0/±45/90/0) s S-glass/epoxy laminates, both in the stress-free state, and after −150°C cooling from the curing temperature, with different magnitudes of pre-stress applied either to all plies or to the 0° plies. Releasing the pre-stress is shown to be equivalent to applying a sustained compression in the axial direction of each ply. The ply strength branches and initial failure envelopes, therefore translate in the overall stress space in the direction and by the magnitude of the overall stresses that are equivalent to the applied pre-stress. In systems with compliant polymer matrices, fairly small fiber stress changes are needed to support large translations of the ply strength branches. The implication is that matrix damage can be retarded or avoided altogether by moderate pre-stress magnitudes that are within the operating capacity of existing filament-winding fiber or placement devices.
The carboxy-terminus of p63 links cell cycle control and the proliferative potential of epidermal progenitor cells

The transcription factor p63 (Trp63) plays a key role in homeostasis and regeneration of the skin. The p63 gene is transcribed from dual promoters, generating TAp63 isoforms with growth suppressive functions and dominant-negative ΔNp63 isoforms with opposing properties. p63 also encodes multiple carboxy (C)-terminal variants. Although mutations of C-terminal variants have been linked to the pathogenesis of p63-associated ectodermal disorders, the physiological role of the p63 C-terminus is poorly understood. We report here that deletion of the p63 C-terminus in mice leads to ectodermal malformation and hypoplasia, accompanied by a reduced proliferative capacity of epidermal progenitor cells. Notably, unlike the p63-null condition, we find that p63 C-terminus deficiency promotes expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21Waf1/Cip1 (Cdkn1a), a factor associated with reduced proliferative capacity of both hematopoietic and neuronal stem cells. These data suggest that the p63 C-terminus plays a key role in the cell cycle progression required to maintain the proliferative potential of stem cells of many different lineages. Mechanistically, we show that loss of Cα, the predominant C-terminal p63 variant in epithelia, promotes the transcriptional activity of TAp63 and also impairs the dominant-negative activity of ΔNp63, thereby controlling p21Waf1/Cip1 expression. We propose that the p63 C-terminus links cell cycle control and the proliferative potential of epidermal progenitor cells via mechanisms that equilibrate TAp63 and ΔNp63 isoform function.