cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cell Cycle Events and Cell Cycle-Dependent Processes

Introduction The Biology of the Cell Cycle The G1 and G0 Phases The DNA Synthesis Phase The G2 Phase and Mitosis Control of the Cell Cycle Partners in Cell Cycle Regulation: Cyclins and CDKs The Cyclin/CDK Complexes in Action Understanding Cell Cycle Regulation through Mathematical Modeling Implications for Animal Cell Culture Cell Cycle Dependent Protein Accumulation Cell Cycle-Dependent Behavior of Culture Systems Engineering the Cell Cycle Gene Therapy Conclusions Bibliography Keywords: physiology; cell growth; apoptosis
Upregulated miR-146a expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from rheumatoid arthritis patients

Introduction MicroRNAs are small noncoding RNA molecules that negatively regulate gene expression via degradation or translational repression of their targeted mRNAs. It is known that aberrant microRNA expression can play important roles in cancer, but the role of microRNAs in autoimmune diseases is only beginning to emerge. In this study, the expression of selected microRNAs is examined in rheumatoid arthritis.
Late Life Job Displacement

Data from the 1992 wave of the Health and Retirement Study are used to examine the incidence of job displacement among workers ages 51 through 60. The average displaced worker experiences a loss in earnings of 39%. Households which contain a displaced worker have incomes 24% lower than the household of an average worker. Little of these lost earnings are replaced through pension income. The rate of health insurance coverage is 16% lower among displaced workers. As with other labor market outcomes, non-Whites on average are the most economically vulnerable following displacement.
WeAkness, Ambience And irrelevAnce: FAilure As A method For Acoustic vAriety

ABSTRACT The author, a percussionist, finds timbral interest in the failure to consistently execute a common technique.
Using the Lives Saved Tool as part of evaluations of community case management programs

Under–5 mortality is a continuing problem globally, with over 6.6 million children still dying annually [1]. In Africa, the most common causes of death include pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and prematurity [2]. The World Health Organization published a position paper in 2012 promoting implementation of community case management of childhood illnesses to reach populations with limited access to facility–based health care providers with the aim of reducing child mortality [3]. Typically, integrated community case management (iCCM) includes antibiotics for pneumonia, oral rehydration salts and zinc for diarrhea and appropriate antimalarial drugs (artemesinin combination therapy, with or without use of rapid diagnostic tests, RDTs). Many countries have been expanding the role of community health workers to include iCCM [4-6] (ie, Ethiopia, Malawi). For further expansion, the likely impact of this new delivery strategy needs to be quantified and made available to potential implementers, funders and international organizations such as WHO and UNICEF [5,7]. Much of the data regarding changes in mortality come from two sources: controlled studies of implementation of a project [8,9] and large national surveys of mortality and health intervention coverage [10]. Both have limitations with respect to understanding the potential impact of a specific program on mortality rates. Controlled studies often only measure the exact program, not the wider environment while national surveys typically estimate population wide mortality rates, but do not necessarily know the source of the changes [1, 6]. In both types of data, the impact of the specific implementation program is confounded by fluctuations within the wider health care system, including stockouts of medication or supplies, nonfunctioning equipment, health care worker strikes, and weather events [11,12]. Given these possibilities, neither an increase nor a decrease in coverage of a specific intervention will be adequate to estimate the impact of a given health service delivery mechanism or program. In addition, a fully randomized trial evaluating the impact of an iCCM program is not possible under most circumstances. Instead quasi–experimental designs are used, and within both the intervention and comparison districts, other child health interventions such as vaccination, nutrition programs may be changing. In these studies, one must estimate the impact of changes in all of the interventions, not just the ones provides by iCCM programs in evaluating the impact of the program. In response to this type of complexity, it has been argued that the use of modeling will play a critical role in making causal inferences linking programs and impact [13]. This paper describes a methodology for using the Lives Saved Tool (LiST) to model the impact of iCCM within the wider changes of health intervention coverage.
DOMINO: relative scheduling in enterprise wireless LANs

Large-scale Enterprise WLANs are amenable to centralized control and coordination through the wired backbone for improved performance. Distributed scheduling algorithms either fail to achieve high performance in real deployments due to their myopic view of interference characteristics, or take significant time to converge to a globally optimal solution. Thus, they are not reactive to current network conditions. Centralized packet scheduling algorithms do not suffer from the performance limitations of distributed approaches, but are non-trivial to implement. Tight time synchronization requirements make proposed centralized schemes difficult to use in practice. This paper proposes Relative Scheduling: a technique for triggering wireless transmissions through other wireless transmissions in a domino-like fashion, thus making tight time synchronization unnecessary. Through USRP experiments and trace-driven simulations, we show that our approach can achieve up to 1.96× the throughput of Distributed Coordination Function (DCF).
Effectively visualizing multi-valued flow data using color and texture

In this paper we offer several new insights and techniques for effectively using color and texture to simultaneously convey information about multiple 2D scalar and vector distributions, in a way that facilitates allowing each distribution to be understood both individually and in the context of one or more of the other distributions. Specifically, we introduce the concepts of: color weaving for simultaneously representing information about multiple co-located color encoded distributions; and texture stitching for achieving more spatially accurate multi-frequency line integral convolution representations of combined scalar and vector distributions. The target application for our research is the definition, detection and visualization of regions of interest in a turbulent boundary layer flow at moderate Reynolds number. In this work, we examine and analyze streamwise-spanwise planes of three-component velocity vectors with the goal of identifying and characterizing spatially organized packets of hairpin vortices.
Unforeseen Americas: the making of New World societies in anthropological perspective

The European discovery and settlement of the Americas revealed unforeseen dimensions and gave rise to unpremeditated ways of coping with the resulting problems. This paper traces out the enduring social and cultural implications of this foundational encounter.
The Struggle between “Religion and Nonreligion”: Jefferson, Backus, and the Dissonance of America's Founding Principles

Recent court cases in the United States concerning the display of monuments to the Ten Commandments on government property have highlighted a perennial and fundamental puzzle of constitutional jurisprudence and, indeed, of liberal theory. At bottom the issue is not religious freedom, on which all sides are in basic agreement, but rather the foundations of religious freedom and liberal constitutionalism more generally. Proponents of the monuments believe them simply to acknowledge what they take to be a fact, viz. that the principles of the American constitution are rooted in biblical revelation and are therefore essentially religious. The prevailing view of the Supreme Court in recent decades makes no such acknowledgment, maintaining instead that the “First Amendment mandates governmental neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion.” 1 The prevailing jurisprudence of the Court does not embrace the premise that liberal principles are essentially religious; but neither does the Court repudiate the premise and declare them to be essentially secular, since doing so would presumably require abandoning the posture of neutrality “between religion and nonreligion.” The prevailing view of the Court is reflected in the prevailing view of liberal theory today, exemplified by John Rawls’s doctrine of “political liberalism.” According to Rawls, liberalism should be “political not metaphysical,” which means also “not theological.” It is instead “freestanding”— –neither essentially religious nor essentially secular. Political liberalism as a matter of principle does not take a stand on the question of the foundations of that and other liberal principles. 2 Both political liberalism and the Court believe that liberal principle requires them to stay out of that de
WIC and the Price of Infant Formula

This article presents an economic model of a national infant formula market that quantifies the effects of sole‐source contracts on infant formula prices, on producer earnings, and on the taxpayer cost of providing infant formula to participants of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. It shows that the behavior of paying customers, manufacturers, and retail stores determines the value of local sole‐source contracts to manufacturers and that this value motivates manufacturers to acquire sole‐source contracts and make rebate payments that contain the taxpayer cost of providing infant formula to program participants.
Cefotaxime and desacetylcefotaxime antimicrobial interactions: The clinical relevance of enhanced activity: A review

Abstract This presentation reviews 15 years of in vitro, pharmacokinetic, and clinical data concerning the active metabolite of cefotaxime sodium, desacetylcefotaxime. This principle metabolite maintains an antimicrobial activity and spectrum superior to so-called "second-generation" cephalosporins, plus it has an extended serum elimination half-life. Furthermore, it penetrates well into various important body compartments. The metabolite enhances cefotaxime potency by additive or synergistic antimicrobial interactions that can significantly reduce cefotaxime minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) among oxacillin-susceptible staphylococci, Streptococcus species including pneumococci resistant to penicillin, anaerobes, enteric bacilli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa , and when tested in human serum, some enterococci. The high activity of cefotaxime alone and the contributions of desacetylcefotaxime to the drug's total antimicrobial value must be considered in reestablishing correct dosing of this "third-generation" cephalosporin. Physicians should use cefotaxime susceptibility tests to direct appropriate, cost-effective dosing and the selection of co-drugs when needed. Moreover, empiric cefotaxime regimen doses should also be reduced for some infections at sites where expected pathogen MICs remain low (⩽2 μg/ml).
Intracerebral involvement in scleroderma en coup de sabre: Report of a case with neuropathologic findings

Linear scleroderma en coup de sabre (LScs) is a rare disorder not infrequently associated with neurologic symptoms, notably epilepsy. However, histopathologic documentation of intracerebral lesions in LScs is very limited and the etiology of the central nervous system symptoms has therefore never been convincingly established. We describe a 27-year-old woman with LScs and a long-standing history of epilepsy. Radiographic studies demonstrated a focal, intraparenchymal lesion in the left frontal lobe directly subjacent to the area of scleroderma on the forehead and scalp. The resected cerebral lesion revealed localized band-like sclerosis of the leptomeninges and associated vessels, as well as intraparenchymal calcifications and anomalous, ectatic vessels. These findings suggest that LScs may represent a neurocutaneous syndrome of vascular dysplasia similar to the Sturge-Weber syndrome, rather than a localized form of collagen vascular disease, as suggested by some.
Narrowing the gap between climate science and adaptation action: The role of boundary chains

Abstract Boundary organizations play a critical role at the interface between science and decision making. They create, protect and sustain an interactive space for co-production of science and decision-making while simultaneously bridging the two domains. In this special issue we advance the concept of boundary chains, whereby two or more boundary organizations link together synergistically to influence one another and to leverage each other’s resources and strengths to achieve shared goals. In this process both the level of complementary and embeddedness between these organizations is critical for achieving these goals. Through a series of case studies focusing primarily but not exclusively on climate information use in the United States, we aim to advance scholarship in the field by examining innovation among boundary organizations and testing the boundary chain concept. In doing so, we focus on boundary chains both as a theoretical construct to re-think the structure, function, and adaptability of boundary organizations and as a practical strategy to further increase the usability of climate knowledge for adaptation action across a wider range of users.
Primary Liposarcoma of Bone

The case presented here would appear to be unique in that it clearly establishes the possibility of the intramedullary origin of a liposarcoma. Clinical, operative, and pathological examination of the extremity failed to reveal any evidence of tumor outside the medullary cavity of the tibia. Two years have passed, and the patient has shown no evidence of a primary lesion elsewhere or of metastatic disease.
Tau Oligomers: The Toxic Player at Synapses in Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive disorder in which the most noticeable symptoms are cognitive impairment and memory loss. However, the precise mechanism by which those symptoms develop remains unknown. Of note, neuronal loss occurs at sites where synaptic dysfunction is observed earlier, suggesting that altered synaptic connections precede neuronal loss. The abnormal accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau protein is the main histopathological feature of the disease. Several lines of evidence suggest that the small oligomeric forms of Aβ and tau may act synergistically to promote synaptic dysfunction in AD. Remarkably, tau pathology correlates better with the progression of the disease than Aβ. Recently, a growing number of studies have begun to suggest that missorting of tau protein from the axon to the dendrites is required to mediate the detrimental effects of Aβ. In this review we discuss the novel findings regarding the potential mechanisms by which tau oligomers contribute to synaptic dysfunction in AD.
Predictable Components of Individual Stock Volatility

We estimate the conditional variance of daily stock returns using an extended GARCH model with event-related dummy variables to capture the predictable components of volatility change, such as earnings announcements, macroeconomic announcements, day-of-the-week effects, etc. We examine the out-of-sample forecasting ability and find this model provides a better performance compared to the usual GARCH(1,1) volatility model. In addition, we find that the dependence on the random components increases after we include the predictable components. This implies that modeling volatilities using only past returns without other predictable variables could underestimate the persistence levels of volatilities and thus bias the volatility forecasts, especially those over long horizons.
Weak Links: Stabilizers of Complex Systems from Proteins to Social Networks. Peter Csermely. (2006, Springer.) Hardcover, $64.95, 410 pages

Weak Links: Stabilizers of Complex Systems from Proteins to Social Networks. Peter Csermely. (2006, Springer.) Hardcover, $64.95, 410 pages. Following Barabasi’s Linked [1], network science has become a popular and effective method to study the range of complex systems from molecular interactions to friendship networks. Many measures have been developed to classify and analyze networks. These structural metrics tend to focus on the more permanent connections of a network. Peter Csermely takes a different stance, focusing his book on those connections whose presence does not change the value of these measures in a ‘‘statistically discernible way’’ (p. 3)—the weak links. In contrast to the predominant emphasis on the more easily measured connections of a system, Weak Links focuses on the effervescent edges that make a network both dynamic and, in his opinion, stable. Csermely advocates a serious exploration of the stabilizing role of weak links in networks at all levels. Csermely posits the stabilizing effect of weak links to be a general network property of all complex systems. This ambitious claim is substantiated by varied examples from many disciplines as well as through intriguing conjecture in areas that require further research. With a surprising combination of scientific exposition and philosophical reflection, Weak Links opens with a biochemical research problem and takes the reader through the breadth of network science studies to conclude with a larger message for humankind. The first half of the book attempts to fully explain the components of Csermely’s hypothesis. This is time well spent, considering the notoriously difficult-to-define topics he tackles—stability, complexity, and weakness. Through a review of other accepted general network properties, such as scale-freeness, clustering, and preferential attachment, Csermely introduces the role of weak links, setting them in a familiar context. In what is anything but a typical review of network science, he includes such diverse asides as fractal geometry, Levy flights in biology, and the scale-free properties of music. What follows is the most technical chapter of the book, exploring the meaning of stability in networks. He concludes that weak links protect networks from perturbations that test network stability. Albeit a difficult subject, the stability definition tends toward the anecdotal. The second half of the book involves a trip to Netland. Here, each chapter is devoted to the description of weak link stabilization in networks of a particular scale. The journey begins with a review of the literature indicating weak link stabilization in macromolecules and continues to cells, organisms, and social networks with each successive chapter. The most unique work ensues as the trip to Netland continues to cultural networks (including language and architecture), the global web
The Properties of Long Noncoding RNAs That Regulate Chromatin

Beyond coding for proteins, RNA molecules have well-established functions in the posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression. Less clear are the upstream roles of RNA in regulating transcription and chromatin-based processes in the nucleus. RNA is transcribed in the nucleus, so it is logical that RNA could play diverse and broad roles that would impact human physiology. Indeed, this idea is supported by well-established examples of noncoding RNAs that affect chromatin structure and function. There has been dramatic growth in studies focused on the nuclear roles of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). Although little is known about the biochemical mechanisms of these lncRNAs, there is a developing consensus regarding the challenges of defining lncRNA function and mechanism. In this review, we examine the definition, discovery, functions, and mechanisms of lncRNAs. We emphasize areas where challenges remain and where consensus among laboratories has underscored the exciting ways in which human lncRNAs may affect chromatin biology.
Ancient Persia: From Cyrus to Darius I: Empire in Transition

DEATH OF CYRUS Cyrus’ movements between his conquest of Babylon and his death may only be guessed. The remaining major power not yet conquered was Egypt, which was supposedly one of Cyrus’ objectives that drew him away from Lydia (Hdt. 1.153). Perhaps plans were being developed for an invasion of Egypt, plans subsequently implemented by Cambyses, but there is no way of knowing. Babylonian evidence indicates that Cyrus died in August 530 BCE. According to Herodotus, Cyrus reigned for twenty-nine years (1.214) and his final campaign was in the extreme northeast. Herodotus’ account of Cyrus’ death focuses on his war with the Massagetae, a Scythian people who lived beyond the Araxes (or Jaxartes, the modern Syr Darya) in modern Kazakhstan. Herodotus here offers another cautionary tale – the limits and consequences of hubris – so one hesitates to take it for literal truth. As he did with Cyrus’ birth legend, Herodotus acknowledges multiple versions (1.214) but relates the one he found most plausible. The Massagetae were ruled by a widowed queen, Tomyris, whom Cyrus first attempted to wed and thus gain the territory by diplomacy before conquest. Tomyris rebuffed Cyrus with a warning to stay within his territory: to cease his expansionism or pay the price. Cyrus instead heeded the advice of Croesus, who counseled Cyrus to cross the river and engage Tomyris’ forces.
Superbugs versus Outsourced Cleaners: Employment Arrangements and the Spread of Health Care–Associated Infections

On any given day, about one in 25 hospital patients in the United States has a health care–associated infection (HAI) that the patient contracts as a direct result of his or her treatment. Fortunat...
Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy as an Emerging Option for Localized Pancreatic Cancer

Localized pancreatic cancer remains a therapeutic challenge despite advances in multiple treatment techniques. In patients with borderline resectable and unresectable (locally advanced) pancreatic cancer, stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) has emerged as a promising treatment option. Potential benefits include shorter treatment duration and increased patient convenience, encouraging surgical outcomes, lower acute toxicity, and reduced delay of chemotherapy. In the last decade, multiple retrospective reports have been published on this technique. More recently, prospective assessment of SBRT in pancreatic cancer has demonstrated increased resectability of previously unresectable lesions, as well as lower rates of margin-positive resections. As a higher dose of radiation is utilized, however, this technique requires careful patient selection and treatment planning to ensure safety. In this chapter, the published literature using SBRT in pancreatic cancer, along with treatment recommendations and contraindications, is presented. Long-term data regarding SBRT is forthcoming and may result in the adoption of this technique not only as an adequate option, but also as the future standard-of-care.
Reliability Analysis and Redundancy Allocation for a One-Shot System Containing Multifunctional Components

Enabling more than one function in a component provides a new cost-effective way to develop a highly reliable system. In this paper, we study the reliability of a one-shot system containing multifunctional components. Such systems have attracted increasing attention in many areas, such as ad hoc sensor networks. We derive the expressions for system reliability and reliability of each function, and formulate a redundancy allocation problem (RAP) with the objective of maximizing system reliability. Unlike constructing a system with single-functional components, the number of copies of a specific function to be included in each multifunctional component (i.e., functional redundancy) needs to be determined as part of the design. Moreover, a start-up strategy for turning on specific functions in these components must be decided prior to system operation. We develop a heuristic algorithm and include it in a two-stage genetic algorithm (GA) to solve the new RAP. We also apply a Tabu search (TS) method for solving such NP-hard problems. Our numerical studies illustrate that the two-stage GA and the TS method are quite effective in searching for high-quality solutions.
Medullary renal cell carcinoma (RCC): Genomics and treatment outcomes.

4556Background: Medullary RCC is a rare and aggressive type of kidney cancer that primarily affects young adults with sickle cell trait. Recent reports have identified loss of expression of SMARCB1...
Feasibility of rapid multi-tracer PET tumor imaging

Positron emission tomography (PET) can characterize different aspects of tumor physiology using various tracers. PET is usually limited to one tracer since there is no explicit signal for distinguishing multiple tracers. We tested the feasibility of rapidly imaging two PET tracers using dynamic imaging techniques, where the signals from each tracer are separated based upon differences in tracer half-life, kinetics, and distribution. Time-activity curves for FDG, acetate, ATSM, and PFSM were simulated using appropriate compartment models, and noisy dual-tracer curves were computed by shifting and adding the single-tracer curves. Single-tracer components were then estimated from dual-tracer data using two methods: principal component analysis (PCA)-based fits of single-tracer components to multi-tracer data, and multi-tracer compartment models estimating single-tracer rate parameters from multi-tracer time-activity curves. PCA analysis of single- and dual-tracer data found that there is information content present for separating multi-tracer data, and that tracer separability depends upon tracer kinetics, injection order and timing. Multi-tracer compartment modeling recovered rate parameters for individual tracers with good accuracy but somewhat higher statistical uncertainty than single-tracer results when the injection delay was >10 min. These approaches to processing rapid multi-tracer PET data may potentially lead to a robust method for imaging multiple aspects of tumor physiology in vivo.
The glass transition temperature of thin films: A molecular dynamics study for a bead-spring model

Molecular dynamics simulations were carried out on free-standing liquid films of different thicknesses h using a bead-spring model of 10 beads per chain. The glass transition temperatures, Tg, of the various films were determined from plots of the internal energy versus temperature. We used these simulations to test the validity of our earlier conjecture that the glass transition of a confined liquid could be approximated by pre-averaging over the non-uniform density profile of the film. Using the density profiles from our simulations, we computed the average density of the free-standing films as a function of temperature. In all our film simulations we found, within the error of the simulation, that Tg of the film occurred at the same density (or packing fraction) as the bulk system at the bulk glass transition temperature TgB. By equating these densities at their respective glass transition temperatures, as suggested by the simulations, we deduced that Tg/TgB is proportional to h0/h. This is consistent with previous simulations and experimental data. Moreover, the parameter h0 is determinable in our model from the density profile of the films.
Synthesis of cis,syndiotactic-A-alt-B Copolymers from Enantiomerically Pure Endo-2-Substituted-5,6-Norbornenes

Cis,syndiotactic A-alt-B copolymers, where A and B are two enantiomerically pure endo-2-substituted-5,6-norbornenes with “opposite” chiralities of the endo-2-substituted-5,6-norbornene skeleton, can be prepared using Mo(N-2,6-Me2C6H3)(CHCMe2Ph)(OHMT)(pyrrolide) (1) as the initiator (OHMT = O-2,6-Mesityl2C6H3). Formation of a high percentage of A-alt-B dyads is proposed to rely on an inversion of chirality at the metal with each propagating step and a kinetically preferred diastereomeric relationship between a given chirality at the metal in propagating species and the chirality of the endo-2-substituted-5,6-norbornene skeleton. We also demonstrate that A-alt-B copolymers can be modified to give new variations which may not be accessible through direct copolymerization.
Further Reflections on Sandra Lipsitz Bem’s Impact

Over 20 years since her last published new work, Sandra Lipsitz Bem’s ideas continue to inspire and influence many contemporary researchers—as reflected in the many excellent papers appearing in the two special issues of Sex Roles. In my review, I highlight how Sandra Bem was repeatedly at the vanguard of the intellectual zeitgeist that shaped the psychology of gender over the last four decades. Notably, Bem was at the forefront of second-wave feminist psychology in the 1970s. In this regard, she challenged androcentric ways of thinking about gender and sexuality. Moreover, she helped to expand our notion of gender and gender identities beyond bipolar or dichotomous models. By extension, her androgyny and gender schema theories pushed people to consider the multifaceted features of gender and sexuality. Bem heralded the benefits of greater flexibility and gender equality for children as well as adults. In addition, she was one of the first psychologists to study how language and gender divisions are intertwined. Finally, she was on the forefront of researchers addressing heterosexism and genderism. The papers appearing in the two special issues are used to illustrate each of these important contributions.
Service-Learning & Early Childhood Teacher Education: A Qualitative Exploration of Professional Preparation Standards.

Preparing teachers to work with children and families cultivates high-quality early learning. This study explored the impact of service-learning on early childhood pre-professional students (candidates) and community partners (CPs). Focus group transcripts illustrate connections between service and professional preparation standards. Service-learning and professional standards intersect through the experience of candidates and CPs. Findings support the use of Kolb’s model as a foundation for service-learning in early childhood teacher education and can inform service-learning in other disciplines.
Insecticidal Potential of Two Sugar Alcohols to Musca domestica (Diptera: Muscidae)

Pest management plans for house flies, Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae), often include insecticides. Because of resistance and environmental concerns with traditional insecticides, safe new pesticides and pesticide formulations are needed. The insecticidal potential of two sugar alcohols, xylitol and erythritol, against adult house flies was assessed. Flies consumed both xylitol and erythritol. The proportion of flies that exhibited the proboscis extension reflex, which is associated with feeding, did not differ significantly between the sugar alcohols and sucrose in an experiment with 20% solutions and older flies, but was less for the sugar alcohols in an experiment with 2M solutions and younger flies. When presented alone or mixed with sucrose, both sugar alcohols significantly decreased fly survival relative to just sucrose. There was a strong negative relationship with concentration and mean days survived for xylitol, but no significant relationship for erythritol or sucrose. Relative to sucrose alone, a temporary exposure to xylitol, but not to erythritol, decreased survival when sucrose was subsequently available. Although xylitol and erythritol can both decrease survival of house flies and would meet the criteria for organic farming, deaths were often not very immediate. However, continued investigation of a variety of sweeteners as feeding-stimulant alternatives to sucrose is still useful, to minimize the risk of house flies evolving resistance to the sugar in baits. Our analysis of already published data on house flies that had been repeatedly exposed to a sucrose-based bait is consistent with the evolution of sucrose-feeding avoidance.
Microbiota Signaling Pathways that Influence Neurologic Disease

Though seemingly distinct and autonomous, emerging evidence suggests there is a bidirectional interaction between the intestinal microbiota and the brain. This crosstalk may play a substantial role in neurologic diseases, including anxiety, depression, autism, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and, potentially, Alzheimer's disease. Long hypothesized by Metchnikoff and others well over 100 years ago, investigations into the mind-microbe axis is now seeing a rapid resurgence of research. If specific pathways and mechanisms of interaction are understood, it could have broad therapeutic potential, as the microbiome is environmentally acquired and can be modified to promote health. This review will discuss immune, endocrine, and neural system pathways that interconnect the gut microbiota to central nervous system and discuss how these findings might be applied to neurologic disease.
Non-Extensive Model for Turbulent Flow in a Rapidly Rotating Annulus

We have conducted experiments on turbulence in a rapidly rotating annular tank. The flow is driven by pumping fluid into the tank through a semi-circle of holes; the fluid flows out through a semi-circle of holes on the opposite side of the annulus. We model the system using statistical mechanics with a non-extensive entropy. Assuming conservation of potential enstrophy and energy, we deduce a mean vorticity profile that agrees with the observations. Further, we find that the probability distribution for the vorticity is better fit by nonextensive than extensive theory.
Specification of Spermatogonial Stem Cells

Abstract Spermatogenesis is an ongoing differentiation process that occurs in the seminiferous epithelium in the testis in males to produce spermatozoa (sperm) and is sustained by a tissue-specific stem cell termed the “spermatogonial stem cell.” Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) must maintain the spermatogenic stem cell population via self-renewal while also providing an ongoing supply of cells that enter the terminal differentiation process of spermatogenesis. This article describes current evidence and theories regarding the manner in which a unique subset of developing spermatogonia become allocated to form the SSCs.
Another Experience in Resolving Veterinary Ethical Dilemmas: Observations From a Veterinarian Performing Ethics Consultation

As a practicing veterinarian, I was fascinated to read a comprehensive and perceptive synopsis of veterinary medical ethics intended for a nonveterinary audience, in the target article “Resolving E...
Engorged Anterior Epidural Venous Plexus Mimics an Anterior Epidural Mass

A 48-year-old woman presented with severe neck pain on flexion 1 week after a reportedly uncomplicated lumbar puncture, and with a slightly elevated white blood cell count. Magnetic resonance imaging showed an anterior epidural mass that was thought to represent an epidural abscess. At surgery, the epidural "mass" was due to an engorged anterior epidural venous plexus.
58 – Effects of Hormone Deprivation in Survivors of Breast and Prostate Cancer

Prostate and breast cancers are among the most successfully treated malignancies with the largest numbers of survivors. As the number of cancer survivors grows, the long-term side effects of treatment play an increasingly prominent role in the routine care of these patients. This chapter discusses the issues faced by cancer survivors as well as the information about the evaluation and treatment of conditions affecting the quality of life (QOL) of these patients. There are many issues facing survivors of breast and prostate cancer treatment with implications for the ongoing primary care of these patients. Many of these issues center on hormonal changes associated with the cancer treatment and require special attention to the conditions caused by sex hormone deprivation. Breast cancer treatment frequently causes premature ovarian failure, which results in prolonged estrogen deprivation and thereby increases the risks of osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, menopausal symptoms, cognitive dysfunction, and weight gain. For men with prostate cancer, bilateral orchiectomy or hormonal therapy with gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists are the standard of care for patients with metastatic disease. Evidence suggests that earlier hormone therapy may prolong survival in these patients. Although androgen deprivation therapy is successful in controlling prostate cancer, there are both short- and long-term consequences of this therapy. Short-term side effects include hot flashes and decreased libido; long-term consequences include decline in muscle mass, gynecomastia, osteoporosis, and QOL.
Conjugacy Decomposition of Canonical and Dual Canonical Monoids

Putcha’s theory of conjugacy classes in a reductive monoid culminates in a decomposition of the monoid in terms of these classes, which we call the conjugacy decomposition. With this decomposition, we have a partially ordered set, with partial order analogous to the Bruhat-Chevalley order for the Bruhat-Renner Decomposition of a reductive monoid. We outline the development of the conjugacy decomposition, paying attention to the cases of canonical and dual canonical monoids. These monoids appear in the literature as \(\mathcal{J}\)-irreducible and \(\mathcal{J}\)-coirreducible, respectively, of type ∅. We conclude with a summary of new results, describing the order between classes in the conjugacy decomposition for canonical and dual canonical monoids.
Selfish genetic elements.

Selfish genetic elements (historically also referred to as selfish genes, ultra-selfish genes, selfish DNA, parasitic DNA, genomic outlaws) are genetic segments that can enhance their own transmission at the expense of other genes in the genome, even if this has no or a negative effect on organismal fitness. [1–6] Genomes have traditionally been viewed as cohesive units, with genes acting together to improve the fitness of the organism. However, when genes have some control over their own transmission, the rules can change, and so just like all social groups, genomes are vulnerable to selfish behaviour by their parts. Early observations of selfish genetic elements were made almost a century ago, but the topic did not get widespread attention until several decades later. Inspired by the gene-centred views of evolution popularized by George Williams[7] and Richard Dawkins,[8] two papers were published back-to-back in Nature in 1980—by Leslie Orgel and Francis Crick[9] and Ford Doolittle and Carmen Sapienza[10] respectively—introducing the concept of selfish genetic elements (at the time called “selfish DNA”) to the wider scientific community. Both papers emphasized that genes can spread in a population regardless of their effect on organismal fitness as long as they have a transmission advantage. Selfish genetic elements have now been described in most groups of organisms, and they demonstrate a remarkable diversity in the ways by which they promote their own transmission.[11] Though long dismissed as genetic curiosities, with little relevance for evolution, they are now recognized to affect a wide swath of biological processes, ranging from genome size and architecture to speciation.[12]
The HST lightcurve of (486958) 2014 MU69

Abstract We report Hubble Space Telescope (HST) lightcurve observations of the New Horizons spacecraft encounter Kuiper Belt object (KBO) (486958) 2014 MU69 acquired near opposition in July 2017. In order to plan the optimum flyby sequence the New Horizons mission planners needed to learn as much as possible about the target in advance of the encounter. Specifically, from lightcurve data, encounter timing could be adjusted to accommodate a highly elongated, binary, or rapidly rotating target. HST astrometric (Porter et al., 2018) and stellar occultation (Buie et al., 2018) observations constrained MU69's orbit and diameter (21–41 km for an albedo of 0.15–0.04), respectively. Photometry from the astrometric dataset suggested a variability of ≥0.3 mags, but they did not determine the period or provide shape information. To that end we strategically spaced 24 HST orbits over 9 days to investigate rotation periods from approximately 2–100 h and to better constrain the lightcurve amplitude. Until New Horizons detected MU69 in its optical navigation images beginning in August 2018, this HST lightcurve campaign provided the most accurate photometry to date. The mean variation in our data is 0.15 magnitudes which suggests that MU69 is either nearly spherical (a:b axis ratio of 1:1.15), or its pole vector is pointed near the line of sight to Earth; this interpretation does not preclude a near-contact binary or bi-lobed object. However, image stacks do conclude that MU69 does not have a binary companion ≥2000 km with a sensitivity to 29th magnitude (an object a few km in size for an albedo of 0.04–0.15). Our data are not of sufficient signal to noise to uniquely determine the period or amplitude, however, they did provide the necessary information for spacecraft planning. We report with confidence that MU69 is not both rapidly rotating and highly elongated (which we define as a lightcurve amplitude ≥ 0.5 magnitude). Since this paper is being published post fly-by, we note that our results are consistent with the fly-by imagery and orientation of MU69 ( Stern et al., 2019 ). The combined dataset also suggests that within the KBO lightcurve literature there are likely other objects which share a geometric configuration like MU69 resulting in an underestimate of the contact binary fraction for the Cold Classical Kuiper Belt.
Competency Restoration for Adult Defendants in Different Treatment Environments

The optimization of trial competency restoration is a topic of growing interest and controversy in the fields of forensics, psychology, criminal law, and public policy. Research has established that adult defendants who have severe psychotic disorders and cognitive impairments are more likely than defendants without these conditions to be found incompetent to stand trial and are less likely to be restored to competency thereafter. Research has also identified some of the benefits of attempting restoration in hospitals, jails, or outpatient settings for defendants with different diagnoses or levels of cognitive functioning. Rates of restoration, length of stay necessary to achieve restoration, and, in some cases, how quickly defendants are found non-restorable are primary indicators of positive outcome. We sought to review the extant literature on competency restoration, with the goals of identifying implications for current practice and generating inquiries for future research. We found that there are significant advantages and disadvantages of attempting restoration in a hospital, jail, or outpatient setting on rates of restoration, length of stay necessary to achieve restoration, or length of time necessary to determine non-restorability, while controlling for several relevant factors (e.g., diagnosis, cognitive limitations).
Handling stress impairs learning through a mechanism involving caspase-1 activation and adenosine signaling

Acute stressors can induce fear and physiologic responses that prepare the body to protect from danger. A key component of this response is immune system readiness. In particular, inflammasome activation appears critical to linking stress to the immune system. Here, we show that a novel combination of handling procedures used regularly in mouse research impairs novel object recognition (NOR) and activates caspase-1 in the amygdala. In male mice, this handling-stress paradigm combined weighing, scruffing and sham abdominal injection once per hr. While one round of weigh/scruff/needle-stick had no impact on NOR, two rounds compromised NOR without impacting location memory or anxiety-like behaviors. Caspase-1 knockout (KO), IL-1 receptor 1 (IL-1R1) KO and IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-RA)-administered mice were resistant to handling stress-induced loss of NOR. In addition, examination of the brain showed that handling stress increased caspase-1 activity 85% in the amygdala without impacting hippocampal caspase-1 activity. To delineate danger signals relevant to handling stress, caffeine-administered and adenosine 2A receptor (A2AR) KO mice were tested and found resistant to impaired learning and caspase-1 activation. Finally, mice treated with the β-adrenergic receptor antagonist, propranolol, were resistant to handling stress-induced loss of NOR and caspase-1 activation. Taken together, these results indicate that handling stress-induced impairment of object learning is reliant on a pathway requiring A2AR-dependent activation of caspase-1 in the amygdala that appears contingent on β-adrenergic receptor functionality.
The Evolution of Internet Routing: Technical Roots of the Network Society

AbstractIn the humanities and some social sciences, many social theories, histories, and philosophies of networks often draw on incomplete representations of the Internet’s evolution and structure....
A Third, New Species of Cremosperma (Gesneriaceae) from Panama

A new species of Cremosperma Benth. is described from Panama, bringing the total for the country to three. One species, C. maculatum L. E. Skog, occurs in the province of Chiriqui and also in Colombia and Costa Rica; the second, C. veraguanum Wiehler, occurs in the provinces of Bocas del Toro, Cocle, and Veraguas; and the new species, C. colonense L. E. Skog, Barrie & McPherson, has only been found in the province of Colon and is distinguished from the others by having larger leaves and corollas white with yellow in the throat. The new species is distinguished from C. ecuadoranum L. P. Kvist & L. E. Skog of eastern Ecuador by its branched habit, sericeous peduncles, the corolla white with yellow in the throat and a longer tube, and the usually longer calyx with wider lobes. Based on IUCN criteria, C. colonense is provisionally assessed as Endangered. A key is provided to the Mesoamerican species.
Role of MDM2 in DNA repair

2311 The p53 tumor suppressor protein plays a critical role in preventing tumorigenesis and the activation of p53 by stresses such as DNA damage or oncogene activation results in either cell cycle arrest or apoptotic cell death. MDM2, the mdm2 gene product, is an E3 ligase that plays a central role in regulating p53 stability, targeting both p53 and itself for ubiquitination. p53 activates expression of MDM2, which keeps p53 levels low during normal growth and development, creating a feed-back auto-regulatory loop between p53 and MDM2. Amplification of mdm2 or increased expression by unknown mechanisms occurs in many tumors that retain wild-type p53, leading to the hypothesis that overexpression of MDM2 is an important mechanism by which the cell inactivates p53 in the process of transformation. At the same time, some tumors contain both high levels of MDM2 and mutation in the p53 gene. The reasons for disrupting two components of the same pathway are unclear but suggest that MDM2 may have other p53-independent functions and the pathways that mediate these functions are unresolved. Recently, studies described a novel interaction of MDM2 with the DNA repair protein Nbs1. The binding between MDM2 and Nbs1 was direct and independent of p53 and occurred at Nbs1 nuclear foci following γ-irradiation. In light of these recent observations, we decided to investigate the possible involvement of MDM2 in DNA repair following γ-irradiation. We examined MDM2 nuclear localization following γ-irradiation in two different tumor cell lines, A549 and H1299, the former expressing wild-type p53 and the latter being p53 null. Our results indicate that MDM2 localization in nuclear foci follows different kinetics in the two cell lines. In A549 cells, a relatively small number of foci were observed at 1 hour after irradiation, but these disappeared at 2 hours. Then, MDM2 foci reappeared at 4 hours and increased through 24 hours. This pattern while evident was not as dramatic in the H1299 cells which had a relatively high background in unirradiated cells. These new observations suggest that MDM2 can play a role in the DNA repair response which can be distinct from the DNA damage checkpoint response regulated by p53.