cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Aging Hippocampus Interactions between Exercise, Depression, and BDNF

Late adulthood is associated with increased hippocampal atrophy and dysfunction. Although there are multiple paths by which hippocampal deterioration occurs in late life, the authors discuss the evidence that a single nucleotide polymorphism in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene and age-related changes in BDNF protein or receptor expression contribute to hippocampal atrophy. The authors conclude that few studies have tested whether BDNF mediates age-related hippocampal atrophy and memory impairment. However, there is strong evidence that decreased BDNF is associated with age-related hippocampal dysfunction, memory impairment, and increased risk for depression, whereas increasing BDNF by aerobic exercise appears to ameliorate hippocampal atrophy, improve memory function, and reduce depression. Importantly, the most consistent associations between BDNF and hippocampal dysfunction have emerged from research on BDNF protein expression in rodents and serum and plasma concentrations of BDNF in humans. Current research suggests that the BDNF val66met polymorphism may be only weakly associated with hippocampal atrophy in late adulthood. These conclusions are interpreted in relation to age-related memory impairment and preventions for hippocampal atrophy.
Estrogen replacement therapy in endometrial cancer patients: a matched control study.

Abstract Objective: To determine if estrogen replacement therapy, in women with a history of endometrial cancer, increases the risk of recurrence or death from that disease. Methods: Two hundred forty-nine women with surgical stage I, II, and III endometrial cancer were treated between 1984 and 1998; 130 received estrogen replacement after their primary cancer treatments and 49% received progesterone in addition to estrogen. Among this cohort, 75 matched treatment-control pairs were identified. The two groups were matched by using decade of age at diagnosis and stage of disease. Both groups were comparable in terms of parity, grade of tumor, depth of invasion, histology, surgical treatment, lymph node status, postoperative radiation, and concurrent diseases. The outcome events included the number of recurrences and deaths from disease. Results: The hormone users were followed for a mean interval of 83 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 71.0, 91.4) and the nonhormone users were followed for a comparable mean interval of 69 months (CI 59.1, 78.7). There were two recurrences (1%) among the 75 estrogen users compared with 11 (14%) recurrences in the 75 nonhormone users. Hormone users had a statistically significant longer disease-free interval than nonestrogen users (P = .006). Conclusion: Estrogen replacement therapy with or without progestins does not appear to increase the rate of recurrence and death among endometrial cancer survivors.
A cleavable N-terminal signal peptide promotes widespread olfactory receptor surface expression in HEK293T cells.

Olfactory receptors (ORs) are G protein-coupled receptors that detect odorants in the olfactory epithelium, and comprise the largest gene family in the genome. Identification of OR ligands typically requires OR surface expression in heterologous cells; however, ORs rarely traffic to the cell surface when exogenously expressed. Therefore, most ORs are orphan receptors with no known ligands. To date, studies have utilized non-cleavable rhodopsin (Rho) tags and/or chaperones (i.e. Receptor Transporting Protein, RTP1S, Ric8b and Gαolf) to improve surface expression. However, even with these tools, many ORs still fail to reach the cell surface. We used a test set of fifteen ORs to examine the effect of a cleavable leucine-rich signal peptide sequence (Lucy tag) on OR surface expression in HEK293T cells. We report here that the addition of the Lucy tag to the N-terminus increases the number of ORs reaching the cell surface to 7 of the 15 ORs (as compared to 3/15 without Rho or Lucy tags). Moreover, when ORs tagged with both Lucy and Rho were co-expressed with previously reported chaperones (RTP1S, Ric8b and Gαolf), we observed surface expression for all 15 receptors examined. In fact, two-thirds of Lucy-tagged ORs are able to reach the cell surface synergistically with chaperones even when the Rho tag is removed (10/15 ORs), allowing for the potential assessment of OR function with only an 8-amino acid Flag tag on the mature protein. As expected for a signal peptide, the Lucy tag was cleaved from the mature protein and did not alter OR-ligand binding and signaling. Our studies demonstrate that widespread surface expression of ORs can be achieved in HEK293T cells, providing promise for future large-scale deorphanization studies.
Latitudinal, habitat and substrate distribution patterns of freshwater ascomycetes in the Florida Peninsula

Freshwater ascomycetes are important decomposers of dead woody and herbaceous debris in aquatic habitats. Despite evidence of their ecological importance, latitudinal, habitat and substrate distributional patterns of freshwater ascomycetes are poorly understood. In this study, we examined the latitudinal and habitat distributional patterns, and substrate recurrences of freshwater ascomycetes by collecting dead submerged woody and herbaceous debris in lentic and lotic habitats at five selected sites along a north-central-south, temperate–subtropical latitudinal ecotone in Florida. One hundred and thirty-two fungal taxa were collected during the study. Seventy-four were meiosporic and 56 were mitosporic ascomycetes, while two species were basidiomycetes. Canonical analyses of principal coordinates (CAP) and Sorenson’s similarity index of species based on presence/absence data revealed a high turnover in species composition between the northern and southern sites, indicating a change in species composition along the temperate–subtropical latitudinal ecotone of the Florida Peninsula. Results from the ordination analysis indicated that freshwater ascomycete community composition is not significantly different between lentic and lotic habitats in Florida. The geographically broadly distributed species and species commonly found in Florida occurred in both habitats, whereas a number of new or rare species occurred in either lentic or lotic habitats, but not both. The same freshwater ascomycete species did not necessarily occur on both woody and herbaceous debris; of the 132 taxa collected, 100 were reported only on woody debris; 14 species occurred exclusively on herbaceous debris; and 18 species were found on both woody and herbaceous debris in lentic or lotic habitats. Implications of data from this study to the conservation and knowledge of biodiversity for freshwater ascomycetes is discussed.
The impact of parental deployment on child social and emotional functioning: perspectives of school staff.

Abstract Purpose Since 2001, many military families have experienced multiple and extended deployments. Little is known about the effect of parental deployment on the well-being of children, and few, if any, studies to date have engaged school staff to understand whether and how parental deployments affect the behavioral, social, and emotional outcomes of youth in the school setting. Methods Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers, counselors, and administrative staff at schools serving children from U.S. Army families (N=148 staff). Participants were queried about the academic, behavioral, and emotional issues faced by children of deployed soldiers. Data were analyzed for themes in these areas, with attention to differences by service component (Active Component vs. Army Reserve and National Guard). Results Although some children seem to be coping well with deployment, school staff felt that children's anxiety related to parental absence, increased responsibilities at home, poor mental health of some nondeployed parents, and difficulty accessing mental health services affected the ability of other students to function well in school. Conclusions School staff felt that parental deployment negatively affected social and emotional functioning for some children and youth, although they felt others were coping well. Future research should examine factors related to youth outcomes during parental deployment (e.g., mental health of the non-deployed parent) and assess the effects of deployment on other measures of behavior such as school engagement and academic performance.
An Extended Book Review: The Critic of Biblical Theologians: A Review of James Barr's THE CONCEPT OF BIBLICAL THEOLOGY: AN OLD TESTAMENT PERSPECTIVE

James Barr offers critical insight on the craft of writing First Testament theologies, as well as the contributions of significant authors in the field. He addresses issues such as these: (1) the relationship of biblical theology to Christian doctrine, evolutionary concepts, the History of Religions, the Historical Critical Method, and other scholarly research; (2) the relationship of First and Second Testaments; (3) the question of objectivity versus faith commitment; (4) the relation of First Testament theologies to Jewish thought; (5) the choice between historical or systematic evaluations of the First Testament; (6) Canonical Criticism; (7) narrative analysis; (8) the question of Apocrypha; and (9) natural theology and biblical thought. He also critically reviews the work of numerous significant biblical theologians, including Brevard Childs and Walter Brueggemann in particular.
Growth and Characterization of Rh and Pd Nanoparticles on Oxidized and Reduced CeOx(111) Thin Films by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

The growth and structure of Rh and Pd nanoparticles on vapor-deposited ceria thin films grown epitaxially on Ru(0001) were investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy as a function of coverage, postdeposition annealing temperatures, as well as ceria oxidation states. Both metals grow as three-dimensional nanoparticles on the fully oxidized CeO2(111) thin films at room temperature. At low coverage, Rh particles preferentially decorate step edges on ceria, forming particles with smaller average size than those on the terraces. With increasing coverage, the number of Rh particles increases until near 2.3 monolayers, where the Rh particles cover most of the ceria surface and the particle size becomes relatively uniform. Larger Rh or Pd particles can be prepared by annealing the surface after deposition at 300 K; however, the particle size distribution becomes broader during this process. Similar growth behavior was observed on the reduced ceria surfaces. It is concluded that metal particle size or morpholog...
On sequences of Moebius transformations

(a) the limit ]unction is a Moebius trans]ormation, and the set o/convergence is the entire #lane," (b) lim T . ( z ) = I ~, a constant, ]or all z:4=zo; (c) the limi t /unction takes on precisely two distinct values and the set o/ convergence consists o /only two points," (d) with the exception o] case (b), the limit ]unction is a constant and the set o] convergence is any "permissible set". (e) the set o] convergence is the null set. W e are particularly interested in sequences {T.} that are generated by functional composition from s e q u e n c e s {tn} , of Moebius transformations in the following way:
Sertoli Cells in the Boar Testis: Changes During Development and Compensatory Hypertrophy after Hemicastration at Different Ages

Changes in Sertoli cell numbers and testicular structure during normal development and compensatory hypertrophy were assessed in crossbred Meishan 3 White Composite males. Boars were assigned at birth to unilateral castration at 1, 10, 56, or 112 days or to remain as intact controls through 220 days. The first testes removed were compared to assess testicular development. At 220 days, testicular structure was evaluated in boars representing the 25% with the largest (Lg) testis and the 25% with the smallest (Sm) testis in each treatment group. The number of Sertoli cells per testis reached a maximum by Day 56 in Sm testis but not until Day 112 in Lg testis boars, indicating a longer duration of Sertoli cell proliferation in Lg testis boars. Unilateral castration of Lg testis boars on Days 1, 10, 56, and 112 caused the weight of the remaining testis to hypertrophy by 149%, 135%, 119%, and 120%, respectively, and total sperm production to increase to 127%, 128%, 97%, and 106%, respectively. However, Sertoli cell numbers changed little in hemicastrate boars. In Lg testis boars, compensatory hypertrophy primarily involved proliferation of Leydig cells and expansion of existing Sertoli cells with little increase in Sertoli cell numbers, but in Sm testis boars, it involved expansion of existing Leydig and Sertoli cells without increase in cell numbers. These results indicate that Lg and Sm testis boars display intriguing differences during both development and compensatory hypertrophy, and they identify a unique animal model for further studies of factors that program and control Sertoli cell proliferation. Leydig cells, male reproductive tract, puberty, spermatid, spermatogenesis
Foreign aid and the economic growth of developing countries (LDCs): Further evidence

The objectives of this article are to revisit the critical role that foreign aid presently plays in the economic growth of the LDCs and to examine the nature of its utilization in those countries which heavily rely on foreign aid. Other sources of economic growth such as capital (physical and human capital), raw labor, technological changes, and the degree of political and civil liberties will also be considered. Using average cross-sectional data for eighty countries over the 1971–1990 period, the study shows that foreign aid has a statistically positive effect on economic growth in developing countries. Lack of political and civil liberties is found to have a negative, but statistically marginal impact on economic growth. A policy implication which may be drawn from the study is that foreign capital inflow can have a beneficial effect by supplementing domestic savings rather than replacing them.
The use of the oxidant"diamide" for studying the non-mitochondrial reducing capacity of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells.

Abstract Diazenedicarboxylic acid bis(N,N-dimethylamide), (“diamide”) lowered non-mitochondrial NAD(P)H stores in Ehrlich ascites tumor cells in vitro by indirect reactions involving oxidation of glutathione and reduction of GSSG via glutathione reductase. The concentrations of diamide used did not alter the mitochondrial capacity to reduce NAD(P)H under anaerobic conditions. “Endogenous substrates” could be removed by multiple additions of diamide which indirectly inhibited NAD(P)H and GSH regeneration because of a lack of cellular reducing capacity. The regenerative power of the cells was restored by the addition of glucose. We conclude that diamide may prove to be a useful agent for studying the reducing capacity as well as the redox compartmentalization of cells in vitro.
A Critique of the Controversy about the Stability of Consumers' Tastes

Are consumer tastes stable or subject to the influence of policy? Is public intervention justified to achieve socially desirable tastes?
The proton and neutron masses and a conjecture for the gravitational constant

Abstract Some formulae are suggested connecting the velocity of light, Planck's constant, the fine-structure constant, the gravitational constant, and the masses of the electron, proton and neutron. They are accurate enough to suggest that Eddington's fundamental theory is likely to be partly right.
The electropharmacology of acute drug testing using pacemakers.

Acute drug testing in patients is useful to select prophylactic treatment for life-threatening or intractable tachycardias. This is generalJy done by induction of tachycardias with pacing. Acute studies that depend on temporary insertion of pacing electrodes do not determine efficacy in the same sense as longer term clinical drug trials because of the biased population referred for testing with pacemakers. However, the pharmaco-logic activity of compounds can be tested in terms of electrical functions such as conductivity and refractoriness not merely of the heart in general, but also of the arrhythmogenic focus. Such data can be directly applied to patients with similar arrhythmias, obviating the confusion often caused by interspecies and disease differences. (PACE, Vol. 5, July-August 1982)
Word priming in schizophrenia: Associational and semantic influences

We examined semantic vs. associational influences on word priming in schizophrenia. Tested on three occasions, subjects made speeded lexical decisions to three kinds of prime-word relationships: semantic-only (e.g., Deer-Pony), associated-only (e.g., Bee-Honey), or semantic-and-associated (e.g., Doctor-Nurse). Controls showed greater priming of words related via two relationships (semantic-and-associated) than for words related only semantically.. However, patients showed greater priming for associated-only words than for words related only semantically. Schizophrenic patients may show an associational bias, restricting semantic integration and contributing to their disturbed thinking.
David Olson: On Assessment and Families

This article presents an edited interview with David Olson, 1994 recipient of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy's Cumulative Contributions to Marriage and Family Therapy Research Award. Olson candidly discusses his early interest in marital assessment and comments on his pioneering contributions to family assessment, including The Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems, the PREPARE/ENRICH Inventories, and the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (III, IV). Finally, he reflects on future research describing his current efforts to develop a Multiple Assessment of Health and Stress (MASH) model of evaluation as a means of responding to the growing demand for accountability by health care providers, corporations, and patients.
Diagnosis and management of supraventricular tachycardia in children

Abstract Supraventricular tachycardia is a frequently encountered arrhythmia in the pediatric population. Although it is usually not life threatening urgent treatment is generally required. Vagal techniques, such as ice water to the face and Valsalva maneuvers are easy, noninvasive and can be attempted with most patients. Adenosine is a highly effective intravenous agent with few serious side effects. DC cardioversion remains an acceptable first-line therapy if the patient has serious hemodynamic compromise, if other therapies are unsuccessful or if the physician feels most comfortable with cardioversion. For most children, chronic drug therapy has been replaced by potentially curative radiofrequency ablation.
Employment for individuals with mental disabilities

The ADA requires employers of persons with psychiatric disabilities to provide reasonable accommodation to overcome disability related limitations. Employers are bound by this requirement only when accommodation is requested. Disclosure of a psychiatric disability is a sensitive issue with potential negative consequences due to ignorance and fear. The occupational therapist has a pivotal role in preparing clients with psychiatric disabilities to activate ADA Title I Employment protections. The process of achieving accommodation and five areas for inclusion in Occupational Therapy practice, including preparation on when and how to disclose and specification of disability related limitations are described.
THE CHOICE BETWEEN PEOPLE:‘COMMON SENSE’MORALITY, AND DOCTORS

KIE: Kamm is concerned with explaining how "common sense" morality might be used in deciding about the distribution of scarce medical resources. Drawing an analogy between redirection of possible harms or threats and the allocation of health resources, she first explores how an ordinary moral agent, not a physician, might act. Using what Kamm calls the principle of irrelevant utilities (PIU), a moral agent might decide between contestants for a particular good based on "sobjectivism" (Sob), the author's term for a combination of the objective and subjective points of view. Kamm explores decision making using three versions of Sob that weigh interests and rights, equivalences, and aggregation of costs (losses). She concludes that, while ordinary moral agents functioning as social agents may act according to objective aggregated costs, physicians should be concerned with equivalents and individuals when allocating resources.
Certified mailing lists

Email List Services (or simply, mailing lists) are becoming increasingly common for collaborative computing. In order to enable their use for official purposes with increased effectiveness and security, services typically provided by postal mail (e.g. fair delivery) need to be provided in mailing lists. In this paper we propose a novel Certified Mailing-list Protocol (CMLP) that provides fair delivery, confidentiality, non-repudiation of origin and receipt, and authentication and integrity. We have formally specified and verified the CMLP protocol with Proverif, which is a fully-automated protocol verification tool.
Reduction in the Fertility of Female Choristoneura occidentalis by Lannate

A low dose of Lannate® ( S -methyl N -[(methylcarbamoyl) oxylthioacetimidate) topically applied to 6th-stage larvae of the western spruce budworm, Choristaneura occidentalis Freeman, caused hyperactivity, regurgitation, bleeding, and prostration, resulting in loss of hemolymph and gut fluid equaling 28% of body weight for 5th and 6th larval stages. Larvae treated with Lannate in the 6th stage showed lower pupal weights and reduced fertility in adults. Larvae treated in the 5th stage gained normal pupal weights when fed, but still showed reduced fertility.
Review of Linear Stochastic Optimal Control Systems and Applications

Many complex control systems can be modeled by linear ordinary differential/difference equations with multiplicative and additive noise. The characteristics and behavior of such systems are different from a regular linear quadratic Gaussian system. Control systems with multiplicative and additive noise are reviewed herein and the fundamental results, in continuous and discrete-time setting, are presented. Furthermore, the advantages and disadvantages are underlined and the need for further resarch is pointed out
Farnesyltransferase inhibitors versus Ras inhibitors

Over the past few years, the idea that farnesyl-protein transferase (FPTase) inhibitors might be effective antiproliferative/antitumor agents has been realized in studies of cultured cells and in rodent models of cancer. Most of the studies with FPTase inhibitors have focused on inhibiting the growth of ras-transformed cells in vitro or the growth of ras-dependent tumors in mice. More recently, it has been recognized that the antiproliferative effect of FPTase inhibitors may extend beyond ras-driven tumors. It now seems likely that the ability of FPTase inhibitors to reverse the malignant phenotype results, at least in part, from inhibiting the farnesylation of proteins other than Ras.
Power Budgeting Techniques for Data Centers

The development of cloud computing and data science result in rapid increases of number and scale of data centers. Because of cost and sustainability concerns, energy efficiency has been a major goal for data center architects. Focusing on reducing the cooling power and making full use of available computing power, power budgeting is an increasingly important requirement for data center operations. In this paper, we present a framework of power budgeting, considering both computing power and cooling power, in data centers to maximize the system normalized performance (SNP) of the entire center under a total power budget. Maximizing the SNP for a given power budget is equivalent to maximizing the energy efficiency. We propose a method to partition the total power budget among the cooling and computing infrastructure in a self-consistent way, where the cooling power is sufficient to extract the heat of the computing power. Intertwinedly, we devise an optimal computing power budgeting technique based on dynamic programming algorithm to determine the optimal power caps for the individual servers such that the available power could be efficiently translated to performance improvements. The optimal computing budgeting technique leverages a proposed online throughput predictor based on performance counter measurements to estimate the change in throughput of heterogeneous workloads as a function of allocated server power caps. We demonstrate that our proposed power budgeting method outperforms previous methods by 3-4 percent in terms of SNP using our data center simulation environment. While maintaining the improvement of SNP, our method improve fairness at best by 57 percent. We also evaluate the performance of our method in power saving scenario and dynamic power budgeting case.
Resistive Ribbon Thermal Transfer Printing

Resistive Ribbon Thermal Transfer Printing (1-3) is the basic technology used in the IBM "Quietwriter" Printer family. This technology is a non-impact technology that has several characteristics that make it very appropriate for use in several low-end (low speed), high quality office printing and publishing systems. At the present time the available Resistive Ribbon printers have been designed to have characteristics and resolution suitable for use in typewriter, word processing and related desk top publishing applications. Inherently the technology is capable of achieving higher resolution as well as demonstrating several other characteristics that can be of use in the evolving office and computer assisted publishing application areas. This paper will briefly review the Resistive Ribbon Thermal Transfer Printing technology and its associated physical and materials (chemical) requirements. Although emphasis will be placed upon the present technology, several other properties of the Resistive Ribbon technology which are potentially suited to a wider range of office and publishing applications will be discussed.
A New Polynomially Bounded Shortest Path Algorithm

This paper develops a new polynomially bounded shortest path algorithm, called the partitioning shortest path PSP algorithm, for finding the shortest path from one node to all other nodes in a network containing no cycles with negative lengths. This new algorithm includes as variants the label setting algorithm, many of the label correcting algorithms, and the apparently computationally superior threshold algorithm.
Current Convenience, Desperate Deforestation: Ghana's AdjustmentProgram and the Forestry Sector

Since the early 1980s, most Sub-Saharan African countries have resorted to structural adjustment programs to reform their ailing economies. Adjustment, however, may provide a convenient means for governments of the adjusting economies and international capital to meet their current economic and political interests, usually by sacrificing the physical environment, with huge environmental costs for the adjusting country. This paper uses Ghana's forestry sector, which has been characterized by a dramatic increase in woodexports since adjustment, to demonstrate a direct link between adjustment and environmental destruction. Ghana's dramatic increase in wood exports, involving a rapid and extensive deforestation, results from the government's need to meet its increasing external debt service obligations, and is exacerbated by the series of massive local currency devaluation required under adjustment “to get prices right.” The systematic reduction in government revenue from devaluation to amortize the increasin...
Pharyngeal swallow adaptations to bolus volume measured with high-resolution manometry.

Objective To determine the effect of bolus volume on pharyngeal swallowing using high resolution manometry (HRM).
Accurate measurement of interferometer group delay using field-compensated scanning white light interferometer

Interferometers are key elements in radial velocity (RV) experiments in astronomy observations, and accurate calibration of the group delay of an interferometer is required for high precision measurements. A novel field-compensated white light scanning Michelson interferometer is introduced as an interferometer calibration tool. The optical path difference (OPD) scanning was achieved by translating a compensation prism, such that even if the light source were in low spatial coherence, the interference stays spatially phase coherent over a large interferometer scanning range. In the wavelength region of 500-560 nm, a multimode fiber-coupled LED was used as the light source, and high optical efficiency was essential in elevating the signal-to-noise ratio of the interferogram signal. The achromatic OPD scanning required a one-time calibration, and two methods using dual-laser wavelength references and an iodine absorption spectrum reference were employed and cross-verified. In an experiment measuring the group delay of a fixed Michelson interferometer, Fourier analysis was employed to process the interferogram data. The group delay was determined at an accuracy of 1×10(-5), and the phase angle precision was typically 2.5×10(-6) over the wide wavelength region.
Against all odds: a successful exchange migration

Ten years ago, e-mail was a new technology spreading like wildfire in universities and colleges across the country. Today, it is our official mode of communication and stores vital records for our organization.As our campus grew and departments became decentralized, the need for enterprise calendaring became necessary to collaborate. CorporateTime became the standard for scheduling meetings on campus.Without e-mail and calendar, how would an organization function?The University of Puget Sound recently converted our sendmail and CorporateTime calendar services to Microsoft Exchange 2003. This paper will address the key user support aspects of this major shift in campus technology.We will outline our entire Exchange migration process, from the selection of the server product, to the desktop client upgrade hurdles through our communication, support and training planning progression.As with any major project, there were obstacles to overcome and political support needed to ensure success. In addition to our entire user support and network teams, we utilized the outside services of Seitel Leeds and Associates, SimplerWebb, New Horizons, and Robert Half to provide technology consulting, calendar data conversion, training, and desktop client configuration.This project was a huge step forward for our department in the areas of planning and communication with our constituents.
Pseudohypoparathyroidism: Current concepts

Following a brief discussion of the diagnosis and classification of hypoparathyroidism, this review will focus on current concepts of pseudohypoparathyroidism. Topics to be covered will include differing resistance of kidney and bone to parathyroid hormone, relationship of estrogen and pregnancy to Ca homeostasis, normocalcemic pseudohypoparathyroidism, and current understanding of pathogenesis based on various defects in the hormone receptor-adenylate cyclase system. Evidence for physiologic derangements beyond the impaired generation of cyclic AMP will be reviewed, as well as involvement of nonendocrine systems by the deficiency of the stimulatory guanine nucleotide connecting protein. Finally, semantic confusion resulting from the faulty term "pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism" will be addressed.
Realism of occupational choice among high school seniors: Implications for quality of work life†

SUMMARY The literature on occupational choice and quality of work life have traditionally been quite separate. However, occupational decisions made in the pre-work setting may have implications for job satisfaction and the quality of work life later on. The occupational choices of 1725 high school seniors in Alabama are studied to determine the realism of such choices and the degree to which various individual and school characteristics affect realism. Results indicate that the aspiration levels of many students are unrealistic and that an adaptive process of occupational decision-making is required later on. The implications of these findings for job satisfaction and quality of work life are discussed.
Individual Differences and Age-Related Changes in Time-Sharing Ability of Aviators

Performance in single task and dual task configurations was examined across four different age groups to determine the presence of an attention deficit hypothesis with increasing chronological age. Although a general slowing of performance could be shown no interaction between age and dual task loadings could be observed which is interpreted as negative evidence for the attention deficit hypothesis. A separate analysis revealed individual differences in time-sharing ability within age groups to be a significant factor in dual task performance. Language: en
Angina Pectoris Reversal of the Gender Gap

Coronary heart disease (CHD) remains the leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for 26.6% of all deaths in 2005, with an age-adjusted male to female mortality ratio of 1.5.1 Although the CHD mortality rate has steadily declined since its peak in the 1960s, morbidity from CHD has shown opposite trends, with increasing rates of revascularization and an increasing prevalence of angina pectoris, now estimated at 9.1 million (4.6 million women [3.9%]; 4.4 million men [4.4%]).2 In stark contrast to CHD mortality rates, age-adjusted prevalence rates for angina in the United States are higher among women than men.2 Anginal symptoms tend to persist despite medical therapy and revascularization, lead to substantial functional disability, and be associated with high healthcare costs even in the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD).3,4 Article p 1526 In 1990, Kalin and Zumoff showed in a large ecological study that the male:female CHD mortality ratio was quite constant across countries despite widely varying CHD mortality rates between countries, suggesting an inherent gender difference.5 Similar data for angina have not been available. The study by Hemingway et al6 in this issue was thus undertaken to determine whether differences in angina rates by gender are similarly constant in countries that greatly differ in the prevalence of CHD risk factors and prevalence of CHD. The authors conducted a meta-analysis of cross-sectional and prospective cohort studies of 74 populations within 31 countries encompassing around 40 000 individuals (nearly 50% women). All studies ascertained angina by Rose questionnaire. Countries were categorized by their male:female myocardial infarction mortality ratio, their geographical region, and their level of economic development. Angina prevalence varied approximately 20-fold between countries, ranging from 0.73% to 14.4% in women and 0.76% to 15.1% in men. Female and male angina prevalence …
A study of loading path influence on fatigue crack growth under combined loading

Abstract Single edge specimens made of 1070 steel were subjected to combined axial–torsion loading at room temperature. Three loading paths were designed to study the loading path influence on the crack growth behavior. Path I was proportional loading and Path II was the loading case, where the torque decreased/increased with increasing/decreasing axial load. Path III followed a circular path in the axial load–torque coordinates. With identical load amplitudes, the crack growth behavior was found to be critically dependent on the loading path. Path III resulted in the fastest crack growth rate and Path II produced the least crack extension. Furthermore, the crack profile was dependent on the loading path. Path III resulted in a crack profile similar to that observed under Mode I loading. Significant branching and slant angles were observed for Paths I and II, with Path II in particular. Two existing models were discussed with respect to their capabilities to predict the crack growth rate and cracking direction for combined loading.
Cationic Polyacrylamide Adsorption on Epoxy Surfaces

Abstract The adsorption of a cationic polyacrylamide (acrylamide/β-methacryloxyethyltrimethylammonium methyl sulfate copolymer) onto an imidazole catalyzed bisphenol-A based epoxy resin surface was examined by surface wetting. The work of adhesion of diodomethane, ethylene glycol and water was measured on microscopically smooth epoxy surfaces using a Wilhemy plate method, in both advancing and receding modes. The cationic polyacrylamide was adsorbed from aqueous solutions as a function of the pH of the solution. In addition to the cationic quaternary amine groups along the polymer chain, there were carboxylate groups from amide hydrolysis, which had a pKaof 10.73. The surface wetting of neither diodomethane nor ethylene glycol was sensitive to the adsorbed polyacrylamide. Wetting of the surface by water was very sensitive to the presence of adsorbed polyacrylamide. Polyacrylamides in solutions below pH 9 adsorbed onto the epoxy surface resulting in increased water adhesion to the surface. When the polyacrylamide solution was greater than pH 9 carboxylate groups ionized and the anions inhibited adsorption of the polyacrylamide. The water wetting measurements were shown to correlate with the adsorption of Pd/Sn colloidal particles used for electroless deposition of copper circuit lines on printed circuit boards.
Multi-Objective Control-Relevant Demand Modeling for Production and Inventory Control

The development of control-oriented decision policies for inventory management in supply chains has received considerable interest in recent years, and demand modeling to supply forecasts for these policies is an important component of an effective solution to this problem. Drawing from the problem of control-relevant identification, we present an approach for demand modeling based on data that relies on a control-relevant prefllter to tailor the emphasis of the fit to the intended purpose of the model, which is to provide forecast signals to tactical inventory management policies based on model predictive control. Integrating the demand modeling and inventory control problems offers the opportunity to obtain reduced-order models that exhibit superior performance, with potentially lower user effort relative to traditional "open-loop" methods. A systematic approach to generating these weights and prefllters is presented and the benefits resulting from their use are demonstrated on representative production/inventory system case studies. A multi-objective formulation is developed that allows the user to emphasize minimizing inventory variance, minimizing starts variance, or their combination.
More Philosophy Makes Better Science

The idea of a book devoted to the links between ecological science and philosophy, within the framework of present-day environmental concerns, was formed at an international workshop ("Between the philosophy of biology and the philosophy of ecology: evolutionisms, ecologies, and ethics") held in 2005 at the French National Museum of Natural History (MNHN) in Paris. Ten philosophers of science - from France, the United Kingdom, and the United States - contributed to the workshop, exchanging viewpoints and experiences in various environmental, ethical, and epistemological domains. This meeting resulted in The Structural Links between Ecology, Evolution, and Ethics: The Virtuous Epistemic Circle, a succinct book edited by Donato Bergandi, who also coordinated the workshop. Bergandi is a professor at the MNHN and is well known for his dissection of the concepts and methods now in use in systems ecology and for his stimulating debates about (a) holism and reductionism, (b) cybernetics, and (c) emergence.
Agent-based simulation for weekend-extension strategies to mitigate influenza outbreaks

Non-pharmaceutical strategies are vital in curtailing impacts of influenza and have been intensively studied in public health. However, few strategies have explicitly utilized the weekend effect, which has been widely reported to be capable of reducing influenza infections. This study aims to explore six weekend-extension strategies against seasonal and pandemic flu outbreaks. The weekend-extension strategies were designed to extend regular two-day weekend by one, two and three days, respectively, and in combination with either a continuous or discontinuous pattern. Their effectiveness was evaluated using an established agent-based spatially explicit simulation model in the urbanized area of Buffalo, NY, US. If the extensions last more than two days, the weekend-extension strategies can remarkably reduce the overall disease attack rate of seasonal flu. Particularly, a three-day continuous extension is sufficient to suppress the epidemic and confine the spread of disease. For the pandemic flu, the weekend-extension strategies only produce a few mitigation effects until the extensions exceed three days. Sensitivity analysis indicated that a compliance level above 75% is necessary for the weekend-extension strategies to take effects. This research is the first attempt to incorporate the weekend effect into influenza mitigation strategies. The results suggest that appropriate extensions of the regular two-day weekend can be a potential measure to fight against influenza outbreaks, while minimizing interruptions on normal rhythms of socio-economy. The concept of weekend extension would be particularly useful if there were a lack of vaccine stockpiles, e.g., in countries with limited health resources, or in the case of unknown emerging infectious diseases.
Ligation reaction specificities of an NAD+-dependent DNA ligase from the hyperthermophile Aquifex aeolicus

An NAD+-dependent DNA ligase from the hyperthermophilic bacterium Aquifex aeolicus was cloned, expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity. The enzyme is most active in slightly alkaline pH conditions with either Mg2+ or Mn2+ as the metal cofactor. Ca2+ and Ni2+ mainly support formation of DNA–adenylate intermediates. The catalytic cycle is characterized by a low kcat value of 2 min–1 with concomitant accumulation of the DNA–adenylate intermediate when Mg2+ is used as the metal cofactor. The ligation rates of matched substrates vary by up to 4-fold, but exhibit a general trend of T/A ≤ G/C < C/G < A/T on both the 3′- and 5′-side of the nick. Consistent with previous studies on Thermus ligases, this Aquifex ligase exhibits greater discrimination against a mismatched base pair on the 3′-side of the nick junction. The requirement of 3′ complementarity for a ligation reaction is reaffirmed by results from 1 nt insertions on either the 3′- or 5′-side of the nick. Furthermore, most of the unligatable 3′ mismatched base pairs prohibit formation of the DNA–adenylate intermediate, indicating that the substrate adenylation step is also a control point for ligation fidelity. Unlike previously studied ATP ligases, gapped substrates cannot be ligated and intermediate accumulation is minimal, suggesting that complete elimination of base pair complementarity on one side of the nick affects substrate adenylation on the 5′-side of the nick junction. Relationships among metal cofactors, ligation products and intermediate, and ligation fidelity are discussed.
Capabilities as Real Options

Strategy research consists of a balance between positive and normative theory. Normative theories suggest particular heuristics, or cognitive representations, to find appropriate solutions. Heuristics permit faster solutions to real-time problems; they also suffer from the potential of negative transfer to inappropriate applications.The theory of real options provides the appropriate heuristic framing of competencies and exploratory search. A real options approach marries the theory of financial options to foundational ideas in strategy, organizational theory, and complex systems. We join these approaches to identify three pairs of concepts: scarce factor and the underlying asset in option theory, inertia and irreversibility, and the ruggedness of landscape and option values. Strategic theories of resources largely define a core competence as unique and nonimmutable. In doing so, this definition has wrongly forgotten Barney's initial insight into scarce factor markets as determining the valuation of a competitive asset. Financial theory of real options derives its heuristics of investing in exploratory search by inferring future value of today's investments from market prices.We apply the three conceptual pairs to the evaluation of capabilities as real options through a formal descriptive model. The valuation of core capabilities is derived from observing the price dynamics of correlated strategic factors in the market. Because of inertia, managers cannot easily adjust the wrong set of organizational capabilities to the emergence of market opportunities. However, firms that have made investments in capabilities appropriate to these opportunities are able to respond. From this description, we define core competence as the choice of capabilities that permits the firm to make the best response to market opportunities. The heuristic framing of capabilities as real options guides the normative evaluation of the balance between exploitation and exploration.
Iron acquisition and hemolysin production by Campylobacter jejuni

Campylobacter jejuni strains were tested for their ability to acquire iron from various iron sources present in humans. Hemin, hemoglobin, hemin-hemopexin, and hemoglobin-haptoglobin stimulated the growth of C. jejuni strains in low-iron medium. Transferrin, lactoferrin, and ferritin were unable to provide iron to the strains tested. Derivatives of the naturally transformable C. jejuni strain 81-176 were isolated on the basis of their inability to use hemin as an iron source. These mutants were also unable to use hemoglobin, hemin-hemopexin, or hemoglobin-haptoglobin as iron sources. Some mutants lacked a 71,000-Da iron-regulated outer membrane protein, while others appeared to retain all of their outer membrane proteins. Growth curves and a recombination experiment that exploited natural transformation were used to further characterize the mutants. A hemolytic activity was shown to be produced by several C. jejuni strains, but it did not appear to be iron regulated.
Quantitative QFD for System Engineering

Quantitative QFD (Q2FD) is an extension of conventional Quality Function Deployment (QFD). Q2FD incorporates quantitative requirements decomposition models into the QFD framework. It also rearranges conventional QFD matrices to facilitate quantitative capture and both forward and backward chaining of performance values. The rearranged matrices also allows full representation of QFD matrices with standard spreadsheets instead of only with special purpose software. Q2FD can serve as a bridge between quality, system, and disciplinary engineering personnel and act as an organizing formalism for all performance aspects of system design.
Septic shock, adult respiratory distress syndrome, and disseminated intravascular coagulopathy following midtrimester genetic amniocentesis

Background: Midtrimester genetic amniocentesis is a commonly performed procedure, with acknowledgment of some risk to mother and fetus. Case: We present an unusual case of midtrimester genetic amniocentesis with bowel injury and resulting septic shock, adult respiratory distress syndrome, and disseminated intravascular coagulation. A total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingoophorectomy were required for resolution of sepsis. The patient also required prolonged ventilatory support postoperatively. Conclusion: Although relatively safe, genetic amniocentesis can result in serious morbidity, and attention to technique should be maintained.
Lateral Orthogonal Approach for Depth Electrode Insertion Using the Leksell Frame: Technical Note

A simple device is described to perform lateral orthogonal approaches using the Leksell stereotactic frame. This device is especially useful for simultaneous bilateral insertion of intracerebral electrodes without the need for attaching the stereotactic arc. It also allows for targeting of far lateral lesions that lie beyond the limits imposed by the arc and is compatible with all recent models of and accessories for the Leksell frame.