cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On spines of 3-manifolds with boundary

We give a simple necessary and sufficient condition for the inclusion map of a subpolyhedron into a compact 3-manifold with non-empty boundary to be a homotopy equivalence.
Latino Associate Degree Completion: Effects of Financial Aid Over Time

Lack of financial resources to pay for postsecondary education—perceived and actual—has been cited as a barrier to student access and persistence, particularly for Latino students. This study investigates the following question: “To what extent does financial aid affect the educational attainment of Latinos enrolled in Associate’s degree programs, and how do these effects change over time?” We find receiving aid of any type was positively associated with degree completion, though the effect declined over time.
Breakdown of translational and rotational equilibrium in gaseous expansions

The direct simulation Monte Carlo method has been used to study the breakdown of translational equilibrium in steady cylindrical and spherical expansions of hard sphere and Maxwell molecules. The study of spherical expansions was extended to the combined translational and rotational breakdown in a gas of rough sphere molecules. The breakdown of translational equilibrium in a complete one-dimensional rarefaction wave in a hard sphere gas was also investigated. In all cases, the breakdown of equilibrium was found to coincide with a constant value of the ratio of the logarithmic time derivative of density following the motion of the fluid to the collision frequency in the gas. This value is proposed as an empirical breakdown criterion for use in engineering studies of systems which involve low-density expansions from continuum to highly rarefied conditions. The onset of nonequilibrium was marked by the divergence of the separate kinetic temperatures based on the molecular velocity components parallel and normal to the flow direction. The parallel temperature in a steady expansion gradually froze to a constant value, in qualitative agreement with experiment and with analytical studies employing the BGK model. The rate of decay of the temperature based on the normal velocity components was greater than the isentropic rate for hard sphere molecules, but less than it was for Maxwell molecules.
Operative versus nonoperative treatment after primary traumatic anterior glenohumeral dislocation: expected-value decision analysis.

Background The optimal management strategy for primary traumatic anterior glenohumeral dislocation remains controversial. Patients have traditionally been managed nonoperatively, but high recurrence rates in certain populations have led to increased interest in early operative stabilization. The purpose of this study was to use expected-value decision analysis to determine the optimal management strategy—nonoperative treatment or arthroscopic stabilization—for a first-time traumatic anterior shoulder dislocation. Materials and methods Probabilities for the occurrences of the potential outcomes after nonoperative and arthroscopic treatment of a first-time traumatic anterior glenohumeral dislocation were determined from a systematic review of the literature. Utilities for these outcomes were obtained from a questionnaire on patient preferences completed by 42 subjects without a history of shoulder injury. A decision tree was constructed, fold-back analysis was performed to determine optimal management, and sensitivity analyses were used to determine the effect on decision making of varying outcome probabilities and utilities. Results Nonoperative treatment was associated with a utility value of 5.9 and early arthroscopic surgery with a value of 7.6. On sensitivity analysis, it was found that when the rate of recurrence after nonoperative treatment falls below 32% or when the utility value for successful arthroscopic stabilization falls below 6.6, nonoperative treatment is the preferred management strategy. Conclusions Arthroscopic stabilization was the preferred strategy after a primary anterior glenohumeral dislocation. In clinical settings where the likelihood of recurrent instability is low after nonoperative care or when an informed patient has an aversion to surgery, nonoperative treatment may be the preferred treatment strategy.
Optical quantification of cellular mass, volume, and density of circulating tumor cells identified in an ovarian cancer patient

Clinical studies have demonstrated that circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are present in the blood of cancer patients with known metastatic disease across the major types of epithelial malignancies. Recent studies have shown that the concentration of CTCs in the blood is prognostic of overall survival in breast, prostate, colorectal and non-small cell lung cancer. This study characterizes CTCs identified using the high-definition (HD)-CTC assay in an ovarian cancer patient with stage IIIC disease. We characterized the physical properties of 31 HD-CTCs and 50 normal leukocytes from a single blood draw taken just prior to the initial debulking surgery. We utilized a non-interferometric quantitative phase microscopy technique using brightfield imagery to measure cellular dry mass. Next we used a quantitative differential interference contrast microscopy technique to measure cellular volume. These techniques were combined to determine cellular dry mass density. We found that HD-CTCs were more massive than leukocytes: 33.6 ± 3.2 pg (HD-CTC) compared to 18.7 ± 0.6 pg (leukocytes), p < 0.001; had greater volumes: 518.3 ± 24.5 fL (HD-CTC) compared to 230.9 ± 78.5 fL (leukocyte), p<0.001; and possessed a decreased dry mass density with respect to leukocytes: 0.065 ± 0.006 pg/fL (HD-CTC) compared to 0.085 ± 0.004 pg/fL (leukocyte), p < 0.006. Quantification of HD-CTC dry mass content and volume provide key insights into the fluid dynamics of cancer, and may provide the rationale for strategies to isolate, monitor or target CTCs based on their physical properties. The parameters reported here can also be incorporated into blood cell flow models to better understand metastasis.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS OF ILLINOIS COAL ENTRY INTO THE TRANSPORTATION MARKET

Abstract Using Illinois coal in transportation has varied environmental consequences. This study calculated the total CO2 emissions from gasoline and eight other vehicle propulsion methods involving Illinois coal. Vehicle propulsion methods of ultra super critical electrical cycle, integrated gasification combined electrical cycle, pulverized coal in a sub-critical electrical cycle, and electricity from a hydrogen fuel cell emitted the lowest CO2. Vehicle propulsion methods using Illinois coal to produce ethanol, butanol, and integrated gasification combined electrical cycle/ethanol emitted CO2 comparable to gasoline. The vehicle propulsion method of Fischer-Tropsch diesel emitted the most CO2. It was concluded that energy efficiency and CO2 offset from agricultural growth and by-products were the most influential factors of CO2 emissions.
The Confluent Capacity of the Internet: Congestion vs. Dilation

Using shortest paths, the Internet scales very poorly with respect to congestion [2]. Two main reasons for using shortest paths are dilation (or delay) and size of routing tables. As the Internet grows, the small size of routing tables is important for scaling, but it does not require shortest paths. As long as the paths are confluent, the routing table size is unchanged. In this paper we study the confluent capacity of the Internet. We use the preferential attachment model [5] for the Internet, and all-pair uniform demand for the traffic pattern. Our main theoretical result is that the confluent congestion1 is within a logarithmic factor of the optimal splittable congestion and can be achieved using a simple randomized and distributed scheme called Locally Independent Rounding Algorithm (LIRA). We reinforce this result experimentally by employing simulations to demonstrate that for almost all instances the confluent congestion is (nearly) equal to the splittable congestion. Thus we conclude that the Internet scales well using confluent paths. We combine known results on expanders and the expansion properties of the preferential attachment model to show that for almost all Internet-like networks, we can find a confluent flow that simultaneously achieves O(log n)- approximate congestion and O(1)-approximate dilation. We confirm, using simulations, the intuition that confluence does not come at the cost of dilation.
Dynamic task-based anycasting in mobile ad hoc networks

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) have received significant attention in the recent past owing to the proliferation in the numbers of tetherless portable devices, and rapid growth in popularity of wireless networking. Most of the MANET research community has remained focused on developing lower layer mechanisms such as channel access and routing for making MANETs operational. However, little focus has been applied on higher layer issues, such as application modeling in dynamic MANET environments. In this paper, we present a novel distributed application framework based on task graphs that enables a large class of resource discovery based applications on MANETs. A distributed application is represented as a complex task comprised of smaller sub-tasks that need to be performed on different classes of computing devices with specialized roles. Execution of a particular task on a MANET involves several logical patterns of data flow between classes of such specialized devices. These data flow patterns induce dependencies between the different classes of devices that need to cooperate to execute the application. Such dependencies yield a task graph (TG) representation of the application.We focus on the problem of executing distributed tasks on a MANET by means of dynamic selection of specific devices that are needed to complete the tasks. In this paper, we present simple and efficient algorithms for dynamic discovery and selection (instantiation) of suitable devices in a MANET from among a number of them providing the same functionality. This is carried out with respect to the proposed task graph representation of the application, and we call this process Dynamic Task-Based Anycasting. Our algorithm periodically monitors the logical associations between the selected devices, and in the event of a disruption in the application owing to failures in any component in the network, it adapts to the situation and dynamically rediscovers the affected parts of the task graph, if possible. We propose metrics for evaluating the performance of these algorithms and report simulation results for a variety of application scenarios differing in complexity, traffic, and device mobility patterns. From our simulation studies, we observed that our protocol was able to instantiate and re-instantiate TG nodes quickly and yielded high effective throughput at low to medium degrees of mobility and not much below 70% effective throughput for high mobility scenarios.
The oceanographic work of the Buffalo Museum of Science

The installing of the Buffalo Museum of Science in a new building has limited somewhat the scientific work of the institution, but it has been possible for the staff to participate during the past year in four field programs, three of which will be discussed at this time. All of these hare been carried on jointly with other institutions where the resources of all have been pooled in order to avoid duplication and to allow for a close correlation of the several different factors involved.
THE STRUCTURE OF FATTY ACIDS FROM THE ANTIBIOTIC AMPHOMYCIN

From acid hydrolysates of amphomycin (+) 3-anteisotridecenoic acid, (+) 4-hydroxy-anteisotridecanoic acid lactone and 4-hydroxy-isododecanoic acid lactone were isolated. While the unsaturated acid is a genuine building component of the antibiotic, the lactones are formed from unsaturated acids during hydrolysis.
Newsgames: Procedural Rhetoric meets Political Cartoons

Video games have been created about political and s ocial issues since the early days of the medium. In rece nt years, many developers are rapidly creating and releasing games in response to current events. These games are bei ng referred to as newsgames. With an increasing number of people citing the internet as their primary news so urce, it would appear that newsgames could become an important part of how people understand current events and co uld rise to be an important and expressive video game genre. However, the word “newsgame” is currently only quite loosely defined, resulting in the term being applie d to many forms of serious, or nonfiction games. Also, despi te the quantity of games that relate to current events, ve ry few newsgames can be said live up to the defining claim s that newsgames are the video game equivalent of politica l cartoons [25] ‐ a well developed and established me dium for political expression. This paper fleshes out the political cartoon compar ison in order to learn from the long history of political c artoons and give direction to the current state of fledgling an d unsophisticated newsgames. It also suggests clear and flexible definitive criteria for newsgames as well as a redeclaration of their expressive power.
ADULT SURVIVORSHIP, FECUNDITY, AND FACTORS AFFECTING LABORATORY OVIPOSITION OF PISSODES NEMORENSIS (COLEOPTERA: CURCULIONIDAE)

The deodar weevil, Pissodes nemorensis Germar, is a vector and wounding agent associated with pitch canker fungus, Fusarium moniliforme Sheld. var. subglutinans Wr. & Reink., in the southeastern United States (Blakeslee et al. 1981). This univoltine weevil breeds in southern pines that have been stressed by factors such as fire, lightning, or mechanical injury (Baker 1972). The adults feed on phloem after chewing through the outer bark. Females deposit eggs in some of these feeding pits and then plug the hole with macerated phloem (Atkinson 1979). Larvae tunnel under the bark and feed on phloem as they develop.
An Experimental Study of Tractor Base Bleed for Heavy Vehicle Aerodynamic Drag Reduction

A significant contributor to heavy-vehicle aerodynamic drag is the tractor-trailer gap, especially when operating in a crosswind. At this condition, the freestream flow turns into the tractor-trailer gap, imparting a momentum exchange to the vehicle and subsequently increasing the aerodynamic drag. In common use today, tractor side-extenders provide significant drag reduction, but they are not without problems. Frequently damaged when the tractor pivots sharply with respect to the trailer, side extenders can incur additional costs for maintenance and repair. This issue can be alleviated by shortening extenders (thereby reducing their benefit) or devising an alternative drag-reduction concept. One such concept is tractor base bleed, in which air-flow is vented into the tractor-trailer gap through the back of the tractor. To study this concept, a wind-tunnel study was conducted for a generic 1:20-scale tractor-trailer configuration at width-based Reynolds number of 420,000. Delivered through a porous material embedded in the tractor base, the bleed flow was varied so as to generate velocities behind the tractor ranging from zero to 10% of the freestream velocity. Configurations were studied both with and without side extenders at two different tractor-trailer separation distances.
Triaging Psychiatric Care: Risk Assessment Construction and Validation for Washington’s Involuntary Treatment and Forensic Commitment Populations

There is a growing need in Washington to triage patients being considered for inpatient treatment. There has previously been no risk assessment normed to persons with mental illness in the State of Washington. The Static Risk Assessment (SRA) is used in Washington to assess risk among offenders under State Department of Corrections supervision. The present study sought to create and validate a new risk assessment, the SRA for Mental Health Patients (SRA-MHP), for two mental health populations in Washington. A sample of 16,289 patients involuntarily committed due to being deemed dangerous or gravely disabled, as well as a sample of 8,713 forensic patients undergoing a competency evaluation to stand trial after being charged with a crime, was gathered to assess the utility in applying the SRA-MHP to persons with mental illness. Results indicate that the SRA-MHP has high predictive performance for these samples.
Effect of Cotton Genotypes on the Western Bigeyed Bug (Heteroptera: Miridae)

First, second, and third instar nymphs and adults of Geocoris pallens Stal, were caged on leaves of four cotton genotypes; ‘Acala SJ-2’ (a commercial cultivar), H6124 and G8160 (nectariless and glandless breeder lines, respectively), and HG469 (a high gossypol, breeder line). They were variously provided with or deprived of access to nectar or prey. Longevity of all stages and development were greatly reduced on all cotton types when the insects were deprived of both prey and nectar. Longevity was extended considerably on all cotton genotypes when G. pallens were provided access to a nectary or artificially provided with nectar. Geocoris pallens provided with an abundance of prey did not appear to need nectar for survival and development on any of the cotton genotypes. In the absence of prey, G. pallens did not develop to the adult stage and adult insects ceased oviposition.
Optimization of A Fine-grained BILU by CUDA Inter-block Synchronization

A fine-grained block incomplete LU (FGBILU) factorization for solving large-scale block-sparse linear systems resulting from coupled PDE systems with n equations has been recently developed for massively parallel heterogeneous architectures, such as generalpurpose graphics processing units (GPGPUs). A straightforward one-sweep wavefront ordering is combined with element-wise block submatrix operations, allowing FGBILU to achieve low-overhead concurrent computation at O ( n2N2 ) scale on a 3D PDE domain with a linear scale of N . Numerical experiments show that FGBILU is less efficient on smaller domains. Besides the inevitable performance penalty of a wavefront ordering, the index reconstruction by each concurrent computation thread causes considerable parallelism overhead. One way to reduce the overhead is to employ thread recycling along with CUDA inter-block synchronization. Dynamic parallelism is also attempted, although with no significant perforamnce benefit. The improved FGBILU is tested for a series of 3D PDE domains extracted from an incompressible Navier-Stokes solver called INCOMP3D. Results show that thread recycling can significantly reduce parallelism overhead and improve the performance of FGBILU on smaller domains.
Congenital anomalies of the lung in the adult.

A significant number of congenital anomalies of the lung manifest for the first time in adulthood. Patients may present with an incidental finding on a routine chest radiograph or with symptoms related to some complication of the anomaly. Such late presentation and an uneventful history may mislead the clinician to consider only acquired rather than congenital disorders. This paper is a concise guide to the diagnosis of congenital anomalies of the lung in adults without surgical intervention.
HIV Protease-Mediated Activation of Sterically Capped Proteasome Inhibitors and Substrates

Strategies for selectively killing HIV-infected cells present an appealing alternative to traditional antiretroviral drugs. We show here the first example of an inactive “Trojan horse” molecule that releases a cytotoxic, small-molecule proteasome inhibitor upon cleavage by HIV-1 protease. As a proof-of-concept strategy, the protein avidin was used to block entry of the compound into the proteasome in the absence of HIV-1 protease. We demonstrate that this strategy is also feasible without requiring an exogenous protein; a polylysine dendrimer-containing molecule is unable to enter the proteasome until cleaved by HIV-1 protease. These results demonstrate that conditional proteasome inhibitors could prove useful in the development of new tools for chemical biology and future therapeutics.
Application of Thromboelastogram to Guide Antiplatelet Drugs Use in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

OBJECTIVE To investigate the feasibility of using thromboelastogram( TEG) to guide the use of antiplatelet drugs in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention( PCI). METHODS A retrospective study was performed with 349 patients undergoing PCI from January 2011 to April 2011. According to whether measured platelet reactivity by TEG or not,patients were divided into experimental group and control group. Patients of the two groups were all given aspirin plus clopidogrel. Each group was divided into two subgroups according to the doses of antiplatelet drugs: group A used aspirin 100 mg plus clopidogrel 75 mg,and group B used aspirin 300 mg plus clopidogrel 75 mg. A 6-month follow-up was carried out to examine the incidences of bleeding and ischemic events. RESULTS The incidences of bleeding and ischemic events in the experimental group were significantly decreased compared with those in the control group. The inhibition rates of AA and ADP were significant higher in group B than those in group A of the experimental group. CONCLUSION Adverse events can be reduced by measuring platelet reactivity by TEG and adjusting antiplatelet drugs.
Transduction of human melanoma cell lines with the human interleukin-7 gene using retroviral-mediated gene transfer: comparison of immunologic properties with interleukin-2

Two human melanoma cell lines were transduced with the human interleukin (IL)-7 and IL-2 genes using retroviral-mediated gene transfer. Stable, high-level cytokine expression was achieved. The in vitro growth of transduced tumors was unaltered. Neither of the IL-2-transduced melanoma cell lines grew in athymic mice, whereas one IL-7-transduced melanoma line showed retarded in vivo growth. This is consistent with animal studies suggesting a predominantly T-cell response to IL-7-transduced tumors and a more nonspecific response to IL-2-transduced tumors. Both IL-7- and IL-2-transduced melanoma cell lines could induce cytotoxic lymphocytes in mixed lymphocyte-tumor cultures. The expression of putative melanoma antigens (MAGE)-1 and MAGE-3 was unaltered by cytokine transduction. In one cell line, IL-7 transduction resulted in a marked inhibition of the immunosuppressive peptide transforming growth factor (TGF)beta 1. The results allow a comparison of immunobiologic properties of IL-7- and IL-2-transduced human melanoma cell lines in consideration of their use in genetically engineered tumor vaccines. IL-7 transduction results in stable cytokine expression and phenotypic alterations that appear to be favorable for enhanced immunogenicity and it deserves clinical testing.
Can we (and should we) make formal sense of general knowledge expressed in ordinary language

It has generally been assumed that the knowledge employed by an AI reasoning system needs to be in an unambiguous, formally interpretable form. From that perspective, general knowledge expressed in ordinary language (e.g., "dogs bark") is unacceptably ambiguous and incomplete. However, we can achieve at least a partial transformation of such knowledge into formal, generically quantified sentences by taking account of properties of words and phrases such as the aspectual category, tense, Levin class, and presuppositions of verbs, or the classification of predicates (adjectival, nominal, verbal) as applicable to objects or kinds of objects. Among the questions that arise are (1) to what extent word sense disambiguation is necessary for enabling useful inference, (2) how definites in the consequent of an if-then sentence, referring back to an indefinite in the if-part ("donkey anaphora"), should be represented, and (3) what general and particular inferences are enabled by (more or less formal) generic sentences. I will provide some preliminary illustrative results, and speculate about the possibility of a compromise between the "crisp" inference methods of traditional KR&R and the looser methods emerging from statistical entailment and natural logic.
Carbonic anhydrase enzymes regulate mast cell-mediated immunity to Trichinella spiralis.

Type 2 cytokine responses are necessary for the development of protective immunity to helminth parasites but also cause the detrimental inflammation associated with allergies and asthma. Recent studies have found that peripheral hematopoietic progenitor cell populations contribute to type 2 cytokine-mediated inflammation through their enhanced ability to develop into mast cells. Here we identify that carbonic anhydrase (Car) enzymes are upregulated in type 2-asscoaited progenitor cells and demonstrate that Car enzyme inhibition was sufficient to prevent murine mast cell development, type 2 cytokine-mediated inflammation and protective immunity to Trichinella spiralis. Moreover, we show that Car enzyme inhibition was also sufficient to prevent intestinal mast cell responses in a murine model of food allergy-like disease. Finally, we performed translational studies and demonstrated that Car enzymes can be targeted with an FDA-approved inhibitor to prevent human mast cell development. Collectively these studies identify a previously unrecognized role for Car enzymes in regulating mast cell lineage commitment and suggest that FDA-approved Car enzyme inhibitors may possess additional off-label therapeutic potential that can be employed to treat mast cell-mediated inflammation.
Principles of Nerve Repair and Neural Recovery in Extremity Replantation Surgery

Success of nerve repair is dependent on the state of the lacerated nerve segments, the timing and technique of repair, and the location of the injury with respect to the target muscle end plates. When nerve segments of appropriate lengths are unavailable, the use of nerve grafts and synthetic or natural conduits is necessary. This chapter discusses the biology of axonal regeneration following injury; the techniques of direct nerve repair; the use of autografts, allografts, and synthetic conduits; and the measurement of functional outcomes following repair.
Reforming International Communication: The NWICO Debate

The discussion so far in this book has been an explanation of the structure of power as far as the role of information and communication are concerned in international relations. There now needs to be an analysis of exactly what happens when these structures are challenged. Such a task might contain objective lessons for those who are relatively powerless and are seeking change. At the same time it might show up serious shortcomings and contradictions in the arguments of those who shout ‘cultural imperialism’ and place most blame for the status quo on the shoulders of those with power.
Strength Decrements from Carrying Various Army Packs on Military Marches

Abstract Two independent pack-carrying studies were conducted in which the strength losses of involved muscles from nine 7.5-mile marches were determined. In the first series of marches, the rucksack had a clear advantage: not until the weight was 61 pounds were strength losses appreciable. Contrarily, in the second series, marching with the rucksack resulted in greater strength losses than with the combat pack. The difference is attributed to the superior physical condition of the subjects on the first rucksack march. The muscle groups showing greatest strength losses for the nine marches were: trunk extensors in eight marches; hip extensors in seven marches; and knee flexors in six marches. The neck extensors appeared in two of the three marches of the second series, but were not tested in series one.
Definition and health consequences of morbid obesity.

The term “morbid obesity” refers to degrees of obesity that correlate with an excess in morbidity or mortality. In most fatal or serious diseases in obese individuals, morbidity results from obesity plus one or more pathologic states, which interact to cause increased rates of mortality.
STATCOM Operation under single line-ground system faults with magnetic saturation in series connected transformers based 48-pulse voltage-source converter

In this paper, we investigate an "emergency PWM" method to prevent over-currents in VSC based STATCOM and control transformer magnetic saturation under single line-ground (SLG) power system faults. The 100 MVA 48-pulse VSC topology is based on four series connected transformers on the primary side and each transformer secondary is connected to a 3 Phi, 3-level Neutral Point Connected (NPC) VSC, with a common dc bus. A practical issue of impact of slightly different saturation (B-H) characteristics of series connected transformers, on VSC performance is investigated for SLG faults in the power system. The detailed simulation results for a 48-pulse GTO thyristor based VSC +100 MVA STATCOM connected to a 2-bus power system under SLG system faults validate that the proposed "emergency PWM" enables STATCOM operation under transformer saturation without over-currents in the GTO devices. The proposed "emergency PWM" strategy prevents STATCOM tripping under SLG power system faults.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ORGANIC CARBON SOURCES AS A BASIS FOR COMPARING ESTUARIES IN SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND

Abstract In an attempt to compare estuaries holistically, we hypothesized that contributions of various carbon sources to total production were strongly correlated to estuarine physical attributes (eg., size, area: volume characteristics, or tidal characteristics). Based on a compilation of data from nine systems in southern New England, we found that only the area: volume ratio correlated with any of the production components, but that those relationships were very strong with respect to benthic production (R2 = 95%), total production (R2 = 92%), and the benthic: pelagic production ratio (R2 = 82%). We conclude that the relationships answer the need for an easily-obtained underlying physical parameter for comparing estuaries in terms of their autochthonous production components, and that these patterns are so strong that the area: volume ratio would have to be taken into consideration when seeking any additional relationships with other parameters.
Existence of Positive Solutions of Fisher-KPP Equations in Locally Spatially Variational Habitat with Hybrid Dispersal

The current paper investigate the persistence of positive solutions of KPP type evolution equations with random/nonlocal dispersal in locally spatially inhomogeneous habitat. By the constructions of super/sub solutions and comparison principle, we prove that such an equation has a unique globally stable positive stationary solution.
Glucokinase Mediated Glucosensing in Hypothalamic Neurons

Glucosensing is the ability of specialized cells to detect changes in extracellular glucose concentration and convert this information into a change in membrane potential; this allows glucose levels to influence the activity of cells that regulate glucose-altering or glucose-dependent physiological processes. Two major glucosensing cellular populations are pancreatic and hypothalamic cells; the mechanism of glucosensing in pancreatic beta cells is established, but that of hypothalamic neurons remains controversial. Beta cells glucosense by expressing a specialized type of hexokinase (the rate-limiting enzyme in glucose metabolism) called glucokinase (GCK). GCK, unlike standard hexokinase, is not saturated at physiological levels of glucose, allowing glucose metabolism in cells expressing GCK to increase when the extracellular glucose concentration is raised. This increase in metabolism is then converted into a membrane depolarization. Furthermore, S-nitrosylation can enhance the activity of GCK, and therefore enhance glucose metabolism and glucosensing. Here we use GT1-7 cells to explore whether a similar mechanism of glucosensing exists in hypothalamic neurons. The addition of a glucose concentration at which GCK is sensitive (and standard hexokinase is saturated) leads to an increase in cellular metabolism, as measured by NADH autofluorescence; but only in the presence of isoproterenol, a beta-adrenergic receptor agonist which increases intracellular calcium to activate neuronal nitric oxide synthase and facilitate S-nitrosylation. We also use a FRET-based GCK sensor to measure GCK activation under low and high glucose concentrations and in the presence of isoproterenol. These studies reveal the presence of a functional GCK and the sensitivity of GCK to post-translational/signaling cascade modulation. Further, the lack of metabolic response to glucose alone may be linked to high basal activity of GCK in this serum-grown cell line. These results point to a functional, receptor-potentiated glucose sensing mechanism in neurons that is mediated through post-translational activation of GCK.
Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Neonates with Congenital Renal and Urological Anomalies and Pulmonary Hypoplasia: A Case Report and Review of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization Registry

Objective Congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract constitute up to 30% of anomalies identified in the neonatal period. In utero oligohydramnios is often associated with pulmonary hypoplasia and respiratory failure in the neonate who may not be responsive to mechanical ventilation. Placement of these neonates on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) remains controversial and is considered in most centers to be a relative contraindication. The objective of this study is to use the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) database to describe the outcomes and complications of patients with congenital renal and urogenital anomalies with pulmonary hypoplasia who underwent ECMO in the neonatal period. Data Sources Data from the ELSO registry were retrospectively reviewed for all patients with congenital renal and urogenital anomalies with pulmonary hypoplasia treated with ECMO support between 1990 and November 2014 using ICD-9 diagnosis codes. Data Synthesis We identified 45 patients. The average age of the patient at the time of ECMO was 1.7 days (range: 0–14 days) and weight was 3.1 kg (interquartile range [IQR]: 2.5–3.3). Patients spent an average of 162 hours on ECMO (IQR: 81–207). The majority of patients were managed with venoarterial ECMO (60%), and the overall survival of this cohort was 42%. Survivors had higher weights (3.4 vs. 2.8 kg; p Conclusion Neonates with renal or urogenital disease and pulmonary hypoplasia have an overall survival rate of 42%. Patients with a diagnosis of urogenital obstruction have much more favorable outcomes when compared with those with intrinsic renal disease such as polycystic kidney disease.
Microgrid Controllers : Expanding Their Role and Evaluating Their Performance

Microgrids have long been deployed to provide power to customers in remote areas as well as critical industrial and military loads. Today, they are also being proposed as grid-interactive solutions for energy-resilient communities. Such microgrids will spend most of the time operating while synchronized with the surrounding utility grid but will also be capable of separating during contingency periods due to storms or temporary disturbances such as local grid faults. Properly designed and grid-integrated microgrids can provide the flexibility, reliability, and resiliency needs of both the future grid and critical customers. These systems can be an integral part of future power system designs that optimize investments to achieve operational goals, improved reliability, and diversification of energy sources.
Generation of Neuronal Diversity in the Peripheral Olfactory System in Drosophila

It is estimated that there are billions of neurons in the human brain. Each of these neurons is thought to play a distinct role in nervous system function. It is the emergent functional properties of these neurons that allow organisms to detect and process information about the complex sensory environment, and successfully navigate through these environments. To perform this task, many neural circuits representing different modalities of sensory information are organized to optimally encode and discriminate the nature of the stimuli. Diversity of neuronal fates that constitute these circuits is generated during development, as cells with high differentiation potentials, such as neural stem/progenitor/precursor cells, divide, communicate and make fate decisions that gradually diversify and restrict the type of cells they can generate. Sensory systems are a particularly interesting place to understand mechanisms of neural diversity as functional types of sensory neurons are under the constraints brought about by the complexity of the sensory world. In this chapter, we will review our current understanding of mechanisms generating neuronal diversity in the visual and olfactory systems (Van Bortle and Corces in Cell 152(6):1213–1217, 2013; Henikoff in Neuron 86(6):1319–1321, 2015; Mo et al. in Neuron 86(6):1369–1384, 2015).
Review of Health Source – Consumer Edition

ABSTRACTThe pace of publication in consumer health continues unabated. EBSCO’s Health Source – Consumer Edition provides one of the few indexing and abstracting services to assist users looking to these types of publications for help with their health questions. This column provides a guide to some of the database features and resources. While the reading level for some of its indexed sources is relatively high, and the collection of books is dated at present. Health Source – Consumer Edition remains a valuable tool in the consumer health librarian’s toolkit.
Glucometrics and Insulinometrics.

Glucometrics is the systematic analysis of inpatient glucose data and is of key interest as hospitals strive to improve inpatient glycemic control. Insulinometrics is the systematic analysis and reporting of inpatient insulin therapy. This paper reviews some of the questions to be resolved before a national benchmarking process can be developed that will allow institutions to track and compare inpatient glucose control performance against established guidelines. There remains a lack of standardization on how glucometrics should be measured and reported. Before hospitals can commit resources to compiling and extracting data, consensus must be reached on such questions as which measures to report, definitions of glycemic targets, and how data should be obtained. Examples are provided on how insulin administration can be measured and reported. Hospitals should begin assessment of glucometrics and insulinometrics. However, consensus and standardization must first occur to allow for a national benchmarking process.
Reversal of Immune Suppression in Sentinel Lymph Nodes

Minimally invasive intraoperative lymphatic mapping and sentinel node biopsy (LM/SNB) has become the standard approach for staging the regional lymph nodes for early-stage melanoma and breast cancer and has potential applications in other malignancies. The procedure requires close collaboration of surgeon, pathologist, and nuclear medicine physician. The strength of LM/SNB is its accuracy of detecting occult lymph node metastases while the therapeutic value of early dissection of occult metastases is yet unproved. RT-PCR analyses of either fresh frozen or paraffin-embedded sections of the sentinel lymph nodes may be more sensitive than hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) or immunohistochemistry but lack the specificity compared to conventional methods and limits in the availability of tissue specimens make RT-PCR impractical for routine use. LM/SNB allows for focused analysis of the matched primary malignancy and sentinel node. Research from human melanoma specimens suggest the sentinel node (SN) has molecular properties pointing toward immune dysfunction of these lymph nodes as compared with adjacent non-SNs and that reversal of this dysfunction may be an effective method of enhancing the immune response to melanoma.
“What do gay Asian men want?”: Desiring otherwise in the work of Richard Fung

Abstract A vast literature on queer of color critique, and increasingly on queer of color geographies, has shed greater light on how queer people of color negotiate racialized sexual economies. This paper considers how cultural geography, informed by psychoanalysis and queer of color critique, might contribute additional sophistication and critical insight to conversations about sexual racism – by not only decrying sexual racism, but by shedding light on racialized people's complex forms of psychical agency, as well as political agency, in relation to it. It turns to the work of gay Trinidadian-Canadian artist and scholar Richard Fung, whose films and essays both proffer underrepresented images of racialized queer sexual subjectivities and grapple with the ways in which queer people of color can themselves become enlisted in racial-sexual hierarchies. Providing geographical and historical context for Toronto's stratified racial and sexual politics as they play out in ordinary life, I point to moments in which Fung's films both decry such inequality and meditate on alternatives that detour from dramas of mis/recognition by whiteness.
Extracellular Matrix in Stroke

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a non-cellular structure found in all tissues. It undergoes tightly controlled remodeling in both physiological (e.g., during development and upon adaption to physiological needs) and pathological conditions, and exerts diverse and important functions. After stroke, the structure of ECM is disrupted and the expression of ECM proteins is altered. The significance of these changes, however, remains largely unknown, mainly due to the intrinsic complexity of the ECM. In this chapter, I first introduce the three types of ECM in the brain with a focus on the basement membranes (BMs). Next, BM assembly and function are briefly summarized. Third, BM changes in stroke are discussed in detail. Furthermore, important questions that need to be answered in future studies are described.
Oxygen tensions in the deep gray matter of rats exposed to hyperbaric oxygen.

Selective necrosis of neurons and nuclei consistently occurs within the central nervous system (CNS) of rats paralyzed by repeated 1 hour exposures to 5 atmospheres of oxygen.l The distribution of the lesions differs from those of hypoxia in the same animal species. Excessive oxygen inhibits many enzymes vital to cellular metabolism in the CNS and it is reasonable to hypothesize that the neuronal necrosis produced by hyperbaric oxygen exposure is related to elevated tissue oxygen tensions. However, hyperbaric oxygen notedly produces cerebral vasospasm and a reduction in cerebral blood flow, and regional ischemia has been a tenable hypothesis for the occurrence of the CNS lesions. This latter mechanism seems unlikely because unilateral carotid artery ligation protects the ipsilateral but not the contralateral cerebral hemisphere from the occurrence of the oxygen induced lesions.2 (see Fig. 1)
The vacuolar membrane protein gamma‐TIP creates water specific channels in Xenopus oocytes.

The vacuolar membrane (tonoplast) of higher plant cells contains an abundant 27 kDa protein called TIP (tonoplast intrinsic protein) that occurs in different isoforms and belongs to a large family of homologous channel-like proteins found in bacteria, plants and animals. In the present study, we identified and characterized the function of gamma-TIP from Arabidopsis thaliana by expression of the protein in Xenopus oocytes. gamma-TIP increased the osmotic water permeability of oocytes 6- to 8-fold, to values in the range 1-1.5 x 10(-2) cm/s. Similar results were obtained with the homologous human erythrocyte protein CHIP28, recently identified as the erythrocyte water channel. The bacterial homolog GlpF did not affect the osmotic water permeability of oocytes, but facilitated glycerol uptake, in accordance with its known function. By contrast, gamma-TIP did not promote glycerol permeability. Voltage clamp experiments provided evidence showing that gamma-TIP induced no electrogenic ion transport in oocytes, especially during osmotic challenge that resulted in massive transport of water. These results allow us to conclude that the various protein members of the MIP family have unique and specific transport functions and that the plant protein gamma-TIP likely functions as a water specific channel in the vacuolar membrane.
Sustainability Trajectories for Urban Waters

Improving sustainability trajectories related to the biological health of urban waters requires enhancing the effectiveness of US nitrogen control programs for watersheds, cities, and ocean waters. A trajectory consists of identification of sustainability values, use of science to identify alternative solutions, selection of means for change, and assessment of results. Nitrogen, a limiting nutrient in most marine waters, contributes to algal blooms, declining levels of dissolved oxygen, and changes in biodiversity when it is present in bioavailable and excess amounts. Left unchecked nitrogen enrichment results in a regional trajectory trending away from biological sustainability. Its impacts have been observed on local, national, and global scales. The sustainability trajectory framework provides a novel way to view success or failure by clarifying values promoted and the means to reach them. Sequences of decisions related to nitrogen enrichment of New York Bight, Narragansett Bay, and Chesapeake Bay show that positive ecological trajectories rely upon the linkage of sustainability targets to authoritative governance techniques.
Alternative Remedial Techniques for Sheet-Piled Earth Embankments

This paper proposes two different remediation techniques, slightly different from conventional-type sheet-piled earth embankments, to reduce adverse effects induced by foundation liquefaction. A total of four centrifuge tests were conducted without and with countermeasure techniques, all involving model sheet-piles. The effectiveness of each countermeasure were compared and discussed based on the recorded displacements, accelerations, pore water pressure measurements and post-earthquake deformations. The tests showed that conventional sheet pile retrofitting method may not be fully adequate to reduce the distress in the embankment cased by liquefaction. However, the utilization of proposed countermeasures was found to be more significant in reducing the embankment settlement, deformation and cracking. Besides, they are practical and can be easily applied with less expense to existing structures.
Negotiating the Reality of Visual Impairment: Hope, Coping, and Functional Ability

A consecutive sample of 63 adventitiously blinded American military veterans in a interdisciplinary inpatient rehabilitation program participated in this study examining the relation of hope to self-reported functional ability level. Scores from a modified oral administration of the Hope Scale and the Millon Behavioral Health Inventory basic coping styles were used as predictor variables to test regression-based models of mediation and moderation relations to functional ability level. Results support a mediating role for hope in the relation between a proactive sociable style and perceived level of functional ability.
The Experimental Origins of Quantum Mechanics

Quantum mechanics, with its controversial probabilistic nature and curious blending of waves and particles, is a very strange theory. It was not invented because anyone thought this is the way the world should behave, but because various experiments showed that this is the way the world does behave, like it or not. Craig Hogan, director of the Fermilab Particle Astrophysics Center, put it this way:
Commentary on Section 1: Mounting Progress on Understanding Mathematics Teacher Content Knowledge

Each of the four research reports in this section examines mathematical knowledge held or needed by teachers for a specific area of mathematics or a specific aspect of teaching. In addition, each raises issues related to teacher content knowledge beyond its specific focus. This commentary identifies a set of broader issues, situates the reports in this landscape, and uses the reports to sharpen the focus of these broader issues into suggestions for future work.