cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Behavior/Immune Relationships in Nonhuman Primates

Animal models are used in a wide variety of behavioral and biomedical research beacause they allow control of extraneous, confounding variables to a degree that is not possible with human subjects. The use of animal models also allows the researcher to perform experimental manipulations that, for ethical or practical reasons, are not practical in humans.
Stone Fragility: A New Therapeutic Distinction

The extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ES WL) retreatment rates for calculi of 1.1 cm to 3.0 cm varied according to stone composition: calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM), 10.3%; calcium oxalate dihydrate (COD), 2.8%; struvite/apatite calculi, 6.4%. Fine detail in vitro radiographs of approximately equal-sized calculi composed of COM, COD, struvite, brushite, uric acid, and cystine showed structural differences which may account for differences in fragility. The same six calculi were fragmented in vitro in the Dornier HM3 lithotripter by 200 shock waves at 18 kV and the percent weight of each calculus able to be filtered through a 2 mm sieve was determined; COD and uric acid, 100%; COM, 64%; struvite, 57%; brushite, 47%; cystine, 16%. The linear density of these calculi, measured by single photon emission absorptiometry, correlated with radiodensity, not fragility. Calculi of varying composition respond differently to shock wave fragmentation. The assessment of the capability of ESWL to fragment a stone will determine the size stone selected for treatment. Therefore, stone fragility is a new distinction which deserves to be included in the conversation about urinary calculi.
A timing-oriented approach to spatial allocation of fire management effort.

This article explores spatial optimization approaches to fire (and possibly fuel) management problems, with a timing-oriented model formulation. The relevant land area is divided into cells, and the ignition time of protection areas (such as towns, homes, and campgrounds) is delayed as much as possible through spatial application of treatments that have the effect of slowing the fire front movement through each cell. Model variables track the entry and exit times of the fire front and account for the earliest ignition source for each cell. A stylized case example is used to demonstrate the model's application and spatial sensitivity with easily interpretable results. The results show that a spatial concentration of fire management effort may not be optimal, at least for the simple example analyzed. Extension of the model formulation to long-term fuels management is also discussed.
Saramago’s Axiology of Gender Difference

The chapter argues for a contextual reading of female characters in relation to the resurgence of feminist activism in contemporary Portugal, from the late 1960s through the 1980s, informed as it was by broader currents of thought drawing from the avant-garde’s engagement with Marxist post-structuralist perspectives informed by linguistics, anthropology and psychoanalysis. The six novels constituting Saramago’s self-admitted first phase, from Manual of Painting and Calligraphy to The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, are the object of analysis. Aside from exposing the contradictions of the stereotypical roles assigned to women in revolutionary struggles, Saramago’s engagement with embodied, sexualized feminine difference is the crux of his ongoing critique of masculine-normed Enlightenment reason. Ultimately, it confronts the pervasively tyrannical, dehumanizing meanings attached to women in the Judeo-Christian Western tradition.
Scrambler therapy for established chemotherapy-induced neuropathy: A randomized phase II trial.

10016Background: Pilot data support that Scrambler therapy may benefit patients with Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Methods: Patients with CIPN for at least 3 months were eligib...
Importance of Hematopoietic Mixed Chimerism for Induction of Renal Allograft Tolerance in Nonhuman Primates.

BACKGROUND Although induction of durable mixed chimerism is required for murine skin allograft tolerance (TOL), renal allograft TOL has been achieved after induction of only transient mixed chimerism in nonhuman primates (NHPs) and humans. To better define the level/duration of chimerism required for stable renal allograft TOL, we retrospectively analyzed these parameters and compared them with transplant outcomes in NHP combined kidney and bone marrow transplant recipients. METHODS Peripheral blood levels and duration of myeloid or lymphoid chimerism were retrospectively analyzed in 34 NHP combined kidney and bone marrow transplantation recipients which were divided into 3 groups: TOL, n = 10; chronic antibody-mediated rejection (CAMR), n = 12; and T cell-mediated rejection (TCMR), n = 12. RESULTS All 4 of the recipients that failed to develop any chimerism lost their allografts due to TCMR after discontinuation of immunosuppression (56 ± 3 d). Among 30 recipients who successfully developed multilineage chimerism, 10 achieved long-term immunosuppression-free survival without rejection (1258 ± 388 d), 12 eventually developed CAMR (932 ± 155 d), and 8 developed TCMR (82 ± 10 d). The maximum level but not duration of lymphoid chimerism was significantly higher in TOL recipients compared with both CAMR (P = 0.0159) and TCMR (P = 0.0074). On the other hand, the maximum myeloid chimerism was significantly higher in TOL than in TCMR (P = 0.0469), but not in CAMR. Receiver operating characteristic analyses revealed that lymphoid chimerism levels of 3.1% or greater could reliably predict long-term immunosuppression-free renal allograft survival (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS This retrospective study confirmed that induction of chimerism is essential for long-term immunosuppression-free survival, which best correlates with lymphoid chimerism levels higher than 3.1%.
New Persistent Opioid Use and Associated Risk Factors Following Treatment of Ankle Fractures.

Background:The aim of this study was to define the rate of new persistent opioid use and risk factors for persistent opioid use after operative and nonoperative treatment of ankle fractures.Methods...
Enhancement of weld strength of laser-welded joints of AA6061-T6 and TZM alloys via novel dual-laser warm laser shock peening

In this paper, an experimental study is presented on an investigation to improve the weld strength of laser-welded joints via post-processing by warm laser shock peening (wLSP). A dual-laser setup was utilized to simultaneously heat the sample to a prescribed temperature and to perform the wLSP process on the laser-welded joints of AA6061-T6 and TZM alloys. Joints in overlap and bead-on-plate configurations were created by laser welding by a high-power fiber laser and post-processed with wLSP. The tensile tests carried out on wLSP-processed AA6061-T6 samples demonstrate an enhancement in the strength by about 20% over as-welded samples and the ductility of samples processed by wLSP improved by 30% over as-welded samples. The bead-on-plate (BOP) welds of TZM alloy processed with wLSP demonstrated an enhancement in strength by about 30% and the lap welds processed with wLSP demonstrated an increase in the joint strength by 22%. Finite element analysis revealed that the depth and magnitude of compressive stresses imparted by wLSP were greater than room temperature laser shock peening (rtLSP), which contributed to the enhancement of the joint strength for processed samples.
Reconciling the water balance of large lake systems

Abstract Water balance models are commonly employed to improve understanding of drivers behind changes in the hydrologic cycle across multiple space and time scales. Generally, these models are physically-based, a feature that can lead to unreconciled biases and uncertainties when a model is not encoded to be faithful to changes in water storage over time. Statistical methods represent one approach to addressing this problem. We find, however, that there are very few historical hydrological modeling studies in which bias correction and uncertainty quantification methods are routinely applied to ensure fidelity to the water balance. Importantly, we know of none (aside from preliminary applications of the model we advance in this study) applied specifically to large lake systems. We fill this gap by developing and applying a Bayesian statistical analysis framework for inferring water balance components specifically in large lake systems. The model behind this framework, which we refer to as the L2SWBM (large lake statistical water balance model), includes a conventional water balance model encoded to iteratively close the water balance over multiple consecutive time periods. Throughout these iterations, the L2SWBM can assimilate multiple preliminary estimates of each water balance component (from either historical model simulations or interpolated in situ monitoring data, for example), and it can accommodate those estimates even if they span different time periods. The L2SWBM can also be executed if data for a particular water balance component are unavailable, a feature that underscores its potential utility in data scarce regions. Here, we demonstrate the utility of our new framework through a customized application to the Laurentian Great Lakes, the largest system of lakes on Earth. Through this application, we find that the L2SWBM is able to infer new water balance component estimates that, to our are knowledge, are the first ever to close the water balance over a multi-decadal historical period for this massive lake system. More specifically, we find that posterior predictive intervals for changes in lake storage are consistent with observed changes in lake storage across this period over simulation time intervals of both 6 and 12 months. In additional to introducing a framework for developing definitive long-term hydrologic records for large lake systems, our study provides important insights into the origins of biases in both legacy and state-of-the-art hydrological models, as well as regional and global hydrological data sets.
Polycyclic solenostele–a new synapomorphy for Pteris sect. Litobrochia

The vascular architecture of the stem–the stele–is one of the most well studied topics in pteridology, and has fascinated botanists for more than 200 years. Stelar architecture has attracted much attention, in part, due to its diversity in the fern lineage as well as its use as a stable taxonomic character for circumscribing species, genera, families, or larger informal clades. One aspect of stelar morphology that has garnered specific attention is polystely: the development of multiple concentric cylinders of vasculature. This feature has evolved in lineages throughout the fern phylogeny, including in the genus Pteris L. (Pteridaceae). Here, I describe a polycyclic solenostele as a new synapomorphy for Pteris sect. Litobrochia. The identification of this character as a synapomorphy furthers our understanding of the morphological evolution and circumscription of Pteris as well as aides in species identification within this speciose genus.
Hypertonic Saline For The Treatment of Diuretic Resistance In Advanced Heart Failure: A Retrospective Analysis From The Cleveland Clinic

Background Recent studies demonstrated that intravenous hypertonic saline solution (HSS) in combination with high-dose furosemide for the management of diuretic resistance in heart failure can lead to improved diuresis, reduction in length of hospitalization and mortality. Objective The objective of this study was to analyze real world use and safety of HSS administration in advanced heart failure patients in the Cleveland Clinic and identify factors for improvement for the development of an institutional protocol. Methods A retrospective chart analysis was performed in all advanced heart failure patients in whom HSS was administer and who were admitted to the intensive heart failure care unit from 2008 to 2019. Results In our study cohort of 34 patients who received HSS (median age 64 [IQR 53,68] years, 56% male, median LVEF 23 [IQR 15,39]%, median Cr 1.4 [IQR 1.1,2.1]mg/dL, median Na 121 [IQR 116,125]mg/dL), all subjects except one received 3% sodium chloride as HSS regimen. There was large variability in amount of NaCl administered (median 5,5 [IQR 3.4,18]g), infusion speed (median 50 [25,71]ml/min) and concurrent intravenous administration of loop diuretics (75%) and their dosages (furosemide median dose 240 [100-490]mg). The change in serum sodium serum sodium (3 [IQR 1, 5] mmol/L) after HSS was significant (p Conclusion Hypertonic saline solution administered has largely restricted to a relatively small cohort of end-stage heart failure patients with significant hyponatremia, and demonstrated increase in serum sodium without detrimental effects on renal function or complications related to sodium repletion or volume overload. However, the lack of a standardized precluded meaningful assessment of safety and efficacy of such interventions.
The Enemy of my Enemy: Bacterial Competition in the Cystic Fibrosis Lung.

Bacterial competition within host-associated polymicrobial communities shapes their composition, often with far-reaching consequences for human health. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Perault et al. reveal how competition between two opportunistic pathogens could account for the epidemiology of chronic lung infections in people with cystic fibrosis.
Right up- left down.

Abstract Background When performing the clock-drawing test healthy participants often draw the clock face using a counter clockwise movement. The reason for this circular directional bias is not known. These actions may be related to the development of motor or attentional programs that associate leftward with downward movements, and rightward with upward movements. Methods To further examine this down-left, up-right programming hypothesis, we examined the direction of circular movements made during cursive writing by dividing the first curved movements into the following pairs, up versus down, and leftward versus rightward. Results and conclusions With almost all the letters analyzed, when initially moving upward there was a simultaneous rightward movement and when initially moving downward a leftward movement. The results suggest that there appears to be a relationship between downward and leftward movements as well as between upward and right rightward movements. In addition, there is some evidence to suggest that the right-upward movements may be mediated by the left hemisphere and left-downward movements by the right hemisphere. Although our results suggest motor or spatial attentional programs may account for counter clockwise face drawing, activities such as learned writing direction may influence this spatial bias. Therefore, additional research is needed to better understand if these spatial biases are learned or intrinsic and the neuropsychological mechanisms that might account for these asymmetries.
Single-use duodenoscopes: where are we and where are we going?

Infection control and prevention seem to be buzzwords at the dawn of 2021 as the world slowly adapts to the reality of a global COVID-19 pandemic. The Hippocratic principle for hygiene, every disease has its own nature and arises from external causes, holds value even for the discipline of endoscopy where despite best practices in reprocessing techniques there persists substantial risks for infection transmission, particularly for duodenoscopes. Outbreaks of duodenoscope-related infection (DRI) have been reported with pathogenic organisms that include Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and more recently carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) [1,2]. These adverse events involving multidrug resistant organisms have raised serious concerns regarding current standards-of-care. While professional societies have revised existing guidelines for duodenoscope reprocessing techniques, significant limitations persist [3,4]. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published numerous safety communications on this topic and recently mandated that endoscope manufacturers transition away from fixed endcap duodenoscopes to those with features that significantly improve cleaning and disinfection or eliminate the need for reprocessing altogether [5]. Consequently, with objective of eliminating infection transmission associated with use of contaminated reusable duodenoscopes, endoscope manufacturers have moved to develop single-use platforms. This opinion will review the current status and future prospects of this new technology. Open in a separate window Box 1 No caption available
The Feasibility of Using Smart Gloves to Quantify Hand Movements in Parkinson’s Disease (P2.8-007)

Objective: To develop a wearable device and investigate its feasibility to quantify fine motor movements in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) patients versus healthy controls. Background: The ability to objectively and efficiently assess fine motor movements can help not only with the diagnosis of PD but also to quantify symptom severity and monitor treatment efficacy. A smart glove was developed with flex sensors capable of measuring the amplitude and frequency components of fine motor movements, such as tasks performed during a doctor’s visit for PD. Design/Methods: 9 PD patients and 9 healthy participants were recruited to perform fine motor tasks with both hands, and data was collected using a smart glove. Participants performed each task (finger tapping) for 5 trials, each including 10 seconds of activity followed by 10 seconds of rest. The data were detrended and normalized to create a support vector machine (SVM) classification, using the first three trials of each task for training the classifier and the last two trials for testing. Peak detection algorithms were developed to detect the amplitude and frequency of tapping. Results: Using a smart glove to measure amplitude and frequency of fine motor movements was feasible in PD and control participants. SVM classifier provided the most optimum results of 53.33% accuracy, with 87.29% and 19.38% for sensitivity and specificity, respectively. Conclusions: The pilot study results demonstrate the feasibility of measuring motor function using a smart glove. However, the poor detection accuracy suggests that other measures of the finger tapping such as frequency and amplitude of finger tapping, can improve the accuracy. However, other measures such as energy detection based on moving means and increased variances embedded in the signal should be investigated in the detection and analysis algorithms. This requires further testing in larger groups. Disclosure: Dr. Abtahi has nothing to disclose. Dr. Constant has nothing to disclose. Dr. Cay has nothing to disclose. Dr. Akbar has nothing to disclose. Dr. Mankodiya has nothing to disclose.
An approach to direction finding based on a subspace perturbation expansion

This paper describes a method for estimating directions of arrival from sensor-array data. The estimates are obtained from minimizing a subspace-fitting cost function. This cost function is optimally weighted using statistical information provided by a subspace perturbation expansion. The calculations for scenarios involving very closely spaced sources suffers from the need to invert ill conditioned matrices. This problem is overcome by a reparameterization of both the cost function and its Jacobian based on the concept of a limiting subspace. The paper includes a challenging simulation example involving multiple moving sources.
Replication Labeling with Halogenated Thymidine Analogs

In this unit, several basic protocols to identify sites of DNA replication utilizing incorporation of halogenated thymidine analogs into DNA, followed by immunofluorescent imaging are described. Antibodies specific for halogenated thymidine analogs such as bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU), chlorodeoxyuridine (CldU), and iododeoxyuridine (IdU) can provide a rapid, nonhazardous, and sensitive method for detecting DNA replication in single cells, in a manner analogous to the traditional use of tritiated thymidine. In combination with different techniques to prepare the DNA template, a variety of DNA replication-related events can be examined by conventional fluorescence-microscopic approaches. Because origin firing and the progression of replication forks are regulated in the context of subnuclear compartments through protein-protein interactions, chromatin modifications, and subnuclear localization of replication clusters, visualizing replication foci significantly facilitates understanding of nuclear dynamics during S-phase.
Asymmetric Lee distance codes: New bounds and constructions

We continue our study of a new family of asymmetric Lee codes that arise in the design and implementation of emerging DNA-based storage systems and systems which use parallel string transmission protocols. The codewords are defined over a quaternary alphabet, although the results carry over to other alphabet sizes, and have symbol distances dictated by their underlying binary representation. Our contributions include deriving new bounds for the size of the largest code in this metric based on Delsarte-like linear programming methods and describing new constructions for non-linear asymmetric Lee codes.
Cytotoxic effects of folate antagonists against methotrexate-resistant human leukemic lymphoblast CCRF-CEM cell lines.

Abstract A human T-lymphoblast cell line, CCRF-CEM/R1, resistant to methotrexate by virtue of increased dihydrofolate reductase activity, was grown in stepwise increasing concentrations of methotrexate. This additional selection pressure resulted in a cell line, CCRF-CEM/R2, resistant to methotrexate by virtue of both an elevation of dihydrofolate reductase activity and a marked decrease in methotrexate transport. The R1 and R2 cells were approximately 70- and 350-fold more resistant to methotrexate than were the parent cells. The effects of three folate antagonists were studied on these cell lines and also on CCRF-CEM/R3 cells, characterized by impaired methotrexate transport but normal levels of dihydrofolate reductase. The elevated reductase subline CCRF-CEM/R1 was cross-resistant to triazinate [Baker9s antifol, NSC 139105; ethanesulfonic acid compounded with α-(2-chloro-4-[4,6-diamino-2,2-dimethyl-S-triazine-1-(2H)-yl]phenoxyl)-N,N-dimethyl-m-toluamide (1:1)] and trimetrexate (NSC 249008, JB-11, TMQ; 2,4-diamino-6-[(3,4,5-trimethoxyanilino)methyl]quinazoline), two nonclassical folate antagonists. In contrast, the transport defective subline, CCRF-CEM/R3 was not cross-resistant to these two compounds. In cells resistant to MTX by virtue of both mechanisms, CCRF-CEM/R2, triazinate, and trimetrexate were partially cross-resistant. All three methotrexate-resistant sublines showed minor cross-resistance to isoaminohydroxyquinazoline (IAHQ, NSC 289517; 5,8-dideazaisopteroylglutamate), a folate antagonist inhibitor of thymidylate synthase. These data demonstrate that methotrexate-resistant tumor cells may be effectively inhibited by antifolates with different route of entry into cells or with different enzyme targets.
An in vitro assessment of acoustic radiation force impulse imaging for visualizing cardiac radiofrequency ablation lesions.

Introduction—Lesion placement and transmurality are critical factors in the success of cardiac transcatheter radiofrequency ablation (RFA) treatments for supraventricular arrhythmias. This study investigated the capabilities of catheter transducer based acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) ultrasound imaging for quantifying ablation lesion dimensions. Methods and Results—RFA lesions were created in vitro in porcine ventricular myocardium and imaged with an intracardiac ultrasound catheter transducer capable of acquiring spatially registered B-mode and ARFI images. The myocardium was sliced along the imaging plane and photographed. The maximum ARFI-induced displacement images of the lesion were normalized and spatially registered with the photograph by matching the surfaces of the tissue in the B-mode and photographic images. The lesion dimensions determined by a manual segmentation of the photographed lesion based on the visible discoloration of the tissue were compared to automatic segmentations of the ARFI image using two different calculated thresholds. ARFI imaging accurately localized and sized the lesions within the myocardium. Differences in the maximum lateral and axial dimensions were statistically below 2 mm and 1 mm respectively for the two thresholding methods, with mean percent overlap of 68.7±5.21% and 66.3±8.4% for the two thresholds used. Conclusion—ARFI imaging is capable of visualizing myocardial RFA lesion dimensions to within 2 mm in vitro. Visualizing lesions during transcatheter cardiac ablation procedures could
Maize Storage among the Puuc Maya: The Development of an Archaeological Method

Mesoamerican archaeologists have long realized that agricultural food storage helped support large prehispanic centers, especially in places where food production was seasonally constrained by culture and environment. Yet, past storage has rarely been identified or interpreted accurately at Mesoamerican sites – a dilemma that challenges archaeologists to improve research methods. To meet this challenge, recent ethnoarchaeological research into household maize storage behavior among traditional Puuc Maya farmers has revealed that storage is closely interrelated with daily food processing activities. This information has fostered the development of a storage model (based on houselot spatial organization, activity scheduling, and refuse disposal), providing a framework to interpret the material remains of storage-related behavior affected by diverse maize storage techniques. Excavations within modern Puuc houselots have begun to document feature, refuse, chemical, and botanical patterns that indicate storage places. Together, these storage patterns and their spatial associations in Puuc houselots contribute significant information towards building an archaeological storage method.
Effects of exercise training on psychological functioning in healthy type a men

Abstract This study was designed to assess the effects of exercise on psychological functioning in healthy Type A men. Seventy-three middle-aged men (M=42.2 years) were randomly assigned either to an aerobic exercise (AE) training group or to a strength and flexibility (SF) training group. Subjects completed a comprehensive psychological assessment battery prior to beginning the 12-week exercise programs, and after completing the programs. The psychological test battery included measures of depression, anxiety and stress, as well as various psychiatric symptoms. In addition, subjects underwent graded exercise treadmill tests (ETT) at both times of measurement in order to document changes in cardiorespiratory fitness. Aerobic exercise training consisted of walking, jogging or stair-climbing at an intensity of at least 70% of initial measured maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max determined during the treadmill test). Strength and flexibility training consisted of circuit Nautilus training with no aerobic exer...
Adaptive adjustment of the randomization ratio using historical control data

BackgroundProspective trial design often occurs in the presence of ‘acceptable’ historical control data. Typically, these data are only utilized for treatment comparison in a posteriori retrospecti...
Marital satisfaction before and after deployments associated with the Global War on Terror.

Previously, McLeland and Sutton (2005) assessed marital satisfaction among 46 male civilians and Reserve Component personnel, some of the latter having been alerted for a future deployment. Subsequently, marital satisfaction was also assessed for 74 male Active Component Army personnel who had recently returned from duty in a combat zone. Marital satisfaction scores were compared across personnel status. Mixed results were obtained from an analysis of variance comparing the five subgroups of personnel; however, when the three types of deployment groups were contrasted with the civilian and never-deployed military groups, substantial (ES = 0.55) and significant (p<.005) differences in marital satisfaction were observed. Although exploratory, these data indicate that predeployment and postdeployment situations are stressful for military members and may be associated with lower marital satisfaction for months before and months after a deployment, as well as during the deployment. Furthermore, changes in mari...
Extraction site reconstruction for alveolar ridge preservation. Part 2: membrane-assisted surgical technique.

Abstract Alveolar ridge resorption has long been considered an unavoidable consequence of tooth extraction. Guided bone regeneration techniques and the use of bone replacement materials have both b...
Male patient with non-mosaic deleted Y-chromosome and clinical features of Turner syndrome.

Turner syndrome is hypothesized to result from haplo-insufficency of a gene or perhaps multiple genes present on the sex chromosomes; however, the frequent association of mosaicism with deletions of the sex chromosomes prevents establishing useful genotype/phenotype correlations. In this clinical report, we present a male with a de novo, non-mosaic deletion of the Y-chromosome. The phenotype of this patient is unlike any similar cases previously reported in the literature. This patient exhibits many classical clinical features of Turner syndrome including short stature, characteristic facial anomalies, and webbed neck with low posterior hairline, aortic valve abnormality, and hearing impairment. Detailed molecular characterization of this deleted Y-chromosome could provide important information towards establishing genotype/phenotype correlations in Turner syndrome. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Utilization of renal slices to evaluate the efficacy of chelating agents for removing mercury from the kidney

Abstract Mercury is an environmental contaminant that preferentially accumulates in the kidney. It has been previously shown using proton-induced X-ray emission analysis that mercury (HgCl 2 ) accumulated in precision-cut rabbit renal cortical slices. In this study, the efficacy of seven chelating agents for the removal of Hg from renal slices has been examined. Rabbits were injected with HgCl 2 (10 mg/kg) and 3 h later kidneys were sliced, or renal slices were exposed in vitro to a mildly toxic concentration of HgCl 2 (5 × 10 −5 M, 4 h). The slices were then treated in vitro with 10 mM concentrations of EDTA, lipoic acid (LA), penicillamine (PA), glutathione (GSH), 1,4-dithiothreitol (DTT), DMSA, or DMPS. DMPS proved to be the most effective in mobilizing Hg from in vivo or in vitro HgCl 2 -exposed renal tissue (> 85% of control after 3 h incubation). Relative efficacies for the seven agents were DMPS > DMSA, PA > DTT, GSH > LA, EDTA. The use of renal slices appears to be a useful in vitro tool for assessing the efficacy of chelating agents on mobilizing accumulated Hg from renal tissue. Copyright
PROFESSORS OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE EDUCATION: CHANGES IN THEORETICAL AND PROFESSIONAL ORIENTATIONS

More than 80% of professors associated with the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges responded to a survey by the authors in 1980. The questionnaire was based on and the findings were compared with a 1972 study by Campbell and Newell. Trends in demographic data, career patterns, and professional orientations are documented and analyzed. University professors of community college education were 7.7 years older as a group in 1980 than they were in 1972; many other changes appear related to this trend. Fewer than 3% of faculty in this field remain at the level of assistant professor, while 61% have already achieved the rank of professor. As a whole, the group is more productive and somewhat more conservative. Some gains have been made in the representation of women (from 0 to 14%) and minorities (from 3 to 6%). With the maturing of this professional group has come related developments in professional orientations. Time invested in research and writing nearly doubled, and professors would lik...
Electrostatic control of the substrate access channel in cytochrome P-450cam

Camphor binding to ferric cytochrome P-450cam is a two-step process. The first step corresponds to the diffusion of camphor into the heme pocket, and the second one corresponds to an observable spin transition of the heme iron. In this paper, electrostatic interactions that may control the opening of the structure to allow substrate access to the buried and not solvent-exposed active site were examined. The electrostatic interactions occurring at the protein surface were weakened by increasing the ionic strength of the medium with sodium salts and strengthened by decreasing the dielectric constant of the medium with ethylene glycol as a cosolvent. The results obtained with the wild-type protein were compared to those obtained with the site-directed mutant of cytochrome P-450cam in which the Arg 186-Asp 251 and Lys 178-Asp 251 salt bridges, located at the entrance of the proposed access channel, were suppressed by replacing Asp 251 with an asparagine residue. Over a range of sodium chloride concentrations from 0 to 400 mM, camphor binding is favored, as seen in the variation in the first step dissociation equilibrium constant, K1d, which decreases from 49.5 to 24 microM, respectively. Addition of ethylene glycol favors the dissociation of the substrate-bound complex. The addition of sodium to the ethylene glycol-containing samples reverses the effect of the cosolvent. Removal of the Arg 186-Asp 251 and Lys 178-Asp 251 salt bridges results in an alteration in camphor binding in which K1d is equal to 34 microM without sodium.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
An engineered leucine zipper a position mutant with an unusual three-state unfolding pathway

The leucine zipper is a dimeric coiled-coil structural motif consisting of four to six heptad repeats, designated (abcdefg)n. In the GCN4 leucine zipper, a position 16 in the third heptad is occupied by an Asn residue whereas the other a positions are Val residues. Recently, we have constructed variants of the GCN4 leucine zipper in which the a position Val residues were replaced by Ile. The folding and unfolding of the wild-type GCN4 leucine zipper and the Val to Ile variant both adhere to a simple two-state mechanism. In this study, another variant of the GCN4 leucine zipper was constructed by moving the single Asn residue from a position 16 to a position 9. This switch causes the thermal unfolding of the GCN4 leucine zipper to become three state. The unfolding pathway of this variant was determined by thermal denaturation, limited proteinase K digestion, and sedimentation equilibrium analysis. Our data are consistent with a model in which the variant first unfolds from its N terminus and changes the oligomerization specificity from a native dimer to a partially unfolded intermediate containing a mixture of dimers and trimers and then completely unfolds to unstructured monomers.
Synthesis of "reversed" methylenecyclopropane analogues of antiviral phosphonates.

Synthesis of “reversed” methylenecyclopropane analogues of nucleoside phosphonates 6a,7a, 6b, and 7b is described. 1-Bromo-1-bromomethylcyclopropane 8 was converted to the bromocyclopropyl phosphonate 9 by Michaelis-Arbuzov reaction with triisopropyl phosphite. Base-catalyzed β-elimination and deacetylation gave the key Z- and E-hydroxymethylcyclopropyl phosphonates 10 and 11 separated by chromatography. The Mitsunobu type of alkylation of 10 or 11 with adenine or 2-amino-6-chloropurine afforded phosphonates 12a, 12b, 13a, and 13b. Acid hydrolysis furnished the adenine and guanine analogues 6a, 7a, 6b, and 7b. The E and Z configuration was assigned on the basis of NOE experiments with phosphonates 6b and 7b. All Z- and E-isomers were also distinguished by different chemical shifts of CH2O or CH2N (H4 or H4′). Significant differences of the chemical shifts of the cyclopropane C3(3’) carbons and coupling constants 3JP,C2(2’) or 3JP,C3(3’) selective for the Z- or E-isomers were also noted. Phosphonates 6a, 7...
Stabilization of α-helix structure by polar side-chain interactions: Complex salt bridges, cation–π interactions, and C–H … O H-bonds

It is generally understood that helical proteins are stabilized by a combination of hydrophobic and packing interactions, together with H-bonds and electrostatic interactions. Here we show that polar side-chain interactions on the surface can play an important role in helix formation and stability. We review studies on model helical peptides that reveal the effect of weak interactions between side chains on helix stability, focusing on some nonclassical side-chain-side-chain interactions: complex salt bridges, cation-pi, and C-H em leader O H-bonding interactions. Each of these can be shown to contribute to helix stability, and thus must be included in a comprehensive catalogue of helix stabilizing effects. The issue of the structure of the unfolded states of helical peptides is also discussed, in the light of recent experiments showing that these contain substantial amounts of polyproline II conformation.
Two methods of reducing overconfidence

Abstract Prior research has suggested that most people are seriously overconfident in their answers to general knowledge questions. We attempted to reduce over-confidence in each of two separate experiments. In Experiment 1 half of the subjects answered five practice questions which appeared to be difficult. The remaining subjects answered practice problems which appeared to be easy but were actually just as difficult as the other group's practice questions. Within each of these two groups, half of the subjects received feedback on the accuracy of their answers to the practice questions, while the other half received no feedback. All four groups then answered 30 additional questions and indicated their confidence in these answers. The group which had received five apparently “easy” practice questions and then had been given feedback on the accuracy of their answers was underconfident on the final 30 questions. In Experiment 2 subjects who anticipated a group discussion of their answers to general knowledge questions took longer to answer the questions and expressed less overconfidence in their answers than did a control group.
Justice in sustainability indicators and indexes

At least since the Brundtland Report, technical assessments of what can be sustained and values about what is desirable to sustain, for whom, and for how long have been intertwined. This intersection is particularly evident in the assumption that justice among people living today and between present and future generations is a key part of sustainability. In official international policy documents and academic studies of sustainability, this justice may include the equitable distribution of environmental benefits and burdens, distributive justice, or the ability of people to meaningfully contribute to decisions that affect their lives, participatory justice. Yet, the process of developing indicators and indexes to track movement toward or away from sustainability has been dominated by technical, economic, and environmental assessments. This raises questions about whether or not indexes align with and thus will monitor and encourage progress toward sustainability in a technically possible and desirable way....
Experimental techniques for determining heat and mass transfer due to condensation of humid air in cooled, open cavities

Abstract An experimental investigation was conducted to examine combined buoyancy driven heat and mass transfer in open cavities of different aspect ratios. Test cavities were constructed with calorimeter plates bonded to Styrofoam insulation. The inside of the cavities was cooled and then exposed to ambient air for approximately 17–30 min. Measurements were conducted at three initial cavity temperatures (5 °C, 1 °C, and −5 °C) each for a range of ambient relative humidity from 60% to 75%. The mass of retained condensate accumulated on the inside cavity walls and the transient cavity temperatures were measured. The mass flux of retained condensate inside the cavity was compared to the mass flux determined utilizing the heat/mass transfer analogy. The results between the two methods were in good agreement. The effects of the retained condensate on the mass flux measurements due to the water’s thermal resistance and surface emittance were also investigated and shown to have a negligible impact.
Transcriptome-wide landscape of pre-mRNA alternative splicing associated with metastatic colonization.

Metastatic colonization is an ominous feature of cancer progression. Recent studies have established the importance of pre-mRNA alternative splicing (AS) in cancer biology. However, little is known about the transcriptome-wide landscape of AS associated with metastatic colonization. Both in vitro and in vivo models of metastatic colonization were utilized to study AS regulation associated with cancer metastasis. Transcriptome profiling of prostate cancer cells and derivatives crossing in vitro or in vivo barriers of metastasis revealed splicing factors with significant gene expression changes associated with metastatic colonization. These include splicing factors known to be differentially regulated in epithelial–mesenchymal transition (ESRP1, ESRP2, and RBFOX2), a cellular process critical for cancer metastasis, as well as novel findings (NOVA1 and MBNL3). Finally, RNA-seq indicated a large network of AS events regulated by multiple splicing factors with altered gene expression or protein activity. These AS events are enriched for pathways important for cell motility and signaling, and affect key regulators of the invasive phenotype such as CD44 and GRHL1. Implications: Transcriptome-wide remodeling of AS is an integral regulatory process underlying metastatic colonization, and AS events affect the metastatic behavior of cancer cells. Mol Cancer Res; 13(2); 305–18. ©2014 AACR.
Interleukin‐2‐lnduced splenic enlargement

Background. Splenomegaly in patients with cancer raises the suspicion of tumor involvement. Splenic enlargement in the absence of splenic metastases, however, has been reported in patients treated with interleukin-2 (IL-2) immunotherapy. This study characterizes the change in spleen size that occurred in 42 patients treated with IL-2 between 1989 and 1993 for nonhematologic malignancies. Methods. Computed tomography (CT) scans before and during immunotherapy were available for review on all 42 patients and after immunotherapy on 16 of these patients. The splenic index was measured for each CT by a single reader blinded to the time course of IL-2 therapy. Results. Mean splenic index increased 64.1% from 646 cm 3 (standard deviation [SD], 387) pre-IL-2 to 1059 cm 3 (SD, 534) during therapy with IL-2 (P < 0.0001). The splenic index remained elevated at 1112 cm 3 (SD, 633) after completion of IL-2 therapy. Conclusions. Splenomegaly, temporally associated with IL-2 therapy for nonhematologic malignancies, is likely to represent a sequela of therapy and not tumor progression
Voluntary disclosure and the strategic behavior of colleges

Abstract This paper investigates how outside ranking organizations such as U.S. News and World Report affect colleges’ admission decisions. To do this, we focus on a policy that has received criticism for being motivated by ranking concerns: optional reporting of SAT I scores. This policy allows colleges to report an average SAT I score based on those applicants who chose to submit their scores which may not be reflective of actual student body quality. We use proprietary data from two liberal arts colleges to address how the optional reporting policy affects the colleges’ admission decisions as well as how applicants’ SAT I scores influence their decision to submit these scores to the colleges. The data suggest that college admission departments are behaving strategically by rewarding applicants who do submit their SAT I scores when their scores will raise the college's average SAT I score reported to U.S. News and World Report and rewarding applicants who do not submit when their SAT I scores will lower the college's reported score. The data also suggest that applicants are behaving strategically by choosing not to reveal their SAT I scores if they are below a value one might predict based on their other observable characteristics.
N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor binding is altered and seizure potential reduced in pregnant rats.

Abstract The objective of this study was to determine if a change in brain tissue excitatory amino acid receptor binding occurs during pregnancy using in vitro quantitative autoradiography and to examine seizure potential during pregnancy via central injection of N-methyl- d -aspartate (NMDA). For the receptor autoradiography studies, eight pregnant rats (day 21) and eight non-pregnant rats were euthanized with carbon dioxide, perfused, their brains dissected and frozen. Cryostat sections were taken and labeled in vitro by one of the following ligands: [ 3 H ]-CGP 39653, [ 3 H ]-glycine, [ 3 H ]-MK-801, [ 3 H ]-2-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate (AMPA) or [ 3 H ]-kainate. Optical density measurements of binding in 11 brain regions were performed using image analysis. To test seizure susceptibility, 74 rats were surgically implanted with an electrode into the hippocampus and a cannula into the lateral ventricle. Rats were mated; others served as non-pregnant controls. On gestational day 20, rats were randomized to receive no drug or an injection of NMDA (34, 68 or 136 nmol) through their indwelling cannulae. Seizures were assessed for 20 min. During pregnancy, the density of the NMDA competitive antagonist site measured by [ 3 H ]-CGP 39653 was decreased in the hippocampus, thalamus and hypothalamus (P
Stop, Think, Proceed: Solving Problems in the Real World

Prevalence reports indicate approximately half of all children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have a mild form of the disorder such as high-functioning autism, Asperger syndrome, or pervasive developmental disorder–not otherwise specified. These disorders are referred to collectively as high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASD). Students with HFASD often receive their academic instruction in the general education setting. Social skills deficits, challenging behaviors, and the underlying cognitive characteristics related to the behaviors may limit students’ ability to function independently in the complex social environment of a typical high school. Strategy instruction is a promising intervention for helping students acquire skills to become effective social problem solvers, which may lead to improved adaptive functioning and independence. Special education teachers can use the self-regulation strategy development (SRSD) model to design a strategy for solving problems in the real world as part of a comprehensive social skills training program.
Some Comparisons of LIBS Measurements using Nanosecond and Picosecond Laser Pulses

Laser-induced breakdown spectra were measured by using a 1.3 ps laser pulse on glass, steel, and copper. Material ablation with the use of picosecond excitation is very precise with well-formed sharpedged craters. The spectra obtained with 570 nm, 1.3 ps excitation decay more quickly and show significantly lower background emission than those that use 1064 nm, ∼7 ns excitation. The background was low enough that excellent laser-induced spectroscopy (LIBS) spectra were obtained on the three samples by using a single 1.3 ps laser pulse and a nongated detector. Similar results were obtained by using nanosecond excitation but with higher relative background signals. The radiance was similar with the use of pico- or nanosecond excitation; however, the radiant intensity was larger with nanosecond excitation because of the larger plasma.