cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An ex vivo Multi-Electrode Approach to Evaluate Endogenous Hormones and Receptor Subtype Pharmacology on Evoked and Spontaneous Neuronal Activity within the Ventromedial Hypothalamus; Translation from Female Receptivity

ABSTRACT Introduction The ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) controls female rodent copulatory behavior, which can be modulated by injection of various compounds into the VMH. Aim The aim was to determine whether evoked excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) or single-unit activity within the VMH ex vivo is a better parameter to predict lordosis. Methods VMH slices were placed onto a 64 microelectrode chip and spontaneous single-unit activity was recorded or slices stimulated to evoke EPSPs. Main Outcome Measures The sodium channel blocker, tetrodotoxin and α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA)/kainate antagonist, 6,7-dinitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (DNQX) inhibited EPSPs, confirming EPSPs were glutamatergic in origin. The GABA A antagonist bicuculline potentiated EPSPs implying endogenous GABA tone. Single-unit activity was abolished by tetrodotoxin but unaffected by DNQX or bicuculline. Results Glutamatergic neurotransmission was greatest during metestrous and following ovariectomization. The number of regions within the VMH eliciting single-unit activity was reduced following ovariectomy without changing spike frequency. Adrenergic agents increasing lordosis via the VMH in vivo, decreased glutamate neurotransmission but increased single-unit activity. Conversely, agents decreasing lordosis via the VMH increased glutamatergic neurotransmission and inhibited single-unit activity (8-OH-DPAT, [D-Ala 2 , N -Me-Phe 4 , Gly-ol 5 ]-enkephalin, corticotropin releasing factor, bicuculline). Melanocortin and pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide agonists had no effect. Conclusions Here we present a novel, robust VMH in vitro technique that (i) is consistent with the hypothesis that glutamate via non-NMDA receptors inhibits lordosis; (ii) glutamate is under the endogenous tone of GABA and steroid hormones; (iii) inhibition of lordosis during metestrous and following ovariectomy potentiates glutamatergic neurotransmission; (iv) activation of G q - and G i -coupled receptors decreases and increases glutamate neurotransmission, respectively, with an inverse correlation on single-unit activity; (v) activation of G s -coupled receptors has no direct effect on glutamate or single-unit activity; and (vi) potency, receptor subtypes and localization can be determined prior to in vivo studies. Booth C, Wayman CP, and Jackson VM. An ex vivo multi-electrode approach to evaluate endogenous hormones and receptor subtype pharmacology on evoked and spontaneous neuronal activity within the ventromedial hypothalamus; translation from female receptivity.
Relationships between size-fractionated indoor and outdoor trace elements at four retirement communities in southern California

Abstract. Indoor and outdoor water soluble trace elements (TEs) were analyzed on quasi-ultrafine (UF), accumulation, and coarse PM filter samples collected at four retirement communities, three located in the San Gabriel Valley and one in Riverside, CA. Our analysis indicates that a complex mix of vehicular, industrial, and soil-related emissions was responsible for the elemental concentrations measured at the three San Gabriel sites, while regional transport, soil re-suspension and, to a lower degree, local traffic contributed to TE levels observed in Riverside. In the quasi-UF mode, the magnitude of indoor/outdoor concentration ratios (I/O) for elements of anthropogenic origin was highly variable, reflecting the spatial heterogeneity of combustion sources in the study area. Indoor/outdoor ratios in accumulation mode PM were closer to 1, and more homogeneous across sites, indicating that elements associated with this size fraction penetrate indoors with high efficiencies. The lowest overall I/O ratios were obtained for elements found in coarse particles, consistent with the fact that only a small portion of coarse outdoor PM infiltrates indoors. The potential of S and other TEs to serve as tracers of indoor-penetrated particles of outdoor origin was also examined. Our results suggest that using the I/O ratio of S (I/OS) as a surrogate of the infiltration factor for PM2.5 [Finf(PM2.5)] might lead to an overestimation of the indoor PM2.5 originating outdoors. This is in contrast with what was reported in previous studies conducted in the Eastern US, where S has been consistently used as a reliable tracer of outdoor PM2.5 infiltrating indoors. Our differences may be due to the fact that in the Los Angeles basin (and in general in the Western US) PM2.5 includes a number of semi-volatile labile species, such as ammonium nitrate and several organic compounds, which volatilize either entirely or to a substantial degree upon building entry.
Potentially therapeutic levels of anti-sickling globin gene expression following lentivirus-mediated gene transfer in sickle cell disease bone marrow CD34+ cells.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) can be cured by allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant. However, this is only possible when a matched donor is available, making the development of gene therapy using autologous hematopoietic stem cells a highly desirable alternative. We used a culture model of human erythropoiesis to directly compare two insulated, self-inactivating, and erythroid-specific lentiviral vectors, encoding for γ-globin (V5m3-400) or a modified β-globin (βAS3-FB) for production of antisickling hemoglobin (Hb) and correction of red cell deformability after deoxygenation. Bone marrow CD34 + cells from three SCD patients were transduced using V5m3-400 or βAS3-FB and compared with mock-transduced SCD or healthy donor CD34 + cells. Lentiviral transduction did not impair cell growth or differentiation, as gauged by proliferation and acquisition of erythroid markers. Vector copy number averaged approximately one copy per cell, and corrective globin mRNA levels were increased more than sevenfold over mock-transduced controls. Erythroblasts derived from healthy donor and mock-transduced SCD cells produced a low level of fetal Hb that was increased to 23.6 ± 4.1% per vector copy for cells transduced with V5m3-400. Equivalent levels of modified normal adult Hb of 17.6 ± 3.8% per vector copy were detected for SCD cells transduced with βAS3-FB. These levels of antisickling Hb production were sufficient to reduce sickling of terminal-stage red blood cells upon deoxygenation. We concluded that the achieved levels of fetal Hb and modified normal adult Hb would likely prove therapeutic to SCD patients who lack matched donors.
Controlled-Release, Pegylation, Liposomal Formulations: New Mechanisms in the Delivery of Injectable Drugs

OBJECTIVE:To review recent developments in novel injectable drug delivery mechanisms and outline the advantages and disadvantages of each.DATA SOURCES:A MEDLINE (1995–January 2000) search using the terms polyethylene glycol, liposomes, polymers, polylactic acid, and controlled release was conducted. Additional references were identified by scanning bibliographies.STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTION:All articles were considered for inclusion. Abstracts were included only if they were judged to add critical information not otherwise available in the medical literature.DATA SYNTHESIS:A number of systems that alter the delivery of injectable drugs have been developed in attempts to improve pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of therapeutic agents. New drug delivery systems can be produced either through a change in formulation (e.g., continuous-release products, liposomes) or an addition to the drug molecule (e.g., pegylation). Potential advantages of new delivery mechanisms include an increased or...
The Relationship among Precipitation, Cloud-Top Temperature, and Precipitable Water over the Tropics

Abstract The relationship of monthly precipitation P to precipitable water w and cloud-top temperature as represented by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Precipitation Index (GPI) is obtained over tropical land, coast, and ocean: P = exp[a1(w − a2)] GPI,where coefficients a1 and a2 are determined using one year of the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) monthly rain gauge data and then independently tested using four other years of gauge data. This algorithm, over land, gives more accurate precipitation estimates than are obtained using the cloud-top temperature alone (i.e., GPI) and is as accurate as the state-of-the-art multisatellite algorithm (MS) from GPCP. Over coastal and oceanic regions, this algorithm has a smaller bias in precipitation estimation than GPI but has the same correlation coefficient with gauge data as GPI. Compared with MS, it has a much smaller bias but larger mean absolute deviation. Evaluation using the Pacific atoll–island gauge data also ...
Increased Lesser Earless Lizard (Holbrookia maculata) Abundance on Gunnison's Prairie Dog Colonies and Short Term Responses to Artificial Prairie Dog Burrows

Abstract Our studies of the association between the lesser earless lizard (Holbrookia maculata) and Gunnison's prairie dogs (Cynomys gunnisoni) revealed: (1) the lesser earless lizard was more abundant on prairie dog colonies than off; (2) lesser earless lizard abundance was positively correlated with prairie dog burrow abundance; (3) lesser earless lizards responded positively to artificial burrows created on noncolonized areas; and (4) lesser earless lizards used prairie dog burrows as refuges from predators; however, the relative use of burrows was greatest at high and low temperature extremes. Although prairie dogs alter habitat in many ways, our study suggests that burrows are an important mechanism involved in the association between the lesser earless lizard and Gunnison's prairie dogs.
Ordinary Medical Expenses

Although extraordinary medical expenses are appropriately deducted to compute a taxpayer’s standard of living, taxpayers should bear ordinary medical expenses out of their post-tax income, with no allowance beyond personal exemptions, the standard deduction, and low tax brackets. The proposal defines ordinary expenses as less than 15 percent of adjusted gross income. Consistently, tax-excluded employer healthcare plans appropriately cover extraordinary medical expenses. The proposal would not allow an exclusion for plans that cover ordinary medical expenses, defined by the same 15 percent level. The deduction of ordinary medical expenses and the exclusion of insurance plans that cover those expenses cause wasteful inflation of medical costs. Deductions and exclusions to accomplish a subsidy are not a way to help the needy, they inappropriately benefit the highest-bracket taxpayers as if their health and life were worth more. The proposal is offered as a part of the Shelf Project, a collaboration of tax professionals developing methods of raising revenue, in ways that improve the fairness and efficiency of the tax base. The Shelf Project has 68 proposals so far. Comments are welcome either as public debate, directed to the Tax Notes editor, or privately to cjohnson@law.utexas.edu.
Programming in the Large for the Internet of Things (Invited Talk)

The term Internet of Things (IoT) has generated a lot of buzz in the information technology and consumer electronics industries. In the IoT setting, a large number of physically dispersed devices - such as sensors, actuators and processing units - coordinate to bring useful capabilities to the user. A significant portion of these devices may have rather small computation and storage footprints, but at the same time, they can leverage support from potential enormous computation and storage resources via the cloud. Also, a large set of small footprint devices can serve not just a single logical app or service, but also many independent logical apps or services. This requires a careful separation of computational activities and their associated data within a device, for privacy and security purposes. Application development for the Internet of Things gives a whole new meaning to the term "programming in the large", and some of this is likely to be new to the practitioner. This talk will discuss what the IoT environment means to the practical programmer, and what apps and app ecosystems for IoT might look like. The talk will also discuss the issues and open challenges in software engineering brought on by this new environment, pointing towards new opportunities for researchers in our community.
Moderators of electronic screening and brief intervention for marijuana among students in a health center: eCHECKUP TO GO bolsters efforts of those who are already trying to change

Aims: Alcohol andmarijuana (cannabis) are the twomost commonly used psychoactive drugs and each appears to have its own unique sexual effects on users. With marijuana use increasing in the United States, along with more liberal state-level policies, it is important to examine and compare sexual effects and sexual risk behavior associated with these drugs in order to inform prevention of HIV, other sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancy. Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 racially and ethnically diverse adults in New York City (mean age=27.4, SD=5.8). To be eligible, subjects must have (1) been between ages 18–35, (2) had sex while high on marijuana in the last 12 months, (3) had sex while not high on marijuana in the last 12 months; and (4) must not have used any other illicit drug in the last 12 months. All subjects self-identified as heterosexual and HIV-negative, and 50% were female. Results: Thematic analysis yielded various themes. Many subjects described differences between the two drugs with regard to interactions and contexts in use before sex, partner choice, perceived attractiveness of self and others, disinhibition, adverse sexual effects and sexual dysfunction, and dose effects. Differences were also commonly described regarding libido, length and intensity of sex and orgasm, specific sexual behaviors (including risk behavior), and feelings such as regret after sex. Compared to marijuana, alcohol was more likely to be associated with atypical partner choice and lead to regret. Illegality ofmarijuana sometimes facilitated intimate encounters. Conclusions: Results can inform prevention efforts regarding specific sexual risks and allow us to design more realistic prevention programs and interventions to guide potential users to make safer choices. Financial support: This pilot study was funded by the Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (P30DA011041).
An acoustic analysis of the vowels of Hawai‘i English

This paper provides an acoustic phonetic description of Hawai‘i English vowels. The data comprise wordlist tokens produced by twenty-three speakers (twelve males and eleven females) and spontaneous speech tokens produced by ten of those speakers. Analysis of these vowel tokens shows that while there are similarities between Hawai‘i English and other dialects, the particular combination of vowel realizations in Hawai‘i English is unique to this dialect. Additionally, there are characteristics of the Hawai‘i English vowel system that are not found in other English dialects. These findings suggest that Hawai‘i English is a unique regional variety that warrants further description.
Diabetic Autonomic Neuropathy

Diabetic autonomic neuropathy (DAN) occurs in approximately half of Caucasian patients with diabetes and perhaps three-fourths of black diabetic patients. This may be asymptomatic for several years, but the majority of patients with DAN eventually exhibit symptoms of diarrhea, cardiac arrhythmias, sexual dysfunction, and abnormal sweating. Prolonged hyperglycemia results in damage to the autonomic nervous system (ANS), particularly the vagus nerve and other parts of the parasympathetic division. DAN is associated with increased risk of sudden death, high-risk cardiac arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, and death from other causes. Objective testing of autonomic nervous system function yields specific information that affects treatment decisions. Drug therapy can effect improvements in ANS function and reduce these risks.Complications of diabetes that result from ANS dysfunction can be partly reversed or their progress can be slowed by appropriate drug therapy. Features, implications, and therapy of the mo...
From skin to bulk: An adjustment technique for assimilation of satellite-derived temperature observations in numerical models of small inland water bodies

Data Assimilation (DA) has been proposed for multiple water resources studies that require rapid employment of incoming observations to update and improve accuracy of operational prediction models. The usefulness of DA approaches in assimilating water temperature observations from different types of monitoring technologies (e.g., remote sensing and in-situ sensors) into numerical models of in-land water bodies (e.g., lakes and reservoirs) has, however, received limited attention. In contrast to in-situ temperature sensors, remote sensing technologies (e.g., satellites) provide the benefit of collecting measurements with better X-Y spatial coverage. However, assimilating water temperature measurements from satellites can introduce biases in the updated numerical model of water bodies because the physical region represented by these measurements do not directly correspond with the numerical model's representation of the water column. This study proposes a novel approach to address this representation challenge by coupling a skin temperature adjustment technique based on available air and in-situ water temperature observations, with an ensemble Kalman filter based data assimilation technique. Additionally, the proposed approach used in this study for four-dimensional analysis of a reservoir provides reasonably accurate surface layer and water column temperature forecasts, in spite of the use of a fairly small ensemble. Application of the methodology on a test site - Eagle Creek Reservoir - in Central Indiana demonstrated that assimilation of remotely sensed skin temperature data using the proposed approach improved the overall root mean square difference between modeled surface layer temperatures and the adjusted remotely sensed skin temperature observations from 5.6°C to 0.51°C (i.e., 91% improvement). In addition, the overall error in the water column temperature predictions when compared with in-situ observations also decreased from 1.95°C (before assimilation) to 1.42°C (after assimilation), thereby, giving a 27% improvement in errors. In contrast, doing data assimilation without the proposed temperature adjustment would have increased this error to 1.98°C (i.e., 1.5% deterioration).
SU‐G‐IeP3‐04: Effective Dose Measurements in Fast Kvp Switch Dual Energy Computed Tomography

Purpose: The objective of this study was two-fold: (a) to test a new approach to approximating organ dose by using the effective energy of the combined 80kV/140kV beam in dual-energy (DE) computed tomography (CT), and (b) to derive the effective dose (ED) in the abdomen-pelvis protocol in DECT. Methods: A commercial dual energy CT scanner was employed using a fast-kV switch abdomen/pelvis protocol alternating between 80 kV and 140 kV. MOSFET detectors were used for organ dose measurements. First, an experimental validation of the dose equivalency between MOSFET and ion chamber (as a gold standard) was performed using a CTDI phantom. Second, the ED of DECT scans was measured using MOSFET detectors and an anthropomorphic phantom. For ED calculations, an abdomen/pelvis scan was used using ICRP 103 tissue weighting factors; ED was also computed using the AAPM Dose Length Product (DLP) method and compared to the MOSFET value. Results: The effective energy was determined as 42.9 kV under the combined beam from half-value layer (HVL) measurement. ED for the dual-energy scan was calculated as 16.49 ± 0.04 mSv by the MOSFET method and 14.62 mSv by the DLP method. Conclusion: Tissue dose in the center of the CTDI body phantom was 1.71 ± 0.01 cGy (ion chamber) and 1.71 ± 0.06 (MOSFET) respectively; this validated the use of effective energy method for organ dose estimation. ED from the abdomen-pelvis scan was calculated as 16.49 ± 0.04 mSv by MOSFET and 14.62 mSv by the DLP method; this suggests that the DLP method provides a reasonable approximation to the ED.
The Future Politics of Market Liberalism: “Are We a Permanent Minority?”

In the eighties Ronald Reagan often compared himself with Roosevelt and Republican partisans certainly hoped that his 1980 electoral victory heralded an equivalent mighty political realignment. One close student of the liberal tradition did characterize Reagan as “The Roosevelt of the Right,” but Alonzo Hamby was quick to add that if Reagan and Roosevelt shared certain qualities — buoyant personalities, heavy reliance on communication skills to energize their presidencies, an ideological rhetoric tougher than actual policy, and a relative indifference to details and policy contradictions — Reagan ultimately accomplished less than did Roosevelt. “The one goal,” noted Hamby, “that consistently eluded him, and the one that Roosevelt achieved, was that of an enduring political realignment in the form of a broad coalition of interest groups loosely held together by an ideology.”1 The Reagan Presidency was a coalition of disparate and competing elements: New Rightists, libertarians, neoconservatives and paleoconservatives. Of these groups only the libertarians supported an across-the-board market liberalism.2
Three generations of Cognitive Science

This chapter organizes the history of cognitive science in terms that should be accessible to a linguist, for which the Lakoff’'s identification of the two “generations” of cognitive scientists has proven to be conceptually invaluable. Given the precedent of the two generations recognized by Lakoff, it is natural to conceptualize those that disagree with both of them as the Third Generation. The Generation III is characterized distinctively. On one hand, there are those who blame the First and Second Generations for paying scant attention to the biological plausibility of their representations. The claim implicit in their criticism is that the biological implausibility robs the theories in question of any hope of explanatory adequacy. On the other hand, there are those who blame the First and Second Generations on philosophical grounds—in particular for assuming incorrect or inadequate ontologies. The important step of bringing the neurophysiologists and the philosophers together in a common framework presents the Third Generation as a coherent theory rather than as a collection of tendencies.
The Clock Metaphor and Hypotheses: The Impact of Descartes on English Methodological Thought, 1650–1670

My tasks in this chapter are two-fold: to trace the influence of Descartes on 17th-century philosophy of science in Britain; and to document the fortunes of the method of hypothesis in Britain in the period immediately before Isaac Newton banished hypotheses from natural philosophy. These two tasks are not unrelated. Indeed, if what follows is anywhere near the mark, the two tasks collapse into one, for insofar as British thinkers of the period from 1650 to 1670 see any promise in the hypothetical method, it is because Descartes, by argument and example, enabled them to see it.
Racial disparities in depressive symptom prevalence and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) utilization in cancer patients: An analysis from ECOG E2Z02: Symptom Outcomes and Practice Patterns (SOAPP).

6076 Background: Rates of diagnosis and treatment of depression in primary care vary widely by race. It is unclear whether such disparity exists in oncology. Methods: 3106 patients with cancer of t...
HIV-1 Epitope Variability Is Associated with T Cell Receptor Repertoire Instability and Breadth

Mutational escape of HIV-1 from HIV-1-specific CD8+ T lymphocytes (CTLs) is a major barrier for effective immune control. Each epitope typically is targeted by multiple clones with distinct T cell receptors (TCRs). While the clonal repertoire may be important for containing epitope variation, determinants of its composition are poorly understood. We investigate the clonal repertoire of 29 CTL responses against 23 HIV-1 epitopes longitudinally in nine chronically infected untreated subjects with plasma viremia of <3,000 RNA copies/ml over 17 to 179 weeks. The composition of TCRs targeting each epitope varied considerably in stability over time, although clonal stability (Sorensen index) was not significantly time dependent within this interval. However, TCR stability inversely correlated with epitope variability in the Los Alamos HIV-1 Sequence Database, consistent with TCR evolution being driven by epitope variation. Finally, a robust inverse correlation of TCR breadth against each epitope versus epitope variability further suggested that this variability drives TCR repertoire diversification. In the context of studies demonstrating rapidly shifting HIV-1 sequences in vivo, our findings support a variably dynamic process of shifting CTL clonality lagging in tandem with viral evolution and suggest that preventing escape of HIV-1 may require coordinated direction of the CTL clonal repertoire to simultaneously block escape pathways.IMPORTANCE Mutational escape of HIV-1 from HIV-1-specific CD8+ T lymphocytes (CTLs) is a major barrier to effective immune control. The number of distinct CTL clones targeting each epitope is proposed to be an important factor, but the determinants are poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the clonal stability and number of clones for the CTL response against an epitope are inversely associated with the general variability of the epitope. These results show that CTLs constantly lag epitope mutation, suggesting that preventing HIV-1 escape may require coordinated direction of the CTL clonal repertoire to simultaneously block escape pathways.
Digital Preservation Essentials

Digital Preservation Essentials is part of the Trends in Archives Practice series published by the Society of American Archivists. Consistent with the series, the book has a pragmatic orientation. ...
ACCOUNTING FOR GOLD AND SILVER MINES: THE DEVELOPMENT OF COST ACCOUNTING

This study found evidence which supports the thesis that cost accounting techniques evolved rapidly during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The cost accounting system employed by the leading mines of the Comstock Lode during the 1870's is compared to a system used in the Cripple Creek district of Colorado during the first decade of the twentieth century. The cost accounting techniques of the mining industry appear to have developed rapidly during this period from crude to sophisticated systems.
Large-Scale Growth of High-Quality Hexagonal Boron Nitride Crystals at Atmospheric Pressure from an Fe–Cr Flux

Single crystals of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have recently been envisioned for electronic, optoelectronic, and nanophotonic applications. In this study, the production of large-scale, high-quality hBN single crystals via precipitation from a new solvent composed of Fe and Cr was demonstrated to be viable at atmospheric pressure. The clear and colorless crystals have a maximum domain size of around 2 mm and a thickness of around 200 μm. The Raman spectra and photoluminescence emission spectra demonstrate that the crystals produced with this solvent are pure hBN phase, and with low defect and residual impurity concentrations. The use of an Fe–Cr mixture provides a lower cost alternative to the more common Ni–Cr solvent for growing large hBN of comparable quality.
Management of Iatrogenic Emergencies in Interventional Pain Management

Complications associated chronic pain procedures are rare, but have the potential to cause significant morbidity and mortality. Physicians must be able to quickly identify and manage these emergencies. Complications involving the cardiovascular system (including anaphylaxis, vasovagal syncope, and pneumothorax) require quick action to restore normal cardiopulmonary function and prevent progression of symptoms. Complications affecting the neurologic system (including LAST, high spinal, epidural hematomas) can be life-threatening or result in lasting disability. This chapter will provide an overview of the pathophysiology, rapid diagnosis, acute in office management, and advanced treatment of iatrogenic complications resulting from interventional pain management procedures.
Schopenhauer as Educator

Once Nietzsche completes his critique of modern culture in the first two Untimely Meditations, he begins the positive task of renewing modern culture in the last two by composing monumental histories of Arthur Schopenhauer and Richard Wagner. The fourth chapter of the book argues that these “histories” use the lives of past and present geniuses as canvases upon which ideal portraits of the culture-creating geniuses of the future are painted. In his later writings, Nietzsche admitted that the Meditations on Schopenhauer and Wagner were not about the men named in their titles, but were instead images of himself and the thinker he hoped one day to become. The fourth chapter also argues that the creative philosophic genius ostensibly presented under Schopenhauer’s name stands in contrast to the pseudo-genius David Strauss. For Nietzsche, philosophy was a partly creative enterprise, and philosophic creativity could influence culture by reshaping human nature through thought.
Impact of habitat fragmentation on the spatial structure of the Eastern Arc forests in East Africa: implications for biodiversity conservation

The Eastern Arc Mountains in Tanzania and Kenya are one of 35 global biodiversity hotspots. The Eastern Arc forests are, as are many other tropical biodiversity hotspots, highly fragmented. Understanding the impact of habitat fragmentation (i.e., habitat loss and subdivision) on the spatial structure of the Eastern Arc forests is important because forest spatial structure highly influences species richness, persistence, and extinction debt. Here we examine the impact of habitat fragmentation on the spatial structure of the Eastern Arc forests at a patch scale using very high resolution aerial imagery having a spatial resolution of 0.5–1.5 m. Forest area across the 13 Eastern Arc Mountains is 405,852 ha and is distributed into 311 fragments ≥ 10 ha in size with a median fragment size of 84 ha. The 18 largest forest fragments in the Eastern Arc Mountains contain greater than three-quarters of total forest area. Average fragment isolation, as assessed by median distance to nearest fragment and median distance to the nearest larger fragment, is 867 and 1533 m, respectively. Of total forest area, 14% is < 100 m from the forest edge and 33% is < 300 m from the forest edge. Establishing forested linkages among the largest and closest forest fragments through forest regeneration and protection of secondary regenerating forest as well as providing protected area status to the remaining non-protected forest including unprotected smaller forest fragments are important to enhancing the long-term persistence of many plant and animal species here.
Individualism and Collectivism, Critical Feminist Perspectives on

The constructs of individualism and collectivism are theoretically analyzed from critical feminist perspectives. This entry explores the relationship between culture and self and provides critiques on cultural relativist assumptions of generalized cultural differences in shaping self constructions. The concept of culture is redefined from a critical and local perspective and various facets of self constructions are examined from critical feminist perspectives. The implications for feminist psychological theories and practices are discussed. Keywords: critical theory; cultural theory; feminisms; gender; psychology
The Great Uprising: Race Riots in Urban America during the 1960s

Between 1963 and 1972 America experienced over 750 urban revolts. Considered collectively, they comprise what Peter Levy terms a 'Great Uprising'. Levy examines these uprisings over the arc of the entire decade, in various cities across America. He challenges both conservative and liberal interpretations, emphasizing that these riots must be placed within historical context to be properly understood. By focusing on three specific cities as case studies - Cambridge and Baltimore, Maryland, and York, Pennsylvania - Levy demonstrates the impact which these uprisings had on millions of ordinary Americans. He shows how conservatives profited politically by constructing a misleading narrative of their causes, and also suggests that the riots did not represent a sharp break or rupture from the civil rights movement. Finally, Levy presents a cautionary tale by challenging us to consider if the conditions that produced this 'Great Uprising' are still predominant in American culture today.
The Relationship of Object Relations Development to Cultural Adjustment in a Missionary Sample

The present study investigated the relationship between level of object relations and cross-cultural adjustment in a missionary sample. It was hypothesized that the ego functions of current object ...
Thermal Radio Emission from Normal Galaxies

Thermal radiation from normal spiral galaxies may be detectable at centimeter and millimeter wavelengths. Predictions have been made assuming free-free radiation from Hii regions at T e = 7000 K, and a range of mean electron densities and radii.
Poetry About Patients: Hearing the Nurse's Voice

It was a typically busy August day in the women's health clinic where I work as a nurse practitioner. Babies cried; toddlers ran up and down the hallway, trying to attract our attention. Patients, dressed in the same bright reds and blues as their children's ice pops, spilled out of the waiting room, laughing and talking with friends. But the patient whose story I carried home with me that day was the blond who appeared at three P.M. EUie, a drug addict, was twenty-six weeks pregnant; she walked into the clinic, her damp skirt clinging to her legs. "I broke my water," she said, and I led her into a room. The story unfolded as I examined her. She had smoked some cocaine; soon after, her contractions started. There was bleeding, she said, then a gush of water. Ellie lay on the table, hair matted, body tattooed with blue, misshapen roses and thorns reaching out like grasping fingers. The amniotic fluid streaming from her vagina was discolored and foul; she was infected, and it soon became evident that the baby had little chance of survival. As I peeled off my gloves and straightened my clean white coat, I thought my life and Ellie's had little in common. When the shift ended, I walked toward my car in the parking garage, past a man leaning against the building by the outpatient door and smoking the stub of a cigarette. He looked at me and said, "Hi." Automatically, I mumbled "Hi" in return. The man waited a second, then fell in behind me, his soft-soled shoes making a squishing sound on the pavement, like the squish of Ellie's sticky amniotic fluid on the clinic floor. My heart beat picked up a bit. I lengthened my steps. I calculated the distance to my car.
Gene therapy for mouse models of ADRP.

Autosomal Dominant Retinitis Pigmentosa (ADRP) is caused by mutations in the rhodopsin gene (RHO) in 30% of patients, and dominant negative mutations are often associated with toxicity of the mutated protein. Preventing or retarding ADRP progression may require the repair or silencing of the defective RHO gene. Two strategies for RHO mRNA silencing have recently been proposed (Millington-Ward et al., 1997; Lewin and Hauswirth, 2001). They are based on the application of therapeutic molecules such as ribozymes (Rz) and small interfering RNA (siRNA) that inhibit RHO expression. The first approach permits the use of allele-specific regulators preferentially blocking the expression of mutated RHO mRNA. In contrast, the silencing of both alleles (mutant and wild-type) in an allele-independent strategy is more widely applicable, since the treatment takes into account the heterogeneity of RP mutations affecting the RHO gene. Knocking down the expression of RHO mRNA is the first step toward the allele-independent ADRP gene therapy. Whether ribozymes or siRNAs are used for this, gene therapy requires the delivery of the RHO gene resistant to the action of the therapeutic RNA in order to provide a complete supply of rhodopsin. Mice and rats models have become extremely helpful for the study and the development of treatments for ADRP (LaVail et al., 2000; Machida et al., 2000; Kijas et al., 2002). Progress has been made in the silencing of mouse RHO mRNA in vivo (Gorbatyuk et al., 2005; Tessitore et al., 2006; Gorbatyuk et al., 2007). In this paper, we would like to highlight the results achieved in this first round using allele-independent ribozymes and siRNA, and describe the perspectives for the second step. Since the results were obtained from different experiments, they could not be used to compare the relative efficiencies of ribozymes and siRNAs in the first step of allele-independent gene therapy for ADRP.
Correctness and Community: From the Individual to the Social

We now have half of our answer to the Cartesian skeptic. What we wanted, recall, were considerations which implied that our representings, our ways of thinking about the world, are not arbitrary but determinate, and, indeed, are so determined as to ensure some connection between our having a particular world-picture and its being a correct world-picture. Determinateness we now have. Our way of thinking about the world must be the realist’s way. Our representations must be subject to the constraints of a Realist Core. We must represent (at least some) things as existing independently of our encountering them, as having a being which does not consist in their being represented. That is, we must be, as I shall put it, Constitutive Realists.
Health Assessment Aspects of Risk- and Results-Based Multipollutant Air Quality Management

Knowledge of the health impacts of air contaminants is key to both the development of risk-based multipollutant air quality management strategies and the evaluation of their success in reducing the health burden of air pollution. This chapter summarizes the present ability of health sciences researchers to produce evidence useful for informing the development of multipollutant air quality management and assessing the resulting health benefits, the advances in knowledge and research strategies that will be required to substantially advance that ability, and the progress we can reasonably expect over the next decade. The chapter deals with key elements of the risk assessment framework described in Chap. 4, especially assessing exposure, identifying causal pollutants and combinations, and determining exposure-response relationships (potency factors). It concludes that continued progress toward supporting multipollutant air quality management will occur in incremental steps as we become able to integrate increasing numbers of individual pollutants, pollutant groupings, and sources, and their corresponding health risks. Progress towards developing multipollutant air quality management strategies and accounting for their success will depend upon how well we understand the links between various pollutants and health, and how confidently we can measure pollutant-related changes in the health impacts we seek to reduce.
Back to the Colorectal Cancer Consensus Molecular Subtype Future

This review seeks to provide an informed prospective on the advances in molecular profiling and analysis of colorectal cancer (CRC). The goal is to provide a historical context and current summary on how advances in gene and protein sequencing technology along with computer capabilities led to our current bioinformatic advances in the field. An explosion of knowledge has occurred regarding genetic, epigenetic, and biochemical alterations associated with the evolution of colorectal cancer. This has led to the realization that CRC is a heterogeneous disease with molecular alterations often dictating natural history, response to treatment, and outcome. The consensus molecular subtypes (CMS) classification classifies CRC into four molecular subtypes with distinct biological characteristics, which may form the basis for clinical stratification and subtype-based targeted intervention. This review summarizes new developments of a field moving “Back to the Future.” CRC molecular subtyping will better identify key subtype specific therapeutic targets and responses to therapy.
Abstract 1215: Improved T cell activation bioassays for development of bispecific antibodies and engineered T cell immunotherapies

T Cell-mediated immunity is driven by activation of T cell which results in long-term, antigen-specific, effector and memory responses. In recent years, a variety of immunotherapy strategies aimed at inducing, strengthening or engineering T cell responses have emerged as promising approaches for the treatment of diseases such as cancer and autoimmunity. Current methods used to measure TCR-mediated T cell proliferation and cytokine production rely on primary PBMCs as a source of T cells, which must be stimulated via co-culture with APCs or anti-TCR/CD3 antibodies. These assays are laborious and highly variable due to their reliance on donor primary cells, complex assay protocols and unqualified assay reagents. As a result, these assays are difficult to establish in quality-controlled drug development settings. To overcome this barrier, we developed two reporter-based bioluminescent T cell activation bioassays that can be used for the development of bispecific antibodies and engineered T cell immunotherapies. The assays consist of Jurkat T cells genetically engineered to express luciferase downstream of either NFAT or IL-2 response elements. The T cell activation bioassays reflect the mechanisms of action of biologics designed to induce TCR and/or CD28-mediated T cell activation, as demonstrated using anti-CD3 and/or anti-CD28 antibodies as well as blinatumomab, a bispecific antibody that simultaneously binds CD3 expressed on T cells and CD19 expressed on malignant B cells. The bioassays are pre-qualified according to ICH guidelines and show assay specificity, precision, accuracy and linearity required for routine use in potency and stability studies. Finally, our data illustrate the use of reporter-based T cell activation bioassays for characterizing and measuring the activity of engineered chimeric antigen receptor T cells. Citation Format: Pete Stecha, Denise Garvin, Jim Hartnett, Brad Swanson, Frank Fan, Mei Cong, Zhi-jie Jey Cheng. Improved T cell activation bioassays for development of bispecific antibodies and engineered T cell immunotherapies [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1215.
Conscience Claims in Islamic Law

Equality and nondiscrimination norms within Islam are illustrated by episodes that display how decision makers interpret conscience claims made on the basis of or within contexts of Islamic law. This chapter centers primarily on ways in which Islamic law decision makers consider such claims from transsexual and transgender communities in the Muslim world. In 1986, the leader of Iran’s Revolution issued a fatwā authorizing sexual reassignment surgery. The government subsequently set up a “sex-change bureaucracy” to simultaneously accommodate and regulate the procedure. Yet norms of gender — rather than equality — animated the accommodation. The failure to address equality norms exemplifies typical (though not essential) approaches to Islamic law in Muslim majoritarian contexts. By contrast is a Muslim minoritarian context: Muhammad Ali’s conscience claim by which he sought exemption from the military draft for the Vietnam War based on his Islamic convictions. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually granted the exemption on a technicality that also sidestepped the question of equality. Nevertheless, this episode positively shaped equality norms in the U.S., over time, and gender-based litigation in the majoritarian Muslim world has the potential to do likewise — through reasoned consideration and interpretation of conscience claims. This chapter explores the interpretation behind such claims.
Bulked segregant analysis using next-generation sequencing for identification of genetic loci for charcoal rot resistance in soybean

Abstract Charcoal rot, caused by Macrophomina phaseolina in soybean [Glycine max (L).Merr.] is a disease of economic significance in the United States. Chemical and cultural control are not effective and host resistance could be a potential method to control the disease. In this study we report the use of bulked-segregant analysis (BSA) to map the genetic basis of resistance to charcoal rot in soybean PI 567562A, using a QTL-seq approach. Resistant and susceptible bulks from progenies of a biparental population (PI 567562A and PI 567437) were sequenced, and reads were aligned to the PI 567562A genome and used to calculate the SNP-index at each SNP position for the resistant and susceptible bulks. The average distributions of the SNP-index and Δ SNP-index across the genome were estimated for genomic intervals using a sliding window analysis with 2-Mb window size and a 10-kb step. Three genomic regions on chromosomes 5, 8 and 14 were identified with positive values in Δ SNP-index plots that potentially correspond to QTL governing the difference between the R-bulk and S-bulk sub-populations. The current study is the first attempt employing QTL-seq to identify genomic regions that may contain QTL controlling charcoal rot disease resistance in soybean.
Field Notes on the Politics of Veteran Care

The experientially remote, ethically problematic, and ‘unthinkable’ character of military violence, entrenched in stereotyping and reductive figures of the soldier and veteran, is often taken to re...
Development of Conceptual Models to Guide Public Health Research, Practice, and Policy: Synthesizing Traditional and Contemporary Paradigms:

This applied paper is intended to serve as a "how to" guide for public health researchers, practitioners, and policy makers who are interested in building conceptual models to convey their ideas to diverse audiences. Conceptual models can provide a visual representation of specific research questions. They also can show key components of programs, practices, and policies designed to promote health. Conceptual models may provide improved guidance for prevention and intervention efforts if they are based on frameworks that integrate social ecological and biological influences on health and incorporate health equity and social justice principles. To enhance understanding and utilization of this guide, we provide examples of conceptual models developed by the Prevention of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (PLUS) Research Consortium. PLUS is a transdisciplinary U.S. scientific network established by the National Institutes of Health in 2015 to promote bladder health and prevent lower urinary tract symptoms, an emerging public health and prevention priority. The PLUS Research Consortium is developing conceptual models to guide its prevention research agenda. Research findings may in turn influence future public health practices and policies. This guide can assist others in framing diverse public health and prevention science issues in innovative, potentially transformative ways.