cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Direct Interaction with RNA Dramatically Enhances the Catalytic Activity of the HIV-1 Protease In Vitro.

Abstract Though the steps of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) virion maturation are well documented, the mechanisms regulating the proteolysis of the Gag and Gag-Pro-Pol polyproteins by the HIV-1 protease (PR) remain obscure. One proposed mechanism argues that the maturation intermediate p15NC must interact with RNA for efficient cleavage by the PR. We investigated this phenomenon and found that processing of multiple substrates by the HIV-1 PR was enhanced in the presence of RNA. The acceleration of proteolysis occurred independently from the substrate's ability to interact with nucleic acid, indicating that a direct interaction between substrate and RNA is not necessary for enhancement. Gel-shift assays demonstrated the HIV-1 PR is capable of interacting with nucleic acids, suggesting that RNA accelerates processing reactions by interacting with the PR rather than the substrate. All HIV-1 PRs examined have this ability; however, the HIV-2 PR does not interact with RNA and does not exhibit enhanced catalytic activity in the presence of RNA. No specific sequence or structure was required in the RNA for a productive interaction with the HIV-1 PR, which appears to be principally, though not exclusively, driven by electrostatic forces. For a peptide substrate, RNA increased the kinetic efficiency of the HIV-1 PR by an order of magnitude, affecting both turnover rate ( k cat ) and substrate affinity ( K m ). These results suggest that an allosteric binding site exists on the HIV-1 PR and that HIV-1 PR activity during maturation could be regulated in part by the juxtaposition of the enzyme with virion-packaged RNA.
Fluvial geomorphology on Earth-like planetary surfaces: A review

Morphological evidence for ancient channelized flows (fluvial and fluvial-like landforms) exists on the surfaces of all of the inner planets and on some of the satellites of the Solar System. In some cases, the relevant fluid flows are related to a planetary evolution that involves the global cycling of a volatile component (water for Earth and Mars; methane for Saturn's moon Titan). In other cases, as on Mercury, Venus, Earth's moon, and Jupiter's moon Io, the flows were of highly fluid lava. The discovery, in 1972, of what are now known to be fluvial channels and valleys on Mars sparked a major controversy over the role of water in shaping the surface of that planet. The recognition of the fluvial character of these features has opened unresolved fundamental questions about the geological history of water on Mars, including the presence of an ancient ocean and the operation of a hydrological cycle during the earliest phases of planetary history. Other fundamental questions posed by fluvial and fluvial-like features on planetary bodies include the possible erosive action of large-scale outpourings of very fluid lavas, such as those that may have produced the remarkable canali forms on Venus; the ability of exotic fluids, such as methane, to create fluvial-like landforms, as observed on Saturn's moon, Titan; and the nature of sedimentation and erosion under different conditions of planetary surface gravity. Planetary fluvial geomorphology also illustrates fundamental epistemological and methodological issues, including the role of analogy in geomorphological/geological inquiry.
Preoperative frailty and its association with postsurgical pain in an older patient cohort

Background and objectives Chronic postsurgical pain in patients over 65 negatively impacts recovery, quality of life and physical functioning. In the community setting, chronic pain has been shown to be related to frailty, a syndrome more commonly seen in older adults and characterized by limited physiologic reserve and ability to withstand stressors. While frailty is an important preoperative risk factor for poor surgical outcomes in older adults, the relationship between frailty and postsurgical pain in this population has not been investigated. We hypothesized that preoperative frailty would be associated with greater odds of postsurgical chronic pain. Methods We conducted a prospective cohort study of 116 patients older than 65 years old who underwent major elective non-cardiac surgery. Patients were assessed for frailty within 30 days prior to surgery using the FRAIL Scale assessment and pain was evaluated before surgery and at 3 months after surgery using the Geriatric Pain Measure. Results After adjusting for baseline characteristics, we found that frail patients were almost five times more likely to have intrusive postsurgical pain compared with patients who were not frail (OR 4.73, 95% CI 1.24 to 18.09). Intrusive preoperative pain and spine surgery were also associated with increased postsurgical pain (OR 10.13, 95% CI 2.81 to 36.57 and OR 4.02, 95% CI 1.22 to 13.17, respectively). Conclusion Although future studies are needed to establish a causal relationship between preoperative frailty and postsurgical pain, our findings suggest that older patients should have preoperative frailty assessments and frail older adults may need additional resources to improve postsurgical pain outcomes. Trial registration number NCT02650687
SURVEY OF FEW NUCLEON REACTIONS FOR A > 3

Publisher Summary This chapter explores a few nucleon reactions for mass fields greater than three. The majority of these experiments are being done to investigate quasi-free (QF) processes with all possible pairs being observed, including both QF scattering and QF reactions. An important question being addressed is to what extent distorted waves improve the impulse approximation predictions. In few cases, substantial improvements are obtained using distorted waves, but in the tightly bound alpha particle, evidence that plain waves are as appropriate as distorted waves exists. An experimental situation that can cause problems is the spectral structure as a result of 4He excited states. This can cause severe problems with n–n scattering-length experiments, and the success or failure of these experiments can depend upon preselecting the most advantageous regions of phase space. Also, Coulomb FSI occurs in few of these experiments, and this FSI can produce dramatic reductions in the observed cross sections. This effect occurs when two charged particles have almost zero relative energy and no threshold resonance structure. The Coulomb repulsion can dominate, causing a striking dip in the cross section and can interfere with the investigation of other processes.
Learning to Regularize Using Neumann Networks

Many challenging image processing tasks can be described by an ill-posed linear inverse problem: deblurring, inpainting, compressed sensing, and superresolution all fit in this framework. Traditional inverse problem solvers minimize a cost function consisting of a data-fit term and a regularizer which promotes desirable properties in the solution. Recent advances have illustrated that it is often possible to learn a regularizer from training data that can outperform more traditional regularizers. We present an end-to-end, data-driven method, which directly solves the linear inverse problem with a data-driven nonlinear regularizer via a truncated Neumann series. This Neumann network architecture outperforms traditional inverse problem solution methods, model-free deep learning approaches, and state-of-the-art unrolled iterative methods on standard datasets. In addition, when the images belong to a union of subspaces, we prove under appropriate assumptions there exists a Neumann network configuration that well-approximates the optimal oracle estimator for the inverse problem.
Direct Lateral Canthal (DLC) Approach to the Zygomaticotemporal Branch of the Trigeminal Nerve (Hamawy-Amirlak Technique)

The direct lateral canthal (DLC) approach to the zygomaticotemporal branch of the trigeminal nerve (ZTBTN) is a short procedure that can be done under local anesthesia to treat migraine headache pain originating from this nerve. Direct visualization of the zygomaticotemporal branch of the trigeminal nerve can be obtained with this approach, and this technique is especially useful in cases where the surgeon is less familiar with the endoscopic approach, extensive scarring of the dissection planes, and when an endoscopic procedure needs to be converted to open.
Dividends, Investment, and Financial Flexibility

Faced with cash flows that fall short of the sum of expected dividend and investment levels, firms must do one of the following: cut dividends, cut investment, or raise funds through security sales, asset sales or reductions in cash reserves. Our analysis indicates that while very few firms (6%) cut dividends, the majority (68%) make significant cuts in investment relative to expected levels. Investment cuts make up for approximately half of the shortfall, with the other half being covered primarily by debt financing. Net equity issues, reductions in cash balances and asset sales account for a trivial percentage of the shortfall. Our findings challenge several widely-held views in the corporate finance literature.
The Prospects of V2G for Reactive Power Compensation in Electric Distribution Networks

The idea of using V2G units to supplement electrical energy is becoming popular with rising interests in alternative energies. However, there are several concerns on how the penetration of V2G into the electric system will impact the 21st century electric distribution network. This paper investigates the potential use of V2G for reactive power compensation in the distribution network, and how this ultimately impacts the system. This research is compelling considering that reactive power compensation is beneficial for both the utility consumers and for the utilities themselves. It is even more attractive considering that the use of V2G to provide reactive power compensation preserves the V2G battery lifetime. The measure of impact is quantified by measuring how the V2G reactive power compensations can impact power losses on the distribution lines. The results indicate that using V2G to provide reactive power compensations would potentially impact electric power losses with the promise of up to 95% power loss reductions.
Locating Red Supergiants in the Galaxy IC10

We use archival near-IR photometry to identify red supergiants (RSGs) in the starburst galaxy IC10. RSGs are the coolest of the evolved massive stars and have K and M spectral types and temperatures below 4100 K. Typically, they can be up to a thousand times the radius of the Sun, and are therefore highly luminous. Using archival 2MASS and UKIRT photometry we transformed J and K colors to effective temperatures and luminosities, which allowed us to identify the RSGs. After applying temperature and luminosity constraints and eliminating foreground stars using Gaia, we arrived at our finalized list of 138 RSGs. Of this list, 26 were confirmed RSGs based on Gaia parallaxes, with the remaining 112 being unconfirmed proposed IC10 RSGs.
Measuring psychological flexibility in youth with type 1 diabetes.

Objective To determine reliability and validity of the acceptance and action diabetes questionnaire (AADQ) and the diabetes acceptance and action scale for children and adolescents (DAAS), measures of diabetes-specific psychological flexibility. Methods One hundred and eight-one youth with type 1 diabetes completed the AADQ, DAAS, and measures of mindfulness, cognitive fusion, and health-related quality of life. HbA1c was extracted from medical records. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to cull items and evaluate the factor structures of the AADQ and DAAS. Bivariate correlations were conducted between all measures to explore content validity. Results CFAs supported a one-factor structure of the AADQ (for youth and parent report) and a second-order DAAS solution with a total score indicated by avoidance, values impairment, and avoidance subscales. All scales and subscales displayed strong internal consistency (α = .86-.95). The AADQ and DAAS evidence good content validity based on associations with other measures. Conclusions The AADQ and DAAS are reliable, valid measures of diabetes-specific psychological flexibility.
Weakly-supervised VisualBERT: Pre-training without Parallel Images and Captions

Pre-trained contextual vision-and-language (V&L) models have brought impressive performance improvement on various benchmarks. However, the paired text-image data required for pre-training are hard to collect and scale up. We investigate if a strong V&L representation model can be learned without text-image pairs. We propose Weakly-supervised VisualBERT with the key idea of conducting "mask-and-predict" pre-training on language-only and image-only corpora. Additionally, we introduce the object tags detected by an object recognition model as anchor points to bridge two modalities. Evaluation on four V&L benchmarks shows that Weakly-supervised VisualBERT achieves similar performance with a model pre-trained with paired data. Besides, pre-training on more image-only data further improves a model that already has access to aligned data, suggesting the possibility of utilizing billions of raw images available to enhance V&L models.
Psychiatric comorbidities, sexual health and neurodevelopmental outcomes of offspring in men with epilepsy.

Abstract Background There is a paucity of data in the literature specific to men with epilepsy on anti-seizure medication (ASM). The current study investigated the time to conception as well as the gestational and the neurodevelopmental outcomes of offspring of men with epilepsy on ASM compared to controls. Additionally, the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities, and measures of sexual performance in males with and without epilepsy were analyzed. Methods A total of 450 male patients with and without epilepsy at one hospital were provided questionnaires to determine demographic characteristics, epilepsy history, type of ASM at the time of conception, comorbidities and sexual health. Time to conception, fertility methods and offspring birth and developmental history born to males with and without epilepsy was recorded. Survey data was evaluated using Student’s t-test for continuous variables and Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables. Odds ratio (OR) were calculated to determine associations between the measured data. Results After matching for age, we analyzed a total of 110 males with epilepsy and 110 without epilepsy. In the epilepsy group there was a higher rate of psychiatric comorbidities such as major depressive disorder, general anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, and suicidal ideation when compared to the control group (N = 110; OR 3.39; 95% IC: 1.87–6.13, p 0.05). Conclusions The present study suggests that men with epilepsy have an increased incidence of psychiatric comorbidities, and altered sexual performance, specifically erectile dysfunction, when compared with men without epilepsy. There was no statistically significant difference in the rates of developmental disorders and birth characteristics among those men with epilepsy on ASM at the time of conception and controls.
Rosalie Kane: Feet Firmly Planted on the Ground and in the Clouds.

I first met Rosalie in 1984 at a Gerontological Society of America (GSA) conference. I had given a paper about some preliminary findings from the National Channeling Evaluation. Rosalie came up aft...
JUST HOW RISKY? COMPARATIVE INSTITUTIONAL RISKS OF MISSION-BASED DEPOSITORY INSTITUTIONS

We examine the relative institutional failure risks for three sets of bank depositories: Community Development Banking Institutions (CDBIs), Minority Depositories (MDIs) and what we term Non-Missio...
Ellagic Acid and Schisandrins: Natural Biaryl Polyphenols with Therapeutic Potential to Overcome Multidrug Resistance in Cancer.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is one of the major clinical challenges in cancer treatment and compromises the effectiveness of conventional anticancer chemotherapeutics. Among known mechanisms of drug resistance, drug efflux via ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporters, namely P-glycoprotein (P-gp) has been characterized as a major mechanism of MDR. The primary function of ABC transporters is to regulate the transport of endogenous and exogenous small molecules across the membrane barrier in various tissues. P-gp and similar efflux pumps are associated with MDR because of their overexpression in many cancer types. One of the intensively studied approaches to overcome this mode of MDR involves development of small molecules to modulate P-gp activity. This strategy improves the sensitivity of cancer cells to anticancer drugs that are otherwise ineffective. Although multiple generations of P-gp inhibitors have been identified to date, reported compounds have demonstrated low clinical efficacy and adverse effects. More recently, natural polyphenols have emerged as a promising class of compounds to address P-gp linked MDR. This review highlights the chemical structure and anticancer activities of selected members of a structurally unique class of ‘biaryl’ polyphenols. The discussion focuses on the anticancer properties of ellagic acid, ellagic acid derivatives, and schisandrins. Research reports regarding their inherent anticancer activities and their ability to sensitize MDR cell lines towards conventional anticancer drugs are highlighted here. Additionally, a brief discussion about the axial chirality (i.e., atropisomerism) that may be introduced into these natural products for medicinal chemistry studies is also provided.
Regulating Speech Online: Free Speech Values in Constitutional Frames

Regulating speech online has become a key concern for lawmakers in several countries. But national and supranational regulatory efforts are being met with significant criticism, particularly in transatlantic perspective. Critiques, however, should not fall into the trap of merely relitigating old debates over the permissibility and extent of regulating speech. This Essay suggests that the normative balance between speech protection and speech regulation as a constitutional matter has been struck in different ways around the world, and this fundamental balance is unlikely to be upset by new speech mediums. To illustrate, this Essay uses a German statute, NetzDG, and its reception in the United States as a case study. Contemporary U.S. legal discourse on online speech regulation has developed two crucial blindspots. First, in focusing on the domestic understanding of free speech, it doubles down on an outlier position in comparative speech regulation. Second, within First Amendment scholarship, the domestic literature heavily emphasizes the marketplace of ideas, displacing other theories of free speech protection. This emphasis spills over into analyses of online speech. This Essay specifically addresses these blindspots and argues that the combined narrative of free speech near-absolutism and the marketplace theory of speech protection make a fruitful comparative dialogue difficult. It ends by sketching the contours of a normative approach for evaluating regulatory efforts in light of different constitutional frameworks.
Reclaiming Congressional War Powers: Opening Statement

In this opening statement for a House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing on "Reclaiming Congressional War Powers," I address three matters: First, I explain why I think it is wise to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force in Iraq. Second, I outline what I see as key priorities in the effort to repeal and replace the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force. Third, I speak about top priorities for war powers reform more generally.
Unveiling a Definition of the Blockchain Technology and Plotting the Landscape of the ICO Marketplace Using the Text Mining Approach

Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies are still generating opposing views ranging from being a fraud to being the source of a new economy. Those differences are stemming from confusion, bias and vested interest. This paper is an attempt to generate an unbiased, unified market definition to fill a literature gap and to provide guidance using a bottom-up approach to enable a better understanding of the cryptocurrency’s potentials using the market own lens.
Electronic clinical decision support tool for hydroxychloroquine dosing guideline adherence

Purpose : To implement and assess the impact of an electronic clinical decision support tool (DST) on prescriber adherence to 2016 Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) recommendations for a hydroxychloroquine maximum daily dose of 5 mg/kg actual body weight. Methods : A DST was developed to trigger a pop-up alert within the electronic medical record when a prescriber orders hydroxychloroquine exceeding 5 mg/kg actual body weight or >400mg daily. The prescriber may choose to amend the prescription or override the alert. The tool was implemented on April 21, 2020. A chart review was performed of all hydroxychloroquine prescriptions in the 6-month post-intervention period (May - November 2020). Inclusion criteria were patient age ≥18 years;availability of dose and frequency;availability of actual body weight;and outpatient prescription status. Only the most recent prescription was used in cases of an individual patient having multiple prescriptions. Prevalence of excess hydroxychloroquine dosing (>5mg/kg/day) and mean daily dose in the post-intervention period was compared to previously collected, preintervention data from 2018 (under review for publication), using the chi-squared test and 2-sample t-test, respectively. The odds ratios of excessive dosing was assessed using multivariable logistic regression that included sex, race, weight, and prescriber specialty. Results : There were 7915 patients with active hydroxychloroquine prescription, of which 7415 (94%) met inclusion criteria. There prevalence of excessive dosing decreased from 27.4% pre-DST to 21.1% post-DST (P<0.001). Mean daily dose decreased from 342±94 mg (4.3±1.4 mg/kg/day) pre-DST to 324±93mg (4.1±1.3mg/kg/day) post-DST (P<0.001). Only 0.2% prescriptions exceeded mean 400mg daily, and 0.1% prescriptions were indicated for COVID-19. In multivariable analysis, a rheumatologist prescriber (in comparison to all other specialties, OR 0.66 [99% CI 0.54-0.80]) and greater weight (OR 0.94 [99% CI 0.93- 0.95], equivalent to -0.062 log odds per 1 kg increase in weight) were associated with reduced odds of excessive dosing. Conclusions : Implementation of a DST significantly improved prescriber adherence with 2016 AAO ophthalmic safety recommendations for hydroxychloroquine dosing. As daily dosage is a strong predictor of retinopathy risk, an electronic DST demonstrates potential to reduce ophthalmic morbidity associated with chronic hydroxychloroquine use.
Iron(III) Nitrate/TEMPO-Catalyzed Aerobic Alcohol Oxidation: Distinguishing between Serial versus Integrated Redox Cooperativity.

Aerobic alcohol oxidations catalyzed by transition metal salts and aminoxyls are prominent examples of cooperative catalysis. Cu/aminoxyl catalysts have been studied previously and feature "integrated cooperativity", in which CuII and the aminoxyl participate together to mediate alcohol oxidation. Here we investigate a complementary Fe/aminoxyl catalyst system and provide evidence for "serial cooperativity", involving a redox cascade wherein the alcohol is oxidized by an in situ-generated oxoammonium species, which is directly detected in the catalytic reaction mixture by cyclic step chronoamperometry. The mechanistic difference between the Cu- and Fe-based catalysts arises from the use iron(III) nitrate, which initiates a NOx-based redox cycle for oxidation of aminoxyl/hydroxylamine to oxoammonium. The different mechanisms for the Cu- and Fe-based catalyst systems are manifested in different alcohol oxidation chemoselectivity and functional group compatibility.
The 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines

On June 30, 2020, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission replaced the 1984 Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines with the 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines (VMG). In the years between these two enforcement policy statements, there has been an avalanche of academic literature that addressed the antitrust law and economics of vertical integration, vertical mergers, and economically equivalent vertical contracts. To one extent or another, this burgeoning literature has informed the 2020 VMG. But have the new VMG gotten it right? This Special Issue will go a long way in answering that question. Some of the contributions offer an assessment of the 2020 VMG, while others contain analyses of economic issues that were prompted by the publication of the VMG.
Statutory Analogy and Liability of American Corporations Under the Alien Tort Statute

In Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC, the Supreme Court held that foreign corporations could not be sued under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). But the Court did not reach a decision as to whether American corporations could be held liable. In a non-controlling portion of the plurality opinion, Justice Kennedy invoked statutory analogy. He argued that corporate liability should not be available under the ATS because the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA)—which does not allow corporate liability—represented Congress’s judgement as to the appropriate scope of ATS actions. The dissenting justices contested this argument, pointing out that another analogous statute, the Anti-Terrorism Act, allowed corporate liability and was more relevant given Jesner presented a terrorism, not torture, claim. This Note is the first to directly and systematically address the practice of statutory analogy as invoked by the Jesner plurality, and concludes that this practice is inadvisable in several regards. It is not supported by prior ATS precedent from the Court, and in fact departs from that precedent. Neither is it supported by more general precedent utilizing statutory analogy that the plurality cites to, nor by precedent on borrowing statutes of limitations (where statutory analogy is best-established), nor by statutory interpretation literature and precedent more generally. Further, particularities of the ATS’ sui generis history and purpose, precedent rejecting ATS-TVPA statutory analogy regarding extraterritorial application, and lingering interpretive uncertainties all discourage the practice’s usage. Additionally, this Note engages with debate over whether to categorize differing claims under a statute uniformly or whether to focus on the particular norm at issue when seeking out analogous statutes. Ultimately, this Note concludes that the practice of statutory analogy as employed by the plurality in Jesner in fact expands judicial discretion despite claiming to constrain it, as would a norm-by-norm approach. The Court, having granted certiorari in Doe v. Nestle as to whether the ATS allows liability for domestic corporations, should avoid resort to statutory analogy in deciding the case.
Crustacean cardiac ganglion model reveals constraints on morphology and conductances

The crustacean cardiac ganglion (CG) network coordinates the rhythmic contractions of the heart muscle to control the circulation of blood. The network consists of 9 cells, 5 large motor cells (LC1-5) and 4 small endogenous pacemaker cells (SCs). We report a new three-compartmental biophysical model of an LC that is morphologically realistic and includes provision for inputs from the SCs via a gap-junction coupled spike-initiation-zone (SIZ) compartments. To determine physiologically viable LC models in this realistic configuration, maximal conductances in three compartments of an LC are determined by random sampling from a biologically-characterized 9D-parameter space, followed by a three stage rejection protocol that checks for conformity with electrophysiological features from single cell traces. LC models that pass the single cell rejection protocol are then incorporated into a network model which is then used in a final rejection protocol stage. Using disparate experimental data, the study provides hitherto unknown structure-function insights related to the crustacean cardiac ganglion large cell, including predictions about morphology including the role of its SIZ, and the differential roles of active conductances in the three compartments. Further, we extend analyses of emergent conductance relationships and correlations in model neurons relative to their biological counterparts, allowing us to make inferences both with respect to the biological system as well as the implications of the ability to detect such relationships in populations of model neurons going forward.
Understanding Patients' Voices: A Multi-Method Approach to Health Discourse

This volume illustrates the process of conducting interdisciplinary, multi-cultural research into the relationship between patient language use and chronic disease management. The ten chapters in this book provide a model for interdisciplinary research in health discourse from start to finish. Part I describes in detail the conceptualization and design of a multi-year research project exploring language use among people living with diabetes. Part II offers a sampler of a variety of qualitative, quantitative, and contrastive methodologies that have considerable potential in the study of health discourse. Part III brings the research process full circle by discussing issues related to adapting research protocols to diverse cultural contexts, translating results into practice, and working in interdisciplinary teams.
Application of Spectroscopy to Epilepsy

A variety of imaging techniques have been used to characterise the ictal and inter-ictal metabolic abnormalities associated with focal epilepsy. Position emission tomography (PET) and SPECT scanning have demonstrated the inter-ictal focus to be hypoperfused and hypometabolic. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) allows the non-invasive measuring of chemicals within the body and can be performed on many conventional MRI systems. MRS exploits the principle that every chemically distinct nucleus in a compound resonates at a slightly different frequency. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signals from many compounds can be detected simultaneously in one MRS experiment and magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) with phase encoding has the ability to obtain MRS signals from multiple regions simultaneously. 1H MRS detects N-acetylaspartate (NAA), lactate, choline, creatine/phosphocreatine, and amino acids including glutamate, glutamine, aspartate and taurine. 31P MRS detects phosphocreatine (PCr), ATP, inorganic phosphate (Pi), pH (from the chemical shift of Pi), free Mg2+ (from the chemical shift of ATP), phosphomonoesters (PME), and phosphodiesters (PDE). PCr, ATP, Pi, pH and lactate provide information concerning bioenergetics. PDE, PME and choline provide information regarding lipid metabolism (Matson and Weiner, 1992). MRS studies in animals and in human neonates during seizures have confirmed previously reported alterations in energy metabolism including the depletion of PCr, ATP, and increased Pi, lactate and H+ (Young et al., 1985; Younkin et al., 1986). With the recognised metabolic abnormalities detected by PET and SPECT scanning inter-ictally, we questioned whether or not 1H and 31P MRS could document focal metabolic changes localised to the seizure focus which led to the following pilot studies.
Chapter 12 Concluding Remarks on Diagenesis

Publisher Summary This chapter presents some concluding remarks on the book. Broadly speaking, two main points of view are found in this book regarding the delimitation of the term “diagenesis.” According to the one, diagenesis is complete when the sediment has been converted to a sedimentary rock. This corresponds closely to the current practice in Russia where a distinction is made between “syngenesis,” “diagenesis,” “epigenesist,” and “metamorphism.” In contrast with this, some experts take the view that diagenesis includes all processes between deposition and metamorphism. There may thus be several different opinions. Regardless of how the phenomena may be defined or named, diagenetic transformation may be characterized collectively as the reaction of the sediment or sedimentary rock to its physicochemical environment. The most important factors involved are the pH and Eh of the environment, the concentration of various anions and cations, as well as pressure and temperature. Many aspects of the development of the diagenetic processes are still inadequately explained. This book however represents an important step forward in the recognition of the nature of diagenesis.
Protein synthesis in resting and growth-stimulated human peripheral lymphocytes. Evidence for regulation by a non-messenger RNA.

Abstract Stimulation of lymphocyte growth is accompanied by an early increase in the rate of protein synthesis. This increase is dependent upon the flow of inactive free ribosomes into polysomes, which is limited by a rate-controlling step at initiation [2]. Addition of actinomycin D (actD) to lymphocytes caused a gradual reduction in protein synthesis in resting cells, but rapidly inhibited both the elevation of protein synthesis and the activation of free ribosomes which normally follow exposure to mitogens. Since actD does not affect protein synthesis in enucleated lymphocytes [4], the effect in intact cells must be mediated by a nuclear event, which available data indicate is RNA synthesis. ActD prevented the accumulation of 80S initiation complexes which normally occurs in resting lymphocytes treated with pactamycin and cycloheximide, showing that its locus of action was at some point in initiation. The decline in rate of protein synthesis began without detectable lag when resting lymphocytes were treated with actD. However, after growth stimulation, a delay of ca 50 min occurred before the protein synthetic rate declined in response to actD. These observations agree with the hypothesis that the concentration of some moderately short-lived RNA is rate-limiting for protein synthesis in resting lymphocytes, and that an early event in growth stimulation is a rise in the amount of this component to levels which are no longer rate-limiting. This permits an increased flow of ribosomes into polysomes and a consequent rise in protein synthesis. Available evidence indicates that the regulatory RNA is neither mRNA nor rRNA, but may either be one of the small cytoplasmic RNAs whose function is unknown, or tRNA i met .
Hybrid tissue scaffolds for controlled release applications

Spatiotemporal delivery of incorporated biological modifiers from synthesised tissue scaffolds has higher speculation to stimulate the complex tissue regeneration process via controlling the extracellular matrix. In this research, we consider the matrix material degradation profile, impregnated biological modifier and permeability of the structure to build hybrid tissue scaffolds based on tissue engineering requirements. Such hybrid structures are modelled, designed and fabricated to control release kinetics spatiotemporally for guided tissue regeneration. Firstly, a computer-aided biodegradation model is developed to simulate the degradation process of micro-patterned polymeric scaffolds. Secondly, scaffolds are biomimetically designed to control internal porous architecture with varying porosity. An optimised internal architecture scheme is developed to enhance permeability i.e. fluid transport to mediate release kinetics through the internal regions. Thirdly, heterogeneous scaffolds are developed with ...
From Z to Code: A Graphical User Interface for a Radiostation Therapy Machine

We wrote a formal specification in Z for the graphical user interface of a radiation therapy machine. We implemented our specification in a Pascal dialect on a workstation that uses the X window system to manage the keyboard and display. We initially model the user interface as a collection of separate Z operation schemas based on the informal prose requirements. From these we derive a state machine model, represented as a state transition table whose entries are schema names from the Z specification. Our state transition table format compactly represents nested states that are modelled in Z by schema inclusion. We implement each table entry as a Pascal function or procedure. We also implement a dispatcher that selects the proper state transition whenever any X event occurs; our dispatcher is the X event loop. Our dispatcher is a table-driven interpreter that can handle any state transition system expressed in the format we defined. We model the dispatcher in Z and formally derive some of its code. Experiences implementing and testing the program are described.
LONGEVITY, GENES, AND AGING : A VIEW PROVIDED BY A GENETIC MODEL SYSTEM

The genetic analysis of aging in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has revealed the importance of metabolic capacity, resistance to stress, integrity of gene regulation, and genetic stability for longevity. A balance between these life maintenance processes is sustained by the RAS2 gene, which channels cellular resources among them. This gene cooperates with mitochondria and PHB1 in metabolic adjustments important for longevity. It also modulates stress responses. Transcriptional silencing of heterochromatic regions of the genome is lost during aging, suggesting that gene dysregulation accompanies the aging process. There is evidence that this age change plays a causal role. Aging possesses features of a nonlinear process, and it is likely that application of nonlinear system methodology to aging will be productive.
Mechanisms of gentamicin-induced dysfunction of renal cortical mitochondria: I. Effects on mitochondrial respiration

Abstract Because mitochondrial dysfunction occurs relatively early in the course of nephrotoxicity associated with the aminoglycoside antibiotic, gentamicin, the acute in vitro effects of gentamicin on renal cortical mitochondrial respiration were studied. Gentamicin produced stimulation of State 4 rates and inhibition of State 3 and DNP-uncoupled rates with pyruvate-malate or succinate as substrates. The stimulation of State 4 respiration was not blocked by oligomycin. Both the stimulation of State 4 and inhibition of State 3 were profoundly dependent on the Na + and K + contents of the incubation medium, were potentiated by the presence of EDTA, and were reversed by Mg 2+ . These results suggested that gentamicin's effects on mitochondrial respiration were due to alterations in the interaction of Na + and K + with the inner mitochondrial membrane at Mg 2+ -sensitive sites.
Testing the effects of price responsive demand on uniform price and soft-cap electricity auctions

Testing auction mechanisms experimentally in a controlled environment provides an inexpensive means for evaluating their relative merits. This paper describes a framework for testing the efficacy of a price-responsive load on a uniform-price last-accepted offer and a soft-cap market. Experimental evidence to date, based on uniform-price market testing has shown an ability of price-responsive load to mitigate high volatility and average price. The paper addresses a process to validate these results as well as our hypothesis that price-responsive load mitigates high soft-cap market price behavior, such as that observed in California.
Site-specific mutagenesis of human pancreatic lipase.

Publisher Summary The concepts derived from crystal structures must be supported by additional kinetic and biophysical data before firm conclusions can be drawn about structure-function relationships. A powerful tool that can complement crystal data is site-specific mutagenesis. This chapter describes the application of this technology to the study of pancreatic triglyceride lipase. Site-specific mutagenesis is a powerful technique that has provided useful insights into the function of human pancreatic lipase and other lipases. It can provide information about residues that contribute to catalysis, that mediate conformational changes, that interact with interfaces, and that bind to colipase. Examples of these studies are presented in the chapter to illustrate techniques, approaches, and the utility of site-specific mutagenesis in the study of pancreatic lipase. Several of the caveats and difficulties of this approach are also illustrated by these examples. Despite the potential utility of site-specific mutagenesis, the results must be correlated with data from other techniques and with the constant remembrance that enzymes are dynamic, cooperative macromolecules.
Incidence of Sarcoptes scabiei (Acari: Sarcoptidae) and Haematopinus suis (Anoplura: Haematopinidae) on Swine in Indiana

A survey was conducted during 1980 and 1981 to determine seasonal incidence of hog lice, Haematopinus suis (L.), and sarcoptic mange mites, Sarcoptes scabiei (De Geer), in market-weight swine in Indiana. The survey indicated that infestations of both lice and mites were higher during cooler months. Over the course of the survey, hog lice and mange (itch) mites were present on 18.1 and 25.3% of all animals examined, respectively. Animals confined in small pastures had higher incidences of lice than animals in totally or partially confined systems, although confinement type did not affect incidence of mite infestation. Results of a questionnaire sent to Indiana veterinarians concerning these pests are discussed. Responding veterinarians estimated a 51.5% incidence of hog lice and 36.2% incidence of sarcoptic mange mites on farms visited. Veterinarians did not notice correlations between lice or mange and confinement type, animal breed and age, or geographical area. Results of questions asking the veterinarians treatment methods preferred and importance of these parasites are presented.
Anomalous compartmentation of 5-hydroxytryptamine in intact human platelets.

Abstract 1 The movement of radiolabelled 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) between the extracellular medium, the thrombin-releasable (vesicular) compartment, and a non-thrombin-releasable compartment has been investigated in washed human platelets. 2 Appreciable amounts of extracellular 5-HT can accumulate in a non-releasable compartment. Depending on the incubation conditions and the amount of 5-HT already present inside the cell, non-releasable 5-HT can either remain non-releasable or rapidly migrate into the vesicular compartment. 3 Measurable amounts of vesicular 5-HT can also enter a non-releasable compartment. However, vesicular 5-HT which becomes non-releasable does not appear to mix with 5-HT becoming non-releasable following uptake from the extracellular medium. 4 Extracellular 5-HT can be added to vesicles and to the non-releasable compartment in the presence of appreciable quantities of 5-HT already in one or both compartments. 5 The vesicular and non-releasable compartments appear to accumulate 5-HT independently of one another. Furthermore, most vesicular accumulation of 5-HT occurs from the extracellular medium, rather than by translocation of non-releasable 5-HT into the vesicular compartment.
The Value of Fungal Surveillance Cultures as Predictors of Systemic Fungal Infections

Fungal surveillance cultures consisting of urine, stool, and respiratory specimens were analyzed from 37 recipients of bone-marrow transplants and 52 patients undergoing chemotherapy for acute leukemia and other hematologic malignancies. All patients had prolonged aplasia. Sixty-seven percent of the patients were colonized by Candida albicans, and 28% were colonized by Candida tropicalis. No patient was colonized with any species of Aspergillus. There were 21 proven systemic fungal infections: three due to C. albicans, 16 due to C. tropicalis, and two due to Aspergillus. Positive surveillance data for C. tropicalis correlated with disease. Multiple positive-culture data yielded high predictive values (67%-83%), and single positive-culture data yielded slightly lower values as a function of body site. Positive surveillance data for C. albicans did not correlate with disease; negative culture data correlated with the absence of systemic disease due to C. tropicalis and C. albicans. Thus, surveillance data for specific fungal species can aid in diagnosis and appropriate therapy. Systemic fungal infection is frequent in the
A Parliamentary Satire of 1675

From a collection of miscellaneous seventeenth century English verse in manuscripts acquired by the Library, French discovered "A Charge to the Grand Inquest of England," an unsigned poem of about 140 lines of rhymed couplets attacking the English Parliament, or more specifically the House of Commons.Â The poem is partially transcribed and commented on by French.
Reliability of medial temporal lobe volume measurements using reformatted 3D images

Abstract The study assessed whether standardizing the angle of image display and controlling for head position in three planes affects the scan–rescan reliability of medial temporal lobe volume measures when very thin (1.5 mm) slices are used. Five volunteers were scanned two times on consecutive days. A three-dimensional MRI sequence acquired whole brain data in 1.4 mm thick coronal slices. The data were displayed as 1.5 mm thick images and were rated both in the originally acquired coronal plane, and after reformatting to correct for head tilt and display the brain in the coronal plane perpendicular to the long axis of the left anterior hippocampus. One rater measured five brain regions (temporal lobe, anterior and posterior hippocampus, amygdala, and temporal horn) on the left and right sides of the two non-reformatted and two reformatted scans to obtain inter-scan variance. Furthermore, most scans were remeasured, to obtain `reread' variances. All data were log-transformed in order to produce comparable variability across brain regions of different sizes. For all the regions, except the temporal horn, the non-reformatted scans showed significantly larger scan–rescan variability than the reformatted scans. A typical standard deviation for a non-reformatted pair of scans was 0.10, corresponding to 26% error, while a typical value for a reformatted pair of scans was 0.04, corresponding to 10% error. For all the regions, the reread data (intra-rater reliability) gave similar results for both reformatted and non-reformatted images with similar standard deviations (typical value for reread standard deviation was 0.020, corresponding to 5% error). The data suggest that, even when very thin slices are acquired, volume measurement accuracy of gray matter structures in the temporal lobe is considerably improved by controlling for image orientation in three planes. For these structures, the sample size needed to detect a small (5%) within-subject volume change would be halved if reformatted images were used. Image contrast is an additional important factor since the reformatted T1 weighted images used in this study, which have suboptimal CSF/brain contrast, worsened measurement accuracy in the temporal horn.
Suprapubic micturition cystourethrography in infancy and childhood.

Suprapubic bladder puncture has recently found additional employment in paediatric radiology as a technique for micrurition cystourethrography. Experience of 247 micturition cystourethrographies (MCU) by means of suprapubic bladder puncture (SBP) in 210 children aged from 6 days to 15 years is reported. The technique is simple: complications were observed in 6%, but were harmless in nature. The advantages consist in the absolutely sterile procedure, less strain on the children, and the possibility of simultaneously obtaining bladder urine, directly, for bacteriological and cytological examination.