cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
DIGGING WELLS WHILE HOUSES BURN? WRITING HISTORIES OF HINDUISM IN A TIME OF IDENTITY POLITICS

Over the past fifty years, a number of approaches to the recovery of the multiple pasts of Hinduism have held the field. these include that of the discipline of History of religions as it is constituted in north america as well as those of the Hindu nationalists, the colonial and post-colonial historians, and the subaltern studies school. None of these approaches have proven satisfactory because, for methodological or ideological reasons, none have adequately addressed human agency or historical change in their accounts of the pasts out of which modern-day Hinduism has emerged. the Hindu nationalist historians hark back to an extended Vedic golden age in which religious practice remained unchanged until the corruptions spawned by the Turkish invasions of the eleventh century. Many Western indologists and historians of religion specializing in Hinduism never leave the unalterable ideal worlds of the scriptures they interpret to investigate the changing real-world contexts out of which those texts emerged. The colonial and postcolonial historians focus on the past two hundred years as the period in which all of the categories through which India continues to interpret itself—including Hinduism—were imposed upon it from without. Adducing examples of Hindu practitioners and thinkers from the colonial period, subaltern theorists and others argue that historical thought is itself alien to the authentic Indian mind. This article suggests a number of interpretive strategies for retrieving the multiple Hinduisms of the past and of the medieval period in particular as that time out of which most modern-day practices of Hinduism emerged. These include an increased emphasis on non-scriptural sources and a focus on regional traditions.
Human Seminal Plasma Protein Allergy: A Diagnosis Rarely Considered

Women with seminal plasma protein allergy (SPPA) have an immunologic response to human semen. Symptoms vary from local inflammation and pruritus to systemic anaphylaxis after exposure. The first case was documented in Germany in 1958. Prevalence is difficult to determine because of the sensitive nature of the symptoms and resultant underreporting. The immunologic etiology of the allergy is not clearly understood; however, it is thought to be an IgE-mediated response from mast cells. Patients with SPPA often have recurrent vaginitis associated with intercourse and are unresponsive to traditional therapies. The gold standard of diagnosis is absence of symptoms with condom use. Treatments include cromolyn vaginal cream for local reactions and immunotherapy with human seminal plasma. Treatment success has been varied. The implications and impact of SPPA on sexuality and reproduction are significant, and this allergy should be added to the provider's list of differential diagnoses for recurrent vaginitis in sexually active women.
Evolution of enzymatic activity in the enolase superfamily: structural studies of the promiscuous o-succinylbenzoate synthase from Amycolatopsis.

o-Succinylbenzoate synthase (OSBS) from Amycolatopsis, a member of the enolase superfamily, catalyzes the Mn2+-dependent exergonic dehydration of 2-succinyl-6R-hydroxy-2,4-cyclohexadiene-1R-carboxylate (SHCHC) to 4-(2'-carboxylphenyl)-4-oxobutyrate (o-succinylbenzoate or OSB) in the menaquinone biosynthetic pathway. This enzyme first was identified as an N-acylamino acid racemase (NAAAR), with the optimal substrates being the enantiomers of N-acetyl methionine. This laboratory subsequently discovered that this protein is a much better catalyst of the OSBS reaction, with the value of k(cat)/K(M), for dehydration, 2.5 x 10(5) M(-1) s(-1), greatly exceeding that for 1,1-proton transfer using the enantiomers of N-acetylmethionine as substrate, 3.1 x 10(2) M(-1) s(-1) [Palmer, D. R., Garrett, J. B., Sharma, V., Meganathan, R., Babbitt, P. C., and Gerlt, J. A. (1999) Biochemistry 38, 4252-8]. The efficiency of the promiscuous NAAAR reaction is enhanced with alternate substrates whose structures mimic that of the SHCHC substrate for the OSBS reaction, for example, the value of k(cat)/K(M) for the enantiomers of N-succinyl phenylglycine, 2.0 x 10(5) M(-1) s(-1), is comparable to that for the OSBS reaction. The mechanisms of the NAAAR and OSBS reactions have been explored using mutants of Lys 163 and Lys 263 (K163A/R/S and K263A/R/S), the putative acid/base catalysts identified by sequence alignments with other OSBSs, including the structurally characterized OSBS from Escherichia coli. Although none of the mutants display detectable OSBS or NAAAR activities, K163R and K163S catalyze stereospecific exchange of the alpha-hydrogen of N-succinyl-(S)-phenylglycine with solvent hydrogen, and K263R and K263 catalyze the stereospecific exchange the alpha-hydrogen of N-succinyl-(R)-phenylglycine, consistent with formation of a Mn2+-stabilized enolate anion intermediate. The rates of the exchange reactions catalyzed by the wild-type enzyme exceed those for racemization. That this enzyme can catalyze two different reactions, each involving a stabilized enediolate anion intermediate, supports the hypothesis that evolution of function in the enolase superfamily proceeds by pathways involving functional promiscuity.
Exonuclease reactivity using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry was used to study, among many of its important activities, the exonuclease activity of exonuclease III (EC 3.1.11.2), a metal-dependent enzyme. The technique is capable of analyzing the mixture of DNA substrates in the reaction. Time dependent measurement of the reaction mixture provided kinetics data of the enzyme. It was found that among divalent metals studied, Mn, which increased the rate of reactions by two orders of magnitude, is the best cofactor for exonuclease III.© (2000) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
The effect of manipulating CS hedonic value on the magnitude of a conditioned taste aversion

This study was designed to assess how the hedonic value of a conditioned stimulus (CS) might mediate the strength of a conditioned taste aversion (CTA). Results indicated that as the hedonic value of the CS increased, the severity of the aversion associated with the CS attenuated.
Detecting synchronous cell assemblies with limited data and overlapping assemblies

Two statistical methods—cross-correlation (Moore et al. 1966) and gravity clustering (Gerstein et al. 1985)—were evaluated for their ability to detect synchronous cell assemblies from simulated spike train data. The two methods were first analyzed for their temporal sensitivity to synchronous cell assemblies. The presented approach places a lower bound on the amount of data required to detect a synchronous assembly. On average, both methods required the same minimum amount of recording time to detect significant pairwise correlations, but the gravity method exhibited less variance in the recording time. The precise length of recording depends on the consistency with which a neuron fires synchronously with the assembly but was independent of the assembly firing rate. Next, the statistical methods were tested with respect to their ability to differentiate two distinct assemblies that overlapped in time and space. Both statistics could adequately differentiate two overlapping synchronous assemblies. For cros...
Pathologists' assistants practice: a measurement of performance.

Despite their widespread utilization, little is known about the quality of pathologists’ assistants’ services. Pathologists’ assistants’ performance was compared with pathology residents’ performance using the metrics of lymph node retrieval and tissue resubmission rates. Lymph node retrieval was calculated by retrospective review of surgical pathology reports from a sample of axillary dissection, mastectomy, and colorectal specimens. Tissue resubmission rates were calculated by retrospective review of a sample of general surgical pathology reports. Pathologists’ assistants retrieved a significantly greater total number of lymph nodes compared with pathology residents; however, there was no difference in the total number of positive lymph nodes retrieved. Cases for which pathologists’ assistants performed the gross examination had a significantly decreased resubmission rate compared with those performed by residents. In this setting, the gross examination performance of pathologists’ assistants was equivalent to or superior to that of pathology residents. These results provide the first information available relating to pathologists’ assistants’ performance in surgical pathology. Quality assessment in pathology initially focused on clinical laboratory testing in the context of the performance of quality assurance. A broad examination of pathology practice during the 1990s to include anatomic pathology resulted in multiple studies addressing various measures of quality in surgical pathology, autopsy pathology, and cytopathology, such as appropriate specimen and requisition handling, specimen and report adequacy, diagnostic accuracy, and timeliness of specimen handling and reporting. 1-10 Additional determinants of quality underpinning all others are personnel competence and performance. Personnel evaluation may involve an assessment of general knowledge, an assessment
Antibiotic-free chloroplast genetic engineering – an environmentally friendly approach

Chloroplast genetic engineering offers several advantages over nuclear genetic engineering, including gene containment and hyperexpression. However, introducing thousands of copies of transgenes into the chloroplast genome amplifies the antibiotic resistance genes. Two recent articles report different and novel strategies to either remove antibiotic resistance genes or select chloroplast transformants without using these genes. This should eliminate their potential transfer to microorganisms or plants and ease public concerns about genetically modified crops.
Cis-platinum ototoxicity in children

Cis-platinum is an ototoxic antineoplastic drug. Evaluation of auditory thresholds in 33 children receiving cis-platinum shows that a threshold shift at 6 and 8 kHz is first measurable after a cumulative dose of 201 to 300 mg/m2. A 35- to 40-dB high-frequency threshold shift is evident after a cumulative cis-platinum dose of 301 to 400 mg/m2. Increasing cumulative doses of cis-platinum are associated with a greater degree of hearing loss. Receiver-operator characteristic curves were used to find a criterion value that effectively identified threshold shifts that were due to cis-platinum ototoxicity. A 15-dB or greater shift in the 6- and 8-kHz threshold average identifies a high true-positive (50%) and low false-positive (0%) rate of cis-platinum-induced hearing loss. Using this criterion, cis-platinum ototoxicity affected 77% of children who received cis-platinum (median cumulative dose 360 mg/m2).
Chronic Ethanol Ingestion During Puberty Alters the Transient Increase in Testicular 5α‐Reductase in the Swiss‐Webster Mouse

Previous experiments with inbred mice showed that chronic ethanol treatment delays male pubertal development. An initial event in sexual maturation in the rat is a transient increase in 5 alpha-reductase. The present study was conducted to determine whether similar ethanol effects occur in outbred mice (Swiss-Webster), to determine the ontological profile of testicular 5 alpha-reductase in the mouse, and to evaluate the effect of ethanol treatment on this enzyme. After 29 days of treatment with a liquid diet (beginning at age 20 days), reductions in the ethanol-treated mice as compared with the controls were noted in testicular weight (55.0 +/- 2.0 vs. 63.0 +/- 2.4 mg; P less than 0.01), epididymal sperm content (6.8 X 10(5) vs. 14.4 X 10(5); P less than 0.05), and sperm motility (45% vs. 57%; P less than 0.05). After 43 days, differences no longer existed. In chow-fed mice, a substantial rise in 5 alpha-reductase (1 unit = 1 pmole DHT formed/45 min/mg testis) began at age 24 days. Activity peaked at approximately 65 units at 25 to 30 days and gradually declined to 6.4 +/- 0.8 units at 63 days. After 29 days treatment, 5 alpha-reductase of the pair-fed control group was 26.8 +/- 4.9 units, which decreased to a baseline value of 7.0 +/- 2.1 units after 43 days treatment. In contrast, 5 alpha-reductase of the ethanol-treated group remained at baseline levels after 29 days (7.7 +/- 2.3 units) and 43 days of treatment (7.6 +/- 2.3 units).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Packaging Process: Consequences of Commodified Pedagogy on Students’ Participation in Literacy Events

This article presents analyses of the language and literacy practices in one urban kindergarten.The intent is to examine ways in which process-oriented materials and pedagogies are used as decontex...
HLA-Derived Peptides as Novel Immunomodulatory Therapeutics

Abstract . A growing body of experimental evidence demonstrates that synthetic peptides corresponding to linear sequences of MHC (HLA in humans) proteins have immunomodulatory effects in vitro and in vivo in animal models and in humans. Although the original concept was that these peptides inhibited antigen recognition at the MHC-T cell receptor interface via physical blockade, it is now clear that the mechanisms responsible for the myriad of functional effects are more complex. Recent findings show that some peptides affect signal transduction and cell cycle progression. Fragments of MHC molecules can dampen or downregulate immune responses via a variety of mechanisms. Some soluble MHC molecules or synthetic peptides are capable of inducing and maintaining immunologic tolerance in animals. This information suggests that synthetic peptides themselves or drugs mimicking their effects may represent a new class of immunotherapeutics.
Twelve weeks of treadmill exercise does not alter age-dependent chronic kidney disease in the Fisher 344 male rat

The ageing kidney exhibits slowly developing chronic kidney disease (CKD) and is associatedwithnitricoxide(NO)deficiencyandincreasedoxidativestress.Theimpactofexercise on the ageing kidney is not well understood. Here, we determined whether 12 weeks of treadmill exercise can influence age-dependent CKD in old (22-24 months) Fisher 344 (F344) male rats by comparing sedentary (SED) and exercise (EX) trained rats; young (3 months) rats were also studied.Inadditiontorenalstructureandfunction,weassessedproteinlevelsofvariousisoforms of the NO synthases (NOS) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzymes as well as markers of oxidativestress,inkidneycortexandmedulla.Renalfunctionasdeterminedbyplasmacreatinine, proteinuria, and glomerular structural injury worsened with age and was unaffected by exercise. Ageing also increased the protein abundance of neuronal NOSβ and p22phox while decreasing extracellular(EC)andcopper/zinc(CuZn)SOD,inkidneycortexandmedulla.H2O2 contentand nitrotyrosine abundance also increased in the kidney with age. None of these age-related changes were altered with exercise. However, exercise did increase renal cortical endothelial (e)NOS and EC SOD in young rats. Data indicate that exercise-induced increases in eNOS and EC SOD seen in young rats are lost with age. We conclude that chronic exercise is ineffective in reversing age-dependent CKD in the male F344 rat.
Incidence of Dementia With Lewy Bodies and Parkinson Disease Dementia

RESULTS Among 542 incident cases of parkinsonism, 64 had DLB and 46 had PDD. The incidence rate of DLB was 3.5 per 100 000 person-years overall, and it increased steeply with age. The incidence of PDD was 2.5 overall and also increased steeply with age. The incidence rate of DLB and PDD combined was 5.9. Patients with DLB were younger at onset of symptoms than patients with PDD and had more hallucinations and cognitive fluctuations. Men had a higher incidence of DLB than women across the age spectrum. The pathology was consistent with the clinical diagnosis in 24 of 31 patients (77.4%) who underwent autopsy. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE The overall incidence rate of DLB is lower than the rate of Parkinson disease. The incidence of DLB increases steeply with age and is markedly higher in men. This men to women difference may suggest different etiologic mechanisms. Our findings may guide health care planning and prompt new studies.
Radon measurement uncertainty: Comparison between passive short-term and active measurement

The measurement of indoor 222Rn is not as straightforward as commonly perceived. The most commonly used measurement method is a passive, short-term device using activated charcoal that collects gases, typically for 3–7 days. Short-term measurements are popular because a radon determination is often required by a homebuyer and the buying transaction needs to be completed within 30–60 days. From deployment to obtaining the result from a laboratory reading the passive short-term device can take about 2 weeks. Active measurements, in which a portable alpha-particle counter is placed within a house and air pumped through a scintillation cell have been compared to passive short-term measurements and found to be consistent. For transactions requiring faster or immediate results, active counting methods appear to be a reliable method for measurement.
Sexual dimorphism in myocardial tumor necrosis factor-α and cardiac function during endotoxin tolerance

Background Preconditioning is injury-induced protection against subsequent injury and may be induced by a variety of stimuli. Both males and females may be preconditioned; however, if females are relatively protected against the initial insult, is their preconditioning threshold higher? We hypothesized that preconditioning injury threshold differences may exist between genders, which may be associated with differences in myocardial inflammatory monokine production. Methods Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 3-5/group) were given intraperitoneal injections of 125 or 500 μg/kg Salmonella typhimurium lipopolysaccharide (ETX) or 0.4 mL normal saline (NS; 154 mmol/L NaCl). After 24 hours, another injection of 500 μg/kg ETX (injury dose) or NS was given, and the animals were incubated an additional 1 or 6 hours. The rats were anesthetized and myocardial function evaluated via the Langendorff perfusion model. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-(IL)-1β, and IL-6 were measured in 1-hour animals via an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Nonpreconditioned rats (PC-) received NS followed by ETX. Preconditioned rats received either 125 μg/kg ETX (PC+125) or 500 μg/kg ETX (PC+500) followed by injury dose ETX. Results PC+125 and PC+500 males, as well as PC+500 females, were preconditioned and retained cardiac function similar to shams. PC+125 females were not preconditioned with this stimulus and had a decrease in cardiac function similar to PC- rats. Furthermore, PC+125 and PC+500 males, and PC+500 females had decreased release of TNF-α after preconditioning, while PC- animals and PC+125 females did not. Conclusions Males and females can be preconditioned by endotoxin; however the preconditioning threshold is higher in females than males.
The Development of the Morgenthau Plan Through the Quebec Conference

By mid-summer of 1944 the success of Allied arms on all fronts made a second major conference of the Big Three appear increasingly necessary. Rapid Russian advances into eastern Europe had brought to the fore the unsettled nature of Allied policy in this area, and the attempted assassination of Hitler on July 20 had emphasized the fact that agreement on Germany had yet to be reached. The possibility of German collapse in turn raised a whole series of weighty problems involved in the transfer of the major war effort to the Far East. Mr. Churchill cabled the President on July 19 suggesting another conference, and the following day the President made known his agreement.' The third member of the triumvirate, however, proved recalcitrant. A few days later Hopkins wired the President, then in the Pacific:
A perceptually motivated approach for speech enhancement

A new perceptually motivated approach is proposed for enhancement of speech corrupted by colored noise. The proposed approach takes into account the frequency masking properties of the human auditory system and reduces the perceptual effect of the residual noise. This new perceptual method is incorporated into a frequency-domain speech enhancement method and a subspace-based speech enhancement method. A better power spectrum/autocorrelation function estimator was also developed to improve the performance of the proposed algorithms. Objective measures and informal listening tests demonstrated significant improvements over other methods when tested with TIMIT sentences corrupted by various types of colored noise.
Evaluation of the Modelling of Local Areas and Errors of Localization in FRGC&#146;05

We present an evaluation of a probabilistic, part-based algorithm designed at The Ohio State University. Our algorithm is robust to errors of precision made by the (automatic) face and facial feature detector and to local image changes due to, for example, expression and illumination. Our contributions include the design of a novel face and facial feature detector and the justification of the use of the Mahalanobis cosine distance. We show results on experiments 1 and 4 in the FRGC (Version 2) test/database. Our algorithm includes a new face detector that is used to demonstrate the robustness of our algorithm to small errors of localization.
The use of dried extracts in the practice of allergy

Abstract 1.1. The cryochem method of drying allergenic extracts is described. This method is practical and useful both in connection with pollen extracts and food extracts. 2.2. Evidence derived from direct skin tests, total protein nitrogen determinations, and neutralization tests is presented to indicate the comparative strength of standard saline extracts of some inhalants and some foods six months and twenty-two months after preparation. 3.3. This evidence indicates: (1) Saline extracts deteriorate rather quickly, in some instances almost within a few hours after preparation. (2) Glycerin extracts retain their strength but (a) are painful and (b) must usually be stored in the refrigerator. (3) Cryochemed extracts of the extracts examined retain their potency even when stored in a cool place but not necessarily in the refrigerator. 4.4. The pH of cryochemed extracts does not change. 5.5. There is reason to believe that drying of extracts helps avoid bacterial contamination.
Flashover prevention of high voltage piezoelectric transformers

Piezoelectric transformers are used as step-up voltage elements in many devices [1, 2]. The University of Missouri is developing a piezoelectric transformer as an accelerator for an ion beam [3]. In cases where high voltage pulses are desired, discharges can result from a large electric field near triple point junctions [4, 5]. Due to the small scale of the device, conductive triple point shields are difficult to employ to prevent flashover. This paper presents an investigation of piezoelectric flashover prevention by thin film encapsulation. Dielectric material was deposited on the piezoelectric transformer both over the entire device, and at specific regions of interest. The dielectric was deposited by evaporation to eliminate gaps at the triple point. The flashover strength is evaluated depending on the dielectric type, thickness, and length. The mechanical loss incurred by the deposition is evaluated to determine if it hinders the motion of the transformer.
Content Validation Is Useful for Many Things, but Validity Isn't One of Them

Content-oriented validation strategies establish the validity of selection tests as predictors of performance by comparing the content of the tests with the content of the job. These comparisons turn out to have little if any bearing on the predictive validity of selection tests. There is little empirical support for the hypothesis that the match between job content and test content influences validity, and there are often structural factors in selection (e.g., positive correlations among selection tests) that strongly limit the possible influence of test content on validity. Comparisons between test content and job content have important implications for the acceptability of testing, the defensibility of tests in legal proceedings, and the transparency of test development and validation, but these comparisons have little if any bearing on validity.
Amylin Interacts with Aβ and May Accelerate the Development of Dementia

Epidemiologically, type-2 diabetes (T2D) doubles the risk for dementia linked to cerebrovascular disease and/or Alzheimer's disease (AD). We have recently found that, in addition to plaques laden with Aβ, the brain of demented T2D patients also contains large deposits of amylin, a protein that makes up the pancreatic amyloid in T2D. Deposition of amylin (or islet amyloid polypeptide; IAPP) is promoted by hyperamylinemia, a key component of the metabolic syndrome. In the brain, amylin was identified in the blood vessel wall, perivascular space and tissue parenchyma. Moreover, we found amylin forming the core protein deposit of some amyloid plaques or co-localized with Aβ in combined plaques suggesting an amylin-Aβ pathology. Intriguingly, amylin deposition was also detected in brain specimens from patients with AD without clinically apparent diabetes. Amylin pathology in AD brain was similar to that in brain samples from the T2D patients group, including buildup on blood vessel walls and parenchyma. In contrast, brain specimens from age-matched healthy humans show only sporadic amylin deposits in blood vessels and brain parenchyma. Cerebral deposition of amylin in non-diabetic AD patients may be due to insulin resistance, which is common in aging.To test the impact of hyperamylinemia on brain function, we use a rat model of T2D expressing human amylin in the pancreas (the HIP rat). We found that the infiltration of oligomerized amylin in cortical arteries induces lipid peroxidation and triggers an inflammatory response. As a result, HIP rats display changes in spontaneous activity and coordination. In contrast, rats matched for weight, glucose and age, but expressing only the non-amyloidogenic rat amylin, show no amylin accumulation and no behavioral changes.In conclusion, hyperamylinemia promotes amylin deposition in the brain contributing to the development of cerebrovascular injury and neurological deficit.
Production control and optimization

The multi stage Monte Carlo optimization (MSMCO) solution technique is used here to maximize two large-scale factory production problems involving 24 and 27 variables. Then the general purpose nature of the MSMCO solution approach is featured in solving a nonlinear system of equations after it is transformed into a minimization problem. One drawing presented here gives an idea of the MSMCO simulation crossing the feasible solution space to close in on the maximum solution. The second drawing illustrates MSMCO finding the minimum error (of zero) as it solves the transformed nonlinear system of equations. Industrial production specifically, and engineering in general, present countless opportunities to deal with nonlinear multivariate optimization problems. Multi stage can help solve many of these quickly and efficiently.
Hysterectomy for placenta accreta; methods for gross and microscopic pathology examination

Placenta accreta is an abnormal adherence of the placenta to the uterine wall. As the incidence of placenta accreta continues to rise, it has been useful to develop standard protocols for the diagnosis and management of affected patients. Pathologists have the opportunity to take an active role in evaluating these resource intensive protocols. We describe methods of gross dissection, microscopic examination and reporting of hysterectomy specimens containing placenta accreta. This protocol facilitates retrospective correlation with surgical and radiographic findings as well as standardized tissue sampling for potential research. Through regular review of such quality measures pathologists can give feedback on the quality of surgical planning and use of imaging.
Users’ Privacy Concerns About Wearables

Wearables have become popular in several application domains, including healthcare, entertainment and security. Their pervasiveness, small size and autonomy, enlarges the potential of these devices to be employed in different activities and scenarios. Wearable devices collect data ubiquitously and continuously, about the individual user and also her surroundings, which can pose many privacy challenges that neither users nor stakeholders are ready to deal with. Before designing effective solutions for developing privacy-enhanced wearables, we need first to identify and understand what are the potential privacy concerns that users have and how they are perceived. To contribute to that purpose, in this paper we present findings from a qualitative content analysis of online comments regarding privacy concerns of wearable device users. We also discuss how form factors, sensors employed, and the type of data collected impact the users’ perception of privacy. Our results show that users have different levels and types of privacy concerns depending on the type of wearable they use. By better understanding the users’ perspectives about wearable privacy, we aim at helping designers and researchers to develop effective solutions to create privacy-enhanced wearables.
Biophysical changes reduce energetic demand in growth factor–deprived lymphocytes

Cytokine regulation of lymphocyte growth and proliferation is essential for matching nutrient consumption with cell state. Here, we examine how cellular biophysical changes that occur immediately after growth factor depletion promote adaptation to reduced nutrient uptake. After growth factor withdrawal, nutrient uptake decreases, leading to apoptosis. Bcl-xL expression prevents cell death, with autophagy facilitating long-term cell survival. However, autophagy induction is slow relative to the reduction of nutrient uptake, suggesting that cells must engage additional adaptive mechanisms to respond initially to growth factor depletion. We describe an acute biophysical response to growth factor withdrawal, characterized by a simultaneous decrease in cell volume and increase in cell density, which occurs before autophagy initiation and is observed in both FL5.12 Bcl-xL cells depleted of IL-3 and primary CD8+ T cells depleted of IL-2 that are differentiating toward memory cells. The response reduces cell surface area to minimize energy expenditure while conserving biomass, suggesting that the biophysical properties of cells can be regulated to promote survival under conditions of nutrient stress.
Optimizing Evaluation of Patients with Low-to-Intermediate-Risk Acute Chest Pain: A Randomized Study Comparing Stress Myocardial Perfusion Tomography Incorporating Stress-Only Imaging Versus Cardiac CT

The purpose of this study was to determine whether stress myocardial perfusion (SPECT) optimized with stress-only (SO) imaging is comparable to cardiac CT angiography (CTA) for evaluating patients with acute chest pain (ACP). Methods: This was a prospective randomized observational study in 598 ACP patients who underwent CTA versus SPECT. The primary endpoint was length of hospital stay, and secondary endpoints were test feasibility, time to diagnosis, diagnostic accuracy, radiation exposure, and overall cost. Median follow-up was 6.5 mo, with a 3.8% cardiac event rate defined as death or an acute coronary syndrome. Results: Of 2,994 patients screened, 1,703 (56.9%) were not candidates for CTA because of prior cardiac disease (41%) or imaging contraindications (16%). Time to diagnosis (8.1 ± 8.5 vs. 9.4 ± 7.4 h) and length of hospital stay (19.7 ± 27.8 vs. 23.5 ± 34.4 h) were significantly shorter with CTA than with SPECT (P = 0.002). However, time to diagnosis (7.0 ± 6.2 vs. 6.8 ± 5.9 h, P = 0.20), length of stay (15.5 ± 17.2 vs. 16.7 ± 15.3 h, P = 0.36), and hospital costs ($4,242 ± $3,871 vs. $4,364 ± 1781, P = 0.86) were comparable with CTA versus SO SPECT, respectively. SO was also superior to conventional SPECT regarding all of the above metrics and significantly reduced radiation exposure (5.5 ± 4.4 vs. 12.5 ± 2.7 mSv, P
Valence transition of Sm 1 − x La x S and related compounds

The pressure-induced semiconductor-metal transition was studied experimentally in ${\mathrm{Sm}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{La}}_{x}\mathrm{S}$ and ${\mathrm{Sm}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Y}}_{x}\mathrm{S}$. Transition pressure, reflectivity, and lattice compression were measured as a function of composition and hydrostatic pressure. While being strongly first order in Y alloys, the transition in La alloys softens and becomes continuous with increasing concentration. The observed behavior as well as various properties reported in the literature on other alloys can be interpreted in terms of a Falicov-Kimball model. In the theoretical part, we consider the extensions to this model which are to be made to include the effects of alloying. Calculations on the basis of this model agree semiquantitatively with experimental results. In particular, a "universal" critical concentration of ${x}_{\mathrm{cr}}\ensuremath{\simeq}27%$ is predicted for the changeover from a first-order to a continuous transition independent of the particular type of alloyed cation.
Description of Immature Stages of Coreidae. 2. Acanthocephala terminalis

The egg and 5 instars of A. terminalis (Dallas) are described and illustrated. The egg was 2.45×1.80×1.60 mm (mean value), roughly triangular in cross section and definitely flattened on the ventral surface. There were 48 micropylar processes per egg. Eggs were iridescent white to slightly gold color throughout incubation. Head capsule widths of the 5 instars did not overlap and growth ratios were fairly constant. The head capsules of females were larger than those of males. The nymphs of all 5 instars had leaflike dilations of the femora and tibiae. The distribution and sizes of setae and chalazae varied between instars, as did also the scalloped appearance of the abdominal margins. The lateral margins of the 5th instar were broadly rounded to nearly continuous, whereas the 1st instar had short, flat, rectangular platformlike appendages, each bearing a large chalaza at the anterior and posterior angles, thus appearing U-shaped.
Characteristic analysis of 2006～2012 damage in Miyi County

Objectiv:To understand the epidemic trend and characteristics of Miyi county during 2006~2012injury,and provide scientific basis for injury prevention.Method:In accordance with the"national injury surveillance point implementation plan", carries on the analysis to collect 2006~2012Miyi County three national injury injury surveillance data.Results:In 7years,an increasing tendency in Miyi County injury.The injury incidence rate of male was 2.13times of female occupation,damage to agriculture and forestry and fishery production water industry personnel,accounting for 51.3%.Monitoring to severe damage in 1389cases,164cases of injury death.Conclusion:The damage has been a serious threat to the health of the masses,damage analysis of monitoring information is found that targeted interventions and the key to evaluate the intervention effect,reduce the injury has obvious social and economic benefits.
Laboratory Detection of Pathogens in a Bacillary Dysentery Outbreak

Objective To ascertain the cause of a school food poisoning and provide reference for formulating effective measures to control the outbreak. Methods Pathogenic bacteria were detected from samples of patients' feces,anal swab and vomits and cook's feces and anal swab,as well as reserved food and water. The suspicious pathogens were identified and antibiotic resistance test were conducted. PCR virulence genes detection and PFGE molecular subtyping were employed to trace the homology. Results A total of 13 strains of Shigella sonnei were isolated from patients' samples,and produced the same pattern by PFGE. All strains carried gene ipa H,11 strains carried gene ial,3 strains carried gene sen and no strain carried gene set1. The antibiotic resistance rate of sulfanilamide was 61. 54%,which was highest of all antibiotics. Conclusion Combining with the laboratory results and epidemiological investigation,Shigella sonnei is confirmed to be the pathogen causing the bacillary dysentery outbreak.
The Advantages of Soft Law in International Commercial Law: The Role of UNIDROIT, UNCITRAL, and the Hague Conference

INTRODUCTION n this Article, I suggest that the recent rise of nonbinding general principles (“soft law”) in international commercial law, such as the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (“UNIDROIT”) Principles of International Commercial Law and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (“UNCITRAL”) Draft Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions, serves two important functions not met in treaties, conventions, or other positive law. Following a brief introduction to soft law principles, I discuss in Part II how nonbinding general principles can achieve the goal of uniform or, at least, harmonized law by providing general principles that can more eas-
Scattering framework for two particles with isotropic spin-orbit coupling applicable to all energies

Previous work developed a $K$-matrix formalism applicable to positive energies for the scattering between two $s$-wave interacting particles with two internal states, isotropic spin-orbit coupling and vanishing center-of-mass momentum [H. Duan, L. You, and B. Gao, Phys. Rev. A 87, 052708 (2013).]. This work extends the formalism to the entire energy regime. Explicit solutions are obtained for the total angular momentum $J=0$ and 1 channels. The behavior of the partial cross sections in the negative energy regime is analyzed in detail. We find that the leading contributions to the partial cross sections at the negative energy thresholds are governed by the spin-orbit coupling strength ${k}_{\text{so}}$ and the mass ratio. The fact that these contributions are independent of the two-body scattering length ${a}_{s}$ is a direct consequence of the effective reduction of the dimensionality, and hence of the density of states, near the scattering thresholds due to the single-particle spin-orbit coupling terms. The results are analytically continued to the energy regime where bound states exist. It is shown that our results are consistent with results obtained by alternative approaches. Our formulation, which can be regarded as an extension of the standard textbook partial wave decomposition, can be generalized to two-body systems with other types of spin-orbit coupling, including cases where the center-of-mass momentum does not vanish.
Energy Efficiency of Full Pipelining: A Case Study for Matrix Multiplication

Customized pipeline designs that minimize the pipeline initiation interval (II) maximize the throughput of FPGA accelerators designed with high-level synthesis (HLS). What is the impact of minimizing II on energy efficiency? Using a matrix-multiply accelerator, we show that matrix multiplies with II>1 can sometimes reduce dynamic energy below II=1 due to interconnect savings, but II=1 always achieves energy close to the minimum. We also identify sources of inefficient mapping in the commercial tool flow.
HIV testing to the test: does HIV testing promote HIV prevention in HIV-uninfected adults?

In their article ‘How do HIV-negative individuals in sub-Saharan Africa change their sexual risk behavior upon learning their serostatus? A systematic review’ Ramachandran and colleagues address a critical public health question.1 They review articles that compare the sexual behaviours of HIV-uninfected adults before and after HIV testing to assess whether HIV testing lowers HIV acquisition risk. They include articles from Southern and Eastern Africa from 2003 to 2013, the first 10 years of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, when HIV testing and the larger HIV response were being scaled up in the region.2 It is remarkable that there is a need for this review—that in 2016 the answer to this seemingly simple question is not known. Several reviews addressed this question in earlier periods and found that HIV-uninfected persons who test alone do not consistently change their behaviour, but HIV-uninfected persons in HIV-discordant relationships who undergo couple HIV counselling and testing (CHCT) do change their behaviour, especially increasing their condom use.3–5 In Ramachandran's review, …
Acid strength and metal-acid proximity effects on methylcyclohexane ring contraction turnover rates and selectivities

Abstract Methylcyclohexane ring contraction is used here to assess the effects of acid strength and metal-acid site proximity on turnover rates and selectivities for bifunctional catalysts consisting of Keggin type polyoxometalates (POM) with different central atoms that act as Bronsted acids. Bifunctional catalysts with metal sites that fully equilibrate cycloalkanes and cycloalkenes give methylcyclohexene conversion rate constants that decreased exponentially with increasing deprotonation energy, a rigorous descriptor of acid strength, consistent with the ion-pair character of transition states that mediate the kinetically-relevant ring contraction of bound methylcyclohexoxide intermediates. The measured rates of formation of each alkylcyclopentane isomer, however, do not reflect their intrinsic formation kinetics, because of fast diffusion-enhanced interconversions within acid domains; thus, isomer selectivities cannot be used to infer, even indirectly, the strength of acid sites, as often proposed in previous studies. Selectivities reflect instead diffusional effects that become more severe as the number and strength of acid sites and the size and diffusive resistances increase within these acid domains, which shift, in turn, the products formed from relative abundances dictated by kinetics to those prescribed by thermodynamics. A rigorous accounting of these diffusional effects using a kinetic-transport model leads to ratios of intrinsic rate constants for the formation of the different alkylcyclopentane isomers that do not depend on acid strength, because all isomerization routes are mediated by bicyclo[3.1.0]hexyl cation transition states similar in the amount and location of charge and that therefore benefit to the same extent from the more stable conjugate anions characteristic of stronger acids.
Repolymerization of pyrolytic lignin for producing carbon fiber with improved properties

Abstract Lignin is a promising precursor of low-cost carbon fibers. However, the mechanical properties of carbon fibers produced from melt-spinning of raw lignin are poor, restricted by the randomly cross-linked polymer structures of lignin. In the present study, carbon fibers were produced from lignin-derived phenolic oil. Pyrolytic lignin was isolated from pyrolysis oil of red oak and washed with toluene to remove volatile impurities. Upon repolymerizing with 0.5% of sulfuric acid, the toluene-washed pyrolytic lignin became solid with the glass transition temperature (Tg) of 101 °C and the average molecular weight of 1267 Da. The repolymerized pyrolytic lignin was further processed into carbon fibers through melt-spinning, oxidative stabilization and carbonization at 1000 °C. The average tensile strength and modulus of the fibers were 855 MPa and 85 GPa, while the highest values of individual fibers were 1014 MPa and 122 GPa, respectively. The present study suggests that the quality of the carbon fiber produced from pyrolytic lignin could be further improved by process optimization.
Random telegraph noise (RTN) in 14nm logic technology: High volume data extraction and analysis

With continued scaling of CMOS technology, numerous concerns have been raised about random telegraph noise (RTN) possibly matching or exceeding the random process variation in threshold voltage (V th )[1], [2]. These studies are usually limited by the small sample size of the measurements, relying on modeling for projecting to high sigma. In this work, we use a modified ring oscillator (RO) circuit to measure the RTN in individual transistors (7500 NMOS and 7500 PMOS), for Intel's current 14nm technology. We analyze this data, carefully characterizing the noise signatures and accounting for the devices not showing RTN. We show that magnitude of V th fluctuation due to RTN (ΔV th RTN) at the ∼3.7 sigma level is th RTN is uncorrelated to V th random variation. From these observations, we conclude that RTN is not a significant limitation for circuit design at Intel's 14nm node.
Circadian Photoentrainment Mechanism in Mammals

Proper alignment of an organism’s behavior, physiology, and metabolism to the daily cyclical changes in light and dark is essential for health and well-being. This process is dependent upon a small subset of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) that express the photopigment, melanopsin. The signaling pathways involved in melanopsin phototransduction are distinct from those used in rod and cone opsins and are more reminiscent of invertebrate opsins. Distributed throughout the retina, ipRGCs send monosynaptic projections from the retina to many regions of the brain to facilitate non-image-forming visual processes, but their glutamatergic inputs to the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) are essential for entraining circadian rhythms in behavior and physiology to environmental lighting conditions. While nearly all cells in the mammalian body have cell-autonomous molecular clocks, the remarkable intercellular coupling among SCN neurons allows for the SCN to act as the master circadian oscillator and transduces light information into rhythmic electrical and chemical signals that facilitate photoentrainment. This chapter delves into the role of ipRGCs in circadian photoentrainment, the melanopsin signaling pathway, the interaction between ipRGCs and the heterogeneous SCN neurons, and the network properties and signaling pathways that underlie SCN function.
Instructive proteins for tissue regeneration

Abstract The basic principle of biomimicry is currently adopted in tissue engineering approach for the design of the majority of the three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds, both in terms of physicochemical properties, as well as bioactivity. Custom-made scaffold fabrication methodologies can be successfully used to manipulate biocompatible materials (synthetic and natural ones), thus assuring an improved performance of the scaffolds through an accurate design of matrix pores and degradation properties to fully match the specific requirements of natural tissue to be regenerated. However, extensive studies have highlighted some intrinsic limitation of synthetic polymers in terms of biological performance, thus requiring the need of tailored functionalization via bioactive molecules (i.e., proteins, growth factors). Hence, proteins of natural origin may represent the most attractive alternative to synthetic polymers, mainly due to their similarities with the extracellular matrix (ECM), chemical versatility as well as their excellent biocompatibility. This chapter aims at classifying the most interesting natural proteins suitable for the fabrication of three-dimensional porous scaffolds, by remarking main advantages in different biologically and clinically relevant applications.