cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Anode modeling of a molten-carbonate based direct carbon fuel cell

Abstract The Direct Carbon Fuel Cell (DCFC) is a type of fuel cell using solid carbon as fuel and molten carbonate as electrolyte. Although the primary anodic reaction is believed to be a 4-electron carbon oxidation reaction, to explain the performance of the DCFC in practice it is necessary to consider the 2-electron CO oxidation reaction as well as the reverse Boudouard reaction. Taking these multiple reactions into account, this work develops a 1-D macrohomogeneous model, and investigates the current and concentration distribution in the DCFC anode. The result shows that the active zone is mostly located on the portion of the anode bed nearest the electrolyte matrix. The dimensionless analysis of the electrode's resistance ratios suggests that the DCFC anode performance is mainly limited by ohmic losses and the relatively slow kinetics of the anodic reactions. To improve the performance of the DCFC, increasing effective electrical conductivity of the carbon particle bed by an order of magnitude, for example by a small fraction of inert metallic additives, can increase the cell efficiency appreciably. Besides causing the anode bed to be fully used, the rise in effective electrical conductivity of the anode bed appreciably improves the power density of DCFC.
Queer Exuberance: Visceral Reading and the Politics of Positive Affect

This chapter argues that Jeanette Winterson turns to affective reading to contest the codification of her writing in terms of sexual identity. As sexual identity becomes increasingly recruited into biopolitics, affect provides an alternative means of expressing possibilities for queer relationality that outstrip those offered by the mainstream LGBT movement. I trace Winterson’s “queer exuberance” in her essays on aesthetics in Art Objects and through her novels The Stone Gods, Written on the Body, and Art and Lies. Winterson’s embrace of positive affect challenges queer theory’s paradigm for defining political critique through negativity, and it reimagines the body politic as mutually and reciprocally exposed to affection.
Variation of High-Intensity Therapeutic Ultrasound (HITU) Pressure Field Characterization: Effects of Hydrophone Choice, Nonlinearity, Spatial Averaging and Complex Deconvolution

Reliable acoustic characterization is fundamental for patient safety and clinical efficacy during high-intensity therapeutic ultrasound (HITU) treatment. Technical challenges, such as measurement variation and signal analysis, still exist for HITU exposimetry using ultrasound hydrophones. In this work, four hydrophones were compared for pressure measurement: a robust needle hydrophone, a small polyvinylidene fluoride capsule hydrophone and two fiberoptic hydrophones. The focal waveform and beam distribution of a single-element HITU transducer (1.05 MHz and 3.3 MHz) were evaluated. Complex deconvolution between the hydrophone voltage signal and frequency-dependent complex sensitivity was performed to obtain pressure waveforms. Compressional pressure (p+), rarefactional pressure (p-) and focal beam distribution were compared up to 10.6/-6.0 MPa (p+/p-) (1.05 MHz) and 20.65/-7.20 MPa (3.3 MHz). The effects of spatial averaging, local non-linear distortion, complex deconvolution and hydrophone damage thresholds were investigated. This study showed a variation of no better than 10%-15% among hydrophones during HITU pressure characterization.
Chapter 221 – Yeast Small G-Protein Function: Molecular Basis of Cell Polarity in Yeast

Publisher Summary Cell polarity is critical for the function of the many cell types involved in vectored processes such as nutrient transport, neuronal signaling, and motility. Development of a polarized cell, regardless of cell type, follows a common plan. Polarity is reinforced with the secretory transport and deposition of molecules needed for growth at the site chosen for polarized growth. This chapter presents the role of GTPases involved in polarity development in the context of yeast budding. The budding yeast S. cerevisiae is an outstanding experimental organism in which to decipher the molecular mechanisms of polarity development by small GTPases. GTPases make numerous molecular interactions with effectors and regulators, and can be involved in multiple distinct signaling pathways in response to the internal and external cues. Yeast cells undergo oriented cell division by selecting a specific site for polarized growth (the bud site) on their cell cortex depending on their cell type. A GTPase module consisting of the Rho-like GTPase Cdc42, its GEF Cdc24, and its GAP Bem3, Rga1, or Rga2, is essential for the establishment of cell polarity prior to budding. Interaction of the Rsr1 GTPase module with Cdc24 and Cdc42 leads to the polarization of active Cdc42 at the proper bud site in response to the cell-type-specific landmark. Substantial progress has been made in deciphering the molecular basis of cell polarity in yeast but questions remain, regarding which, many research studies are being carried on.
Trends in employer postings for epidemiology jobs: an analysis of PublicHealthJobs.net data from 2003 to 2016.

Abstract Purpose To analyze public health job posting data to help objectively inform epidemiology faculty and students about skills sought by employers. Methods Raw data from PublicHealthJobs.net database (January 2003–October 2016) was data-mined and analyzed (n = 25,308 job postings). There were 3985 jobs that were classified with an epidemiology designation, either as the only designation or co-occurring with another designation. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for job type, industry, location, degree requirements, CPH credential, and specialized skills. Results The majority of recent postings (January 2014–October 2016) were for full-time positions (60.8%). The highest proportion of recent job industries was education/academic/research (44.3%), state government (17.5%), and nonprofit/NGO (16.3%). A masters-level degree was listed in 71.4% of postings, frequently co-occurring with other degree levels. Epidemiology as the only job class was listed in 1765 postings (45.3%). Most characteristics of epidemiology job postings did not appreciably change over the time period, but there were some specialized skill differences. Conclusions This analysis illustrates how employment sites can be used to identify employer preferences in epidemiology hires. There may be some skills that are beneficial additions to public health curricula or that job-seeking future epidemiologists may wish to enhance during their training.
Thermal Analysis Capability of UNF-ST&DARDS

In the United States, approximately 2500 casks are loaded with commercial spent nuclear fuel (SNF) that has transitioned from wet storage (spent fuel pools) to dry storage. The number of loaded dry...
Exercise in the management of knee and hip osteoarthritis

Purpose of reviewThis review focuses on studies published during July 2001 to August 2017 of exercise as an intervention in knee and hip osteoarthritis, including its influence on an array of patient outcomes.Recent findingsStudies continue to illustrate the efficacy of exercise in treating and mana
Seasonal changes of groundwater quality in the Ogallala Aquifer

Abstract: The Ogallala Aquifer extends beneath eight states in the Great Plains region of North America. It stretches from Texas to South Dakota and is among the largest aquifers in the world. In Texas, extraction of groundwater, primarily for cropland irrigation, far exceeds recharge resulting in a significant decline of the water table. In the Texas High Plains, this decline prompted restrictions set by a local water conservation agency in 2009 stating that in 50 years about 50% of the saturated thickness of the Ogallala Aquifer should be preserved. However, this restriction only addressed the quantity and not the quality of the remaining water. The quality of water extracted from the Ogallala Aquifer has been observed to change over time, especially over the length of a crop’s growing season. We measured water quality over a three-year period using an electrical conductivity sensor and measured depth to water at 20 locations across five counties in the Texas High Plains. Results show that when wells are actively pumping, water quality can change in complex and unpredictable ways. In some cases, water quality declined and in others water quality improved. This result has prompted us to further investigate the mechanisms involved in observed seasonal water quality changes.
Design of a small size microstrip antenna proximately coupled to a hook shape probe

Personal mobile communications requires small size and lightweight antennas with wideband performance. Also, multi-bands antennas are needed. The design of such antennas was based on ad hoc experimental investigations. With the advancement in numerical method and its accuracy with ease of its use in the analysis of complex structures, many new small antennas are designed [1-2]. Microstrip antennas are widely used in these applications because of its lightweight. It is well known that bandwidth of the microstrip antenna patch can be increased by increasing the dielectric substrate thickness and using dielectric substrate with low dielectric constant. If the microstrip patch is excited by a coaxial probe (central conductor electrically connected to the patch), when the thickness exceeds about 0.05λ ˚ , the lead inductance prevents the direct matching of the antenna to the widely used 50ω transmission lines. Therefore, wideband small microstrip antennas are developed based on thick air filled substrates and modifications for the probe shape [2] or using a U-slot on the patch [3]. To have efficient coupling between the proximity coupling probe with the patch an L-shaped probe is used and proved to be an efficient excitation mechanism that achieves wide matching frequency band. The same excitation mechanism has been used with different microstrip patch geometries [4]. To further reduce the patch antenna size, the patch that is excited by modes that has null electric field at its middle is cut to half the size and short the patch from one end to the ground plane. This will almost keep the same operating frequency band, but the radiation patterns become different from that of the full size patch because the shorted patch radiates only from one edge. It is also known that increasing the width of the radiating edge increases the rectangular patch bandwidth.
Donor Kidney Allocation to High Risk Patient

Following three successive rejections of cadaver donor transplanted kidneys, a 34 year old woman with end-stage renal disease caused by focal and segmental glomerular sclerosis is returned to maintenance hemodialysis. Review of the record of her transplants shows that they functioned sequentially for five months, three weeks, and four days — in each case, a return of massive proteinuria signaled that the original disease recurred in the transplanted kidney. Responding to the patient’s request to “try again,” the transplant surgeon vows to use his “influence” to get a repeat cadaver kidney. The collaborating nephrologist objects to throwing a good kidney after bad kidneys in a procedure destined to fail.
Student Management of Classroom Activities as a Project: A Tool-Based Approach

To provide a rich learning experience for students of technical college courses, there seems to be a call by organizations and their advisors for formal project management training as preferable to experience-based learning. When classroom time is limited, however, and the objectives of the class are focused on areas outside of formal project management processes and procedures, then formal project management training within a standard core class is simply not feasible. By providing students with a simple project management in the classroom tool (PMCT) to be used throughout their coursework experience, students can be encouraged to utilize formal project management theories to design, pursue, track, and adjust their pursuit of classroom goals. Using the simple tool also provides them with an opportunity to experience the value of proactively managing the execution of coursework and engaging in hands-on experience utilizing basic project management techniques.
Estimation of direct and maternal heritability and genetic correlation for backfat and growth rate in swine using data from centrally tested Yorkshire boars

The purpose of this study was to estimate components of variance and covariance for backfat and growth rate in swine tested in central test stations in the United States. Data were collected from 26 central boar test stations from 1984 through 1990. The traits analyzed were backfat adjusted to a 104.5-kg basis and ADG adjusted to a 36-kg on-test weight. Records from 7,951 purebred Yorkshire boars were analyzed. Contemporary groups were defined as boars of a breed that were tested and sold as a common group in a test station. Variance components were estimated using a pseudo-expectation method with a multiple-trait, sire-maternal grandsire model. Direct heritabilities for backfat and ADG were estimated to be .56 and .24, respectively. Direct maternal effects were significant for both backfat and ADG; they accounted for 11 and 23% of the variance, respectively. The additive genetic correlation between backfat and ADG was approximately zero. Within this population of centrally tested Yorkshire boars, heritability seems to be high for backfat and moderate for ADG, with a significant maternal effect on each trait.
LEFT ATRIAL INTRAMURAL HEMATOMA AFTER PERCUTANEOUS CORONARY INTERVENTION

Left intramural atrial hematoma (LAIH) is a rare complication that is characterized by the creation of a false chamber distinct from the true left atrium. It is reported to occur spontaneously or associated with percutaneous coronary intervention, aortic dissection, cardiac surgery, mitral and
A case of morphological anomalies in Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodidae) collected from nature

We describe a case of morphological anomalies in Amblyomma americanum, a medically important species associated with several human diseases and medical conditions. Based on morphological characters using dichotomous morphological keys, high-resolution light microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy imaging, the tick was identified as Am. americanum nymph exhibiting various morphological anomalies including ectromely associate with asymmetry, olygomely (lack) of the fourth left leg, and schizomely (bifurcation of palpus) on the right side. We believe this is the first report of the presence of several spontaneous anomalies in one Am. americanum specimen. Morphological identity of the specimen was corroborated by DNA sequencing of the mitochondrial 16S region. We discuss recent reports of morphological anomalies in ixodid ticks and emphasize the significance of additional studies of teratology in medically important tick species and its potential implications.
Toxicity of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine following therapeutic use or overdose.

While chloroquine, a derivative of quinine, has been used as an antimalarial for 70 years, hydroxychloroquine is now used to treat conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythem...
Speckle Suppression in Multi-Channel Coherent Imaging: A Tractable Bayesian Approach

Coherent imaging methods like synthetic aperture radar (SAR) are subject to speckle, and the suppression of this noise-like quality is often considered a prerequisite to image interpretation. Likewise, circumstances such as frequency jamming or system multiplexing produce gaps in the data and corresponding image artifacts, which further impact the utility of resulting imagery and induce correlation in the speckle process. For multi-channel SAR configurations such as the polarimetric or interferometric modes, a Bayesian imaging procedure is proposed to harvest the benefits of jointly processing channels in order to recover scattering information. The inference technique recovers the per-pixel multi-channel SAR covariance and incorporates a statistical model of speckle and a priori knowledge of the varieties of clutter present in the scene. Further, by combining speckle reduction into the image formation process for gapped aperture measurements, the estimator can balance competing objectives of image resolution, side-lobe suppression, texture preservation, and speckle reduction. An expectation-maximization algorithm is made computationally tractable by a graph-coloring probing technique to provide the block-diagonal portion of a large matrix inverse. Recovery results with simulated and measured fully polarimetric airborne SAR data indicate that the proposed method reduces the appearance of speckle and preserves spatial resolution.
Long-Term Non-progression in Metastatic Breast Cancer Beyond 5 Years: Case Series and Review

Metastatic breast cancer (MBC) was traditionally viewed as homogeneously progressive and incurable among all comers, but there is new evidence that MBC harbors a range of tumor molecular/immune subtypes and degrees of aggressiveness. Thus, MBC is not rapidly fatal in all affected patients. A small subset of patients will attain long-term disease control, or undetectable disease, and will enjoy a prolonged survival with little disability from their disease or treatment. Though the term is controversial, some patients with long-term non-detectable disease may effectively be considered “cured”. To best advise treatment options in these patients, it is imperative to identify patients most likely to benefit from aggressive treatment. In this review, we delineate the clinical, pathologic, and disease characteristics associated with long-term non-progression in MBC. We include a single institution case series of long-term non-progressive MBC patients and their characteristics as an example of the frequency of this sub-population of MBC. Future prospective trials are warranted to examine the utility of clinical characteristics as predictors of long-term survival in MBC.
A 125 μ m × 245 μ m Mainly Digital UHF EPC Gen2 Compatible RFID Tag in 55 nm CMOS Process

This paper presents a compact and largely digital UHF EPC Gen2-compatible RFID implemented using digital IP blocks that are easily portable. This is the first demonstration of a digital Gen2-compatible RFID tag chip with an area of $125{\mu }\text{m} \times 245{\mu }\text{m}$ and −2 dBm sensitivity operating in the 860–960MHz band. It is enabled by a) largely standard cell-based digital implementation using dual-phase RF-only logic approach, b) near-threshold voltage operation, and c) elimination of area intensive, complex, and less scalable rectifiers, storage capacitors, and power management units used in conventional RFID tags. In this demonstration, all but six cells were directly used from the standard cell library provided by the foundry. This makes it suitable for cost-sensitive applications, and as embedded RFIDs for tagging counterfeit Integrated Circuits (ICs).
Mechanical Characterization of Patterned Silver Columnar Nanorods with the Atomic Force Microscope.

Mechanical Characterization of Patterned Silver Columnar Nanorods with the Atomic Force Microscope
Neural Interactive Paradigm as a More Effective Computer System Environment

Implementation of neural networks as a backbone of memory and user interface management systems allows greatly improve user-system interaction, as well as increased computer system performance. It does not violate the native structure of the system, but enables adaptive, situation-sensitive capability through presentation and positioning of the memory items according to the most likely utilization at a given computing situation. That prediction capability comes through on-the-job learning experience of previous interactions. User interaction, caching mechanism, parallel or distributed processing may all utilize such information on the most likely computational flow. Appropriate algorithms for modification of synaptic strength in connections of memory items and attention span filtering scheme may fine tune the adaptation of the system for various users and tasks performed. This self-organizing adaptive environment, through normal use of the computer system, gains corresponding expertise, which is utilized in consequent interaction with the system.
Biosynthetic arginine decarboxylase from Escherichia coli. Purification and properties.

Abstract Biosynthetic arginine decarboxylase of Escherichia coli has been purified 1,500-fold. The purified enzyme showed two bands on disc gel electrophoresis, both carrying out the decarboxylation of l-arginine. Electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate and sedimentation equilibrium ultracentrifugation was consistent with the enzyme being a tetramer of approximately 296,000 molecular weight. Titration of the apoenzyme with pyridoxal 5'-phosphate showed the binding of 1 molecule of cofactor per subunit. Biosynthetic arginine decarboxylase showed absolute requirements for pyridoxal 5'-phosphate and magnesium ion for activity. The purified enzyme had a pH optimum of 8.4 and showed high specificity toward l-arginine as substrate. Both pyridoxal 5'-phosphate and arginine showed classical hyperbolic saturation kinetics with Michaelis constants of 0.6 µm for the former and 30 µm for the latter. The magnesium saturation curve, on the other hand, showed a sigmoidal relationship (S0.5 = 1.3 mm). The enzyme was feedback-inhibited by the polyamine end products, putrescine and spermidine. Analysis of kinetic studies showed that inhibition by putrescine was partially competitive with Mg2+ and partially competitive with arginine.
Evidence-based medicine in plastic surgery: where did it come from and where is it going?

Objectives Evidence-based medicine, particularly randomized controlled trials, influence many of the daily decisions within plastic surgery as well as nearly every other medical specialty, and will continue to play a larger role in medicine in the future. Even though it is certainly not a new idea, evidence-based medicine continues to remain a hot topic among members of the healthcare community. As evidence-based medicine continues to grow and evolve, it is becoming more important for all physicians to understand the fundamentals of evidence-based medicine: how evidence-based medicine has changed, and how to successfully incorporate it into the daily practice of medicine. Results Admittedly, the wide acceptance and implementation of evidence-based medicine has been slower in surgical fields such as plastic surgery given the difficulty in performing large scale blinded randomized controlled trials due to the inherent nature of a surgical intervention as a treatment modality. Despite these challenges, the plastic surgery literature has recently begun to respond to the demand for more evidence-based medicine. Conclusions Today's plastic surgeons are making a concerted embrace evidence-based medicine by increasing the amount of out of high-level clinical evidence and should be encouraged to continue to further their endeavors in the field of evidence-based medicine in the future.
Preferential metabolic involvement of visual cortical areas in a subtype of Alzheimer's disease: clinical implications.

Objective : A subgroup of patients with Alzheimer's disease present with visual disturbances at onset. This study investigated whether specific cortical networks associated with visual processes are preferentially affected in this subgroup and determined the clinical implications of such abnormalities. Method : Regional cerebral glucose metabolic rates were assessed with positron emission tomography and [ 18 F]2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose, and general intellectual functions, memory, and visual skills were measured with cognitive tests in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease-10 with and 22 without prominent visual symptoms-and in 25 healthy comparison subjects. Results : Both patient groups showed reduced glucose metabolism in parietal regions and in middle and superior temporal regions in comparison with the healthy subjects. The Alzheimer's disease patients without visual symptoms also showed reductions in inferior temporal, frontal, and limbic structures, as is typical of Alzheimer's disease. In contrast, the patients with visual symptoms had larger metabolic deficits than the patients without visual symptoms in the parietal and occipital cortices (including the primary visual cortex), with a relative sparing of inferior temporal, frontal, and limbic regions. Consistently, the patients with visual symptoms had significantly greater visuospatial deficits and less severe memory impairments than the patients without visual symptoms. Conclusions : Alzheimer's disease patients with visuospatial deficits who are studied while alive have a distinctive regional distribution of cerebral metabolic impairment that is related to specific cognitive deficits and that distinguishes them from patients with typical Alzheimer's disease. These findings imply that regional variations in brain dysfunction can occur in Alzheimer's disease, with differential involvement of cortical systems resulting in distinctive clinical subgroups.
Reticulospinal vasomotor neurons of the rat rostral ventrolateral medulla: relationship to sympathetic nerve activity and the C1 adrenergic cell group

Neurons projecting from the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVL) to the spinal cord were antidromically identified in rats anesthetized with urethane, paralyzed, and ventilated. The sites of lowest antidromic threshold were concentrated in the intermediolateral nucleus (IML). Their axonal conduction velocities were distributed bimodally, with the mean of the rapidly conducting fibers (greater than 1 m/sec) being 3.1 +/- 0.1 m/sec (n = 105), and of the slower axons being 0.8 +/- 0.03 m/sec (n = 25). Single-shock electrical stimulation of RVL elicited 2 bursts of excitation in splanchnic sympathetic nerve activity (SNA), which resulted from activation of 2 descending pathways with conduction velocities comparable to those of antidromically excited RVL-spinal neurons. The probability of discharge of RVL-spinal cells was synchronized both with the cardiac-related bursts in SNA with functional baroreceptor reflexes and with the free-running 2–6 Hz bursts in SNA following baroreceptor afferent denervation. On the average, their spontaneous discharges occurred 67 +/- 2 msec (n = 31) prior to the peak of the spontaneous bursts in splanchnic SNA. This time corresponded to the latency to the peak of the early excitatory potential in splanchnic SNA following electrical stimulation of RVL. Baroreceptor reflex activation inhibited RVL-spinal neurons. The recording sites of RVL-spinal vasomotor neurons were consistently located within 100 micron of cell bodies (C1 neurons) immunoreactive for the adrenaline-synthesizing enzyme phenylethanolamine N- methyltransferase (PNMT). Ultrastructural analysis of the lateral funiculus of the cervical and thoracic spinal cord demonstrated PNMT immunoreactivity within myelinated (0.6–2.1 micron diameter) and unmyelinated (0.1–0.8 micron diameter) axons. Estimated conduction velocities of these fibers were comparable to the antidromic conduction velocities of the rapidly and slowly conducting populations of RVL- spinal vasomotor neurons. We conclude that in rat, the discharge of RVL- spinal vasomotor neurons strongly influences SNA: the baroreceptor- mediated inhibition of these neurons is reflected in the cardiac locking of SNA, while, in the absence of baroreceptor input, the synchronous discharge of RVL-spinal neurons maintains a free-running 2- 6 Hz bursting pattern in SNA. RVL-spinal neurons are located within, and may be elements of, the C1 adrenergic cell group, and they provide a sympathoexcitatory drive to neurons in the IML over rapidly and slowly conducting pathways that correspond to myelinated and unmyelinated spinal axons containing PNMT.
Phenotypic Analysis Using Very Small Volumes of Blood

Analysis of cell-surface phenotype of peripheral blood leukocytes is one of the most common applications of flow cytometry. In mouse research, the small size of the animal limits the amount of blood available. Standard staining methods using lysis of erythrocytes or gradient separation followed by repeated washing involve unavoidable losses of cells that generally limit analysis of blood to terminal methods. Time-course studies, therefore, require sacrifice of groups of mice at each time point. Thus, a method is needed that can be used with much smaller volumes of blood. This will allow serial sampling of the same animal over time, decreasing experimental variability and reducing animal use. The method described here is a no-lyse, no-wash method that uses triggering on a fluorescence parameter. The method allows routine analysis of the phenotype of peripheral blood leukocytes using whole-blood volumes of 20 µl per tube. The data are comparable with values from traditional methods requiring much higher volumes of blood. Due to interference by erythrocytes, light-scatter parameters are not usable with this method. This method has been used for time-course studies of peripheral blood populations in mice lasting as long as four weeks.
Characterization of Recombinant Lysyl Oxidase Propeptide

Lysyl oxidase enzyme activity is critical for the biosynthesis of mature and functional collagens and elastin. In addition, lysyl oxidase has tumor suppressor activity that has been shown to depend on the propeptide region (LOX-PP) derived from pro-lysyl oxidase (Pro-LOX), and not on lysyl oxidase enzyme activity. Pro-LOX is secreted as a 50 kDa proenzyme, and then undergoes biosynthetic proteolytic processing to active ~30 kDa LOX enzyme and LOX-PP. The present study reports the efficient recombinant expression and purification of rat LOX-PP. Moreover, using enzymatic deglycosylation and DTT derivatization combined with mass spectrometry technologies, it is shown for the first time that rLOX-PP and naturally occurring LOX-PP contain both N- and O-linked carbohydrates. Structure predictions furthermore suggest that LOX-PP is a mostly disordered protein, which was experimentally confirmed in circular dichroism studies. Due to its high isoelectric point and its disordered structure, we propose that LOX-PP can associate with extracellular and intracellular binding partners to affect its known biological activities as a tumor suppressor and inhibitor of cell proliferation.
Neuronal Glutamate Transporters Control Activation of Postsynaptic Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors and Influence Cerebellar Long-Term Depression

Neuronal and glial isoforms of glutamate transporters show distinct distributions on membranes surrounding excitatory synapses, but specific roles for transporter subtypes remain unidentified. At parallel fiber (PF) synapses in cerebellum, neuronal glutamate transporters and metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) have overlapping postsynaptic distributions suggesting that postsynaptic transporters selectively regulate mGluR activation. We examined interactions between transporters and mGluRs by evoking mGluR-mediated excitatory postsynaptic currents (mGluR EPSCs) in slices of rat cerebellum. Selective inhibition of postsynaptic transporters enhanced mGluR EPSCs greater than 3-fold. Moreover, impairing glutamate uptake facilitated mGluR-dependent long-term depression at PF synapses. Our results demonstrate that uniquely positioned glutamate transporters strongly influence mGluR activation at cerebellar PF synapses. Postsynaptic glutamate uptake may serve as a general mechanism for regulating mGluR-initiated synaptic depression.
Path lookahead: a data flow view of PDES models

Architectural advances are making PDES more difficult. Processor speed improves much more quickly than interprocessor communication and memory. Lagging memory performance has a much greater impact on optimistic techniques, especially for large scale models, but conservative techniques require more small protocol messages and are therefore impacted by slow IPC. The performance of conservative PDES is heavily dependent on the lookahead available in the simulation model. Finding larger lookahead not only allows for increased parallelism, it also reduces the number of protocol messages required. In this paper, a global view of a PDES model as a set of data flows is presented. Using this view, the lookahead of the model can be optimized, resulting in a significant decrease in protocol messages, with only a marginal increase in computation, using realistic, detailed models as examples.
Circular Dichroism and Other Optical Properties of Antenna Chlorophyll Proteins from Higher Plants

We report the measurement of the room-temperature optical properties of antenna chlorophyll proteins (prepared with sodium dodecyl sulfate membrane solubilization) from six plant species of five different orders: pea (Pisum sativum), soy (Glycine max), barley (Hordeum vulgare), spinach (Spinacea oleracea), yew (Taxus canadensis), and fern (Onoclea sensibilis). All six species' antenna protein preparations exhibit optical spectra which are similar in great detail, implying similar internal chromophore arrangements from species to species. Features of the spectra thought due to chromophore interactions disappear upon heat denaturation. A model proposed by Van Metter for spinach chlorophyll protein has been revised and is consistent with all the data presented here.
Managing intellectual property issues in a commons of geographic data

Researchers across a wide spectrum of disciplines - spanning infectious disease tracking, emergency services, cartography, digital communication, and many other fields - depend on locationally-referenced data from many sources to advance human knowledge. Data, in this context, refers to actual data sets such as data on water quality in a lake or stream, population statistics, disease gradients, air quality samples, etc., rather than to textual publications such as scholarly papers or popular news articles. Sources of such locationally-referenced data currently include national, state, and some local governments, as well as large commercial companies. Fortunately, there are many initiatives underway to make information at this large scale accessible to present and future generations. This article reports on progress to date in the design and testing of the intellectual property contribution and management components of the commons of geographic data infrastructure
Bone marrow characterization in the lumbar spine with inner volume spectroscopic CPMG imaging studies.

The authors describe new magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopic and postprocessing methods for characterizing major proton peaks and their spectral T2 values in many small voxels throughout extensive regions of bone marrow within the adult lumbar spine. The techniques are based on spectroscopic interrogation of 128 voxels along columns oriented through the spine at eight TE values. Mean fat content measurements, based on quantification of the proton peaks of water and saturated fat (-CH2-)n, corrected for T2 decay, ranged from 40% to 60%. The mean T2 value of the lipid peak, 113 msec +/- 21, was significantly longer (P < .001) than that of water (71 msec +/- 14). The techniques combine features of MR spectroscopy and imaging most suited for spatially efficient coverage of bone marrow at spectral resolutions sufficient for intra-voxel fat or water content measurements. The methods introduced provide a practical, quantitative means for characterizing vertebral marrow in diseases affecting marrow cellularity.
A field investigation of the basaltic ring structures of the Channeled Scabland and the relevance to Mars

Abstract The basaltic ring structure (BRS) is a class of peculiar features only reported in the Channeled Scabland of eastern Washington State. They have been suggested to be good analogs, however, for some circular features on Mars. BRSs are found where Pleistocene floods scoured the Columbia River Basin, stripping off the uppermost part of the Miocene Columbia River Basalt Group and exposing structures that were previously embedded in the lava. The “Odessa Craters,” near Odessa, WA, are 50–500-m-wide BRSs that are comprised of discontinuous, concentric outcrops of subvertically-jointed basalt and autointrusive dikes. Detailed field investigation of the Odessa Craters in planform and a cross-sectional exposure of a similar structure above Banks Lake, WA, lead us to propose that BRSs formed by concurrent phreatovolcanism and lava flow inflation. In this model, phreatovolcanic (a.k.a., “rootless”) cones formed on a relatively thin, active lava flow; the lava flow inflated around the cones, locally inverting topography; tensile stresses caused concentric fracturing of the lava crust; lava from within the molten interior of the flow exploited the fractures and buried the phreatovolcanic cones; and subsequent erosive floods excavated the structures. Another population of BRSs near Tokio Station, WA, consists of single-ringed, raised-rimmed structures that are smaller and more randomly distributed than the Odessa Craters. We find evidence for a phreatovolcanic component to the origin as well, and hypothesize that they are either flood-eroded phreatovolcanic cones or Odessa Crater-like BRSs. This work indicates that BRSs are not good analogs to the features on Mars because the martian features are found on the uneroded surfaces. Despite this, the now superseded concepts for BRS formation are useful for understanding the formation of the martian features.
Comparison between the inhibitory activities of sangivamycin and thiosangivamycin on nuclear ribonucleic acid synthesis in L1210 cells in vitro.

Abstract The molecular effects of the pyrrolopyrimidine analogs, sangivamycin and thiosangivamycin, on RNA and DNA synthesis were examined in L1210 cells in vitro. Pretreatment of cells for 30 min with either sangivamycin or thiosangivamycin resulted in a median inhibitory dose of 1 × 10−5 M and 2 × 10−5 M, respectively, for RNA synthesis. Sangivamycin did not inhibit DNA synthesis at comparable concentrations, while thiosangivamycin inhibited DNA synthesis by 20–35 per cent. Extending preincubation times with either drug to 1 hr resulted in decreased inhibition of RNA synthesis. Sangivamycin and thiosangivamycin also inhibited the transcription of nuclear RNA with 32P as precursor. Incorporation of 32P into AMP was reduced by both drugs to a much greater extent that the labeling of GMP, CMP, or UMP of alkaline hydrolysates of total nuclear RNA. Thiosangivamycin also significantly reduced methylation in nuclear rRNA. Neither drug affected the concentration or specific radioactivity of S- adenosyl - l - methionine or UTP. Sangivamycin and thiosangivamycin inhibited the syntheses of nuclear rRNA, non-poly(A) heterogeneous RNA and poly(A) heterogeneous RNA to equal extents, but the potency of sangivamycin was approximately 10-fold less than that of thiosangivamycin. These results suggest that sangivamycin and thiosangivamycin act as adenosine analogs to inhibit the transcription of all forms of nuclear RNA in L1210 cells.
The Optimal Spacing of Interfering Wells: An Analytic Solution

An exact expression is derived for the optimal spacing between interfering wells in a rectangular well field in an ideal confined aquifer. A simple, practical method for determining the optimal spacing is presented. The optimal spacing is shown to be substantially different from the spacing determined by use of the Theis formulation. The economic savings resulting from use of the revised approach are evaluated and found to be considerable, especially when the number of wells is large and the transmissivity of the aquifer low.
Effectiveness of a Tailored Behavioral Intervention to Improve Hypertension Control

See related article, pp 440–446 The study by Friedberg et al, “Effectiveness of a tailored behavioral intervention to improve hypertension control,” addresses a vital and well-recognized health issue.1 Specifically, the burden of uncontrolled hypertension is substantial, despite a near doubling in hypertension control from 27% in 1988 to 1994 to 53% in 2009 to 2010.2 Yet in 2010, hypertension-related disease contributed to >10 million years of life lost from ischemic heart disease, stroke, hypertensive heart disease, chronic kidney disease, other cardiovascular and circulatory diseases.3 Treatment and control of hypertension reduce fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular events, especially when combined with effective hypercholesterolemia management.4 In addition to the health toll, the economic burden of cardiovascular diseases in 2010 was ≈$445 billion with a projected increase to roughly $1.1 trillion in 2030.5 A disproportionate share of the increase is likely to occur among individuals ≥65 years. Million Hearts estimated that 1 000 000 cardiovascular events could be prevented in the United States in a 5-year period from 2013 to 2017, with hypertension control a featured component of the success plan.6 Effective, affordable, and highly scalable interventions that can significantly improve hypertension control are important. In the study by Friedberg et al,1 the effects of 2 different monthly telephone-based interventions for 6 months were compared with usual care (UC). They found that a monthly 30-minute telephonic intervention delivered by well-trained psychologists, and which accounted for the patients stage of readiness to change (stage-based intervention [SBI]), improved hypertension control compared with UC (64.6% versus 45.8%; P =0.001). In contrast, a monthly telephonic health education intervention (HEI) using the same well-trained individuals, which was not adapted to the patient’s stage of readiness to change, did not significantly improve hypertension compared with UC (54.3% versus 45.8%; …
The effect of up- and downregulation of MnSOD enzyme on oxidative stress in human lens epithelial cells.

Purpose Gene knockouts serve as useful experimental models to investigate the role of antioxidant enzymes in protection against oxidative stress in the lens. In the absence of gene knockout animals for Mn-containing superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), the effect of this enzyme on oxidative stress was investigated in a human lens epithelial cell line (SRA 01/04) in which the enzyme was up- or downregulated by transfection with sense and antisense expression vectors for MnSOD. Methods Human lens epithelial cells (SRA 01/04) were transfected with plasmids containing sense and antisense human cDNA for MnSOD. The enzyme levels were determined by Western blot analysis and immunocytochemistry. The protective effect of the enzyme against the cytotoxicity of H(2)O(2) was evaluated by cell viability, DNA strand breaks, and morphologic changes observed by transmission electron microscopy. In addition, the protective effect of this enzyme against photochemically induced stress and UVB irradiation in cells was assessed by measuring the damage of cellular DNA. Results The MnSOD level in upregulated cells was three times higher than in downregulated cells, and the enzyme surrounded the nucleus. Cells with elevated enzyme levels were more resistant to the cytotoxic effect of H(2)O(2) with greater cell viability. MnSOD-deficient cells showed dramatic mitochondrial damage when exposed to 50 micro M H(2)O(2) for 1 hour. Similarly, oxidative challenge by H(2)O(2), photochemically generated reactive oxygen species, or UVB irradiation produced greater DNA strand breaks in MnSOD-deficient cells than in those in which the enzyme was upregulated. Conclusions These findings demonstrate the protective effect of MnSOD in antioxidant defense of cultured lens epithelial cells. This approach to modulating the enzyme level in cultured cells provides a new experimental model for study of the role of antioxidant enzymes in the lens.
Enrichment of heavy nuclei in the 17 April 1972 solar flare.

Polycarbonate and glass detectors exposed on Apollo 16 to the Apr. 17, 1972, solar flare were used to measure the spectrum of iron-group cosmic-ray nuclei down to about 0.02 MeV/nucleon. The enrichment of iron relative to lighter nuclei previously seen at higher energies increases markedly in this new, very-low-energy region. The energy spectrum of carbon and heavier nuclei inferred from sensitized Lexan polycarbonate reveals the enrichment of iron relative to carbon and heavier nuclei down to about 0.03 MeV/nucleon.
On the Vitamin K Requirement of Turkey Poults

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION THE existence of a dietary vitamin K requirement for species of birds other than Gallus gallus has been recognized for considerable time (Dam et al., 1937). Although Almquist stated in 1939 that turkeys were subject to vitamin K deficiencies, no data appear to exist comparing the turkey poult’s requirement with that of the chick. Exact measurements of vitamin K requirements are made difficult by the presence of residual amounts of the vitamin in the experimental rations, by coprophagy, and possibly by intestinal synthesis of vitamin K. As considerable experimental work has been done with the chick, comparisons of the requirements of the two species would appear to be of interest. The experiments reported in this paper have been undertaken in order to obtain an estimate of the requirement of turkey poults for vitamin K, and the efficiency of a water- and a fat-soluble form when compared by a curative . . .
Relativity of Topology and Dynamics

Recent developments in quantum set theory are used to formulate a program for quantum topological physics. The world is represented in a Hilbert space whose psi vectors represent abstract complexes generated from the null set by one bracket operator and the usual Grassmann (or Clifford) product. Such a theory may be more basic than field theory, in that it may generate its own natural topology, time, kinematics and dynamics, without benefit of an absolute timespace dimension, topology, or Hamiltonian. For example there is a natural expression for the quantum gravitational field in terms of quantum topological operators. In such a theory the usual spectrum of possible dimensions describes only one of an indefinite hierarchy of levels, each with a similar spectrum, describing nonspatial infrastructure. While c simplices have no continuous symmetry, the q simplex has an orthogonal group 0(m, n). Because quantum theory cannot take the universe as physical system, we propose a “third relativity:”The division between observer and observed is arbitrary. Then it is wrong to ask for “the” topology and dynamics of a system, in the same sense that it is wrong to ask for the “the” psi vectors of a system; topology and dynamics, like psi vectors, are not absolute but relative to the observer.
Department of Defense prostate cancer clinical trials consortium: a new instrument for prostate cancer clinical research

Background In 2005, the US Department of Defense, through the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, created a funding mechanism to form a clinical trials consortium to conduct phase I and II studies in prostate cancer. This is the first report of the Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Consortium (PCCTC).