cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Diagnosis and Follow-up of Intraventricular and Intracerebral Hemorrhages by Ultrasound Studies of Infant's Brain Through the Fontanelles and Sutures

A technique to diagnose subependymal hemorrhage (SEH), intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), intracerebral hemorrhage, and posthemorrhage hydrocephalus in tiny infants, using real time ultrasound studies of the brain ventricular system, is described. This is a bedside technique that visualizes the brain through the fontanelles and the sutures, in three planes: coronal, sagittal, and horizontal. Excellent visualization of the ventricular system, caudate nuclei, the thalamus, the choroid plexus, the corpus callosum, and the foramen of Monro is obtained. This method has good definition using high frequency transducers since there is no bone interference. The ultrasound diagnosis correlated well with computed tomography (CT) and with direct pathologic studies. This technique was more sensitive in diagnosing small IVH/SEH and organized clots than were CT studies. IVH/SEH were found in 90% of 113 infants less than or equal to 34 weeks of gestation; 49% of the hemorrhages were large and 41% were small. Most hemorrhages were found in the first scan, usually shortly after birth. Twenty-one premature infants who never had perinatal asphyxia or respiratory distress syndrome had IVH/SEH. The hemorrhages were followed until disappearance, usually in one to three months in cases of large hemorrhages.
Education for Everyday People: Obstacles and Opportunities Facing the Obama Administration

In this essay, Gloria Ladson-Billings describes her reaction to Barack Obama's election and her desire to share these historic moments with folks she considers "everyday people." She then looks to the future of education in the United States and highlights obstacles to the Obama administration's meaningful engagement with education issues. Ladson-Billings uses the frame of interest convergence to suggest that this new administration has the opportunity to engage in pragmatic politics and to put forward polices that simultaneously promote both the interests of public school students— particularly those from disenfranchised communities—and national interests. She illustrates this argument through a chronicle imagining a future discussion among the president's cabinet. Finally, she closes by describing the power of the president's inauguration for uniting diverse communities and broadening the definition of everyday people.
An Investigation of Microstructures and Yield Strengths in Irradiated Austenitic Stainless Steels Using Small Specimen Techniques

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) specimens of a first core heat of 316 stainless steel, in both the solution annealed and 20% cold worked condition, were irradiated to 46 dpa at 420 C, to 49 dpa at 520 C, and to 34 dpa at 600 C in FFTF/MOTA. Prior to irradiation, some of the specimens were pre-implanted with approximately 100 appm of helium over one-third of the specimen thickness. Microstructures and mechanical properties of these specimens were examined. Microstructural data was taken from unimplanted zones and were consistent with data in the literature for unimplanted 316 SS. Where possible, irradiation hardening of the alloys was experimentally evaluated by microhardness and shear punch. For comparison, irradiation hardening was also calculated using a barrier hardening model and the microstructural data. Experimentally measured values of yield stress were in agreement with the range of values reported in the literature regardless of helium pre-implantation and were similar to the calculated values.
Advantaging Aggressors: Justice & Deterrence in International Law

Current international law imposes limitations on the use of force to defend against unlawful aggression that improperly advantage unlawful aggressors and disadvantage their victims. The Article gives examples of such rules, governing a variety of situations, showing how clearly unjust they can be. No domestic criminal law system would tolerate their use.There are good practical reasons why international law should care that its rules are perceived as unjust. Given the lack of an effective international law enforcement mechanism, compliance depends to a large degree upon the moral authority with which international law speaks. Compliance is less likely when its rules are perceived as obviously unjust. This common sense perspective is supported by social science research showing the importance of law's moral credibility in gaining assistance and compliance, in reducing resistance and subversion, and in helping to shape shared norms. The current practice of victim states ignoring legal limitations, with studied indifference to such "violations" by the international community, only legitimizes and habituates law-breaking, further undermining international law's moral credibility.Interpretations of international law can be constructed that would narrow the gap between the legal rules and moral intuitions regarding the use of defensive force. Such revisionist interpretations may be a useful temporary measure, but are not a solution, because the gap between law and justice can be narrowed but not closed by reinterpretation alone. Ultimately, reform is required of international law's foundational texts.International law limitations on responses to aggression are also improper for reasons beyond their conflict with principles of justice instantiated in domestic criminal law. International law and domestic criminal law are importantly different. Most fundamentally, international law lacks an effective law enforcement system. In order to effectively control unlawful aggression, international law needs to have fewer limitations on responses to aggression than criminal law, not more limitations. A series of examples of such improper limitations are discussed. Each has the unfortunate effect of promoting aggression and instability by undermining effective deterrence. Again, there exist possible reinterpretations of international law that could avoid some of the improper limitations but, ultimately, a reform of international law's foundational texts is required.One important opportunity for reforming international law is currently being squandered. The Assembly of State Parties to the International Criminal Court has recently approved a resolution defining the international crime of aggression. However, rather than confront international law's existing problems, the drafters compounded them by imposing individual criminal liability on leaders of victim states who authorize defensive force in violation of flawed current law. Fortunately, the resolution will not go into effect until 2017 at the earliest. There is still time to change course.
Gleason Pattern 5 Prostate Cancer: Further Stratification of Patients With High-Risk Disease and Implications for Future Randomized Trials

Purpose To compare prostate-specific antigen (PSA) outcomes in a cohort of men with high-risk prostate cancer based on the presence or absence of any Gleason Grade 5 component (primary, secondary, or tertiary). Methods and Materials Our study cohort consisted of 312 men with T1c–T3N0M0 prostate cancer with Gleason Scores of 7 with tertiary Grade 5, 8, or 9–10 who underwent radical prostatectomy or external beam radiotherapy with or without androgen suppression therapy. Cox regression multivariable analysis was used to assess whether a difference existed in risk of PSA recurrence in men with Gleason Score of 9–10 compared with those with Gleason Score of 8 and 7 with tertiary Grade 5, adjusting for treatment, age, and known prostate cancer prognostic factors. Results After a median follow-up of 5.7 years, men with a Gleason Score of 8 had a lower risk of PSA recurrence than those with a Gleason Score of 9–10 (hazard ratio, 0.74; 95% confidence interval, 0.52–1.05; p = 0.09). Conversely, men with a Gleason Score of 7 with tertiary Grade 5 had a similar risk of PSA recurrence compared with men with a Gleason Score of 9–10 (hazard ratio, 1.08; 95% confidence interval, 0.60–1.94; p = 0.81). Median times to PSA failure for men with Gleason Scores of 9–10, 7 with tertiary Grade 5, and 8 were 4.5, 5.0, and 5.4 years, respectively. Conclusions Our results highlight the importance of further substratification of the high-risk Gleason Score category of 8–10 into 8 vs. 9, 10, and 7 with tertiary Grade 5.
Application and testing of a procedure to evaluate transferability of habitat suitability criteria

A procedure designed to test the transferability of habitat suitability criteria was evaluated in the Cache la Poudre River, Colorado. Habitat suitability criteria were developed for active adult and juvenile rainbow trout in the South Platte River, Colorado. These criteria were tested by comparing microhabitat use predicted from the criteria with observed microhabitat use by adult rainbow trout in the Cache la Poudre River. A one-sided X2 test, using counts of occupied and unoccupied cells in each suitability classification, was used to test for non-random selection for optimum habitat use over usable habitat and for suitable over unsuitable habitat. Criteria for adult rainbow trout were judged to be transferable to the Cache la Poudre River, but juvenile criteria (applied to adults) were not transferable. Random subsampling of occupied and unoccupied cells was conducted to determine the effect of sample size on the reliability of the test procedure. The incidence of type I and type II errors increased rapidly as the sample size was reduced below 55 occupied and 200 unoccupied cells. Recommended modifications to the procedure included the adoption of a systematic or randomized sampling design and direct measurement of microhabitat variables. With these modifications, the procedure is economical, simple and reliable. Use of the procedure as a quality assurance device in routine applications of the instream flow incremental methodology was encouraged.
Poverty and Behavior: Are Environmental Measures Nature and Nurture?☆☆☆★

Abstract This article critiques the Child Development special issue on poverty. First, we argue that the special issue has understated the variation observed within social class groups. Second, we believe that a confounding of genetic and environmental effects in biological families weakens the case for environmental effects as presented in the special issue. Our conclusion is that behavior genetic research designs are required for studies of poverty.
The Conquest file system: Better performance through a disk/persistent-RAM hybrid design

Modern file systems assume the use of disk, a system-wide performance bottleneck for over a decade. Current disk caching and RAM file systems either impose high overhead to access memory content or fail to provide mechanisms to achieve data persistence across reboots.The Conquest file system is based on the observation that memory is becoming inexpensive, which enables all file system services to be delivered from memory, except for providing large storage capacity. Unlike caching, Conquest uses memory with battery backup as persistent storage, and provides specialized and separate data paths to memory and disk. Therefore, the memory data path contains no disk-related complexity. The disk data path consists of optimizations only for the specialized disk usage pattern.Compared to a memory-based file system, Conquest incurs little performance overhead. Compared to several disk-based file systems, Conquest achieves 1.3x to 19x faster memory performance, and 1.4x to 2.0x faster performance when exercising both memory and disk.Conquest realizes most of the benefits of persistent RAM at a fraction of the cost of a RAM-only solution. It also demonstrates that disk-related optimizations impose high overheads for accessing memory content in a memory-rich environment.
Nuclear Factors involved in the Radiation-induced Depression of DNA Synthesis of Deoxyribonucleic Acid

IN experiments described in a previous communication1, it was found that nuclei isolated from regenerating liver of rats given 800 r. whole body irradiation incorporated less tritiated thymidine when assayed in a DNA-synthesizing system2 at various times after irradiation than did non-irradiated controls. Somewhat similar results had been obtained by Van Lancker3, who postulated that the finding might result from direct damage to the DNA template by irradiation. On the other hand, Nygaard4 has suggested that these findings might result from loss of sodium and potassium from the nucleus due to irradiation damage to the nuclear membrane, such as has been demonstrated by Creasey5 in the irradiated spleen.
Parameter Dependence in Stochastic Modeling—Multivariate Distributions

We start with analyzing stochastic dependence in a classic bivariate normal density framework. We focus on the way the conditional density of one of the random variables depends on realizations of the other. In the bivariate normal case this dependence takes the form of a parameter (here the “expected value”) of one probability density depending continuously (here linearly) on realizations of the other random variable. The point is, that such a pattern does not need to be restricted to that classical case of the bivariate normal. We show that this paradigm can be generalized and viewed in ways that allows one to extend it far beyond the bivariate or multivariate normal probability distributions class.
A comparison of covalent DNA binding of benzo[a]pyrene and 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene in respiratory tissues from human, rat and mouse

Abstract In vivo and in vitro covalent DNA binding was investigated in an attempt to explain the higher susceptibility of A J mouse lung and Fischer-344 rat trachea to 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) as compared to benzo[a]pyrene (BP), and to evaluate the relative susceptibility of the human respiratory tract to these compounds. After in vivo administration of either BP or DMBA to A J mice covalent DNA binding was higher in the liver than in the lungs. Forty-eight hours after administration, but not before, binding of DMBA was higher than that of BP in both organs. In vitro studies using cultured explants of both human and A J mouse peripheral lung, as well as human bronchus and Fischer-344 rat trachea, revealed that covalent DNA binding of DMBA to mouse lung and rat trachea were similar and that both were significantly higher than that of BP to these organs. Binding of BP and DMBA was similar in both human tissues and did not differ from BP binding in the animal tissues. Enzymatic hydrolysis and HPLC separation of the DNA-hydrocarbon adducts revealed that patterns of adducts in human and mouse peripheral lung were similar and qualitatively resembled known patterns in other target and non-target tissues. It is concluded that the higher susceptibility of the mouse lung and rat trachea to DMBA as compared to BP may be related to the higher covalent DNA binding of the former and that the relative carcinogenic risk of the human respiratory tract after exposure to DMBA may be the same as that after BP exposure.
Global human resources (HR) information systems

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to advance information systems, research and strategies to manage global human resources. The influx of diversity candidates into the marketplace is driving the wheels of change. With an increase in minorities and international workforce in advanced education and professional positions, employers are choosing to embrace diversity. Those that successfully make this transition will prosper in this new century and beyond. A culturally diverse workforce provides an enriched environment for the development of new ideas, fresh perspectives and innovative methodologies.Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses the fact that the increasing prevalence of globalization is driven by a number of factors, including shortage of talent in developed countries, availability of low‐cost labor, growing consumers in developing countries, technological progress and worldwide workforce diversity. Human Resources (HR) departments of global companies must assemble global databases t...
Backscattering enhancements associated with antisymmetric Lamb waves confined to the edge of a circular plate: Direct and holographic observations

Significant backscattering enhancements occur for thin circular plates tilted close to the coupling angle for the second antisymmetric leaky wave, the a 1 wave. Imaging the surface of the plate using acoustic holography shows that the mechanism responsible for this enhancement is associated with the excitation of a leaky wave that is confined to the edge of the plate. This “circumferential” wave couples to the incident field at the top and bottom of the plate and travels around the plate with a group velocity that is much slower than that of the a 1 wave. This circumferential wave may be a whispering gallery mode associated with the a 1 wave or a higher order flexural edge wave.
Workflow-Driven Ontologies: An Earth Sciences Case Study

A goal of the Geosciences Network (GEON) is to develop cyber-infrastructure that will allow earth scientists to discover access, integrate and disseminate knowledge in distributed environments such as the Web, changing the way in which research is conducted. The earth sciences community has begun the complex task of creating ontologies to support this effort. A challenge is to coalesce the needs of the earth scientists, who wish to capture knowledge in a particular discipline through the ontology, with the need to leverage the knowledge to support technology that will facilitate computation, for example, by helping the composition of services. This paper describes an approach for defining workflow-driven ontologies that capture classes and relationships from domain experts and use that knowledge to support composition of services. To demonstrate the capability afforded by this type of ontology, the paper presents examples of workflow specifications generated from a workflow-driven ontology that has been defined for representing knowledge about gravity data.
Factors associated with horizontal reoperation in infantile esotropia.

Abstract Purpose: Risk factors for requiring multiple surgeries in infantile esotropia remain unclear. We identified clinical and demographic factors associated with horizontal reoperation in this disease. Methods: A retrospective chart review of patients who underwent surgery from 1994-1997 was performed. Subjects were divided into 2 groups: those requiring only one operation and those requiring 2 or more operations to achieve orthotropia ±10 PD. Results: In 149 patients, the overall horizontal reoperation rate was 34%. There were no statistically significant differences between the 2 groups with respect to mean age at first surgery, mean preoperative deviation, gender, prematurity, Medicaid coverage, parental age, family history of strabismus, or refractive error. The presence of nystagmus, oblique muscle dysfunction, dissociated vertical deviation (DVD), or a variable angle of esotropia was not associated with increased horizontal reoperation rate. There was a greater frequency of horizontal reoperation in patients with amblyopia, although not significant. Premature infants and infants with neurologic dysfunction had a lower incidence of horizontal reoperation, but also not significant. Deviations of less than 30 PD were associated with fewer horizontal reoperations (16% vs 31%, P = .047). Significantly more patients underwent horizontal reoperation when initial surgery was performed at less than or equal to 15 months of age (67% vs 47%, P = .022). Conclusions: Several factors thought to predispose to poor sensorimotor outcome (dissociated vertical deviation, oblique muscle dysfunction, and nystagmus) were not associated with an increased incidence of horizontal reoperation. Horizontal reoperation was less frequent in patients with angles less than 30 PD. Although some studies suggest that early surgical intervention in patients with infantile esotropia affords better sensory outcome, it may be associated with a higher horizontal reoperation rate. (J AAPOS 2002;6:15-20)
Gender‐ and reticence‐related vocal cues: An exploratory acoustical analysis

This essay describes three studies that compare acoustically vocal cues pertaining to both gender and type (reticence or nonreticence) in order to determine the interaction of gender and reticent/nonreticent vocal cues. The results of these exploratory studies suggest that individual vocal cues, such as fundamental frequency or pitch, fundamental frequency or pitch range, intensity or volume, and fluency or rate, may be associated primarily with gender, type (reticence or nonreticence) or gender and type. The studies’ findings have implications for those who are interested in gaining a clearer understanding of vocal cues for and across populations and in improving vocal delivery training.
Role of electron temperature anisotropy in the onset of magnetic reconnection

[1] Predictions of tearing saturation in a neutral sheet range from minute amplitude to explosive growth. It is shown that in 2D, single island tearing saturates at very small amplitudes due to preferential electron heating in the parallel direction. However, the presence of multiple unstable modes allows the system to get past the stabilization and grow to ion scales. In 3D there are two current aligned instabilities that can affect the tearing mode. One is the Weibel instability driven by electron anisotropy T⊥e/T∥e 1 within the current layer. In this limit, the parallel Weibel instability merges with tearing to give rise to anisotropic tearing, which becomes the dominant electron anisotropy driven mode with a broad angular spectrum. The level of electron anisotropy generated by the LHDI can significantly enhance the tearing growth rate and extend the spectrum to very short wavelength which expedites the transition to large scale reconnection. Thus LHDI's main contribution to reconnection onset is not through anomalous resistivity but through its effect on tearing mode.
GLYCOALKALOID STABILITY DURING THE EXTRUSION OF POTATO FLAKES

The total glycoalkaloid (TGA) of non-extruded potato flakes was found to be 17.2 mg/100 g of flakes on the dry weight basis. Extrusion at 70, 100, 130 and 160°C of flakes containing 59 and 48% added moisture did not result in a significant reduction of TGA. However, product containing 38% added moisture and extruded at 160° did result in lower TGA levels. Likewise, extrusion at 130° and 160° of product containing 25% added moisture also resulted in lower TGA levels. Thus, it would appear that under certain extrusion conditions, TGA is not stable.
Feasible and optimal retrofitting of batch‐soluble to continuous‐immobilized enzyme processes applied to adsorbed enzymes

The advantages of retrofitting an in situ soluble enzyme batch process to an immobilized enzyme continuous process are contrasted against the disadvantages by means of a dimensionless feasibility/optimization analysis. The general analysis is applied to the case of an adsorbed enzyme system where a maximum in activity occurs with respect to loading. For this case, a minimum in the ratio of enzyme-carrier complex working lifetime to in situ batch process time and a maximum in the cost difference between the in situ and retrofit processes occurs with respect to loading and retrofit process conversion. For the maximization of cost difference, the analysis also suggests a criterion that can be used to determine whether the values for optimal loading and retrofit conversion will result in the retrofit being economically feasible. When infeasibility occurs, qualitative sensitivity analysis for a variety of situations points out whether a catalyst or process modification will improve feasibility the most. Apart from forming the basis for an iterative retrofit process design algorithm, the modeling approach's ability to specify optimal values of catalyst properties such as loading lends itself to defining process-specific, catalyst design ''targets'' which would be useful for those developing immobilized enzyme preparation methodology and thosemore » investigating enzyme-carrier interactions. 9 references.« less
Compact polarisation and spatial multiplexing antenna for MIMO applications

A compact size, polarisation and spatial multiplexing slot antenna utilising the Spatial Multiplexing of Local Elements (SMILE) technique, is proposed. The antenna is used to explore diversity gain with a single RF channel in the applications of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication system.
From Writers to Information Coordinators: Technology and the Changing Face of Collaboration

Using a previous study at the same site for comparison, this study examines how recent adoptions of intranet and improved mail technologies have altered the collaborative practices of corporate communication writers at an insurance company. A systematic analysis of collaborative activities using a newly developed continuum shows that the writers’ jobs were significantly transformed by the company’s transition to a digital concept of writing. In particular, writers focused less on producing text and more on developing, coordinating, and structuring the newly adopted corporate intranet.
Connecting the dots in translational research.

Translational research is currently one of the top priorities for the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), as recently highlighted by its Director, Francis Collins (An audience with... Francis Collins. Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 10, 14 (2011))1. The rise of this concept has been fuelled by the widely held belief that major investments in basic biomedical research will not bear fruit in terms of new medicines without new initiatives or approaches to bridge the 'valley of death' that is considered to be a key cause for the stalling of industry pipelines. Indeed, such is the power of this concept that it has recently led to structural reconfiguration of the NIH to create the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), which was formally authorized by the US Congress in December 2011. The fiscal year 2012 budget for the NCATS was ~US$574 million and it is requesting ~$639 million for 2013 (Ref. 2).
Scattering approach to parametric pumping

A dc current can be pumped through a quantum dot by periodically varying two independent parameters ${X}_{1}$ and ${X}_{2},$ like a gate voltage or magnetic field. We present a formula that relates the pumped current to the parametric derivatives of the scattering matrix ${S(X}_{1}{,X}_{2})$ of the system. As an application we compute the statistical distribution of the pumped current in the case of a chaotic quantum dot.
Synthesis and Characterization of 8-Methoxy-2′-Deoxyadenosine-Containing Oligonucleotides to Probe the Syn Glycosidic Conformation of 2′-deoxyadenosine Within DNA

The synthesis of 8-methoxy-2'-deoxyadenosine (moA) protected at N6 as an N,N-dimethylformamidine derivative and incorporation of the modified nucleoside into oligodeoxynucleotides via the phosphoramidite method are described. UV thermal denaturation studies were conducted on duplexes containing moA:G, moA:C and moA:T base pairs to determine the thermodynamic stability of duplexes containing moA relative to their adenosine (A)-containing counterparts. In the case of moA:G base pairs the effect of moA substitution is sequence dependent. In A:G mismatch-containing sequences, which have been shown by structural characterization to have a syn conformational preference at the glycosidic bond of A, moA substitution results in stabilization of the duplex. In contrast, in sequences where the A in the A:G mismatch has been shown to prefer the anti conformation moA substitution is destabilizing to the duplex. Thus moA may be a useful probe for investigating the conformational preferences of the N-glycosidic bond of adenosine within DNA. In addition, moA nucleoside is more resistant to acid-catalyzed depurination than previously described 8-bromo-2'-deoxyadenosine, allowing for facile incorporation into oligonucleotides via automated solid phase DNA synthesis.
An upper bound for the Folkman number F (3,3;5)

Let F(p, q; r) denote the minimum number of vertices in a graph G that has the properties (1) G contains no complete subgraph on r vertices, and (2) any green-red coloring of the edges of G yields a green complete subgraph on p vertices or a red complete subgraph on q vertices. Folkman proved the existence of F(p, q; r) whenever r > max {p, q}. We show F(3, 3; 5) ≤ 17, improving a bound due to Irving and an earlier bound due to Graham and Spencer. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
A stable isotope-labeled internal standard is essential for correcting for the interindividual variability in the recovery of lapatinib from cancer patient plasma in quantitative LC-MS/MS analysis.

Abstract The development and validation of a LC–MS/MS method is often performed using pooled human plasma, which may fail to account for variations in interindividual matrices. Since calibrator standards and quality control samples are routinely prepared in pooled human plasma, variations in the extraction recovery and/or matrix effect between pooled plasma and individual patient plasma can cause erroneous measurements. Using both pooled human plasma as well as individual healthy donor and cancer patient plasma samples, we evaluated the analytical performance of two classes of internal standards (i.e., non-isotope-labeled and isotope-labeled) in the quantitative LC–MS/MS analysis of lapatinib. After exhaustive extraction with organic solvent, the recovery of lapatinib, a highly plasma protein-bound drug, varied up to 2.4-fold (range, 29–70%) in 6 different donors of plasma and varied up to 3.5-fold (range, 16–56%) in the pretreatment plasma samples from 6 cancer patients. No apparent matrix effects were observed for lapatinib in both pooled and individual donor or patient plasma samples. The calibration curve range was 5–5000 ng/ml of lapatinib in plasma. Both the non-isotope-labeled (zileuton) and isotope-labeled (lapatinib-d3) internal standard methods showed acceptable specificity, accuracy (within 100 ± 10%), and precision (
Stratigraphic and Sedimentologic Relations Among Three Frontier-Turner Depocenters in Wyoming Portion of Powder River Basin: ABSTRACT

During Turonian time, the western North American Cretaceous seaway covered a shallow shelf upon which sediments were deposited predominantly from western sources. Pulsating rates of sediment supply resulted in local regressions and transgressions along the seaway margins. The last three of these regressive-transgressive sequences affecting the Powder River basin are recorded by two sandstone complexes with western sources: the Torchlight and First Frontier sandstones, and the Turner sandstone, a shale-sandstone complex which prograded westward from the craton. The Torchlight and First Frontier sandstones represent deltaic depocenters which consisted of distributary-channel and delta-front sand complexes, capped by well-sorted transgressive, reworked sands. The Turner sandstone represents isolated individual bars, channels, and splays within a mud-rich deltaic complex. Stratigraphic analyses show that the Torchlight sandstone is slightly older than the First Frontier, and that the Turner complex is somewhat younger than the First Frontier. An isopach map of the lower, calcareous part of the overlying Niobrara Formation shows that calcareous shales are thickest over the western deltaic complexes, decreasing to zero along the seaward edges of the Turner lobes. Interpretation of the calcareous shales as representing periods of slow siliciclastic sediment influx indicates that the western complexes were inactive as depocenters for a significant period of time whereas the Turner distributaries were still supplying significant siliciclastic sediments from the craton to the eastern parts of the Powder River basin. End_of_Article - Last_Page 823------------
Vertical integration or separation of the sales function as implied by competitive forces

Abstract In the present paper, we link the decisions concerning the sales strategies that are made by competing firms. We demonstrate that when the demand schedules facing competing firms are moderately correlated, asymmetric equilibria may arise where only one firm decides to establish its own sales force while its competitor sells its product through an independent sales agency. When demand schedules are highly correlated, however, only symmetric equilibria can arise, since firms derive greater benefits from imitating rather than contradicting their rivals' choices. We demonstrate that vertical separation of its sales function is more likely than vertical integration when firms produce products that are highly substitutable.
Midazolam pretreatment does not ameliorate myoglobinemia or the clinical side effects of succinylcholine

Abstract Study Objective: To determine whether the levels of serum myoglobin and the occurrence of fasciculations and postoperative symptoms following a single dose of succinylcholine are modified by the prior administration of midazolam. Design: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Setting: Outpatient surgical service of a university hospital. Patients: 69 ASA physical status I and II healthy, adult female outpatients undergoing laparoscopy (for diagnosis or tubal ligation) with general anesthesia that included succinylcholine. Interventions: Patients received pretreatment of either a saline placebo (Group 1, n=31) or intravenous midazolam 0.03 mg/kg (Group 2, n=38) 5 minutes before succinylcholine. Measurements and Main Results: Serum myoglobin prior to pretreatment and at 5 (t 5 ) and 30 (t 30 ) minutes after succinylcholine was determined by radioimmunoassay. Pain was assessed by telephone interview 24 to 36 hours postoperatively. Baseline myoglobin levels ranged from 14 to 69 ng/ml; the 5- and 30-minute samples varied widely (range, 16 to 900 ng/ml). The rise was 3 or more SDs above the baseline mean in 23% and 42% of Group 1 at t 5 and t 30 , respectively, and in 21% and 35% of Group 2 at t 5 and t 30 , respectively. The differences between groups were not significant. The frequency of fasciculations (77% in Group 1, 87% in Group 2), postoperative sore throat (64% in Group 1, 57% in Group 2), and myalgias (44% in Group 1, 51% in Group 2) also was not significantly different between groups. Conclusions: Midazolam had no effect on myoglobin level or postoperative symptoms following succinylcholine.
Blood-based biomarkers of selenium and thyroid status indicate possible adverse biological effects of mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls in Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears.

We examined biomarkers of selenium status (whole blood Se; serum Se; glutathione peroxidase activity) and thyroid status (concentrations and ratios of thyroxine, T4; tri-iodothyronine, T3; albumin) in polar bears to assess variations among cohorts, and relationships to circulating concentrations of contaminants. Concentrations of total mercury (Hg) in whole blood were similar among cohorts (prime aged males and females, older animals, ages≥16 years, and young animals, ages 1-5 years; 48.44±35. 81; p=0.253). Concentrations of sum of seven polychlorinated biphenyls (∑PCB7) in whole blood were greater in females (with and without cubs, 26.44±25.82 ng/g ww) and young (26.81±10.67 ng/g ww) compared to males (8.88±5.76 ng/g ww, p 0.08). Thyroid hormones were greater in females (solitary females and females with cubs) compared to males (p<0.001). Biomarkers of Se status and concentrations of T3 were significantly positively related to Hg in all prime aged polar bears (p<0.03). Albumin concentrations were significantly positively related to total TT4, and significantly negatively related to concentrations of ∑PCB7 (p<0.003). Total thyroxine (TT4) was significantly negatively associated with blood concentrations of ∑PCB7 in solitary females (p=0.045). These data suggest that female polar bears were more susceptible to changes in blood-based biomarkers of selenium and thyroid status than males. Further classifications of the physiologic states of polar bears and repeated measures of individuals over time are needed to accurately assess the biological impact of combined toxicant exposures.
Closure properties of some families of languages associated with biological systems

We discuss some families of languages which have originally arisen from the study of mathematical models for the development of some biological organisms. We shall, therefore, call them families of developmental languages. From the computer scientist's point of view, they are all families consisting of languages which are generated by context-free grammars, with the difference that at each step of a derivation every symbol in the sentential form is rewritten. Thus, the behavior of these systems is similar to the behavior of other grammars in which context-free type rules are applied simultaneously at several points in a sentential form. Such grammars have been under active investigation in recent years. Subfamilies (128 of them) of our largest family of development languages are determined by various biologically and mathematically meaningful restrictions. Due to the parallelism in their definition, each of the families will contain languages which are not context free. However, they are all subfamilies of the context-sensitive languages. We investigate the closure properties of these families of languages, and we find that, in contrast to other recently studied families with parallelism, they are closed under only a few operations. In fact, none of them is an AFL or a pre-AFL. We also give a number of examples of how to prove that these families are or are not closed under various operations. The significance of our results is discussed from the point of view of both formal language theory and developmental biology.
Tissue sampling from live blue mussels, Mytilus edulis. A field study from the Swedish west coast

Abstract Histological techniques are often used to study environmental effects on mussels, but since these techniques include killing of the individuals, rare or endangered populations cannot be studied using conventional tissue sampling. This study is an attempt to find a method that can be used repeatedly with the same mussel individual and which does not affect growth and survival. From 200 mussels, Mytilus edulis , tissue was sampled in different ways, such as drilling a hole in the shell or prising apart the shell valves. Two kind of instruments were used, an injection needle and surgery forceps. Some of the drilled mussels had their holes sealed again with cement. Drilling a hole in the shell, removing tissue sample with surgical forceps and then leaving the holes open did not seriously harm the mussels during the two months the experiment lasted. But if the holes were sealed with cement, both length and weight growth were negatively affected (35% lower length growth and 36% lower weight growth compared to the control mussels). Mortality was highest among the drilled and sealed mussels (80% higher than among the other treatments). The vulnerability of the population, the aim of the study and the duration of the experiment should decide what method to use for tissue sampling. For long-term experiments and repeated sampling, opening the mussels by prizing apart the valves is a better alternative than drilling holes in the shells, but depending on the morphology of the species it could be difficult to sample the anterior part of the mussel body. For a short experiment and to sample anterior parts, drilling the shells, leaving the holes open and using surgical forceps, seems to be an acceptable compromise between the different treatments used.
Requirements for mammalian carboxylesterase inhibition by substituted ethane-1,2-diones

Carboxylesterases (CE) are ubiquitous enzymes found in both human and animal tissues and are responsible for the metabolism of xenobiotics. This includes numerous natural products, as well as a many clinically used drugs. Hence, the activity of these agents is likely dependent upon the levels and location of CE expression. We have recently identified benzil is a potent inhibitor of mammalian CEs, and in this study, we have assessed the ability of analogues of this compound to inhibit these enzymes. Three different classes of molecules were assayed: one containing different atoms vicinal to the carbonyl carbon atom and the benzene ring [PhXC(O)C(O)XPh, where X=CH₂, CHBr, N, S, or O]; a second containing a panel of alkyl 1,2-diones demonstrating increasing alkyl chain length; and a third consisting of a series of 1-phenyl-2-alkyl-1,2-diones. In general, with the former series of molecules, heteroatoms resulted in either loss of inhibitory potency (when X=N), or conversion of the compounds into substrates for the enzymes (when X=S or O). However, the inclusion of a brominated methylene atom resulted in potent CE inhibition. Subsequent analysis with the alkyl diones [RC(O)C(O)R, where R ranged from CH₃ to C₈H₁₇] and 1-phenyl-2-alkyl-1,2-diones [PhC(O)C(O)R where R ranged from CH₃ to C₆H₁₃], demonstrated that the potency of enzyme inhibition directly correlated with the hydrophobicity (clogP) of the molecules. We conclude from these studies that that the inhibitory power of these 1,2-dione derivatives depends primarily upon the hydrophobicity of the R group, but also on the electrophilicity of the carbonyl group.
Fine mapping of the rice low phytic acid (Lpa1) locus

Phytic acid is the primary storage form of phosphorus (P) in cereal grains. In addition to being essential for normal seedling growth and development, phytic acid plays an important role in human and animal nutrition. The rice low phytic acid mutation lpa1 results in a 45% reduction in seed phytic acid with a molar equivalent increase in inorganic P. The Lpa1 locus was previously mapped to the long arm of chromosome 2. Using microsatellite markers and a recombinant inbred line population, we fine mapped this locus between the markers RM3542 and RM482, which encompass a region of 135 kb. Additional markers were developed from the DNA sequence of this region. Two of these markers further delimited the locus to a 47-kb region containing eight putative open reading frames. Cloning and molecular characterization of the Lpa1 gene will provide insight into phytic acid biosynthesis in plants. The markers reported here should also be useful in introgressing the low phytic acid phenotype into other rice cultivars.
Hormonal and acid-base regulation of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase mRNA levels in rat kidney

Metabolic acidosis (6 days NH4Cl) causes a fourfold increase in the relative abundance of mRNA encoding phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase in rat kidney. Streptozotocin-diabetes (6 days) also results in an increased abundance of the mRNA but this increase can be prevented if the acidosis associated with bicarbonate is corrected by treatment with bicarbonate. The results confirm that renal phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase is regulated primarily by changes in acid-base status and that this control is at a pretranslational step. Isolated kidney tubules in short-term incubation have been used to identify which agents regulate levels of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase mRNA. The relative abundance of the mRNA was increased by glucocorticoids and hormones which act via cAMP, or by cAMP analogues directly, but was not affected by hormones acting via Ca2+. Neither incubation at pH 7.1 nor the presence of serum from acidotic rats had any effect on the level of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase mRNA. It is concluded that acidosis, glucocorticoids, and cAMP independently regulate expression of renal phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase.
Preferences of Mexican-American Children for Parents or Television.

Summary The preferences between father and television and between mother and television for the children of Mexican-American migrant farm laborers (N = 164) between the ages of three and 21 were measured by using a series of questions involving two alternatives in a structured interview situation. Both parents were found to be significantly (p < .01) preferred over television by their children. However, groups of children were shown to differ in their preferences for parents versus television as a function of age.
A high-throughput screen for identifying transmembrane pore-forming peptides.

Abstract We have developed a visual microwell plate assay for rapid, high-throughput screening for membrane-disrupting molecules such as de novo designed pore formers, antibiotic peptides, bacterial toxins, and lipases. The detectability is based on the strong fluorescence emission of the lanthanide metal terbium(III) (Tb 3+ ) when it interacts with the aromatic chelator dipicolinic acid (DPA). While Tb 3+ is not strongly fluorescent alone, the binary complex emits bright green fluorescence when irradiated with uv light. For the microwell plate assay, we prepared unilamellar phospholipid vesicles that had either Tb 3+ or DPA entrapped and the opposite molecule in the external solution. Disruption of the membranes allows the Tb 3+ /DPA complex to form, giving rise to a visibly fluorescent solution. In plates with 20-μl wells, the lower limit of visual detectability of the Tb 3+ /DPA complex in solution was about 2.5 μM. The lower limit of detectability using vesicles with entrapped Tb 3+ or DPA was about 50 μM phospholipid. We show that the membrane-disrupting effect of as little as 0.25 μM or 5 pmol of the pore-forming, antibiotic peptide alamethicin can be detected visually with this system. This sensitive, high-throughput assay is readily automatable and makes possible the visual screening of combinatorial peptide libraries for members that permeabilize lipid bilayer membranes.
Testing the Oppositional Culture Explanation in Desegregated Schools: The Impact of Racial Differences in Academic Orientations on School Performance

Recent studies suggest that anti-achievement attitudes and behaviors that are specific to black students occur most commonly in integrated or predominantly white school contexts. Accordingly, this study examines the degree to which racial differences in achievement-related attitudes and behaviors (collectively called academic orientations) actually contribute to corresponding differences in academic performance among nearly 25,000 students attending integrated secondary schools in the United States. The findings suggest that when controlling for socioeconomic status indicators, black students exhibit more pro-academic orientations than their white counterparts. School racial composition did not significantly influence these dynamics, and the racial composition of black students’ friend groups showed modest but inconsistent influence on academic orientations. Finally, the authors demonstrate that racial differences in expressed academic orientations have only negligible consequences for student performance, and thus do not show much promise for explaining or remedying black/white achievement disparities in secondary schools.
Development of Schwann cell-seeded conduit using chitosan-based biopolymers for nerve repair

The purpose of this study is to develop biodegradable nerve guidance conduits seeded with Schwann cells (SC) using chitosan-based biopolymers for improving nerve regeneration. Chitosan, prepared from alkaline hydrolysis of chitin, is a natural polysaccharide biopolymer, having biocompatibility and biodegradability. In this study, chitosan and chitosan-gelatin membranes were prepared, characterized, and evaluated. The SC isolated from rat sciatic nerve was seeded on chitosan and chitosan-gelatin membranes to investigate their interactions. To enhance the SC attachment and growth on the membranes, we incorporated the poly-L-lysine (PLL) into chitosan and chitosan-gelatin network at various ratios of 1:800, 1:200, 1:50 (chitosan or chitosan-gelatin: PLL). We have also investigated the effect of extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules on the proliferation of SC. We observed that SC proliferation on PLL-coated surface was significantly higher than that of ECM coated and uncoated surfaces. With the increase of PLL ratio into chitosan or chitosan-gelatin network, the attachment and growth of SCs were significantly enhanced. This study indicates that the incorporation of PLL into chitosan and chitosan-gelatin membranes significantly improves the bioactivity of the materials. The Schwann cell-seeded films can be used to construct a three-dimensional nerve conduit for enhancing nerve regeneration.