cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Infantile spasms and hyperekplexia associated with isolated sulfite oxidase deficiency.

Importance Isolated sulfite oxidase deficiency (ISOD) causes severe intellectual disability, epilepsy, and shortened life expectancy. Intractable seizures are invariable in children with ISOD; however, to our knowledge, infantile spasms with a corresponding hypsarrhythmia pattern on electroencephalogram have never been reported. In addition, the nonepileptic paroxysmal movement disorder hyperekplexia has not previously been reported with ISOD. Observations We describe an infant with ISOD who initially presented with neonatal seizures, diffusion restriction noted on magnetic resonance imaging, and elevated serum S-sulfocysteine consistent with ISOD. A homozygous mutation in the SUOX gene was identified, confirming the diagnosis. Uniquely, this patient developed a profound accentuated startle response that did not have a corresponding electrographic change on electroencephalogram consistent with hyperekplexia. This was followed by a change in the child’s electroencephalogram to the chaotic pattern of hypsarrhythmia and brief tonic seizures with attenuation of the hypsarrhythmia pattern characteristic of infantile spasms. Conclusions and Relevance The evolution of seizures associated with ISOD is poorly characterized because of the small number of patients. We report what we believe to be the first case of a child with ISOD who developed infantile spasms and hyperekplexia. This expands the phenotypes associated with ISOD and also should caution clinicians to not assume that all abnormal movements are seizures.
FREE WILL HAS A NEURAL SUBSTRATE: CRITIQUE OF JOSEPH F. RYCHLAK'S DISCOVERING FREE WILL AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

. Ably marshalling ideas from theology, philosophy, and neurology, personality theorist Joseph F. Rychlak criticizes mechanistic psychologists' neglect of will and responsibility; these human qualities involve dialectically considering alternatives. I disagree with Rychlaks suggestion of fundamental mystery in the minds transcendence of the body and believe transcendent mind is intimately related to biological evolution and the brain. For example, dialectics, seen in simpler forms in lower animals, may require neural inhibition, feedback circuits, and topographic mappings. However, epistemologically speaking, neuroscientists strongly need the human insights of work such as Rychlak's to understand the alternatives, in planning investigation at more microscopic levels.
Soil carbon flux following pulse precipitation events in the shortgrass steppe

Pulses of water availability characterize semiarid and arid ecosystems. Most precipitation events in these ecosystems are small (≤10 mm), but can stimulate carbon flux. The large proportion of carbon stored belowground and small carbon inputs create the potential for these small precipitation events to have large effects on carbon cycling. Land-use change can modify these effects through alteration of the biota and soil resources. The goal of our research was to determine how small precipitation events (2, 5, and 10 mm) affected the dynamics of soil carbon flux and water loss in previously cultivated Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields and undisturbed shortgrass steppe. Total carbon loss and duration of elevated carbon flux increased as event size increased in all field types. Time since cultivation increased in importance for carbon flux as event size increased. A comparison of water loss rates to carbon flux suggests that water is limiting to carbon flux for the smallest events, but is less limiting for events above 5 mm. We also describe how water availability interacts with temperature in controlling carbon flux rate. We conclude that small precipitation events have the potential for large short-term losses of carbon in the shortgrass steppe.
Psychology Textbooks: Examining Their Accuracy:

Sales figures and recollections of psychologists indicate textbooks play a central role in psychology students' education, yet instructors typically must select texts under time pressure and with incomplete information. Although selection aids are available, none adequately address the accuracy of texts. We describe a technique for sampling textbooks' content and evaluating accuracy. Preliminary studies indicated multiple errors in texts we examined. We present a proposed taxonomy of such errors. We speculate that errors are more likely when textbook authors use “deductive” rather than “inductive referencing,” but acknowledge that authors frequently are under pressure to use the former. Discipline-wide efforts to assess textbooks' scholarly quality could facilitate improvements in accuracy, providing fundamental benefits to the discipline.
Hepatic and intestinal histology of juvenile white sturgeon fed different carbohydrates.

Abstract Juvenile white sturgeon were fed isonitrogenous purified diets containing 27.2% of either glucose, fructose, maltose, sucrose, lactose, dextrin, raw corn starch or cellulose for 8 weeks. Sturgeon fed glucose, maltose or dextrin had significantly (P
Quantitative analysis of the tissue response to chronically implanted microwire electrodes in rat cortex

Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain how the brain tissue reaction to single unit recording electrodes influences biocompatibility including progressive changes in the spatial distribution of reactive astrocytes, and the loss of neurons over the indwelling period. To examine these hypotheses, the spatial distribution of biomarkers associated with the foreign body response to insulated microwires placed in rat cerebral cortex was analyzed 2, 4, and 12 weeks after implantation using quantitative methods. We observed a stereotypical tissue response that was similar in some aspects to that previously reported for penetrating planar silicon microelectrode arrays with some specific differences including an overall lower degree of cortical tissue reactivity. While we found no evidence that reactive gliosis increases over time or that neuronal loss is progressive, we did find evidence of persistent inflammation and enhanced BBB permeability at the electrode brain tissue interface that extended over the 3 month indwelling period and that exhibited more animal to animal variability at 3 months than at 2 and 4 weeks.
Interrelation of large parenteral doses of estrogen and Vitamin A and their effect on the oral mucosa

Abstract The problem is one of potential connection between the hyperkeratinization of oral mucous membranes seen in vitamin A deficiency and that produced in long-term large-dose estrogenic therapy. Hormones and vitamins have specific effects on the organism as a whole. Both of these substances affect epithelial structures in a definite manner. Do they at all times perform as separate entities or, under the conditions described, do they act, directly or indirectly, upon each other? In the first experiment, two subadult female rhesus monkeys, one normal and one ovariectomized, were given 1,000 R.U. of progynon B for fifty-three days, when biopsies showed a definite change in the alveolar and areolar gingivae as evidenced by hyperkeratinization and hyperplasia. Eight days after the observance of these changes, daily doses of vitamin A (10,000 I.U.), plus estrogen (500 R.U.), were given for thirty-one days, after which time the animals were sacrificed and sections of oral mucous membranes and vaginas were studied. The effect of the vitamin A upon the keratinization and hyperplasia produced by estrogen was a suppression or amelioration. In the second experiment on a female rhesus monkey, large doses of vitamin A (10,000 I.U.) daily for thirty days were followed by combined vitamin A (10,000 I.U.) and estrogen (1,000 R.U.) daily for thirty days. In general, the results of the vitamin A administration indicated a degenerative change in the gingivae. The addition of estrogenic hormone to the administration of vitamin A resulted in overcoming the high vitamin A effect, producing hyperplasia of the gingivae with marked restoration of tissue tone. Although the injection of the combined estrogen and vitamin A produced an amelioration of the previous treatment effects in both experiments, the results in each were dissimilar.
Using a laser vibrometer for monitoring dynamic strain, modal analysis, and calculating damping

With the renewed interest in hypervelocity vehicles, component testing in extreme thermoacoustic and thermovibration environments is now required. This requires new test facilities and new instrumentation techniques be developed to test and evaluate these new structures, components and sub- components. To collect data in these extreme environments new instrumentation is needed. In a dynamic test environment use of strain gages is limited to low temperature testing. This paper describes how room temperature and high temperature (greater than 2000 degrees F) strain data is collected, using a laser vibrometer, on cantilevered coupons. This paper also describes the use of a laser vibrometer to obtain mode shapes and damping information. With new structural components, many manufactured from new composite materials such as ceramic matrix composites (CMC), there is a need to acquire accurate mode shapes and damping information. Traditionally modal analysis is done using accelerometers to map out the responses of a structure. This is time consuming, expensive and on small structures the weight of the accelerometers could affect the results. Through the use of a laser vibrometer accurate mode shapes can be obtained quickly. This information can be used to validate finite element models and to determine instrumentation locations on test components. With complex structures it is essential to determine the correct locations to install instrumentation when performing high level dynamic testing, the vibrometer is ideally suited for this. While the mode shapes are being mapped using a vibrometer it is an easy and logical step to calculate the damping of the structural component. Damping is calculated using the half-power bandwidth method that provides accurate results when using a vibrometer.
Chromatin Immunoprecipitation in Early Xenopus Laevis Embryos

Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a powerful method for analyzing the interaction of regulatory proteins with genomic loci, but has been difficult to apply to studies on early embryos due to the limiting amount of genomic material in these samples. Here, we present a comprehensive technique for performing ChIP on blastula and gastrula stage Xenopus embryos. We also describe methods for optimizing crosslinking and chromatin shearing, verifying antibody specificity, maximizing PCR sensitivity, and quantifying PCR results, allowing for the use of as few as 50 early blastula stage embryos (approximately 5×104 cells) per experimental condition. Finally, we demonstrate the predicted binding of endogenous β-catenin to the nodal-related 6 promoter, binding of tagged Fast-1/FoxH1 to the goosecoid promoter, and binding of tagged Tcf3 to the siamois and nodal-related 6 promoters as examples of the potential application of ChIP to embryological investigations. Developmental Dynamics 238:1422–1432, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Asymptotic relaxation of reversible bimolecular chemical reactions

Abstract The kinetics of the diffusion influenced bimolecular reversible reactions A + B ⇌ C and A + B ⇌ C + D is investigated at long times. We use the Poisson representation which treats the underlying many particle problem in a simple and elegant way. In this formalism the master equation can be exactly transformed into a Fokker–Planck or equivalent Langevin equation. Solving these iteratively, we determine the amplitude of the power law ( t − d /2 ) decay of the concentrations to equilibrium for arbitrary diffusion constants and concentrations of the reactants.
Generalized Elastic Scheduling

The elastic task model (Buttazzo et al., 2002) is a powerful model for adapting real-time systems in the presence of uncertainty. This paper generalizes the existing elastic scheduling approach in several directions. It reveals that the original task compression algorithm in (Buttazzo et al., 2002) in fact solves a quadratic programming problem that seeks to minimize the sum of the squared deviation of a task's utilization from initial desired utilization. This finding indicates that the task compression algorithm may be applied to efficiently solve other similar types of problems. In particular, an iterative approach is proposed to solve the task compression problem for real-time tasks with deadlines less than respective periods. Furthermore, a new objective for minimizing the average difference of task periods from desired values is introduced and a closed-form formula is derived for solving the problem without recursion
Challenges and opportunities in the encapsulation of liquid and semi-solid formulations into capsules for oral administration

The encapsulation of liquids and semi-solids provides solutions for convenient delivery through improved oral absorption of poorly water-soluble drugs. In addition, low dose (content uniformity), highly potent (containment), low melting point drugs, those with a critical stability profile and those for which a delayed release is required are candidates for liquid or semi-solid formulations. Both hard and soft capsules can be considered and in each case the capsule wall may comprise gelatin or some other suitable polymer such as hypromellose. The choice of a hard or soft capsule will depend primarily on the components of the formulation which provides the best absorption characteristics as well as on the physical characteristics, such as the viscosity of the formulation and the temperature at which the product needs to be filled. Numerous excipients are available for formulation of lipid-based systems and their compatibilities with hard gelatin capsules have been tested. The availability of new enhanced manufacturing equipment has brought new opportunities for liquid-filled hard capsules. Filling and sealing technologies for hard capsules, provides the formulator with the flexibility of developing formulations in-house from small scale, as required for Phase I studies, up to production.
Local scale invarlance and gravitation

Abstract A gauge field theory of (local) scale invariance is constructed. When coupled to gravity it yields the old theory of Weyl. A Brans-Dicke scalar field is introduced a la Dirac. With a suitable choice of parameters the theory then reduces in a special gauge to Einstein's theory even in the presence of matter. If the gauge field of scaling (even under charge conjugation) is identified with the gauge field of an internal symmetry, a (spontaneous) breakdown of charge conjugation invariance (and of CP ) can follow. This effect has a reasonable order of magnitude if gravity is replaced by strong gravity and the internal charge identified with lepton number of baryon number, or some neutral weak charge. Certain difficulties arise, however, if one insists on the Weyl identification of the gauge field of scaling with the electromagnetic field. It is shown that the observed tensor mesons ( f , f ′, etc.), while basic in tensor meson dominance, are not the quanta of a gauge field of strong gravity.
An Untold Story: American Policy toward Chinese Students in the United States, 1949-1955

It is well known that some twenty years of Cold War confrontation between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United States hindered constructive diplomatic, trade, and cultural relations. It has virtually remained untold how this mutual antagonism affected the lives and careers of both peoples, in this case the effects of American policy toward Chinese students in the United States from 1949 to 1955 and its significance in the history of Sino-American cultural ex changes. "Chinese students" here refers specifically to those who went to the United States from China before 1949 on nonimmigrant student visas. By the end of 1949, there were about 5,600 Chinese who be longed to this category, of whom more than 4,900 were registered full-time students at various colleges and universities. Most of them had studied or were studying natural sciences, engineering, or medi cine. After the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, the U.S. govern ment prohibited these students from returning to China for reasons of national security. This eventually became an issue between China and the United States, resulting in direct talks between their officials during the Geneva Conference of 1954, and the Sino-American am bassadorial talks which began in Geneva on 1 August 1955. By Sep tember, both governments considered the issue resolved, and by mid-1956 approximately 1,300 Chinese students returned to China.1 American policy toward Chinese students consisted of two parts: to ban those who desired to return to mainland China from leaving the United States; and to adjust regulations to legalize their perma nent stay in the United States. These two aspects, which will be
EXPERIMENTAL EPIDEMIOLOGY OF TUBERCULOSIS : AIR-BORNE CONTAGION OF TUBERCULOSIS IN AN ANIMAL ROOM.

1. Guinea pigs living in the same room but not in the same cage with tuberculous animals acquire tuberculosis, characterized by a chronic course, a marked involvement of the lungs, often with cavity formation and a massive tuberculosis of the tracheobronchial nodes; the mesenteric and cervical nodes are slightly or not at all affected. 2. The route of infection in these guinea pigs is almost always the respiratory tract. 3. Of 103 guinea pigs exposed for a period of up to 32 months 15 or 14.5 per cent developed tuberculosis. The shortest period of exposure leading to fatal tuberculosis was 8 months. 4. The incidence of this tuberculosis acquired by air-borne contagion increases with the duration and intensity of the exposure up to a certain point. 5. A large percentage of the guinea pigs weathered a continuous exposure to the tubercle bacillus for 32 months without becoming tuberculous. This may be due to an innate natural resistance against tuberculosis, or to an acquired immunity resulting from the continuous exposure to the contagion.
Water-walking devices

We report recent efforts in the design and construction of water-walking machines inspired by insects and spiders. The fundamental physical constraints on the size, proportion and dynamics of natural water-walkers are enumerated and used as design criteria for analogous mechanical devices. We report devices capable of rowing along the surface, leaping off the surface and climbing menisci by deforming the free surface. The most critical design constraint is that the devices be lightweight and non-wetting. Microscale manufacturing techniques and new man-made materials such as hydrophobic coatings and thermally actuated wires are implemented. Using high-speed cinematography and flow visualization, we compare the functionality and dynamics of our devices with those of their natural counterparts.
How animals glide: from trajectory to morphology1

Animals that glide produce aerodynamic forces that enable transit through the air in both arboreal and aquatic environments. The relative ease of gliding compared with flapping flight has led to a ...
Ultrathin anisotropic films assembled from individual single-walled carbon nanotubes and amine polymers.

Oxidized individual single-walled carbon nanotubes and amine polymers have been assembled into 11−32-nm-thick well-ordered conductive films. The films show highly anisotropic electrical conductivity, which is dominated by the nanotubes in the horizontal plane and by polymer-mediated tunneling in the vertical direction. The ratio of the “along” to “across” conductivity is ∼103. The subnanometer thick polymer layers interleaved with monolayers of nanotubes show conductivity several orders of magnitude higher than films of pristine polymers.
Detection of Social Cues: a Signal Detection Theory Analysis

A study was done to demonstrate the usefulness of a signal detection theory (TSD) analysis of the perception of social cues. Eighty-three subjects filled out three personality inventories and then judged how sure they were that approval had or had not been given in each of 104 videotaped remarks. Sensitivity and response bias were predicted from introversion-extraversion, locus of control, need for approval, age and sex in multiple linear regression analyses. Sensitivity was found to be related to age, sex, need for approval and locus of control. Response bias was related to sex. It appears that both sensitivity and response aspects are involved in the detection of a social cue.
Acute tolerance to nicotine in smokers: lack of dissipation within 2 hours.

Greater understanding of development and dissipation of acute tolerance to nicotine may help explain temporal patterns of nicotine self-administration in smokers. The time course of dissipation of acute tolerance to nicotine was examined in 16 smokers (8M, 8F) participating in four sessions differing on pretreatment exposure or time interval prior to nicotine (20 micrograms/kg) challenge: placebo 30 min before, or nicotine (20 micrograms/kg) 30, 60, or 120 min before challenge. Nicotine and placebo were administered by measured-dose nasal spray. The measurement battery consisted of subjective, cardiovascular, thermal pain detection, and behavioral performance measures. Results demonstrated significant acute tolerance (i.e. smaller responses to nicotine challenge following nicotine versus placebo pretreatment) for most subjective measures and for heart rate. Acute tolerance dissipated with lengthening inter-dose interval for two subjective measures, dose strength and arousal, but there was no tolerance dissipation for other measures. In contrast, nicotine pretreatment resulted in acute sensitization of finger temperature (vasoconstriction) response, which dissipated with lengthening interval. No acute tolerance was observed for thermal pain detection or performance measures. These findings demonstrate that acute tolerance develops quickly to some subjective and cardiovascular effects of nicotine. However, acute tolerance to most effects did not dissipate over 2 h, suggesting that, following acute tolerance development during initial exposure, most smokers generally obtain similar magnitude of effects from each subsequent nicotine exposure (i.e. cigarettes smoked later in the day).
The folate and thiamine transport proteins of Lactobacillus casei.

Two separate binding proteins, one specific for folate and the other for thiamine, have been isolated from membrane fragments of Lactobacillus casei. Purification to homogeneity was achieved by fractionation of the Triton-solubilized proteins with microgranular silica (Quso G-32) and Sephadex G-150. Amino acid analyses revealed that the folate (Mr = 25,000) and thiamine (Mr = 29,000) binders have unusually low polarity constants, 0.32 and 0.26, respectively. Evidence obtained with intact cells has established a direct role for these binding proteins in transport of the corresponding vitamins: (A) In each case, the processes of binding and transport showed similarities in substrate affinities and repression by excess vitamin in the growth medium. (B) Competition studies employing amethopterin, 5-formyl tetrahydrofolate, and 5-methyl tetrahydrofolate (for folate) and thiamine monophosphate and thiamine pyrophosphate (for thiamine) have shown that the ability of these compounds to inhibit the transport of the corresponding vitamins is paralleled by their ability to inhibit binding. (C) Amethopterin-resistant mutants which are defective in folate transport have a comparable defect in ability to bind folate. (D) Amethopterin-resistant cells which (compared with the parent cell line) contain folate transport systems with altered affinities for amethopterin also contain binding proteins whose affinities for amethopterin have changed by equivalent amounts. (E) Both the transport and binding of folate by one of the mutants were stimulated (approximately 3-fold) in parallel by the addition of mercaptoethanol.
Approximation of Feasible Sets in Energy System Applications via Convex Optimization

In this paper we present and compare two interior point methods for ellipsoidal approximations of feasible sets defined by linear inequalities. The two procedures (primal-dual maximum volume MaxVE and a linear matrix inequality-based method LMI) are compared on a simultaneous feasibility test (SFT) in power system contingency analysis. The methods simultaneously determine optimal analytic center of the approximating ellipsoid, and its shape matrix for maximal volume inner approximation. The methods are potentially useful optimization in deregulated power markets, for example security-constrained economic dispatch (SCED). The applicability of the two methods is demonstrated on two characteristic test examples: 1) small-size with 6 buses and 3 generators, where visual representation of feasible region are possible, and 2) medium-size with 68 buses and 16 generators
Quantitative measurements of recombinant HIV surface glycoprotein 120 binding to several glycosphingolipids expressed in planar supported lipid bilayers.

The interaction of recombinant HIV-1 surface glycoprotein gp120 (rgp120) with natural isolates of lactosylceramide (LacCer), glucosylceramide (GlcCer), and galactosylceramide (GalCer) has been quantitatively measured under equilibrium conditions using total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) spectroscopy. The binding affinity (Ka) of rgp120 to these glycosphingolipids (GSLs), reconstituted at 5 mol % in supported planar lipid bilayers composed of 95 mol % POPC, is ca. 106 M-1 for dissolved rgp120 concentrations greater than 25 nM. In contrast, at concentrations of rgp120 between 0.2 and 15 nM, rgp120 does not bind significantly to LacCer and GlcCer, but has a high affinity for GalCer with a measured Ka value of 1.6 × 109 M-1. However, protein surface coverage measurements show that this strong binding process accounts for very little of the total protein adsorbed over the entire concentration range studied. At a protein concentration of ca. 20 nM, the surface coverage is only 3% of that achieved at a...
All Cervical Sonography Is Not Created Equal

Because papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is frequently associated with cervical nodal metastases, and because the detection and removal of these metastatic nodes is believed to translate to a lower rate of recurrent or persistent disease, it is desirable to detect these nodal metastases preoperatively and properly address them during the index thyroid operation. It stands to reason that the most sensitive and accurate preoperative nodal staging should be associated with the greatest likelihood of applying the most expedient surgical procedure while minimizing unnecessary dissection. In this issue of Annals of Surgical Oncology, Oltmann and colleagues report on the recurrence rate in patients who underwent what they believe to be the most sensitive method of preoperative nodal staging, surgeon-performed ultrasound. They compare recurrence rates between patients who had preoperative cervical ultrasound performed by surgeons and nonsurgeons. Although this is a small retrospective study, the findings raise the question, ‘‘Are all cervical sonograms created equal?’’ Cervical nodal metastases are found in 30–80 % of cases of PTC, are most commonly located in the central compartment (level VI), and are a risk factor for disease persistence or recurrence. 1–3 Preoperative physical exam has a very low sensitivity and specificity for the detection of cervical nodal metastases. 4,5 Furthermore, surgeons are notoriously poor at even the intraoperative detection of nodal metastases. 6 Preoperative ultrasound is now the standard modality for evaluating cervical nodal status in patients with thyroid cancer because it is much more sensitive and specific than physical exam. A meta-analysis found that cervical ultrasound is 70 % sensitive and 98 % specific for the preoperative detection of nodal metastases. 7 Sonographic clues that herald the presence of metastatic PTC within a cervical node are well-described and can be found by examining nodal morphology, vascularity, size, and echogenicity. 8–11 Several studies have shown that a preoperative cervical ultrasound frequently leads to the detection of occult nodal disease that changes the extent of surgery. 4,5,12–14 Nonpalpable nodal metastases may be detected in roughly 20– 40 % of patients with PTC and will alter the operative approach in a similar percentage of patients. The findings from these studies emphasize the importance of a comprehensive, high-quality, high-resolution, preoperative cervical ultrasound for thyroid cancer patients. Knowledge of the presence and location of nodal metastases before the index operation for thyroid cancer improves the chance that an appropriate lymph node clearance will be planned and performed. Accordingly, in guideline statements, the American Thyroid Association (ATA) and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) both recommend preoperative cervical ultrasound for all patients with papillary thyroid cancer. 15,16
New trials of pharmacological therapy for endoscopy-negative gastro-oesophageal reflux disease

SUMMARY Gastrosesophageal reflux disease describes patients with disease due to gastro-oesophageal acid reflux regardless of the presence or absence of oesophagitis. In patients with endoscopy-positive reflux disease, symptoms and complications occur due to reflux in association with clear-cut oesophagitis, that is, mucosal breaks evident in the distal oesophagus with endoscopy. On the other hand, in patients with endoscopy-negative reflux disease, symptoms and complications due to reflux occur in the absence of clear-cut mucosal breaks. Most investigations of reflux disease therapy have focused on endoscopylpositive disease. This is, at least in part, owing to the relative ease and reproducibility of disease staging: both disease severity and resolution can be endoscopically defined and graded. These studies indicate that erosive oesophagitis is a chronic condition, subject to relapse within 6 months following the cessation of healing therapy in as many as 80% of patients. Both the potency of anti-secretory therapy required for healing and the certainty of relapse are proportional to the severity of endoscopically-defined oesophagitis. Few reliable data exist on treatment efficacy in endoscopy-negative disease because of a paucity of data on its natural history and inconsistency in defining outcome measures. Nonetheless, disease morbidity, with its associated impairment in quality of life. is determined by symptoms of reflux disease, irrespective of the presence or absence of oesophagitis, and symptom control is a prime objective of therapy for reflux disease. The most common symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) are heartburn, acid regurgitation and dysphagia. Heartburn, or pyrosis, is defined in these studies of the symptomatic response to therapy as a burning sensation felt under the lower part of the centre of the chest that rises towards or into the neck, that is worsened by meals or changed posture such as lying or stooping. Heartburn is reported by well over half of patients with reflux disease and is believed to be caused by acid exposure of sensory nerve endings in the deeper layers of the oesophageal epithelium. These nerve endings are nor
Testicular Tumors Associated with Mammary, Prostatic, and Other Changes in Cryptorchid Dogs

Cases of unilateral or bilateral cryptorchidism in dogs are only occasionally seen by breeders and are apparently quite infrequent. Vennerholm (1897), a veterinarian of wide experience, reported having encountered six such cases in his extensive practice, three of which were inguinal and three intra-abdominal. The same author stated that one specimen of unilateral and one of bilateral cryptorchidism in the dog are preserved in the anatomical museum of the Institute for Veterinary Medicine in Stockholm. It may be assumed that the undescended testes in Vennerholm's cases showed no externally discernible pathological change, since it seems reasonable to suppose that he would have mentioned them had any such been present. So far as the present writers have been able to determine, there is no published report of testicular tumors in cryptorchid dogs in which the condition was associated with the abnormal enlargement of the mammary papillae, prostatic metaplasia, and the other remarkable features present in the two animals about to be described. Dog No. I: The first animal studied was a four-year-old male Boston terrier which had been given by its owner to Professor C. H. Danforth, of Stanford University, to whose kindness we are indebted for the opportunity to describe it. The dog had been disposed of by its original owner because it seemed to attract other male dogs in much the same way as a bitch in heat. That peculiarity, together with the fact that its mammary papillae were abnormally large, had given rise to the belief that the animal was an hermaphrodite. Its attraction for male dogs was verified after it was received at the laboratory. When an apparently normal male dog was brought into the room in which this animal was confined the former would, after a very brief olfactory reconnaissance, attempt to mount it. Two other males behaved similarly towards it in the same experimental situation. It seemed to the observer that this behavior was much too spontaneous to be confused with the somewhat similar homosexual activity which is frequently seen among male dogs. It appeared, rather, as if the males found something especially compelling about the odor or the appearance of this abnormal animal, for their overt sexual advances began almost as soon as they entered the room in which it was kept. The latter appeared to resent their behavior and attempted to fight them off.
The demography of the unrelated individual: 1900-1950.

This article is an analysis of the frequency and characteristics of unrelated individuals between 1900 and 1950. The much-heralded rise of the primary individual during the 20th century has been offset by a decline in the frequency of secondary individuals. The overall percentage of persons residing without family did not exceed turn-of-the-century levels until the 1970s. Using data from national micro data samples of the census for 1900, 1940, and 1950, the study applies decomposition techniques and life-course analysis to investigate these patterns. The results show that the decline of the secondary individual from 1900 to 1950 was largely a function of changing demographic composition, but the increase of primary individuals is linked to changing residential preferences.
Metamorphism in allochthonous and autochthonous terranes of the western United States

The haphazard accretion of exotic terranes during continental reassembly results in a crustal college typified by genetically unrelated lithotectonic belts. Profound chronologic, lithologic, geochemical, and metamorphic breaks characterize such suture zones. However, post-metamorphic differential vertical uplift and erosion can generate a marked discontinuity in grade within a single lithotectonic entity, and in contrast, post-amalgamation recrystallization of an exotic terrane assembly can produce an isofacial metamorphic overprint. Thus the tectonic context of metamorphic mineral parageneses must be interpreted with caution. In spite of the presence of allochthonous terranes, the western U.S. Cordillera in general is characterized by gradual sectorial enlargements towards the modern edge of the continent, by coherent, broadly continuous isotopic or geochemical provinces, and by systematic oceanward decreases in the metamorphic intensities of the constituent lithic assemblages, both within a belt, and across a series of belts. These relationships hold over a wide range of scales, from that of a physiographic province to that of a quadrangle-sized area. Examples described include chronologic, isotopic, igneous and metamorphic belts of (1) the entire western conterminous U.S. Cordillera, (2) the Phanerozoic Sierran-Klamath basement terrane assembly, and (3) the Great Valley and Franciscan sedimentary couplet derived from the late Mesozoic Sierra Nevada-TClamath arc. For these cases, systematic recrystallization-deformation trends and nearly in situ growth of sialic crust are evident. Mapped metamorphic and structural discontinuities reflect dislocations involving spatially associated, co-evolving continental lithotectonic units, and, except for fartravelled oceanic fragments, do not imply wholesale juxtaposition of exotic, genetically unrelated terranes.
A Study of the Alpha-Particles from Po with a Cyclotron-Magnet Alpha-Ray Spectrograph

A description is given of an alpha-ray spectrograph, consisting of the Princeton cyclotron magnet and a Plexiglas deflection chamber, in which the alpha-particles can be bent into a semi-circle of about 80-cm maximum diameter. Three different methods of detection have been employed according to the different strengths of the radioactive sources. They are the ordinary photographic method, the counting method, and the method of photographic tracks. The behavior of the spectrograph has been investigated with Po alpha-particles by the three methods of detection. The forms of the energy distribution have been determined, respectively, by these three methods and agree fairly well with one another. The half-width of the main line under favorable conditions is less than \textonehalf{} mm, which is equivalent to about 0.01 Mev. The intensities a few millimeters away from the maximum are less than 0.1 percent of the main line intensity. The track method of detection has been used to study both the low and high energy regions of the main line of the Po alpha-particles. Microscopic examination reveals distinctly a series of weak groups in the low energy region, while in the high energy region no indication of any discrete group has been found. These experiments have been carefully repeated with three different sources and under different experimental conditions. In each case similar results have been obtained. The emission of these different alpha-particle groups from Po may, as in the case of ordinary fine structure, leave the product nucleus, Pb, in different excited states. Then, when the Pb nucleus falls from one of these quantum states to the normal state, a gamma-ray quantum is given off. As far as energy and intensity are concerned, these weak groups of alpha-particles are generally compatible with the gamma-ray lines from Po as measured by Bothe. However, their intensities are not in agreement with the current theory of alpha-decay, as can be seen from the abnormally large spin changes deduced from the theory for the different alpha-transformations, and also from the large deviation of the Geiger-Nuttall curve for these groups from the curve for the members of the Ra family. Possible explanations of these short-range alpha-particles from Po have been suggested and discussed.
Trait- and size-based descriptions of trophic links in freshwater food webs: current status and perspectives

Biotic interactions in aquatic communities are dominated by predation, and the distribution of trophic link strengths in aquatic food webs crucially impacts their dynamics and stability. Although individual body size explains a large proportion of variation in trophic link strengths in aquatic habitats, current predominately body size-based views can gain additional realism by incorporating further traits. Functional traits that potentially affect the strength of trophic links can be classified into three groups: i) body size, ii) traits that identify the spatiotemporal overlap between the predators and their prey, and iii) predator foraging and prey vulnerability traits, which are readily available for many taxa. Relationship between these trait groups and trophic link strength may be further modified by population densities, habitat complexity, temperature and other abiotic factors. I propose here that this broader multi-trait framework can utilize concepts, ideas and existing data from research on metabolic ecology, ecomorphology, animal personalities and role of habitats in community structuring. The framework can be used to investigate non-additive effects of traits on trophic interactions, shed more light on the structuring of local food webs and evaluate the merits of taxonomic and functional group approaches in the description of predator-prey interactions. Development of trait- and size-based descriptions of food webs could be particularly fruitful in limnology given the relative paucity of well resolved datasets in standing waters.
Application of Multivariate Probit to a Threshold Model of Grain Dryer Purchasing Decisions

Purchase of grain dryers by farmers can be explained using a threshold theory of decision in which a reaction occurs only after the strength of the stimuli increases beyond the farmers' reaction threshold. Estimates of the causal relationships in this dichotomous decision model were obtained by using the probit technique with data from a farmer panel. The results provide an explanation of differences in the number of dryers purchased by farmers in various classes and regions. It also provides a procedure for predicting dryer ownership and purchases of dryers as an aid to forward planning by distributors of drying equipment.
Integrated analysis of genetic, genomic and proteomic data.

The rapid expansion of methods for measuring biological data ranging from DNA sequence variations to mRNA expression and protein abundance presents the opportunity to utilize multiple types of information jointly in the study of human health and disease. Organisms are complex systems that integrate inputs at myriad levels to arrive at an observable phenotype. Therefore, it is essential that questions concerning the etiology of phenotypes as complex as common human diseases take the systemic nature of biology into account, and integrate the information provided by each data type in a manner analogous to the operation of the body itself. While limited in scope, the initial forays into the joint analysis of multiple data types have yielded interesting results that would not have been reached had only one type of data been considered. These early successes, along with the aforementioned theoretical appeal of data integration, provide impetus for the development of methods for the parallel, high-throughput ana...
Visualization of cellular dynamics associated with orthodontic tooth movement.

ORTHODONTIC tooth movement appears to be dependent upon the presence Of osteoblasts and osteoclasts within the periodontal ligament and adjacent bone.l-’ A force applied to a tooth creates areas of pressure and tension. In areas of pressure, bone resorption, in association with the appearance of osteoclasts, is stimulated. In areas of tension, osteoblasts arise and form osteoid, which is subsequently calcified. The bone remodeling process allows the tooth to move and thus maintain the physiologic width of the periodontal ligament.lm7 It has been presumed that osteoblasts and osteoclasts a,re derived from the proliferation and differentiation of undifferentiated mesenchymal cells, since increased mitotic activity of mesenchymal cells is observed in the supporting tissues of a tooth subjected to an orthodontic force.*, 3l 7 In fact, however, the histogenesis of these cells is in doubt. On the other hand, cellular proliferation can be documented by the use of radioactive precursors of DNA, because DNA is duplicated during cell division. The appearance of radioactivity within cell nuclei indicates the presence of “new” DNA which had been synthesized in an early phase of the process of cell division.8 Therefore, using a DNA precursor, tritiated thymidine, we investigated the role of cellular proliferation during orthodontic tooth movement, with emphasis on the formation of osteoclasts and osteoblasts.
Lumbar spine spondylolysis in the adult population: using computed tomography to evaluate the possibility of adult onset lumbar spondylosis as a cause of back pain

To determine if new onset of low back pain in adults could be secondary to lumbar spondylolysis by establishing the age-related prevalence in the general population by examining patients undergoing computed tomography (CT) for reasons unrelated to back pain. The records of 2,555 patients who had undergone abdominal and pelvic CT in 2008 were reviewed electronically. In order to determine a true representation of the general population, we reviewed all indications for CT, excluding patients with a primary complaint of low back pain as the primary indication for imaging. Equal numbers of patients were separated into age groups by decade to ensure an even distribution of ages for statistical analysis. Patients older than 70 years were grouped together to provide case numbers comparable to those of the other decades. Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the significance of the results. Three board-certified radiologists, including two musculoskeletal fellows and a radiology resident, retrospectively evaluated CT scans for lumbar spondylolysis, including unilateral and bilateral defects. Of the 2,555 cases evaluated, there were 203 positive cases of defects of the lumbar pars interarticularis. This corresponded to an overall prevalence of 8.0%. Prevalence per decade was fairly evenly distributed and ranged from 7.0%( ages 30–39 years) to 9.2% (ages 70 years and above). Prevalence of ages 20–49 years was 7.9%, and that of ages 50 years and older was 8.0%. Male to female ratio was 1.5:1. Logistic regression showed no significant increase in spondylolysis based on age. No significant increase in the prevalence of lumbar spondylolysis was demonstrated in patients older than 20 years. This suggests that the development of symptomatic lumbar pars defects do not occur in this population and should not be considered as a rare but potentially treatable cause of new onset low back pain in adults. This study demonstrated an overall prevalence of pars defects of 8.0% in our population. As demonstrated in previous studies, the male to female ratio of 1.5:1 was a statistically significant difference.
Performance-based testing for hydrogen leakage into passenger vehicle compartments

Abstract International regulatory representatives have proposed the performance-based test methodology for hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (HFCV) fuel system integrity certification in a new global technical regulation (GTR). For this test method, vehicle certification depends on system performance during barrier/rollover crash tests. The GTR proposal specifies that the test is failed if within 1 h post-crash, hydrogen leakage rates exceed 118 L/min or flammable mixtures develop within the passenger cabin or trunk. An analysis of the capabilities necessary to detect the second failure mode was performed through exploratory in-vehicle leakage tests at SRI International’s Corral Hallow Experimental Site. Hydrogen concentrations were primarily derived from oxygen depletion sensor measurements, and were compared to directly measured concentrations from co-located hydrogen sensors. Close agreement between the two sensor technologies was observed. Since oxygen depletion measurements have the additional advantage that nonflammable gases can be used, helium was investigated as a surrogate due to its similar diffusion and jet spreading characteristics. The good agreement in overall dispersion trends for both gases highlights the flexibility of the indirect sensor method. While hydrogen mixture fractions strongly depended on release characteristics (e.g., rate, location, type), the results of an analytic examination indicated that pinhole leaks from moderate source pressures likely would produce unacceptably high in-vehicle hydrogen concentrations. The optimum sensor location for leak detection was determined to be high above the release point. Accordingly, sensor placement for crash tests involving vehicle rollovers must account for the final vehicle orientation.