cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Analysis of piRNA-Like Small Non-coding RNAs Present in Axons of Adult Sensory Neurons

Small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) have been shown to play pivotal roles in spatiotemporal-specific gene regulation that is linked to many different biological functions. PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), typically 25-34-nucleotide long, are originally identified and thought to be restricted in germline cells. However, recent studies suggest that piRNAs associate with neuronal PIWI proteins, contributing to neuronal development and function. Here, we identify a cohort of piRNA-like sncRNAs (piLRNAs) in rat sciatic nerve axoplasm and directly contrast temporal changes of piLRNA levels in the nerve following injury, as compared with those in an uninjured nerve using deep sequencing. We find that 32 of a total of 53 annotated piLRNAs show significant changes in their levels in the regenerating nerve, suggesting that individual axonal piLRNAs may play important regulatory roles in local messenger RNA (mRNA) translation during regeneration. Bioinformatics and biochemical analyses show that these piLRNAs carry characteristic features of mammalian piRNAs, including sizes, a sequence bias for uracil at the 5'-end and a 2'-O-methylation at the 3'-end. Their axonal expression is directly visualized by fluorescence in situ hybridization in cultured dorsal root ganglion neurons as well as immunoprecipitation with MIWI. Further, depletion of MIWI protein using RNAi from cultured sensory neurons increases axon growth rates, decreases axon retraction after injury, and increases axon regrowth after injury. All these data suggest more general roles for MIWI/piLRNA pathway that could confer a unique advantage for coordinately altering the population of proteins generated in growth cones and axons of neurons by targeting mRNA cohorts.
CyberArc: a non-coplanar-arc optimization algorithm for CyberKnife

The goal of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility of a novel non-coplanar-arc optimization algorithm (CyberArc). This method aims to reduce the delivery time of conventional CyberKnife treatments by allowing for continuous beam delivery. CyberArc uses a 4 step optimization strategy, in which nodes, beams, and collimator sizes are determined, source trajectories are calculated, intermediate radiation models are generated, and final monitor units are calculated, for the continuous radiation source model. The dosimetric results as well as the time reduction factors for CyberArc are presented for 7 prostate and 2 brain cases. The dosimetric quality of the CyberArc plans are evaluated using conformity index, heterogeneity index, local confined normalized-mutual-information, and various clinically relevant dosimetric parameters. The results indicate that the CyberArc algorithm dramatically reduces the treatment time of CyberKnife plans while simultaneously preserving the dosimetric quality of the original plans.
Tensor decomposition for control of many systems with reduced inputs

This paper proposes the use of a multi-dimensional grid to reduce the number of inputs required to control a large set of systems. This can allow for thousands of systems to be controlled by tens of inputs, saving resources and reducing complexity. Tensor decomposition, more specifically canonical decomposition and parallel factorization (CP), is used to determine the control input signals so that they are optimally close to independently controlling all the systems. The tensor decomposition is found using alternating least squares (ALS), and properties of this algorithm are utilized in a passivity proof that provides a way to verify the stability of the feedback system, which we call the CP-ALS System. The performance of the CPALS System is also examined by comparing its system response to that of the same system with independent control. This comparison reveals how the CP-ALS System works and how it is able to maintain nearly the same level of performance for many applications while reducing the number of inputs by potentially multiple orders of magnitude.
Re-thinking Power and Curriculum

This chapter advocates for curriculum scholarship as the embodiment of counter-conduct as the courage of truth. Truth-telling can create spaces within disciplinary institutions to generate new counter-politics to commonsense hegemonic discourses around neoliberal capitalist globalization to reveal techniques of power aimed at producing compliant populations of superfluous people. The chapter proposes re-thinking curriculum studies by connecting Foucault’s genealogical tactic with his analysis of parrhēsia, or “free-spokenness,” the embodiment of truth in one’s life, which resonates with Pinar’s post-Reconceptualization understanding of curriculum as complicated conversation through which to reconstruct the self and the social.
Prognostic Effect of Changes in Physical Function Over Prior Year on Subsequent Mortality and Long-Term Nursing Home Admission.

Objectives To evaluate the prognostic effect of changes in physical function at different intervals over the prior year on subsequent outcomes after accounting for present function. Design Prospective longitudinal study. Setting Greater New Haven, Connecticut, from March 1998 to January 2006. Participants Community‐living persons aged 71 and older who completed an 18‐month comprehensive assessment (N=658). Measurements Disability in 13 activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, and mobility activities was assessed at the 18‐month comprehensive assessment and at 12, 6, and 3 months before 18 months. Time to death and long‐term nursing home admission, defined as 3 months and longer, were ascertained for up to 5 years after 18 months. Results In the bivariate models, disability at 18 months and change in disability between 18 months and each of the 3 prior time‐points (12, 6, 3 months) were significantly associated with time to death. The risk of death, for example, increased by 24% for each 1‐point increase in 18‐month disability score (on a scale from 0 to 13) and by 22% for each 1‐point change in disability score between 18 months and prior 12 months (on a scale from –13 to 13). In a set of multivariable models with and without covariates, the associations were maintained for 18‐month disability but not for change in disability between 18 months and each of the 3 prior time‐points. The results were comparable for time to long‐term nursing home admission except that 2 of the associations were not statistically significant. Conclusion When evaluating risk of adverse outcomes, such as death and long‐term nursing home admission, an assessment of change in physical function at different intervals over the prior year, although a strong bivariate predictor, did not provide useful prognostic information beyond that available from current level of function.
MODIFIED PQ METHOD FOR ROBUSTNESS TO MICROACTUATOR SATURATION AND FAILURE

Abstract Two concerns for the deployment of two stage actuators in disk drives are microactuator saturation and data recovery in the event of outright microactuator failure. Compensators designed for good performance with two intact actuators may be unstable when the microactuator saturates or stops working entirely. This paper develops a modification of the PQ Method to guarantee stable operation in the event of microactuator failure. Application of the Circle Criterion shows that the resulting design can be robust to actuator saturation. A controller design for a simplified but realistic model of a disk drive two stage actuator system illustrates the approach.
MXenes: An Introduction of Their Synthesis, Select Properties, and Applications

Two dimensional (2D) materials have attracted significant attention in the past decade for their high application potential to address some of society’s most pressing issues such as energy storage and the scarcity of potable water. One of the latest, and relatively large, family of 2D materials is transition-metal carbides and nitrides, called MXenes. Since the initial synthesis of Ti3C2 in hydrofluoric acid in 2011, almost 30 other new compositions and at least eight different synthesis pathways have been reported. In this review, we overview the structure, synthesis, and chemistry of MXenes, with examples of their properties and potential applications that partially explain why these materials have become so popular.
The statistical generation of SCS values and interaction factors for the13C NMR spectra of arenes

A new methodology which statistically determines substituent chemical shifts (SCS) and interaction factors of adjacent groups for use in the3C NMR spectroscopy of arenes is described. From a data base of 15,255 signals we have computed several hundred of these“statistical” SCS values (SSCS values), and interaction factors for many common pairs of groups. Some interaction factors for 1,2,3-substitution are also reported. When these SSCS values and interaction factors are used to predict the signal position they are found to give a correlation coefficient of predicted verses observed values of 0.994 with a standard deviation of 1.5 ppm.
Assessing the Role of Teachers’ Unions in the Adoption of Accountability Policies in Public Education

We investigate the role of teachers’ unions in state policymaking in the context of No Child Left Behind. Our analyses of panel data show that political party control and region moderate the influence of teachers’ unions in the adoption of accountability policies by states. Our analyses of marginal effects show that teachers’ unions are not always against the adoption of stronger accountability policies and neither do they always align with the Democratic Party. Our findings suggest that the current dominant prescription in the policy debate for curtailing the collective bargaining rights of teachers’ unions is not fully substantiated.
The effect of dental and background facial attractiveness on facial attractiveness and perceived integrity and social and intellectual qualities.

Introduction The purposes of this study were to assess the role of dental attractiveness in background facial attractiveness and to evaluate how facial and dental attractiveness influenced raters' opinions of the integrity, social attractiveness, and intellectual attractiveness of the models. Methods Photographs of male and female individuals rated by peers as unattractive, average, and attractive were combined with oral images of 4 different levels of dental attractiveness (Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need [IOTN] 1, 5, 7, and 10). Sixty-seven participants meeting the inclusion criteria were recruited as raters. Raters viewed closed-lip smile and open-lip, posed smile of 24 models and rated them for facial attractiveness and integrity and multiple social/intellectual attractiveness dimensions using a Visual Analog Scale. Results Intrarater reliability was fair to excellent. Analysis of variance showed significant 3-way interactions (P Conclusions The impact of dental attractiveness on facial attractiveness and integrity and social and intellectual attractiveness was dependent on dental attractiveness level, background facial attractiveness, and model sex. The effect of dental esthetics on facial attractiveness was neutral or negative for both male and female individuals when there was a need for treatment (IOTN 5 or higher) for all levels of facial attractiveness. For both male and female models, lower dental esthetics had a greater effect on more attractive faces. Judgments about integrity and social and intellectual attractiveness were strongly affected by dental esthetics, and these effects were more dramatic and consistent for male faces.
BK polyomavirus diversity—Why viral variation matters

BK polyomavirus (BKPyV or BKV) is a non-enveloped, circular double-stranded DNA virus that may exceed 80% seroprevalence in adults. BKV infection typically occurs during childhood, and the majority of adults are latently infected. While BKV infection is rarely associated with clinical disease in most individuals, in immunosuppressed individuals, reactivation may cause kidney (BK-associated nephropathy) or bladder (hemorrhagic cystitis and ureteral stenosis) injury. No antiviral therapies have been approved for the treatment of BKV infection. Reducing immunosuppression is the most effective therapy, although this is not feasible in many patients. Thus, a robust understanding of viral pathogenesis and viral diversity remains important for the development of future therapeutic strategies. Studies of BKV diversity are quite sparse compared to other common viral infections; thus, much of our understanding of BVK variability and evolution relies heavily analogous studies of other viruses such as HIV or viral hepatitis. We provide a comprehensive review of BKV diversity at the population and individual level with careful consideration of how viral variability may impact viral replication, pathogenesis, tropism, and protein function. We also discuss a number of outstanding questions related to BK virus diversity that should be explored rigorously in future studies.
Why Regulate Guns

Courts reviewing gun laws that burden Second Amendment rights ask how effectively the laws serve public safety - yet typically discuss public safety narrowly, without considering the many dimensions of that interest gun laws serve. "Public safety" is a social good: it includes the public's interest in physical safety as a good in itself, and as a foundation for community and for the exercise of constitutional liberties. Gun laws protect bodies from bullets - and Americans' freedom and confidence to participate in every domain of our shared life, whether to attend school, to shop, to listen to a concert, to gather for prayer, or to assemble in peaceable debate. Courts must enforce the Second Amendment in ways that respect the public health and constitutional reasons a democracy seeks to protect public safety. Lawyers and citizen advocates can help, by creating a richer record of their reasons in seeking to enact laws regulating guns.This inquiry is urgent at a time when the Supreme Court's new conservative majority may expand restrictions on gun laws beyond the right to keep arms for self-defense in the home first recognized in District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008.
Tale of two neighbourhoods: biophysical and socio-economic vulnerability to climate change in Pinellas County, Florida

Defining vulnerability and identifying vulnerable areas and populations is critical to climate adaptation and resilience. Neighbourhoods are not homogeneous in terms of their socio-economic and phy...
From the Pantheism Panic to Modern Anxiety: Friedrich Schelling’s Invention of the Philosophy of “Angst”

Librett examines Schelling’s treatise On the Essence of Human Freedom (1809) and his Ages of the World (1815) to trace therein Schelling’s invention of the modern philosophy of anxiety. Librett shows how Schelling’s response to the pantheism controversy in the Freedom text, his attempt to mediate between Spinozistic naturalism and Christian theism, issues in an articulation of human freedom as ineluctably marked by a vertiginous anxiety induced by the irresolvable contradiction between the universal and the particular aspects of the will. He then traces Schelling’s much more extensive elaboration of the theme of anxiety in Ages of the World, where anxiety comes to affect God himself, in the moment of his creative self-actualization, to the point of divine madness. The romantic encounter with nature as a threatening force becomes here the anxiety of the world-creating God. Kierkegaard will pick up the relay, and Heidegger and Freud are not far off.
Meckel's diverticulum in adults: seldom suspected and frequently found.

Meckel’s diverticulum (MD) is a well-defined diagnosis in children presenting with either bleeding or obstruction. Although anecdotally adult patients may present with complications from MD, their presentation seems to be different, with a reported predominance of non-bleed-related presentations. Reports in this population, however, are limited, and little is known of the epidemiology of MD in older patients. We performed a retrospective analysis of the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality National Inpatient Sample of all US hospital discharges from 2012 to 2016. We identified patients with a primary discharge diagnosis of MD. Data were abstracted as raw numbers and population weighted rates of discharge with age group, income level, length of stay (LOS) and hospital charges as additional information. On average, 2030 individuals were discharged annually; most (71.1%) were adults (>18 years). Although MD was predominant in males in all age groups, the gender ratio decreased with older age categories from 3.5:1.0 (1–17 years) to 1.6:1.0 (65–84 years). LOS averaged 5.3 days with no clear relationship to other parameters. Median income category, however, closely correlated (R2=0.9996) with diagnosis in older age categories. MD may be significantly more prevalent in adult patients than was previously understood. Differences in gender preponderance suggest that gender may influence the pattern of presentation. Diagnosis in older individuals is closely associated with income or socioeconomic status but not hospital charges or LOS.
Prediction of Geniunity of News using advanced Machine Learning and Natural Language processing Algorithms

The web and web-based life have driven the passageway to news information, significantly less requesting and pleasant. Broad communications influence the life of the overall population, and like it, much of the time happens. There are scarcely any people that misuse these benefits. This prompts the making of the news stories that are not clear or to be sure, even bogus. Individuals purposefully spread these fake articles with the assistance of an electronic person to person communication locales. The crucial target of Fake news destinations is to impact the prevalent view on explicit issues. The principal objective of Fake news sites is to influence widespread feeling on specific matters. Our point is to locate a reliable and exact model that orders a given news story as either Fake or valid.
Identification of Equivalent Damage Growth Parameters for General Crack Geometry

Analytical damage growth equations, such as Paris law, need the stress intensity factor for predicting damage growth. Analytical expressions for the stress intensity factor are available only for simple crack locations, geometries and loading conditions. Therefore, actual damage growth requires numerical solution, such as by finite elements. However, for estimating the uncertainty in remaining useful life (RUL), thousands of simulations of crack growth must be undertaken, which is computationally expensive. Here, an estimate of the error associated with RUL estimation based on an analytical stress intensity factor that does not consider the effects of boundary conditions, crack location or complex geometry is introduced. An effective damage parameter is identified which, although different from the true value, results in accurate damage growth prediction. Actual damage growth is simulated using the extended finite element method (XFEM) to model the effects of crack location and geometry on the relationship between crack size and stress intensity factor. The XFEM data are then perturbed with noise to simulate measurements. The damage growth parameter is then identified using least square filtered Bayesian (LSFB) method. The identified parameter can then be used with the model to estimate the RUL. Examples include center and edge cracks in a plate that experiences both horizontal and vertical finite effects and stress concentration caused by the presence of holes. For these examples, it is found that the RUL estimates are accurate even when an inaccurate stress intensity factor model is used.
PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF AFPM GENERATOR DIRECT DRIVEN WIND TURBINE WITH STORAGE SYSTEM

Direct-drive type with no acceleration rare and the windmill blades attached to the disc surface of Axial Flux Permanent Magnet generator (AFPM) realizes simple structure and omission of central dynamic transformation achieves very high energy conversion efficiency of the generator. The generator itself consists of two magnets rotors that return together directly coupled to the blades. In this research study, one magnet rotor is on each side of the stator and each magnet rotor contains 16 Neodymim-Iron-Boron (NdFeB). The stator contains 12 coils wound with copper wire and cast into plastic resin, in line with and between the paths of each magnet. The AFPM generator direct drive wind turbine converts the mechanical energy by the rotating shaft as the wind pushing 3 wooden blades into 3-phase alternating current (AC) electricity that varies in frequency. In order to get this generated power into a battery bank, three-phase bridge rectifier is connected to the three terminals of the machine. The alternator will start 48 volt charging batteries system at about 140 rpm in 4m/s wind speed and reach rated output of 1.8 kW at 375 rpm in 10m/s wind speed. This machine is specially designed for battery charging and it’s probably quite useful and cost effective for remote locations that are not connected to the national grids where conventional methods of energy supply are expensive or impractical.
Quickest Change Detection With Time Inconsistent Anticipatory Agents In Cyber-Physical Systems

In behavioral economics, anticipatory agents make decisions by taking into account the probability of future decisions (plans). We consider the interaction between anticipatory agents and statistical detection. A sensing device records the decisions of an anticipatory agent. Given these decisions, how can the sensing device achieve quickest detection of a change in the anticipatory system? From a decision theoretic point of view, anticipatory models are time inconsistent meaning that Bellman’s principle of optimality does not hold. The appropriate formalism is the subgame Nash equilibrium. We show that the interaction between anticipatory agents and sequential quickest detection results in unusual (nonconvex) structure of the quickest change detection policy. Our methodology yields a useful framework for anticipatory human decision makers interacting with sequential detectors in cyber-physical systems.
Collaborative Virtual Environment to Encourage Teamwork in Autistic Adults in Workplace Settings.

The employment settings for autistic individuals in the USA is grim. As more children are diagnosed with ASD, the number of adolescent and young adult with ASD will increase as well over the next decade. Based on reports, one of the main challenges in securing and retaining employment for individual with ASD is difficulty in communicating and working with others in workplace settings. Most vocational trainings focused on technical skills development and very few addresses teamwork skills development. In this study, we present the design of a collaborative virtual environment (CVE) that support autistic individual to develop their teamwork skills by working together with a partner in a shared virtual space. This paper described the CVE architecture, teamwork-based tasks design and quantitative measures to evaluate teamwork skills. A system validation was also carried out to validate the system design. The results showed that our CVE was able to support multiple users in the same shared environment, the tasks were tolerable by users, and all the quantitative measures are recorded accordingly.
Public Health Frameworks in Audiology Education: Rationale and Model for Implementation

Purpose: Hearing health care is a public health priority at the national and global levels, yet training in clinical audiology programs lacks formal public health education. The purpose of this rev...
Characterization of the Burkholderia mallei tonB Mutant and Its Potential as a Backbone Strain for Vaccine Development.

Background In this study, a Burkholderia mallei tonB mutant (TMM001) deficient in iron acquisition was constructed, characterized, and evaluated for its protective properties in acute inhalational infection models of murine glanders and melioidosis. Methodology/Principal Findings Compared to the wild-type, TMM001 exhibits slower growth kinetics, siderophore hyper-secretion and the inability to utilize heme-containing proteins as iron sources. A series of animal challenge studies showed an inverse correlation between the percentage of survival in BALB/c mice and iron-dependent TMM001 growth. Upon evaluation of TMM001 as a potential protective strain against infection, we found 100% survival following B. mallei CSM001 challenge of mice previously receiving 1.5 x 104 CFU of TMM001. At 21 days post-immunization, TMM001-treated animals showed significantly higher levels of B. mallei-specific IgG1, IgG2a and IgM when compared to PBS-treated controls. At 48 h post-challenge, PBS-treated controls exhibited higher levels of serum inflammatory cytokines and more severe pathological damage to target organs compared to animals receiving TMM001. In a cross-protection study of acute inhalational melioidosis with B. pseudomallei, TMM001-treated mice were significantly protected. While wild type was cleared in all B. mallei challenge studies, mice failed to clear TMM001. Conclusions/Significance Although further work is needed to prevent chronic infection by TMM001 while maintaining immunogenicity, our attenuated strain demonstrates great potential as a backbone strain for future vaccine development against both glanders and melioidosis.
Why Prospectively Randomized Clinical Trials Have Been Rare in Reproductive Medicine and Will Remain So

There is almost unanimity that modern medicine should be “evidence based.” In this context, lack of prospectively randomized clinical trials (RCTs) is widely lamented in reproductive medicine. Some...
"Think Global, Act Local": Workplace Representation in a World of Global Labor and Product Market Competition

The decline of unionization rates in private companies, while at an especially low point below 10% in the U.S., is a worldwide phenomenon, hastened by the emergence of global labor and product market competition. The dilemma for public policy is that while strong unions can promote worker voice and economic participation, they do so in a manner that harms firm performance where all companies competing in the same product market are not subject to the same union standards. Global markets make it increasingly difficult for unions to pursue traditional redistributive goals, bringing to the fore an alternative model of workplace representation that emphasizes pursuit of objectives that do not undermine firm profits. Although global labor standards are often suggested as a means of improving the ability of U.S. workers to compete on a "level playing field" with workers in other countries, this approach is not likely to succeed if developing countries are to pursue their competitive advantage as lower-cost producers. Rather, the path for U.S. public policy should be two-pronged: (1) strengthening the protections for workers seeking collective representation, while (2) removing disincentives in current institutional arrangements that retard the evolution of unions as integrative bargaining agents.
Resolution and reconstitution of the mitochondrial electron transport system. IV. The reconstitution of rotenone-sensitive reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-ubiquinone reductase from reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase and phospholipids.

1. A procedure is described for separating from preparations of NADH-ubiquinone reductase (Complex I), an NADH dehydrogenase which retains full activity with ferricyanide as acceptor, but which is devoid of rotenone-sensitive NADH-ubiquinone reductase activity. About 50 to 90% of the original NADH-ubiquinone reductase activity is restored by recombination with purified phospholipids in the presence of cholate, and dialysis for at least 10 hours. Reduction of ubiquinone-1 by this preparation is 80 to 90% inhibited by rotenone. 2. After reconstitution with phospholipids, the preparation reacts with ubiquinone-cytochrome c reductase (Complex III) to give rotenone- and antimycin-sensitive NADH-cytochrome c reductase activity. No activity with Complex III is observed with the preparation either before reconstitution or after dialysis without phospholipids. 3. A modification of the separation procedure leads to a preparation of NADH dehydrogenase exhibiting activity with ferricyanide as acceptor. However, after reconstitution with phospholipids, the rates of rotenone-sensitive NADH-ubiquinone reductase obtained are less than 3% of those in Complex I. The properties of the reconstitutively active and inactive NADH dehydrogenase are compared.
Novel Mutant Impaired in Cell Division: Evidence for a Positive Regulating Factor

A novel, conditional, cell-division mutant from Agmenellum quadruplicatum strain BG1 is described. During rapid growth in dilute suspensions, cell division lags behind mass increase and the cells form filaments. These filaments spontaneously divide into unit cell lengths as the culture density increases. Other conditions that favor the accumulation of metabolic products in the medium antagonize filament formations. An 80% ethanol-water extract of dried, spent medium also restores the ability of filaments to divide into cells of unit length. Our results suggest that at least one chemical factor acting as a positive effector is involved in cell division.
A Review of “Sustainability in America's cities; Creating the green metropolis”

Cities provide a unique microchasm of actors, institutions, and policies around the values intrinsic to sustainability goals. The scope and scale of the city theoretically enables us to think globa...
Oil supply and economic development strategy: A dynamic planning approach

Abstract Most oligopolistic models of the oil market begin with the assumption of rising supply curves for oil. Lack of convincing evidence that high oil prices are being maintained by oligopolistic action has raised the possibility of competitive behavior in the oil market and therefore of a backward bending supply curve. This paper presents numerical solutions of a linear dynamic planning model of an oil exporting country with a development strategy which consists of utilizing oil revenues for building an export sector to replace oil. To make a stronger case a high absorber, Algeria, is used as an example. The numerical results are consistent with the hypothesis that there may well be good economic reasons to restrict supply of oil in response to increased prices. Three important characteristics of the model which produce this result are (a) diminishing marginal utility of consumption, (b) absorptive capacity, and (c) imperfect capital markets. A ‘perverse’ supply behavior is found consistent with optimal allocation of oil resources when a price increase is expected to last for a long time. The effects of temporary price changes which can, for example, result from temporary supply shocks or demand changes during the business cycle are also studied. It is shown that in response to such short term price changes competitive behavior is ‘normal’, i.e., supply varies in the same direction as the price. This implies that reductions in OPEC production which have taken place during the recent market downturns cannot be taken as evidence of cartel coordination, as they usually are, since they are also consistent with price-taking behavior.
Segregation analysis of human red blood cell thiopurine methyltransferase activity

Thiopurine methyltransferase (TPMT) catalyzes thiopurine S-methylation, an important metabolic pathway for drugs such as 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP). Inherited differences in the activity of this enzyme are related to individual differences in the therapeutic efficacy and toxicity of 6-MP and other thiopurine drugs. Variation of TPMT activity in the red blood cell (RBC) has been found to reflect activity differences in less accessible tissues. Previously reported qualitative analyses of inheritance of RBC TPMT in families suggested that a major gene plays a role in the regulation of activity of this enzyme. In the present study we completed complex segregation analyses of RBC TPMT activity of 213 individuals in 49 families that were randomly ascertained through children in the Rochester, MN, public school system. We found clear evidence of a major gene effect on RBC TPMT activity. Both transformed and untransformed data supported the segregation of a Mendelian major gene with frequency of 0.94 for the allele conferring high enzyme activity. The genotype distributions of individuals who were homozygous for the low activity allele, heterozygous, and homozygous for the high activity allele accounted for approximately 0.3%, 11.2%, and 88.5%, respectively, of the individuals in the sample. This major locus accounted for 66% of the total variance in untransformed RBC TPMT activity. Although there were significant residual family correlations among probable high activity homozygotes, there was insufficient power to detect additional major locus or polygenic inheritance effects on the residual variance. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Diagnosis and Treatment of Mycoplasma‐Contaminated Cell Cultures

Mycoplasma contamination is a serious and frequent problem in the culture laboratory. Although mycoplasma contamination may be suspected by the failure of cells to thrive, the formal diagnosis rests on the detection of adenosine phosphorylase secretion by infected cell lines. This appendix describes how to test for mycoplasma contamination, and also presents methods for antibiotic treatment of infected cultures.
Observations pertaining to the generation of auroral kilometric radiation

Auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) observations that have determined the propagation mode or polarization of the radiation and the detailed intensity distribution of the AKR emission cone are discussed. Attention is also given to correlations between AKR with discrete field-aligned currents. It is noted that these observations have helped to identify the auroral particle population most likely responsible for the generation of AKR and the possible sources of the free energy that drives the instability. Thus far, AKR has not been observed simultaneously with large electrostatic waves. Auroral zone current systems are thought to be intimately involved in the generation of AKR. In particular, the most probable source of energy for AKR is the precipitating inverted-V auroral electron distribution.
MACH DISC FORMATION IN CYLINDRICAL RECOVERY SYSTEMS

Cylindrical recovery systems have been used to shock-load polymers to pressures exceeding 50 GPa. In order to determine the pressures generated in these recovery systems the formation of the Mach disc on axis and its approach to steady state was monitored. The relation of the Mach disc diameter to the lateral dimension of the high explosive used to compress the polymer samples was also investigated.
Communication and the future of air traffic management

The capacity of the United States' National Airspace System (NAS) must grow to handle the passenger demands that are projected over the next 25 years. Today the NAS is constrained by a host of operational and technical issues. The FAA's operational evolution plan (OEP) addresses a 10-year horizon and identifies modernization activities that will yield a 30% increase in capacity by 2013. However, projected passenger demands indicate that air traffic will double over the next twenty years. To close the gap between the OEP and projected needs, NASA initiated the virtual airspace modeling and simulation (VAMS) project. VAMS participants, including members from industry, government, and academia, develop and share ideas on revolutionary concepts to meet the stated goals. The constraints in the terminal area domain are the focus of Raytheon's VAMS concept, terminal area capacity enhancement concept (TACEC). TACEC envisions a high level of automation and synchronization, generating optimized flight profiles within the terminal airspace and on the airport surface. Implementation requires innovative differences in terminal operations as well as infrastructure improvements such as high-speed data link, improved surveillance, integrated terminal area network, highly automated guidance and scheduling systems, and closely spaced parallel runways.
The reminiscence bump for salient personal memories: is a cultural life script required?

Older adults report a higher frequency of autobiographical memories for experiences that occurred between ages 15 and 30, as compared with other life periods. This reminiscence bump is evident for memories involving positive, but not negative, emotions. The cultural life script hypothesis proposes that people share knowledge for the types and timing of positive landmark events and that this script guides the memory search to the bump period. The present research examined whether a reminiscence bump would be evident when memory cues prompted recall of surprising and unexpected events. Older adults recalled positive and negative, surprising positive and surprising negative, or highly expected and highly unexpected events. Adults’ memory distributions were compared with distributions of predicted life events generated by undergraduates. Reminiscence bumps were found not only for memories of positive and expected events, but also for memories of surprising and unexpected events. Implications for the life script account are discussed.
Two plates in Africa during the Cretaceous

Plate tectonic theory is based on the idea of the conservation of displacement at the ends of major faults1: ridges, trenches and triple junctions are linked by transform faults so that a plate boundary may not end except by joining two others at a triple junction. This is a consequence of the motion of torsionally rigid plates in which large permanent strains are restricted to narrow boundary zones. Although brittle intraplate deformation occurs2, excellent fits between rifted continental margins3 and between pairs of magnetic anomaly isochrons4 show that plates do not generally suffer significant torsional strains. Provided that the zones in which large, permanent deformations occur are narrow relative to the plates they surround, plate tectonics is a useful theory. The behaviour of wide zones of interplate deformation may be approximated either by ‘soft’ regions such as the Himalayas and Tibet5 or by complex microplate systems such as the present Mediterranean6. It is important to understand to what extent relative plate displacements can be registered as strain in a zone too wide and diffuse to be realistically termed a plate boundary. We describe here a wide zone of strain that developed in Africa during the Cretaceous, recognition of which leads us to the view that Africa, from about 125 Myr ago to about 80 Myr ago, was not behaving as a single rigid plate.
Vitamin E, Ascorbate, Glutathione, Glutathicne Disulfide, and Enzymes of Glutathione Metabolism in Cultures of Chick Astrocytes and Neurons: Evidence that Astrocytes Play an Important Role in Antioxidative Processes in the Brain

: GSH, GSSG, vitamin E, and ascorbate were measured in 14-day cultures of chick astrocytes and neurons and compared with levels in the forebrains of chick embryos of comparable age. Activities of enzymes involved in GSH metabolism were also measured. These included -γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase, GSH synthetase, γ-glutamyl cyclotransferase, γ-glutamyltranspeptidase, glutathione transferase (GST), GSH peroxidase, and GSSG reductase. The concentration of lipid-soluble vitamin E in the cultured neurons was found to be comparable with that in the forebrain. On the other hand, the concentration of vitamin E in the astrocytes was significantly greater in the cultured astrocytes than in the neurons, suggesting that the astrocytes are able to accumulate exogenous vitamin E more extensively than neurons. The concentrations of major fatty acids were higher in the cell membranes of cultured neurons than those in the astrocytes. Ascorbate was not detected in cultured cells although the chick forebrains contained appreciable levels of this antioxidant. GSH, total glutathione (i.e., GSH and GSSG), and GST activity were much higher in cultured astrocytes than in neurons. γ-Glutamylcysteine synthetase activity was higher in the cultured astrocytes than in the cultured neurons. GSH reductase and GSH peroxidase activities were roughly comparable in cultured astrocytes and neurons. The high levels of GSH and GST in cultured astrocytes appears to reflect the situation in vivo. The data suggest that astrocytes are resistant to reactive oxygen species (and potentially toxic xenobiotics) and may play a protective role in the brain. Because enzymes of GSH metabolism are generally well represented in cultured astrocytes and neurons these cells may be ideally suited as probes for manipulating GSH levels in neural tissues in vitro. Cultured astrocytes and neurons should be amenable to the study of the effects of various metabolic insults on the GSH system. Such studies may provide insights into the design of therapeutic strategies to combat oxidative and xenobiotic stresses.
A disrespectful polynomial

Abstract Given a graph and a polynomial, a matrix can be constructed by evaluating the polynomial with the adjacency matrix of the graph. When will the resulting matrix be the adjacency matrix of another graph? We answer this question for orbit polynomial graphs. We then investigate a conjecture of Weichsel relating the automorphism groups and eigenvalues of a graph G and another graph generated from G by a polynomial. For vertex-transitive graphs with a prime number of vertices the conjecture is true, but we also provide examples where it is false.
A Study on the Parameters Influencing Clearance of Mucus During Cough in a Model Trachea

There are large numbers of physiological, material and geometrical parameters that influence the efficiency of clearance of mucus by cough in human airways. In this study the effect of ten independent variables on the displacement of simulated airway mucus in a rigid model trachea during cough is explored. This is the first attempt in combining these 10 parameters into a single non-dimensional group. Eight hundred (800) different combinations of these parameters are used to test its feasibility experimentally. All independent variables had variance inflation less than 10 indicating adequate independence among them. Although additional tests may be needed to confirm, the preliminary test results are promising.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Erythrocyte NADH-methemoglobin reductase activity in experimental riboflavin deficiency.

Bei Ratten mit Riboflavin-Mangel wurde eine normale Aktivitat der NADH-abhangigen Methamoglobinreduktase festgestellt.
High-resolution acoustic measurements by path length modulation

Abstract An acoustic technique is described which permits precise measurement of phase velocity in liquids or gases with high attenuation ( α >10 cm −1 ) utilizing a thin, variable path length acoustic cavity formed by a quartz transducer and a piezoelectric bimorph. The path length can be changed manually or in feedback where the bimorph motion is driven by the output of a cw spectrometer. Measurement of phase velocity is then simply measurement of cavity size, which is done capacitively to high precision. The path length modulation method can allow absolute measurement of attenuation as well as resolution of ∼10 −5 in phase velocity with a path length as short as 50μ. It is anticipated that this approach can be used successfully to explore regimes of collective modes and pair breaking in superfluid 3He, as well as textural effects in restricted geometries.
Oöplasmic segregation and secretion in the Pelvetia egg is accompanied by a membrane-generated electrical current

Abstract Using an ultrasensitive extracellular vibrating electrode, I have studied the membrane-generated electrical currents around the egg of the brown alga, Pelvetia, between fertilization and germination. During this period, the egg chooses an elongation axis and moves wall-precursor vesicles to the prospective growth region where they are secreted. This results in visible ooplasmic segregation which appears under the light microscope as a 1- to 2-μm-thick clear band at the cortex of the growth region. A steady electrical current enters a small region of the membrane and leaves the remainder of the egg's surface as early as 30 min after fertilization. This early spatial current pattern is unstable and shifts position, often with more than one inward current region. However, current enters mainly on the side where germination will occur and is usually largest at the prospective cortical clearing region. The average measured early current density is 0.06 μA/cm2 at 50 μm from the egg's surface, implying a surface current density of between 0.2 and 1 μA/cm2 due to the extrapolation uncertainty. At germination the current increases about twofold, resulting in a total transcellular current on the order of 100 pA. Unilateral growth-orienting light reversal stimulates inward current on the new dark side, and subsequent morphological polarity reversal is preceded by electrical polarity reversal. The steady current tends to increase when the external Ca2+ concentration is increased or the external Na+ concentration is decreased, suggesting that the current is carried in part by Ca2+. This current will generate a transcellular electrical field which may be the force driving the observed ooplasmic segregation.
Heparin and Oversulfated Heparin Byproduct Induce Thrombin Generation Through Contact System Activation in Plasma of Patients With HIT

Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia with thrombosis (HITT) is the most severe side effect of heparin administration. Patients with HITT may die or have permanent sequelae such as stroke or limb amputation. Contaminated heparin is associated with anaphylactic reactions and deaths by activating the contact system. It is also associated with high incidence of HIT via a yet unknown mechanism. This study showed that although oversulfated heparin byproduct induced thrombin activities in both normal and HIT patient plasmas through the contact system activation, authentic heparin induced thrombin activities only in HIT patient plasmas containing autoantibodies against protein/ heparin complex. These data suggest that the negatively charged immunoglobulin G (IgG)/platelet factor 4 (PF4)/heparin complex activate the contact system and produce thrombin in human plasma, and thrombin partially activates the platelets allowing subsequent platelet activation through IgG/Fc receptor II signaling. The newly discovered mechanism of heparin-induced thrombin activity could explain the increased incidence of HIT in patients exposed to contaminated heparin. Furthermore, the assays used in these studies would be valuable for HIT diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.
Modeling and risk analysis of bromate formation from ozonation of bromide-containing waters

Empirical bromate formation models were developed from batch ozonation data to simulate the effects of important water quality characteristics and treatment processes on bromate formation. Bromate formation was favored at high pH, bromide concentration, alkalinity, and ozone dose. On the other hand, increasing DOC and ammonia concentration decreased bromate formation. Validation of the bromate models demonstrated that the models accurately simulated bromate formation. Risk analysis of bromate formation was performed on 5 utilities in which ozone was used, and it was concluded that under typical ozonation conditions, the associated risk related to bromate formation could be as high as 10−3.