cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
INCIDENCE AND MANAGEMENT OF PENETRATING RENAL TRAUMA IN PATIENTS WITH MULTIORGAN INJURY: EXTENDED EXPERIENCE AT AN INNER CITY TRAUMA CENTER

ABSTRACTPurpose: Patients with penetrating trauma often have multiorgan involvement that may complicate the management of any single organ system. Here we review the incidence of associated injuries in patients with penetrating renal trauma and our extended experience treating these patients at a busy inner city trauma center.Materials and Methods: All trauma cases presenting to Temple University Trauma Center during a 6-year period were identified through our institutional databases and were reviewed (5,276). Penetrating trauma represented 41% of all cases (2,163). Of these we identified 123 patients with penetrating renal trauma (5.7%). A total of 93 cases were available for review. Multiorgan injury was staged in the operating room if patients were hemodynamically unstable or radiographically if they were stable. Renal injuries were staged by high dose, single shot excretory urogram in patients taken immediately to surgery or by computerized tomography if stable. Renal injuries were classified using th...
Pharmacology, Genomics, and the Evolutionary Biology of Ageing

Aging is a multifold process affected by many genes and thus many biochemical pathways. This conclusion is underscored by the failure to find simple central controls for the aging process during the 20th Century. This situation poses a fundamental challenge to anti-aging medicine: how to develop effective therapies for a genomically complex pathology. We propose such a strategy. As a first step, we recommend the use of model systems in which significant genetic intervention is not proscribed or impractical. Second, we propose that work with such model systems begin with selected lines that have genetic enhancements that allow increased lifespan. Third, genomic methods should be used to identify a number of biochemical pathways for increasing lifespan. Fourth, biochemical pathways that have been identified in model systems would then be available for pharmaceutical development, first in rodents, eventually in a clinical human population. This may seem to be a cumbersome R&D strategy, but starting with human populations or inadequately pre-screened compounds would be unlikely to succeed because of the complexity of the aging problem.
Age-Associated Decline in Resistance to Babesia microti Is Genetically Determined

Background Although infection by the protozoan Babesia microti is rarely symptomatic in immunocompetent young people, healthy individuals aged >50 years may experience life-threatening disease. To determine the basis for this age relationship, we developed a mouse model of babesiosis using a novel clinical isolate of B. microti. Methods Mice were infected at 2, 6, 12, or 18 months. Parasitemia was monitored on Giemsa-stained blood smears or by flow cytometry. Results In DBA/2 mice, early and persistent parasitemias increased with age at infection. BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice were resistant, regardless of age, which indicates that allelic variation determines resistance to B. microti. Unlike immunocompetent mice, SCID mice, which retain an innate immune system but lack the lymphocytes needed for adaptive immunity, developed high and persistent levels of parasitemia that were markedly reduced by transfer of naive BALB/c or DBA/2 splenocytes. BALB/c cells reduced the persistent parasitemia to a greater extent than did age-matched DBA/2 cells. Of importance, there was an age-associated loss of protection by cells of both strains. Conclusion The resistance to B. microti infection conferred by the adaptive immune system is genetically determined and associated with age. We postulate that there are age-related differences in the expression of alleles critical for adaptive immunity to B. microti.
Host Response Dynamics Following Lethal Infection of Rhesus Macaques With Zaire ebolavirus

To gain further insight into the interdependent pathogenic processes in Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), we have examined the dynamics of host responses in individual rhesus macaques infected with Zaire ebolavirus over the entire disease course. Examination of coagulation parameters revealed that decreased coagulation inhibitor activity triggered severe coagulopathy as indicated by prolonged coagulation times and decreased fibrinogen levels. This has been proposed as one of the significant mechanisms underlying disseminated intravascular coagulation in EHF patients. Furthermore, monitoring of expression levels for cytokines/chemokines suggested a mixed anti-inflammatory response syndrome (MARS), which indicates that a catastrophic uncontrolled immunological status contributes to the development of fatal hemorrhagic fever. These results highlight the pathological analogies between EHF and severe sepsis and not only contribute to our understanding of the pathogenic process, but will also help to establish novel postexposure treatment modalities.
Exploring Culinary Graduates’ Career Decisions and Expectations

This study investigated the career decisions and expectations of culinary graduates and their job-search behaviors using career-oriented resources on campus. Research findings suggest that the availability of the new labor force for entry and mid-level positions appears to be lower than the growth of student enrollment. Additionally, influential factors such as the familiarity and willingness to accept job offers were assessed. The results indicate that culinary graduates do not take full advantage of available career-oriented resources on campus when they search for positions in the industry. Managerial implications are discussed and recommendations for recruiters and higher education institutions are presented for better recruitment.
Comparison of α-chloralose, medetomidine and isoflurane anesthesia for functional connectivity mapping in the rat

Functional connectivity measures based upon low-frequency blood-oxygenation-level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD fMRI) signal fluctuations have become a widely used tool for investigating spontaneous brain activity in humans. Still unknown, however, is the precise relationship between neural activity, the hemodynamic response and fluctuations in the MRI signal. Recent work from several groups had shown that correlated low-frequency fluctuations in the BOLD signal can be detected in the anesthetized rat — a first step toward elucidating this relationship. Building on this preliminary work, through this study, we demonstrate that functional connectivity observed in the rat depends strongly on the type of anesthesia used. Power spectra of spontaneous fluctuations and the cross-correlation-based connectivity maps from rats anesthetized with α-chloralose, medetomidine or isoflurane are presented using a high-temporal-resolution imaging sequence that ensures minimal contamination from physiological noise. The results show less localized correlation in rats anesthetized with isoflurane as compared with rats anesthetized with α-chloralose or medetomidine. These experiments highlight the utility of using different types of anesthesia to explore the fundamental physiological relationships of the BOLD signal and suggest that the mechanisms contributing to functional connectivity involve a complicated relationship between changes in neural activity, neurovascular coupling and vascular reactivity.
Focusing and energy deposition inside random media

The degree of control over waves transmitted through random media is determined by characteristics of the singular values of the transmission matrix. This Letter explores focusing and energy deposition in the interior of disordered samples and shows that these are determined by the singular values of the matrix relating the field channels inside a medium to the incident channels. Through calculations and simulations, we discovered that the variation with depth of the maximal energy density and the contrast in optimal focusing are determined by the participation number M(z) of the energy density eigenvalues, while its inverse gives the variance of the energy density at z in a single configuration.
Intratumor Heterogeneity in Evolutionary Models of Tumor Progression

With rare exceptions, human tumors arise from single cells that have accumulated the necessary number and types of heritable alterations. Each such cell leads to dysregulated growth and eventually the formation of a tumor. Despite their monoclonal origin, at the time of diagnosis most tumors show a striking amount of intratumor heterogeneity in all measurable phenotypes; such heterogeneity has implications for diagnosis, treatment efficacy, and the identification of drug targets. An understanding of the extent and evolution of intratumor heterogeneity is therefore of direct clinical importance. In this article, we investigate the evolutionary dynamics of heterogeneity arising during exponential expansion of a tumor cell population, in which heritable alterations confer random fitness changes to cells. We obtain analytical estimates for the extent of heterogeneity and quantify the effects of system parameters on this tumor trait. Our work contributes to a mathematical understanding of intratumor heterogeneity and is also applicable to organisms like bacteria, agricultural pests, and other microbes.
The Unintended Consequences of Computerized Provider Order Entry: Findings From a Mixed Methods Exploration

Abstract Objective To describe the foci, activities, methods, and results of a 4-year research project identifying the unintended consequences of computerized provider order entry (CPOE). Methods Using a mixed methods approach, we identified and categorized into nine types 380 examples of the unintended consequences of CPOE gleaned from fieldwork data and a conference of experts. We then conducted a national survey in the U.S.A. to discover how hospitals with varying levels of infusion, a measure of CPOE sophistication, recognize and deal with unintended consequences. The research team, with assistance from experts, identified strategies for managing the nine types of unintended adverse consequences and developed and disseminated tools for CPOE implementers to help in addressing these consequences. Results Hospitals reported that levels of infusion are quite high and that these types of unintended consequences are common. Strategies for avoiding or managing the unintended consequences are similar to best practices for CPOE success published in the literature. Conclusion Development of a taxonomy of types of unintended adverse consequences of CPOE using qualitative methods allowed us to craft a national survey and discover how widespread these consequences are. Using mixed methods, we were able to structure an approach for addressing the skillful management of unintended consequences as well.
The Interaction of a Pacific Cold Front with Shallow Air Masses East of the Rocky Mountains

Abstract The study presented here describes the interactions that occurred between an advancing Pacific cold front and shallow Gulf of Mexico and Arctic air masses situated east of the Rocky Mountains during the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX) field campaign on 17–18 April over Oklahoma and adjacent states. These interactions were driven largely by the complex topography of the region. Four air masses of distinctly different origin (i.e., Pacific polar, high-altitude continental, Gulf of Mexico, and Arctic), and the boundaries that separated them (i.e., Pacific cold front, dryline, and Arctic front), were observed within the experimental domain. This event produced more than $1 million worth of damage in the experimental domain due to severe weather. A dense network of ground-based in situ and remote observing systems and two research aircraft equipped with in situ sensors and Doppler radars gathered data that allowed the authors to document the passage of a vigoro...
Intense THz supercontinuum generation in femtosecond laser-gas interactions

Intense coherent THz radiation from two-color laser interactions with various gas species is examined. Peak THz energy of Gt4.5 muJ per pulse with a bandwidth in excess of 70 THz is routinely produced.
Correlator Beware: Correlation Has Limited Selectivity for fMRI Data Analysis

Abstract Groups of time-courses created from fMRI data by the frequently used correlation analysis are often highly heterogeneous. This heterogeneity is due to the limited selectivity of correlation when trying to match brain time-courses to an externally imposed activation paradigm. Thus, this process unnecessarily generates many type I errors (false positives). Furthermore, as a consequence of the heterogeneity, time-courses identified and grouped by correlation may in fact describe different activations. After demonstrating this inadequacy, we give one particular approach to partition such a heterogeneous group into internally more homogeneous subgroups, using Kendall's coefficient of concordance W, and show its applicability and application to both simulated and in vivo data. Such group partition and “purification” will help subsequent inferential methods to deal more efficiently with false positives.
Minimum Wheel-Rotation Paths for Differential Drive Mobile Robots Among Piecewise Smooth Obstacles

Computing optimal paths for mobile robots is an interesting and important problem. This paper presents a method to compute the shortest path for a differential-drive mobile robot, which is a disc, among piecewise smooth and convex obstacles. To obtain a well-defined notion of shortest, the total amount of wheel rotation is optimized. We use recent characterization of minimum wheel-rotation paths for differential-drive mobile robots with no obstacles. We reduce the search for the shortest path to the search on a finite nonholonomic visibility graph. Edges of the graph are either minimum wheel-rotation trajectories inside the free space or trajectories on the boundary of obstacle region. Vertices of the graph are initial and goal configurations and points on the boundary of obstacle region. We call the search graph a nonholonomic visibility graph because the jump condition of the Pontryagin maximum principle gives a necessary condition which is reminiscent of bitangency in well-known visibility graphs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first progress on the problem
Appetite for Destruction: The Impact of the September 11 Attacks on Business Founding

It is widely accepted that entrepreneurial creation affects destruction, as new and better organizations, technologies and transactions replace old ones. This phenomenon is labeled creative destruction, but it might more accurately be called destructive creation, given the driving role of creation in the process. We reverse the typical causal ordering, and ask whether destruction may drive creation. We argue that economic systems may get stuck in suboptimal equilibria due to path dependence, and that destruction may sweep away this inertia, and open the way for entrepreneurship. To test this idea, we need an exogenous destructive shock, rather than destruction that is endogenous to the process of economic progress. Our identification strategy relies on the September 11 attacks as an exogenous destructive shock to the economic system centered on New York City. Consistent with our theoretical claim, we find that 15months after the attacks the rate of business founding close to New York City exceeds the rate before the attacks, even after controlling for the inflow of recovery funds. Furthermore, the increase in the business founding rate after the attacks grows faster closer to Manhattan than it does further away from the epicenter of destruction.
A Logical Approach To Teaching Accounting For Derivatives

erivatives are financial instruments designed to achieve a certain economic result when an underlying security, rate, index, commodity, or other financial instrument moves in a given direction. A derivative derives its value from movements in the underlying instrument on which the derivative is based. Many companies have effectively used derivatives to help manage financial risks such as security price risk, interest rate risk, commodity price risk, or foreign currency exchange rate risk. During the 1990’s, the derivatives market experienced tremendous growth in response to the complex risk profiles of many companies. But with this growth came some high profile, derivative losses exposing the inadequacies of the financial reporting of derivatives.
Restraining effect of intact pericardium during acute volume loading

To determine the effect of the intact pericardium on ventricular end-diastolic pressures (EDP) during acute volume loading, we measured left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) micromanomet...
Monetizing Social Exchange

We address the role of monetizing trades in an environment when reciprocal trade acts as the alternative means of exchange and opportunism is possible. We illustrate that money has three roles: (i) money enable trade on contractible goods, (ii) money aids trade in non-contractible goods through the use of voluntary transfers, and (iii) money possibly induces inefficient pricing and production decisions. We show a number of cases where allowing trades to be monetized reduces welfare and also illustrate how an inefficient instantaneous means of exchange can sometimes increase trade more than pure money. Finally, analogous to the role of barter in facilitating efficient exchange, we illustrate that otherwise classically inefficient restrictions on trading may have a similar desirable effect.
Temporal-spatial gait parameters and neurodevelopment in very-low-birth-weight preterm toddlers at 18–22 months

Abstract Children born preterm with very-low birth-weight (VLBW) have increased risk of motor impairment. Early identification of impairment guides treatment to improve long-term function. Temporal-spatial gait parameters are an easily-recorded assessment of gross motor function. The objective of this study was to characterize preterm toddlers’ gait and its relationship with neurodevelopment. Velocity, cycle time, step width, step length and time asymmetry, %stance, %single-limb support, and %double-limb support were calculated for 81 VLBW preterm and 43 typically-developing (TD) toddlers. Neurodevelopment was assessed with Bayley Scales of Infant Development-3rd Edition (BSID-III) motor composite and gross motor scores. Mean step width ( p = .009) was wider in preterm compared to TD toddlers. Preterm toddlers with
Organophosphate Resistance in the Tobacco Aphid (Homoptera: Aphididae): Purification and Characterization of a Resistance-Associated Esterase

A 1-naphthyl acetate esterase was identified by isoelectric focusing in organophosphate resistant (red) tobacco aphids, Myzus nicotianae Blackman, which apparently was lacking in susceptible (green) individuals of the same species. This resistance-associated esterase (RAE) was purified from the cytosol of whole body homogenates of adult tobacco aphids by gel permeation chromatography and two successive DEAE-Sephacel ion exchange columns. The enzyme eluted from the second DEAE column in 0.23 to 0.28 M NaCl and was ≍95% pure as determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on a BIO-SIL TSK-125 column. Purified RAE had an apparent molecular weight of 67,300 as determined by gel permeation HPLC and 66,000 as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Wide range isoelectric focusing (pH 3.5-9.5) on polyacrylamide gel plates indicated that the isoelectric point was 4.61. Rabbit antiserum to the green peach aphid, M. persicae (Sulzer), esterase (E4) specifically cross-reacted with the tobacco aphid RAE, and the two esterases had identical molecular weights and isoelectric points as determined by immunoblotting. RAE protein was not detectable in susceptible tobacco aphids.
Controller Use of a Block Occupancy-Based Surface Surveillance Display for Surface Management

Advanced surface surveillance capabilities cannot be economically justified at small and medium airports, though these airports continue to suffer from runway incursions. A block occupancy-based surface surveillance approach, in which runways and taxiways are divided into blocks and the occupancy of a block is displayed to the controller, may provide a low cost solution to these airports. A medium fidelity simulation was conducted to examine controller situation awareness, workload, and aircraft identification performance with the use of the block occupancy display. Results indicate that the presence of the display improves controller detection of safety critical runway events. However, controllers indicate that associating occupied blocks with aircraft identification is burdensome.
Anti-i in infectious mononucleosis.

Anti-i appears frequently as an autoantibody in the blood of patients with infectious mononucleosis, but rarely results in autoimmune hemolytic anemia. This report deals with such a case and with the incidence of anti-i in patients without hemolytic anemia. The antibodies reacted best in the cold. In the patient with hemolytic anemia, the titer was 1:1,024 with cells of cord blood and 1:64 with normal adult blood cells, including the patient's own. About three weeks after the patient's recovery the antibodies were barely detectable by cells of cord blood, although a significant titer of heterophil agglutinins was still present. The incidence of anti-i agglutinins among 52 patients with uncomplicated infectious mononucleosis was found to be 69.2%. The serum of only one of the patients had a significant titer, whereas the vast majority had low titers and avidity for cells of cord blood. None reacted with normal adult cells at 37 C, but three reacted weakly at 4 C. Sera from 12 of the 52 patients who had recovered were retested for anti-i four to six weeks after onset of symptoms. All showed complete disappearance of the anti-i antibodies. It was concluded that anti-i shows a better correlation with the hemolytic and other complications of infectious mononucleosis than with heterophil agglutinins. No anti-i antibodies were detected in 23 sera screened for their presence.
Comparing Flagship News Programs: Women’s Sport Coverage in ESPN’s SportsCenter and FOX Sports 1’s FOX Sports Live

A total of 118 hr of sports news broadcast programming was subject to gender clock-time analysis, half from Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN’s) SportsCenter and half from 2013 sta...
Absolute lymphocyte count prior to rituximab therapy predicts time to progression in patients with follicular grade 1 lymphoma

7586 Background: The immunologic mechanisms of action of rituximab have been described as complement mediated lysis, vaccine like effect, antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and the cel...
“Are you a computer?”: Opening Exchanges in Virtual Reference Shape the Potential for Teaching

Academic reference librarians frequently work with students who are not aware of their professional roles. In online interactions, a student might not even realize that the librarian is a person. The ways students initiate conversations reveal their understanding of the mutual roles involved in reference encounters. Conversation analysis of live chat transcripts at two institutions establishes the importance of opening exchanges to shape the potential for teaching. Chats that students open with relational cues (greeting, introduction, courtesy, verbal softeners) last longer than chats without these cues. Longer chats include more expressions of enthusiastic gratitude. The transcripts show evidence of successful strategies by librarians to shift chats from transactional openings to conversations with potential for engaged learning.
DIFFRACTION OF PLANE SV WAVES BY A CIRCULAR-ARC LAYERED ALLUVIAL VALLEY:ANALYTICAL SOLUTION

An analytical solution of diffration of plane SV waves by a circular-arc layered alluvial valley is derived by Fourier-Bessel series expansion technique, and the effect of alluvial sequence and their relative stiffness on the diffraction is discussed.
Analysis of sanitary condition about partial rural drinking water in Guangzhou in 2008

Objective:Sanitary monitor of rural drinking water quality is one of the important content which is the establishment of monitoring system of public health.It is important to handle the rural drinking water quality and provide feasible methods to solve the questions occurred.Methods:According to GB5749-2006 Standard for drinking water quality and GB/T5750-2006 Standard examination methods for drinking water,we detect each physi-chemical and microorganic item of rural drinking water set in GB5749-2006 Standard for drinking water quality.And the results are evaluated according to GB5749-2006 Standard for drinking water quality.Results:Bulk physic-chemical items of rural drinking water quality of four regions or counties were qualified,but the qualified rate of microorganic items were prone to low.The qualified rate of total bacterial count was 90.9%,total coli group was 84.3%,thermoresistant coli group was 74.4%,free chlorine residual was 62.7% and the qualified rate of the last three items were all lower than 85%.Conclusion:It is the most important intent of rural drinking water management of each region or county to strengthen defecation and disinfection of source water,to ensure the level of free chlorine residual in tap water to rational level and ensure the rural drinking water quality to meet the national standard for drinking water.
Multimodal emotion recognition using deep learning architectures

Emotion analysis and recognition has become an interesting topic of research among the computer vision research community. In this paper, we first present the emoF-BVP database of multimodal (face, body gesture, voice and physiological signals) recordings of actors enacting various expressions of emotions. The database consists of audio and video sequences of actors displaying three different intensities of expressions of 23 different emotions along with facial feature tracking, skeletal tracking and the corresponding physiological data. Next, we describe four deep belief network (DBN) models and show that these models generate robust multimodal features for emotion classification in an unsupervised manner. Our experimental results show that the DBN models perform better than the state of the art methods for emotion recognition. Finally, we propose convolutional deep belief network (CDBN) models that learn salient multimodal features of expressions of emotions. Our CDBN models give better recognition accuracies when recognizing low intensity or subtle expressions of emotions when compared to state of the art methods.
Effect of prescription benefit changes on medical care utilization in a Medicare HMO population.

Objective To examine the impact of 2 cost-containment efforts in prescription benefits in successive years that included changes in copayment and coverage levels, expanded generic coverage, and brand name prescription drug limit-of-coverage in a Medicare health maintenance organization (HMO). The benefit changes included moving to a drug benefit with increased total coverage and higher copayments in the first year (1998) and to one with brand name limit-of-coverage and unlimited generic availability in the second year (1999). Study design A repeated-measures analytical design with enrollee follow-up before and after introduction of the 2 policies. Patients and methods A cohort of 2411 older adults continuously enrolled in a Medicare HMO since 1998 was followed up for 1 year pre-post for healthcare service utilization and costs; 259 patients enrolled since 1997 were available to test the effects of the first policy change. Results Bivariate and multivariate analyses found a significant decrease of 27% in prescription costs, a 4% decrease in physician visits, and a 6% decrease in total costs associated with the change in prescription benefit in the second year (1999). The policy change in the first year (1998) resulted in a 29% increase in prescription costs and 38% increased total costs for the HMO. Conclusions Introduction of a prescription benefit that included substantial brand name limit-of-coverage and generic drug coverage expansion was associated with significantly reduced prescription costs. In addition, this change did not seem to increase nonprescription-related healthcare service use in the population.
Fenian Terrorism Confronts the Atlantic Community, 1865–1870

The end of the American Civil War coincided with the introduction of a modern form of political violence in the Atlantic community. The death of President Abraham Lincoln in April 1865, along with attempts on the lives of Vice-President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward, inaugurated an era of terrorism in America and Europe. Ironically, not three years earlier, amid repeated rumors of assassination conspiracies against Lincoln, Seward dismissed these intrigues as “unlikely” and “no ground for anxiety,” pontificating that assassination was “not an American practice or habit” and believed that as it was “so vicious and desperate,” it would never “be engrafted into our political system.”1 In the decades that followed the peoples of both continents witnessed, participated, or were unwitting victims of terrorist attacks, including the violent elimination of unwanted sovereigns, heads of state, state-political leaders, government officials, and political rivals. On occasion, for example the 1870 French Commune, campaigns of terror forced entire metro-state resources to restore order, usually with a vigorous, repressive counterterror. In the United States, Union forces had maintained a conspicuous presence along the Potomac throughout the war, but in the days immediately following the assassination terror gripped the populace, and the District of Columbia organized into a garrison city. Inside and out of the Capitol spontaneous lynchings and assaults occurred against suspected conspirators and Confederate sympathizers for allegedly lauding the killing.2
An MDP-Based Dynamic Optimization Methodology for Embedded Wireless Sensor Networks*

This chapter proposes an application-oriented dynamic tuning methodology for embedded sensor nodes in distributed embedded wireless sensor networks (EWSNs) based on Markov decision process (MDP). MDP-based dynamic optimization methodology gives a policy that performs dynamic voltage, frequency, and sensing (sampling) frequency scaling (DVFS2) and specifies good quality solution for embedded sensor node parameter tuning for EWSN lifetime. The MDP-based dynamic tuning methodology adapts to changing application requirements and environmental stimuli. The chapter provides implementation guidelines for the proposed dynamic tuning methodology in embedded sensor nodes. The implementation guidelines describe the mapping of MDP specifications (e.g., state space, reward function) in the problem formulation to actual sensor node hardware. The computational complexity focuses on the convergence of the policy iteration algorithm and the data memory analysis for the MDP-based dynamic tuning methodology. The prototype implementation of the MDP-based tuning methodology on hardware sensor platforms is the focus of future work.
MicroRNA-155 enhances T cell trafficking and antiviral effector function in a model of coronavirus-induced neurologic disease

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are noncoding RNAs that modulate cellular gene expression, primarily at the post-transcriptional level. We sought to examine the functional role of miR-155 in a model of viral-induced neuroinflammation. Acute encephalomyelitis and immune-mediated demyelination were induced by intracranial injection with the neurotropic JHM strain of mouse hepatitis virus (JHMV) into C57BL/6 miR-155 +/+ wildtype (WT) mice or miR-155 −/− mice. Morbidity and mortality, viral load and immune cell accumulation in the CNS, and spinal cord demyelination were assessed at defined points post-infection. T cells harvested from infected mice were used to examine cytolytic activity, cytokine activity, and expression of certain chemokine receptors. To determine the impact of miR-155 on trafficking, T cells from infected WT or miR-155 −/− mice were adoptively transferred into RAG1 −/− mice, and T cell accumulation into the CNS was assessed using flow cytometry. Statistical significance was determined using the Mantel-Cox log-rank test or Student’s T tests. Compared to WT mice, JHMV-infected miR-155 −/− mice developed exacerbated disease concomitant with increased morbidity/mortality and an inability to control viral replication within the CNS. In corroboration with increased susceptibility to disease, miR-155 −/− mice had diminished CD8+ T cell responses in terms of numbers, cytolytic activity, IFN-γ secretion, and homing to the CNS that corresponded with reduced expression of the chemokine receptor CXCR3. Both IFN-γ secretion and trafficking were impaired in miR-155 −/− , virus-specific CD4+ T cells; however, expression of the chemokine homing receptors analyzed on CD4+ cells was not affected. Except for very early during infection, there were not significant differences in macrophage infiltration into the CNS between WT and miR-155 −/− JHMV-infected mice, and the severity of demyelination was similar at 14 days p.i. between WT and miR-155 −/− JHMV-infected mice. These findings support a novel role for miR-155 in host defense in a model of viral-induced encephalomyelitis. Specifically, miR-155 enhances antiviral T cell responses including cytokine secretion, cytolytic activity, and homing to the CNS in response to viral infection. Further, miR-155 can play either a host-protective or host-damaging role during neuroinflammation depending on the disease trigger.
Autonomous Councils in India: Contesting the Liberal Nation-State

I remember, as a small child, making an annual summer pilgrimage to Montana with my family to visit grandparents. As our pink station wagon hummed along the two-lane interstate highways, I would look out the window at the big-sky wheat-filled country, bored, and demand of my father, "Where are we?" Glancing out his window, he would impatiently respond with a relational positioning ("50 miles from Shelby") or a vague "in the countryside." "No," I would insist, "I want the name of this place." In my worldly understanding, everyplace was a place, with a name; there were no places in-between. I was a thoroughly modern child.2 A decade later, we were on another road, this time in eastern Turkey. Again, we were making an ancestral pilgrimage, albeit a more subtle one. We were trying to find the road to Mount Ararat, the alleged site of Noah's ark. As we searched our way, the time warp implied by visiting the Judeo-Christian origins of humankind after the deluge eluded me. Instead, I experienced a warp in my modern conception of space. As I looked out the car window, onto the dusty rumble of a road, I sensed that this place had no name. The weed fields were unclaimed. This time I did not bother to ask my father where we were, for I knew we were lost. We were nowhere. But the warp was momentary; modernity with its spatial boundaries and borders, its territorial claims and its place-names, came flooding back. For there, out of nowhere, appeared two soldiers - the human manifestation of the modern state's monopoly
Targeting retinoblastoma: therapeutic inhibition using catalytic antioxidant cerium oxide nanoparticles

Retinoblastoma is a malignant ocular tumor arising within the neural tissue lining the back of the eye during development. An excessive rise in reactive oxygen species (ROS) is associated with sign...
Segmental Deuteration of α-Synuclein for Neutron Reflectometry on Tethered Bilayers.

Neutron reflectometry (NR) is uniquely suited for studying protein interaction with phospholipid bilayers along the bilayer normal on an angstrom scale. However, NR on its own cannot discern specific membrane-bound regions due to a lack of scattering contrast within a protein. Here we report the successful coupling of native chemical ligation (NCL) and NR to study α-synuclein (α-syn), a membrane-binding neuronal protein central in Parkinson’s disease. Two α-syn variants were generated where either the first 86 or last 54 residues are deuterated, allowing for region-specific contrast within the protein and the identification of membrane interacting residues by NR. Residues 1–86 are positioned at the hydrocarbon/headgroup interface of the outer leaflet, whereas the density distribution of the 54 C-terminal residues ranges from the hydrocarbon region to the aqueous environment. Coupling of NCL and NR should have broad utility in studies of membrane protein folding.
Conjunctive vadose and saturated zone monitoring for subsurface contamination

A comprehensive subsurface monitoring program should include contaminant detectors in both the vadose and saturated zones. Vadose zone detectors can provide an early warning of an impending groundwater contamination problem, and also yield information relevant to placing groundwater monitoring wells. Moisture probes, gas monitoring wells, and pore-liquid samplers deployed in the vadose zone complement groundwater detection wells. The objective(s) of a monitoring program, spatial-scales, and hydrogeology are important considerations for designing subsurface monitoring networks. Often, these networks are used to detect potential releases or characterize existing contamination beneath land-based waste storage facilities. A case study in Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A., illustrates the utility of vadose zone monitoring in characterizing a gasoline contamination problem and guiding the placement of groundwater monitoring wells.
Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. v. EEOC and Sex Discrimination under Title VII: Some Questions Answered, Others Remain

This article focuses on the Supreme Court's decision in Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company v. EEOC and its effect on Title VII sex discrimination.
A dual-chamber method for quantifying the effects of atmospheric perturbations on secondary organic aerosol formation from biomass burning emissions

Biomass burning (BB) is a major source of atmospheric pollutants. Field and laboratory studies indicate that secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from BB emissions is highly variable. We investigated sources of this variability using a novel dual-smog-chamber method that directly compares the SOA formation from the same BB emissions under two different atmospheric conditions. During each experiment, we filled two identical Teflon smog chambers simultaneously with BB emissions from the same fire. We then perturbed the smoke with UV-lights, UV-lights plus HONO, or dark ozone in one or both chambers. These perturbations caused SOA formation in nearly every experiment with an average organic aerosol (OA) mass enhancement ratio of 1.78 ± 0.91 (mean ± 1σ). However, the effects of the perturbations were highly variable ranging with OA mass enhancement ratios ranging from 0.7 (30% loss of OA mass) to 4.4 across the set of perturbation experiments. There was no apparent relationship between OA enhancement and perturbation type, fuel type, and modified combustion efficiency. To better isolate the effects of different perturbations, we report dual-chamber enhancements (DUCE), which quantity the effects of a perturbation relative to a reference condition. DUCE values were also highly variable, even for the same perturbation and fuel type. Gas measurements indicate substantial burn-to-burn variability in the magnitude and composition of SOA precursor emissions, even in repeated burns of the same fuel under nominally identical conditions. Therefore, the effects of different atmospheric perturbations on SOA formation from BB emissions appear to be less important than burn-to-burn variability.
Access denied: a reply to Rickabaugh and McAllister

In their recent paper, Brandon Rickabaugh and Derek McAllister object to Paul Moser’s rejection of natural theology on the grounds that Moser is committed to a principle, Seek, which commits Moser to another principle, Access. Access in turn can be rationally motivated for at least some nonbelievers only by the arguments of natural theology. So Moser is in fact committed to the epistemic usefulness of natural theology. In this paper, we show that Seek by itself does not commit one to Access, and that even if Moser is committed to Access, he is not thereby committed to the epistemic usefulness of natural theology for all nonbelievers. While we find this argument offered by Rickabaugh and McAllister lacking, we do not deny their conclusion that natural theology is epistemically useful to all nonbelievers.
Regioselective Rh-Catalyzed Hydroformylation of 1,1,3-Trisubstituted Allenes Using BisDiazaPhos Ligand

The efficient hydroformylation of 1,1,3-trisubstituted allenes is accomplished with low loadings of a Rh catalyst supported by a BisDiazaPhos (BDP) ligand. The ligand identity is key to achieving high regioselectivity, while the mild reaction conditions minimize competing isomerization and hydrogenation to produce β,γ-unsaturated aldehydes and their derivatives in excellent yields.
An in Vitro Clonal Assay for Bladder Cancer: Clinical Correlation with the Status of the Urothelium in 33 Patients

AbstractAn in vitro colony forming assay system is described in which urothelial cells obtained by bladder barbotage at cystoscopy are cultivated in nutrient enriched soft agar. In the 33 patients studied in vitro growth characteristics correlated with the clinical behavior of the urothelium in vivo. All 9 patients with bladder cancer confirmed by biopsy had in vitro growth. Only 3 of the 17 control patients with non-neoplastic urologic disease had clusters/colonies in vitro. In 2 of 7 patients with no conclusive evidence of transitional cell carcinoma at the time of cystoscopy in vitro cluster formation was predictive of subsequent malignant deterioration. Implications and potential applications of the assay system are discussed.
Electrochemical deposition of alkaline-earth elements (Sr and Ba) from LiCl-KCl-SrCl2-BaCl2 solution using a liquid bismuth electrode

Abstract Electrochemical deposition of Sr and Ba into liquid Bi metal was investigated in LiCl-KCl-SrCl2-BaCl2 electrolytes at 500 °C as a means to separate stable alkaline-earth ions from the molten salts (eutectic LiCl-KCl) utilized for recycling used nuclear fuel, by leveraging the strong chemical interactions between alkaline-earth metals and liquid Bi. The liquid Bi electrodes were subjected to cathodic discharge up to 270 C g–1 at a constant current density of 50 mA cm−2 in eutectic LiCl-KCl with the addition of 5 mol% total of SrCl2 and/or BaCl2. The use of Bi resulted in complex electrode reactions, leading to co-deposition of Sr (2.0–6.5 mol%), Ba (4.1–12.8 mol%), and Li (5.9–16.2 mol%), and coulombic efficiencies of 63–67% were achieved. The observed co-deposition was also supported via thermodynamic analyses of electrode potentials by incorporating the experimentally determined activity values of each alkali/alkaline-earth metal in Bi. The results of this work suggest that alkaline-earth fission products accumulated in molten salts (Sr2+ and Ba2+) can be recovered into liquid Bi by electrochemical separation, which could be employed as a critical step for recycling the process salt (LiCl-KCl) in order to minimize the generation of additional nuclear wastes.
Lycaon pictus (African or Cape hunting dog)

Skin biopsies from one male and one female hunting dog were kindly provided by Dr. C. Gray, National Zoological Park, Washington, D.C., USA. It is difficult to determine whether all small autosomes are indeed acrocentric; the last three pairs may have short arms.
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Multifamily Mortgage Market

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two principal government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) in the mortgage markets, have come to play an increasingly important role in the multifamily housing finance system. Newly available loan-level data, released as part of HUD's GSE oversight activities, are used to evaluate the performance of GSEs in meeting the mortgage credit needs of properties affordable to low- and moderate-income families and of properties located in underserved geographic areas. The extent to which GSEs have been successful in addressing segments of the multifamily mortgage market affected by credit gaps is examined in the context of broader market trends, HUD's GSE housing goals, and the GSEs' need to manage default risk.
Effects of an Introduced Piscivore on Native Trout: Insights from a Demographic Model

Introductions of exotic species pose a significant threat to the persistence of many native populations, including many inland fishes. In 1994, piscivorous lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) were discovered in Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA, one of the last strongholds of the native Yellowstone cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki bouvieri). Predation by lake trout is expected to lead to a substantial decline in the native cutthroat trout population, which may have significant negative consequences for terrestrial predators that depend on cutthroat trout for prey and for the recreational fishery of the Park. We developed a matrix demographic model for the cutthroat trout population in Yellowstone Lake to identify the life stages that are most critical for understanding population dynamics. Parameter estimates (vital rates) were manipulated to explore the possible consequences of lake trout invasion. Comparisons of our results with current estimates of population trend and age structure suggested that our model reflected current conditions of the system. Elasticity analysis of the model revealed that population growth was most sensitive to annual survival of young trout, the group that is expected to be most vulnerable to lake trout predation. Projection of our deterministic model suggested that, in addition to a decline in abundance of cutthroat trout, the effects of lake trout may be manifest as changes in age and breeding structure of the population. Simulations of a stochastic version of the model indicated that a 60% or greater decline in the cutthroat trout population could be expected within 100 years if the lake trout population were permitted to grow uncontrolled. However, an effective control strategy that prevented the establishment of a large population of lake trout substantially reduced population decline, although the reduction in the availability of adult trout to terrestrial predators and anglers may be still be substantial (20–40%). In addition to current control activities in place in the Park, we recommend a renewed emphasis on understanding and monitoring juvenile life stages of cutthroat trout. Our results demonstrate the value of existing data sets for developing models to estimate the potential impact of biological invasions on the management and conservation of native populations, especially when opportunities and resources for additional empirical studies are limited.
The Problem of Determining Membership Values in Fuzzy Sets in Real World Situations

One of the fundamental concepts in fuzzy set theory is the one of membership values. An appealing procedure for deriving information about membership values, is to use a matrix of pairwise comparisons [18], [19], [20]. A number of OR approaches that are based on eigenvalue theory and mathematical programming have been proposed to manipulate the previous matrices and estimate membership values. The findings of this paper reveal that although some methods appear to be more effective than others, still their performance is dramatically poor.