cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sphingosine and sphingosine 1-phosphate differentially modulate platelet-derived growth factor-BB-induced Ca2+ signaling in transformed oligodendrocytes.

The roles of sphingosine and sphingosine 1-phosphate in Ca2+ signaling following platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) receptor stimulation were investigated in the oligodendrocyte cell line CEINGE cl3, using single-cell fura-2 microfluorimetry and videoimaging. Two different Ca2+ responses were observed, which differed in their delays and kinetics. The first response, which occurred after a shorter delay, exhibited a single Ca2+ peak often followed by a plateau, while the second type of response was characterized by a longer delay and by Ca2+ spikes with different frequencies and amplitudes. The latter phenomenon was never observed after stimulation of G protein-coupled receptors for ATP, ET-1, and BK. The incubation with the inhibitor of sphingosine kinase, DL-threo-dihydrosphingosine, significantly increased the percentage of cells responding to PDGF-BB exposure with Ca2+ spikes (87 versus 47%), while it did not modify the Ca2+ response elicited by exposure to ATP, ET-1, or BK. Exposure to exogenous 10 μM sphingosine or 1 μM sphingosine 1-phosphate produced oscillatory and non-oscillatory Ca2+ responses, respectively, similar to those elicited by PDGF-BB. A second application of PDGF-BB, 30 min after the first, was normally ineffective in producing a Ca2+ response. However, if the second exposure was preceded by the inhibition of sphingosine 1-phosphate formation, an oscillatory Ca2+ response occurred in all cells. We conclude that intracellular levels of sphingosine and sphingosine 1-phosphate may differentially modulate Ca2+ signaling triggered by PDGF receptor stimulation in CEINGE cl3-transformed oligodendrocytes.
Using departmental surveys to assess computing culture: quantifying gender differences in the classroom

Male and female students often hold different views of the culture within the same computer science department. These differences may, in part, account for why women are underrepresented in computer science. We found that surveying students about their views of our departments' environments was an important first step in evaluating the cultures of our own departments, in determining what issues needed to be addressed, and in determining how to address them. Our survey results revealed some problems in our classroom and lab environments, and showed that there are gender differences in students' perceptions of our departments. We describe a set of changes that were implemented in response to our findings. These solutions are specifically designed to address problems that we discovered through our student survey, but they are not all original to us. The contribution of our work is in demonstrating how surveying is critical to identifying and understanding problems in our departments. We argue that a process of continually surveying students is vital to the maintenance and evolution of a healthy computer science program.
Experiences mining open source release histories

Software releases form a critical part of the life cycle of a software project. Typically, each project produces releases in its own way, using various methods of versioning, archiving, announcing and publishing the release. Understanding the release history of a software project can shed light on the project history, as well as the release process used by that project, and how those processes change. However, many factors make automating the retrieval of release history information difficult, such as the many sources of data, a lack of relevant standards and a disparity of tools used to create releases.In spite of the large amount of raw data available, no attempt has been made to create a release history database of a large number of projects in the open source ecosystem. This paper presents our experiences, including the tools, techniques and pitfalls, in our early work to create a software release history database which will be of use to future researchers who want to study and model the release engineering process in greater depth.
“Minimax length links” of a dissimilarity matrix and minimum spanning trees

A theorem is proved stating that the set of all “minimax links”, defined as links minimizing, over paths, the maximum length of links in any path connecting a pair of objects comprising nodes in an undirected weighted graph, comprise the union of all minimum spanning trees of that graph. This theorem is related to methods of fitting network models to dissimilarity data, particularly a method called “Pathfinder” due to Schvaneveldt and his colleagues, as well as to single linkage clustering, and results concerning the relationship between minimum spanning trees and single linkage hierarchical trees.
Shape modeling with front propagation: a level set approach

Shape modeling is an important constituent of computer vision as well as computer graphics research. Shape models aid the tasks of object representation and recognition. This paper presents a new approach to shape modeling which retains some of the attractive features of existing methods and overcomes some of their limitations. The authors' techniques can be applied to model arbitrarily complex shapes, which include shapes with significant protrusions, and to situations where no a priori assumption about the object's topology is made. A single instance of the authors' model, when presented with an image having more than one object of interest, has the ability to split freely to represent each object. This method is based on the ideas developed by Osher and Sethian (1988) to model propagating solid/liquid interfaces with curvature-dependent speeds. The interface (front) is a closed, nonintersecting, hypersurface flowing along its gradient field with constant speed or a speed that depends on the curvature. It is moved by solving a "Hamilton-Jacobi" type equation written for a function in which the interface is a particular level set. A speed term synthesized from the image is used to stop the interface in the vicinity of object boundaries. The resulting equation of motion is solved by employing entropy-satisfying upwind finite difference schemes. The authors present a variety of ways of computing the evolving front, including narrow bands, reinitializations, and different stopping criteria. The efficacy of the scheme is demonstrated with numerical experiments on some synthesized images and some low contrast medical images. >
A 5 GHz direct digital synthesizer MMIC with direct modulation and spur randomization

This paper presents a low power, ultra high speed and high resolution SiGe DDS MMIC with 24-bit phase and 10-bit amplitude resolution. The DDS MMIC has the capabilities of direct frequency and phase modulations with 24 bit and 12 bit resolution, respectively. It is the first reported mm-wave DDS with direct digital frequency and phase modulation capabilities. Utilizing a 13-bit built-in ultra high speed pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) generator, the DDS MMIC can perform least significant bit (LSB) dithering for spur randomization.With more than twenty thousand transistors, the DDS MMIC includes a 24-bit ripple carry accumulator for phase accumulation, a 12-bit ripple carry adder for phase modulation, an LSB dithering block for spur randomization and a 10-bit segmented sine-weighted DAC for phase to amplitude mapping and digital to analog conversion. The DDS core occupies 3.0×2.5 mm2 and consumes 4.7Wpower under a single 3.3 V power supply. The Nyquist band SFDR is measured as 38 dBc with 469.360351 MHz output under 5.0 GHz maximum clock (FCW = 0x180800). With 1.246258914 GHz output frequency (FCW = 0x3FCFE7), the narrow band SFDR is measured as 82 dBc. The DDS MMIC is packaged and tested in LCC-68 cavity.
Cytogenetic Abnormalities of Primary Breast Carcinoma: Comparative Analysis of Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) and Flow Cytometry

: Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease that is frequently associated with genetic alterations. Nonrandom chromosomal changes are assumed to play a role in breast tumorigenesis and progression. These changes can be detected by standard cytogenetics, which is technologically cumbersome, or by flow cytometry, which only provides a general overview of genetic alterations by ploidy status. Alternatively, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a recently developed technique that has the capability to detect chromosomal changes in individual nuclei with preserved morphology of breast cancer. Our study was designed to investigate the molecular cytogenetic basis of nonrandom chromosomal aberrations in breast carcinoma by FISH and compare this data with flow cytometry. Large paraffin sections and 5 μm sections of 57 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma and 5 normal control samples were subjected to ploidy analysis by standard flow cytometry and FISH. By flow, 27 (47.4%) cases were aneuploid; while 30 cases were diploid. FISH, performed using a panel of six α-satellite centromeric probes for chromosomes 1, 7, 8, 11, 17, and X, detected 37 (64.9%) aneuploid tumor, while 20 tumors were diploid. Vast intratumor heterogeneity (75%) occurred in 27 of the 37 aneuploid tumors. FISH also identified aneuploidy in 50% of cases that were interpreted as diploid by flow. The FISH and flow results were concordant in 15 diploid cases and 22 aneuploid cases, yielding an overall agreement of 64.9%. This agreement was significant above that expected by chance (kappa = 0.309, p = 0.007). Sensitivity and specificity of FISH for aneuploidy detected by flow were 81.5% and 50.0%, respectively. Discordant FISH aneuploid tumors were characterized by gain or loss of 1-3 chromosomes. Normal controls were consistently diploid by both flow and FISH. Our data suggest that FISH is more sensitive in detecting aneuploidy than flow cytometry and provides valuable genetic data of breast cancer cells.
An ITAM in a Nonenveloped Virus Regulates Activation of NF-κB, Induction of Beta Interferon, and Viral Spread

Immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs (ITAMs) are signaling domains located within the cytoplasmic tails of many transmembrane receptors and associated adaptor proteins that mediate immune cell activation. ITAMs also have been identified in the cytoplasmic tails of some enveloped virus glycoproteins. Here, we identified ITAM sequences in three mammalian reovirus proteins: μ2, σ2, and λ2. We demonstrate for the first time that μ2 is phosphorylated, contains a functional ITAM, and activates NF-κB. Specifically, μ2 and μNS recruit the ITAM-signaling intermediate Syk to cytoplasmic viral factories and this recruitment requires the μ2 ITAM. Moreover, both the μ2 ITAM and Syk are required for maximal μ2 activation of NF-κB. A mutant virus lacking the μ2 ITAM activates NF-κB less efficiently and induces lower levels of the downstream antiviral cytokine beta interferon (IFN-β) than does wild-type virus despite similar replication. Notably, the consequences of these μ2 ITAM effects are cell type specific. In fibroblasts where NF-κB is required for reovirus-induced apoptosis, the μ2 ITAM is advantageous for viral spread and enhances viral fitness. Conversely, in cardiac myocytes where the IFN response is critical for antiviral protection and NF-κB is not required for apoptosis, the μ2 ITAM stimulates cellular defense mechanisms and diminishes viral fitness. Together, these results suggest that the cell type-specific effect of the μ2 ITAM on viral spread reflects the cell type-specific effects of NF-κB and IFN-β. This first demonstration of a functional ITAM in a nonenveloped virus presents a new mechanism for viral ITAM-mediated signaling with likely organ-specific consequences in the host.
Allergic potency of recombinant Fel d 1 is reduced by low concentrations of chlorine bleach.

Abstract Background: Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), the primary component of household bleach, has been shown to alter the purified mouse allergen Mus m 1, such that antibody recognition, or immunogenicity, is lost. Results of initial experiments suggest that antibody recognition is lost at lower concentrations of NaOCl than those required to fragment Mus m 1. Objective: We sought to determine whether NaOCl had similar effects on recombinant (r)Fel d 1 and whether the loss of antibody recognition correlated with the loss of biologic activity, as measured with a basophil histamine release assay. Methods: Recombinant Fel d 1 was treated with increasing amounts of NaOCl, and the product of the reaction was analyzed by using SDS-PAGE, Western blotting, and ELISA. The biologic activity of NaOCl-treated rFel d 1 was analyzed with a basophil histamine release assay. Results: The protein fragmented at an NaOCl/rFel d 1 molar ratio of 7000, whereas cat-specific IgG recognition was lost at a lower molar ratio of 560. Basophil histamine release assays were performed to determine the effect of NaOCl on the biologic activity of rFel d 1. An NaOCl/protein molar ratio of 70 caused a significant reduction in histamine release from basophils of subjects with cat allergy. A molar ratio of 140 further inhibited histamine release by rFel d 1, suggesting a dose-response relationship between NaOCl and loss of biologic activity. Conclusions: NaOCl modifies rFel d 1, resulting in loss of immunogenicity and attenuation of biologic activity, as measured by its ability to stimulate basophil histamine release. (J Allergy Clin Immunol 2003;111:396-401.)
Defining the Enemy for the Post-Cold War World: Bill Clinton's Foreign Policy Discourse in Somalia and Haiti

United States presidents use images of savagery to identify and construct America’s adversaries, especially prior to and during some form of armed intervention. During the Cold War, presidents used images of modern savagery to craft a Soviet enemy and its proxies. In the post-Cold War world, Bill Clinton did not have the luxury of a monolithic enemy to organize American foreign policy. He faced a threat environment that was more complex, transnational, and diffuse. Within this environment, I argue Clinton used images of primitive and modern savagery to define America’s adversaries. An analysis of Clinton’s discourse reveals that his use of both of these rhetorical forms broadened how presidents construct America’s enemies. Moreover, the use of both images of savagery provided a rhetorical flexibility that was needed for the threat environment of the post-Cold War world. This essay contributes to deeper understandings of presidential rhetoric in general and crisis rhetoric in particular.
A 24-HOUR PERIODICITY IN THE “LH-RELEASE APPARATUS” OF FEMALE RATS, DISCLOSED BY BARBITURATE SEDATION

UNTIL very recently the importance of the nervous system in evoking the ovulatory discharge of gonadotrophin has been recognized in only the few species of animals which fail to ovulate spontaneously. Within recent months, however, several reports from this laboratory (Sawyer, Everett and Markee, 1948, 1949; Everett, Sawyer and Markee, 1948, 1949; Everett and Sawyer, 1949, a, b; Sawyer, Markee and Everett, 1949, 1950) have demonstrated that in the rat, a spontaneous ovulator, neurogenic activation of the hypophysis is essential for the release of ovulating hormone. It was found that either Dibenamine or atropine, agents which block reflexogenic stimulation of the hypophysis in rabbits (Sawyer, Markee and Hollinshead, 1947; Sawyer, Markee and Townsend, 1949), will likewise prevent LH release in rats when injected before certain critical hours during proestrus. In our 4-day cyclic rats these hours are surprisingly uniform, usually between 2 and 4 p.m. Thus, atropine given at 2 p.m. or earlier uniformly prev...
Extending I/O through high performance data services

The complexity of HPC systems has increased the burden on the developer as applications scale to hundreds of thousands of processing cores. Moreover, additional efforts are required to achieve acceptable I/O performance, where it is important how I/O is performed, which resources are used, and where I/O functionality is deployed. Specifically, by scheduling I/O data movement and by effectively placing operators affecting data volumes or information about the data, tremendous gains can be achieved both in the performance of simulation output and in the usability of output data. Previous studies have shown the value of using asynchronous I/O, of employing a staging area, and of performing select operations on data before it is written to disk. Leveraging such insights, this paper develops and experiments with higher level I/O abstractions, termed “data services”, that manage output data from ‘source to sink': where/when it is captured, transported towards storage, and filtered or manipulated by service functions to improve its information content. Useful services include data reduction, data indexing, and those that manage how I/O is performed, i.e., the control aspects of data movement. Our data services implementation distinguishes control aspects — the control plane — from data movement — the data plane, so that both may be changed separably. This results in runtime flexibility not only in which services to employ, but also in where to deploy them and how they use I/O resources. The outcome is consistently high levels of I/O performance at large scale, without requiring application change.
The effect of thymol and thyme oil feed supplementation on growth performance, serum antioxidant levels, and cecal Salmonella population in broilers

SUMMARY To search for a potential feed additive as an antibiotic alternative for poultry production, 2 essential oils, thyme and cinnamon bark oil, were evaluated along with their respective components, as well as the common phenolic acid, caffeic acid, by in vitro and in vivo experiments. Caffeic acid, thymol, and thyme oil were better antioxidants than carvacrol, cinnamaldehyde, and cinnamon bark oil when using an oxygen radical absorbance capacity assay. When an antimicrobial assay with a growth indicator was used, minimum inhibitory concentrations against Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium were determined to be 2.0, 0.4, 0.78, 0.84, 1.54, and 1.83 mg/mL for caffeic acid, thymol, carvacrol, cinnamaldehyde, cinnamon bark oil, and thyme oil, respectively. Lower minimum inhibitory concentrations were recorded for Salmonella enterica serovars Kentucky, Enteritidis Nal r , and Senftenberg. No cytotoxic effects were found when testing these compounds on chicken embryos. Thymol was an effective antioxidant and antimicrobial agent based on the 2 assays, so it was used as a feed additive in 3 feed trials. After a 28-d feeding trial, dietary thymol did not affect broiler growth performance and feed conversion efficiency compared with the control. However, supplementation affected the serum antioxidant status. Although the addition of thymol showed no significant inhibition against cecal Salmonella for chicks inoculated with 10 4 and 10 8 cfu/mL of naladixic acid-resistant Salmonella, the highest concentration of thymol (4 g/kg) demonstrated some protective effects for specific-pathogen-free chicks against Salmonella Enteritidis Nal r , preventing further mortality.
Exploiting Nonneural Cells to Rebuild the Nervous System: From Bone Marrow to Brain

Bone marrow, in addition to hematopoietic precursors, contains cells that are considered stem cells of nonhematopoietic tissues. These cells are referred to as marrow stromal cells or mesenchymal stem cells. Marrow stromal cells, because of their ability to survive, integrate, and migrate within the central nervous system, can be used as an alternative source of cells for neural transplantation and repair. They can be expanded rapidly in culture and can be induced to express markers of neural cells. Moreover, implanted into the developing brain, these cells can integrate without disrupting the host brain architecture and can assume the fate of neural cells. They can be genetically transduced and can elaborate transgene products. Because large numbers of stromal cells can be obtained from small aspirates of bone marrow, these cells are potentially useful for treating a variety of neurological diseases.
Using N-gram based Features for Machine Translation System Combination

Conventional confusion network based system combination for machine translation (MT) heavily relies on features that are based on the measure of agreement of words in different translation hypotheses. This paper presents two new features that consider agreement of n-grams in different hypotheses to improve the performance of system combination. The first one is based on a sentence specific online n-gram language model, and the second one is based on n-gram voting. Experiments on a large scale Chinese-to-English MT task show that both features yield significant improvements on the translation performance, and a combination of them produces even better translation results.
Posterior predictive checks of coalescent models: P2C2M, an R package

Bayesian inference operates under the assumption that the empirical data are a good statistical fit to the analytical model, but this assumption can be challenging to evaluate. Here, we introduce a novel r package that utilizes posterior predictive simulation to evaluate the fit of the multispecies coalescent model used to estimate species trees. We conduct a simulation study to evaluate the consistency of different summary statistics in comparing posterior and posterior predictive distributions, the use of simulation replication in reducing error rates and the utility of parallel process invocation towards improving computation times. We also test P2C2M on two empirical data sets in which hybridization and gene flow are suspected of contributing to shared polymorphism, which is in violation with the coalescent model: Tamias chipmunks and Myotis bats. Our results indicate that (i) probability-based summary statistics display the lowest error rates, (ii) the implementation of simulation replication decreases the rate of type II errors, and (iii) our r package displays improved statistical power compared to previous implementations of this approach. When probabilistic summary statistics are used, P2C2M corroborates the assumption that genealogies collected from Tamias and Myotis are not a good fit to the multispecies coalescent model. Taken as a whole, our findings argue that an assessment of the fit of the multispecies coalescent model should accompany any phylogenetic analysis that estimates a species tree.
PHYLOGENETIC PERSPECTIVES IN THE EVOLUTION OF PARENTAL CARE IN RAY-FINNED FISHES

Among major vertebrate groups, ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii) collectively display a nearly unrivaled diversity of parental care activities. This fact, coupled with a growing body of phylogenetic data for Actinopterygii, makes these fishes a logical model system for analyzing the evolutionary histories of alternative parental care modes and associated reproductive behaviors. From an extensive literature review, we constructed a supertree for ray-finned fishes and used its phylogenetic topology to investigate the evolution of several key reproductive states including type of parental care (maternal, paternal, or biparental), internal versus external fertilization, internal versus external gestation, nest construction behavior, and presence versus absence of sexual dichromatism (as an indicator of sexual selection). Using a comparative phylogenetic approach, we critically evaluate several hypotheses regarding evolutionary pathways toward parental care. Results from maximum parsimony reconstructions indicate that all forms of parental care, including paternal, biparental, and maternal (both external and internal to the female reproductive tract) have arisen repeatedly and independently during ray-finned fish evolution. The most common evolutionary transitions were from external fertilization directly to paternal care and from external fertilization to maternal care via the intermediate step of internal fertilization. We also used maximum likelihood phylogenetic methods to test for statistical correlations and contingencies in the evolution of pairs of reproductive traits. Sexual dichromatism and nest construction proved to be positively correlated with the evolution of male parental care in species with external fertilization. Sexual dichromatism was also positively correlated with female-internal fertilization and gestation. No clear indication emerged that female-only care or biparental care were evolutionary outgrowths of male-only care, or that biparental care has been a common evolutionary stepping stone between paternal and maternal care. Results are discussed in the context of prior thought about the evolution of alternative parental care modes in vertebrates.
not really finished is crucial for development of the zebrafish outer retina and encodes a transcription factor highly homologous to human Nuclear Respiratory Factor-1 and avian Initiation Binding Repressor

Not really finished (nrf), a larval-lethal mutation in zebrafish generated by retroviral insertion, causes specific retinal defects. Analysis of mutant retinae reveals an extensive loss of photoreceptors and their precursors around the onset of visual function. These neurons undergo apoptosis during differentiation, affecting all classes of photoreceptors, suggesting an essential function of nrf for the development of all types of photoreceptors. In the mutant, some photoreceptors escape cell death, are functional and, as judged by opsin expression, belong to at least three classes of cones and one class of rods. The protein encoded by nrf is a close homologue of human Nuclear Respiratory Factor 1 and avian Initiation Binding Repressor, transcriptional regulators binding the upstream consensus sequence RCGCRYGCGY. At 24 hours of development, prior to neuronal differentiation, nrf is expressed ubiquitously throughout the developing retina and central nervous system. At 48 hours of development, expression of nrf is detected in the ganglion cell layer, in the neurons of the inner nuclear layer, and in the optic nerve and optic tracts, and, at 72 hours of development, is no longer detectable by in situ hybridization. Mutants contain no detectable nrf mRNA and die within 2 weeks postfertilization as larvae with reduced brain size. On the basis of its similarity with NRF-1 and IBR, nrf is likely involved in transcriptional regulation of multiple target genes, including those that encode mitochondrial proteins, growth factor receptors and other transcription factors. This demonstrates the power of insertional mutagenesis as a means for characterizing novel genes necessary for vertebrate retinal development.
Sex Cord-Stromal Tumors

Sex cord-stromal tumors are rare neoplasms which most commonly occur in the ovary. Granulosa cell tumors are the most common histologic subtype. Presenting symptoms and signs may be specific to this group of tumors, and treatment is determined by many factors, including age and histologic subtype. Appropriate therapy usually includes surgery, and chemotherapy often plays a role. Much progress has recently been made in the field of sex cord-stromal tumors, with regard to fertility-sparing surgery, surgical staging, less toxic chemotherapy, useful biologic agents, and the genetic etiology of granulosa cell tumors. These advances and the management of patients with sex cord-stromal tumors are comprehensively reviewed in this chapter.
Genetic analysis of yield and some characters in peas

In this research, the genetic structure was investigated by using the Jinks-Hayman analysis type in terms of agronomical characteristics of the parents and their crosses which were evaluated from 5 X 5 reciprocal diallele pea population. The means of investigated characteristics was done by using variance. According to the results of diallele analysis, the variance of additive gene was found non-significant for all the investigated characteristics. The variance of dominance was found significant for all the characteristics except 100 seed weight. There were the effect of dominance for all the characteristics in accordance with D-H1 difference. Genetic variance components in population and interjacent rate estimating and regression graphic analysis for Wr and Vr values were made for whole characteristics. The analysis for some agronomic characteristics showed that the population had a sufficient level of genetically variation. Additionally, the recessive genes had more effects on plant height and seed per plant, dominant genes had more effects on number of pods, seed per pod, 100 seed weight and seed yield in population.
Politicians’ Equity Holdings and Accounting Conservatism

I examine the association between politician ownership and accounting conservatism for a sample of S&P 1500 firms between 2005 and 2011. The contracting explanation predicts that politician owned firms adopt less conservative accounting because lenders are less concerned with downside default risk for these politically favored firms. The political costs explanation predicts that politician owned firms adopt more conservative financial reporting to shield allied politicians from voter scrutiny. I find that equity ownership by members of the U.S. House and Senate is associated with lower levels of conditional conservatism. This negative association is more pronounced among: (1) firms owned by local politicians, where there is a greater alignment between the interests of the politician and the firm, and (2) firms with long-term issuer credit ratings, for which debt market participants particularly value conservatism as a mechanism for conveying information on downside default risk. I also examine the relationship between politician ownership and unconditional conservatism and fail to document a statistical relationship between the two measures. Collectively, the results provide consistent evidence of a lower contracting demand for conditional conservatism among politician owned firms.
Discussion: Recursive Economic Systems in Rural-Urban Development

Economic growth models are the most exciting and challenging of all possible areas of economic analysis. They are exciting because the economist's marginal value productivity is likely to be the greatest in economic growth analysis. They are challenging because of their complexity and the data problems involved. The authors are to be commended for their efforts to develop a rigorous model of area economic development and to come up with some useful quantitative answers. I know that in developing this paper Maki et al. were restricted in its length but I wish they had condensed the introductory section and then would have elaborated on the reasoning and logic underlying each of the formal model equations. Such a procedure would, I feel, make their objectives clear as well as give the reader a better picture of the model. Moreover, I wondered why the authors had chosen to present their pri-
Elevated blood pressure in adolescent girls: correlation to body size and composition

To improve understanding of the pathophysiology of hypertension in adolescents and pave the way for risk stratification, studies have sought to determine the correlates of blood pressure (BP). Inconsistencies in dependent and independent variables have resulted in an elusive consensus. The aim of this report is to examine an inclusive array of correlates of BP, as a continuous (systolic and diastolic BP) and a dichotomous variable.
Sulfate fixation by embryonic chick lung in tissue culture.

SummaryChick embryonic lung tissue cultivated in vitro in the presence of sulfate labeled with S35 fixed sulfate in the protein of the tissue. Lung tissue which was not proliferating did not incorporate sulfate. Cultures of lung older than 2 weeks had a greatly reduced ability to fix sulfate. The presence of cortisone in the medium did not alter the incorporation of sulfate into the tissue.
Abstract 241: Tumor initiating cells and FZD8 play a major role in drugresistance and tumor progression in triple negative breast cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is usually associated with poor outcome in part due to lack of benefit from targeted therapy. Previous studies have shown that neoadjuvant chemotherapy before surgery was effective in the minority of women with TNBC; in contrast, the majority who had a residual tumor after treatment had a relatively poor outcome. In order to identify the mechanism by which residual cancer cells survive chemotherapy, we performed gene expression profile using CRL2335 TNBC cell line before and after treatment with cisplatin plus TRAIL. We found a significant increase in the expression of FZD8, one of the Wnt receptors, and its downstream targets LEF1 and TCF in residual tumor cells after treatment with cisplatin plus TRAIL compared with untreated controls. Inhibition of FZD8 by siRNA in the presence of cisplatin plus TRAIL reduced β-catenin and survivin levels, and increased apoptosis compared to scrambled siRNA-treated cells. In vivo, data demonstrate that cisplatin plus TRAIL treatment, significantly reduces tumor volume in nod/SCID mice. However, we found that cisplatin plus TRAIL treatment predominantly eliminated non-tumor initiating cells (non-TICs), as demonstrated by whole-body fluorescent imaging of mice injected with mammosphere-forming cells stably transfected with DsRed. This led to TIC enrichment in residual tumors, as confirmed by immunostaining for TIC markers. Moreover, an increase in FZD8 expression was observed in residual tumors treated with cisplatin and TRAIL. Taken together, our findings suggest that FZD8-mediated Wnt-signaling may play a major role in mediating resistance to chemotherapy, making it a potential target to enhance chemotherapeutic efficacy in patients with TNBC. Citation Format: Kaladhar B. Reddy, Shuping Yin, R. Bonfil Daniel, Sanjeev Banerjee, Fazlul Sarkar, Seema Sethi. Tumor initiating cells and FZD8 play a major role in drugresistance and tumor progression in triple negative breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 241. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-241
Temporally distinct mechanisms of use-dependent depression at inhibitory synapses in the rat hippocampus in vitro

1. Gamma-aminobutyric acid-B (GABAB) autoreceptor-dependent and -independent components of paired-pulse depression (PPD) at inhibitory synapses in area CA3 of the rat hippocampus were studied using...
Review of Alf Hiltebeitel, Dharma: Its Early History in Law, Religion and Narrative

In this hefty volume, Alf Hiltebeitel takes on the ambitious task of tracing the history of the concept of dharma in classical Indic literature. In foregrounding the theme of dharma through time, Hiltebeitel seeks to overcome ‘a nebulous, ahistorical conception of the term that many still have today’ (p. 2), a conception that reflects the influence of ideological projections of an eternal dharma. One of the aims of the book is to highlight instances in which both the Brahmanical and Buddhist traditions themselves conceive dharma over time. This book combines an enormous scope, covering both Brahmanical and Buddhist texts from approximately 300 BCE to 200 CE, with detailed textual analysis. It resists broad generalizations, as evident in the conspicuous absence of a concluding chapter. Accordingly it is a difficult book to summarize in the compass of a short review. All I can do here is describe the overall structure of the work and highlight some of its salient points. The author tells us that the starting point of the project was his study of Aśvagona's Buddhacarita, the subject of the book's final chapter. There Hiltebeitel argues that dharma was a central concern of this second century account of the life of the Buddha. Specifically, in recounting the life of the Buddha, Aśvagona articulated a characteristically Buddhist conception of dharma in conscious contrast to those found in the Brahmanical epics, theMahābhārata and Rāmayana. Against the concern of the epics to correlate norms of proper behavior to distinct stages of life (āśramadharma), the Buddhacarita uses Siddhartha's ‘great departure’ to exemplify the Buddhist idea that ‘there is no such thing as a wrong time for dharma.’ More generally, Hiltebeitel credits Aśvagona with ‘putting dharma to use as a term of civil discourse with his Brahmanical counterparts’ (p. 4). In other words, the Buddhacarita exemplifies the use of dharma as a common term for the articulation and contestation of new norms. This final chapter on the Buddhacarita, arguably the most focused and compelling of the book, can be understood as the telos and organizing principle for the 12 SOPHIA (2012) 51:579–580 DOI 10.1007/s11841-012-0329-x
Entropy, Readiness,Probability

‘The meaning of a sentence,’ according to Jackson, ‘is the semantic information it conveys’ or a threefold description of ‘(1) whatever causes the sentence to be used; (2) whatever is caused by the use of the sentence; (3) whatever else is described by the sentence.’ For a computer, understanding that meaning ‘may be corresponded to making internal data structures (vectors, lists, graphs, programs, etc) that model these elements of the meaning of the sentence’ (in referential terms, he says, ‘we may think of the “meaning” of a sentence as being a collection of situations, each of which the sentence possibly denotes’).1
Utility of 18 F-FDG PET for Predicting Histopathologic Response in Esophageal Carcinoma following Chemoradiation

Abstract Introduction For patients with esophageal cancer undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiation (CRT) followed by surgical resection, complete histopathologic response (pCR) is associated with favorable overall survival (OS). The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) response to neoadjuvant CRT and pCR. Methods Maximum standardized uptake values and standardized uptake ratios (SURs) were measured before and after CRT. SUR was normalized to liver uptake and mediastinal blood pool uptake. FDG PET complete response was defined as metabolic activity normalization to hepatic and blood pool activity. The correlation between FDG PET parameters and pCR was examined through logistic regression analyses. Results In total, 193 patients were monitored for a median of 3.6 years after initiation of CRT. Most tumors were adenocarcinoma (85%) and stage T3 (75%). Complete FDG PET response and pCR occurred in 27% and 34% of patients, respectively. Histologic findings, chemotherapy type, tumor stage, and radiation dose were not significantly associated with complete radiographic response. The rates of pCR in patients with and without radiographic complete response were 42% and 31% ( p = 0.17), respectively. No predictive correlation was found between pCR and change in maximum standardized uptake value ( p = 0.25), in SUR normalized to blood pool uptake ( p = 0.20), or in SUR normalized to liver uptake ( p = 0.15). The 5-year OS rate was 46% for patients with a complete FDG PET response versus 44% without a complete response ( p = 0.78). The 5-year OS rate of patients who achieved pCR was 49% versus 43% for patients with residual tumor ( p = 0.04). Conclusion For patients with esophageal cancer who received neoadjuvant chemoradiation, pretreatment and posttreatment FDG PET parameters did not correlate with pCR or OS.
CNS Complications of Cystinosis

Fourteen patients with cystinosis, eight males and six females ranging in age from 13 to 24 years (mean 18.1 years) were examined for neurological involvement at the National Institute of Neurologic and Communicative Disorders and Stroke, the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, Bethesda, Maryland.
The Grad Cohort Workshop: Evaluating an Intervention to Retain Women Graduate Students in Computing.

Women engaged in computing career tracks are vastly outnumbered by men and often must contend with negative stereotypes about their innate technical aptitude. Research suggests women’s marginalized presence in computing may result in women psychologically disengaging, and ultimately dropping out, perpetuating women’s underrepresentation in computing. To combat this vicious cycle, the Computing Research Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) runs a multi-day mentorship workshop for women graduate students called Grad Cohort, which consists of a speaker series and networking opportunities. We studied the long-term impact of Grad Cohort on women Ph.D. students’ (a) dedication to becoming well-known in one’s field, and giving back to the community (professional goals), (b) the degree to which one feels computing is an important element of “who they are” (computing identity), and (c) beliefs that computing skills are innate (entity beliefs). Of note, entity beliefs are known to be demoralizing and can lead to disengagement from academic endeavors. We compared a propensity score matched sample of women and men Ph.D. students in computing programs who had never participated in Grad Cohort to a sample of past Grad Cohort participants. Grad Cohort participants reported interest in becoming well-known in their field to a greater degree than women non-participants, and to an equivalent degree as men. Also, Grad Cohort participants reported stronger interest in giving back to the community than their peers. Further, whereas women non-participants identified with computing to a lesser degree than men and held stronger entity beliefs than men, Grad Cohort participants’ computing identity and entity beliefs were equivalent to men. Importantly, stronger entity beliefs predicted a weaker computing identity among students, with the exception of Grad Cohort participants. This latter finding suggests Grad Cohort may shield students’ computing identity from the damaging nature of entity beliefs. Together, these findings suggest Grad Cohort may fortify women’s commitment to pursuing computing research careers and move the needle toward greater gender diversity in computing.
Metaphors for the War (or Race) against Climate Change

Despite overwhelming scientific consensus, millions of Americans fail to view climate change as a pressing threat. How can we address this disconnect between science and public opinion? In the pres...
Characterization of a recombinant humanized anti-cocaine monoclonal antibody produced from multiple clones for the selection of a master cell bank candidate.

Abstract We have generated a humanized anti-cocaine monoclonal antibody (mAb), which is at an advanced stage of pre-clinical development. We report here in vitro binding affinity studies, and in vivo pharmacokinetic and efficacy studies of the recombinant mAb. The overall aim was to characterize the recombinant antibody from each of the three highest producing transfected clones and to select one to establish a master cell bank. In mAb pharmacokinetic studies, after injection with h2E2 (120 mg/kg iv) blood was collected from the tail tip of mice over 28 days. Antibody concentrations were quantified using ELISA. The h2E2 concentration as a function of time was fit using a two-compartment pharmacokinetic model. To test in vivo efficacy, mice were injected with h2E2 (120 mg/kg iv), then one hour later injected with an equimolar dose of cocaine. Blood and brain were collected 5 min after cocaine administration. Cocaine concentrations were quantified using LC/MS. The affinity of the antibody for cocaine was determined using a [ 3 H] cocaine binding assay. All three antibodies had long elimination half-lives, 2–5 nM Kd for cocaine, and prevented cocaine's entry into the brain by sequestering it in the plasma. Pharmacokinetic and radioligand binding assays supported designation of the highest producing clone 85 as the master cell bank candidate. Overall, the recombinant h2E2 showed favorable binding properties, pharmacokinetics, and in vivo efficacy.
Indigenous Midwests – 'Introduction: Reframing and Reclaiming Indigenous Midwests'

A collection of essays co-edited by Doug Kiel and James F. Brooks: • Doug Kiel and James F. Brooks, “Introduction: Reframing and Reclaiming Indigenous Midwests” • Rebecca Kugel, “Planning to Stay: Native Strategies to Remain in the Great Lakes, Post-War of 1812” • Theodore J. Karamanski, “Settler Colonial Strategies and Indigenous Resistance on the Great Lakes Lumber Frontier” • Jennifer Kirsten Stinson, “Becoming Black, White, and Indian in Wisconsin Farm Country, 1850s–1910s” • Deborah Edwards-Anderson, “From Reconciliation to Resurgence: Dakota Commemorations of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862” • Kyle T. Mays, “Pontiac’s Ghost in the Motor City: Indigeneity and the Discursive Construction of Modern Detroit” • James Joseph Buss, “Appealing to the Great Spirit: Foundational Fictions and Settler Histories in Middletown America” • David Hugill, “Metropolitan Transformation and the Colonial Relation: The Making of an “Indian Neighborhood” in Postwar Minneapolis”
The Effects of Delayed Reward and Delay-Box Confinement Upon Instrumental Performance: A Within-Type Design

The effects of partial delay of reward in training and partial delay-box confinement in extinction were investigated using a within-type experimental design in both training and extinction.One alley of a Grice discriminator led to immediate reward, while the other alley led to 30-sec. delay on two-thirds of the trials. Half of Ss were extinguished with 30-sec. delay-box confinements on two-thirds of the trials in the former delay alley and no delay in the other alley; half had no delay in either alley. In contrast to the results from between-type experiments, partial delay produced less resistance to extinction and changes in delay from training to extinction had no effect.
Kauffman Economic Bloggers Survey

America’s top economics bloggers - a diverse group of writers with wide-ranging intellectual and political vantage points - largely agree on one important issue: To help speed the recovery, remove barriers to entrepreneurship. That’s according to the findings reported in the Kauffman Economic Bloggers Survey conducted by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which polled some of America’s most well-known economics bloggers, including professional and academic PhD economists and journalists who write and blog about economics issues.The survey, which was conducted in conjunction with the Foundation’s first-ever Economics Bloggers Forum, revealed that bloggers believe entrepreneurship will play a key role in repairing the U.S. economy, and that innovation and job creation - the crux of entrepreneurship - are viewed as vitally important to the issue.The survey participants offered their expertise on what will have the most impact on shaping the United States’ faltering economy; what they viewed as the barriers to starting a new company, including government red tape and a weak economy; and what changes would encourage more Americans to start their own businesses, such as keeping existing health benefits and lower taxes.