cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The inner rod protein controls substrate switching and needle length in a Salmonella type III secretion system

Type III secretion machines are essential for the biology of many bacteria that are pathogenic or symbiotic for animals, plants, or insects. They exert their function by delivering bacterial effector proteins into target eukaryotic cells. The core component of these machines is the needle complex, a multiprotein structure that spans the bacterial envelope and serves as a conduit for proteins that transit this secretion pathway. The needle complex is composed of a multiring base embedded in the bacterial envelope and a filament-like structure, the needle, that projects from the bacterial surface and is linked to the base by the inner rod. Assembly of the needle complex proceeds in a step-wise fashion that is initiated by the assembly of the base and is followed by the export of the building subunits for the needle and inner rod substructures. Once assembled, the needle complex reprograms its specificity and becomes competent for the secretion of effector proteins. Here through genetic, biochemical, and electron microscopy analyses of the Salmonella inner rod protein subunit PrgJ we present evidence that the assembly of the inner rod dictates the timing of substrate switching and needle length. Furthermore, the identification of mutations in PrgJ that specifically alter the hierarchy of protein secretion provides additional support for a complex role of the inner rod substructure in type III secretion.
Orthodontic treatment for the cleft palate patient

Often, the deciduous arch of the cleft palate patient is treated orthodontically, to achieve the maximum alveolar growth potential and component. Even if the patient has to be treated orthodontically again at a later age, the problem will be less severe and the prognosis better in the permanent dentition. Second-phase orthodontic treatment usually can be coordinated with other treatment procedures of the team. Orthodontic treatment technics differ little from those for the patient without a cleft palate.
Is Positive Social Support Available to Re-Entering Prisoners? It Depends on Who You Ask

Re-entering prisoners have complex needs. Growing attention has turned to the role of informal social support in successful post-release outcomes. Research indicates informal supports are available to re-entering prisoners, yet this support can be experienced negatively and contribute to poor outcomes. We examined anticipated and received quality, source, and types of support for re-entering prisoners from perspectives of 60 re-entering prisoners and corrections professionals. We found re-entering prisoners anticipated and received what they considered positive support. Alternatively, corrections professionals perceived limited positive support as available and instead reported negative support as more likely. Corrections professionals also questioned whether re-entering prisoners' accurately differentiate positive and negative support. Results indicate key practice implications.
Estimating Export Activity in a Regional Economy: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of Alternative Methods

Four methods of estimating exports are widely used in regional analysis, particularly with the economic base model. The theoretical rationales for each are examined. An interpretation of the minimum requirement method is offered which solves the oft-noted, non-importation problem. The difference between the minimum requirement and location quotient estimates is proven not to be an estimate of imports as is widely believed, and a relatively new econometric method is shown to over-estimate exports. Estimates of exports are calculated for 101 metropolitan areas in the United States. Both theoretical and empirical evidence indicates that the location quotient method underestimates, yet the minimum requirement method produced lower estimates for 22 areas. The results suggest that the choice of estimation method may affect the results of sub-sequent analyses.
Impurity dephasing by optical modes in polymers and glasses

Abstract The contribution of low-lying optical and librational oscillators to the homogeneous linewidth of organic impurities in organic glasses and polymers is calculated in a specific model. The disordered (amorphous) nature of the host system is described by a distribution of two-level systems (TLS) following earlier work. We demonstrate that at low temperatures the contribution to the dephasing from optical modes can dominate that arising from coupling to acoustic phonons due to the different phase-space distributions of these modes.
The Grey ghetto: key issues related to public policy research literature

“Grey”, “ephemeral”, “fugitive”, and “non‐trade” are terms used to describe the unique publications issued by American private public policy research organizations. These research organizations often publish the best and brightest analytical thinking about public problem‐solving and wield considerable influence in the process of national policymaking. Information professionals, responsible for social science collections, have for decades agonized over issues related to acquiring, cataloging, and organizing this unorthodox literature. Librarians have traditionally viewed this body of literature as too difficult and laborious to locate and inferior by library standards to sit on open shelves among the general collection.
Cellular stress increases RGS2 mRNA and decreases RGS4 mRNA levels in SH-SY5Y cells

Modulation of the expression of regulator of G-protein signaling (RGS) proteins is a major mechanism used to modulate their actions. Besides control by second messengers, the expression of RGS proteins, particularly RGS2, can be regulated by cell stress. Because RGS2 and RGS4 expression can be regulated by the cell cycle, we examined if cell cycle signals are involved in their regulation following stress. Treatment of SH-SY5Y cells with camptothecin increased RGS2 mRNA and decreased RGS4 mRNA levels. This effect on RGS2 mRNA was blocked by the cyclin-dependent kinase-2 (cdk2) inhibitors roscovitine and purvalanol. Cell cycle arrest was further implicated in regulating RGS mRNA levels because geldanamycin, which causes cell cycle arrest by inhibiting the actions of heat shock protein 90, caused changes in the mRNA levels of RGS2 and RGS4 similar to, and additive with, the effects of camptothecin. Overall, these results indicate that cell cycle arrest regulates the expression of RGS2 and RGS4, and that the expression of these two RGS family members is oppositely regulated by stress that causes cell cycle arrest.
A biomarker approach to measure biological effects of contaminant exposure in largemouth bass from Lake Conestee, South Carolina, USA

Sediments from Lake Conestee, a former reservoir now filled with pollutant-enriched sediments, located south of Greenville, South Carolina, USA, and other nearby reservoirs were collected and analyzed for lead and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Hepatic ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD), glutathione S-transferase (GST), UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT), sulfotransferase (SULT), and erythrocyte δ-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) were measured in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) to characterize biological effects of these contaminants over three seasons. Results showed that total PAH concentrations in Lake Conestee sediments were significantly greater than the control during each season. An average 10-fold induction in EROD activity was observed at Lake Conestee compared with the control over all three seasons, indicating that PAHs present in sediment were bioavailable to fish. Significant gender effects were observed in EROD activity during the spring, in which activity in reproductively active female fish was significantly suppressed compared with the male fish. Sediments from Lake Conestee had elevated lead concentrations, but the lack of ALAD inhibition in bass indicated that lead was not biologically available. Total GST activity, UGT activity, and SULT activity were not significantly induced in fish from any of the affected sites compared with the reference site. Both EROD and UGT activities were highest during the winter, as were sediment PAH concentrations in Lake Conestee, possibly linked to seasonal resuspension events. The biomarkers measured in this study were useful as a first investigation into the biological effects of contaminant exposure, as well as in determining the bioavailability of contaminants in Lake Conestee.
Prospective study of Epstein-Barr virusinfections in acute lymphoblastic leukemia of childhood

A prospective study of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infections in children with acutelymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was undertaken to determine whether EBV is etiologically related to ALL. Five of 12 untreated patients had no serologic evidence for EBV infection at the onset or during the course of leukemia. One infant with congenital leukemia showed a progressive decline in EBV antibody titer to undetectable levels, suggestive of loss of passively acquired maternal antibodies. Six other patients had EBV antibodies at onset, and the titers did not change during follow-up. Lymphoblastoid cell lines were established from three of the seven EBV antibody-positive children and from none of the EBV antibody-negative patients. In addition, two patients with ALL in remission induced by chemotherapy developed infectious mononucleosis. EBV antibodies appeared in their sera and EBV-containing lymphoblastoid cell lines were cultured from them. The results of this study suggest that EBV is not etiologically related to ALL.
A Positioning Analysis of Hotel Brands - Based on Travel-Manager Perceptions

Hotel marketers attempt to create a unique position for their hotel brands—a set of attributes that set the brand apart from competitors. The only way to gauge the effectiveness of that positioning...
A study of linkage relationships of blood group P with naked neck, silkie feathering, and recessive white in chicken.

Abstract Linkage relationships of blood group P (Ea-P), naked neck (Na), silkie feathering (h), and recessive white plumage (c) were studied to attempt to clarify the h-Na-Ea-P region of linkage group III of the chicken. The Na-Ea-P linkage values obtained in this test agreed with previous reports, and pooled data were used to recalculate a map distance of 27.9 ± 2.3 map units between these two loci. A significant chi square for linkage was calculated between Na and c; however, because of the relatively low numbers of progeny tested, the high linkage value calculated, and the absence of detectable linkage between c and the other marker genes, this was probably a chance deviation. All other linkage relationships appeared negative, supporting the current suggested linear order of these loci as h-Na-Ea-P with c not being in this chromosomal region.
Cyberinfrastructure, Data, and Libraries, Part 1: A Cyberinfrastructure Primer for Librarians

E-Science, cyberinfrastructure – these ideas are at the heart of the great ambitions and promise of science in the new century. The last several decades of networkand computer-enabled work in science have produced untold amounts of data, leading to the challenge of developing practices to manage and provide access to this data. Along with oceans of data and technology, changes in the conduct and nature of science – notably new collaborative and computational science practices – present both novel requirements and exciting opportunities to succeed in meeting this challenge.1 A global effort is emerging to take collective responsibility for a growing yet still vulnerable investment in scientific data as a permanent part of scientific research communications and practices.
The Effects on Social Studies Achievement of Multiple Student Responding to Different Levels of Questioning.

An N of 105 fifth and sixth grade Ss was randomly assigned to one of three groups: high level questioning (HQ), low level questioning (LQ), or control (C). Instructionally, the geographical themes for HQ and LQ were identical. However, in implementing instruction, higher (than recall) questions were predominately employed in the HQ and low level questions prevailed for LQ. Observers monitored the number and nature of the student responses to the questions. Analyses of variance indicated that HQ and LQ outperformed C Ss in terms of low as well as high level achievement for both post- and retention test situations (p < .01). The results, when compared to a previous study by the investigator, indicate the instructional importance of considering not only the level of questions posed but also the level of student involvement with those questions, as reflected in the response patterns.
The annealing behavior of Ge-Au-Ni, Ge-Au-Pt and Ge-Au-Pd trilayered films

Abstract Interdiffusion in Au-Ge-Ni, Au-Ge-Pt and Au-Ge-Pd trilayered electro- gun-evaporated thin films on SiO 2 substrates was investigated by backscattering, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. We observed that, when the amount of germanium is less than 100 at.% of that of nickel, palladium or platinum in the trilayered films, heat treatment yields laterally uniform two-layered films consisting of a germanide layer and a gold layer. When more germanium is present than is required to complete the formation of the most germanium-rich germanide (GeNi, GePd, Ge 2 Pt), the films are laterally non-uniform after annealing above or below the Au-Ge eutectic temperature (356°C). The behavior of Au-Ge-Ni on SiO 2 is compared with that obeseerved on GaAs as substrate.
Evaluation of precursory seismic quiescence in sixteen subduction zones using single-link cluster analysis

This paper describes a new method, single-link cluster analysis (SLC), to evaluate percursory quiescence for shallow earthquakes in sixteen subduction zones, using data from the ISC catalog. To define quiescent regions, we divided the catalog into time intervals with a durationT, overlapping byT/2. We considered all earthquakes having magnitudes larger than some magnitudeM min, lying within a specified distance of a great circle which is approximately coincident with the trench near a subduction zone. Within each time interval we connected or ‘linked’ all earthquakes lying within some cutoff distanced of one another. We then projected all these links onto the great circle, and defined a region to be quiescent if it was not covered by the projection of any links. For this study,T was two years,M min wasm b =4.9, and we variedd from 100 to 400 km. We defined an earthquake as ‘following quiescence’ if it occurred within two years following, and within 75 km of a quiescent zone as defined above. The primary conclusion of this study was that earthquakes with surface wave magnitudes 7.2 and greater were about 5–15% more likely to follow quiescence than were the smaller background earthquakes withm b >-4.9. A chi-squared analysis shows that this result is significant at the 99% level. In contrast, earthquakes with surface wave magnitude of 6.7 to 7.1 were no more likely to follow quiescence than were background earthquakes. Of sixteen individual regions, Central America, Japan, and Peru-Chile were the only regions where large earthquakes were more likely to occur following quiescence than were background earthquakes. For a cutoff link length of 300 km, only in Central America was the difference between large earthquakes and background earthquakes significant at the 95% level of significance. For a cutoff link length of 250 km, the significance level exceeded 95% only in Japan. The SLC method is an objective, quantitative method for evaluating large data catalogs, or for monitoring quiescence in regions where quiescence is conjectured to precede large earthquakes.
Room-temperature deformation of PdIn

Room temperature tensile testing of the B2-structured compound Pd-52 at% In produced, a yield strength of 50 MPa, a fracture strength of 130 MPa, and limited tensile ductility (∼3%). Examination, in the transmission electron microscope, of the deformed microstructure indicated that it deforms by 〈001〉 {100} slip. Extra reflections and streaking were observed in selected area electron diffraction patterns, which appear to be a thin foil effect.
Representing Evidence from Biomedical Literature for Clinical Decision Support: Challenges on Semantic Computing and Biomedicine

The rate at which biomedical literature is being published is quickly outpacing our ability to effectively leverage this information for evidence-based medicine. While papers are readily searchable through databases such as Pub Med, clinicians are often left with the time-consuming task of finding, assessing, interpreting, and applying this information. Tools that structure evidence from published papers using a standardized data model and provide an intuitive query interface for exploring documented biomedical entities would be valuable in utilizing this information as part of the clinical decision making process. This talk presents efforts towards developing computational tools and a representation for modeling and relating evidence from multiple clinical trial reports for lung cancer. Challenges related to representing this information in a machine-interpretable manner, assessing study quality, and handling conflicting evidence are described. I discuss the development of two tools: 1) an annotator tool used to extract information from papers, mapping it to concepts in an ontology-based representation and 2) a visualization that summarizes information about a single paper based on information captured in the model. Using lung cancer as a driving example, I demonstrate how these tools help users apply information reported in literature towards individually tailored medicine.
Percolative, self-affine, and faceted domain growth in random three-dimensional magnets.

We study the advance of an interface separating two magnetic domains in a three-dimensional random-field Ising model. An external magnetic field causes one domain to grow. Three types of growth are found. When disorder in the medium is large, the interface forms a self-similar pattern with large scale structure characteristic of percolation. As the disorder decreases, there is a critical transition to compact growth with a self-affine interface. Finally, for sufficiently weak disorder, simple faceted growth occurs. The transitions between these growth morphologies are related to results for bootstrap percolation. In the self-similar and self-affine growth regimes there are also critical transitions at the onset of steady-state motion. These are studied numerically, and found to lie in different universality classes. The critical exponents obtained from our simulations obey general scaling relations derived in the context of fluid invasion.
Effect of Temperature and Ionic Impurities at Very Low Concentrations on Stress Corrosion Cracking of AISI 304 Stainless Steel

Abstract The relative effect of 13 anionic species, in conjunction with hydrogen and sodium cations, on the stress corrosion cracking (SCC) behavior of lightly sensitized AISI 304 stainless steel (SS) was investigated in constant extension rate tests (CERTs) at 289 C in water with 0.2 ppm dissolved oxygen at total conductivity values of ≤1 µS/cm. The results show that the sulfur species, either in acid or sodium form, produce the highest degree of intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) relative to the other anions. The effect of temperature on SCC behavior was investigated in CERTs over the range of 110 to 320 C in high-purity water and in water containing 0.1 and 1.0 ppm sulfate as H2SO4 at a dissolved oxygen concentration of 0.2 ppm. The CERT parameters were correlated with the electrochemical potential of platinum and AISI 304 SS electrodes in the high-temperature environments. Maximum IGSCC occurred at temperatures between ∼200 and 250 C in high-purity water, and the addition of sulfate incre...
Activation of epidermal tyrosinase.

Abstract A soluble fraction obtained from the epidermis of Rana pipiens contains tyrosinase which either is competitively inhibited or is present as protyrosinase. Exposure of the epidermal preparation to trypsin or chymotrypsin activates the tyrosinase. There is no demonstrable activity before exposure to trypsin; after activation, dorsal (pigmented) epidermis contains roughly as much tyrosinase as ventral (white) epidermis. The activation of protyrosinase by protease offers a new site for the control of pigmentation.
Molecular identification of Na+–H+ exchanger isoforms (NHE2) in the gills of the euryhaline teleost Fundulus heteroclitus

In the current study, reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) PCR were used to clone full-length putative Na(+)-H(+) exchanger isoforms (NHE2a) cDNA from the gills of Fundulus heteroclitus. The 2480 bp cDNA includes a coding region for a protein that shows a 57% amino acid homology to rabbit NHE2. These sequences allowed data mining of available fish genome data, which revealed at least three NHE2 subtypes in some teleost species.
The structure of Tl2F2 from photoelectron spectroscopy

Abstract The photoelectron spectra of thallium fluoride monomer and dimer have been obtained. Two different oven techniques were used to generate the molecular beam. The resulting spectra of mixtures of the two species were separated into monomer and dimer components. A comparison of the Tl 2 F 2 spectrum with semi-empirical molecular orbital calculations suggests that the dimer structure is rhombic.
The Genome of Bacillus Subtilis Bacteriophage SPO1.

We report the genome sequence of Bacillus subtilis phage SPO1. The unique genome sequence is 132,562 bp long, and DNA packaged in the virion (the chromosome) has a 13,185-bp terminal redundancy, giving a total of 145,747 bp. We predict 204 protein-coding genes and 5 tRNA genes, and we correlate these findings with the extensive body of investigations of SPO1, including studies of the functions of the 61 previously defined genes and studies of the virion structure. Sixty-nine percent of the encoded proteins show no similarity to any previously known protein. We identify 107 probable transcription promoters; most are members of the promoter classes identified in earlier studies, but we also see a new class that has the same sequence as the host sigma K promoters. We find three genes encoding potential new transcription factors, one of which is a distant homologue of the host sigma factor K. We also identify 75 probable transcription terminator structures. Promoters and terminators are generally located between genes and together with earlier data give what appears to be a rather complete picture of how phage transcription is regulated. There are complete genome sequences available for five additional phages of Gram-positive hosts that are similar to SPO1 in genome size and in composition and organization of genes. Comparative analysis of SPO1 in the context of these other phages yields insights about SPO1 and the other phages that would not be apparent from the analysis of any one phage alone. These include assigning identities as well as probable functions for several specific genes and inferring evolutionary events in the phages' histories. The comparative analysis also allows us to put SPO1 into a phylogenetic context. We see a pattern similar to what has been noted in phage T4 and its relatives, in which there is minimal successful horizontal exchange of genes among a "core" set of genes that includes most of the virion structural genes and some genes of DNA metabolism, but there is extensive horizontal transfer of genes over the remainder of the genome. There is a correlation between genes in rapid evolutionary flux through these genomes and genes that are small.
Arthroscopic Findings in Gout of the Wrist

Purpose We have recently treated several patients with gout of the wrist and scapholunate ligament pathology. The purpose of this investigation was to report the arthroscopic findings of 7 such patients. Methods We searched our medical records for patients with a diagnosis of gout and nontraumatic wrist pathology. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical, arthroscopic, radiographic, and pathologic findings in 7 patients who failed nonsurgical management and were treated with wrist arthroscopy. Results All 7 wrists had diffuse synovitis and crystalline deposits throughout the radiocarpal joint. There were focal crystalline precipitates on the scapholunate and lunotriquetral ligaments but not on the triangular fibrocartilage complex. Scapholunate or lunotriquetral ligament disruption was noted in 6 and 5 wrists, respectively. An early scapholunate advanced collapse pattern of arthritis was present in 5 patients. Conclusions Gout affecting the wrist may be associated with crystal deposition on the scapholunate and lunotriquetral ligaments. Ligament incompetence and a scapholunate advanced collapse pattern of wrist arthritis was noted in 6 of our 7 patients.
Elastic interaction of defect clusters with arbitrary strain fields in an anisotropic continuum

Abstract Fourier transform techniques applied to anisotropic linear continuum elasticity theory are used to calculate interaction energies between pairs of defect clusters, the defects being characterized by distortion tensors of arbitrary symmetry. Far-field interaction energies are expressed by means of a single integration over a closed form angle-dependent function. Near-field interactions are evaluated by numerical integration for the case of spherical defect clusters. For isotropic distortion centers in a Cu matrix, interaction energy minima are formed along the 〈100〉 directions at separations just greater than the touching distance of the spheres, thereby leading to a simple cubic array of precipitates, as is encountered in the Ni-base superalloys, for example. The depth, position and orientation of the interaction energy minimum change as the symmetry of the defect distortion tensor is altered. A Fourier method is also developed for calculating the self-energy of a defect cluster which gives excellent agreement with the self-energy calculated by a direct-space method.
Live capture, maintenance and partial decompression of a deep-sea grenadier fish ( Coryphaenoides acrolepis) in a hyperbaric trap-aquarium

Abstract The physoclistous swimbladder of Coryphaenoides acrolepis (Bean), a deep-sea grenadier, ruptures when ambient hydrostatic pressure is rapidly reduced, i.e. when the fish are brought to the surface. Death invariably follows. However, a slow, controlled reduction of hydrostatic pressure should allow for the full resorption of swimbladder gases and the subsequent maintenance of C. acrolepis at atmospheric pressure. To test this hypothesis a hyperbaric trap-aquarium system was built to capture C. acrolepis and bring it living to the surface under nearly in situ pressure and temperature. Once recovered, the trap-aquarium was connected to a life-support system to maintain the fish during decompression. Five C. acrolepis were brought up alive from below 1000 m off southern California; one was held for 30 h, another for 41 h. All fish experienced partial (7 to 87%) rapid, uncontrolled decompression (due to pressure losses inside the trap-aquarium during ascent) which was not immediately lethal. During a controlled experimental decompression, one fish appeared to resorb swimbladder gases (evidenced by regaining neutral buoyancy) with a slow stepwise reduction of pressure. For reasons that are as yet unclear no fish survived full decompression to atmospheric pressure.
Influence of aging on the surface area of the small intestine in the rat.

Abstract The conflicting reports regarding the influence of aging on intestinal absorption are due in part to the lack of a valid measurement of the intestinal surface area. The surface area of the small intestine in male Sprague-Dawley rats (2.5 to 92 weeks of age) was measured by determination of the volume required to fill the bowel under standardized conditions of stretch and pressure, and by calculating the surface area using the volume and length of the bowel. The intestinal surface area of rats of differing ages varied from 82 to 171 cm2. The intestinal surface area increased linearly with the age of the animals during the first 6 weeks of life. No further increase was noted in the intestinal surface area during the following 86 weeks of life. A strong linear correlation was found between the intestinal length and surface area in rats of all ages. In contrast, no relationship was found between the intestinal surface area and its dry weight or the animal's body weight. It is concluded that assessment of the intestinal surface area is simple and can be used interchangeably with intestinal length to express the absorptive data in the rat. This parameter is preferred to indirect measurements like intestinal dry weight or animal body weight. Moreover, both the surface area and the length fluctuate at their 6-week values and do not change significantly with the increasing age of the rats.
The PPAR-γ agonist, darglitazone, restores acute inflammatory responses to cerebral hypoxia–ischemia in the diabetic ob/ob mouse

Diabetes is an increased risk factor for stroke and results in increased brain damage in experimental animals and humans. The precise mechanisms are unclear, but our earlier studies in the db/db mice suggested that the cerebral inflammatory response initiating recovery was both delayed and diminished in the diabetic mice compared with the nondiabetic db/+ mice. In this study, we investigated the actions of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-gamma agonist darglitazone in treating diabetes and promoting recovery after a hypoxic-ischemic (H/I) insult in the diabetic ob/ob mouse. Male ob/+ and ob/ob mice received darglitazone (1 mg/kg) for 7 days before induction of H/I. Darglitazone restored euglycemia and normalized elevated corticosterone, triglycerides, and very-low-density lipoprotein levels. Darglitazone dramatically reduced the infarct size in the ob/ob mice at 24 h of recovery compared with the untreated group (30+/-13% to 3.3+/-1.6%, n=6 to 8) but did not show any significant effect in the ob/+ mice. Microglial and astrocytic activation monitored by cytokine expression (interleukin-1beta and tumor necrosis factor-alpha) and in situ hybridization studies (bfl1 and glial fibrillary acidic protein) suggest a biphasic inflammatory response, with darglitazone restoring the compromised proinflammatory response(s) in the diabetic mouse at 4 h but suppressing subsequent inflammatory responses at 8 and 24 h in both control and diabetic mice.
Fas Activated Serine-Threonine Kinase Domains 2 (FASTKD2) mediates apoptosis of breast and prostate cancer cells through its novel FAST2 domain.

Expression of NRIF3 (Nuclear Receptor Interacting Factor-3) rapidly and selectively leads to apoptosis of breast cancer cells. This occurs through binding of NRIF3 or its 30 amino acid Death Domain-1 (DD1) region to the transcriptional repressor, DIF-1 (DD1 Interacting Factor-1). DIF-1 acts in a wide variety of breast cancer cells but not other cell types to repress the pro-apoptotic gene, FASTKD2. Expression of NRIF3 or DD1 inactivates the DIF-1 repressor leading to rapid derepression of FASTKD2, which initiates apoptosis within 5–8 h of expression. Although FASTKD2 is an inner mitochondrial membrane protein, it does not require mitochondrial localization to initiate apoptosis. Androgen dependent LNCaP cells as well as two androgen independent LNCaP cell lines (LNCaP-AI and LNCaP-abl) were studied and LNCaP-AI cells were engineered to conditionally express DD1 or the inactive DD1-S28A with 4-hydroxytamoxifen. Apoptosis was assessed by TUNEL assay. FASTKD2 is related to 4 other proteins encoded in the human genome (FASTKD1, 3, 4, 5). All contain a poorly conserved putative bipartite kinase domain designated as FAST1_FAST2. We examined whether expression of any of the other FASTKD isoforms leads to apoptosis and sought to identify the region of FASTKD2 necessary to initiate the apoptotic pathway. Of the FASTKD1-5 isoforms only expression of FASTKD2 leads to apoptosis. Although, the NRIF3/DD1/DIF-1 pathway does not mediate apoptosis of a wide variety of non-breast cancer cell lines, because of certain similarities and gene signatures between breast and prostate cancer we explored whether the NRIF3/DD1/DIF-1/FASTKD2 pathway mediates apoptosis of prostate cancer cells. We found that the pathway leads to apoptosis in LNCaP cells, including the two androgen-independent LNCaP cell lines that are generally resistant to apoptosis. Lastly, we identified that FASTKD2-mediated apoptosis is initiated by the 81 amino acid FAST2 region. The NRIF3/DIF-1/FASTKD2 pathway acts as a “death switch” in breast and prostate cancer cells. Deciphering how this pathway is regulated and how FASTKD2 initiates the apoptotic response will allow for the development of therapeutic agents for the treatment of androgen-independent prostate cancer or Tamoxifen-unresponsive Estrogen Receptor negative tumors as well as metastatic breast or prostate cancer.
Sacred cows and thumping drums: claiming territory as ‘zones of tradition’ in British India

Theories that explain the origins of communal violence in South Asia often point to the discursive creation of the perception of distinct and adversarial Hindu and Muslim identity categories at the beginning of the twentieth century. This paper argues that these theories overemphasize imagined social differences without adequately considering how these boundaries were territorialized in everyday life through performative place-making practices. In order to fill this gap, ‘zones of tradition’, areas where religious or cultural practices are reified into official tradition, are suggested as one way of conceptualizing how group-making discourses are linked to places. As examples, the cow protection movement that campaigned to institute local bans on the slaughter of cattle and conflicts over Hindu processions playing music as they passed in front of mosques are considered. As these practices were contested, it is argued that zones of tradition were established across British India symbolically and tangibly dividing the territory before it was officially partitioned.
Design and Robust Recognition of Omnidirectional Landmarks for Indoor Mobile Robot Positioning

In this paper, we present an omnidirectional artificial landmark model and a robust artificial landmark recognition algorithm for indoor mobile robot positioning. The landmark model encodes identities with nested circles in black and white, which provides stable edge response and enables strong tolerance to various lighting conditions and perspective distortions. The corresponding positioning system uses a single upward-facing webcam as the vision sensor to capture landmarks. To address the effect of the lighting and sensing noise, the topological contour analysis is applied to detect landmarks, and the dynamic illumination adjustment is used to assist landmark recognition. Based on the landmark recognition, the absolute position of the camera in the environment is estimated using a trilateration algorithm. The landmark model and positioning system are tested with a mobile robot in a real indoor environment. The results show that the purposed technique provides autonomous indoor positioning for mobile robots with high robustness and consistency.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
SOUTHEAST ASIA: THE LAND, THE PEOPLE, AND THE CUSTOMS

War or religious and ethnic differences has historically resulted in forced migrations. These tragic events do not allow time for planning by either those who must flee for their lives or those who want to provide shelter for the persecuted. The most recent forced migration has resulted in nearly 1 million people migrating to the United States from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The admixture of these two diverse cultures is, at times tumultous, and has resulted in misunderstanding in both sectors of the population. For reasons of these cultural differences particularly in the provision of health care, this presentation will address those issues of importance for any medical practitioner caring for patients/clients from Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos. Actually, the perceived problems are not unique to this forced migration, but serve as a model for any situation which requires surmounting cultural barriers. In order to provide equivalent health care to our new citizens, it is believed essential to understand: 1) Heterogeneity of population involved, 2) Cultural in this instance health beliefs, of the newly arrived population, and 3) method of coping with cultural differences. An additional presentation will quantify the population differences necessary to provide any special programs for genetic and/ or congenital disorders unique to this, as with any, population sub-group.
A system-level scheme for resistance drift tolerance of a multilevel phase change memory

This paper presents a system-level scheme to alleviate the effect of resistance drift in a multilevel phase change memory (PCM) for data integrity. In this paper, novel criteria of separation of the PCM resistance for multilevel cell storage and selection of the threshold resistances between levels are proposed by using a median based method based on a row of PCM cells as reference. The threshold resistances found by the proposed scheme drift with time, thus providing an efficient and viable approach when the number of levels increases. A detailed analysis of the proposed level separation and threshold resistance selection is pursued. The impact of different parameters (such as the write region and the number of cell in a row) is assessed with respect to the generation of the percentage accuracy. The proposed approach results in a substantial improvement in performance compared with existing schemes found in the technical literature.
Racial differences in lymphocyte beta-receptor sensitivity to propranolol.

Abstract Differences between blacks and whites in their antihypertensive response to β-blocker therapy are well recognized although the mechanisms of these response differences are not entirely understood. This study was performed to evaluate racial differences in in vitro sensitivity of lymphocyte β-receptors to β-blockade. Lymphocytes were isolated from whole blood of 10 white and 8 black healthy male volunteers and were exposed to isoproterenol concentrations ranging from 10−8M to 10−2M. Isoproterenol stimulation studies were performed in both the presence and absence of a typical therapeutic concentration of 1-propranolol (15 nM). Cyclic AMP content was determined by radioimmunoassay and was corrected to cAMP/106 cells. Sigmoid Emax and Emax models were fit to the cAMP response, isoproterenol concentration data by nonlinear regression analysis. Propranolol caused a nonsignificant increase in EC50 (median 3.2-fold) in blacks and a significant increase in EC50 (median 13.4-fold) in whites. The median calculated Ki values for propranolol were 9.2 nM in blacks and 1.2 nM in whites and median receptor occupancies at propranolol 15 nM were 64.3% in blacks and 92.5% in whites. A median propranolol concentration of 114 nM would have been needed in the black subjects to achieve a 92.5% receptor occupancy. These data suggest that the affinity of the β-receptor for propranolol was greater in whites than blacks, thus equal propranolol concentrations resulted in greater β-blockade in whites. This study suggested that for blacks and whites to achieve similar levels of β-blockade, blacks needed a 7-fold higher concentration of propranolol. It is concluded racial differences in β2-receptor affinity for propranolol may help explain the documented racial differences in response.
The influence of surgical stress, anxiety and benzodiazepine intravenous sedation on recall of oral surgery

Abstract This study, part of a larger investigation of the efficacy and safety of intravenous sedation in dentistry, reports the prevalance of failure to recall information during third molar impaction surgery and attempts to differentate the effects of stress and benzodiazepines on recall. Both recognition of neutral pictures and the recall of surgical procedures were assessed. Recall failure in the drug groups ranged from zero for recall of stressful procedures, completed before drug titration, to 92 percent of subjects for recognition of the neutral picture presented at 5 minutes after the surgical procedure began. Placebo condition subjects had almost no recall loss. Recall failure was demonstrated to be primarily a function of the volume of midazolam employed. However, operative stress and trait and state anxiety explained some of the findings.
INFORMED CONSENT IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

This article reviews the doctrine of informed consent to treatment, with particular attention to its role in the emergency department. The article begins with a brief look at the moral and legal foundations of informed consent. The article then examines the three essential features of informed consent, patient capacity, disclosure of information, and voluntariness. After a review of five exceptions to the duty to obtain informed consent, the article concludes with a brief summary of issues of special significance for emergency physicians.
A 90° 3He Neutron Spectrometer

A fast 3He neutron spectrometer has been developed that is free of recoil spectrum effects. Positioning solid-state detectors outside the neutron beam at 90° results in this advantage and avoids nuclear reactions in the detectors themselves. Two modes of operation are examined: In conjunction with a pulse height analyzer, and in a high-event-rate, current-signal regime. The spectrometer was used in the latter mode to measure the neutron spectrum produced by a nuclear explosive in the Los Alamos time-of-flight neutron cross-section measurements. ? Present address: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York
Reactivity of Substituted Phenyldimethylsulfonium Ions with Common Nucleophiles. A Test of pKlgMe for Phenyldimethylsulfonium Salts and a Comparison with Methyl Arenesulfonates

The correlations of nucleophilic rate data for phenyldimethylsulfonium ions with common nucleophiles with pKlgMe values shows that the slopes of the line, βlgMe, correlate qualitatively with Edwards hardness parameter for the nucleophile, and not with the Swain−Scott no parameter. Comparison with substituted methyl arenesulfonates shows different leaving group behavior in the two systems. These results support Shaik's hypothesis that leaving group behavior consists of some SET character.
Gonadal and hormonal characteristics of captive adult mourning doves during the nesting cycle

Abstract Paired mourning doves ( Zenaida macroura ) of a captive breeding colony were selected and sacrificed on specific day intervals postlaying and posthatching during 1976–1977. Blood plasma samples were analyzed for androgens, estradiol, and progestins using radioimmunoassays. Testes, ovary and oviduct weights, spermatozoan numbers, diameter of the three largest follicles in the ovary, the presence or absence of eggs in the reproductive tract, and crop gland characteristics also were recorded. Differences (P 0.05) in androgen and progestin concentrations in males, or estradiol and progestin concentrations in females, between nonbreeding and breeding pairs, or among breeding pairs during different stages of the nesting cycle, were observed. Analysis of reproductive variables by stage of crop gland activity tended to indicate an inverse relationship between gonadal and crop gland activity in both male and female doves during the nesting cycle.
Age Differences in Manual Versus Vocal Reaction Times: Further Evidence

This paper examines the effect of mortality change on the probabilities of survival and joint person-years for various family members in China and Taiwan during the past 50 years. First family structures and changes in living arrangements in China and Taiwan are reviewed. Second the decline in mortality in the 20th century is described. Third Norman Ryders (1983-1986) theoretical framework on the interpretation of the effect of mortality decline on family structure in terms of intergenerational contract are used to explain the probabilities and joint person-years among various family members at different phases and life cycle stages of mortality transition in China and Taiwan. Finally implications of the changes in family and household structures in China and Taiwan are discusssed. In view of the fact than non-familial institutions of old age support are not well devoped in both societies who have a strong family system a hybrid system is proposed. (authors)
A solid-phase assay of solubilized HeLa cell membrane receptors for binding group B coxsackieviruses and polioviruses.

Abstract HeLa cell membranes were solubilized in sodium deoxycholate and adsorbed onto polystyrene microtiter plates to permit the measurement of receptors for binding group B Coxsackieviruses and polioviruses. Receptor activity was determined by measuring the amount of infectious virus attached to coated wells at 6°. Conditions for optimal binding of virus were determined. Receptor binding activity for group B Coxsackieviruses was detected from as few as 2.5 × 10 4 cell equivalents/ml to provide a method which was over 400 times more sensitive than the virus eclipse assay used previously. The assay revealed a recovery of up to 7% of the receptor activity of whole cells based on virus saturation of receptors. The specificity of the binding activity of the immobilized receptors was demonstrated by virus attachment competition, as done previously for receptors on live HeLa cells. Application of this method to measure receptors in deoxycholate-solubilized fetal mouse brain revealed a 2500-fold increase in sensitivity from that obtained in a virus-binding assay used previously.
A model for optimizing file access patterns using spatio-temporal parallelism

For many years now, I/O read time has been recognized as the primary bottleneck for parallel visualization and analysis of large-scale data. In this paper, we introduce a model that can estimate the read time for a file stored in a parallel filesystem when given the file access pattern. Read times ultimately depend on how the file is stored and the access pattern used to read the file. The file access pattern will be dictated by the type of parallel decomposition used. We employ spatio-temporal parallelism, which combines both spatial and temporal parallelism, to provide greater flexibility to possible file access patterns. Using our model, we were able to configure the spatio-temporal parallelism to design optimized read access patterns that resulted in a speedup factor of approximately 400 over traditional file access patterns.
Tannic acid-induced dissociation of pituitary melanocyte-stimulating hormone and adrenocorticotropic hormone levels.

Abstract 1. Tannic acid was fed to young male and female laboratory mice at an 8% concentration (wt/wt) in ground food for 5 or 10 weeks duration. 2. Bioassays of pituitary melanocyte-stimulating hormones (MSH) and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels at autopsy revealed significantly elevated levels of pituitary MSH accompanied by significantly reduced levels of pituitary ACTH. 3. The results confirm a suspected dissociation of pituitary secretion of MSH and ACTH.