cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Improved Subtyping of Staphylococcus aureus Clonal Complex 8 Strains Based on Whole-Genome Phylogenetic Analysis.

ABSTRACT Strains of Staphylococcus aureus in clonal complex 8 (CC8), including USA300, USA500, and the Iberian clone, are prevalent pathogens in the United States, both inside and outside health care settings. Methods for typing CC8 strains are becoming obsolete as the strains evolve and diversify, and whole-genome sequencing has shown that some strain types fall into multiple sublineages within CC8. In this study, we attempt to clarify the strain nomenclature of CC8, classifying the major strain types based on whole-genome sequence phylogenetics using both methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) genomes. We show that isolates of the Archaic and Iberian clones from decades ago make up the most basal clade of the main CC8 lineages and that at least one successful lineage of CC8, made up mostly of MSSA, diverged before the other well-known strain types USA500 and USA300. We also show that the USA500 type includes two clades separated by the previously described “Canadian epidemic MRSA” strain CMRSA9, that one clade containing USA500 also contains the USA300 clade, and that the USA300-0114 strain type is not a monophyletic group. Additionally, we present a rapid, simple CC8 strain-typing scheme using real-time PCR assays that target single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) derived from our CC8 phylogeny and show the significant benefit of using more stable genomic markers based on evolutionary lineages over traditional S. aureus typing techniques. This more accurate and accessible S. aureus typing system may improve surveillance and better inform the epidemiology of this very important pathogen. IMPORTANCE Staphylococcus aureus is a major human pathogen worldwide in both community and health care settings. Surveillance for S. aureus strains is important to our understanding of their spread and to informing infection prevention and control. Confusion surrounding the strain nomenclature of one of the most prevalent lineages of S. aureus, clonal complex 8 (CC8), and the imprecision of current tools for typing S. aureus make surveillance and source tracing difficult and sometimes misleading. In this study, we clarify the CC8 strain designations and propose a new typing scheme for CC8 isolates that is rapid and easy to use. This typing scheme is based on relatively stable genomic markers, and we demonstrate its superiority over traditional typing techniques. This scheme has the potential to greatly improve epidemiological investigations of S. aureus.
Why Is DNA Double Stranded? The Discovery of DNA Excision Repair Mechanisms

The persistence of hereditary traits over many generations testifies to the stability of the genetic material. Although the Watson–Crick structure for DNA provided a simple and elegant mechanism for replication, some elementary calculations implied that mistakes due to tautomeric shifts would introduce too many errors to permit this stability. It seemed evident that some additional mechanism(s) to correct such errors must be required. This essay traces the early development of our understanding of such mechanisms. Their key feature is the cutting out of a section of the strand of DNA in which the errors or damage resided, and its replacement by a localized synthesis using the undamaged strand as a template. To the surprise of some of the founders of molecular biology, this understanding derives in large part from studies in radiation biology, a field then considered by many to be irrelevant to studies of gene structure and function. Furthermore, genetic studies suggesting mechanisms of mismatch correction were ignored for almost a decade by biochemists unacquainted or uneasy with the power of such analysis. The collective body of results shows that the double-stranded structure of DNA is critical not only for replication but also as a scaffold for the correction of errors and the removal of damage to DNA. As additional discoveries were made, it became clear that the mechanisms for the repair of damage were involved not only in maintaining the stability of the genetic material but also in a variety of biological phenomena for increasing diversity, from genetic recombination to the immune response.
Identity Politics and Belonging

In contemporary society, identities—culture; race; ethnicity; gender; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ)—are at the heart of discourses of belonging and related collectivist constructions of meaning. As distinct social markers, they clearly demarcate the society in ways that also have political implications. The discussion of identity politics below takes a nominally genealogical approach beginning with modern philosophy’s individualistic account. It then decenters this narrative and posits that the field has been ill-equipped to grapple with the power of identity as a source of belonging, a moral critique, and as a site of political conflict. Education is the primary context of the discussion, which is framed as the quest for cultural and social pluralism. Although the term identity has roots in Western philosophy and more recently in psychology, identity politics is a highly contested expression in education, political theory and in philosophy. Bernstein (Annu Rev Sociol 31(1):47–74, 2005) traced its origin as a formal term to 1979, where social science scholars coined the phrase as a label for a type of activism. Its initial iteration pertained to persons with disabilities who challenged prevailing societal perceptions. Over the next two decades, scholars broadened its use to mean a category of collective action that included violent ethnic conflict and activist nationalism. Below, the discussion of the term begins with its semantic and philosophical provenance and explores its discursive engagement with the ever modifying meanings of gender, race or ethnicity and sexual orientation in society and education. It is association with these categories as forms of joint group membership that ipso facto gives rise to political activism to advance beliefs, bring about change or to promote a given worldview.
Radical Classes of Lattice-Ordered Groups vs. Classes of Compact Spaces

For a given class T of compact Hausdorff spaces, let Y(T) denote the class of l-groups G such that for each g∈G, the Yosida space Y(g) of g belongs to T. Conversely, if R is a class of l;-groups, then T(R) stands for the class of all spaces which are homeomorphic to a Y(g) for some g∈G∈R. The correspondences T↦Y(T) and R↦T(R) are examined with regard to several closure properties of classes. Several sections are devoted to radical classes of l-groups whose Yosida spaces are zero-dimensional. There is a thorough discussion of hyper-projectable l-groups, followed by presentations on Y(e.d.), where e.d. denotes the class of compact extremally disconnected spaces, and, for each regular uncountable cardinal κ, the class Y(discκ), where discκ stands for the class of all compact κ-disconnected spaces. Sample results follow. Every strongly projectable l-group lies in Y(e.d.). The l-group G lies in Y(e.d.) if and only if for each g∈GY(g) is zero-dimensional and the Boolean algebra of components of g, comp(g), is complete. Corresponding results hold for Y(discκ). Finally, there is a discussion of Y(F), with F standing for the class of compact F-spaces. It is shown that an Archimedean l-group G is in Y(F) if and only if, for each pair of disjoint countably generated polars P and Q, G=P⊥+Q⊥.
Hopes for Immunorestorative Therapy in Autoimmune Diseases

Autoimmunity arises out of a background of immunoregulatory deficiency. Indeed, autoimmune and AIDS patients have several immunologic abnormalities in common. In recent years, several new immunotherapeutic approaches of both a specific and more general nature have been tried in autoimmune experimental models and in patients. These (reviewed herein) include 1) specific deletion or suppression of autoreactive lymphocytes using monoclonal anti-Ia antibodies, monoclonal anti-idiotypic antibodies or attenuated T cell lines; 2) more general approaches including sex hormone modulation, dietary manipulation and total lymphoid irradiation, and 3) new pharmacologic approaches. Immunorestorative therapy for autoimmune diseases is a young field but offers promise for the future.
Programmed electrical stimulation for risk assessment in Brugada syndrome: time to change the guidelines?

Brugada syndrome (BrS) is a rare inheritable disorder identified by characteristic abnormalities in the anterior electrocardiographic (ECG) leads ([1][1]). The main clinical problem is sudden cardiac death (SCD). The only accepted form of SCD prevention is an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (
New Vistas in Medical Reconstruction Imagery

The public and private sectors have committed a substantial level of effort and funds to new developments in that type of advanced electronic imaging known as computerized tomographic (CT) reconstruction. No other medical innovation has so captivated public imagination, and so augmented lay appreciation for the relevance of mathematics and computation to primary health care as has this new approach. The essence of CT reconstruction is to quantitate multiple radiographic or scintigraphic views (projections) collected at various external positions around the patient, and to apply mathematical algorithms for estimating serial planar interior anatomic cross-sectional views. In other words, given projection data collected systematically outside the body, infer the most likely internal sources for the external signals.
Anterior cervical incision‐sparing thyroidectomy: Comparing retroauricular and transoral approaches

Objectives The robotic retroauricular approach and transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy vestibular approach (TOETVA) have been employed to avoid anterior neck scarring in thyroidectomy with good success. However, outcomes have yet to be compared between techniques. We compare our initial clinical experience with these approaches for thyroid lobectomy at our institution. Methods A review of initial consecutive patients who underwent robotic facelift thyroidectomy (RFT) (August 2011-August 2016) at our institution was conducted. This was compared with the same number of initial consecutive patients who underwent TOETVA (September 2016-September 2017) at our institution. Demographics, operative time, pathology, complications, and learning curve were compared between cohorts. Learning curve was defined based on the slope of linear regression models of operative time versus case number. Results There were 20 patients in each cohort. There was no statistically significant difference in demographic data between cohorts. One hundred percent of RFT cases versus 95% TOETVA cases (P = .999) were completed without conversion to standard open technique with median operative times of 201 (124-293) minutes versus 188 (89-343) minutes with RFT and TOETVA, respectively (P = .36). There was no incidence of permanent recurrent laryngeal nerve injury in either cohort. The slopes of the regression models were 0.29 versus -8.32 (P = .005) for RFT and TOETVA, respectively. Conclusion RFT and TOETVA are safe and feasible options for patients motivated to avoid an anterior neck scar. However, the quicker learning curve without the need for a costly robotic system may make TOETVA the preferred technique for institutions wishing to perform anterior cervical incision-sparing thyroidectomy. Level of Evidence 4.
Long-Term Update of Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Benign Spinal Tumors

Background Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for benign intracranial tumors is an established standard of care. The widespread implementation of SRS for benign spinal tumors has been limited by lack of long-term data. Objective To update our institutional experience of safety and efficacy outcomes after SRS for benign spinal tumors. Methods We performed a retrospective cohort study of 120 patients with 149 benign spinal tumors (39 meningiomas, 26 neurofibromas, and 84 schwannomas) treated with SRS between 1999 and 2016, with follow-up magnetic resonance imaging available for review. The primary endpoint was the cumulative incidence of local failure (LF), with death as a competing risk. Secondary endpoints included tumor shrinkage, symptom response, toxicity, and secondary malignancy. Results Median follow-up was 49 mo (interquartile range: 25-103 mo, range: 3-216 mo), including 61 courses with >5 yr and 24 courses with >10 yr of follow-up. We observed 9 LF for a cumulative incidence of LF of 2%, 5%, and 12% at 3, 5, and 10 yr, respectively. Excluding 10 tumors that were previously irradiated or that arose within a previously irradiated field, the 3-, 5-, and 10-yr cumulative incidence rates of LF were 1%, 2%, and 8%, respectively. At last follow-up, 35% of all lesions had decreased in size. With a total of 776 patient-years of follow-up, no SRS-related secondary malignancies were observed. Conclusion Comparable to SRS for benign intracranial tumors, SRS provides longer term local control of benign spinal tumors and is a standard-of-care alternative to surgical resection.
Functional characterization and optimization of a bacterial cyclic nucleotide-gated channel.

Cyclic nucleotide–gated (CNG) channels produce the initial electrical signal in mammalian vision and olfaction. They open in response to direct binding of cyclic nucleotide (cAMP or cGMP) to a cytoplasmic region of the channel. However, the conformational rearrangements occurring upon binding to produce pore opening (i.e. gating) are not well understood. SthK is a bacterial CNG channel that has the potential to serve as an ideal model for structure–function studies of gating but is currently limited by its toxicity, native cysteines, and low open probability (Po). Here, we expressed SthK in giant Escherichia coli spheroplasts and performed patch-clamp recordings to characterize SthK gating in a bacterial membrane. We demonstrated that the Po in cAMP is higher than has been previously published and that cGMP acts as a weak partial SthK agonist. Additionally, we determined that SthK expression is toxic to E. coli because of gating by cytoplasmic cAMP. We overcame this toxicity by developing an adenylate cyclase–knockout E. coli cell line. Finally, we generated a cysteine-free SthK construct and introduced mutations that further increase the Po in cAMP. We propose that this SthK model will help elucidate the gating mechanism of CNG channels.
Colonization as the Origin of Western Discrimination

Modern-day discrimination, acted out by victim groups in America, is an extension of Europe’s historical colonial era. The act of European colonization is defined as the peopling of foreign territory—usually Third World—previously settled by a native population, with emigration from the mother country [1]. Since the existence of the Western Roman Empire, European colonial powers including Spain, England, and Portugal have dealt with their Third World subjects (people of color) in one of three ways: eradication, exclusion, or assimilation [1]. Ironically, it is the assimilation experience of people of color and other victim populations that has psychologically inspired their tendency to discrimination in the aftermath of colonization.
Market Basket Survey of Arsenic Species in the Top Ten Most Consumed Seafoods in the United States.

The study focused on the determination of arsenic species in the top ten most consumed seafoods in the United States. Fifty-four samples were collected from local supermarkets, and their species id...
Career Education in 1975

The new emphasis in American primary and secondary schools on career education has led to a flurry of activity to insure that blind and visually handicapped students have equal access to the growin...
Invading Pest Species and the Threat to Biodiversity: Pheromonal Control of Guam Brown Tree Snakes, Boiga Irregularis

The tropical colubrid brown tree snake, Boiga irregularis, is native to Australia, Papua-New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands (Cogger, 1992). The snake is an arboreal, rear-fanged colubrid that specializes in bird predation. The primary habitat of this species is in the tropical rain forests where they are nocturnal and actively forage for a generalized diet of lizards, small mammals, birds and bird eggs (Greene, 1989; Savidge, 1988). Their prey is killed by a combination of constriction and envenomation with the venom injected into the prey through grooves in their enlarged rear fangs (Weinstein et al., 1991). Brown tree snakes reach snout-vent lengths of up to approximately three meters, masses of up to approximately two kilograms and have a relatively slender body plan characteristic of arboreal snakes (Lillywhite and Henderson, 1993; Rodda et al., 1997). The species is sexually dimorphic with males being longer and heavier than females as mature adults (Shine, 1996).
A Field Study of a Standardized Tangible Symbol System for Learners Who Are Visually Impaired and Have Multiple Disabilities.

IntroductionThe study reported in this article tracked the learning rate of 43 children with multiple disabilities and visual impairments who had limited to no verbal language across seven months o...
Design of nearly perfect hyperuniform polymeric materials

Disordered hyperuniform materials are exotic amorphous systems that simultaneously exhibit anomalous suppression of long-range density fluctuations, comparable in amplitude to that of crystals and quasi-crystalline materials, while lacking the translational order characteristic of simple liquids. We establish a framework to quantitatively predict the emergence of hyperuniformity in polymeric materials by considering the distribution of localized polymer subregions, instead of considering the whole material. We demonstrate that this highly tunable approach results in arbitrarily small long-range density fluctuations in the liquid state. Our simulations also indicate that long-ranged density fluctuation of the whole polymeric material is remarkably insensitive to molecular topology (linear chain, unknotted ring, star, and bottlebrush) and depends on temperature in an apparently near universal fashion. Our findings open the way for the creation of nearly perfect hyperuniform polymeric materials.
MRI for Response Assessment of Extensive Lymphatic Malformations in Children Treated With Sirolimus.

BACKGROUND. Extensive lymphatic malformations (LMs) may cause substantial morbidity. The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor sirolimus shows promise for treating vascular anomalies, alth...
Oscillating Between Tag and Hopscotch: Theo Angelopoulos’ Playful Aesthetics

Children’s games are the perfect conduit for Theo Angelopoulos’s distinct cinematic vision—one that oscillates between two planes—reality and imagination. This paper traces two children’s games, tag and hopscotch, that subtly appear in almost all of Angelopoulos’s films. His playful aesthetic, with its own ludic language, explores the potential of play as self-expression, critique, and storytelling. This paper draws on the work of Johan Huizinga, Roger Caillois, and Mary Flanagan, to show how by latching onto tag and hopscotch games, Angelopoulos not only remains true to himself as a childlike explorer, but he does so while seamlessly weaving the personal with the collective and the political, the tragic with the hopeful.
The Role of Financial Burden in Nonprofit Sector Commitment

Evidence about millennial work motivations and the increasing importance of compensation questions the durability of the donative labor hypothesis in explaining nonprofit sector commitment. Nonprofit graduate education offers an employment pipeline into the sector, but what if the importance of compensation is partly driven by the financial burden accrued from education? Could it be that financial burden contributes to choices about work and commitment to the nonprofit sector? Using longitudinal data of nonprofit education alumni, we inquire about their sector commitment in light of the financial burden from their degree. Findings of this exploratory study offer a starting point for future research into how nonprofit education alumni view career opportunities in the nonprofit sector.
Comments on: Critical Lagrange multipliers: what we currently know about them, how they spoil our lives, and what we can do about it

In these comments on the excellent survey paper by Izmailov and Solodov, we briefly discuss the main issues of critical Lagrange multipliers discovered and analyzed by the authors and then formulate some topics of interest for the future research. The latter topics concern the study of a possible influence of critical Lagrange multipliers on the convergence of primal–dual numerical algorithms of finding not general global and local minimizers but those satisfying certain desired stability properties known as tilt and full stability, which are briefly surveyed in these comments.
Measuring Cell Phone Use While Driving on Campus

Driving safely on a university campus is critical. Cell phone use while driving is considered unsafe and can increase the risk of traffic crashes. The purpose of this study is to measure the rate of cell phone use while driving on campus in a major university in the United States. The overall rate of cell phone use was estimated at 2.5%. This rate is not considered high compared to previously measured rates in the United States. The cell phone use rate among faculty and staff drivers (3.5%) was higher in comparison with the student drivers (2.1%). The results indicate that there is a need for more interventions to reduce this dangerous behavior on campus, and several solutions were proposed.
Calculations of Conformations of Polypeptides

Publisher Summary A polypeptide chain can assume an extremely large number of conformations because of the possibility of rotations about the single bonds of the backbone and side chains. The totality of these conformations, in random sequence along a chain, constitutes the so-called “random coil;” this concept is very familiar to those dealing with synthetic polymers. In the random-coil form, the polypeptide chain has a considerable amount of conformational entropy. However, under appropriate conditions of temperature, pH, solvent, etc., the various intramolecular interactions may cause the chain to adopt a rather limited number of conformations, despite the considerable reduction of conformational entropy. Presumably, the native form of most proteins is a member of this small class of relatively ordered conformations. This chapter discusses the computation of the internal energy for any arbitrary conformation. In principle, in a computation, conformations of equal energy can be grouped, and thereby information about the entropy can be obtained, and hence free energy, of the system. Computations are currently being carried out under the “assumption” that the native protein has a narrow distribution of conformations about an equilibrium one, and that this distribution has the highest statistical weight.
Speculative Memory Cloaking and Bypassing

We revisit memory hierarchy design viewing memory as an inter-operation communication mechanism. We show how dynamically collected information about inter-operation memory communication can be used to improve memory latency. We propose two techniques: (1) Speculative Memory Cloaking, and (2) Speculative Memory Bypassing. In the first technique, we use memory dependence prediction to speculatively identify dependent loads and stores early in the pipeline. These instructions may then communicate prior to address calculation and disambiguation via a fast communication mechanism. In the second technique, we use memory dependence prediction to speculatively transform DEF-store-load-USE dependence chains within the instruction window into DEF-USE ones. As a result, dependent stores and loads are taken off the communication path resulting in further reduction in communication latency. Experimental analysis shows that our methods, on the average, correctly handle 40% (integer) and 19% (floating point) of all memory loads. Moreover, our techniques result in performance improvements of 4.28% (integer) and 3.20% (floating point) over a highly aggressive, dynamically scheduled processor implementing naive memory dependence speculation. We also study the value and address locality characteristics of the values our methods correctly handle. We demonstrate that our methods are orthogonal to both address and value prediction.
Models of Recombination

At meiosis, each member of a pair of homologous chromosomes replicates to form two sister chromosomes known as chromatids. The maternally and paternally derived sister pairs then perfectly align to form a bundle of four chromatids. Crossing-over occurs at points along the bundle known as chiasmata. At each chiasma, one sister chromatid from each pair is randomly selected and cut at the crossover point. The cell then rejoins the partial paternal chromatid above the cut to the partial maternal chromatid below the cut, and vice versa, to form two hybrid maternal-paternal chromatids. The preponderance of evidence suggests that the two chromatids participating in a chiasma are chosen nearly independently from chiasma to chiasma [30]. This independence property is termed lack of chromatid interference. After crossing-over has occurred, the recombined chromatids of a bundle are coordinately separated by two cell divisions so that each of the four resulting gametes receives exactly one chromatid.
Searching for Symptoms of Political Shirking: Congressional Foreign Travel

Despite the hypothesized propensity for shirking to marklegislative institutions, the evidence is rather equivocal;moreover, most of the research has focused exclusively onlegislator voting, thereby constraining whatevergeneralizations might emerge. The purpose of this paper is tocontribute to the debate over the question of politicalshirking by extending the range of phenomena examined toinclude congressional foreign travel. Our analysis providesevidence that opportunism is a problem in Congress. We findthat last-period problems have arisen in the area of foreigntravel, and that increased scrutiny to the problem on the partof Congress only shifted consumption patterns, i.e.,legislators began taking foreign junkets near, but not at theend of, their legislative careers. Not all foreign travelshould be construed as worthless junketing since there isstrong evidence that some foreign travel is related tomembers' responsibilities on congressional committees.
Engineering education research aids instruction

Fewer students leave engineering studies when education programs link concepts to real-world practice.
An Entropy-Based Approach to Nonlinear Stability

Many numerical methods used in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) incorporate an artificial dissipation term to suppress spurious oscillations and control nonlinear instabilities. The same effect can be accomplished by using upwind techniques, sometimes augmented with limiters to form Total Variation Diminishing (TVD) schemes. An analysis based on numerical satisfaction of the second law of thermodynamics allows many such methods to be compared and improved upon. A nonlinear stability proof is given for discrete scalar equations arising from a conservation law. Solutions to such equations are bounded in the L sub 2 norm if the second law of thermodynamics is satisfied in a global sense over a periodic domain. It is conjectured that an analogous statement is true for discrete equations arising from systems of conservation laws. Analysis and numerical experiments suggest that a more restrictive condition, a positive entropy production rate in each cell, is sufficient to exclude unphysical phenomena such as oscillations and expansion shocks. Construction of schemes which satisfy this condition is demonstrated for linear and nonlinear wave equations and for the one-dimensional Euler equations.
Collective Identity and Memory: A Comparative Analysis of Community Response to Environmental Hazards

Research has explored the ways in which communities respond to local polluting facilities. In some cases, residents mobilize to confront corporate and state polluters, whereas in other cases residents remain quiescent in the wake of documented environmental threats. The variation in community response is often linked to demographic variables, including age, gender, education, and length of residence; yet cultural factors remain largely unexamined. We examine how cultural factors such as community identity and memory mitigate the relationship between community residents and polluting facilities. We present a comparative study of two heavily polluted communities—Blackwell, Oklahoma, and Canon City, Colorado—that had divergent responses to contamination. The data for these cases come from in-depth interviews with community residents and various officials (N = 105), content analyses of newspaper coverage and relevant organization documents, and direct observation of meetings and organizing activities. Our findings indicate that cultural factors play a critical role in understanding the relationship between local residents and polluting facilities. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for future research on rural communities and environmental contamination.
Effect of Sarbanes-Oxley Act on the Influencing of Executive Compensation

An analysis of over 569,000 option grant filings by insiders after the imposition of the two-day reporting rule by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) reveals that post-grant date market-adjusted stock returns are positive but lower in magnitude than pre-SOX figures, suggesting that SOX has curtailed, but not eliminated, managerial influencing of the grant day stock price. The post-grant date market adjusted stock returns are significantly more positive in the sample of late-reported grants, consistent with stock price influencing either through back-dating the grant date or timing the grant date or information flow with the intent to camouflage. The results suggest that strict enforcement of the two-day reporting rule can significantly reduce managers' ability to use these channels of influence.
Communicating for social change: Identifying fundamental hurdles

The road to social change is always strewn with social, economic, political, psychological and cultural hurdles. Social change programmes and efforts, in addition to problems inherent in change itself, have always faced hurdles that have substantial impact on the outcome of change endeavours. Unless these hurdles are recognised and guarded against, no change effort can be successfully executed, and no executed change plan can endure for long. In this article, the author discusses how communication could serve social development. He identifies and examines factors that would enhance social change. He also identifies and discusses barriers to social change and how social change agents could use them as stepping stones in their work.
Resource Allocation and Cultivar Stability in Breeding for Fusarium Head Blight Resistance in Spring Wheat

The development of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars resistant to Fusarium head blight (FHB) (caused by Fusarium gramineamm Schwabe) requires screening methodologies that accurately characterize reaction to this disease. The objectives of this study were (i) to characterize the stability of cultivars for their FHB reaction and (ii) to define an optimum resource allocation for FHB evaluation. Fourteen cultivars were evaluated in FHB-screening nurseries at two locations across a 4-yr period. Field data were used to calculate disease incidence (INC) as the frequency of symptomatic spikes and disease index (DIS) as the mean disease score of all spikes. FHB reaction also was evaluated on harvested grain as percent visually scabby kernels (VSK) and deoxynivalenol (DON) concentration. Significant differences among cultivars for all FHB parameters were found in each environment. Pearson correlation coefficients among FHB parameters were positive and highly significant, ranging from 0.32 between INC and DON to 0.72 between INC and DIS. Spearman rank correlation coefficients for yearly cultivar rankings and Kendall's coefficient of concordance were high, indicating similarity of the rankings of the tested cultivars in different environments. Visually scabby kernels was the FHB parameter with highest similarity for cultivar ranking across environments. Most of the cultivars, including susceptible ones, expressed stability for FHB reaction. Optimum resource allocation for DIS was most affected by the number of environments with three being the minimum to accurately characterize a genotype's resistance level. Using more than three replications or scoring more than 10 spikes per plot had little practical value in characterizing FHB reaction.
The independence of physical attractiveness and symptoms of depression in a female twin population.

Abstract The relationship between physical attractiveness and symptoms of depression was investigated in a general population sample of 1,100 female twins. Photographs were rated by 4 raters. Symptoms of depression were measured by the Depression sub-scale of the SCL-54, by a self-rating based on the DSM-III-R, and by an MD diagnosis based on a structured interview (SCID). No relationships between ratings of physical attractiveness and symptoms of depression were found.
Effects of l-DOPA and l-3-o-methyl-DOPA on uptake of [3H]l-methionine by synaptosomes☆

Abstract Uptake of [3H] l -methionine by nerve endings in homogenates of rat brain occurred by a rapid, temperature-dependent process, saturable with increasing substrate concentrations. The apparent Michaelis constant (km) for methionine was 0.21 mM. Transport was inhibited by dinitrophenol, but was not dependent on Na+, nor inhibited by ouabain. L-DOPA or l -3-O-methyl-dopa inhibited this transport process if incubated with [3H] l -methionine. l -DOPA acted as a competitive inhibitor of methionine uptake (Ki about 0.15 mM). When nerve endings were preloaded with either aromatic amino acid, initial uptake of methionine was enhanced, probably by a countertransport process. We suggest that presence of l -DOPA or of 3-O-methyl-DOPA, which accumulates in the brain after l -DOPA administration, could alter the availability of methionine for synthesis of the methyl donor S-adenosylmethionine.
Safety of stress testing in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Two hundred sixty-three consecutive patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy underwent stress testing. Major complications occurred in 0.04% of patients and minor events occurred in 23%.
The Effect of Behavior Relevant Information on Attitude-Behavior Consistency

Summary This study investigated the effect of behavior relevant information on the appropriateness of the behavioral criterion employed in attitude-behavior research. The attitudes toward dental health of 32 randomly selected male college students were assessed. These attitudes were compared with the quality of dental care behavior exhibited before and after participation in a group instruction session designed to provide information relevant to the realization of high quality dental care behavior. Although attitudes toward dental health were not significantly correlated with the quality of dental care behavior prior to the instructional session, strong attitude-behavior correlations (p < .01) emerged with respect to the postinstruction data. The implications of these findings for research on attitude-behavior consistency are discussed.
Thermophysical Properties of SweetPotato Puree at Freezing and Refrigeration Temperatures

The thermophysical properties (initial freezing point, unfreezable water, enthalpy of freezing, and specific heat) of alginate-restructured sweet potato (SP) puree at freezing and refrigeration temperatures were determined using differential scanning calorimetry. Restructuring of SP puree increased the amount of unfreezable (bound) water in the puree from 0.44 g H2O/g solids to about 0.56 g H2O/g solids and reduced the freezing point from −2.5 to −3.2°C. During freezing (or melting), the specific heat increased from about 1.9 to 90 kJ/kg. After freezing, the specific heats of restructured and nonrestructured SP puree were respectively 3.695 and 3.404 kJ/kg. Between 358 and 403 kJ/kg of heat have to be removed when SP puree (at 20°C) is to be frozen to −40°C.
“Let us have our libertie againe”: Amelia Lanier's 17th‐century feminist voice

(1992). “Let us have our libertie againe”: Amelia Lanier's 17th‐century feminist voice. Women's Studies: Vol. 20, Is Multiculturalism Enough?, pp. 331-348.
Microsequencing of dopamine beta-monooxygenase

Tryptic peptides and cyanogen bromide fragments of dopamine beta-monooxygenase (DBH) were prepared and separated on C-8 reverse phase columns by high pressure liquid chromatography. Absorbance profiles at both 220 nm and 280 nm were monitored so that peptides with aromatic residues could be isolated. These peptides were subjected to automated Edman degradation with a gas phase microsequencer.
Phytoestrogens: a review of the present state of research.

Phytoestrogens are a diverse group of plant-derived compounds that structurally or functionally mimic mammalian estrogens and show potential benefits for human health. The number of articles published on phytoestrogens has risen dramatically in the past couple decades. Further research continues to demonstrate the biological complexity of phytoestrogens, which belong to several different chemical classes and act through diverse mechanisms. This paper discusses the classification of phytoestrogens, methods of identification, their proposed mechanisms of action and botanical sources for phytoestrogens. The effects of phytoestrogens on breast and prostate cancers, cardiovascular disease, menopausal symptoms and osteoporosis will also be examined including research on benefits and risks.
Carbohydrate and fluid ingestion during exercise: are there trade-offs?

Intense exercise (i.e.; above 60% VO2max) can be maintained for prolonged periods provided sufficient carbohydrate is available for energy and the heat generated from muscle metabolism does not cause excessive hyperthermia and/or dehydration due to sweating. It is clear that people should ingest carbohydrate during prolonged exercise (i.e.; longer than 1-2 h), which causes fatigue because of an inadequate supply of blood glucose and that fluids should also be ingested in an attempt to offset dehydration and reduce hyperthermia. Ingestion of approximately 30-60 g of carbohydrate (i.e.; glucose, sucrose, or starch) during each hour of exercise will generally be sufficient to maintain blood glucose oxidation late in exercise and delay fatigue. Since the average rates of gastric emptying and intestinal absorption can reach 1 l.h-1 for water and solutions containing up to 8% carbohydrate, exercising people can be supplemented with both carbohydrate and fluids at relatively high rates (over 60 g.h-1 of carbohydrate and 1 l.h-1 of fluid). Therefore, when sweat rate is not high (i.e.; less than 1 l.h-1), the addition of carbohydrate to fluids, and vice versa, does not prevent adequate supplementation of each, especially if large volumes are consumed to keep the stomach somewhat full and thus increase gastric emptying. Therefore, in most situations there are no trade-offs between fluid and carbohydrate.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Screening considerations for caprock properties in regards to commercial-scale carbon-sequestration operations

Abstract Risk management of commercial-scale sequestration operations involves comprehensive site characterization of reservoirs, especially with the long-term integrity of low-permeability seals. Even though storage costs are significantly less than those of carbon capture, the variable costs of pipeline transport can have a significant impact in the overall deployment budget for carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. This is especially valid with existing electrical generating units (EGUs) where CO 2 source–geologic sink matching may not have been considered in siting. It is therefore important to understand all options with source–sink matching, including storage reservoirs nearby EGUs with potentially sub-optimal confining zones. As such, a finely tuned comprehension of the effects of the most relevant caprock characteristics on its integrity during injection and storage will be paramount to ensuring the safety of future operations. This study supports an understanding toward this end first by summarizing the current regulatory framework and industry practices for assessing caprock integrity. After which it defines how pertinent caprock parameters, most notably the thickness of the primary seal layer, affect the principal sealing and leakage mechanisms involved in typical CO 2 injection and storage scenarios. Lastly, all of these analyses are synthesized into a back-of-the-envelope initial screening protocol.
Testing the economic theory of fertility with cross-sectional and change data.

Abstract Previous tests of the economic theory of fertility using multivariate regression techniques have generally analyzed only cross‐sectional data. Some students of fertility, notably Janowitz (1973a,b), have argued that such studies must also be conducted with change data. This paper presents tests of the economic theory of fertility with both cross‐sectional and change data for the 48 contiguous states. The cross‐sectional analyses examined the effects of male and female income on the marital fertility of 20–24 year olds for 1950, 1960, and 1970 while controlling for the effects of education, urbanization, race, religion, and population density. Controlling for the effects of the same noneconomic variables, a second set of multivariate regression analyses examined the effects of changes in male and female income on changes in the level of marital fertility of 20–24 year olds during the 1950–60 and 1960–70 periods. Both the analyses with cross‐sectional data and change scores provided support for the...
Comments on "Source-and-drain series resistance of LDD MOSFET's"

Sheu et al. [1] recently reported a method to model the source-and-drain series resistance of LDD MOSFET's by assuming the n- region to be gate controlled. We argue that the degree of gate fringing effects depend on structure and that for our "outside" LDD transistors with 1E14/cm2for the n- dose, this is not the case. In addition, we point out that the their model has practical limitations as it is applicable for the MOSFET linear region only. We also claim that since their model is based on a number of process-dependent parameters, on a run to run basis it will not be generally applicable.
The meninges contribute to the conditioned taste avoidance induced by neural cooling in male rats.

After consumption of a novel sucrose solution, temporary cooling of neural areas that mediate conditioned taste avoidance can itself induce conditioned avoidance to the sucrose. It has been suggested that this effect is either a result of inactivation of neurons in these areas or of cooling the meninges. In a series of studies, we demonstrated that cooling the outer layer of the meninges, the dura mater, does not contribute to the conditioned taste avoidance induced by cooling any of these areas. The present experiments were designed to determine whether the inner layers of the meninges are involved. If they are involved, then one would expect that cooling locations in the brain that do not mediate conditioned taste avoidance, such as the caudate putamen (CP), would induce conditioned taste avoidance as long as the meninges were cooled as well. One also would expect that cooling neural tissue without cooling the meninges would reduce the strength of the conditioned taste avoidance. Experiment 1 established that the temperature of the neural tissue and meninges around the cold probes implanted in the CP were cooled to temperatures that have been shown to block synaptic transmission. Experiment 2 demonstrated that cooling the caudate putamen and overlying cortex and meninges induced conditioned taste avoidance. In experiment 3, a circle of meninges was cut away so that the caudate putamen and overlying cortex could be cooled without cooling the meninges. The strength of the conditioned taste avoidance was substantially reduced, but it was not entirely eliminated. These data support the hypothesis that cooling the meninges contributes to the conditioned taste avoidance induced by neural cooling. They also allow the possibility that neural inactivation produces physiological changes that can induce conditioned taste avoidance.
Radioreceptor assay for human chorionic gonadotropin.

A sensitive radioreceptor assay capable of detecting 100 pg of human chorionic gonadotropin has been developed using ovarian receptor and [125I]hCG. The dose-response curves of a series of urine and serum samples from pregnant women were linear and parallel to standard curves of 2nd International Standard hCG and purified hCG when logit of percent bound was plotted against log dose. Potency estimates of pregnancy sera, measured by radioreceptor assays, were approximately 2 times greater than those determined by radioimmunoassays. Examination of hCG concentrations in the urine of pregnant and nonpregnant women, using a receptor assay, showed good correlation with the result obtained with a standard agglutination pregnancy test. This radioreceptor assay, which can be made as sensitive as radioimmunoassay, provides a rapid and simple method for the measurement of biologically active hCG and LH.
Mercury levels and fish consumption practices in women of child-bearing age in the Florida Panhandle.

The southeastern United States, and in particular the coastal areas along the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf Coast) in Florida, experience some of the highest levels of mercury deposition in the country. Although the State of Florida's coastal border is among the longest in the United States, and the State has issued fish consumption advisories due to mercury on multiple fish species, few data have been systematically collected to assess mercury levels in the human population of the state or to assess the efficacy of the consumption advisories. Because of the generally high rate of seafood consumption among coastal populations, the human population in the Florida Panhandle, near Pensacola, FL is potentially exposed to elevated levels of mercury. In the present study, we analyzed hair mercury levels in women of child-bearing age (16–49 years) who had resided near Pensacola, FL for at least 1 year. We also surveyed the fish consumption practices of the cohort and evaluated awareness of the Florida Fish Consumption Advisory. Hair mercury levels were significantly higher in women who consumed fish within the 30 days prior to sampling (p<0.05) and in those women who were unaware of the consumption advisory (p<0.05). Only 31% of the women reported knowledge of the consumption advisory and pregnant women exhibited lower awareness of the advisory than non-pregnant women. The data suggest that public health interventions such as education and fish advisories have not reached the majority of women in the counties surrounding Pensacola who are most at risk from consumption of fish with high levels of mercury.