cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
PI 3-kinase regulatory subunits as regulators of the unfolded protein response

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) consists of an interconnected, membranous network that is the major site for the synthesis and folding of integral membrane and secretory proteins. Within the ER lumen, protein folding is facilitated by molecular chaperones and a variety of enzymes that ensure that polypeptides obtain their appropriate, tertiary conformation (Dobson, C. M. (2004). Principles of protein folding, misfolding and aggregation. Semin. Cell Dev. Biol. 15, 3-16; Ni, M., and Lee, A. S. (2007). ER chaperones in mammalian development and human diseases. FEBS Lett. 581, 3641-3651.). Physiological conditions that increase protein synthesis or stimuli that disturb the processes by which proteins obtain their native conformation, create an imbalance between the protein-folding demand and capacity of the ER. This results in the accumulation of unfolded or improperly folded proteins in the ER lumen and a state of ER stress. The cellular response, referred to as the unfolded protein response (UPR), results in activation of three linked signal transduction pathways: PKR-like kinase (PERK), inositol requiring 1 α (IRE1α), and activating transcription factor 6α (ATF6α) (Ron, D., and Walter, P. (2007). Signal integration in the endoplasmic reticulum unfolded protein response. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell. Biol. 8, 519-529; Schroder, M., and Kaufman, R. (2005). ER stress and the unfolded protein response. Mutat. Res./Fundam. Mol. Mech. Mutagen. 569, 29-63.). Collectively, the combined actions of these signaling cascades serve to reduce ER stress through attenuation of translation to reduce protein synthesis and through activation of transcriptional programs that ultimately serve to increase ER protein-folding capacity. Recently, we and Park et al. have characterized a novel function for the p85α and p85β subunits as modulators of the UPR by virtue of their ability to facilitate the nuclear entry of XBP-1s following induction of ER stress (Park, S. W., Zhou, Y., Lee, J., Lu, A., Sun, C., Chung, J., Ueki, K., and Ozcan, U. (2010). Regulatory subunits of PI3K, p85alpha and p85 beta, interact with XBP1 and increase its nuclear translocation. Nat. Med. 16, 429-437; Winnay, J. N., Boucher, J., Mori, M. A., Ueki, K., and Kahn, C. R. (2010). A regulatory subunit of phosphoinositide 3-kinase increases the nuclear accumulation of X-box-binding protein-1 to modulate the unfolded protein response. Nat. Med. 16, 438-445.). This chapter describes the recently elucidated role for the regulatory subunits of PI 3-kinase as modulators of the UPR and provides methods to measure UPR pathway activation.
Sublytic C5b-9 induces proliferation of human aortic smooth muscle cells Role of mitogen activated protein kinase and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase

Proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells contributes to initimal hyperplasia during atherogenesis, but the factors regulating their proliferation are not well known. In the present study we report that sublytic C5b-9 assembly induced proliferation of differentiated human aortic smooth muscle cells (ASMC) in culture. Cell cycle re-entry occurred through activation of cdk4, cdk2 kinase and the reduction of p21 cell cycle inhibitor. We also investigated if C5b-9 cell cycle induction is mediated through activation of mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways. Extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK) 1 activity was significantly increased, while c-jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) 1 and p38 MAPK activity were only transiently increased. Pretreatment with wortmannin inhibits ERK1 activation by C5b-9, suggesting the involvement of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase). Both PI 3-kinase and p70 S6 kinase were activated by C5b-9 but not by C5b6. C5b-9 induced DNA synthesis was abolished by pretreatment with inhibitors of ERK1 and PI 3-kinase, but not by p38 MAPK. These data indicated that ERK1 and PI 3-kinase play a major role in C5b-9 induced ASMC proliferation.
Chapter 13 – Race, Ethnicity, Religion, Marital Status and Prostate Cancer in the USA

This chapter discusses the influence of ethnicity, religion, and marital status on the epidemiology of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer of men in the United States. To date, only age, race, and family history have been established as significant risk factors for the development of prostate cancer. Besides having the highest rates in the United States, African American men suffer the highest incidence rate of prostate cancer in the world. It has been postulated that these findings may be due to a genetic predisposition of African Americans to the development of this disease. There have been no studies that have revealed religion to be an independent factor related to the incidence of prostate cancer. However, it has been noted in the past that those who practice a specific religion may benefit from the dietary and social restrictions placed upon them by their religious beliefs. Marital status also plays a role in the expected outcome of cancer patients. Anecdotally, married patients appear to enjoy better outcomes. In the future, therapies and investigations will be able to clearly identify the genetic risk factors for this disease and, with further study, characterize the environmental and social factors that influence the development and severity of prostate cancers.
Cosheaves and Čech Homology

In this short chapter we study the notion of cosheaves on general topological spaces and we go into it a bit deeper than was done in Chapter V. Our main purpose, in this chapter, is to obtain isomorphism criteria connecting various homology theories. With the minor exceptions of some definitions, and excepting the sections (10 and 11) concerning Borel-Moore homology, this chapter does not depend on Chapter V.
Introduction to Fetal Doppler Echocardiography

The introduction and the continuing advances in fetal Doppler echocardiography have enhanced our understanding of the hemodynamic function of the fetal heart and extended our knowledge of the aberrations of this function in various cardiac disorders. The latter include congenital cardiac malformations, cardiac rhythm disturbances, and fetal heart failure. Many of these conditions in the context of Doppler sonography are discussed elsewhere in this text. It is apparent that the addition of the Doppler modality significantly enhances the diagnostic information that can be obtained from sonographic imaging of the fetal heart, and color and spectral Doppler echocardiography has now become an essential component of the fetal cardiac examination. In order to ensure the reliability of the technique it is imperative, however, that one should be thoroughly familiar with the instrumentation and rigorously trained in its application. When used appropriately, Doppler echocardiography remains a unique and powerful tool for fetal assessment in health and disease.
Data-Driven Approach for Inferencing Causality and Network Topology

In this paper, we provide a novel approach to capture causal interaction in a linear dynamical system from time-series data. In [1], we have shown that the existing measures of information transfer, namely directed information, Granger causality and transfer entropy fail to capture true causal interaction in a dynamical system and proposed a new definition of information transfer that captures true causal interaction. The main contribution of this paper is to show that the proposed definition of information transfer in [1] [2] can be computed from time-series data and the computed information measure allows the identification of causal interaction and network topology in a dynamical system. The data-driven algorithm for computation of information transfer for linear systems relies on a robust optimization formulation of transfer operator theoretic framework. The proposed technique is applied to a number of different examples to establish its efficiency.
Sex offender residence restrictions and sex crimes against children: A comprehensive review

Abstract In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of the empirical evidence related to the effectiveness of residence restrictions imposed on sex offenders for preventing sex crimes against children. This topic is important because such laws currently exist in many states and there is ongoing debate about changes in law in some jurisdictions. We build on previous reviews by narrowing our scope and applying a greater focus on important methodological features of the studies. In the absence of a body of direct tests, we examine a triangulation of empirical tests related to assumptions of residence restriction laws. The analysis suggests that residence restrictions have little potential for preventing sex offenses against children. Most importantly, the data indicate that very few sex crimes against children have been by the offender's residence near a school, daycare center, or park. Because only one direct test of this research question has been published, we make specific recommendations for future research to fill gaps and to provide more compelling evidence to policymakers.
Native Joint Septic Arthritis: Comparison of Outcomes with Medical and Surgical Management.

Objective To determine whether there are differences in the outcomes of native joint septic arthritis (SA) in adults, based on medical versus surgical management. Methods A 10-year retrospective single-center study was conducted of patients admitted to a tertiary care hospital between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2015 with a diagnosis of SA to compare outcomes based on the management approach taken: medical (bedside closed-needle joint aspiration) versus surgical (arthrotomy/arthroscopy). Evaluated outcomes included joint recovery, time to recovery, length of stay, disposition to home versus rehabilitation unit, recurrence of SA in the same joint, and mortality. Results Of 118 confirmed cases of SA, 48 were in prosthetic joints and 70 were in native joints, and 61 met our inclusion criteria. Forty-one (67%) patients received surgery, and 20 (33%) received closed-needle aspiration. There was no statistically significant difference in long-term outcomes between the two groups at 12 months. Patients managed medically were more likely to experience full recovery at 3 months and were less likely to need short-term rehabilitation. Conclusions Medical management with closed-needle aspiration may be an adequate approach to the treatment of native joint infections.
The Cellular Determinants of Adaptive Immunity.

Pivotal Studies of Adaptive Immunity Major advances in treating cancer and autoimmune disease, not to mention the development of novel vaccines, are founded on the delineation of the adaptive immun...
LAND-USE MAPS FOR TOWN PLANNERS

Basic geologic and hydrologic information was used to produce environmental resource maps for land-use planning in Carlisle, Massachusetts for planners lacking technical background in geology. Twelve environmental resource maps depicting aspects of the geology and hydrology of Carlisle, which may affect land use, are printed on transparent mylar with color overprint. Each map depicts a single element of the environment, such as depth to bedrock and ground water, land slopes, surficial materials, flood plains, and water quality indicators.
Leadership to Lean

Lean leadership might be among the most desirable goals for the development of successful managers. The most prominent organization exhibiting this style is Toyota. This article provides a comprehensive examination of leadership styles and their relation to the two lean principles, respect for people, and continuous improvement. The results shed light on critical leadership development for lean initiatives. Implications for theory and practice are discussed, and suggestions for future research are proposed. Managerial Relevance Statement-Lean management creates organizations which are financially sound and ethical. Major obstacles to create such lean management driven organizations seem to be soft factors of human behavior driven by leadership. This paper undertakes an effort to analyze the desirable leadership style(s) to enable managers and leaders to sustain or introduce lean management in their organization effectively.
Free-Space Optical Communication for CubeSats in Low Lunar Orbit (LLO)

The NASA ARTEMIS Program will include LunaNet, a highly extensible, open architecture, lunar communications and navigation network. A constellation of CubeSats in Low Lunar Orbit (LLO), 100 km, could form an optical communications and navigation network as part of LunaNet, with terminals on the lunar surface, including mobile ones such as with astronauts and rovers. The proposed CubeSat nodes should provide data relay and navigational aid services. The proposed effort herein is to develop a fine pointing capability for laser beam pointing to augment body pointing by CubeSats. Body pointing was used by Aerospace Corporation for the CubeSats in LEO in NASA’s Optical Communications and Sensors Demonstration (OCSD) program [1]. Previously, this fine pointing capability was computer simulated for the OCSD program [2,3]. With fine pointing, the spot size on the Earth was reduced by a factor of eight with a reduction in laser output power by a factor of sixty-four, thereby mitigating the thermal load challenge on the CubeSats. The same reductions in spot size and laser output power can be achieved for CubeSats in LLO. A new method is described for optical data transmissions from satellites, which uses laser arrays for laser beam pointing. It combines a lens system and an array of vertical-cavity, surface-emitting lasers and photodetectors, an VCSEL/Photodetector Array, (both mature technologies), in a novel way. This system is applied to CubeSats in low lunar orbit, (LLO), which use body pointing. Also, It may be able to replace current architectures which use dynamical systems, (i.e., moving parts) to point the laser, and which may also use vibration isolation platforms. The computer simulations used the optics code, OpticStudio, from Zemax, LLC, which has the capabilities to model the laser source and diffraction effects from wave optics. These capabilities make it possible to model laser beam propagation over long space communication distances.
A Comparison of Label-Induced Expectancy Bias in Two Preservice Teacher Education Programs:

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a special education minor would reduce the likelihood of preservice elementary teachers developing negative expectancies regarding students labele...
Thrombocytosis in children

Thrombocytosis is a frequently occured disease in pediatrics.It can be classified into primary thrombocythemia and reactive thrombocytosis.The former can be divided into familial thrombocythemia and essential thrombocythemia.Essential thrombocythemia,chronic myeloproliferative disorders,is very rare in children,but may be associated with thromboembolic and hemorrhagic complications.Reactive thrombocytosis is very common and is due to a variety of conditions,such as acute and chronic infections,bleeding,iron deficiency and so on.Treatment of reactive thrombocytosis should be directed to the primary disease.This review briefly describes thrombocytosis etiology,pathogenesis,prognosis,and treatment of research progress. Key words: Children; Thrombocytosis; Pathogenesis; Treatment
Assessing storm surge impacts on coastal inundation due to climate change: case studies of Baltimore and Dorchester County in Maryland

Hurricane Isabel (2003) generated record flooding around Chesapeake Bay and caused extensive damage in rural Eastern Shore of Maryland and metropolitan cities like Baltimore. Regional atmosphere–ocean models are used to investigate the storm surge and coastal inundation that might be produced by a similar storm under the warmer ocean temperature and higher sea level projected for the future climate. Warming causes the storm to intensify, with the minimum sea level pressure decreasing from 955 mb during Isabel to ~ 950 mb in 2050 and ~ 940 mb in 2100. The stronger storm and higher mean sea level amplify the peak water level by ~ 0.5 m in 2050 and ~ 1.2 m in 2100. The total inundated area over Chesapeake Bay expands by 26% in 2050 and 47–62% in 2100. Over the rural Dorchester County, the inundated area shows moderate expansion in the future climate but the average inundation depth is 30% higher in 2050 and 50–70% higher in 2100. The number of houses flooded increases from 1420 during Hurricane Isabel to 1850/2190 in 2100 under the climate change scenario representative concentration pathway (RCP) 4.5/8.5. The inundated area in Baltimore is 2.2 km2 during Hurricane Isabel, expands to 5.1 km2 in 2050, and reaches 8.1/9.1 km2 in 2100 under RCP 4.5/8.5. The estimated flood damage to Baltimore increases from $29 million in 2003 to $98/100 million in 2050 and $150/162 million in 2100 under the median projection of RCP 4.5/8.5. These estimates are subjected to uncertainty due to different climate change scenarios and different climate model projections.
Essential Amino Acid Enrichment and Positive Selection Highlight Endosymbiont's Role in a Global Virus-Vectoring Pest.

ABSTRACT Host-associated microbes display remarkable convergence in genome repertoire resulting from selection to supplement missing host functions. Nutritional supplementation has been proposed in the verrucomicrobial endosymbiont Xiphinematobacter sp., which lives within a globally widespread group of plant-parasitic nematodes that vector damaging nepoviruses to plants. Only one genome sequence has been published from this symbiont, leaving unanswered questions about its diversity, host range, role, and selective pressures within its hosts. Because its hosts are exceptionally resistant to culturing, this symbiont is best studied through advanced genomic approaches. To analyze the role of Xiphinematobacter sp. in its host, sequencing was performed on nematode communities, and then genomes were extracted for comparative genomics, gene ontology enrichment tests, polymorphism analysis, de Bruijn-based genome-wide association studies, and tests of pathway- and site-specific selection on genes predicted play a role in the symbiosis. Results showed a closely clustered set of Xiphinematobacter isolates with reduced genomes of ∼917 kbp, for which a new species was proposed. Symbionts shared only 2.3% of genes with outgroup Verrucomicrobia, but comparative analyses showed high conservation of all 10 essential amino acid (EAA) biosynthesis pathways plus several vitamin pathways. These findings were supported by gene ontology enrichment tests and high polymorphisms in these pathways compared with background. Genome-wide association analysis confirmed high between-species fixation of alleles with significant functional enrichment for EAA and thiamine synthesis. Strong positive selection was detected on sites within these pathways, despite several being under increased purifying selection. Together, these results suggest that supplementation of EAAs missing in the host diet may drive this widespread symbiosis. IMPORTANCEXiphinematobacter spp. are distinctly evolved intracellular symbionts in the phylum Verrucomicrobia, which includes the important human gut-associated microbe Akkermansia muciniphila and many highly abundant free-living soil microbes. Like Akkermansia sp., Xiphinematobacter sp. is obligately associated with the gut of its hosts, which in this case consists of a group of plant-parasitic nematodes that are among the top 10 most destructive species to global agriculture, by vectoring plant viruses. This study examined the hypothesis that the key to this symbiont’s stable evolutionary association with its host is through provisioning nutrients that its host cannot make that may be lacking in the nematode’s plant phloem diet, such as essential amino acids and several vitamins. The significance of our research is in demonstrating, using population genomics, the signatures of selective pressure on these hypothesized roles to ultimately learn how this independently evolved symbiont functionally mirrors symbionts of phloem-feeding insects.
Probabilistic Prognosis with Dynamic Bayesian Networks

This paper proposes a methodology for probabilistic prognosis of a system using a dynamic Bayesian network (DBN). Dynamic Bayesian networks are suitable for probabilistic prognosis because of their ability to integrate information in a variety of formats from various sources and give a probabilistic representation of the system state. Further, DBNs provide a platform naturally suited for seamless integration of diagnosis, uncertainty quantification, and prediction. In the proposed methodology, a DBN is used for online diagnosis via particle filtering, providing a current estimate of the joint distribution over the system variables. The information available in the state estimate also helps to quantify the uncertainty in diagnosis. Next, based on this probabilistic state estimate, future states of the system are predicted using the DBN and sequential or recursive Monte Carlo sampling. Prediction in this manner provides the necessary information to estimate the distribution of remaining use life (RUL). The prognosis procedure, which is system specific, is validated using a suite of offline hierarchical metrics. The prognosis methodology is demonstrated on a hydraulic actuator subject to a progressive seal wear that results in internal leakage between the chambers of the actuator.
Computational Methods for Detecting Large-Scale Structural Rearrangements in Chromosomes

ABSTRACT Large-scale structural chromosomal rearrangements or structural variants, such as insertions, deletions, translocations, and inversions may result in the exchange of coding or regulatory DNA/RNA sequences between genes, which can lead to gene fusion or the loss/gain of genetic material. Gene fusion events are common in multiple types of cancer. High-throughput DNA and RNA sequencing methods produce large amounts of genomic data. Due to the massive amounts of data and the fact that structural variants account for just a small fraction of the data, efficient and accurate search methods are required for the detection of chromosomal breakpoints and structural variations. Robust identification of structural variants remains paramount for accurate inference of long-range interactions from high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) data. This chapter is a survey of computational methods based on paired end reading, efficient search techniques and parallel computing to detect structural variants in both whole genome and transcriptome sequences, as well as Hi-C data.
Allogeneic Blood or Marrow Transplantation with Nonmyeloablative Conditioning and High-Dose Cyclophosphamide-Based Graft-versus-Host Disease Prophylaxis for Secondary Central Nervous System Lymphoma.

ABSTRACT Secondary central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma is a rare and often fatal complication of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Treatment options include radiation therapy, high-dose systemic chemotherapy, intrathecal chemotherapy, and high-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell rescue, but outcomes remain poor. Allogeneic blood or marrow transplantation (alloBMT) is widely used in patients with relapsed/refractory systemic NHL. We sought to understand whether a graft-versus-lymphoma effect could maintain remission in CNS disease. We reviewed outcomes in 20 consecutive patients with secondary CNS lymphoma who underwent alloBMT with nonmyeloablative conditioning using fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and 200 cGy total body irradiation. For graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis, all patients received post-transplantation cyclophosphamide, mycophenolate mofetil, and a calcineurin inhibitor. With a median follow up of 4.1 years, the median overall survival for the entire cohort was not reached. Median progression-free survival was 3.8 years (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.3 months to not reached). The cumulative incidence of relapse was 25% (95% CI, 5% to 45%), and nonrelapse mortality was 30% (95% CI, 5% to 54%) at 4 years. Of the 5 patients who relapsed, 2 were CNS only, 1 was systemic only, and 2 were combined CNS/systemic. The use of alloBMT in CNS lymphoma merits further investigation.
A robust framework for identification of PDEs from noisy data

Abstract Robust physics (e.g., governing equations and laws) discovery is of great interest for many engineering fields and explainable machine learning. A critical challenge compared with general training is that the term and format of governing equations are not known as a prior. In addition, significant measurement noise and complex algorithm hyperparameter tuning usually reduces the robustness of existing methods. A robust data-driven method is proposed in this study for identifying the governing Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) of a given system from noisy data. The proposed method is based on the concept of Progressive Sparse Identification of PDEs (PSI-PDE or ψ-PDE). Special focus is on the handling of data with huge uncertainties (e.g., 50% noise level). Neural Network modeling and fast Fourier transform (FFT) are implemented to reduce the influence of noise in sparse regression. Following this, candidate terms from the prescribed library are progressively selected and added to the learned PDEs, which automatically promotes parsimony with respect to the number of terms in PDEs as well as their complexity. Next, the significance of each learned terms is further evaluated and the coefficients of PDE terms are optimized by minimizing the L2 residuals. Results of numerical case studies indicate that the governing PDEs of many canonical dynamical systems can be correctly identified using the proposed ψ-PDE method with highly noisy data. Codes of all demonstrated examples are available on the website: https://github.com/ymlasu . One great benefit of proposed algorithm is that it avoids complex algorithm modification and hyperparameter tuning in most existing methods. Limitations of the proposed method and major findings are presented.
Understanding Sentiments on Corona Vaccine using Social Media Analysis

Covid-19 crossed all international, national, regional boundaries so declared as Pandemic across the globe. Since one and half year every country is struggling to deal with this disease either by using preventive measures like lockdown, sanitization or with cure measure like treatment, isolation etc. Most important preventive measure adopted by every country now is Vaccination. But due to confusion, uncertainty and lack of awareness people have different opinion and sentiment about the vaccination drive. There is a drastic requirement to understand the People's sentiments on the vaccine, which may vary for different regions. Especially when these sentiments became vocal on social media, it may create adverse impact on the Vaccination Drive. This paper discusses predictive analytics and visualization methods for analyzing and predicting the summarized sentiments using social media channel: twitter. This approach is useful to provide support the vaccination drive by spreading awareness about the vaccine in the region with extreme negative sentiments. Corona Vaccine related tweets are analyzed and classified using various classification techniques as Bernoulli Naive Bayes, Linear SVC and Random Forest. Visualization techniques are discussed to showcase summarized sentiments region-wise. This approach is effective and useful for support for vaccination drive for Covid-19 spread prevention
Nano-twin Mediated Plasticity in Carbon-containing FeNiCoCrMn High Entropy Alloys

Equiatomic FeNiCoCrMn alloy has been reported to exhibit promising strength and ductility at cryogenic temperature and deformation mediated by nano-twining appeared to be one of the main reasons. We use the FeNiCoCrMn alloy as a base alloy to seek further improvement of its mechanical properties by alloying additional elements, i.e., interstitial carbon. Moreover, the effects of carbon on microstructures, mechanical properties and twinning activities were investigated in two different temperatures (77 and 293 K). With addition of 0.5 at% C, the high entropy alloy still remains entirely single phase face-centered cubic (FCC) crystal structure. We found that these materials can be cold rolled and recrystallized to produce a microstructure with equiaxed grains. Both strain hardening rate and strength are enhanced while high uniform elongations to fracture (~70% at 77 K and ~40% at 293 K) are still maintained. The increased strain hardening and strength could be caused by the promptness of deformation twinning in C-containing high entropy alloys.
Ironies of Colonial Governance: Law, Custom and Justice in Colonial India

Part I. Discoveries and Adaptations: 1. The rise and fall of the panchayat in the Bombay Presidency 2. Bringing justice to every man's door 3. Appeals and the language of petitioning 4. The construction of panchayat legality 5. The panchayat and trial by jury, I: the civil trial 6. The panchayat and trial by jury, II: military and criminal justice 7. The panchayat debate in the Bengal Presidency Part II. Lineages and Legacies: 8. The panchayat from village republic to municipality 9. The panchayat and the building of civil society 10. The panchayat legacy.
Some Geometric Lower Bounds

Dobkin and Lipton introduced the connected components argument to prove lower bounds in the linear decision tree model for membership problems, for example the element uniqueness problem. In this paper we apply the same idea to obtain lower bound statements for a variety of problems, each having the flavor of element uniqueness. In fact one of these problems is a parametric version of element uniqueness which asks, given n inputs a1,..., an and a query x≥ 0, whether there is a pair of inputs satisfying ¦ai−aj¦=x; the case x=0 IS element uniqueness. Then we apply some of these results to establish the fact that “search can be easier than uniqueness”; specifically we give two examples (one is the planar ham-sandwich cut) where finding or constructing a geometric object — known to exist — is less complex than answering the question about whether that object is unique. Finally we apply some of these results, along with a reduction argument, to get a nontrivial lower bound for the complexity of the least median of squares regression problem in the plane.
Gene Therapy for Head and Neck Cancer

The mortality associated with head and neck cancer has remained largely unchanged for the past several decades despite advancements in surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Gene therapy is a novel treatment approach that may potentially advance the treatment of genetic diseases, which include malignancies such as head and neck cancer. Multiple vector systems have been developed that facilitate the introduction of therapeutic genetic material into cells. These include DNA-based vectors, viral vectors and, most recently, vectors that induce RNA interference. Gene therapy strategies can be classified in 3 groups: (1) cytoreductive therapy aimed at directly inducing cell death, (2) corrective therapy intended to repair genetic defects underlying malignancy, and (3) immune modulation to promote a robust immune response against cancer. Cells. Translational research has been conducted in each of these areas, culminating in clinical trials and the implementation of gene therapy as a viable therapeutic modality for head and neck cancers.
The Long and Short of It: Evidence of Year-End Price Manipulation by Short Sellers

We identify a setting in which there is a predictable incentive for short sellers to manipulate prices, and we find patterns consistent with short sellers manipulating prices. Specifically, we find that stocks with high short interest experience abnormally low returns on the last trading day of the year. This effect is strongest among stocks that are easily manipulated and during the last hour of trading. Further, this effect reverses at the beginning of the year, consistent with the temporary nature of price manipulation. We show that hedge funds’ portfolios are closely related to market-wide short interest, suggesting that hedge funds, with their convex compensation structures, may generate the patterns we observe. In additional analysis, we find that larger price effects are associated with higher idiosyncratic volatility, offering a potential explanation for why temporary price effects are allowed to persist in the presence of rational arbitrageurs, but we find no evidence to suggest that extended non-trading-day holding periods play a role in the magnitude of the effects. Finally, we provide evidence of mutual funds and short sellers avoiding each other, and we show that downward pressure by short sellers is outweighed by upward pressure by buyers. In other words, since short sellers’ incentives are mirrored by buyers’ incentives in the opposite direction, our experiment provides evidence that short sellers manipulate prices in much the same way buyers do, and manipulation by short sellers is no stronger than manipulation by buyers.
STUDIES ON IMMUNITY IN ANTHRAX X. Gel-Adsorbed Protective Antigen for Immunization of Man

Puziss, Milton (Fort Detrick, Frederick, Md.) and George G. Wright. Studies on immunity in anthrax. X. Gel-adsorbed protective antigen for immunization of man. J. Bacteriol. 85:230–236. 1963.—Protective antigen in filtrates of anaerobic cultures of Bacillus anthracis was not readily precipitable by alum or other aluminum salts, but was adsorbed onto a preformed aluminum hydroxide gel under specific conditions. The adsorbed product was highly effective in immunizing rabbits, guinea pigs, and mice against challenge with virulent B. anthracis spores. Gel-adsorbed anaerobic antigens preserved with 1:10,000 thimerosal were unstable on storage at 4 C; replacement of this preservative with 1:40,000 benzethonium chloride produced a more stable product. Addition of 0.0009% formalin further increased the stability during accelerated aging at 37 C. The final product had high protective activity in animals and was well tolerated in man.
Overweight in childhood: the role of resilient parenting in African-American households.

BACKGROUND: Some low-income minority children in the U.S. remain at normal weight throughout their childhood despite high risk of obesity. PURPOSE: This study examined whether resilient caregiving accounted for children's healthy weight maintenance and dietary compliance over a 4-year period among poverty-stricken African-American families. METHODS: A representative sample of 317 African-American caregiver-children (aged 3-5 years) pairs from low-income areas of Detroit MI was examined in 2002-2003 with a follow-up assessment in 2007. Capacity for resilience among caregivers was defined using five individual and environmental protective factors. A BMI score for the children was computed from recorded height and weight, and converted into one of three categories (normal weight, overweight, obese) using age- and gender-specific national references. Dietary information was collected using the Block Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and Block Kids FFQ. Data were analyzed in 2010 to test whether children's weight transition and dietary compliance varied according to their caregivers' capacity for resilience. RESULTS: In all, 95 caregivers (29%) were identified as having capacity for resilience. They were younger, had higher levels of educational attainment, and had lower levels of daily soda consumption. The children of these caregivers had a lower likelihood of remaining overweight or obese than being of normal weight (relative risk ratio=0.5, 95% CI=0.2, 0.9) and had persistently lower soda consumption over 4 years compared with other children. CONCLUSIONS: This finding demonstrates that some caregivers positively influence children's health weight management and dietary compliance despite material deprivation. Interventions to initiate and promote resilient caregiving could benefit the health and health-related behaviors of low-income African-American children.
An electrostatic model for energies of molecules in solution

A model for solute-solvent interactions is considered, in which the solute molecule is placed in a cavity surrounded by a dielectric, as originally treated by Kirkwood and Westheimer. In the present version, each atom of the solute molecule is assigned a polarizability and a fixed partial charge, determined by semiempirical methods. These charges induce dipole moments at the atoms and polarize the dielectric. Each induced dipole is calculated by a rigorous treatment of its interactions with the charges and dipoles of the other atoms and with the dielectric. The electrostatic free energy for the molecule is determined as the reversible work to polarize the atoms and the surrounding dielectric and to assemble the charges and induced dipoles in their final positions within the cavity. In turn, molecular dipole moments and free energies of proton and electron transfer among related molecules may be calculated. Explicit formulas are derived for the case of a spherical cavity. Semiempirical determinations for some of the input parameters re­ quired by this model were made for several groups of related compounds, based on experimental dipole moments and free energies of charge transfer at 25°C. Generally, single most stable conformations of the molecules were used, and systematic procedures were developed to center each molecule inside its cavity and to generate the cavity radii. In this manner, a single radius increment (used to generate cavity radii based on molecular size and shape) and set of atom charges for the carboxyl and carboxylate groups of six monoand dicarboxylic acids were determined, for which the calculated free energies of proton transfer with acetic acid in water agreed with experimental values to within an average deviation of 0.65 kJ/mol. When these same charges were used for calcula­ tions of proton transfer between the rather elongated bicyclo[2.2.2]octane1-carboxylic acid and the 4-substituted acid in water, the radius increo ment s used had to be modified by as much as 0.12 A to produce comparable agreement with experiment. Moreover, a single set of atom charges for the amino groups of five primary amines in the gas phase was determined, for which the calculated free energies of electron transfer with methylamine and calculated dipole moments agreed with the corresponding experi­ mental values to within average deviations of 2.52 kJ/mol and 0.13 D, respectively. Finally, a series of calculations was done for the mole­ cules CXY^, CX^Yg, and CX^Y (X, Y = H, F, CI, Br, or I) to determine single sets of charges for atoms X and Y which produced agreement with experimental gas phase dipole moments to within an average deviation of 0.09 D. These results suggest that free energies of charge transfer may be explained largely in terms of electrostatic free energies. In ad­ dition, it was noted that interactive atom polarization contributes significantly to the total molecular dipole moment.
The Spatial Distribution and Ecological Impacts of Aeolian Soil Erosion in Kangerlussuaq, West Greenland

Aeolian soil erosion is responsible for erosional landforms, or deflation patches, that are ubiquitous in the Kangerlussuaq region of West Greenland. Deflation patches are identifiable as bare regions within a mosaic of shrub and graminoid tundra, and have the potential to alter regional carbon cycling and vegetation dynamics. Understanding the spatial distribution of deflation patches is an important first step in establishing the drivers, controls, and ecological impacts of wind erosion in the region. Using high-resolution WorldView-2 satellite imagery, we created a land cover classification and percentage vegetation cover map to investigate the regional distribution and variability of deflation patches. Across the study area, deflation patches account for 22 percent of the terrestrial land surface and occur in greater density closer to the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS). Farther away from the GrIS, local topography plays a larger role in determining the distribution of deflation patches, with wind erosion ...
Analyzing Crowd Rankings

Ranked data is ubiquitous in real-world applications, arising naturally when users express preferences about products and services, when voters cast ballots in elections, and when funding proposals are evaluated based on their merits or university departments based on their reputation. This paper focuses on crowdsourcing and novel analysis of ranked data. We describe the design of a data collection task in which Amazon MT workers were asked to rank movies. We present results of data analysis, correlating our ranked dataset with IMDb, where movies are rated on a discrete scale rather than ranked. We develop an intuitive measure of worker quality appropriate for this task, where no gold standard answer exists. We propose a model of local structure in ranked datasets, reflecting that subsets of the workers agree in their ranking over subsets of the items, develop a data mining algorithm that identifies such structure, and evaluate in on our dataset. Our dataset is publicly available at https://github.com/stoyanovich/CrowdRank.
Inside the FDA: The Business and Politics Behind the Drugs We Take and the Food We Eat

Fran Hawthorne 338 pp. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley; 2005. $27.95. ISBN 0-471-61091-7 Virtually everything a cardiologist does, whether it involves prescribing drugs, implanting a device, providing dietary advice, or setting healthcare policy, involves a decision at some point made by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Although cardiologists have at least a passing familiarity with the Cardiorenal Advisory Committee process via articles in standard cardiology journals, the history of the FDA and the complexity of its decision-making processes are a black box to most cardiologists. After a moment’s thought, it becomes clear that a well-written contemporary text describing the FDA would be a valuable resource for cardiovascular specialists. That resource is now available in a 338-page book entitled Inside the FDA: The Business and Politics Behind the Drugs We Take and the Food We Eat . As described on the book’s inside flap, Fran Hawthorne, the author, is a senior contributing editor of Institutional Investor and is a seasoned reporter covering healthcare and business …
On Plott's pairwise symmetry condition for majority rule equilibrium

In a well-known paper, Plott (1967) establishes sufficient conditions for equilibrium in multidimensional choice spaces under majority-rule voting. The most important and best known of these conditions is pairwise symmetry, which states that all nonzero utility gradients at the equilibrium must be divisible into pairs that point in opposite directions. If there is an odd number of voters and exactly one voter's ideal point (zero gradient) at the equilibrium or an even number of voters and no ideal point at the equilibrium, pairwise symmetry is also necessary. If the number of voters is even and one or more ideal points are at the equilibrium, or if the number of voters is odd and two or more ideal points are at the equilibrium, then Plott's conditions are sufficient for the existence of majority rule equilibrium but they are not necessary. This last result is commonly misunderstood. Many references to Plott characterize his conditions as either necessary or necessary and sufficient (Simpson, 1969; McKelvey and Ordeshook, 1976; Shepsle, 1979; Cohen 1979; and Denzau, Mackay and Weaver, 1980) with no mention of the additional assumption required for this statement to be correct. Thus, many public choice theorists appear to believe as Shepsle (1979: 28) states, that 'for equilibrium to obtain, preferences must exhibit an extremely precise symmetry....' Or, as McKelvey and Ordeshook (1976: 1172) state, 'unless the assumption of unidimensional or symmetrically distributed preference is satisfied, the solution to the election game posited by spatial theory does not generally exist.' Scholars familiar with McKelvey's (1976, 1979) results concerning global cycling in the absence of equilibrium remain with the impression that in the multidimensional spatial model, only two cases exist under unrestricted majority rule. In the first case, voter utility gradients exhibit pairwise symmetry around a single point, and, consequently, equilibrium exists. In the second case, voter utility gradients do not exhibit pairwise symmetry, no equilibrium exists, and the entire space is engulfed in a majority
The use of guided imagery in psychotherapy: Modules for use with passive relaxation training

Passive relaxation training can be an important technique when conducting psychotherapy with anxiety disorder clients. A central element of the passive relaxation process is the use of guided imagery. The clinical use of imagery is verbally guided by the therapist and includes multiple sense modalities. The exact procedures used in guided imagery are not often described in adequate detail. An appendix is included to describe five guided imagery modules to be used in combination with the passive relaxation procedures.
Regulating the function, not the industry

An accepted part of the regulation literature that documents the character and rate of growth of federal regulation in the 1970s uses a simple dichotomy to distinguish the character of social regulation and such things as EPA, OSHA, and EEO regulation from that of economic regulation and the activities of the ICC, CAB, and FCC.' But once the split is made, analysts are left with a puzzlement: Why did social regulation expand at such a rapid rate? Public interest theory, the theory of capture and the newer economic theories of regulation shed some light on the possible causes of certain particular regulations, but none of the theories of regulation explains the apparent shift to social regulation that occurred in the 1970s.2 We believe a feature of social regulation emphasized by Murray L. Weidenbaum provides a bridge to a consistent theoretical explanation of the form taken at the margin when regulation was expanding.3 The crucial Weidenbaum-identified feature is this: Social regulation focuses on economic functions marketing, production, credit practices, and personnel procedures, while economic regulation focuses on single industries and the functions within them.
2000 George Lyman Duff Memorial Lecture: Atherosclerosis Is a Liver Disease of the Heart

Abstract —The production of apolipoprotein B (apoB)–containing lipoproteins by the liver is regulated by a complex series of processes involving apoB being cotranslationally translocated across the endoplasmic reticulum and assembled into a lipoprotein particle. The translocation of apoB across the endoplasmic reticulum is facilitated by the intraluminal chaperone, microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP). MTP facilitates the translocation and folding of apoB, as well as the addition of lipid to lipid-binding domains (which consist of amphipathic β sheets and α helices). In the absence of MTP or sufficient lipid, apoB exhibits translocation arrest. Thus, apoB translation, translocation, and assembly with lipids to form a core-containing lipoprotein particle occur as concerted processes. Abrogation of ≥1 of these processes diverts apoB into a degradation pathway that is dependent on conjugation with ubiquitin and proteolysis by the proteasome. The nascent core-containing lipoprotein particle that forms within the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum can be “enlarged” to form a mature very low density lipoprotein particle. Additional studies show that the assembly and secretion of apoB-containing lipoproteins are linked to the cholesterol/bile acid synthetic pathway controlled by cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase. Studies in cultured cells and transgenic mice indicate that the expression of cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase indirectly regulates the expression of lipogenic enzymes through changes in the cellular content of mature sterol response element binding proteins. Oxysterols and bile acids may also act via the ligand-activated nuclear receptors LXR and FXR to link the metabolic pathways controlling energy balance and lipid metabolism to nutritional state.