cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hyperthermia induces resistance to ultraviolet light B in primary and immortalized epidermal keratinocytes

Environmental exposure to UVB (290-320 nm) wavelengths of the solar spectrum causes major damage, including carcinogenesis, in the skin. Therefore, cellular responses that protect against UVB damage are of particular interest in cutaneous epithelial cells. In cultured keratinocytes, mild hyperthermia generates a classical stress response with acquired thermotolerance and elevated stress protein synthesis (E. V. Maytin, J. Biol. Chem., 267: 23189-23196, 1992). To test the ability of this stress response to protect against UVB damage, monolayers of primary murine keratinocytes or BALB/MK keratinocytes were heated at 42 degrees C for 1 h and then exposed to UVB at 6 h (typical dose, 40 mJ/cm2). Survival was assessed by fluorescein diacetate/ethidium bromide vital dye uptake and video microscopy. With heat-conditioning prior to UVB, a significant increase in both the percentage viability (2- to 3-fold) and in the absolute number of living (fluorescein diacetate-positive) cells was measurable at 24-48 h. Steady-state incorporation into [3H]DNA and 35S-protein, while suppressed immediately after UVB, showed greater recovery in heat-conditioned cultures compared to sham-conditioned cultures at 48 h. Increased metabolic activity was accompanied by increased proliferative potential since colonies of BALB/MK cells observed at 72 h were larger, more numerous, and more active in the uptake of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine in heat-conditioned cultures. A time course for the development of UVB resistance showed maximal protection when heat and UVB were spaced approximately 6 h apart. Hyperthermic conditioning could induce UVB protection in nonproliferating cells, indicating that cell cycle arrest was not primarily responsible for the UVB-protective effect. In summary, hyperthermia induces a mechanism in epithelial cells which can ameliorate damage from UVB.
Curcumin Modulates Tamoxifen Response in Resistant Breast Cancer Cells.

Despite significant improvement in both detection and treatment, breast cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer deaths for women in the United States. Tamoxifen is the most commonly used treatment for estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast carcinoma, yet up to 50% of patients with metastatic disease present with de novo resistance to tamoxifen, and almost all patients will eventually become resistant to tamoxifen treatment. The mechanism(s) for this resistance appear to be largely dependent upon activation of growth factor signaling pathways. Aberrant activation of the PI3K/Akt and MAPK pathways and their cross talk with both the genomic and nongenomic activity of the ER is implicated in tamoxifen resistance. Breast cancer cell lines with constitutively activated Akt are characterized by high levels of the pro-survival transcription factor Nuclear Factor kappa B (NF-kB), estrogen-independent growth, and resistance to tamoxifen treatment. Studies have shown that curcumin, a polyphenol derived from the rhizome of the perennial herb Curcuma longa, is able to inhibit the activation of NF-kB, which is implicated as one mechanism by which breast cancer cells become resistant to tamoxifen treatment. Previous studies in our laboratory have demonstrated that inhibition of NF-kB is sufficient to sensitize MCF-7 cells that have constitutively activated Akt and elevated NF-kB levels to tamoxifen treatment. However, clinical NF-kB inhibitors such as Velcade generally involve suppression of the proteosome, leading to severe toxicities. Therefore, identification of alternative approaches for suppressing NF-kB activity in the absence of toxicity could prove beneficial for enhancing response to tamoxifen. In the present study, we assessed the efficacy of curcumin at inhibiting breast cancer cell proliferation and survival both as a single agent and in combination with tamoxifen in MCF-7 cells that expressed both “normal” levels of Akt (Control) activity as well as those that expressed the constitutively active form of Akt (myrAkt). As has been previously reported, curcumin treatment inhibited survival and proliferation in the Control MCF-7 cells, but importantly curcumin was also able to suppress survival and proliferation in the myrAKT MCF-7 cells. Curcumin and tamoxifen co-treatment was found to synergistically inhibit survival in myrAKT MCF-7 cells. These findings demonstrate that curcumin can sensitize myrAKT MCF-7 cells to tamoxifen treatment. This preliminary data suggests that the combination of natural NF-kB inhibitors such as curcumin with tamoxifen may be a viable strategy to either prevent tamoxifen resistant disease or to re-sensitize refractory disease to tamoxifen treatment. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 3098.
SELECTION ON HERBIVORE LIFE-HISTORY TRAITS BY THE FIRST AND THIRD TROPHIC LEVELS: THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA REVISITED

The timing of life-history events in insects can have important consequences for both survival and repro- duction. For insect herbivores with complex life histories, selection is predicted to favor those combinations of traits that increase the size at metamorphosis while minimizing the risk of mortality from natural enemies. Studies quantifying selection on life-history traits in natural insect herbivore populations, however, have been rare. The purpose of this study was to measure phenotypic selection imposed by elements of the first and third trophic levels on variation in two life-history traits, the timing of egg hatch and pupal mass, in a population of oak-feeding caterpillars, Psilocorsis quercicella (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae). Larvae were collected from the field throughout each of two generations per year for three years and reared to determine the effects of the date of egg hatch on both the risk of attack from parasitoids and the pupal mass of the survivors. The direction and strength of phenotypic selection attributed to aspects of the first and third trophic levels, as well as their combined effects, on the date of egg hatch was measured for each of the six generations. Heritabilities of and genetic correlations between pupal mass and the date of adult emergence from diapause (the life-history trait expected to have the largest influence on the timing of egg hatch, and thus larval development) were estimated from laboratory matings. In four of the six generations examined, significant directional selection attributed to the first trophic level was detected, always favoring early-hatching cohorts predicted to experience higher leaf quality than late-hatching cohorts. Directional phenotypic selection by the third trophic level was detected in only one of three years, and in that year the direction of selection was in opposite directions during the two successive generations. The combined effect of selection by both trophic levels indicated that the third trophic level acted to either reduce or enhance the more predictable pattern of selection attributed to the first trophic level. In addition, I found evidence of truncation selection acting to increase the mean and decrease the variance of pupal mass during the pupa-adult transition in the laboratory. Pupal mass and diapause duration were found to vary significantly among full-sibling families; upper bounds for heritability estimates were 0.57 and 0.30, respectively. Furthermore, these two traits were found to be positively genetically correlated (families with larger pupae had longer diapause durations), resulting in a fitness trade-off, because larger pupae enjoy higher survival through metamorphosis and female fecundity but emerge later, when average leaf quality for offspring is generally poorer.
Dynamic Rupture through a Branched Fault Configuration at Yucca Mountain, and Resulting Ground Motions

We seek to characterize the likelihood of multiple fault activation along a branched normal-fault system during earthquake rupture using dynamic finite element analyses. This is motivated by the normal faults in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, a potential site for a high-level radioactive waste repository. The Solitario Canyon fault (SCF), a north-south trending fault located approximately 1 km west of the crest of Yucca Mountain, is the most active of these faults. Based on the results of previous branching work by Kame et al. (2003), branch activation in the hanging wall of a normal fault such as the SCF may be possible for fast ruptures propagating near the Rayleigh-wave speed at the branch junction. Dynamic branch activation along a splay of the SCF during a seismic event could have important effects on the rupture velocity and resulting ground motions at the proposed repository site. We consider elastic as well as a pressure-dependent elastic-plastic response of the off-fault material. We find that based on the regional stress state in the area, the only likely candidates for branch activation in the hanging wall of the SCF are more steeply westward dipping intrablock splay faults. We also find that the rupture velocity for an earthquake propagating updip along the SCF must reach supershear speeds in order for dynamic branch activation to occur. Branch activation can have significant effects on the ground motions at the proposed repository site, 1 km away from the SCF beneath the crest of Yucca Mountain, causing the repository site to experience a second peak in large vertical particle velocities. Elastic-plastic response near the branch junction reduces peak ground velocities and accelerations at the proposed repository site.
Rationale and Long Term Outcome of Rotating Platform Total Knee Replacement

Rotating platform (RP) total knee replacement (TKR) designs, were introduced in the late 1970s aiming to more closely recreate normal knee kinematics and to minimize some of the problems (mainly wear and loosening) seen with early fixed bearing TKR implants. High conformity bearing surfaces without significant increased stresses at the polyethylene-baseplate interfaces and having the potential for self-alignment of the rotating polyethylene with the femoral component, correcting thus possible mistakes of tibial tray positioning, are some of the theoretical advantages of the RP TKR designs. Short and mid-term results have been promising but RP TKA failed to demonstrate significant advantages over the well time-tested fixed bearing designs probably due to the fact that both designs show excellent survivorship in the available to date long term follow-up. Longer follow-up studies in special cohorts of patients (i.e. young patients) are needed to show whether RP designs fare better than their non-RP counterparts. Herein, we present the best available evidence regarding the long term results of RP TKR from selected studies with minimum 10 years follow-up.
Endogenous betaglycan is essential for high-potency inhibin antagonism in gonadotropes.

Inhibins are endocrine hormones that regulate gametogenesis and reproduction through a negative feedback loop with FSH. Inhibin action involves antagonism of signaling by activin or other TGFβ family ligands. In transfection assays, antagonism by inhibin can be potentiated by betaglycan, a coreceptor for selected TGFβ family ligands. We tested whether betaglycan is an obligate inhibin coreceptor through disruption of betaglycan function by RNA interference-mediated knockdown and immunoneutralization. Betaglycan knockdown and anti-betaglycan IgG each independently prevented inhibin-A binding to betaglycan and reversed functional effects of transfected betaglycan. Neither betaglycan immunoneutralization nor knockdown affected activin responsiveness in cell lines or in rat anterior pituitary cultures. Betaglycan knockdown decreased the potency of inhibin antagonism of activin-induced FSH secretion in primary gonadotropes. Similarly, anti-betaglycan IgG decreased the potency of inhibin antagonism in primary gonadotropes in a dose-dependent manner, with a reduction in the sensitivity to inhibin-A of greater than 1000-fold. These data establish that betaglycan is an endogenous inhibin coreceptor required for high-sensitivity inhibin antagonism of activin signaling in rat anterior pituitary gonadotropes.
Phase stability and pressure-induced semiconductor to metal transition in crystalline GeSe2

The structural and electronic properties of crystalline GeSe2 are studied using ab initio density functional theory. GeSe2 exists in a variety of phases; here eight phases, six previously synthesized and two hypothetical, are investigated within the local density approximation and the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). The results show that the GGA correctly describes the energetics of the GeSe2 even with variations in charge density of layer GeSe2 structures. The stability of the phases studied is discussed, and the possible phase transitions under pressure are predicted and compared to experiment. The electronic structure of GeSe2 confirms, for the first time, that the high-pressure CdI2-type phase is metallic which may produce the semiconductor to metal transition in the GeSe2 system under pressure.
The design of a robotic marimba player: introducing pitch into robotic musicianship

The paper presents the theoretical background and the design scheme for a perceptual and improvisational robotic marimba player that interacts with human musicians in a visual and acoustic manner. Informed by an evaluation of a previously developed robotic percussionist, we present the extension of our work to melodic and harmonic realms with the design of a robotic player that listens to, analyzes and improvises pitch-based musical materials. After a presentation of the motivation for the project, theoretical background and related work, we present a set of research questions followed by a description of hardware and software approaches that address these questions. The paper concludes with a description of our plans to implement and embed these approaches in a robotic marimba player that will be used in workshops and concerts.
Morphology and morphogenesis of Sindbis virus as seen with freeze-etching techniques.

Abstract Freeze-etch electron microscope studies of the morphogenesis and morphology of Sindbis virus confirmed results obtained by other workers employing thin-sectioning techniques. The 68-nm virion was found to have a nucleocapsid 36 nm in diameter surrounded by a double-layered, unit membrane. The membranous envelope is acquired as the capsid buds through the plasma membrane of the infected cell. The freeze-etch technique also provided the following new information. (i) At any one time, budding occurs in patches rather than evenly over the cell surface. (ii) The nucleocapsid is composed of capsomers 7 nm in diameter. (iii) The capsid interacts strongly with the membrane, both prior to budding and after maturation. (iv) The 7- to 10-nm particles characteristic of the internal faces of plasma membranes, which presumably represent host membrane proteins, are present in early stages of budding but disappear as morphogenesis progresses. (v) Fusion of the cell membrane at the base of the budding virion is a two-step process; the inner leaflet fuses into a sphere before the outer one. (vi) The outer surface of the viral envelope is covered with 4-nm subunits with a center-to-center spacing of 6 nm.
Programmed cell death during Drosophila embryogenesis

The deliberate and orderly removal of cells by programmed cell death is a common phenomenon during the development of metazoan animals. We have examined the distribution and ultrastructural appearance of cell deaths that occur during embryogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster. A large number of cells die during embryonic development in Drosophila. These cells display ultrastructural features that resemble apoptosis observed in vertebrate systems, including nuclear condensation, fragmentation and engulfment by macrophages. Programmed cell deaths can be rapidly and reliably visualized in living wild-type and mutant Drosophila embryos using the vital dyes acridine orange or nile blue. Acridine orange appears to selectively stain apoptotic forms of death in these preparations, since cells undergoing necrotic deaths were not significantly labelled. Likewise, toluidine blue staining of fixed tissues resulted in highly specific labelling of apoptotic cells, indicating that apoptosis leads to specific biochemical changes responsible for the selective affinity to these dyes. Cell death begins at stage 11 (approximately 7 hours) of embryogenesis and thereafter becomes widespread, affecting many different tissues and regions of the embryo. Although the distribution of dying cells changes drastically over time, the overall pattern of cell death is highly reproducible for any given developmental stage. Detailed analysis of cell death in the central nervous system of stage 16 embryos (13-16 hours) revealed asymmetries in the exact number and position of dying cells on either side of the midline, suggesting that the decision to die may not be strictly predetermined at this stage. This work provides the basis for further molecular genetic studies on the control and execution of programmed cell death in Drosophila.
A Chaos Approach To Bankruptcy Prediction

Chaotic systems, although deterministic and predictable over short horizons, appear to be random. This study applied chaos theory to bankruptcy prediction using a pair-matched sample of bankrupt firms. Given that healthy systems exhibit more chaos than unhealthy ones, it was hypothesized that the returns of firms nearing bankruptcy would exhibit significantly less chaos, measured with Lyapunov exponents, than at an earlier period. Successful univariate and multivariate bankruptcy prediction models were then constructed using the obtained Lyapunov exponents.
J/psi photoproduction from 60 to 300 GeV/c

Measurements of the energy and $t$ dependence of diffractive $\frac{J}{\ensuremath{\psi}}$ photoproduction are presented. A significant rise in the cross section over the energy range 60-300 GeV is observed. It is found that (30\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}4)% of the events are inelastic.
Nucleation and Growth of Lithium Peroxide in the Li–O2 Battery

We study the relationship between Li2O2 morphology and the electrochemical performance of the Li–O2 battery using a combination of experiment and theory. Experimental Li–O2 battery discharge curves are accurately captured by a theoretical model in which electrode performance is limited by the nucleation and growth of discrete Li2O2 nanostructures in the cathode. We further show that the characteristic sharp voltage drop widely reported at the end of discharge results from the decrease in electrochemical surface area as Li2O2 covers the cathode surface. Preventing surface nucleation is highlighted as a core strategy for increasing Li–O2 battery capacity.
Defending the Indefensible? The Increasingly Difficult Job of Defending Soldiers Accused of Sexual Assault

This article presents the perspective of a former defense counsel and seasoned military justice practitioner on the recent history and current state of affairs of military sexual assault cases. It suggests practices that prosecutors and criminal investigators should implement to ensure that servicemembers accused of sexual assault receive due process and a fair resolution of their cases.
Palmitoyl carnitine modifies sodium currents and induces transient inward current in ventricular myocytes

Long-chain acylcarnitines increase within 2 min in ischemic myocardium in vivo and induce delayed afterdepolarizations (DADs) and complex oscillations of membrane potential in vitro. This study was performed to assess the ionic currents underlying these electrophysiological alterations in isolated rabbit ventricular cells using whole cell voltage-clamp procedures. Palmitoyl carnitine (10 microM, for 6-10 min) elicited a transient inward current (Iti) in the presence of blockade of Ca2+ and K+ channels. The effect of palmitoyl carnitine was reversible after washout (n = 6). The amplitude of Iti was dependent on the amplitude of the preceding depolarization step. Palmitoyl carnitine (10 microM, for > 2 min) also induced another inward current, which was activated spontaneously at potentials between -120 and -20 mV with a linear current-voltage relationship (1.0 +/- 0.1 nA at -80 mV). This current was abolished by replacing extracellular Na+ with tetraethylammonium chloride, indicating that Na+ was the charge carrier. Inactivation of this current was slow (gamma = 885.9 +/- 89.1 ms, n = 12) or incomplete, indicating the appearance of a slow-inactivating Na+ inward current [INa(s)]. Palmitoyl carnitine always induced INa(s) before the appearance of Iti. Intracellular ethylene glycol-bis(beta-amino-ethyl ether)-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid (10 mM) abolished Iti but did not suppress INa(s) (n = 4), indicating that INa(s) was not activated by intracellular Ca2+ (Cai2+). Tetrodotoxin (10 microM) also decreased the amplitude of INa(s). Thus palmitoyl carnitine induces INa(s), which likely leads to an increase in Na+ influx, thereby eliciting an increase in Cai2+ via the Na(+)-Ca2+ exchanger and leading to the development of Iti, DADs, and triggered activity.
Roles of Aspergillus nidulans Cdc42/Rho GTPase regulators in hyphal morphogenesis and development

The Rho-related family of GTPases are pivotal regulators of morphogenetic processes in diverse eukaryotic organisms. In the filamentous fungi two related members of this family, Cdc42 and Rac1, perform particularly important roles in the establishment and maintenance of hyphal polarity. The activity of these GTPases is tightly controlled by two sets of regulators: guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) and GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs). Despite the importance of Cdc42 and Rac1 in polarized hyphal growth, the morphogenetic functions of their cognate GEFs and GAPs have not been widely characterized in filamentous fungi outside the Saccharomycotina. Here we present a functional analysis of the Aspergillus nidulans homologs of the yeast GEF Cdc24 and the yeast GAP Rga1. We show that Cdc24 is required for the establishment of hyphal polarity and localizes to hyphal tips. We also show that Rga1 is necessary for the suppression of branching in developing conidiophores. During asexual development Rga1 appears to act primarily via Cdc42 and in doing so serves as a critical determinant of conidiophore architecture. Our results provide new insight into the roles of Cdc42 during development in A nidulans.
AI-12ID2/KDR DRIVES FORMATION OF PRO-MALIGNANT MYELOID DERIVED SUPPRESSOR CELLS IN GLIOMA

Evidence accumulated in the past decade supports a crucial role for bone marrow derived cells (BMDCs) in the surrounding tumor microenvironment as critical components regulating primary tumor growth and malignant transformation. Multiple types of BMDCs, including macrophages, T-regs, and neutrophils, contribute to immuno-suppression, and pro-angiogenesis within the tumor microenvironment. In our study, we demonstrated a sub-population of myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in peripheral blood in both mice model and glioma patients, which express KDR. The number of KDR+ MDSCs is positively correlated with pathological/histological grades of tumors. The Grade III and GBM patients have more KDR+ MDSCs than low-grade patients. In the cohort of patients diagnosed as grade II astrocytoma, the patients, who have higher number of KDR+ MDSCs, have less progression free survival. The functional role of KDR+ MDSCs has been studied with Rosa26-cre/KDRfl/fl mice (KDR-KO). The bone marrow cells from KDR-KO mice were transplanted into RCAS-tva/PDGF-BB mice at early stage (week 2). Knocking out KDR in bone marrow derived cells led to the delay of progression of low-grade tumor, which was driven by PDGF-BB. The median survival of tumor bearing mice was significantly increased. Moreover, we isolated KDR+ hematopoietic progenitor cells from bone marrow of tumor bearing mice, and identified that the TGF-b signaling and inhibitor of DNA binding protein-2 (ID2) served as upstream mediators for KDR+ MDSCs during development of gliomas. With ID2 knockout mice, we recapitulated the phenotype of KDR-bone marrow knockout in tumor bearing mice. Further in vitro and in vivo assays showed the TGF- b/ID2/KDR signaling axis played an important role in driving differentiation of hematopoietic cells towards pro-angiogenic and pro-tumoral direction. ID2 and KDR in MDSCs promote angiogenesis and malignant transformation of glioma.
Endoscopic cranial suture release for the treatment of craniosynostosis--is it the future?

AbstractThere has been a circle of treatment in craniofacial surgery, with an original era of strip craniectomy surgeries that transformed into an era of major craniofacial reconstructions. The reason for this transition was the concern that release operations failed to correct the deformity in a su
Pore Scale Processes Associated with Subsurface CO2 Injection and Sequestration

The injection of CO2 into the Earth’s subsurface drives the fluid-rock system into “far-from- equilibrium” conditions, which means that the fluxes that return the system to equilibrium are nonlinearly related to the generalized driving forces (e.g., chemical affinities and gradients in the fluid pressures and chemical potentials). The nonlinear response results in emergent structures and self-organization (Prigogine 1968, 1980; Ortoleva 1994; Lasaga 1998; Jamtveit and Meakin 1999), of which the reactive infiltration instability is a well-known example in the Earth Sciences that is directly applicable to CO2 injection and caprock integrity (Ortoleva et al. 1987; Hoefner and Fogler 1988; Steefel and Lasaga 1994; Steefel and Maher 2009). Flow, solute transport, colloid transport, mineral dissolution and mineral precipitation combine within the mechanical framework of the porous medium to generate precipitate structures in individual pores correlated over many thousands to millions of pores, and immiscible fluid structures with fractal geometry over scales from millimeters to kilometers (Feder 1988). The focus in this chapter is on processes, emergent and otherwise, taking place at the pore scale, defined here as the scale where individual grains and fluid interfaces can be resolved. The chief focus of research in recent years has been to improve the understanding of the nonlinear dynamics specifically associated with biogeochemical and microbially induced processes coupled to physical processes such as flow and diffusion at the pore scale. When coupled, whether in field-scale applications, bench-scale experiments, or in models, emergent behavior may result, including changes in permeability, diffusivity, and reactivity. The pore scale is an important scale to analyze these emergent behaviors given that it provides the architecture within which the smaller scale (nano and molecular scale) processes occur. For the individual processes to interact, transport is typically necessary and the resulting behavior …
Maturation of Lesions Induced by Myocardial Cavitation-Enabled Therapy.

Myocardial contrast echocardiography at enhanced therapeutic parameters may be a novel means of tissue reduction therapy, as for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Dahl/SS rats were anesthetized and treated with high-amplitude pulsed ultrasound guided by 10-MHz ultrasound images. Contrast microbubbles were infused via the tail vein during intermittent pulse-burst exposure at 4 MPa. A sham group, a low-impact group (group A, 5 cycle pulses with Gaussian modulation and 1:4 trigger for 5 min) and a high-impact group (group B, 10 cycle pulses with 4-ms square modulation and 1:8 trigger for 10 min) were tested. The higher exposure used in group B yielded more substantial injury than the lower exposure in group A. Treated rats in both groups A and B had significant increases in wall thickness measured by echocardiography the next day, which returned to normal by the end of 6 wk. Six weeks after ultrasound exposure, heart tissue samples exhibited tissue fibrosis in Masson's trichrome stained histology. Maturation of lesions involved fibrosis replacement, preserving structural tissue integrity. This study indicates that myocardial injury noted previously progresses into permanent loss of myocardial tissue that may be sufficient for possible hypertrophic cardiomyopathy therapy. More research is needed to define the treatment parameters required for symptomatic relief for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Evaluation and Diagnosis of Underactive Bladder

Underactive bladder (UAB) has many forms of presentation with multiple etiologies. Accurately diagnosing this entity is a major challenge and requires phased approach (Abrams et al. 2002). First, it requires identifying patients who could be suffering from the condition and, second, proving that the condition is truly a manifestation of an underactive detrusor. In order to suspect the condition underactive bladder, the health-care provider must be familiar with symptoms and signs that are associated with UAB.
New insights into the electrode mechanism of lithium sulfur batteries via air-free post-test analysis

Effects of the volume expansion and shrinkage of Li2S cathodes on electrochemical cycle life are investigated via post-test analysis without exposure to air. The engineered electrodes that confine volume changes within micro-reactors have significantly longer life than the electrodes without the micro-reactor structure, providing the first unambiguous evidence of the importance of confining volume changes for improved battery performance.
Henri Lefebvre: Lived Spaces

Space is only a medium, environment and means, an instrument and intermediary […] [It] never possesses existence in itself but always refers to something else, to existential and simultaneously essential time, subjective and objective […] Lefebvre, The Urban Revolution The user's space is lived not represented (or conceived). Lefebvre, The Production of Space Immense credit is due to Henri Lefebvre for having inaugurated new itineraries of inquiry in critical and cultural theory in the aftermath of the Second World War. Enduring achievements are found in all of his myriad writings, but nowhere more than in his watershed Production of Space (1974), a monumental study in which he asserts that after the turmoil of 1968 a renewed awareness of space complicates inherited ways of calculating time. Space is no longer a neutral background against which humans move about, but is what humans produce as, in turn, it shapes or even produces them. It is both a medium in which things are fashioned and a milieu in which they find their place. Lefebvre correlatively offers a theory and a history of contemporary space coordinated according to the effects of uneven economic development, the advent of the modern State (generally in upper case), and the impact of the accelerated circulation of capital in the bourgeois sphere during the “Trente Glorieuses” or three decades of prosperity that France witnessed after 1945. He argues that those in power, together with those in collusion with governmental agencies, impose spatial constraints that regiment the lived experience of entire populations.
What Respect is Owed to Illusions About Immigration and Culture

Against the background of my own general skepticism about cultural arguments in favor of immigration restrictions, I consider the possibility that such arguments may be redeemed by focusing on the damage unrestricted immigration may do to "imagined" cultural community as opposed to "actual" cultural community. There is plenty to explore here, but the paper ends with the suggestion that arguments about "imagined community" will operate differently and will be subject to greater constraints than well-founded arguments about the impact of immigration on actual culture.
Communication, Culture, and Work in Mathematics Education in Departments of Mathematical Sciences

Communication is much more than words—written, spoken, or unspoken. It is also in how a person participates in or orchestrates discussion (in a hallway or in a meeting). Conversation is shaped by what a person knows or anticipates about colleagues’ previous experiences and how to attend to that in the context of the goals of a given professional interaction. This chapter builds a foundation of ideas from discourse theory and intercultural competence development as aspects of communication. The presentation is grounded in two vignettes and several small examples of discourse about work in mathematics education. The ideas and vignettes provide touchstones for noticing and understanding what happens when people communicate across professional cultures within departments of mathematics.
What Studies on Learning can Teach us about Playback Design

Communication must be studied as social interaction. If we are to understand how birds communicate, we need to examine not only the form of a given signal, the song, but also its meaning and the appropriate context for its use, the singing behaviour (see Smith 1991). Researchers who designed learning and playback experiments to study avian communication initially concentrated on form and sometimes meaning, but not the details of context. Recent studies on learning, however, have shown how birds are affected by the singing behaviour of other individuals: interactions that demonstrate how communication might occur, provide feedback on whether information has been transferred, or encourage the development of different forms of communication in different contexts (reviews in Pepperberg 1991; Pepperberg and Schinke-Llano in press). Playback experiments, in contrast, still generally concentrate on describing how birds respond to the form of a signal. But closer analysis reveals that playback studies, like those on song learning, actually do involve response to singing behaviour and not song alone (e.g. Smith 1988; Stoddard et al. 1988, 1990).
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Autologous Cell Therapy for Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Photoreceptor cell death associated with advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is triggered by degeneration of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Replacement of the atrophied RPE cell layer has previously shown potential to preserve visual acuity in autograft surgeries. However, these procedures are risky and complicated. RPE cells derived from patient-specific induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be reproducibly manufactured as a tissue on a surgically compatible substrate and transplanted back into the patient’s eye potentially with no risk of immune rejection. Using a developmentally guided differentiation protocol we have manufactured autologous RPE tissue from AMD patients on a biodegradable scaffold. In vitro, this tissue demonstrates morphological, molecular, and functional attributes that are similar to the native tissue. We have confirmed safety and efficacy of this tissue in vivo in an RPE injury pig model. Our results provide a potential treatment for AMD using autologous iPS cells.
A Flexible and Robust Multi-Source Learning Algorithm for Drug Repositioning

Drug repositioning is a promising strategy in drug discovery. New biomedical insights of drug-target-disease relationships are important in drug repositioning, and such relationships have been intensively studied recently. Most of the studies utilize network-based computational approaches based on drug and disease similarities. However, one common limitation of existing approaches is that both drug similarities and disease similarities are defined based on a single feature of drugs/diseases. In reality, the relationships between drug (or disease) pairs can be characterized based on many different features. Therefore, it is increasingly important to include them in drug repositioning studies. In this study, we propose a flexible and robust multi-source learning (FRMSL) framework to integrate multiple heterogeneous data sources for drug-disease association predictions. We first construct a two-layer heterogeneous network consisting of drug nodes, disease nodes and known drug-disease relationships. The drug repositioning problem can thus be treated as a missing link prediction problem on the heterogeneous graph and can be solved using Kronecker regularized least square (KronRLS) method. Multiple data sources describing drugs and diseases are incorporated into the framework using similarity-based kernels. In practice, a great challenge in such data integration projects is the data incompleteness problem due to the nature of data generation and collection. To address this issue, we develop a novel multi-view learning algorithm based on symmetric nonnegative matrix factorization (SymNMF). Extensive experimental studies show that our framework outperforms several recent network-based methods.
The Effects of Exercise on Memory Function Among Young to Middle-Aged Adults: Systematic Review and Recommendations for Future Research.

Objective:To systematically summarize the experimental effects of exercise on cognitive-related memory function among young to middle-aged adults, which has yet to be done in the literature.Data So...
Biotechnology: Technical Aspects

Biotechnology has played a significant role over the past one hundred years in the improvement of human and animal health and in the development of commercial products. Our familiarity with biotechnology comes to us in the fermentation products, antibiotics, and many other foodstuffs and medicines. More recent developments have been along the lines of waste water treatment facilities, enzymes as catalyst in cell-free products, and other industrial products for new medicines and chemicals, e.g., amino acids, organic acids, etc. Today, biotechnology is being applied, adapted, enhanced to assist mankind in cleaning up the planet’s environment: this is environmental biotechnology. This includes the treatment of solids (soils), liquids (ground and surface waters) and gases(atmosphere). Although to some degree intrinsic biological processes have been functioning without the intercedence of man for eons, most of these processes were not recognized nor optimized until the recent efforts by the scientific community to demonstrate that biological treatment can and does work. It is this effort that now is spawning a new engineering effort in the actual application of bioremediation for treatment technology in the disposal of hazardous wastes. Many of the already discovered and demonstrated environmental bioprocesses can also be modified to assist man in his effort to manage nuclear waste. It may also be the result of biological mediated processes that cause nuclear waste to contaminate the biosphere in the future if we do not acknowledge and plan for these activities.
Development of a Turbulence Model for Rectangular Passages

A mixing length model for fully developed turbulent flow in rectangular ducts has been developed. In this model, the mixing length at any point is found from an algebraic combination of two mixing ...
Adrenergic hormones induce extrapituitary prolactin gene expression in leukocytes-potential implications in obesity

The pituitary hormone prolactin (PRL), originally described for its role in lactation, has been implemented in over 300 functions and is produced by multiple cell types outside of the pituitary. Monocyte/macrophages in particular show robust expression of extra-pituitary prolactin (ePRL). While ePRL protein is identical to pituitary PRL and translated from the same gene, tissues outside the pituitary engage an alternative promoter to regulate expression. Many of the factors regulating this expression, however, remain unknown. Here we show that the adrenergic hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine induce PRL expression in the human monocytic cell line THP-1 at physiological concentrations. Furthermore, our experiments show the polarization state of differentiated macrophages can influence their response in vitro, with inflammatory M1 macrophages-common in obese adipose-showing the highest levels of PRL expression compared to other macrophage types. Adrenergic hormones have a clearly defined role in adipocyte lipid metabolism, stimulating lipolysis through hormone sensitive lipase (HSL) induction. Meanwhile, PRL has been shown to stimulate lipogenesis. This highlights ePRL production as a possible factor in obesity. The overall balance of these two signals could play a critical role in determining overall lipid turnover/accumulation in adipose depots where large numbers of adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) reside.
Single View Parametric Building Reconstruction from Satellite Imagery

Satellite images have broad coverage, thus are ideal for large-scale urban reconstruction tasks. However, their low ground sampling resolution posed great challenges in using traditional volumetric or stereo methods to perform 3D reconstructions. In this paper, we propose a novel deep learning based approach to perform single-view parametric reconstructions from satellite imagery. By parametrizing buildings as 3D cuboids, our method extends object detection systems to simultaneously localize buildings and directly fit parametric models for each identified building. We utilize geo-registered GIS vector maps and Lidar data as supervision to train the network. Especially, we deconvolve the feature maps and combine convolutional feature maps at different stages of the network to deal with the heavily cluttered but small in size building instances from satellite imagery. We further enforce physical constraints that building cannot overlap by predicting building boundaries using a separate fully convolutional network. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed methods on real-world data.
The Chemistry and Activation of Dioxygen Species (O2, O2-., and HOOH) in Biology

Biological systems activate dioxygen(02) for controlled energy transduction and chemical syntheses. This is accomplished via electron-transfer reduction of 02 to 02 -and HOOH, and its atomization with metalloproteins to accomplish atom-transfer chemistry. These reactive intermediates have been characterized by the use of (a) transition-metal complexes as models for metalloproteins and (b) model substrates.
Condition Monitoring of Induction Motors for Vertical Pumps With the Current and Vibration Signature Analysis

Induction motors are the workhorse of modern industry because of their versatility and robustness. The diagnosis of mechanical load and power transmission system failures is usually carried out through mechanical signals such as vibration signatures, acoustic emissions, motor speed envelope. The motor faults including mechanical rotor unmbalances, broken rotor bar, bearing failure and eccentricities problems are reflected in electric, electromagnetic and mechanical quantities. The recent research has been directed toward electrical monitoring of the motor with emphasis on inspecting the stator current of the motor. The stator current spectrum has been widely used for fault detection of induction motor. The current signature analysis of motor is the useful technique to assess on machinery health condition monitoring. This paper describes the motor condition monitoring by the current signatures paralleled with vibration signatures analysis of induction motors. Condition monitoring on the roller bearing and the journal bearing for large vertical pumps in power plant is conducted to investigate for motor fault detection and diagnosis.
Improvement of facial profile by nonextraction orthodontic treatment with temporary skeletal anchorage devices and visual treatment objectives.

A 15-year-old girl with a convex profile and a retrognathic chin was referred for improvement of her profile. Nonextraction orthodontic therapy with temporary skeletal anchorage devices was used to improve her facial balance in a total active treatment time of 26 months. Her occlusion and profile were significantly improved by the treatment. Posttreatment records after 12 months showed excellent results with good occlusion and facial harmony.
Regulators of Oncogenic Mutant TP53 Gain of Function

The tumor suppressor p53 (TP53) is the most frequently mutated human gene. Mutations in TP53 not only disrupt its tumor suppressor function, but also endow oncogenic gain-of-function (GOF) activities in a manner independent of wild-type TP53 (wtp53). Mutant TP53 (mutp53) GOF is mainly mediated by its binding with other tumor suppressive or oncogenic proteins. Increasing evidence indicates that stabilization of mutp53 is crucial for its GOF activity. However, little is known about factors that alter mutp53 stability and its oncogenic GOF activities. In this review article, we primarily summarize key regulators of mutp53 stability/activities, including genotoxic stress, post-translational modifications, ubiquitin ligases, and molecular chaperones, as well as a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and dimer-forming mutations in mutp53.
The Role of B-Type and Other Natriuretic Peptides in Health and Disease

Natriuretic peptide (NP) physiology is a complex field. NPs also are known to be highly phylogenetically preserved. NPs can be thought of as counterregulatory hormones antagonizing the effects of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone and sympathetic systems. These peptides are primarily responsible for maintaining salt and water homeostasis, but they also have vasodilatory properties. It was originally thought that B-type NP (BNP) and N-terminal-pro-BNP are secreted in a 1:1 ratio. However, recent data has shed further light into this area. Commercial assays for NPs will need to keep up with these changes. Currently, BNP levels within Kaiser Permanente are obtained by multiple providers in a variety of clinical scenarios in order to help them manage their patients. Therefore, a basic understanding of the physiology of NPs and the methodology of assays are needed to appropriately interpret an NP test result within the corresponding clinical scenario.
Niche partitioning and morphospace in early stages of two sympatric Diogenichthys species (Myctophidae)

Diet and morphospace of larval stages of two sympatric lanternfish Diogenichthys atlanticus and D. laternatus from the south-east Pacific Ocean were compared and the covariance between both variables was assessed for each species. Diogenichthys atlanticus stomach contents consisted mainly of copepod nauplii and digested remains and this species had a broader niche than D. laternatus, in which stomach contents were highly digested. No dietary overlap was found between both species. The covariance between skull shape and diet for D. atlanticus was given by a wider mouth gape related to the presence of copepod nauplii, whilst for D. laternatus, a shorter snout and posteriorly displaced eye were related to the presence of highly digested stomach contents. Interspecific differences between diets and skull shapes suggest that both species may have undergone morphological or niche divergence to avoid competition, such as feeding at different hours or depth stratification.